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WHY HOLIDAY SPIRIT DWINDLES WITH AGE
Holiday Spirit Dwindles With Age | by Jayla Tate
Holiday Spirit Dwindles With Age | by Jayla Tate
Holiday season welcomes the chance to spend time with family, eat delicious food, and participate in festive traditions. Year after year, people around the world anticipate these hearty events, but do these sentiments potentially fade over time with age and experience?
Image by Haley Carter
As a child, holidays such as Christmas or celebrating a birthday are one of the most memorable parts of life. From creating a list of their most wanted items to planning the perfect birthday party, there couldn’t be a care in the world besides that.
However, growing older can bring some people more than just a want for more expensive gifts. It can have a more disheartening effect, the loss of excitement or joy for something you used to cherish so much. Why does this happen? You’ve just gotten used to it.
“In your kid years, it’s a new experience,” says junior Courtlon Parker, “but as time goes on and you repeat the same thing over and over, it eventually loses that spark.”
The repetition of gift giving and getting out of school in your younger years is a dream come true, but as you get older things start to dull. Factors such as stress, work, and lifestyle can have an effect on how you value the importance of certain experiences. It’s hard to relax when there’s rarely time for breaks, right?
On the other hand, some people may develop a greater appreciation for holidays as they age as they begin to focus less on materialistic things and
more on family and tradition. Watching your family grow can produce the sentiment that time is precious, and that you should spend it accordingly. Sometimes the gift of laughing around a table of food is better than any present.
“You just really have to take your time to appreciate your family and all the mentors in your life,” says freshman Ke’Vondric Cook, “because eventually they won’t be there anymore.”
Being a parent introduces an entirely new meaning to the holidays as well. Not only are you celebrating for yourself, but for your children too. Being able to shape the way they appreciate special occasions is a gift within itself. “As you get older and have your own children,” says science teacher Ms. Gray, “the Christmas spirit is revived in you through your legacy.”
The Next It Girl | by Kierlyn Gibson
The Next It Girl | by Kierlyn Gibson
Catch-22: A Retrospective | by Vaughn Wetzel
Catch-22: A Retrospective | by Vaughn Wetzel
*This article contains spoilers for the book, mini series, and movie Catch-22.
“‘No. Then I can’t ground him'
"‘You mean there’s a catch?’"
"‘Sure there’s a catch,’" Doc Daneeka replied. 'Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy’” (Heller pg. 24).
Catch-22 is a satirical war novel about the harshness of World War Two. The story follows the main protagonist Captain John Yossarian and his experiences in the Mediterranean theater. Yossarian is a bombardier (the guy that aims and drops the bombs) in the B-25 bomber plane.
The story mainly goes through his dilemmas and his fear of flying missions. Although it has a conventionally serious plot, it is embedded with much humor and comedy. There are two major adaptations of the story, which are the mini series and movie. The mini series, I feel, is less satirical and more dramatic. There was not as much comic relief as there was in the movie or book. It also left out some characters and just got some of the facts wrong. Hungry Joe wasn’t in the mini series, Chief White Halfoat was left out of both adaptations, and Major– de Coverly wasn’t in the movie. The movie followed the book a lot more accurately, but, once again, had its inaccuracies. For instance, the way Nately died. With that said, both versions are very much enjoyable.
The phrase “Catch-22” has made its way into popular culture because of this novel. Catch-22 is essentially a paradox of damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Basically, you’re screwed no matter what decision you make. In the novel, you had to be crazy to be grounded from flying more missions, but to be crazy you had to tell the doctor you were crazy. But when you tell the doctor you’re crazy, you aren’t crazy and would have to fly more missions. The only way you were considered crazy is if you wanted to fly more missions, but, even then, you still had to fly missions.
“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions” (Heller pg. 24).
One could argue that you only had to fly 25 missions then you could be sent home, which was for the most part true at that time, but, in the book, Colonel Cathcart kept raising the missions where Yossarian and his fellows would fly about three times the original amount.
Catch-22 was loosely based on Joseph Heller’s experience as a bombardier in World War Two. Here is a graph contrasting Heller’s and Yossarian’s experiences:
To be honest, I was expecting there to be a lot more differences, but I couldn’t find any more. Except for the assumption that Heller probably didn’t go to Sweden to find Orr and I found it hard to believe Milo Minderbinder was a real person, but after doing some more research, I came to find out he was based off of Marvin Winkler. He was a childhood friend of Heller’s. For those who don’t know who Milo is, he was the mess officer in Catch-22 and the CEO of M&M Enterprises also known as “the syndicate”. The syndicate was essentially a black market run by Milo, but he wouldn’t get in trouble for it because “everybody has a share” and “what’s good for the syndicate is good for everybody.” I could not find cold, hard proof of what Heller’s bomber was called. We know it’s a B-25 Mitchell, but individual bombers would have names given by crews. The one I suspect it is is “L’il Critter from the Moon.” No kidding. When I further researched that specific bomber, I found the bomber crew. Joseph Heller was not on the list, but George Hellyar was. No kidding. This was enjoyable to research to be completely honest.
A moment that happens frequently in the book is Yossarian trying to save Snowden. Snowden was a brand new tail gunner on his first mission. The bomber was hit by flak right where he was sitting. Yossarian was the only one who could help him and he wrapped up Snowden’s bleeding leg and thought he was fine. Then, Yossarian rolled him over and saw where the real injury was. Snowden ends up dying. This event was inspired by a mission over Avignon, France. The real life Snowden was Sargent Carl Frankel, but he survived.
Catch-22 is one of the greatest American novels, possibly of all time, and gave birth to a commonly used phrase used today. Now go read it, or don’t, since I already spoiled it all.
Most Anticipated Movies in 2025
Most Anticipated Movies in 2025 | by Rafaela Brand
Most Anticipated Movies in 2025 | by Rafaela Brand
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