CUBS' COLUMN MARCH 2022

8th grader Abby LaPole of JMMS sent the ball soaring through the net again and again on Tuesday, February 15th. Abby and the rest of the Jackson polar bears could be seen zooming up and down the court as they stood off against the GlenOak Eagles. The JMMS cheerleaders, as well as the enthusiastic crowd in the stands, showed tremendous support for the talented athletes. A tied score at the end of the fourth quarter caused the teams to go into over time, with the Eagles just barely clinching the win.

The wheelchair basketball program was brought to Jackson Local Schools during the 2019-2020 school year. Adaptive athletes, as well as able-bodied peers, have been representing the polar bears ever since as they compete against nearby schools who also participate in the Adapted Sports Program of Ohio (ASPO). The program also offers a track program in the spring.

By Alex Wright

Ever since youtube was first released back in 2005, the dislike button was around. The button was used for people to share their opinions on a certain vi/`deo. It was pretty simple. If you liked a video you pressed the “like” button, if you didn’t like a video you pressed the “Dislike” button. But recently a rumor has spread that youtube plans to remove this feature entirely.

Many users of a popular app known as Youtube have been noticing something strange. Random videos they watch do not have a like/dislike counter. Instead of displaying the number of likes/dislikes it simply says the word “Like or Dislikes”. The exact reason for this is unknown but there are 2 main theories people have. Theory 1 is that Youtube wanted to stop content creators’ feelings from being hurt emotionally, Theory 2 is that It's a test for the design of the buttons. No matter what the real reason is, the YouTube dislike button should remain a feature.

The like and dislike button of youtube is a great way for creators to receive feedback on their videos. But without this feature, it becomes much harder for the creator to get feedback. Sure, there’s still the comment section but scrolling through thousands of comments is a grueling process. Some creators may not have time to do this process. Getting information has become 10x harder. If people are sensitive to hate comments than they can simply disable them. Same with the like/dislike button.

In conclusion, the youtube dislike button should not be gone. Being able to share your opinion on certain subjects is helpful. But unfortunately with the youtube dislike button being gone, it is harder to do so. Most people don't have the heart or guts to leave a negative comment, so if videos have a ton of positive feedback it's because nobody wanted to step up and say what they disliked about the content that has been posted.

By Abby LaPole

After I read the note, I scrambled to put the necklace on hoping this would make everything go back to normal. How could I be so stupid? I should have just left the box in the dirt pile. I should have never gotten so involved. Why did it have to be me? This is just like me, I always get so involved in things I want nothing to do with. I had to stop moping because even though there was basically nobody at the lab I still had to go back to the lab and work. I mean, what if somehow the necklace actually starts to get things back to normal? I had to be there so that it seemed like nothing ever happened. Quickly I got ready to go to work and I hopped in my car and drove away. Honestly it was really peaceful being the only one on the road and not having to worry about hitting anyone or accidentally forgetting driver’s courtesy, I could just drive. I got to work and found that nobody had changed the sign in page, so I flipped the page and wrote the date on the top, then my name and the time. I walked to my office and throughout the day I found that it is really nice to not have anyone nagging me saying, “Rachel why haven’t you finished the 167 squash project?” I feel like all I hear all day is “Rachel why haven’t you this why haven’t you that? Are you done with this, are you done with that?” It infuriates me! Then only for a brief moment I thought about taking the necklace off. After all, it was up to me. No one will know that I wanted things to stay quiet. No one will know all the things I said about them or how I feel about them. Maybe I should just keep it like this. Forever.

Still wearing the necklace, I got to work on the stupid squash sample. I didn’t want to work on it but it had to be done. I just can’t get the fact that if I didn’t get this project assigned to me, none of this would be on me, but no it just had to be me. I stopped sulking and pulled myself together and finished the project and then when I finished, it took all of my strength not to set the papers ablaze. I didn’t but I did notice I forgot to put the date on the paper. I looked at my calendar to see that I have been working on preparing this project for about 2 days now and was just getting to the point of actually starting the experiment. Am I just inefficient or is this just a time consuming project? I have never been an efficient person so honestly this is probably the fastest I have finished, well, finished starting the project in all my time working here. Maybe it is because I don’t have people bothering me, or asking me if I am done with the project I am working on when they interrupt me! Just breathe, take this as a time to finally get some work done. Well, whatever quiet time you have left. Again, and only for a minute I thought about taking the necklace off. I didn’t. I continued working on the project that started this mess.

Time went by as I worked on the squash project and sluggishly got the next segment done. I glanced at the bottom of my computer and saw that it was 9:30 already. I have seriously been working on this for 9 hours? Gosh I am so inefficient. I might as well go home, I’m so tired I won’t get anything done anyways. So I headed home and thought about the necklace, the silence and peacefulness within my life right now, the absence of the stress that has been taunting me for years. Then my arms quickly reached towards my neck, grasped the necklace, and ripped it off my neck. Why didn’t my brain didn’t try to stop my body? Maybe I really did want this. Maybe this is for the better, well, that is, it is for me.

That’s how I was the only one that knew after the incident.

By Lina Id Abbou

The Beginning (Aqua 18 years old)

I was waking up in my pure white bed to the shining light coming from the window. I opened my eyes and sat up in my bed. I sat there for a few minutes waking up then I stood up and went to Nova’s room.

“Hey, Nova, how are you?”. “Good, how about you”, said Nova. “I'm good”, I said while sitting on her bed with her. “What do you think we are doing today?”, I asked curiously. “I don’t know but I think we are going to be training.” “Aqua, I miss our parents.”, said Nova. “What do you mean, '' Parents ``?”.”

Mr Star walked in, “Everyone head to your training room that you will be assigned to.” We all walked up to Mr Star and got handed a piece of paper with the room number on it. We all got a card and all we had left to go to our rooms. I was in the Electrical Room with Remus. “Hello, I guess we are together for this one.”, I said. Remus replied, “Shut it I don’t wanna be with a loser like you.” I kind of got sad that he said that.

We started to get onto our training and tried to do what he said. “Hey this goes here!”, Remus said. “But it does go he-” “You’re messing it up, stop it!”, Remus interrupted. Mr Star came up to us and said, “That's enough, she's doing it right, have you listened to a word I said?”

Mr Star said, “Stop it or else!” “Or else what baldy?” Mr Star grabbed Remus on the ear and dragged him out of the room. I was kind of confused on where he went but I didn’t know where he went.

I went on to do electrical work. Then the bell rang, it was breakfast time. I walked into the cafeteria and found a table where Nova was sitting. “Hey, what should we get for breakfast?”, said Nova. I replied, “I don’t know what is there today.”

“Let’s look at the menu….”

Starlight Kennedy Space Center Menu

• Oatmeal

• Pancakes (Blueberry)

• Waffles (Blueberry and Strawberry)

• Cereal

• Bacon and Eggs

• Donut (Blueberry, Strawberry, and Vanilla)

“Okay, I think I know what I want,'' said Nova. “Okay, I think I will have some pancakes,'' said Nova. ”I want oatmeal,'' Aqua replied. The lunch lady came by and asked what we wanted. “I will have some oatmeal and she will have some pancakes.”, said Aqua.

The lunch lady wrote down what we wanted and went to go get it. “Hey what do you think will happen when we go on our journey to mars?”, said Nova. “I don’t know, maybe it will be a bit scary, I saw pictures of space and I’m kinda freaked out.”, Aqua replied back. “Stop being a chicken, I'm excited!” “Easy for you to say.”

The lunch lady came back and gave them their lunch. Nova said, “Wow, that was fast.” The lunch lady went back to serve the other students their lunch and we sat there eating. “I need to go to the bathroom, I will be back.”, Aqua said, walking to the lunch lady. “May I go use the restroom?”. “Sure, go ahead.”.

I walked to the restroom and stood in front of the sink. She turned it on and sat there watching the water. She felt a connection to the running water as it flowed into the sink drain. She turned the sink back off and went and did her business and went back out to the cafeteria. She realized she was late for her second training session so in panic she ran to where the training was in room 1-06.

“Oh Aqua, I was wondering where you went.”, said Mr Constant. I went back to the line next to Nova and got what station I was put into and went to my station.

Stations (Samantha 18 years old )

I went to my station and was partnered with Aqua, the shy girl. We were in the navigation station this time. I came to the station before her and waited for her to come while the directions to what we were supposed to do came up onto the board next to me. I started training while Aqua came and looked at the directions.

“Come on don’t just stand there looking at the board, come on, we're supposed to actually do the station!”, I said angrily. Aqua replied back, “O-ok.”. She did the station quietly while sometimes perking up to look at the board. I didn’t need directions, I had already done this station many times before. Were supposed to use the navigation table and find certain things. I had to find mars, jupiter, and even asteroids on the table and found them easily then did it again.

I once did it again and looked to see if Aqua had done it yet. She was still finding them and peering up to the board once in a while. I sat there taking a break and watched Aqua. She was writing down notes as if we were going to do a test .When I looked up the board said “ Test today”.”CRAP !!!”I covered my mouth . Everyone turned to look at me and stared what seemed like forever .I failed the test and it's all because of Aqua .

After the training session everybody started to laugh at me. I thought that it was the worst embarrassment as far as I can remember . I thought I was going to die of embarrassment and it's all because of aqua .

Now all I have to do is to sneak out I can't let anyone see me crap there is aqua “h hi “aqua said “What do you mean “H Hi:” you made me fail the test now I wont get to be picked in the trip to Neptune” I yelled And she said “w Well I am sorry you can't read’’Everyone gathered around us some people actually chanted “FIGHT FIGHT”and the goodie goodie Sophia had to come too and tried to stop us “Aqua what has gotten into you” she yelled Then aqua got stuck in her thoughts and fainted everyone rushed to tell Mr Star because he is the person who made the covid shot so they brought her to Mr star he said that she might wake in a few hours i was surprised because why would a wimp take a few HOUR I think not she hacked the monitor so she can skip classes. Even Sister Stella says to calm down and she controls WAR so something was wrong .So I visited her room the next day. She didn't have any visitors so I came to see she was SLEEPING. I can't believe it. I will look crazy if she finds out I have come here so I leave the room silently and now it's time for lunch . “What do what do order miss” the lunch lady said

Starlight Kennedy Space Center Menu

• PBJ

• A sandwich

• Ramen

• Noodles

• Chipotle

• Starbucks

“What do you think RAMEN as always” I yelled, then she slapped me and yelled “DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT”Then she went to Mr Star to tell him about the problem. I still got lunch but I had to eat in a room that made me do all the staintions there so I could not cause trouble . I HATE AQUA !!!

By Daiwik Kasini

RECAP:

Jacob and his family moved to Brazil to stop a worldwide wildfire. It was in the north and south. The firefighters in the north removed the fire and came to help the southern fire. Jacob pitched an idea. To find out if his idea worked read the story.

“My idea is to gather up sand beaches but not a lot and water from rivers, lakes and oceans.” Replied Jacob.

“But how do we do that?” Asked dad.

Jacob asked for a few tools and supplies.

The supplies are:

A tv

Camera

Projector

Computer

Keyboard

Mouse

Wires

10 car batteries

Live Streaming device

Jacob decided to put out a live message on everybody's devices. He asked the world for at least 1 bucket of water or sand to help the fire.

2 days later

200,000,000 tons of sand and water were donated from local people and some big organizations are running campaigns and others are making biodegradable fire extinguishers from safe products which won’t harm the environment. Jacob was so happy that people were donating supplies and the Nations of the World declared that they will remove every speck of sand so the forest does not turn into a desert.

1 month later

Jacob was still in the hospital and he decided to make another final LIVE message.

The message stated” Hello Nations of the World and citizens of Brazil and Earth. I want to thank you for helping with the great fire. I want to remind that we need to reduce fires and please donate to the Restore Amazon fire foundation.(FAKE FOUNDATION) My final statement is that we need to restore the wildlife and plants in the Amazon because they are injured. So, from Feb to May we will be searching and restoring plants and animals in the Amazon.”

Jacob was ready to face the new mission of restoring the Amazon.

To find out what will happen next read Part 3: #RestoreAMAZON

By Sri Gowravajjhula

Photo credit: Ms. Peregrine's Pecular Children by Ransom Riggs

An Island out at sea sky always black like an empty void nothing important lives there, just mental illnesses created into monsters they used to be people who called for help but nobody responds

Nobody cares

It's hopeless

Their illness became so severe they became it but now that it's too late people start to worry and try to fix them. The sea is surrounded by anxiety, the sky patrolled by trauma, depression and Schizophrenia everywhere you look. Every monster looks different. It is difficult to tell which monster is witch because there are different forms of mental illnesses that they used to suffer with, but, a scientist named Dr. Hartman said that the monsters were still humans and should be led back into a city; they let one of each monster into a different city across America, cities like Dallas, Chicago, and a few into New york. Citizens have no permission to take photos of the test subjects, this is what a mutated form of depression was described as.

June 16, 2013

On the news today It said that mutated humans will start living in popular cities. Then someone named Simon Hartmen gave a speech, something about how they should be accepted and treated as normal people but I wasn't paying attention since he looked really shady and Suspicious. But he is a scientist for the Government so he HAS to be trusted right?

6/16/2013

I gave a speech on national tv today but I wasn't feeling well and I looked terrible so much for my first impression but the experiments are getting ready to go out in public.

7/4/2013

Subjects react well to being in populated areas and citizens don't see them as much of a threat other than occasional glances, subjects are treated as normal citizens. There is still so much we don't know about them.

July 12, 2013

I saw one of the monsters today at the subway station. They looked like a tall person with pointed fingers and black goop dripping on them. My little sister named them “Tom” so I guess Tom had to go on the same train as us. I guess he liked flowers because as soon as the train stopped Tom went directly to the botany shop.

I wonder what Tom’s real name is?

I wonder what he was like before this?

will something like that happen to me?

Written by Lina Id Abbou

Edited by Basil

Art by Jeri Lee West

Ruby was zoning out in the middle of class. “Ruby Ruby ,RUBY.” The teacher shouted. “Huh?” ”What's the main document of history?” “I don’t know.” “...detention, now for the 3rd time this week” the teacher sighed. Ruby puts on their bookbag and collects the spare class materials laying on their desk, and goes to the detention room. FInally there, “Ugh, time to escape again…” Ruby mumbed annoyed.

They had done it many times before, so it didn't take much to escape the detention room. Ruby runs away to the abandoned daycare. Ruby Ruby feels their mother's aura around the daycare and they start to cry “why did you leave me…?”

As Ruby walks into the daycare center, they see the bold letters ‘Cuddle Koala Daycare.’ Cuddle's, the mascot of the daycares, eyes gleamed in the light of the sky then darkened after the door shut. Ruby shuddered as they saw Cheshire Cat “so many teeth…” Ruby walked to the desk and pulled out a paper bag from their bag. In that bag was lunch. Ruby never knew where these bags came from, but they were always thankful that they had food and never suspected anything of it. Until today. The food maker uses vegetables and fruit, but today there was meat.

The meat smelled weird and rotten even. Ruby picked out the meat and kept eating. Ruby heard shuffling footsteps. Ruby shuffled under the desk.

“Helloooo” an Eerie voice called out “do you like your lunch?” more footsteps louder “Ruby, come out.” The voice sounded so weirdly familiar but also scary. Ruby peaked out and saw Cuddles. Cuddle's eyes beamed and sang the daycare song “I know you, you know me, let’s say goodbye to mommy and daddy, okay?…” Ruby was shaking.

‘How did cuddles know my name? I have been here before. How does Cuddles remember me…..?’

Ruby

By Jeri Lee West

By Tristan Butts

"Listen. I'm as confused as you! There's a demon standing right there, and you're not afraid! " I said

"Rude"

"Uh sir, He's a demon, yes, but he's as harmless as a wolf. " "Anchor said, "Where are you from exactly?" He asked. I gulped.

"The year 1976. From a small town in Florida. " I said. The demon looked surprised, and Arrow stood still.

"Hold up. 1976?" The demon asked

“Yes,”

“Okay bud, Stop pulling our legs. "

The Arrow got closer, pointing at me, "Prove that you are from 1976."

"Don't my clothes say enough?" I answered his question.

"Well, yea." The demon said, "Hey um... I’m Salvation and you are? " Salvation wanted to be friendly. I hesitated, but I answered his question.

"Bl-... Blitz," I stuttered. Salvation put out his hand.

"I understand you're..." I was a Christian in 1976, and seeing a demon would freak a person out.

"I promise I won't hurt you. " He said. I put my hand out and shook his hand.

"Alright, cool, you guys are friends now. Now please let me understand how you are here.'' The anchor said, most unhappy. I looked over at him while Salvation kept shaking my hand up and down.

"A Teleporter thing."

Teleporters don't cause you to go 2,000 years into the future, but now that you're here. Why don't you help us? I'll let you go back to your timeline for a bit. If you aren't back within a day, I'm going to find you and drag you back here. " Arrows threaded me. He then brought me to a room with another teleporter... well, time device now. He started up the device. "Just go through. I'll see you soon." He said as the device flashed the same white light as before. I entered the device and within seconds I saw Mox.

"BLITZ? You were gone for 2 seconds! Did you look around? What happened? "

"What? 2 seconds I was there for at least 20 minutes. I was confused. I knew I wasn't there for 2 seconds.” I grabbed Mox as I dragged her to the device.

"BLITZ? What are you doing? "

“Trust me. You gotta see this. " I said

"Alright. But only because I trust you. " She said hesitantly. We both walked through the device. The white flash consumed us both. Then we were back. Moxie looked around, stunned and intrigued. I saw salvation. Doodling with his fingers while leaning back in a chair, once he noticed us, he fell back into his chair. Moxie couldn't help but laugh.

Salvation tripped over himself trying to get up. Once he got his footing, he ran over to me and proceeded to grab my cheeks and push them upwards.

"Blitz! Your back, like you, said. wonderful day! " Salvation excitedly let go of my cheeks and hugged me without my consent. I pushed Salvation back a little.

"Salvation... we aren't that close. In our friendship."

"Oh... yeah, right!" Salvation let go, stepping back a little bit.

"How cute. You guys make a great couple. " Mox jokingly said, just then, Arrow walked in. He stood there, surprised. He was still wearing that mask and suit.

"How dare you show your face after two days?" Arrow walked up to me.

"Time moves differently in our years, I think." I tried to explain why it took so long. 2 days don't add up. Unless 24 seconds equals 24 hours in this case! I was at least talking to Moxie for a minute. So be it. I was gone for 2 days and 12 hours then. Arrow then grabbed my shirt and pushed me to the wall.

“Listen here, Blitz, we don't have a lot of time to get our situation fixed. You have been gone for two whole days. ALMOST 3. " Arrow grabbed me and pulled me up.

"Arrow... Maybe Blitz is right. " Salvation tried to fix the situation, but it was to no avail.

"Salvation you're an Imp. An Imp from Hell. You wouldn't know anything. " Arrow looked directly at Salvation. Salvation then looked a little surprised and put one of his hands on his shoulder while making an award face. He was ashamed.

"As I said, our time zones are different." I tried to wrap things up. Arrow is persistent.

"Different? Listen here. You were supposed to come back. Which you did. Good job. But 3 days went by. " Before Arrow could finish, glass shattered from within the other room. We all looked at the door.

"Voices," Salvation said.

"Alright... With Salvation, we are starting. I'll get that robot started. You and Blitz, go and takedown that radio tower, and don't forget about the E.M.P. device. " Arrow then ran out of the room. Salvation started to push a box towards a window.

“Come on, Blitz! Let's go, "Salvation said, smiling. He then opened the window and climbed through. I grabbed Moxie and put her on a nearby chair. I then ran over to the box.

"Hey, Blitz. I wish I knew what was happening, but I think you can tell me that later. Now be safe, please. " Moxie said, smiling.

"I will. Just rest. " I said before climbing through the window.

Chapter 2: Preparation

Salvation waited for me in a red car. The car didn't have a rooftop; it looked like it only had two seats. Salvation then reached over to open the door and failed. I walked over and opened the door.

“Finally, something normal.”

"What's so normal about this car?"

"A lot. Trust me. "

"Okie Dokie." Salvation then twisted the key and the car's engine started. I relaxed for an enjoyable ride. Only for the car to start floating, of course. Nothing is normal. We then started to fly off.

"SALVATION! Where were we going?"I yelled. I swear I almost fell out of the car. I looked over to Salvation.

"We are going to a radio tower. The radio tower controls the Cromansters. If we blow it up, half of those robotic idiots will shut off forever. " Salvation explained.

"Got it," I replied. I then tried to relax. I looked up at the night sky. The clouds were grayish, as always, due to the moonlight. Then, salvation broke the silence.

"Y'know, I always liked the midnight sky. It reminds me of my father. He would always tell me that the future lies in the brightest star. " Salvation told me, "I think you're that star."

"Me? I doubt it. I'm just helping out. But thanks. " The future lies in the brightest star? I looked up to see that the brightest star was above me. It must have been a coincidence. Right?

"Radio tower up ahead." As Salvation points out, We parked in a nearby bush. I'm hiding the car for a while. As we got out, I saw the radio tower. It was about 50 meters away. Salvation handed me the tiny device.

“Run up to that tower and plant that EMP. when you're far enough away. See those flying ghostly dudes? Those are voices. I'll distract them. Are you ready? "

"Yep." Salvation then handed me the Tigger for the EMP.

"Alright. 3.” I got ready for my sprint. "2" Salvation counted down to "1." We both looked forward to it. "Go!" he ran out, getting the voice's attention. I ran forward while they chased salvation. I quickly planted the EMP and then ran. I then tripped and landed on the trigger. I turned myself over to see the radio tower get struck by lightning. The top fell. It almost crushed me. The bottom half caught fire and exploded. The fire started to spread rapidly. I got up as the fire got closer and closer. Salvation ran back and got into his car. He started the engine and started to fly away. Without me.

"Blitz! Run ahead, I'll make sure you'll get in. " I trusted what Salvation said. I started running after the moving car. Salvation somehow opened the side door. I grabbed the side door handle and pulled myself inside the car. I looked behind me to see the fire spreading downhill and about 20 voices chasing us closely. They soon stopped to put out the fire.

"Woooooo!" Salvation yelled. "Don't you love that feeling of, uh, what it's called?"

"Adrenaline?"

“Yeah! Yea! It's a great rush! " Salvation said. Then I noticed my leg was cut open. Blood oozed out onto the car's floor. Salvation noticed this, and I guess he didn't like the sight of blood because he passed out while driving. It also doesn't help that I don't know how to drive a car in general. We then crashed into a building. Salvation woke up and got out of the car. The car then caught on fire.

By Basil

By Shaye

By Nicky

Have you ever had a horrible day and wondered if it will ever get easier? Here are some life hacks to make your day easier!

Problem: Does your phone ring to quiet then you sleep in and miss class?

Solution: When you go to bed, get a cup and put your phone in it. This will make it ring louder to wake you up.

Problem: Are you tired of your hair?

Solution: You can get beetroot juice and mix with carrier oil to give your hair a temporary red hue! Leave this on for an hour before washing out.

Problem: Did you just get a bad haircut you hate and want to fix?

Solution: To make your hair grow, mixing 2 eggs with 2 spoons of olive oil or any other oil is likely fine then massage this mixture into your hair then tie it up and wrap in saran wrap and leave on for an hour then leave on for an hour. The length it grows depends on your hair but usually 2-4 inches.

By Harshitha Gosula

Cubs' Column is a school newspaper published by the students of Jackson Memorial Middle School in Jackson Township, Ohio. Students are encouraged to contribute stories, photos, cartoons, and letters to the editor. Click here for more information.

Email: jem2jc@bearworks.jackson.sparcc.org
Website: https://www.jackson.stark.k12.oh.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=6497
Location: Jackson Memorial Middle School, Mudbrook Street Northwest, Massillon, OH, USA
Phone: 330 830-8034