Vol. 67, No. 1 - September 2008

Vol. 67, No. 2 - October 2008

Vol. 67, No. 3 - October 2008

Vol. 67, No. 4 - November 2008

Vol. 67, No. 5 - November 2008

Vol. 67, No. 6 - December 2008

Vol. 67, No. 7 - January 2009

Vol. 67, No. 8 - February 2009

Vol. 67, No. 9 - February 2009

Vol. 67, No. 10 - March 2009

"Negativity spreads a lot quicker than positivity," said Mr. Smith, co-sponsor of the controversial Black to School Dance, which was cancelled this week due to a lack of interest.

The dance which was originally scheduled for September 6, was postponed until the 13th, until the sponsors cancelled it.

While the original postponement was an opportunity to sell more tickets, students failed to do so, and after only 40 tickets were sold, the dance was cancelled.

The boys and girls basketball teams conceived of the idea for the dance to show school spirit and to demonstrate diversity here at M.V., but the name of the event prompted the concerns of some members of the community that the name "Black to School Dance" had racial undertones. 

King adamantly denied those concerns, writing, "If I believed the theme of this dance was about race, I would not support it," and that she is "very proud of the diversity represented in our student body."

As Mrs. King put it in an e-mail to the parents, the goal of the dance was to "show school unity and spirit around a color that our students love to wear."

Mrs. King Added, "Although black is not one of our official school colors, it is often used by many of our sports teams and student organizations when having shirts printed to represent their team or club."

Despite good intentions, a lot of things went wrong for the potential of this event. It's original date (no pun intended) was postponed due to the violent storms of Hurricane Hannah. Coincidentally, the dance was rescheduled for the next Saturday, which happened to be the same night as a free dance in Fort Belvoir.

Last year during basketball season, Mr. Smith encouraged a "White Out" in which fans were asked to wear white t-shirts to show their support and spirit. There were no questions asked from the community, no controversial issues, and no racial jokes thrown around the hallways at our school.

Despite the lack of interest in the dance, Mr. Smith said,  "I'm not afraid to take chances. I'm not afraid to fail."