High Schools of the Week_ From Northside HS to Northwestern HS

Since we last blogged about our high school films, we thought we'd dedicate at least one entry to 'our favorite high schools' in America. I decided not to use my own alma mater of Glenvar High School in Salem, Va., to avoid a conflict of interest. But, we are featuring Huntington High School from Huntington, W.Va., which has the same school nickname: The Highlanders.

And, greeting our blog readers in Croatia (kudos on getting into the European Union), Sweden and Azerbaijan.

We do wonder if any of the high school biology teachers in this respective school is showing the episode of the PBS series "Nature," which illustrated why the Black Mamba snake, found heavily in Swaziland, is among the deadliest reptiles on the planet.

Here are our high schools:

1) Northside High School (pictured top). Nickname: The Vikings. Location: Roanoke, Va. Principal: Frank Dent. The school had 988 students in 2007-08.

2) Clarke Central High School. Nickname: The Gladiators. Location: Athens, Ga. Principal: Dr. Robbie Hooker. Notable alumni: Kim Basinger (class of 1972).

3) Huntington High School. Nickname: The Highlanders. Location: Huntington, W.Va. Principal: Greg Webb. Enrollment: 1,600. Notable alumni: O.J. Mayo of the Dallas Mavericks.

4) Western Alamance High School (pictured center). Nickname: The Warriors. Location: Elon, NC.
Newspaper: "West Side Story." Head football coach: Jeff Snuffer.

5) Walt Whitman High School. Nickname: The Vikings. Location: Bethesda, Md. Principal: Dr. Alan Goodwin. Enrollment: 1,928. Newspaper: "The Black and the White." Notable alumni: Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Mark Halperin (news reporter/analyst) and Spike Jonze (film director).

6) Northwestern High School (pictured bottom). Nickname: The Trojans. Location: Rock Hill, SC.
Principal: James Blake. Enrollment: 1,800 Notable alumni: Former NFL and Notre Dame star Jeff Burris. Then-candidate Barack Obama spoke at the school on Oct. 6, 2007.


SIDEBAR: Kudos to Caroline Brailsford of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Va. The volleyball player was named the Girls Athlete of the Year by "The Roanoke Times."

https://www.alumniclass.com/clarkecentral


https://www.alumniclass.com/northsideva

http://www.waltwhitmanhighalumni.com/

https://www.alumniclass.com/northwesternhighschoolsc

http://www.roanoke.com

Blogging in 3.5 Minutes or Less_ Our Favorite '80s High School Films

Whether you are a supporter of Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) or Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), you will probably agree that brevity is not one of our strengths.

With that, and greetings to our blog-readers in Mozambique, Venezuela and Jordan, we bring you the latest installment of Blogging in 3.5 minutes or less.

Today, we are going to list our six favorite high school films, with no order of preference, from the 1980s.

This idea came to mind when saw that The Sundance Channel, which along with IFC airs reruns of the cult tv show "Freaks and Geeks," which ran for 18 episodes in 1999, asked followers of its Facebook page what their fav high school film was. It is also Throwback Thursday here in America, and perhaps in Jordan too.

 Here are our's:

"Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982; pictured_ yes, that is a year young Nicholas Cage)

"The Outsiders" (1983)

"Porky's" (1983)

"Risky Business" (1983)

"The Breakfast Club" (1985)

"Heathers" (1988, which is the year I graduated from Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland*)

*-Not really where I went to school

http://www.jasonforcongress.com

http://www.jaredpolis.com

http://www.sundancechannel.com

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org

High School of the Week- Valley High School in West Des Mones, Iowa

Today we close out the High School of the Week feature (we've covered all 50 states between our two blogs!) with Valley High School from West Des Moines, Iowa, which is the alma mater of Olympic gold medalist gymnast Shawn Johnson (pictured here).

We got this idea after seeing a Milk campaign ad with Johnson in a magazine while buying groceries at a supermarket last week (where we also got undocumented status updates on Michael Douglas' battle with cancer that we could have done without). Johnson was posed with a glass of milk on the sole of her bare foot on a balance beam, the event she won individual gold for at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Johnson, who is now 18, also got national attention when she won on "Dancing with the Stars" last year. Of course, being a celebrity can bring unwelcome attention which Johnson found out when "The Onion," a usually hilarious journal published a satirical article that Johnson had 'to be put to sleep after falling off the balance beam.' Johnson was not amused, particularly since the term "Shawn Johnson is dead" became a hot search topic after "The Onion" wrote the article in June of last year.

Johnson is not only alive and well, she mentions on her official web site that she is training for the 2012 Olympics in London.

As for Valley High School, it is also the alma mater of another Olympian Karlos Kirby, a bobsledder.

SIDEBAR: The Coffeeparty USA, which is meant to counter the far right Tea Party, tweeted the following words from Burmese human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi (Burma is officially known as Myanmar) who was freed from house arrest today: "We have to choose between dialogue and utter devastation."

SIDEBAR TWO: Though we highly disagree with "The Onion" for publishing a fake story/satire piece in June 2009 proclaiming that Shawn Johnson died from a balance beam fall, we do love their story today which states: "Oprah invites hundreds of lucky fans to buried with her in a massive tomb."

High School of the Week- Kokomo HS in Kokomo, Indiana

We are gradually getting close to wrapping up this series as continue with Kokomo High School from Kokomo, Ind., which is the alma mater of "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft and Norman Birdwell, the author of the children's book series "Clifford the Red Dog."

The school has just over 2,100 students and their nickname is The Wildcats; the school colors are red and white.

North Carolina High School Football Roundup

It was a good night for our beloved Ragsdale High Tigers from Jamestown, NC, (we didn't actually go to to school there). They beat their rivals from High Point Central High at home by a 35-28 score.

Ragsdale QB Luke Heavner completed nine of 19 passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns.

The Western Alamance High Warriors also won their game over Nothern Guilford (though their game actually went into OT) by the exact same score. They were helped by their QB Nigel B. Carlton who went 18 for 24 and threw for 278 yards with three touchdowns.


Here are some other scores from the northern North Carolina (Triad) region:

Southern Alamance 20 Smith 17
Dudley 30 Grimsely 0
Reidsville 20 Providence Gap 0
Rockingham County 48 Morehead 0
Orange County 14 Chapel Hill 11

Happy Belated Halloween

Since all the public libraries in Roanoke Rapids, NC, (not really where I am at) are closed on Sunday so everyone can attend the radical, far-right fire and brimstone Baptist church of their choice, we were not able to post an entry yesterday.

But today we dedicate this entry to Hot Stuff, the beloved Harvey Comics character, who is also known officially as Hot Stuff the Little Devil. Hot Stuff debuted with Harvey Comics in October of 1957, which makes him almost old enough to get a senior citizens' discount at the Denny's in Lynchburg, Va.

Hot Stuff was created and drawn by the late Warren Kremer (1921-2003) who also drew Richie Rich for Harvey Comics. Howard Post (1926-2010) was also instrumental in developing Hot Stuff's look. Incidentally, I'm not sure how they worked out the licensing agreement, but (acording to Wikipedia) Hot Stuff is the mascot for Dysat High School in El Mirage, Ariz.

Things We Learned From Twitter Today- Girls Will be Girls

According to a tweet from "The L.A. Weekly" a 16-year-old female high school student from Hart High School in Newhall, Calif., allegedly stabbed another girl at the school up to four times with an eight-inch knife over a boy!

Students told a Los Angeles area tv station that the alleged culprit seemed 'like the sweetest girl.'

Thankfully, the victim's wounds do not appear to be life-threatening.

And, we only thought high school girls acted like this over Justin Timberlake...?!