The Tradition of Pumpkin Carving

By Kaitlin Swick

It’s official. Summer is over. Autumn is upon us. Fall has several distinguishing features. It is known for chilly weather, Halloween, colorful leaves, and, of course, pumpkins! Many families make their annual trip to the pumpkin patch during this season and together experience the joy of picking out the perfect pumpkin. Pumpkins are a symbol of the season and are used in many ways. They are used to make fluffy muffins and delicious pies, but they are also carved and turned into jack- o- lanterns.

Carving pumpkins is one of the most common traditions of the fall season. The whole tradition of carving pumpkins was started by the Celts as a way to ward off evil spirits, especially during their celebration of Samhain, which was a feast to mark the end of summer and the last harvest. Instead of pumpkins, however, they would hollow out turnips or potatoes. They carved scary faces into the side and placed a candle on the inside so the face would illuminate. The new lanterns were either carried around or placed in windows. When the Irish came to the United States, they brought this tradition along with them.

Typical pumpkin carving normally involves cutting out simple triangles for the eyes and a jagged shape for the mouth. This is as basic as it gets and is normally where one starts from when developing their pumpkin carving skills. However, pumpkin carving can be “taken up a notch”. One notable pumpkin carver, or rather, pumpkin sculptor, is Ray Villafane. He takes pumpkin carving to a whole new level. Instead of simply cutting shapes out of a pumpkin’s skin to make the eyes, nose and mouth, Ray actually carves an image into the pumpkin. Here are a few examples of his pumpkin sculpting skills (and, yes, these are actually pumpkins).

So if you have never given pumpkin carving a try, why don’t you go to the pumpkin patch, select the perfect pumpkin, and give it a go. If you have engaged in this tradition before, try your hand at pumpkin sculpting, your ability may surprise you.

To read more about the Celtic tradition of turnip/pumpkin carving, go to http://www.livescience.com/5831-carve-pumpkins-turnips.html or http://www.history.com/topics/jack-olantern-history, and to learn more about Ray Villafane and his incredible pumpkin sculpting, go to http://villafanestudios.com/about-artists/ray-villafane/.

Pirate Fever’s obnoxiously unfortunate symptom

 By Jacob Dickey

            In the recent months all you have been able to hear about is the end of the losing season streak the pirates have been toiling under for 2 decades, and even more recently… their clinching of that ever-elusive playoff berth.  I personally am absolutely thrilled to see the pirates have a turn around of this magnitude… this amazing turn of events however has had 1 enormous drawback.  These events have given Steve Blass, Greg Brown, Tim Neverett, Bob Walk, and John Werner all something amazing to yell over and obnoxiously scream about through your television set.  Want to just mute your TV and use a radio?  Newsflash they alternate between the two entertainment sources.  There is literally no escape.

            This article may sound like the ramblings of a Pirate fan who is simply looking for something to be angry over in the wake of them finally winning, but I assure you my claims of these broadcasters being out of hand can be easily justified.  To see my point I recommend looking at a national broadcast versus a local Pirates telecast sometime. You will notice the national broadcasters: Stay on topic, actually dictate the events of the game for the majority of their time on the air, don’t draw attention from plays occurring as they speak, keep their composure when it is called for, and know when ties at which they must not speak and simply let the amazing sport of baseball, witch is being exhibited, speak for itself.  I do not necessarily hold the local broadcasters to nearly as high standards, but I would certainly hope these actions would be something they consider to be a goal worth achieving in their future broadcasts.

The iPhone 5C and 5S

by Kaitlynn Swick

We live in a world that is consumed by technology that is advancing every day, to make electronics faster, better, and more accessible.One of the leaders in this technological advancement of our generation is Apple.

Apple will be releasing two new models of the iPhone, the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C. They will be available nationwide on September 20, 2013.The iPhone 5C comes in five different colors, white, green, blue, pink, and yellow, and the iPhone 5S comes in silver, gray, and gold.Both of the new iPhone designs have an improved camera that takes higher quality pictures.The iPhone 5S has a new fingerprint detection feature on the home button, which is used to replace a passcode lock.The iPhone 5C model costs significantly less than the 5S though, $99 versus $199.

�Is technology moving too fast?Can we keep up?Can our wallets keep up?There is a difference between want and need, but the media tells us that we need it.We are brainwashed into thinking that we must keep up with the latest technology.Personally, I do not need a phone that has fingerprint recognition.I think it is a little too much.My “dumb” phone works perfectly fine.Ultimately, it is up to you to decide, though, if you really need it.