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Pride Month: We Still Have a Long Way to Go
By Anna Tache
Editorial Editor
June; the month that marks the end of school, the beginning of summer, and the beginning of our freedom as students. However, June is also an important month for another reason: it’s pride month. Pride Month is a time for the LGBTQ+ community, as well as any others, to celebrate what makes them proud of themselves as individuals. Pride Month is a very important time for members of the LGBTQ+ community (which I’m going to abbreviate as LGBT) to be able to express themselves freely without limitations.
Photo Credit: Anna Tache
Baseball Strikes Up A Good Season
By: Kayla Hendershot and Chinyere Godfrey-Nwachukwu
Editor-in-Chief and Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief
Hammond’s Varsity Baseball team has just finished their 2019 season with a 2-14 record, ending their season with perseverance and hard work. Their indestructible morale carried them through the season and united them as a team.
Senior Nick Wiedorfer says, “Last season the team struggled to bring each other together with our record and lacking chemistry between the players. This year it was our goal to build up better chemistry as a team.” Their teamwork has improved over time, and Hammond’s baseball is ready to move forward as a well oiled-machine.
Photo Credit: Hammond HS Athletics / Twitter
The team’s determination and improving skills are also evinced in their stats. Colin Kosakowski, a Junior at Hammond, provided the team with their first home run of the season and advanced Hammond with 11 hits. Nick Wiedorfer led the team in the most amount of runs, 5 total, and Tim Stryker, Asa Roberson, and Brandon Eschman were close behind with 4 runs.
Coach Medairy, Hammond’s varsity baseball coach, is impressed with his players, and their never ending perseverance and commitment to not just baseball, but to the team. He says “The team worked six days a week from March 1st to the end of the season. No practice was less than two and a half hours. It was a lot of hard work and committing and no one complained about it.”
John Wick Chapter 2 Review
By: Troy Kelly
Staff Writer
John Wick: Chapter 2, starring Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane and Riccardo Scamarcio, is an action film set in present day Rome.
The movie’s main conflict begins when John Wick is betrayed by a man, Santino D’Antonio, who cashes in a favor after John tries to abandon his life as an assassin. Because of D’Antonio, John’s his time away from the business is cut short, and after he is betrayed, John realizes he needs to kill D’Antonio. John declines D’Antonio the favor he is blood-bounded to repay at first, but begrudgingly accepts after D’Antonio bombs his house, and he is encouraged by his good friend and the owner of the NY Continental hotel, Winston, to repay his dues.
Photo Credit: Google Images
D’Antonio asks John to kill his sister, Gianna, who has the seat at the high table that D’Antonio desires. After she decided to slit her wrists rather than being assassinated as John holds her hand, he shoots her in the head in order to kill her before she is condemned to hell because of her suicide. Her bodyguard, Cassius, however, sees John exiting Gianna’s room, and draws his weapons in pursuit.
Along with being preoccupied by Cassius, John is also attacked by D’Antonio’s own men, and realizes he is being betrayed. John and Cassius are only slightly injured by the time they crash into the Contential, where no blood is allowed to be spilled, an important recurring plot point in the movie. However, while John is resting there, D’Antonio opens an account worth 7 million for killing John, which he sends out to all assassins in the area.
Tennis Recap: Serving Up A Great Season
By: Brian Paul
Sports Editor
Hammond’s tennis teams made a breakthrough this season, establishing themselves as one of the toughest, most competitive teams in the county. With the boys team finishing up with a record of 5-8-3, and the girls team finishing with a record of 4-9-3, it was a solid year for Hammond tennis, especially for the girls’ team, who improved on their record from last season.
Photo Credit: Hammond HS Athletics / Twitter
The team faced plenty of challenges, but they were able to rise above and overcome them, a feat that represented the squad’s grit and resilience. Sophomore Devon Gorel spoke about thIs aspect of the team with The Bear Press, commenting, “I think one of the biggest challenges was that we were in some super close matches, but we kept falling short. Near the end of the season after all our practice, we got over the hump and we pulled through. The team really persevered and we really grew throughout the season to the point where we did really well in close matches…we never gave up and fought as hard as we could to win.”
The Effects of Junk Food on the Body
By: Amani Moore
Staff Writer
Junk food. It’s cheap, fast, and delicious, but how does it affect our body?
When running up the steps, do you ever feel winded and don’t know why? Junk food may be the reason behind that exhaustion. This happens because junk food lacks all of the nutrients such as protein and carbohydrates that keep you energized and healthy. If eaten on a regular basis, junk food can lower energy levels to a point where it can be difficult to do simple, everyday tasks. Junk food may make you happy, but when looking at all the facts, is it really worth it?
Photo Credit: Google Images
Consuming junk food can also lead to depression in teenagers. Teens go through a lot of hormonal changes, causing moods to fluctuate and different emotions to flood in. A healthy diet plays a key role in how to maintain hormonal balance. With a horrible diet (like junk food) one may tend to feel sluggish, heavy, and overall unsatisfied. According to msn.com, the likelihood of teenagers getting depression has increased by 58 percent when their diets consist mostly of junk food, as feelings of sluggishness and lack of energy contribute to depression, sadness, and low self-esteem.
Origen Grear: A Hammond Treasure
By: Brian Paul
Sports Editor
Dear Hammond High, we have a new state champion. Junior tennis player Origen Grear defeated the best of the best high school tennis players. After becoming the champion of the South region, facing competition from other Howard County schools such as Marriotts Ridge, River Hill, and Oakland Mills, Origen went on to the state tournament, facing other regional tennis champions across the state of Maryland. He defeated three champions in the tournament, making his goal of becoming the state champion a reality. The Bear Press recently caught up with Origen in order to discuss his emotions about his amazing accomplishment.
Photo Credit: Tim Schwartz/Baltimore Sun
Origen stated that the biggest contributor to his success was his brother, Trinity, who is also an outstanding tennis player. Origen commented that his brother is able to push him in training, which in turn makes him a better player, saying, “He’s always training with me, pushing me, so that I can be the best player possible…”
“The Birth of a Nation” Movie Review
By: Chris Parris
Staff Writer
Released in February of 1915, D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation is one of the most important films in cinema history. This movie was responsible for some major advances in film technology, including the first scene shot at night. On a cultural level, however, the movie bears a dark legacy. This is due to the film’s storyline and historical inaccuracies.
With a runtime of over three hours, The Birth of a Nation is split into two halves and separated by an intermission. The first half is set at the outbreak of the American Civil War. It follows two families, the northern Stonemans and the southern Camerons. During the war, the lives of these two families intertwine.
The first half of the movie is filled with superb battle scenes and ends with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and a defeated South being subjected to harsh treatment by the victorious North. The second half revolves around the Reconstruction of the South directly after the war and the origin of the movie’s supposed heroes, the Ku Klux Klan.
In the movie, an unnamed town in South Carolina, where the Camerons live, is occupied by African American soldiers during Reconstruction. The African American soldiers, some played by white actors donning blackface, shove people off of sidewalks and are abusive towards white women. In one particular scene, a young white woman jumps off of a cliff to avoid being pursued by a black man. Black supremacists rig an election by stuffing ballot boxes and preventing white people from voting. The newly-elected black legislators are shown to be barefoot, drinking whisky, and eating fried chicken during a meeting at the state house.
