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Though substitute teacher Barry Finkelstein calls himself “an open book,” his colorful past, which has had a great influence on him, has only recently been revealed.

According to Finkelstein, his personality and style of teaching are the products of his life in the military and his work for the federal government.

Finkelstein spent 36 years in the government: five in active duty and in the Navy, 27 with the Internal Revenue Service and four with the Department of Justice. His first tour with the U.S. Navy was as a line officer aboard a cruiser in Vietnam.

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America is outraged, and it should be. Four U.S. marines were videotaped urinating on dead Taliban soldiers in a callous display of dominance. The Marines have always been a respectable institution and these soldiers have betrayed the honor of their role as soldiers. Yet outrage over this video contradicts the society’s passive acceptance of similar behavior in video games.

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Teaching dating safety at an early age can provide young people the information and tools they need to build a healthy relationship. After all, early relationships play a pivotal role in teens’ lives and are important to developing the capacity for long-term, committed relationships in adulthood. The quality of adolescent romantic relationships can have long-lasting effects on self-esteem and shape personal values regarding romance, intimate relationships and sexuality.

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Rule of Thirds, the debut album from Azure Blue, is the perfect example of why indie music is often more impressive than its mainstream counterpart.

Lately, the electro and dance music scenes in America have been dominated by few artists and even fewer styles.

Skrillex, David Guetta, Deadmau5 and Bassnectar are some of the big names that may come to mind when thinking of the genre.

Interestingly, there is far more depth to dance than dubstep. It can be more conventional, emotional and lyrically rich, as evidenced by Azure Blue.

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Every team has its battles: the practices, the injuries and the daily juggle to balance school with sports. But unlike other sports teams, the indoor track team must overcome challenges unique to the season.

As one of the handful of winter sports available at Marshall, indoor track is handicapped by winter break early in the season. While it is possible for the team to plan around the break, the real issue is much more sporadic. Indoor track is the only winter sport to practice outside and is at the full mercy of the weather.

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This season’s boys varsity basketball team has made a substantial improvement from last year already having beaten last year’s final record with five wins and eight losses.

At this time last year, varsity’s record was three wins and ten losses and it finished the season with three wins and 20 losses.

Varsity basketball has not done this well since the 2009-2010 season finishing with a final record of 12 wins and ten losses.

This year’s team has more returning players than last year’s with five seniors compared to last year’s younger team of three seniors.

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The cyber security team is one of the two Fairfax County high school teams left in the Cyberpatriot tournament.

The team has won two out of four rounds in the Airforce Association sponsored tournament, which consists of four rounds of tests for cyber security teams in high schools nationwide.

“There were a thousand high schools in this competition, now they’re down to the top 25,” academy administrator Jeff McFarland said.

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I’d like to thank you for highlighting the efforts of the GSA to spread tolerance in your last issue. Discrimination by sexuality or gender is still a very real thing in American society and seeing the youth band together to fight discrimination is a very inspiring thing to witness. TheContinue Reading

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Athletes win awards by showing extreme dedication in the sport they play, but head athletic trainer John Reynolds has won an award off of the field.

Reynolds received the second annual Vito Perriello Athletic Trainer of the Year for Secondary Schools Award from the Virginia Athletic Trainer Association on Jan. 14.

According to the VATA, the award is named after the late Vito Periello, a Virginia doctor who showed commitment and dedication toward his patients and is now in the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame.

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