This year's editors:

Print Editor-in-Chief
Natasha Ovuoba

Design/Online Editor-in-Chief
Zach Allred

News Editor
Eric Williams

Opinion Editor
Hannah Wing

Feature Editor
Kevin Rodgers

Sports Editor
McKenna Neville

Did I miss anyone?

Looking for something to do this summer?

Hey, everybody. If you're looking for something awesome, fun, and productive to do this summer you should check out the programs going on down at Spyhop!They have documentary film making programs, sound engineering programs, and a whole lot more. Just check out the various programs at the Spyhop website

Newspaper staff is cooler than yearbook staff

Let's face it. We've all thought it. We've all acknowledged the truth. The Danegeld is just better then the Eddas. Nothing against yearbook, but newspaper takes the cake.

You Suck! Don't Broadcast Yourself

With the expanding world of technology and media, there comes new ways to make yourself known on the web. One of the most popular ways is through a well known video site called YouTube. This site brings out the filmmaker in all of us and allows us to share what we have made with the world. Using video blogs and short films, people all over the world are broadcasting themselves. But does everyone deserve this great privilege? There seems to be many people who abuse the power of YouTube. I am speaking of the people who upload cellphone videos of a ping pong match, where nothing amusing even happens. Or people who don't even know how to hold a camera, and managed to record capture and upload an upside-down shot of their friend shooting hoops. YouTube is a great location for people who have a lot of talent, or even a little bit of talent, but nobody in the YouTube Community wants to watch people with NO TALENT. Perhaps the terms of use should include: Do not upload videos that suck!
--Zach Allred

The Green Man Is a National Hero

During the Homecoming game, there were many unfortunate mishaps. The Marching Band showing up late, The Number 1 Fan (Viewmont Mascot) dropping the ball, and a premature attempt of the Viewmont "Rowing." But none, so tragic, nor intentional, as the de-masking of the school wide hero - The Green Man. The Green Man is seen as a National Hero to Viewmont students. He can fight crime better than Superman himself. The de-masking of this hero was simply uncalled for. What kind of joker would want to reveal the identity of Viewmont's very own Batman? I simply think it's ludicrous.

-Zach Allred
Danegeld Reporter

In defense of the mind

Knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. They all have different definitions, they are all different things, but they all are connected. You need knowledge so that you can act with intelligence, and then from there you gain more experience and you learn to act with wisdom. Often people try to connect wisdom to some mystic arbitrary definition. There is nothing arbitrary about wisdom, it's just a higher kind of intelligence.
There is no intelligence without Knowledge, there is no wisdom without intelligence, much in the same way that there is no logic without reason, and there is no understanding without logic, and there is no affinity or friendship without understanding. Knowledge, logic and reason are the base of all things and nothing will be lasting or strong without these things, and these things are bred in the human mind, the most sacred and incredible thing that you will ever be in possession of. I hold that as an absolute. Never let anyone tell you that your mind is bad, that men who rely on the mind for their reasoning are merciless and evil. Never let other's arbitrary whim or mysticism effect your morality or judgment.

Be More...

Here is my final Senior editorial, with an exclusive sentence not included in the print edition. See if you can figure out which one it is! Have a great summer, and life, Vikes!

To me, high school has been about how to function successfully in society. Oh, and something about isotopes, pigs that could talk, and some guy named Metternich. If high school doesn’t teach you about people, you’re damned. There is no hope for you. High school is unforgiving and dirty, like a bunch of cannibalistic apes put in a metal cage with huge, sharp spikes on the sides. You can pretty much sum high school up with the only quote, from a book that I had to read for school, that I remember: “Do it to Julia!” Enter your best friend’s name in place of “Julia,” if you wish.
The first two senior editorials I wrote for this last issue were cruelly rejected. I tried using a boring metaphor of a computer as my life and high school as a disposable software program. I then attempted to make a want ad for myself as a joke to go out on before I leave. Virtually everyone, with the exception of a few philanthropic souls, hated both, and demanded that I write something better and more enjoyable to the masses. I decided that writing about one or two moments from my high school career that summed up the essence of all three years would be satisfactory to the people around me. But all I could come up with was the past few days of rejection and writer’s block (not surprising to Mrs. Whitlock). It’s that, or maybe Melany Bruderer pulling the headphone out of my ear right now, just as I finally recognize a song from her Zune.
I tell you these things to reemphasize that the main thing I have learned from high school is that the world is cruel and finding self-worth is difficult. High school pulls no punches though and grinds that lesson into you with a jackhammer. Although your world will get better over time, it is largely due to your growing abilities to adapt to and accept what comes your way. So after all of this, I do have a conclusion, a brilliant insight that took me years to reach: high school is a bacterium, but it strengthens your immune system. Your time here is worth it. Make the best of it both in academic effort and frivolous shenanigans – just don’t do anything that may overly-affect your future negatively. The constant pain many feel during this time of their life challenges you and makes you better. It may seem like you’re being attacked, but really you’re just being made to be better, to be more – kind of like the relentless push by my peers and advisor to make me write a decent senior editorial.

A Hardball to the Face for Kevin James

Watch Chris Matthews eviscerate conservative radio talk-show host (prick) Kevin James from today's Hardball. It's a torture session for all to gawk at. Enjoy!

I am finished

Okay, so, we haven't had a grammar lesson for a while. This time, we'll go over when to use done and when to use finished. My mother taught me this one when I was very young. I would be finished with dinner and say, "I'm done." My dear sweet mother said, "Russell, things are done, people are finished."

This is the wisdom I would like to impart on you. As you FINISH the AP Tests this AP Test season, remember that you are finished, and the AP Test season is DONE.

-Russell Lowe

A Triad of Poems

To honor the winner of the most recent poll, regarding what readers would most like to see next on the blog, I am going to share some of my latest attempts at poetry. I did not write a haiku, mostly because I generally avoid doing so, since a talented toddler could write one. I thought it would be a nice gesture of humor to include that in the poll options though. I hope you enjoy the poems:

Toast to a Dark Sunrise
- after Robert Bly’s Clothespins

I’d like to have spent my life making
Toast. Nothing more
Except maybe some orange juice and jelly.
I’d make the best toast. I’d see
It toasted to the perfect crisp,
And buttered with
“I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.”
I’d close the fridge, look out the sun-touched window
And go out to give some to horses and geese, all
Just waking up, with the morning humidity
And a little night still on the horizon.

Wormhole

I wish to be able to stare
And be unabashed
To lock eyes with some
Other soul across a room
And to be stared back at
Such an achievement
To have stood so politely
For all this time
Your number is called
And you can go through
The machinery of life
Less the loneliness
To become another
And have that connection
Seasoned for death
Waking up to the
Orifices of nature

I'm the Stranger

I'll be your every-night stand;
your midnight renewal

I'll be your breakfast in the morning
with soy espresso and buckwheat pancakes

I'll be your goodbye kiss
And I'll buy you roses at work

First, I've got to lie to you
so that you can love me.

All poems are Copyright ©2008 Adam Scott Gregg