Ah, the holidays. That special time of year when your racist relatives can reveal just how racist they really are over a nice turkey dinner. It’s also one of the only times of year I leave my Scrooge persona behind and deliver grand compliments to all the good boys and girls of Cleveland High. Because at CHS we are more than just humbug! With shocking, student-subjected marijuana documentaries, a lack of winter formals, bathroom bandits, and me complaining all the time, we can lose sight of this sometimes. That is why I’m here to bring Cleveland cheer and spirit back to the forefront. So bundle up by the fire, get a mug of hot cocoa, turn on some K103.3 Christmas tunes, and tune out your racist uncle with these nice compliments. Don’t worry, he won’t even realize you stopped listening, he’ll just keep going.

New Principal Tammy O’Neill

Last year I was a total suck-up when I gave out one of my compliments to CHS moms. Well now, I’m taking the art of sucking up to a whole other level by giving a compliment to the new boss on campus, Tammy O’Neill. The matter of the fact is, however, she truly deserves one. At first I was worried about the new hire because she is married to my eighth grade P.E. teacher, Mr. O’Neill. I dreamt a terrible vision of students being forced to jog to every class, do sets of burpees and pushups for every missed assignment, and teachers nailing phone-using students with dodgeballs. This may be the dream high school for crossfit teachers Casey Dyer and Kendra Gardener, but not the dream high school for me. Luckily, she is not enforcing this physical education eutopia and, besides that perk, is doing an excellent job in her new role. She is replacing the great Paul Cook, who had been holding down the position for the past 13 years, yet the school has not missed a beat. Out of the few times I’ve seen her, I can already tell O’Neill brings high energy to the job and is excited to be a part of the Cleveland culture. Did you see how hyped she got at the pep assemblies? That energy and involvement put in makes us as students want to put in the same. New principals can be scary because they can try to be Superman and change everything. Thank you Principal O’Neill for recognizing the system and culture at Cleveland does not need to be blown up. We just need to tweak and build upon it. I am confident that continuous tweaking and building process is in good hands for the future. The Clarion endorses Tammy O’Neill.

SPIRIT SQUADDDD

Throughout my high school years at Cleveland I’ve always wanted to change the culture we have around sports. I want our student sections to actually be in attendance, spirited, and rowdy the WHOLE time at games. It seems though for the most part, in the past people just did not care enough or were “too cool” to do this. Well now, it seems that culture is finally turning around. The crowds at the football games were excellent this year even though we did not win a game. We would be down 40 points, but students stayed until the final horn, chanting cheers and singing songs in unison the whole time. We knew we were not going to win, but nobody cared. It made the games so much more fun and made me proud to be a Warrior. If you don’t believe me, just ask the boys soccer team if the crowds were better this season, they will surely answer with “Yes.” And that is for soccer, a tough high school sport to attract a crowd for. Now with the new club “Spirit Squad” starting and producing a large turnout, an even crazier atmosphere will be brought to the basketball court this season. Our student sections are not to the peak of fandom yet, not even close, but these are the beginning steps we need to take to get there. Our antics have already caught the attention of other schools, including our friends a little further up Powell, who made their voice heard on the Twitter account, SmackHigh Oregon: “When Cleveland highschool getting hyped for scoring one touchdown even though they still loosing by like 40.”–Franklin High School. We have a sense of humor ok, it’s kind of funny to chant “I believe that we will win!” when you’re down 40 points, and again it makes the games more fun. Looks like you just don’t understand school spirit or the humor in irony, Franklin. That’s ok though, you guys typically don’t understand a lot of things, that includes, as you can see from your post, spelling. Funny, you guys “loose” so much in all of your sports, you’d think you’d be able to spell the word correctly by now. But back to my original point, keep up the good work Spirit Squad, and everybody join in on the culture change.

The Legend

Let this column officially mark the end to the Yearbook-Newspaper war at Cleveland. Over the past two years I have trash-talked you guys rampant in this ongoing rivalry, but now I am seeing the error of my ways. We both do good things and we both could use each other’s help at times. I really do love the Yearbook and respect what you guys create. Last year’s edition looked world-class. This is why we need to put aside our differences and become a partnership. Am I going to miss walking into your room unannounced, hurling obscenities at you? Sure. But it’s what has to be done. Moral of this issue’s column: The spirit of the holidays really can make the worst of enemies become the best of friends. In closing, I will leave you all with the touching words of Tiny Tim, “Jan Watt bless us, everyone!”