by Saber Slate | Mar 31, 2019 | Community, News
The City of Franklin will soon be undergoing various changes in the near future, some of which are very controversial. City and state architects and planners have deemed it necessary to construct an additional interstate highway through the City of Franklin, dubbed the Franklin Megahighway. The planned highway will replace the antiquated Interstate 94. It will connect the cities of southeastern Wisconsin to Milwaukee and Chicago.
Due to the construction of this highway, the City of Franklin is required to demolish half of its neighborhoods and businesses to make way. This includes the development underway at the Rock ski slope, and the ski slope itself. City planners plan to demolish the site in order to make way for a major interchange. This is a necessary loss for the city, but will contribute majorly to the economy and future development around the new highway.
The proposed highway will have 12 lanes both sides with dedicated lanes for bus lines and carpools. Parts of the highway will be double-deckered as well: the first highway of its kind in Wisconsin. This will allow for better traffic flow and distribution along the highway, and allow motorists to reach their destinations faster and more efficiently around the state. With this fortunate new development soon to be underway, Franklin will see a new future. However, there have been protests of opposition by the organization People Opposing Odd Planning. There has been about $65,000 in damages to City of Franklin construction vehicles and concrete factories. Thus, groundbreaking of the Franklin Megahighway has been delayed to 2020.
Due to the construction of this new major highway, city planners and government officials have deemed it necessary for the City of Franklin to be annexed by Oak Creek, an effort for continued prosperity and happiness. Because of this, it will be easier for the city to support the new highway. It will also boost our economy. The school districts will also combine, making a total of two high schools and middle schools, and a lot of elementary schools.
The combining of our two great cities will make the expanded City of Oak Creek a major powerhouse of Wisconsin. It will even become the home to a new major sports team, according to the Journal Sentinel. The planned “Sports District” of Oak Creek will be built where Franklin High School currently is. It will contain a standard size football and baseball field, and a multi-use arena for basketball, indoor soccer, or hockey.
Final closure of Franklin High School will be in 2020. Remaining Franklin High School students will be redistributed to brand new high schools, Oak Creek East and Oak Creek West High Schools, which are to be constructed in the months before Franklin High School’s closure. OC East High School will be a renovated version of the existing Oak Creek High School. OC West will be constructed at the intersection of Drexel Avenue and Lover’s Lane Road. The already constructed Target and Pick n’ Save buildings will be repurposed as the high school, and surrounding businesses will be converted into administrative offices. The Franklin Sabers will effectively become a part of the Oak Creek East Knights and Oak Creek West Knights, respectively.
All in all, the future of Franklin is looking very bright. There will be lots of major changes happening and it all might be strange at first. However, this is a new beginning for our town. Plus, with becoming a part of Oak Creek, our economy will prosper, and our children will have an amazing new place to live, play, and learn.
Please note this article is part of Saber Slate’s Satire Week and is not meant to be taken seriously. If you are confused by this, we suggest you look up the definition of satire.
by Saber Slate | Mar 31, 2019 | Advice, Opinion & Reviews
Summer is slowly approaching. The shorts are slowly leaving their dark corner of the dresser and being thrown onto the floor after weather apps are checked. Car windows are being opened only to be closed after realizing that it’s not warm enough to look cool yet. The sandals – wait, they’re always out – uh, the socks under the sandals are getting shorter? I don’t really know – anyways, how people dress between seasons is completely different. This article will help you learn some great fashion tips for how to dress as the weather warms up!
The first tip is to expose yourself more, whether that be reducing the number of layers you wear (no more undershirts!) or just going to shorter sleeve/pant lengths. That means no more long sleeve shirts; switch over to the short sleeve shirts. Consider possibly losing the shorts altogether for maximum comfort.
My second tip is to loosen up! There’s only a quarter of the school year left, which means the stress is dwindling. Why not express that through your clothing choice? Wear a bit more baggier clothing, like a good pair of oversized cargo shorts. Men, I strongly recommend unbuttoning the top two buttons of any dress shirts you own – gotta show off all your great (not fully grown-in) chest hair!
A third tip is to stick to fashion trends. Ignore what the weather is going to be like, and look cool according to society’s standards. It’s cool to wear a nice jacket. Is it 80 degrees out? Who cares! Follow the trends until the end. If you don’t, we will find out, and we won’t be happy. You want me to be happy, right, Gilbert? Follow the trend.
My next tip is to get a haircut. It’s hotter out now, so you can probably get your hair cut shorter as you don’t need to protect your head from cold as much. For the best possible look, I recommend asking your barber to do what they think looks good on you. Then, consistently complain about it not looking good even though you could have said something while getting it cut. It’s not on you at all to be open to your barber, they should just know!
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My final tip, is to dress however you feel. It doesn’t matter what others think about how you dress. Society is constantly oppressing the individual. We need to speak out and fight for individuals to be able to speak their mind. What truly matters is what you feel in your heart. And I know that, in your heart, what you really want is a nice pair of American Eagle skinny jeans.
*Please note the Saber Slate, nor this article, is actually sponsored by American Eagle. This article is part of Saber Slate’s Satire Week and is not meant to be taken seriously. If you are confused by this, we suggest you look up the definition of satire.
by Saber Slate | Mar 31, 2019 | Opinion & Reviews
It appalls me we have not addressed this.
The administration refuses to. He’s made a deal with them, I can tell – should his secrets be revealed, he will decimate the school. Due to this alliance (possibly out of fear for their own safety), I will be exposing this danger to the student body. It must be done.
There are two lethal dangers running around FHS.
First, Seymour Spirit Saber. He has surpassed an urban legend. He’s surpassed a cryptid, and has escalated to a Code Red threat. A god among men, the cuddly, student-body chosen name is a simple veil to the true horrors he is capable of. Somehow, the administrators and staff get him to recede from his ultimate form to perform dance rituals at the home games we hold here at Franklin, possibly as a part of the blood pact they were forced into. He might even only be here to scare us into submission. You never hear anyone cheer for the other team during games: it’s because if you do, Seymour will track you down and SEPARATE you like a julienne salad.
Not much is known about Seymour, other than the fact that the only people he spares are the administrators and staff.
From my extensive research over the course of the years, I can conclude three things:
- He lives inside the walls and air ducts.
- He can manifest anywhere inside of the school.
- He WILL take your kneecaps.
He’s extremely fast. I’m not even sure how he allows the school to take photos of him. I know for sure that the reason that no one has ever come across Seymour and lived to tell the tale. No one knows why he craves the kneecaps of adolescents. No one dares ask.
It is also speculated that Seymour is always listening. Unlike most sabers, his ears are positioned at the front of his head, a mutation that has bestowed him prime listening abilities – almost superhuman. Anyone who says anything mildly offensive, anything that threatens his position of power, or if you threaten to take HIS kneecaps will be kneecap-less and dead before 2:34 PM the same day.
No one knows the warning signs of an attack – anyone who has been attacked has never been able to live through it to warn us. We do know, though, that if you hear skittering inside the walls or the ducts, you had a close encounter, but were good enough to be spared. You can’t hear him when he comes for you – he’s that fast.
However, he’s never been seen outside the school, so we’re safe…for now.
Secondly is the Aqua Saber. A slightly less powerful variant of Seymour, he dwells in the FHS swimming pool, and reaches his peak performance in the diving end.
Similar to Seymour, no one alive is sure of what he looks like, but we for sure know he’s there. He might be translucent, with long fangs and a mermaid tail that allows him to swim incredibly fast. He is much, much larger than Seymour – almost covering half of the pool’s volume, however, he does not hold as much power.
Similar to Seymour, Mr. Aqua Saber is always on the watch. His skin is extremely sensitive to motions in the water and can pinpoint exactly where you are in the pool just by the waves he feels on his skin. He comes for you if you complain too much about the water temperature during a swim unit, or if he thinks you are challenging him (by swimming too fast or splashing around too much).
Thankfully, we’re aware of what his attack is like: only one source, who asked to remain anonymous, was willing to share with me what the attack was like when they saw it happen to a student wading in the pool after school hours.
“All of the lights went out except the one that he was under,” says anonymous. “The water started bubbling and they said the water was too cold. It was then I knew he made a huge mistake.”
Anonymous watched in horror as his friend was quickly dragged underwater. He said he didn’t remember what happened next.
“He drags you to the deep end and sucks all of the water out of your body like a dehydrated fruit,” anonymous continued. “Then your dehydrated body is thrown down the drain and will usually reappear 2 or 3 months later, floating in a toilet somewhere in the school.”
The Aqua Saber Spares no one, but somehow, the swim teams have somehow found out the one thing that keeps him away, but refuses to tell anyone. No one knows how they manage to be spared from his gaping, toothy mouth.
Writing this article was an extreme challenge for me. There were several times where I had to stand up, walk away from the computer, and wonder if my life – and my precious kneecaps would be worth losing. I am risking it all by posting this, but it’s a challenge I am destined to take on. The student body MUST know these dangers.
Please watch out for me. My reinforced steel kneecaps can only hold for so long.
Please note this article is part of Saber Slate’s Satire Week and is not meant to be taken seriously. If you are confused by this, we suggest you look up the definition of satire.
by Saber Slate | Mar 13, 2019 | Art, Athletics & Activities
As you might have heard on the announcements on March 11th, Visual Arts Team brought home 3 trophies to Franklin High this weekend, and over 5 people are making it to the state tournament!
“Wait a second,” you might be thinking, “Never in my life have I heard of Visual Arts Club.”
And that’s perfectly okay! Visual Arts Club is a team of artists led by Mrs. Bausch that have entered in the annual Visual Arts Classic competition held at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee. Each artist belongs to a sector of creativity – some are tasked with drawing a piece, others paint, others build sculptures out of toothpicks and glue. All of the artists must conform to a theme that changes every year, 2019’s being “simplicity”.
Visual Arts Team has been preparing quietly since January for regionals at Cardinal Stritch. Since then, they’ve been researching artists for the quiz bowl and creating long term pieces to enter into the competition.
Upon arrival at Cardinal Stritch, all artists from Franklin and the other schools are divided by their creative sectors and begin to work on an on-site piece that will also be judged at the competition. Continually, each team also has to be able to work together to answer questions about artists and think critically in the form of a skit. This year’s prompt was “create a promo for a well-known sitcom that features artists”.
Visual Arts Team came in second for the quiz bowl (a major improvement from previous years). Held in the school’s auditorium, they answered several questions about artists like Georges Seurat and Yasujiro Ozu, default-dancing every single time they got a question right, and also answering that Grandma Moses’ real name is “G-Ma Mo Mo” rather than Anna Mary Robertson Moses (which, unfortunately, did not earn them the point).
They also came in second for critical thinking, for a gripping skit about Pokemon. Ash Matisse from Pallet Town travels out into the exciting world of Pokemon, fighting his first challenger Yasujiro Ozu with his three new Pokemon Georges Seurat (Special: Pointillism), Shoji Hamada (Special: Pottery Shards) and Mythical Pokemon Harriet Power (Special: Applique). Unfortunately, they lost to a slightly-less-gripping skit, a parody of Grey’s Anatomy.
And lastly, Franklin brought home 3rd overall for most wins within the team, with several people on the team due to go to Madison for state in April, for all kinds of media – from drawing to video production. Please continue to cheer them on as they continue to compete!
Congratulations Visual Arts! Keep on making Franklin Proud!
by Saber Slate | Mar 13, 2019 | Athletics & Activities
What is WSMA?
WSMA is the Wisconsin State Musical Association. Every year, they host the Solo and Ensemble event. Students from over the state attend the event at the designated high school (this year, it’s at St. Francis High School). Students are required to select a piece to perform at the event. Their performance at the event is to be judged by professional and authorized judges who are experienced in the field of the musical arts.
Before the event takes place, students must select a piece to perform, be it a solo, duet, or ensemble. There are two different classes of music to choose from, each depending on each band members’ playing ability. Class A is for the more experienced student, who is willing to work more to perfect the song. Class B is for the less experienced student who is looking for an easier piece to start with.
Students are given the opportunity to practice their solo/ensemble piece during designated class time. Over the course of these weeks, students are required to submit their weekly goals via Google Classroom. This also tracks their progress and what they need to do/need help with.
Students are also required to film recordings of themselves playing their solo to submit to Google Classroom so that the teacher is able to grade our abilities and know that we’re ready for the event. Band students are allowed to utilize the band room, orchestra room, as well as the nine practice rooms to work on their solo/ensemble piece. It’s hard work but well worth it to be able to learn your solo and be able to play it correctly and professionally.
Long term substitute band director Ms. Stein explains why WSMA is important. “It helps further the students’ capability to perform in front of someone. It’s something that pushes yourself out of your comfort zone. It’s really like an interview in that you are being judged for your abilities. Students don’t get this in a regular class. It also relates to life experiences and interviewing in the real world.”
I interviewed a fellow bandmate, Sarah, who also performed in front of a judge. “I performed a class B trio for clarinet. I think that it went very well. We practiced a lot beforehand. The judge was nice, and she basically told us what work we could do to improve. One of the things that she said was to work on our dynamics a bit more, like so our piano was more quiet.”
Thank you Sarah and Ms. Stein for answering my questions. WSMA is a big part of the year and it’s important to many students that they do a good job at this statewide event.
