by Lauren Voyles
If you have a cat, you may know how bad cat urine smells, and how unpleasant it is to have on your bed, carpet, sofa, or clothes. You may have tried before to remove the stains and/or odors without success. There are many commercial cat urine cleaners, but not all of them work. You might have thrown things away because you think that you just can’t get the smell out. Thankfully, there are ways to remove all evidence of cat urine from carpets, furniture, and clothing.
I have waited 16 years and 180 days for a breath of freedom, but now that it’s come I’m shaking with nerves. Driving. I sat through three weeks of Drivers Ed with Mr. Wilson, I lived through my mother screaming every time we could see a car four miles in front of me, but as the day of driving with some stranger approached, my nerves increased. I really didn’t want to fail.
The BMV is a boring building. Generally, there are two or three women working the front counter and one woman who will sit in an office out of view until it gets extremely busy. It is nerve-wracking, but this editor went in calm. Don’t wing it; this editor did. Twice.
I hardly slept the night before my test, and when I drove to the BMV to take the driving test I was literally shaking. My dad told me repeatedly to stop worrying, but it didn’t help at all.
I entered the building promptly at 8:30 and took a seat waiting for the instructor. She checked my permit and she checked my turn signals before we began our journey. She told my dad we’d be gone for about twenty minutes. “Twenty minutes of nerve wracking torture,” I thought.
The actual test doesn’t seem like 20 minutes. It is torture; the first step, after the light check, is to pull out of the BMV parking lot and hang a left onto Jackson Street and head west towards the Sunoco station.
Everything went pretty good until we got to the stop light by McDonalds. The light decided to turn red and I didn’t slow down quick enough for her liking. I wanted to cry when I saw her writing on her clipboard. I kept going. I went over the railroad tracks, around the square, and turned on Walnut Street, where the post office is. I was really nervous I’d mess something up on this one-way street. She was still writing on her clipboard and I didn’t know if she was writing good or bad things.
Tip 1 – Watch your traffic lights carefully. Make sure to be prepared to brake at a moment’s notice in front of every light.
Next came one of the biggest fears of mine: parallel parking. When she said “we’re going to parallel park now,” I swear lightening hit and someone let out an evil laugh. I parked, I knew it definitely wasn’t perfect, but the instructor said “good” and wrote on that ridiculous clipboard again. I turned on my turn signal and got back on the road. She had me turn onto this really narrow street and I’m amazed my 2008 Dodge Caliber kept all four tires on the pavement and not in the grass. We turned on the brick street and I prepared to go to the inside lane of the square; another part that I wasn’t very thrilled for.
Tip 2 – Go practice parallel parking. A great place is to practice at the Salem Speedway parking lot using two things such as old folding chairs or sawhorses. It is extremely helpful to practice.
We made it back the BMV making small talk about the weather and the storms that had hit. I pulled into a parking spot, and she said “Well, you passed.” I couldn’t hold in my “Yay!” and sigh of relief. She told me I need to work on some simple stuff and we went in to get my license!
I immediately updated my Facebook status, and went back to school. Everyone had to tell me the same thing. “Let me know when you’re driving so I can get off the road.” Way to have confidence, guys!
Getting my license definitely lifted a ton of stress and worry off my shoulders and I’m glad I have a bit of freedom, even if I can’t drive after 11 on a school night.
What is the standard of food health? If you look up the definition of “healthy,” or rather its root word “health,” in a Macmillan Dictionary, it will say that heath is “1.) Soundness of body and mind; freedom from defect or disease. 2.) Condition of the body or mind. 3.) Toast drunk in a person’s honor expressing a wish of his well-being.” Well, by process of elimination, the third definition is obsolete in this situation, but we can directly concur with the idea that if the word “health,” is applied in direct variation of food, then we can assume it means the state of which the food someone consumes affects a person’s body, or whether it is good or bad for that person. Continue reading
By Becca Atwood
Warped Tour is the biggest musical event for alternative teenagers that like to meet the bands and meet other teenagers just like them from around the surrounding area. Every year, thousands of teenagers and hundreds of bands gather to bring the largest music festival for ten hours. Continue reading
On the night of March 26th, 2011, I stood on a bustling Chicago sidewalk, coat zipped, hoodie flipped up, and earphones plugged in; a sign above lit up the dirty, old-looking outer walls of the Metro: “Godspeed You! Black Emperor / Eric Chenaux – March 26 – Sold Out.” I’d envisioned this moment for years, but there was nothing like the cold Chicago winds to snap you back into reality; I was there, and just hours away from hearing the opening drones of Storm and Sleep. Understandably, my heart raced. The line of people who stood in-front of me had probably been there for hours just to secure a spot in such proximity from the door. Still, having arrived an hour before the doors would be shoved open had resulted in place nearly forty people back, and I was more than happy with that. Continue reading
By
Jessica Axsom
Most students will confess that at one time or another, they have pulled an all-nighter and crammed information for the following day’s test. It seems that no matter how much time is placed before them to prepare and study, waiting until the last minute just seems like the most logical thing to do; until they are forced to face the fact that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all. Trying to force those eyelids to stay open can become almost impossible and they may fall back on a tasty alternative, an energy drink. Continue reading
By Heather Nail
The SHS Spanish Club is doing working to help their main cause: Relay for Life. Continue reading
By Becca Atwood
Sophomore Lauren Voyles has taken over the spotlight in Salem High School with her new pink hair. No one else at Salem High School has a full head of hot pink hair, and Lauren tells us her reason behind it.
A lot of students use their spring break to make a trip to Florida with friends or family. They’re constantly updating their Facebook about the beach or hanging with Mickey. They come back to school with a tan that makes everybody else cringe with jealousy. I, however, went to history-rich North Carolina, and I’m pretty sure I came back paler than when I left.
My family and I drove to Asheville, North Carolina to see the historic Biltmore Estate, built from 1889 to 1895 by George Vanderbilt. The house is still owned by descendants of the Vanderbilt family who allow the public to come in and tour the largest privately owned house in the United States. The drive was approximately seven hours, complete with food and bathroom breaks.
There were a number of tours available. One could take the basic tour that involved walking through the house asking the hosts or hostesses stationed in different rooms any questions you might have. There was an Audio Tour where people listened to headsets that explained things about the room or the life of George Vanderbilt and his family. There was a Butler Tour that took you to the sub-basement where the pipes of the house were. Another tour that was available was the Architect’s Tour, which explained the beauty of the outside of the building and on the roof to experience the beautiful architecture and symbols on and through the house. The final tour was the friends and family tour that allowed guests to go to certain rooms that were blocked off from the regular tour.
My family took the basic tour with the audio guide. The tour started off in the main entrance hall and went straight to the winter garden, a large indoor garden complete with a fountain. The tour continued to the billiard room, the dining room, and several other formal meeting rooms. Mr. Vanderbilt’s bedroom was a huge 1,200 square feet, larger than some whole houses here in Salem. The house had 34 bathrooms, when many homes back then didn’t have one. The house had an indoor gym, pool, and bowling alley.
There were many gift shops on the estate. A person could buy copies of the artwork shown in the house, as well as shirts and other beautiful trinkets. Of course, the gift shops were pretty expensive and we didn’t buy much.
We rode horses on the estate, too. The trail ride took us to the back of the estate where we could see all six stories of the mansion. There was also a choice for a carriage ride. Tours were also available for those who were interested in the winery. There was a museum on the estate dedicated to the life of the Vanderbilt’s. There were several restaurants to eat lunch and dinner at so no one had to make the journey off the 8,000 acre estate.
The estate had everything needed to have a good time. If you’re a history nut like myself, I suggest making the journey to North Carolina to see the historic Biltmore Estate.
The Cub 
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