Why is junior high always the most difficult period of a child’s life? Children are placed in a new environment with students from all over town and teachers for different subjects. Junior high is the time when children begin to mature and find out who they really are.

Imagine you were not sure if you would die today. Imagine seeing people who want to kill you, who try to kill you. Imagine that someone would actually aim a bullet for your body. It doesn’t matter how much you are loved by siblings, friends, parents, cousins, aunts, or anyone else, they can’t protect you.

Manners have escaped us. In a society that likes to call itself “advanced,” our social conduct has deteriorated to a most basic level. Our love for taking the easy way out is constantly expanding, and the only choice etiquette had was to make a run for it, or perish.

Aduei Riak survived the genocide in southern Sudan and traveled at 16 years old from her war torn country to the United States. Riak’s most recent travel, however, was to the Antone Academic Center Thursday Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. where the 24-year-old gave a public speech about her experiences.

ORLAND PARK, Ill.- “Bite me.”

It’s a request British actor Robert Pattinson gets almost daily as star of the new vampire film “Twilight” (opening Nov. 21).

“It’s crazy,” said Pattinson, 22, waiting inside the Hot Topic store in the Orland Square shopping center.