By Gabby F

The results of the U.S. election affect people worldwide. Whether citizens can vote or not, everyone has an opinion on how the election affects them. 

Some students believe the election will significantly affect them, while others don’t see how their opinions matter. Senior Magdalena (or M) A said, “I think we’re all affected by the election; just basic rights are at play here, and honestly, for me, there is no better of the two evils. I hate seeing such a divide between the American people and those in power.” M’s first opportunity to vote is this election, and she isn’t taking it for granted. “It’s very liberating to have the opportunity to vote; it’s nice to be able to contribute to the results of an election.” Sophomore Ellyanna T has a similar view on the election. Though she is too young to vote, she has strong opinions on the topic. “I am actually quite worried about the election. I think that whoever is elected will have an even bigger impact on the U.S. and its citizens than in any other recent election,” Ellyanna said.

While some students feel strongly about the election, others have differing opinions. Senior Amori F said, “It doesn’t matter who wins. They’re not going to live up to their promises.” When asked how he feels about having the opportunity to vote, he replied, “One vote isn’t going to change anything.” Other students also have similar feelings of apathy towards the election. Junior Alexandra G said, “It’s never really affected me, and I don’t vote yet, so I figured I would start paying more attention when I do.” 

Though not everyone feels as strongly about the election as others, the election brings in a variety of opinions and thoughts. No matter where a person stands on the election, it’s important to form one's own opinions and to do their research. Making decisions based on your beliefs and what appeals to and aligns with you is necessary. 

"Ax of Murder" Cast and Crew Kills It

By Julia M

On the evenings of November 1st and 2nd, the Stuttgart High School Drama Club put on a play entitled “Ax of Murder,” written by Pat Cook. This performance was incredibly amusing, engaging, and chilling. 

The play follows a troupe of actors under the direction of Bonnie Bagwell (played by Madeline "Raine" Merrill), writer Colin Chambers (played by Charles Sheiffer), and Police Sergeant Mike (played by Jase/GTPL Burkman). When a haunted script appears, the troupe reads it, despite Mr. Chambers’ warnings not to. It is said that the ghost of Jeffery Thatcher, an actor that died years ago, will haunt the troupe until his murderer is revealed. Sergeant Mike appears, claiming that he received an anonymous phone call about a murder, yet no one has been killed. The Sergeant investigates the stage and the script, which predicts everything that happens exactly. It is said that the tech assistant, Midge Sparrow (played by Piper Wilson), would be the first one to die, and only seconds later she falls to the floor, embedded with a hatchet. After a series of crazy, unexplainable events, the troupe becomes very suspicious and nearly everyone starts to believe that the play is haunted. The Sergeant brings in other officers and a seer, who suggests that they read the script to see who murdered Jeffery Thatcher. After some discussion and arguing, Phaedra Parks (played by Angelina Iverson) steps up and confesses to the murder of Thatcher. She is taken away and the writer, policemen, and tech crew reveal that the entire script was a set up to find Thatcher’s killer. No one was actually murdered that night, and the script is not haunted. 

Each individual actor and actress put so much emotion into their performances. There were several scenes that made my pulse race. When I heard the gunshot, I jumped nearly a foot out of my seat. When Lucille Beddoes (played by Hayden Jones) screamed, I thought there was an actual murder taking place. People around me screamed as well. During Phaedra Parks’ confession to murdering Jeffery Thatcher, goosebumps appeared on my skin. The emotion she put into her speech and actions swept the auditorium like a wave, taking the entire audience with her. Each word she spoke cut through to the audience. However, my favorite part of the play was when Colin Chambers stumbled to the top of the staircase, delivering the shocking line, “No, I don’t have the gun. Just the bullet.” My favorite element of the performance was how the actors would run through the audience, or ask for a show of hands for how many people thought that the script was haunted or that someone was guilty. At one point, the entire cast ran off stage and through the audience chasing a fellow actress. The audience looked all around to try to find the murder suspect as the troupe chased her. 

The play’s setting was unique in certain aspects compared to a fully dressed set; part of the premise of the play was a rehearsal where the cast and crew are deciding which play to perform. The set used props from old plays, and cast members were not dressed in any particular manner. They wore normal day-to-day clothes that reflected their character’s personal style. This enhanced the play by making it seem so much more life-like and real. If they had all been in a certain kind of costume on one specific set, it would have taken away the believability of this haunted play and cursed script. Because the actors wore normal clothes, sat on normal furniture, and used normal props, it seemed like they were actually at a rehearsal-gone-wrong, not performing in front of an audience on closing night. It amplified the spookiness of the play through the typical atmosphere.

My overall reaction to the drama department’s performance is quite simple: it was magnificent. Each time a plot twist occurred, the entire audience gasped and looked at each other in pure disbelief. Every funny line or pun was delivered with such a unique attitude by the actors, and the audience laughed each time. Sometimes they would laugh so hard that the next lines could not be heard. It was by far the best school production I have ever seen, and I am positive that this statement is shared by others. 

   Images courtesy of Mirabelle K and the Stuttgart High School Theatre.

Former President Donald Trump Wins 2024 Election

By Jordan R

On November 6th, 2024, it was confirmed that former President Donald J. Trump beat Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. He has beaten her in electoral votes 295-226, not including the electoral votes of the states of Arizona and Nevada, surpassing the 270 electoral votes are needed to win. The former president is also expected to win the popular vote. 

The election results were expected to take days or even weeks, but in an unexpected turn-around, the former president won all of the swing states (states that can ‘swing’ either Democratic or Republican during an election), which almost always depicts the result of an election (Nevada and Arizona’s electoral votes are projected to be for Trump). This will be the 2nd time in U.S. history that a president is sworn in for two nonconsecutive terms, and the first time in U.S. history a convicted felon will be sworn into office. 

The race was said to be by many “the closest race we could see in American history,” so when Donald Trump won by over 60 electoral votes (and over 4 million votes more in the popular vote), it was a shocker for many. Polls before Election Day also showed that the vice president was likely leading amongst voters overall and in some of the important swing states in the north. There are many possibilities as to why Kamala Harris did not succeed in this election, including being too leftist and not distancing herself from the current president, Joe Biden.

Even before all electoral votes came in, news outlets predicted Doland Trump as the victor after obtaining key electoral votes from Pennsylvania, a state Kamala Harris needed to secure to win the presidential election. Soon after, Trump held a speech in West Palm Beach, thanking his supporters for his win as the 47th president of the United States. Kamala Harris was set to make a speech at Howard University the election night, but soon delayed it after Donald Trump's sweeping victory. On the morning of the 6th, Kamala Harris made a concession call to Trump and later made her concession speech. There is only one question left to ask after these tension-filled days: what will this next presidential term bring?

Images courtesy of Doug Mills/The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/11/08/us/trump-election-news?smid=url-share

This article was published on November 8, and more information may have come out by the time of reading. 

"The Wild Robot" Review

Most media portrays rogue intelligence as violent and wanting to destroy the human race and everything good; instead, in "The Wild Robot", as Roz raises Brightbill and completes her “task”, she learns how to love and be truly kind, which goes against what she was made to do: complete menial jobs as a servant. Of course, she gains the ability to question her existence and intended function, and she gains respect for life and the island she became stranded on, wanting to stay on the island with her son and the other animals. Seeing AI develop into learning how to experience human love is a novel concept, and a very interesting facet of the film.

"The Wild Robot" visuals use DreamWork’s newly found storybook animation style seen in previous movies such as Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and the illustration and cartoon-inspired The Bad Guys. Specifically taking techniques of the hand-painted visuals of the former mention into account, DreamWorks created something entirely new, using the ability of creative coloring and custom lighting that is almost exclusive to animation. I especially enjoyed the way that water, fire, and moss are rendered, since they are the most stylized materials in the movie. The animals were the perfect combination of real movement and anatomy and human expression. But Roz as the focus of the movie was definitely the best animated character out of them all. The creative rigging and imaginative functions that the designers gave her add so much to the character, and it is always a surprise when she reveals what she can do and how she can move her body. Her model evolves throughout the film; at the beginning, she falls and is attacked by the animals. She gains scratches and her circuits fall out showing the attention to detail that the animators had. As Roz becomes more attached with nature, plants start to grow over her body. In the movie, her “boot” is ripped off of her leg, which leads to one of the beavers making her a splint out of wood so she doesn't have to limp.

Another unique aspect of the film is the relatively low stakes. In an oversaturated market of movies with conflict that would lead to the end of human existence as we know it, "The Wild Robot" at its core is a familial survival story about when an AI meets the pure natural world. There have been many comparisons of this film to The Iron Giant, (1999). In both movies, a robot ends up in an unfamiliar land. However, I think that this comparison is unwarranted, because the two pictures have fundamentally different themes. Both of them have mortality as a subject, but handle them in their own way, and both titular robots were made for completely opposite functions, with the Iron Giant being a war machine and Roz a nonviolent servant to humans. Plus, their “programming” and intelligence levels, which both carry the plot, contrast from each other. Though both movies do start out with the robots being perceived as “monsters”,they are then accepted by their newfound communities. 

DreamWorks likes to adapt their feature films from children’s books, and "The Wild Robot" is a continuation of that trend. The book series is a trilogy, and the movie covers the first book and mixes in some of the second’s plot. In the state of Hollywood right now, it seems like "The Wild Robot" has the chance to get a sequel, due to the extended material DreamWorks can pull from. Nickelodeon and Disney have already announced that they will be steering clear from new IPs and making more sequels. DreamWorks sequels, just like the rest of their movies, are a hit or miss. DreamWorks is experimental at heart, which is why they release more movies overall than other studios. They will sit on their established franchises, which is usually just for keeping the box office numbers high enough for the studio to keep running; they will also try new concepts, such as "The Wild Robot". I would prefer if DreamWorks kept this film standalone.

Overall, "The Wild Robot" is a visually stunning picture with a moving plot that might make you cry. This is a special movie, without a doubt. I don’t know if DreamWorks will be able to make more films like this when they outsource, and they won’t have the same creative synergy that in-house pictures do. It seems that DreamWorks has found their pace and style they work best at, what can be called a “modern storybook”. Their next feature film, "Dog Man", is based off of the "Dog Man" book series by author Dav Pikley, the same person who wrote the Captain Underpants series, which was also adapted by DreamWorks into another one of their classics. "Dog Man" is ultra-stylized, even more than "Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie". Both adaptations are based off of the scratchy, rough, yet charming illustrations of their source material. As the first outsourced film finished (it will be on the streaming services Peacock and Netflix), "Dog Man" is the first taste of the future outsourced DreamWorks films that are released. I have high hopes for "Dog Man", and I anticipate it to at least attempt to live up to its Dav Pikley adaptation predecessor. 

Image courtesy of https://m.imdb.com/title/tt29623480/mediaviewer/rm2083419137/?ref_=tt_md_5