THE WRITES OF EXPRESSION

By Sam Armstrong
Teen Advocate

The People
we
used
to
be
stand
in such
STARK
contrast
to our
Present
Selves.

By Kayla Lemar
Teen Editor
I see cars rushing past me and I wonder what they think about me walking alongside the road. I don’t mind what they think. It’s just interesting to think what they might be thinking, to invisibly get inside their cars and sit in the passenger’s seat and listen to everything they might have to say about the college-age girl walking with her backpack by the side of the road.
I find it ironic… this century. I really do. I’m young, but I still have enough perspective to know that the way it is now isn’t always the way it was. Sometimes I think the way it was… was so much better. So much simpler. So much smoother. I can’t guarantee it, though, because I wasn’t there.
It just interests me that people look out the window and I see a poor-girl look in their eyes or what’s-she-doing-walking? look in their eyes or a crazy-teenager look in their eyes or maybe an aw-I-bet-she’s-hungry look in their eyes. It really is quite humorous. I just can’t ever tell whether that’s really what they’re thinking or if it’s just what I imagine they are.
Regardless, I think it’s sad. It’s sad that people never walk. It’s sad that everyone sits in their plush Sedan or their junked-up Chevy or their clunking Geo Tracker and ride the world without ever participating in it.
I don’t mind rides. I like rides. I like driving. I like rolling the window down with your hand on the wheel and just breathing like you’ve never breathed before. You never can breathe the same way you do when you’re in a car with the window down because the air is just so different when things are that way. I quite enjoy that.
The thing is that everybody rushes around in their whatever-kind of car and passes everything else by. Nobody lives. Nobody breathes the similarly satisfying air you find when you’re walking up Greenville’s hill from Wagner to Broadway and you touch the tall black lamp-posts outside the post office and suddenly you’re in the early 1900s or the 1950s or some other place than where you really are.
Nobody really walks up Broadway anymore and breathes there either. I think they don’t want to see all the things that were and are and will be.
I don’t think they like to connect with the historic air or the present air that surrounds them. I don’t think they like to be a part of a city. Maybe they’re just too busy. Maybe we’re all just to busy… to what? To live?
When you walk from one place to another everything seems so much simpler. It really does. If you walk all the way from McDonald’s by Wal-Mart to the McDonald’s by Eikenberry’s you’ve effectively passed through two different worlds all in one day. Two different world in one day.
Do you know what that feels like?
If we can scalp the fear right out of those souped-up, bustling heads of ours… the fear of what others think or the fear of time or the fear of actually living and doing something that fifty years ago would have been perfectly normal… if we do that we would not only transcend two worlds but also transcend times. We would perceive life and we would experience it. Does that make any sense? It probably doesn’t because nobody ever takes the time to walk or breath or live anymore, so how could anyone understand someone else who’s talking about it?
Right now it seems that we sort of just watch life on a movie screen or watch it out the window of the car or watch it on YouTube.
Like I said, I like to drive. I like to walk. I like to watch movies. (I don’t really care for many YouTube videos, but we can just pretend I really like those, too.) Technology is wonderful, but life is invaluable. Living life through a screen or a window pane is like living in a Barbie costume all the time. It’s fake. It’s plastic. No wonder we’re all so cranky all the time… we’re always ingesting plastic air.
It just occurred to me as I marched past Bath Petroleum… the little gas station on the circle with the sign that says it’s Handy Dandy’s even though it’s not… that maybe I should tell you that actually living is a good way to live.
Kayla is a Senior at OHVA.  She can be reached at teenadvocate@dailyadvocate.com.

By Kayla Lemar
Teen Editor

This is my last column as Teen Editor. And I can’t believe it.
I don’t plan to stop writing, and I don’t plan to disconnect from the Advocate. People here have become a home and a family, but it still makes me cry to think that I can’t be what I used to be here. I can be an adviser and a help to the new Teen Editorials, Majennica Nealeigh and Jorden Price, but I can’t make this program as much mine as it use to be.
Then again, the Teen Advocates will always be mine.
I remember when I first started in the summer before eighth grade. I had signed up earlier in seventh grade at the Junior High office, but I had never come to a meeting before then. I was only in Junior High.
Jordan Pridemore was here running the meetings. And Bob Robinson always sat behind her, interjecting or advising or reminding or… just being there mostly. It was informal and I was detached, but it was a lot of fun to see my stuff in a newspaper.
I never planned to get any more involved than just writing. I never planned to start coming to events… battles of the bands, summer beach parties, volunteer activities. I never planned to become Assistant Teen Editor. I never planned to become Teen Editor. I never planned to run this program for two years.
Now that I have, it’s sad to leave. Even though I’ll be here… it’ll never be the same.
Jordan Pridemore, the girl that I’ll always call my Teen Editor, the girl who’s writing genius inspires me, and the girl who I’ve come to cherish as a friend— the words of her final Teen Editor column are engraved in my own hands, my own mind, and my own experience. Paraphrasing her…
Being the Teen Editor gave me a purpose. It gave me a name. It gave me a reason to live. It gave me an identity.
When people saw me on the street they’d say, “You’re Kayla Lemar… the girl who writes for the paper.” Or they’d ask, “You still at the Advocate?”. That question was always odd to me before, rhetorical almost. Of course I was still at the Advocate.
I never imagined that at some point I might not. Even though for the moment I am… just in a different capacity. It still changes things. I’m not “the Teen Editor” anymore. And part of my identity, a lot of my identity— as a writer and as a person and as an eighteen-year-old girl— is disappearing.
So before I leave, I need to honor a few people: Jordan Pridemore (Teen Editor 2003-2008) for pioneering this and sacrificing everything to make it work. For being… an artist.
Bob Robinson (seven years Daily Advocate Editor) for the same sacrifice and for being my sage in this office, my oak, and strength.
Tina Chalmers (current Daily Advocate Editor) because without you letting me pester you for months to learn all the systems and without all your guidance as Managing Editor, I wouldn’t have made it.
The Bliss’ (Senior Scribes and previous staffers) because without Al’s odd-ball sincerity, honest appreciation and Lynn’s patience, it couldn’t have been done.
David Compton, Linda, Clinton, Dee, Amanda, George, Ron, Carla, Mary… and all the Daily Advocate Staff past and present for allowing us and helping us and smiling when we mess it all up. Many of you I call friends.
Senior Scribes because you support us in amazing ways and have confidence that us young ones can grow and learn and make a difference.
Cassi Chalmers (Teen Editor 2008) for being a great friend and being here for the first leg.
Amby Sowers-Boze (Teen WebMaster 2009) because you, a bestie and a great doodle card-maker, are always what made my day.
Tiffany Beumer (Assistant Teen Editor 2009) for accepting me even though we think one another’s beliefs are absurd and for proving to me that programs like this can forge great friendships.
Majennica Nealeigh (upcoming Teen Editor) for being the one that submitted when no one else would, for being the enthusiast, and for being my confident.
Jorden Price (upcoming Assistant Teen Editor) for being the talker and making meetings a blast.
Jackson Aukerman (current Teen Copy Editor)… you’re stories are the bomb! And they make me believe that we actually can write.
Danny Pence (current WebMaster) for being steady and dependable.
Chelsea Cain (Teen Advocate) for being sweet, gentle, pure and making cookies with fifteen-colored frosting.
Kristene Herr (Teen Advocate) because you’re the new-comer that brought me hope on the last leg… and you’re writing about painters!
Sam Armstrong (Teen Advocate) because you’re my poetry hero who shoots words out of his hands like Sam Temple shoots fire.
Kelsi Meyer, Jackie Tomlin, Christy Tomlin, Chelsea Berning, and all the other Teen Advocates here and gone… thank-you and greatest hope for all of you.
Mrs. Bailey and teachers like her for seeing and cultivating the gift of writing in the young.
To all the people who read us and cry with us and laugh with us and tell everyone else that teens have something to say. You’re who makes it worth it.
And most particularly, and personally, to God and my family—Mom, Dad, Erika, Jarrod, Jessica, Uncle Alan, Uncle Lee, Aunt Heidi, Grandpa Lemar, and Grammi and Grampi Hartman— because you were the inspiration for what I always wrote, and you’ll be the inspiration for all I ever do. I love you guys. <3
So that’s it. Life changes. I’ll always write and I’ll still be here a little while longer, but it does change. It’s okay. Clouds will pass (how cliche!), oh but they will. Peace to you, and blessings, thanks for always reading this Teen Editor.

By Jorden Price
Teen Advocate

Love at first sight
To be forever in the light
Love is to trust
Even if the tires rust
Love is to dream
Even if it’s at the seams
Love is to create a new chapter
It’s to be great
Love an un-felt amount more than ever before
Even if the emotions are tore
Love at first sight
To be forever in the light

By Jorden Price
Teen Advocate

Defend your way of life
Render your feelings
to the ones you love
Evaluate the obstacles
and their opportunities
Analyze your friends
but more so your enemies
Mesmerize your toughest critic
Tell the one you love
what they mean to you
Overcome the whispers and the rumors
Beauty, show it inside and out
Everybody has purpose,
aspire to be all you can be

And remember to check out our Video page for all the latest videos and even live streams.

By Danny Pence
Teen WebMaster

You may recall an article before the ’09 elections about teen opinions on the state issues. That article was written by teens in the Youth in Politics group, led by Bob Robinson, with Danny Pence as President Pro Tempore and Jachin Harder as Head Researcher Pro Tempore.

In review the group is still trying to get more members to join, but it is growing, albeit slowly. However there is a core group that continues to come every week. The group is dedicated to non-partisan education for  teens about how the government and politics work.

It has had many speakers, mostly from the local government. As the group grows there are hopes to get speakers from the state and federal governments. In addition, members of the group are given opportunities to go to major political events in the area. This past month the group was able to go to the local Republican Lincoln Dinner. Earlier, they were also able to attend a Christmas Open House put on by Ohio State Representative Jim Zehringer at the Bistro Off Broadway. At both events the teens were able to meet several important Republican leaders in the state, county, and city governments as well as enjoy some excellent food.

The next meeting is this Sunday, the 28th at 4p in the Meeting House at the Brethren Home. If you have any interest in politics, you won’t be disappointed joining Youth in Politics!

By Jackson Aukerman
Teen Copy Editor

Okay, so I know I’ve written the story The Ghost Hunters for the paper before, but everything in this article is completely true. At Arcanum High School, the drama club had just finished its newest production. It was Saturday the 20th, and the cast party in the cafeteria was winding down. Matt, Lyn Foreman, and Mr. Piel were upstairs looking for ghosts with a device called an EMF. Mr. Piel had that searched for electromagnetic fields.


Dan and I decided to join them at quarter ‘til 12. We went upstairs and they explained how they had gotten readings in the auditorium and around the stairs but none on the third floor. Dan and I asked to join them, so we went down to the boiler room. We got a few readings down there and then decided to head up to the auditorium again.

Lyn went to go clean up the cafeteria, so that left Dan, Matt, Mr. Piel, and I upstairs in the auditorium. That’s when things started to get weird. We turned off all of the lights on the second floor and headed into the auditorium. As soon as we were inside the door, the EMF went off loud and fast. Besides the sensor, all we had were a few flashlights and a thermometer.

Halfway through the first row of the auditorium we discovered something strange. All of the sudden the temperature dropped noticeably, which was something I didn’t expect. The EMF was going full blast, and Mr. Piel’s thermometer said the temperature had dropped from 74 degrees to 70.


The cold spot then seemed to move, and we followed it across the auditorium, to the side of the stage. We headed up on stage, still getting some vague readings on the EMF. We sat down around the stage and Mr. Piel tried to communicate with whatever was there. That didn’t work, so we decided to check out the back of the auditorium.


Around this time, Lyn and our other director, Beth Piel, were upstairs cleaning the hallway. We were maybe halfway back in the auditorium when Dan said he swore there was a shadow on the stage. I turned to look and saw a shadow pass across the same area, even though our flashlights were pointed there, so a shadow shouldn’t have been possible. We went back out in the hallway and asked Lyn and Beth if they had just been on the stage, but both of them said they hadn’t. Besides, the floor of the auditorium is creaky old wood and none of us had heard any noise when the shadow passed.

We went back into the auditorium and stayed near the front where there was an old piano. Dan thought he heard the piano make noise, so we  opened the cover and held the EMF near the keys. Almost immediately the sensor jumped and started beeping, and just for the fun of it I put my hand right over the keys. I was surprised to find that there was an area of cold air right over the keys of the piano. After that we tried a few more locations, including the third floor and the guys bathroom. We were surprised that we got no activity on the third floor, because of the different stories of people having strange experiences there.

Actually, I was involved in one of those experiences. During November of 2008, on the night of another play, Jennifer, Dan, and I were on the third floor to get a drink from the water fountain. The hallway was dark, and as we headed back to the door, we head a fourth set of footsteps behind us. Every time we stopped moving, the footsteps stopped a half second later. We rushed back to the second floor, thinking someone was messing with us, but we found that everyone was accounted for down there. There have been other stories over the course of the time I’ve been in school, but Saturday night was one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had in AHS. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, there was definitely something going on in the auditorium Saturday.

By Amber Boze
Teen Correspondent

I believe in….
love and in crying,
in jammin’ out by yourself in a car.
I believe in…
having someone tell you that you’re beautiful!
Dancing in the rain and miracles.
I believe in…
smiling ‘til your cheeks hurt
and laughing ‘til you pee.

Love is just a word…
until you find someone to give it a definition.

You can’t make someone love you.
You can only stalk them and hope for the best.

You know you truly know you love someone when everyday you meet is like the first time you fell in love.

The worst thing a guy can do:
make a girl fall for him with no intentions of catching her.

Through weakness and strength, happiness and sorrow, for better for worse, I will LOVE YOU with every beat of my heart.