High School of the Week- Wasilla High School (Alaska)

Yes, we once again get to make fun of Sarah Palin as we profile Wasilla High School in Wasilla, Alaska, as our "High School of the Week." This is the same school that her daughter Bristol Palin who seems to disdain the spotlight as much as Paris Hilton enjoys it went to school.

Dwight Probasco is the principal of Wasilla High, which promotes abstitence awareness, according to Wikipedia.

The nickname for Wasilla HS is The Warriors, which is also the school mascot.

Wasilla HS has worked to raise awareness of groundwater issues in Alaska. Teens Against Tobacco Use and The Thespian Society are among the school's clubs.

And, yes, they do in fact actually have a hockey team!

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Gymnastics Teacher

We conclude both our series witin series on summer jobs and our series Silly Photo to Fill Space with this image of very flexible young lady whom we don't know personally!

We have had a lot of fun with this series in the year or two or so since its inception and we never got around to showing the image of a samurai ski-jumping, but there is always a chance that this series will resurrect itself like Freddy Krueger some time in the neat future.

Our feature city of the month for this series is Trenton, NJ, where one can find the Discover Gymnastics Academy, which is offering a free trial class according to their web site. Though we don't have any idea if they have openings for gymnastics instructors or not, we can't imagine a more fun summer job than trying to make some young gymnast the next Nellie Kim (or at least the next Courtney Kupets, who was a legandary gymnast at The University of Georgia).

Of course since more and more folks were born either during end of or after the Cold War, we should remind our readers that Kim, a former Soviet gymnast who turned 53 on July 29, made Olympic Gymnastics history. She won three gold and two silver medals at the 1976 Montreal Olympics where another gymnast (a Romanian named Nadia whose name we can't spell, or perhaps we can, but we're too lazy!) became a household name.

Kim also won two gold medals at the 1980 Moscow Olympics where Misha the Bear was the mascot. I ate a great place called Misha's Cafe in Baku, Azerbaijan- of all places in 2008, but that's really getting off the topic.

Even though many Americans used the word Soviet and Russian arbitrarily in the days when "Welcome Back Kotter" initially aired, Kim is actually from Kazakhstan which Borat made famous/infamous.

As of 2002, Kim lives in or around St. Paul, Minn. Nadia lives in or around Norman, Oklahoma. No one knows what happened to Misha the Bear.

SIDEBAR: Alas, The Ragsdale High School Tigers, one of our past 'high schools of the week' (there are many of them!), lost to their rival, the Dudley High School Panthers of Greensboro, NC, by a 12-0 score. The Tigers played on the road Friday night, but their next game against Western Guilford High School will be at home in the Greensboro/High Point 'burb of Jamestown, NC. We hear the Tigers' band kicks butt, by the way!

Quote of the Week- Bruce Springsteen

Today, we quip Bruce Springsteen, the pride of Asbury Park, NJ, (or Long Beach, NJ) in the last Quotes of the Week from famous singers on our two respective blogs. The late Conway Twitty, who hailed from Helena, Ark., is the subject of our other Quote of the Week on The Daily Vampire.

BRRRUUUUCE is known for many popular songs, including "Born to Run," Born in the USA," Thunder Road" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" and he turns 61 on Sept. 23.

There happens to be a folk singer friend of mine named Bruce Piephoff in Greensboro, NC, who has produced almost as many records as the other Bruce (not a joke!). He performs frequently in the Greensboro area, and he will be performing at The Grove Winery in Gisbsonville, NC, on Labor Day.

Even though Springsteen campaigned for both John Kerry and Barack Obama, New Jersey's new Republican governor Chris Christie, who has become the Paris Hilton of "The National Review," is a fan of his music.

Judging by this quote, it seems that like many folks who came of age during the Vietnam War, Springsteen is wary of being to self-servant to any given cause or organization:

"Blind faith in your leaders, or anything will get you killed."

50 Beers From Around the World- Patricia (Uruguay)

There was a great line in the 1996 Wes Anderson film "Bottle Rocket," which I finally saw last night even though its Criterion edition is alas apparently out of print (my friend Moviezzz would know for certain, but I don't wish to pester him now because there may be another trivial matter I need to ask him later).

It was when Luke Wilson meet a very attractive Hispanic maid at the motel he was staying at:

"Which part of Mexico are you from?"

"Paraguay."

Paraguay and Uruguay frequently get mixed up, but Patricia Beer hails from Uruguay where the capital is Montevideo and there is actually a coastline (Paraguay is landlocked). Neither countries are a part of Mexico.

Alas, we couldn't find out much about Patricia Beer on the web at all, but we love the name!

SIDEBAR: Late, late, late notice, but we just found from the current issue of the Greensboro alt weekly "Yes Weekly" that the Great North Carolina Beer Festival is happening today in Clemmons, NC, right outside Winston-Salem.

The local brews that were to be sampled there included Foothills (Winston-Salem) and Natty Greene's (Greensboro). Other North Carolina brands featured at this year's festival were Craggie-Battery Hill and Highland Brewery (Asheville) and Olde Hickory (Hickory).

Top 10 Major League Teams- Cubs are My Favorite Team (even though they stink!)

Yes, the images don't always reflect the headlines, but hey no one is actually paying us to post these things as it is!

But, the futile Chicago Cubs are my favorite team and the image here, a bobblehead doll for the Baltimore Orioles, is of a team that is going through their own woes this season.

To be honest, I haven't watched a major league game on tv all year! And, I have no idea what is going on except that we did learn that the Chicago Cubs were 54-74 as of today. And, assuredly the Reds, who beat 7-1 last night, will probably clobber them again tonight.

I did find an amusing photo of the Phillie Phanatic with former president George W. Bush, who I like as much as Papa Smurf cared for Gargamel, but it wasn't political differences as much as space concerns which prevented from using the image.

As it is the image would not have made sense since the Phillies are not on my Top 10 Favorite Teams List:


1. Chicago Cubs

2. Boston Red Sox

3. Washington Nationals

4. Baltimore Orioles

5. Chicago White Sox (I rooted for them even before Obama became prez!)

6. Colorado Rockies

7. Toronto Blue Jays (they may move up to number one if Sarah Palin gets to The Oval Office!)

8. New York Mets (my friend Woody's favorite team; they have reportedly caused him much agony!)

9. Cleveland Indians

10. Florida Marlins

'Official' High School of the Week- Meadowdale HS (Lynwood, Wash.)

Students who attend the Meadowdale High School in Dayton, Ohio, are going to be disappointed because we are featuring a school with the same name from Lynwood, Wash.

The Meadowdale in Washington state is the alma mater of senior University of Washington gymnast Kristen Linton, whose name we almost didn't spell right! (Kristin Linton is what I first wrote down).

The Huskies' first Pac-10 meet is not until Jan. 21 when they face Cal, but the school's football team has a date with BYU in Provo, Utah, (one of our favorite towns to make fun of) on Sept. 4. Alas, none of the Huskies faithful will be able to have a beer if they win unless they are willing to drive to Salt Lake City!

As for Meadowdale High, it happens to be the alma mater of Alice in Chains' lead singer Layne Stanley and Mark Stewart of the Minnesota Vikings as well.

The schol nickname is The Mavericks (the Maverick mascot pictured here is for another school) and the principal is Dale Cote. Meadowdale has an enrollment of 1,56 students. Classes don't actually start there until Sept. 7.

Meadowdale also has a Japanese Anime and Dead Poets Society club, which makes them perhaps a bit hipper than the high school you graduated from!

Linton said on her gymnast profile that she can't live without her cellphone, has a crush on Johnny Depp and enjoys lemonade and ice cream.

SIDE NOTE- Our next 'High School of the Week" will be Bristol Palin's alma mater Wasilla High School in Wasilla, Alaska. Those of you who've been to this blog before know I love the Palins as much as I love going to the dentist's office! If you have any future suggestions for a High School of the Week feel free to mention them here.

Things We Learned on the BBC Today- Iranian Futboler Can Return to Team

The Middle East is the focus of our two blog entries today, and both entries (the one is on "The Daily Vampire") deal with the collision of Islam and western values in that region of the world. Our other feature was about an ironic situation involving social networking in Egypt.

In Iran, futbol star Ali Karimi will be allowed to return to his club team Steel Azin again even though he broke the Ramadan fast. But, in order to do so, he must pay a $40,000 fine.

According to the BBC report from Keith Adams, Karimi seems like a Muhammad Ali of his nation he has been a verbal critic of the Iranian government, the Iranian futbol federation and even his own team!

Karimi took an extra measure to bravely show his voice by wearing a green arm band to show support for the opposition movement against the Teheran regime in a World Cup qualifier against South Korea.

One certainly has to admire his bravery and call for social justice.

There is a significantly large Iranian community here in America in the Los Angeles-area.

SIDEBAR: We have decided to add a "High School of the Week" series of entries to this and our sister blog. The entries will run on Tuesdays and Fridays.