 Wednesday, December 17, 2008
In READ's survival issue, we told you to visit us today to see Steven Frank's mini-miniseries episode of "Mnemonic Man." Well, here you are... and here it is!
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Tuesday, December 16, 2008
... The ending to the story "The Interlopers" by H.H. Munro that is. In the December 12 issue, READ editors published the story of two enemies brought together by the need to survive a hunting trip gone bad. They barely made it through their ordeal only to meet with wolves in the end. But was that the end? We'll never truly know what transpired, but it is fun to think about. These students provided their own endings to the story. Read on through these endings and find the good, the bad, and the bloody.
1.
The wolves were running faster and faster as they neared the men. Georg could hardly see them running down the mountain, so Ulrich shouted out and told Georg not to worry because he had a plan. Ulrich shouted at the wolves to draw near him instead of Georg, and three of the five wolves did. Ulrich spread his arm out further than his max expansion and grasped his knife from his coat pocket. Ulrich had half of his left arm with his knife in it and stabbed one wolf to send him off whimpering. The other two wolves jumped on Ulrich causing him to loose his knife. The wolves were shredding through the men's coats, as kaabooooom! Kabooooom! was heard echoing throughout the forest. Georg's men arrived in the knick of time to kill two of the wolves and sending the other two sprinting into the forest. The men scurried down to the prisoners under the tree to release their misery. As the men approached, they realized that Ulrich, their enemy was lying beside their boss. They threatened to kill him, as Georg shouted "No!" because they had become friends while lying in the forest. Georg's men released the two men under the tree and the men began telling their very fortunate story.
-- Joseph Jones
2.
"Wolves? You can't be serious Ulrich! You must have too much blood in your eyes!" Georg laughed nervously.
"No. I'm afraid not. I'm sorry, friend," Ulrich sighed with exhaustion.
"Maybe, just maybe, we can make it out of this. If we work together," Georg struggled for breath, his lungs squished by the tree.
Out of nowhere, Ulrich's men appeared. They helped him get free. Georg got very quiet, then spoke again.
"Ulrich, have you freed yourself?"
"Yes, Georg, I have. My men are here. They have helped me," Ulrich smiled.
"Then you can free me too!" Georg yelled in excitement.
"Ahh, that is where you are wrong, my friend. I have waited far too long to own this land. I'm not going to lose that chance by helping you now!" Ulrich laughed evilly.
"But Ulrich! Please!" Georg pleaded, but it was too late.
Ulrich and his men raced off, away from the wolves, and away from the tree. Georg's shrieks of pain and his constant begging for help eventually faded into the darkness. Then, in the blink of an eye, Ulrich tripped over a tree root and hit the ground with a loud thunk.
"Men! Come help me! I have fallen!" Ulrich yelled. His head throbbed, and he couldn't feel his leg. As he felt it his hand brushed along a huge gouge, and something else that was very sharp.
"Argh! My leg is broken! Someone, come help me!" He yelled again.
No one responded. He couldn't even hear Georg anymore.
But there was one thing he could hear-the howling of wolves and the pattering of feet-getting nearer and nearer.
--Aly O
3.
The wolves began to circle and stalk their prey. Ulrich could see their blood thirsty eyes pierce through him like a bullet. Wait, Ulrich still had his rifle! He slowly reached for it, his fingers inches away, but he was too late. A wolf lunged, latching himself onto Ulrich’s neck. Georg struggled to help his new friend, but the wolf backed away from Ulrich’s limp body and then turned to him. Out of nowhere, a bullet ripped through the wolf's flesh. Georg looked up to see Ulrich’s family. Before he could say anything, they shot him!
--Samantha U.
4.
They just stood there, watching the two men lying helplessly. About fifteen minutes past, but they were still there. The wolves could have taken them for dinner by now. At first, the larger wolf that seemed to be the pack's leader started to step back. Ulrich whispered as if he was out of breath, "Why don't they attack? They seem as if there too shy to approach us." Georg just lay there, trying to see, but his eyes were glued shut with the dried blood. "The largest wolf is walking away," explained Ulrich. "And the other wolves are following. There completely gone now." Now they had another dilemma. Georg and Ulrich were still wounded with nothing to eat or drink. The bottle of wine was dropped and was too far to reach. Even if Ulrich hadn't have dropped it, the wine wouldn't go very far thirst wise. Help!
Hours that seemed like days passed, but neither group spotted the two immobilized men. "Help!" cried Georg. Ulrich said, "On the count of three." The two men lay there, determined to be released. "Help!" they both cried at once. It seemed to get dark all of a sudden. "It's almost dark," said Ulrich. "How are the troops going to find us now?"
The morning came, and the two men were still there. A loud sound woke them up. Georg spotted a vine on the ground. Wait, it wasn't a vine. It's moving! "A snake!" he whispered. All of a sudden, they heard a bark. When Ulrich looked up, he saw that it was the pack of wolves, but this time, they were dashing straight at Georg and Ulrich. They were almost there, but all of the wolves stopped. "They are for sure peace makers. The wolves are back and they are right in front of me," said Ulrich. It was true. If the leader had taken one more step, he would have been on the tree that held Ulrich and Georg on the dirt that was making their clothes and hair dirty. The wolves were followed by a group of people. They were saved!
-- Melanie A.
5.
The beast came running through the forest as fast as it could. The wolves, slobber dripping down their face, ran straight for Georg Znaeym. George broke off a branch from the tree that had fallen on him and Ulrich. He started swinging at the blood thirsty wolves. He crushed one in the head and killed it instantly. The others started jumping on him and he struggled to hold them off. Then all of a sudden these men showed up and shot all the wolves and killed a big percentage of them, before the rest ran off. These men ran to both of the trapped men and they told them, "Hang on we will have you out in no time. The two men grasped their wounded bodies. A man cames back with an axe and chainsaw and they started going to town on this huge tree. They finally got these men out and dragged them to an open area, where the two men united.
--Bradley Wallace
6.
The wolves were about 30 meters away. They looked thin, probably starving. Ulrich glanced at Georg with terror in his eyes. If there was any thinking to do, it was now. He glanced at the wolves. They had stopped and started to sniff the air, hungrily. They looked at Ulrich. He glanced away quickly, knowing that if he looked them straight in the eye, they would consider it a threat. The wolves started to prance to where Georg and Ulrich were lying, helplessly. Since Ulrich's one arm was free, he tried to reach into his sachel for his pocket knife. Georg barely saw that the wolves were just now only about 10 meters away and he told Ulrich to hurry. Ulrich could barely touch the handle of his knife when he was startled by a low growl. He slowly looked up. Right above him, staring him straight in the eye, was one of the largest wolves he had ever saw. His huge, yellow teeth reeked of rotting meat and death. His saliva was dripping off of his teeth onto Ulrich's face. He dare not to move. But as he was staring at the wolf's dainty, green eyes, he slowly reached into his sachel for his knife. All of a sudden, he heard Georg scream. Another wolf was about to bite into his leg. Ulrich retrieved his pocket knife and stabbed the vicious beast in the leg, sending it off of himself. The wolf gave off a yelp that sounded eerie and dark. The pack started to retreat. Far off in the distance, Georg heard Ulrich's party searching for them. At last, they were saved. He now knew not to put an unnessesary dispute between he and his neighbor, for it can turn out deadly.
-- Mara M.
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Monday, December 15, 2008
In the Survival issue of READ, we asked you to write a TV episode of LOST where you are one of the main characters. Here is what 10th grader Nikki McNutt came up with.
So there we were, shipwrecked and miles away from home. Well I guess I should start from the beginning. Every few years my friends and I, Jenny, Lucy, Stephanie, Brandon, Stacey, Shanna, and a few more that I don't know that well, like to regroup. We all take a cruse and go to the Caribbean for a few weeks in the winter. We all have a lot of fun and enjoy each other's company in the time away from our hectic lives. It's very easy to lose ourselves in all the relaxation, but we never thought we would ever get close to getting this lost.
We went scuba diving and when we surfaced we had no idea where we were. The only things in sight were a cluster of islands that none of us recognized. We looked around and into the distance there was no ship in sight. So we all swam over to the island and looked for any sign of salvation ... there was nothing. When we got to the island, there was nothing there. There was plenty of food but we had no idea what was poisonous and what was safe. We searched all around and we got some dry wood and got a fire started with Stephanie's amazing fire starting skills. We gathered some supplies that we knew were good for us to eat, such as raspberries, strawberries, mangos, and coconuts. It was a start.
 We all had time enough to get leaves and bamboo to make a small shelter before nightfall. The next morning there was still no sight of a ship so we decided to explore a little bit. The island was HUGE! There was plenty of food, we found a fresh water stream, and it was so beautiful. We made a better shelter and after that none of us wanted to leave. But little did we know we weren't alone. The second night we spent on our new home was going to be something we would never forget.
We are all deep in conversation and watching the stars. All of a sudden we heard people walking around in the forest, most of my friends started freaking out but Stephanie and I let go of fear and went into stealth mode. We got a few sticks from the fire and when we went over to the perpetrators we found out that it wasn't a perpetrator at all it was more scubadivers that got left behind. We let them stay at our new home and we got along well.
We were there for a week and a half by the time that we knew how to get around the island without getting lost, we had plenty of food and we loved it there but we missed our families. We would go everyday to the shore and watch for passing ships but there was nothing. We were all scared that we would die on this island with only each other, and never see our families again. After another week of waiting we decided to check out the surrounding islands to see if anything was there, we found more food, and some ruins. We thought we were in the Caribbean but now we realized we were in the Bermuda Triangle. That's why we got lost and had no idea where we were for so long, we were in a no man's land.
We thought we would never get off that island. In the turn of events that followed our whole existence turned around. One day while walking, we walked passed one of the ruins. We looked around a bit and found what seemed to be the remains of a castle. There were gold particles and large pillars that had been eroded in time. Usually we would just pass the ruins to get to the food, but now we started to explore and noticed some tools that we knew the people that lived here would never be able to use. And a little farther off the ruins we found a little campground with a group of Archeologists in a circle eating lunch. We spied for awhile then went back to our home on the other island to get the others; we went back later to find the Archeologists hard at work on the ruins. We walk into the clearing were the Archeologists were and startled them by accident. They asked how we got there so we told them the whole story and they sent for a boat to bring us home.
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008
It must be the time of year--these final weeks leading up to Christmas--that is why I can't stop thinking about FOOD! There are so many great traditions to look forward to. Being an Italian American, I get to eat homemade spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, fettuccini alfredo and baked ziti all the time, but when the holidays roll around, I'm actually more excited to eat fish. Yeah, you read it right. And not just fish sticks and tartar sauce, I'm talking fish that most kids would gag over. Yes, I, Jennifer, look forward to smelly, fishy foods with tails and tentacles on Christmas Eve. Now, how could a person who ate homemade spaghetti every Sunday be convinced to eat fish on such an important holiday and actually enjoy it?
 When I was a kid, our family ate at least seven different kinds of fish on Christmas Eve; a gluttonous feast prepared every year by an epicurean trinity: My Nana, my Grandma and my Mom. There was no arguing with the trinity about the menu. Each of these women took a shine to a certain dish, which through the years became her specialty.
Nana's favorite was the calamari and the squid. Standing no more than five feet, Nana would fight with the best of the Italian ladies on Tremont Avenue's fish market to pick out the absolute freshest squid she could buy. "Nothing but the best for her family," Nana would say. Watching her prepare these tiny, tentacled creatures was less than appetizing. But she did season, batter, bread, and fry each wriggly piece so that when they were dipped in freshly made tomato sauce, they just tasted like butter! My dad literally salivates at the mere thought of Nana's calamari and I remember even as a kid, watching him eat them and thinking how much he resembled a little boy in a sandbox!
Next, was Grandma's fresh shrimp cocktail. Just as fresh as Nana's squid, Grandma's shrimp lived up to the name "fruit of the sea" because they would pop like a sweet, ripe orange when you bit into one. Grandma sat me down in her kitchen when I was about eight years old to teach me how to properly de-vein a shrimp. Keep in mind, in my family activities such as these are considered a rite of passage. Grandma said, "If you position the knife at the tippy top of the shrimp's back and make a slice all the way down to the tale, the vein will just slide right out!" And she was right. Through her expert teachings, my shrimp cleaning skills far exceed many adults; though describing the process to my girlfriends at school did not win me any popularity contests!
 Finally, there was Mom's breaded and fried flounder. Oh! My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Every Christmas Eve, after mass, my Mom and I would wrap ourselves in aprons so as not to ruin our dresses. It was my job to sprinkle bread crumbs in one plate and flour in another while Mom would wash the fish and beat the eggs. Then, the assembly line would begin. I would cover each piece of fish in flour and egg and pass it off to Mom who was in charge of breading and frying. And while our fish was being prepared, we had this great tradition of singing and dancing to this Christmas tape she bought in a drug store with all these really funny Christmas songs that, to this day, I've never heard anywhere else. Those songs, the fried flounder and my mother's arms working diligently next to mine for all those years are memories I will remember every Christmas Eve. I still have that cassette tape!
Well, there you have it. The trinity of yum. I'm not sure who made the rest of the seven fish. Sometimes, Nana would do more than one, sometimes an aunt or cousin would bring some, but we have always enjoyed a giant fish dinner the night before Christmas. Somehow, many years later, it's not the toys I remember most or the snow, or pretty Christmas dresses, it's the fish and the amazing trinity who taught me how to cook it.
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