A European Habit-

It was a normal Sunday afternoon in Switzerland when Aina Gonzalez walked to the park just miles from her school. Her and her two friends Dan and Gabriel had made casual plans to hangout that afternoon. In the fall, Switzerland is beautiful. The leaves are red, brown, yellow, and orange, the air is warm by midday, and when the sun shines, there is no better place to be.

            When Gonzalez got to the park, her friends pulled out a lighter and a pack of Marlboro Red cigarettes.

            As her friends began to smoke, they asked Gonzalez if she would join in. Agreeing to their casual offer, she lit the first cigarette she would ever smoke. “Everyone was doing and I always thought it looked cool,” she explained.

            Aina Gonzalez is 15 years old and lives in Mexico. During the school year she attends a boarding school in Switzerland where students from all corners of the earth converge not only to learn the normal curriculum of school, but also to immerse themselves in a melting pot of culture and diversity.

             To Gonzalez, and many other non-European students at school, there is one thing about Europe that is strikingly different. Everybody smokes.

            “In Mexico, only the boys smoke. Here, everyone does”, said Gonzalez who now smokes every weekend.

            In America, smoking is one of the primary targets of health classes and most kids are required to sit through videos, presentations, and lectures on the harm they can cause. In these videos, peer pressure is singled out as one of the biggest reasons kids chose to smoke. Most kids who watch these videos, however, agree that they come off as unrealistic and view them with ridicule.

In Europe, kids are taught less about peer pressure and the negative affects of cigarettes. Gonzalez, like most students in Europe, attributes her cigarette use to the fact that, “It makes you look cool.”

            Friend of Gonzalez and freshman from New York, Elizabeth Carroll, has a different outlook on cigarettes. Though she admits that it’s “in the culture of Europe” and that “every adult smokes”, she does not do it herself. “Its so stupid! Why would I do something that I don’t like just to look cool?” explained Carroll passionately, who claims that cigarettes make her sick.

            Despite Carroll’s strong opinions, most of the students at the international school in Switzerland smoke. In part, this is because cigarettes are “highly accessible.” “Here you can start smoking at 16, its easier to get cigarettes,” explained Gonzalez. “Even people you don’t expect are doing it, even middle-schoolers”, she added.

            Cigarettes kill. Almost everybody knows that. Almost everybody accepts that. According to Health Learning Info, (http://health.learninginfo.org/cigarette_smoking_facts.htm) during the 20^th century approximately 100 million people died as a result of cigarettes. Still teens and adults in Europe turn their back on the evident warnings. “The thing that makes me most worried is the school catching me”, said Gonzalez. Clearly, students and adults alike are failing to think about the health risks.

            So what can be done to limit smoking and preventable death? Because smoking is so immersed in the culture, there is no easy answer. As time goes on however, education on health could have an impact on the generations of the future. “We need to make cigarettes less available to teens”, said Carroll. Additionally, governments across Europe have slowly been banning cigarettes from public bars. The combination of making them less accessible to teens and enacting laws to restrict them, will hopefully take cigarettes out of the hands of teens like Gonzalez, for life.

-Skyler Dale

Culture, Practice, and Love:

On March 16th, the day before St. Patrick’s Day, Ceol Milis appeared live on Good Day New York. For the young Irish music group however, performing on a big stage was not something new. They had played at Grand Central Station, Citi Field, and Lincoln Center over the past year. 

            There’s a look of excitement in the eyes of junior Mairead Holt when she discusses her experiences with the group. Music has been a dominating force in her life. Holt knows how to play a number of different instruments each of which she uses during her group’s shows.

“Guitar, Tin whistle, and fiddle,” she says, as if it were no big deal. To her, it is both the music that serves the culture and the culture that serves the music.

            The fiddle is an instrument that is prominent in Irish Culture. Dating back several hundred years, it is a very important part of traditional music.

            “Irish music in general is pretty improvised,” Holt explained. But that doesn’t mean Irish groups don’t have to practice. “We have to practice the harmonies a lot,” she said.

            As for her relationship with the group Holt said laughing, “We’re tight.” What keeps Ceol Milis together and Holt enthusiastic and happy about the group? “Our culture, our friendship and the things we are able to connect to,” she claims.

            Much of Holt’s inspiration comes from Irish fiddle player Eileen Ivers.  It is Ivers’ awesome blue electric fiddle and inspiring play that has drawn an important admiration and respect from Holt.

            Holt and the other eight girls and one boy in the group live in Pearl River New York. “I’m fortunate enough to grow up an Irish area,” she explained. “We play at the Irish School of Music.”

            When asked, Mairead had a hard time putting to words exactly what music means to her. Part of it, she said, was “Being inspired and being able to inspire at the same time.” Clearly Holt feels a very powerful connection. “Playing is so fun and there’s always something to improve on,” she said smiling.

            In the summer of 2009 her and her friends came in second at the World Competition in Ireland. Then, a summer later, Ceol Milis was officially formed. A year and a half after that, the group is looking at the future wondering what will happen.

            “I don’t know what’s going to happen, I will be going to college soon,” said Holt.

            Time, however, has brought a number of positive things as well. The group just got the “fancy” and “expensive” recording equipment. Soon, they may begin to record a Cd.

            “The equipment is so exciting,” Mairead said glowing with eagerness.

            “Maybe we’ll have to play during breaks when I’m college,” she added.

 (Ceol Milis, Mairead at bottom left)

            Somehow, though, music will always find its way into the life of Mairead Holt.

             Link for Ceol Milis playing at Irish night at Citi field: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR6l_GlMRPg)

Palisades Mall outdoes Nanuet Mall

In 1993, Pyramid Companies began building what would become the tenth largest mall in the United States. At this time, the Nanuet Mall, which had been established decades before, was reaching its peek. “The Palisades Mall is so close and it’s so much bigger and better”, said Nanuet High School student Brittany Gonzalez.

            So why do Nanuet citizens like the Palisades Mall so much more than the Nanuet mall? First, the Palisades Mall has so much more variety. A shopper from Nanuet who wants to get a number of things knows they can get them all at the Palisades Center.  A student at Nanuet high school who wants to hang out knows she can see a movie, get dinner, and go shopping, all in one place. The same cannot be said about the Nanuet Mall.

            The mall is also located in West Nyack, only a couple miles from Nanuet. The distance between many houses in Nanuet and either mall is, “practically equal” according to Gonzalez.

Nanuet citizen Suzanne Moskowitz, however, didn’t have positive things to say about the mall. She called it “crowded” and claimed she “hated it.” Still, on any given day the parking lot at the mall is packed with cars. Even Moskowitz goes to pick up things from Target or see a movie with her family.

            Whether people like it or dislike it, there’s no arguing that the Palisades Center Mall has become a staple in the life of the Nanuet citizen. As it maintains its own popularity, “for sales” signs and the noticeable aura of emptiness mark the end of the Nanuet Mall.

-Skyler Dale