Community Comes Back To School

February 28th, 2012

By Nisa Hussain

Let’s all be thankful that the hilarious cult-favorite show is returning to its rightful place—on our television screens every Thursday night. After a painful hiatus full of online and physical protests, it is finally official. Announced on Twitter by the show’s creator, Don Harmon, Community will begin airing again on March 15th in its usual slot, Thursdays at 8 pm.

Community, the comedy about a diverse study group of students at a community college called Greendale, has proven to be one of the funniest, most clever shows currently on television.

However, apparently not enough viewers were lured in for sufficient ratings. NBC rearranged the midseason lineup and Community didn’t make the cut. “Here’s the problem with Community: It’s a guaranteed money-loser for NBC, no matter how many people on Twitter love it,” wrote Los Angeles Times’ Scott Collins on Twitter.

It makes sense. The show’s fantastic for the fans who already love it, but nobody else seems to have heard of it (despite its airing right before fan-favorites like The Office). All I wanted was an opinion from a Huntingtown student, but the only responses I got were vague no’s and questions about this mysterious, unknown show. Finally, Senior Gabby Gutierrez recognized the show. She was first introduced to the show in class for the showing of the episode on international relations and had a positive review, commenting, “I’ve only seen a few other episodes, but I really liked it. The character dynamics are really amusing because they’re all so random together. There’s like the hipster and the Christian mom and the old racist guy and together it’s so good. It’s completely different kind of humor, but it’s funny that way,”

For the few fans somewhere in the school, I think we can all agree that new fans need to be recruited to save Greendale from any future cancellations by NBC. Here are a few reasons to be curious about Community:

Everyone loves Joel McHale. (You know, from The Soup!)
The parodies are spot-on (When Glee took over Greendale, the study group made sure to constantly stress the importance of “regionals” after belting out a few musical numbers)
Ken Jeong is hilarious as always. He’s the naked guy from The Hangover! In the show, he plays the ridiculous Spanish professor/campus cop wannabe
You will learn so much from Abed, the pop culture robot genius, in a single episode
The ridiculous storylines are fraught with pop culture references (When Troy is discovered to be a natural plummer/electrician, the Good Will Hunting allusion is priceless)
You might recognize Donald Glover, who plays Troy (the former quarterback, now superhero-obsessed geek) from his stand-up on Comedy Central
Donald is also an awesome rapper. Check out Childish Gambino

Third Grader Placed in Foster Care Due to Extreme Weight

February 28th, 2012

By Jennifer Pawlowski

In Cuyahoga County in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, an obese 8 year-old (218 pounds) was taken by the government and placed into foster care. In defending their relocation of the boy, officials from the Department of Children and Family Services cited medical neglect on the part of the mother. “This child’s problem was so severe that we had to take custody.” The mother, who says that she has tried to help her son make lifestyle changes in order to help him lose weight, has taken the case to Juvenile Court in an effort to regain custody of her son. At the University of Pennsylvania, Professor Arthur Caplan insists that the county had no right to remove the boy when approximately a third of kids in the United States are fat, calling it hypocritical. “The government cannot raise these children. A third of kids are fat. We aren’t going to move them all to foster care. We can’t afford it, and I’m not sure there are enough foster parents to do it.”

According to the case workers who removed the boy, they had been working with the boy’s mother for over a year in an effort to help him lose weight. He had lost a few pounds and seemed to be making progresss, then went into a backslide and gained even more weight than he had originally lost. The boy has been supervised by Cuyahoga County since he was diagnosed with a sleep apnea a year ago, a weight-related disorder that leads to sleep loss, weight gain, and a cranky demeanor.

Six million kids in the United States are fat. Some people think foster care is the solution. But how would you feel if you were ripped from your family and told to lose weight? It would only stress you out and make you want to eat more. Clearly, foster care isn’t the answer. So what is?

Health Corner

February 27th, 2012

By Emily Mutschler

With the start of the new year, Spring right around the corner, and bikini season and Prom inevitably approaching, many girls here at HHS are hitting the scale and counting the calories. However, simply eating less will not put a teenage girl into the size zero Abercrombie pants she dreams of. To be fit requires a lifestyle change, not just an idea. Working out, eating RIGHT, not just less, and treating your body right are all vital factors that play in to this healthy equation.

Working out can seem ominous and daunting, but even after a single workout session, you are already in better shape than when you started! And plus, “working out” doesn’t mean doing laps around the track, it can be Zumba at the gym (which is a Latin-inspired dance workout), a kickboxing class with friends, or even a quick, basic, one hundred calorie workout (try doing forty jumping jacks, ten push ups, twenty squats, and thirty crunches). “I think working out is just about the best thing you can do for yourself. Joining a team at school is the easiest way to work out, because you are on a regimented schedule,” says Senior Tera Bradbury.

Eating right can transform your body, with hardly any effort done on your part. By paying attention to more than just the calories (although those are important) on the labels on foods can open your eyes to all of the bad (and good) things out there in the foods you eat everyday. Apricots, avocados, raspberries, cantaloupe, cranberry juice, raisins, tomatoes, lemons and limes, onions, ginger, broccoli, spinach, garlic, peanuts, yogurt, and salmon are all fantastic foods that will fuel your body and give it what it needs to perform and perfect.

By starving yourself, you are actually at risk of setting yourself up for permanent weight gain. When you don’t eat, your body, thinking it is in fight or flight mode, holds onto every last bit of food it gets. It does this by slowing your metabolism, essentially making the food last longer. By messing with your metabolism, you have now put yourself in a position where it can turn into a lifelong problem. From then on, it will always be untrusting of you, it will always want to hold onto the food as long as it can because it doesn’t know if it will be getting any more fuel anytime soon. By simply eating healthier, you can avoid this viscous cycle altogether.

When it comes to eating right, you also need to be conscientious of what fluids you are putting into your body. It is recommended that the average person drink eight cups of water a day. Not only will this hydrate you, but it will also increase metabolism (if it is cold water), fill you up (if it is hot water), aid in weight loss, flush out toxins that are in your system, give you healthier skin, reduce the risks of certain cancers, help digestion and constipation, and improve your overall health. All of this for zero calories! By doing all of this, you ARE treating your body right.

Update!

February 22nd, 2012

Starting Monday, February 27, The Hurricane Nation Online will begin its regular update schedule. Check back often to see our amazing new content, written by your friends and inspired by your community.

As always, PLEASE, submit your questions, ideas, articles, editorials, and pictures to submissions@thehno.com!