Girls Soccer Looking to Repeat History

By Calista Giannonatti The Cobblers’ girls soccer team is hoping history will repeat itself when they face the Stevens Raiders on the pitch Tuesday night. On September 9th, the girls came out on top against the Raiders for the first time during the regular season. Though the Cobblers had defeated Stevens to win third place at State last year, a regular season win still eluded … Continue reading Girls Soccer Looking to Repeat History

Student Council Optimistic about Homecoming Theme

By Torrian Newman-Webb A “Blast from the Past” is going to be heard throughout Central during homecoming week. The student council recently chose this theme for the 2014-2015 homecoming and already it is receiving good judgment from both council members and staff and students. Many will remember last year’s theme, which was “Disney.” The theme seemed like a good idea at first, but it proved … Continue reading Student Council Optimistic about Homecoming Theme

Cobbler Marching Band Starts Out Strong

By Evan Sand On Friday September 12th the Central Cobbler football team played the Douglas Patriots, but what many people don’t know is that the Central marching band played their first performance at the half-time show. Stevens played that night against Sturgis and their marching band played as well. The good news for Cobblers’ fans is that for the first time in a long while, … Continue reading Cobbler Marching Band Starts Out Strong

Europe’s New Threat: The Ukrainian Crisis

By Cullen Knowles With the highly unstable climate that much of our world exists in today, Russia’s aggression over the past few months has strained an already tenuous relationship between the United States and its Eastern counterpart. After thwarting the U.S. in situations such as the Edward Snowden fiasco and the Syrian Civil War, Russia strained relations with the West to an even greater extent … Continue reading Europe’s New Threat: The Ukrainian Crisis

The Plague of Fast Food

By Taylor O’Brien About twenty-five years ago, a farm activist named Jim Hightower warned of “the McDonaldization of America” (qtd. in Schlosser). He pictured the emerging fast-food trade as a threat to independent business, as a step toward the economy of food being dominated by giant corporations and a homogenizing influence on American life. A lot of what he warned us of has come to … Continue reading The Plague of Fast Food

The Old College Try and the New College Trial

By Cullen Knowles This spring, hundreds of thousands of high school seniors will make one of the most important decisions of their lives: where they will go to college, and what they will study at their new school. Unfortunately, the process leading up to this paramount decision is excessively long, frustrating, and arduous for most high school seniors, and the majority of these seniors are … Continue reading The Old College Try and the New College Trial

An Ode to Procrastination

By Aaron Thies I am a chronic Procrastinator. It is a recurring affliction that does more harm than good; it’s something I could learn to control, but in all fairness I don’t want to stop procrastinating.  Procrastination injects drama and tension to otherwise boring tasks such as chores, homework, and anything else that can be put off until the last minute. To procrastinate, in essence, … Continue reading An Ode to Procrastination

In Praise of Yin and All Things Negative

By Bailey Morgan There is this song I love to think about in the moments of inner stillness I sometimes get, when there’s  three seconds of peace to be found and you snatch it up quickly before it fades back into the speed and chaos that’s so prevalent today. Think Indiana Jones in the beginning of The Lost Ark, that fleeting moment of relief that … Continue reading In Praise of Yin and All Things Negative

What Makes Monty Python Funny?

By Adam Grigg America has always had an on-again, off-again relationship with those crazy Brits. Our Nation’s history began with a few harsh feelings between us, but in the time since, we’ve gotten closer, if not friendlier. The British are strange, foreign and yet very familiar; they’re like a funhouse mirror, reflecting ourselves but oddly distorted. For example, they call French fries “chips” and chips … Continue reading What Makes Monty Python Funny?

Senior Aaron Beaird Meets the Demands of Wrestling

By Avery Freed Most of the students and faculty at Central High School know who Aaron Beaird is. Even if you aren’t familiar with the name, you would certainly recognize him you saw him. At 6’2″ and 285 pounds, he’s hard to miss. However, that same stature that causes him to stand out in the halls is perfect for his current position as Central High’s … Continue reading Senior Aaron Beaird Meets the Demands of Wrestling

The Not-so Magical Aspects of Movies

By Cullen Knowles During the holidays, members of every age group participate in an activity that seems to be an innate duty of every American: going to the movies. Hollywood is an extremely crucial part of American culture, and the thousands of motion pictures that have been produced over the last century have represented and depicted every idea, symbol, and characteristic of our country. However, … Continue reading The Not-so Magical Aspects of Movies

The New Narrative of Video Games: Text Adventures

By Aaron Thies When a person reads a book or watches a movie or the television, that person is whisked away to the world the creator invents with their words or imagery. The person observes as the story unfolds and experiences the emotions, the adventures, and the hardships the main character encounters; and, if the story is good enough, the observer grows attached to the … Continue reading The New Narrative of Video Games: Text Adventures

Should South Dakota allow uranium mining in the Black Hills?

By Cullen Knowles As our nation struggles to obtain its energy independence, we must examine a variety of resources that have the potential to fuel our way of life. However, some of these resources could easily wreak havoc upon our environment and endanger the lives of millions. As a result of this, we must thoroughly evaluate the benefits and detriments of an energy source before … Continue reading Should South Dakota allow uranium mining in the Black Hills?

The Pressure of the Common App

This year more than a million students will complete the Common Application, a standardized application used by more than 500 colleges and universities. In a special for The Pine Needle, Madeleine Price has shared one possible response to the Common Application’s essay question. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn? Failure is … Continue reading The Pressure of the Common App