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Due to restrictions related to COVID-19, the graduation ceremony will be postponed to a date to be determined in July.

Valedictorian: Joseph Armbruster. Salutatorian: McKenna Manske.

The class motto is 2020: A class with a vision. The class flower is a white rose with red tips. The class colors are red, black and silver.

Class of 2020 officers: President Conor Vatland, Vice president Bree Hatlan, Secretary Claire Griffin, Treasurer Josi Bishop.

Candidates for graduation: Karly Anderson, Joseph Armbruster, Andrew Bechtel, Noah Benish, Melody Berg, Josi Bishop, Luke Bjorklund, Rebecca Buckles, Jackson Bunch, Manuel Chavez, Tyler Christianson, Jaden Cronn, Dominic DelMedico, Alexis Ellefson, Gabriel Engh, Kyle Falkers, Gabriella Felten, Estelle Fischer-Fortney, Cohner Fish, Robert Frydenlund, Faith Gardner, Carlos Gastelum, Jordan Gettelman, Brenden Griffin, Claire Griffin, Joshua Gunderson, Haley Hagen, Riley Hagen, Austin Hall, Zachary Harris, Bree Hatlan, Evan Hendrickson, Ashton Hill, Liza Jackson, Karalyn Jaeger, Kaydan Jothen, Hailey Kittle, Jake Krause, Abigail Larrington, Tyler Lasky, Eva Lee, Cooper Lipski, Mason Mageland, McKenna Manske, Amanda Marshall, Izaak McCauley, Mitchell McKittrick, Cody Meyer, Ty Milutinovich, Austin Mowery, Jullian Nagle, Devin Nelson, Haley Nelson, Noah Nelson, Payten Nelson, Anna Ofte, Gavin Olson, Cora Ostrem-Hanson, Logan Paduano, Cole Peterson, Evan Peterson, Robert Purvis, Savana Radke, Sedona Radke, Andy Role, Ezequiel Santiago, Benjamin Schmidt, Linda Schmitz, Kassandra Sherpe, Dylan Songer, Davontae Spears, Chloe Stellner, Molly Stenslien, Kaili Swanson, Adam Teadt, Finnegan Trautsch, Logan Turben, Conor Vatland, Lucas Wieczorek, Alayna Winterfield, Theresa Wintersdorf, Katherine Wollman

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Graduation 2020: Westby Area High School - The Westby Times

Keiko Furukura describes the Hiiromachi Station Smile Mart shes worked at for 18 years as though it were her boyfriend. She tells of how the whirring of the freezers and the beeping of the coffee machine ceaselessly caress my eardrums. And when alone at night in her small, pokey flat, she dreams so much of the brightly lit and bustling store that she begins to shape herself to please it: I silently stroke my right hand, its nails neatly trimmed in order to better work the buttons on the cash register.

Keiko is the emotionally detached star of Sayaka Muratas Convenience Store Woman, which in 2016 with the help of Ginny Tapley Takemori became the first of her 10 Japanese novels to be translated into English. Prior to getting hired at the Smile Mart aged 18, Keiko was a societal outcast who lived life in such utilitarian terms that she often horrified those around her. When as a kid she found a pretty bird dead in the school playground, her first instinct was to grill it for dinner. As a teacher struggled to break up a fight between two students, Keiko whacked one of them over the head with a spade, so hard there was blood. She gets older and fantasises about silencing her sisters wailing baby with the small knife they just used for slicing birthday cake. If it was just a matter of making him quiet, it would be easy enough.

It is only in the transparent glass box of the convenience store that she finds acceptance and purpose. On her first day, Keiko receives a uniform and a manual that prescribes her behaviour right down to the scripted interactions she must have with customers. Certainly. Right away, sir! she chimes. Thank you for your custom! She finds fulfilment in the easy rhythmic chugging of daily tasks. Stacking fizzy drink cans high. Pushing the sale of mango-chocolate buns because they are on offer. Making more croquettes than usual because people prefer them when theyve gone cold. The whoosh and thump of the fridge doors slamming under her fingertips. The glint of the light on the floor shes shined. She believes she can hear the stores voice telling me what it wanted, how it wanted to be. I understood it perfectly.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Through her work, Keiko is able to ape the actions of a normal person and thus assimilate into a society she had hitherto been pushed out of. I felt reassured by the expression on Mrs Izumi and Sugawaras faces, she says after mirroring their anger at another employees failure to restock shelves properly. Good, I pulled off being a person. Id felt similarly reassured any number of times here in the convenience store.

She is so good at her job, devoting herself so wholly to its demands, that any self that exists outside of work begins to slip away into nothing. Keiko becomes like an electronic arm on a machine, picking up and putting down when its buttons are pressed. I automatically read the customers minutest movements and gaze, and my body acts reflexively in response, Keiko thinks, as she predicts from the motion of a shoppers hand that he will pay on card.

While initially Keiko goes to the Smile Mart in order to fit in, as she reaches 36, her family worry about her lack of prospects. Staying there starts to seem like an act of defiance. Worried about the fate of her work, Keiko takes useless shop worker Shiraha home with her, hoping that having a fake boyfriend might get everyone to leave her alone. Hes a greasy, lazy slob who says things that wouldnt sound out of place on an incel Reddit thread. The youngest, prettiest girls in the village go to the strongest hunters, he says, reeling off another Jordan Peterson For Dummies-style theory. They leave strong genes, while the rest of us just have to console ourselves with whats left. Feeding off her finances like a tapeworm, Shiraha eventually convinces Keiko to quit her job for a better paid one and its a breakup which leaves her devastated.

Convenience Store Woman is a gothic love story for our times, not with a vampire, a ghost or a zombie, but with those temples of consumption that glow on the edges of street corners, promising short queues and reliable products. Its capitalism kink and it makes readers anxious. How easily we are charmed by the allure of efficiency. The smooth running of the machine. Productivity distilled to its most concrete essence. But its not a manifesto, so Furukura withholds judgement and gives us permission to enjoy the love story from the bottom of its Plasticine pink heart. At least thats something you cant buy.

Heres what some of our readers thought...

May, 34, Leeds

So much of the time, in life, we are taught to want more, but in seeking it often you only get less. I work in marketing, which is supposed to be a good job, but often I miss the calm regularity of my days working in the supermarket. The coronavirus has highlighted our reliance on key workers such as shop staff. When I worked there, I didnt have any anxiety that what I was doing was useless. I feel useless often in my office job. Keiko knows the importance of what she does.

Emily, 22, London

Keiko is meant to be the weird one but as the novel progresses, you realise it is more everyone around her who is odd. Why are they so obsessed that she get a better job when she is happy? Why does she need a boyfriend or a baby? The only thing I think is a bit disappointing is that this critique of society is channelled through a character whose inability to relate to others ordinarily would be read as autistic. You dont have to have a developmental disorder to think that our fixation on career, marriage, childbirth is strange. I do too!

Matt, 45, Newcastle

Often when we work, we become not human. People dont see you when youre in a uniform. You speak in a way thats more like a robot than a person. Sometimes its relaxing it takes you out of the anxieties of wanting more, that you should make a podcast, get a new outfit. But another kind of work is possible, one where Keiko could gain pleasure not because shes erased but because shes allowed to become more herself.

Our next Indy Book Club pick will be voted for by you. Send your thoughts to annie.lord@independent.co.uk

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The Indy Book Club: Convenience Store Woman is a gothic love story with a sickly capitalist kink - The Independent

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Free-agent defensive end Everson Griffen remains in a holding pattern. The 32-year-old has been linked to Seattle but not many other teams has he looks for a new NFL home.

The Cardinals reportedly have interest in Griffen, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com.

Arizona is trying to boost a defense that needs plenty of help. Given all the attention devoted to Chandler Jones, Griffen would likely see some favorable matchups and, at a minimum, one-on-one opportunities.

Chad Graff of TheAthletic.com recently explained that Griffens status has been influenced in part by the inability to make visits to teams. As Vikings G.M. Rick Spielman told #PFTPM in the aftermath of the draft, the door isnt closed on a return to Minnesota; however, the Vikings lack the cap space to give Griffen the kind of deal he may expect.

Griffen has 74.5 sacks in 147 career games. He had a career-high 13.0 sacks in 2017.

Link:
Cardinals reportedly have interest in Everson Griffen - NBCSports.com

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Ideology has been a big incentive for action over the course of history. We know that humans have fought over scarce resources, but they also have a strong system of beliefs that they are willing to defend at high costs. But how they get their belief system is a different conversation that has to do with the fundamental question brought up by American political scientist Harold Lasswell: Who gets what, when and how? He argues that the ruling elites engage in forms of power and manipulation against the counter-elites, and thus, ideology comes into the picture.

If we look at the state of ideology over the 20th century, we can see that more than 100 million people were killed as a result. Im not going to get into the details, but you get the idea of how it went down. So, you have a group of people who think that other groups ideals are so corrupted that there is no way to change them. And what do they do? They try to eliminate them. Im mainly talking about World War II, but the same thing was happening during the Cold War two big nations fighting for two different ideologies.

Moreover, looking at the state of ideology today, here in the U.S. we have two main political ideologies: left wing, with liberals and the Democratic party, and right wing, with conservatives and Republicans. People tend to have their belief systems deeply ingrained in those ideologies. For example, we have both sides arguing as to why the other side is corrupt. Sound familiar? But now we have a new phenomenon occurring that is partly the consequence of the internet and social media. This is the popularization of ideological representatives. And Im not talking about government or religious figures. This is a part of a collective thinking that is guided by the chosen ones the ones who are selected by the public, or the ones whom the public allows to do their thinking for them.

A clinical psychologist and professor from University of Toronto, mostly notorious for his debates on political correctness, female wage gap and gender pronouns. His main view on bettering the world has to do with fixing yourself. He believes that people need to work on personal responsibility and bettering themselves first, and in this way they can better the world around them.

Quotable phrases: Make your bed! Clean up your room!!

A Slovenian Philosopher and researcher at the University of Ljubljana, also known as the most dangerous philosopher in the West. He is more notorious for his work on continental philosophy, political theory, Marxism, Hegelianism and theology. Zizeks work deals with ideology and he thinks that in order to better the world one needs to stop indulging in ideology. He believes that ideology consists of the wrong ways we try to define reality and a post-hoc rationalization of why institutions do what they do.

Quotable phrases: If you want to get rid of ideology, first you have to beat yourself.

Peterson argues against the postmodern neo-Marxist position held by, in his terms, the radical left. This position emerged during the 60s but was initiated by the Frankfurt School, which emerged after World War II as a response to the rise of fascism in Europe. It had notable members including Herbert Marcuse and Theodor Adorno, who used a Marxist and Freudian (psychoanalysis) framework for analyzing the world around them. Nevertheless, the position Peterson has a problem with is the idea of how oppression is the result of nefarious actions by the elites. Peterson believes that this belief creates a victim mentality that doesnt do the world any good.

On the other hand, Zizek is a Marxist. He supports the notion that capitalists generate profit by exploiting the labor classes. This said, Zizeks view on the postmodern condition is different than Petersons. He thinks that our ideology is the product of our discomfort with our present condition. And our present condition being part of a capitalist system smartly divides a nation into ideologies to keep the people in place. Nevertheless, the two go face to face in a debate on Marxism.

Watching the chosen ones have a debate in a big auditorium is something that reminded me of a sports event. Whenever Zizek made an argument, those rooting for him began screaming, and the same for Peterson. It was a competition from the audience as to who could chant and scream harder. I dont know if they were listening carefully to what the two were saying.

Petersons way of speaking is carefully executed. He takes great care with his tonality, and he is concise and tries to give out secure and bold statements. I think that being a psychologist helps him understand how to control peoples attention. On the other hand, Zizek is an experience to watch. His ticks and mannerism are eccentric and eclectic. His way of speaking consists of simultaneously squeezing his nose and grabbing his ears followed by his thick Eastern European accent. I couldnt understand certain things he was saying.

When it comes to who won the debate, it is important to point out the following: Peterson opened by saying basically that Marx and Engels only considered the economic aspect of society. This is wrong if your topic of debate is Marxism. In fact, Marxism is grounded on historical (Hegelian), religious, political and economic implications. It is noted that Marx wrote thousands upon thousands of pages to make his point. But the most important thing I want to say is that here you have a chosen intellectual completely unprepared to have an intellectual discussion. And for some reason, people end up clapping and screaming in favor of Peterson. For some reason, the people in the event were oblivious to the topic of debate and were focusing on satisfying their system of beliefs via Peterson.

Nevertheless, the two had things in common when it comes to the current state of identity politics in the United States. They both kind of agree on the dangers of the excesses of the victim mentality in the left.

I understand that people dont have the time to read entire volumes on Marxism or whatever the topic may be. I understand that people are busy with their jobs and lives, and moreso in this pandemic. But it is important to notice the conformity sometimes people choose when it comes to reinforcing their belief system. By this, I mean that people seldom engage in critical thinking. People let others do their thinking for them, which is evident in the case of Peterson or Zizek.

If I can propose something, its that you consider the context and possible motivations behind an ideology. Even your own. Try to understand why people want certain things and why they are acting in certain ways. The reason for this is because there is danger in letting a small group of people do the collective thinking for the majority.

Continue reading here:
Amidst the Peterson-Zizek Debate, We Should Still Think for Ourselves - Study Breaks

In an ACL reconstruction procedure, the surgeon normally takes a hamstring tendon from the same leg of the injured knee to rebuild the ACL. But scar tissue around the Amelias knee prevented that. So the doctor had to go into the right hamstring to draw the tendon.

I think thats what upset me the most, Amelia said. I was like Dont let her cut into my other leg! But she did anyway.

Tommy added: It wasnt like she had a choice.

The second surgery brought good news. Amelias meniscus had begun to regenerate It was kind of like a miracle, Amelia said but that also meant a slower rehab process to allow the meniscus to fully heal.

Normally, people who have ACL surgery are off crutches after a week or two, Amelia said. But I ended up on crutches for about four months.

Shed also miss an additional three weeks of school.

After her injury, the Renners quickly got Amelia into see a counselor.

We said all along that the emotional part was going to be the hardest part, Tommy said. These kids, they work their whole childhood for this dream, and now the dream is gone.

Amelia said those discussions have helped, as well as talking with other athletes. Her physical therapy group ranges from patients 22 years old all the way down to a 9-year-old who blew out her knee playing rugby.

Shes even reached out to others, like Hockinson football player Peyton Brammer, who suffered a knee injury about a month after Amelia did. Amelias cousin is Micah Paulsen, a teammate of Brammer on Hockinsons boys basketball team.

When I found out that Peyton got hurt, I sent this big long text to my cousin and said please send this to Peyton, Amelia said. The surgeon who did my surgery did Peytons too. And then later, Peyton ended up in my group PT.

These discussions, Amelia said, helped her realize there is more to life than playing sports.

Now Im just a student; Im no longer a student-athlete, she said. Im no longer the athlete that I was, and Im never going to be the athlete that I was again. For me, the biggest part is realizing that.

As one of the sports she played when she was younger, Amelia opted to play golf at Prairie last spring, earning second-team all-league honors.

Prairie golf coach Paul Shapard told her if she put a quarter of the amount of time she put into volleyball into golf, she could maybe play at college, Tommy Renner said.

So last summer, as she worked to strengthen her volleyball skills, Amelia also took golf lessons.

After her injury, Amelia thought golf might allow her to remain a student-athlete at Prairie.

When she finally ditched the crutches in January, she was cleared to begin chipping and putting. By April, she got the go-ahead to start a full golf swing and return to high school sports, once she got a brace for her knee.

Like one of those braces linebackers wear, Amelia said.

Then the closure of schools, and with it all of spring sports, ended that dream.

But missing school is what hurt most for Amelia.

I had already missed a third of the beginning of my senior year, and now Im not going to have the rest of it, Amelia said. Its awful.

She worked so hard last summer to make her senior year of volleyball special, and in the first match, it was taken away.

Now working hard to get healthy enough to play golf, that was lost before it could even start.

But her athletic journey might not be over yet.

Last week, as she was resigned to just being a college student and attend Dixie State in Utah, Amelia was contacted by the volleyball coach at Ottawa University, a small NAIA school in Kansas, with a scholarship offer to play volleyball and golf.

I called my doctor and asked her about it, Amelia said. She said golf, Im confident you could play anytime now that you have your brace. Volleyball, youd have to redshirt a year and see. I cant guarantee that you could come back and play at that level. But Im not saying you cant do it either.

Amelias parents are apprehensive about the idea of her returning to volleyball.

But ultimately, the decision is hers to make, Tommy said.

Amelia added: For me, now, having the opportunity to play in college, something Ive dreamed about since seventh grade, and not taking it might be something I regret further down the road. So thats where Im stuck right now, trying to decide if its worth the risk.

Its another twist in a winding road for Amelia Renner over the past year.

In the end, she just hopes her story might help others just starting down their own road to recovery.

I want other kids to know theyre not alone, she said.

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Focus set on recovery: Prairie volleyball player shares story of recovery from ugly knee injury - The Columbian