The Free Store:

Two volunteers packing up at the New Haven Free Store got into a fight. One struck a blow with a fire extinguisher. The other reached for a knife. That was the scene that led to two arrests Thursday night, according to Downtown District Manager Lt. Rebecca Sweeney.

She said police reported to the free store at 55 Church St. at around 6:30 p.m. on a report of two people fighting. Two volunteers a man and a woman who had been helping the store pack up for its move to Court Street had gotten into a dispute. The man grabbed a fire extinguisher and struck the woman with it, Sweeney said. The woman found a large kitchen knife but didn’t injure the man, Sweeney said.

Both people were arrested for assault with a dangerous weapon and breach of peace. The woman suffered minor injuries, Sweeney said.

The store has been one of the more unusual and remarked-upon entries in downtown’s small-business economy. It was to give away donated merchandise to customers, who line up every day for a chance to get in, and to train people in bicycle repair; it also aims to make a profit. It got free space itself for the first few months of business as part of an effort called Project Storefronts, which aims to fill vacant retail locations short-term with businesses looking to get on their feet. Then the landlord starts charging rent or as in the case of the Free Store, the business moves to a different location when a paying tenant emerges.

Ben Aubin, a founder of the Free Store, released the following statement on Friday afternoon:

"I recently moved to New Haven from Portland, Oregon. While living there I assisted a bike shop named Well-Tuned Fast Bikes in their marketing. Thirty days in to opening the owner Tom Daly had his shop robbed. We wrote to local press and within 2 weeks members of the community came together and replaced everything that had been stolen through donations."
The history of Free Stores stretches back for many decades. In the mid to late 1960's a theater group called The Diggers opened the first Free store in San Francisco, calling it the "Free Frame of Reference." The name of the store drew inspiration from the Digger Slogan, "Create the conditions that you describe."

Tangled Review:

Weaving a golden tale of laughter and excitement, Disney takes the classic story of "Rapunzel" to new heights. The film follows the life of Rapunzel: a socially-deprived, kidnapped princess whom I jokingly refer to as "the ultimate home-schooler. In pursuit of her dream to leave her confining tower and see the floating lanterns, she teams up with the unlikeliest of friends: a wanted thief, a band of ruffians, and a canine-like horse. With unexpected plot twists and exquisite embellishments, "Tangled" makes the original fairytale come to life. Being from the age of Beauty and the beast and the Lion King, I would be inclined to say that I didn't miss the old style of animation that is considered classic Disney. With that being said, Disney has proven once again that you can teach old dog new tricks. Tangled, presented in CGI animation was visually stunning. . The colors were vivid and clear. The cast was delightful and the songs were beautiful, though it lacked the sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat toe-tapping number to throw the scores over the edge. Tangled, while sporting the romance featured in all Disney classics, did not focus solely on the love between Rapunzel and Flynn, but also the love of family and the strength of hope. The supporting cast was laugh-out-loud funny and the villain was convincingly 'good' for the better part of the movie. In true Disney style, it captivated and delighted the audience from the opening scene to the happily ever after. Definitely a must see for the entire family.

Feature Profile:

Today, I was asked to have an interview with someone, and that person was Jaime Ramos Jr. He is 18 years old, and is currently a senior at Metropolitan. Was born in Meriden, Connecticut. For some strange reason he enjoys math, because it has to do with numbers. He likes to play football, because of the physical contact; and watch baseball due to the high percentage of Hispanics. Wears the color black, and doesn't have a specific taste in clothing. Enjoys the music genres of hip-hop, Rand B, and European techno. His role model is Eminem, because he came from nothing and is now a very talented and well known rapper. Hobby is to play Call of Duty. He aspires to be a Graphic Designer, in Miami Florida. Vivid childhood memory was being thrown into a pool at the age of seven, and having to learn how to swim. He wouldn't invite anyone, to dinner if given the chance. My question was, why do you like to wear the color black?  His answer was, because the color black to me is a soothing color.

Comments for blogs:

Creating community and voicing student opinions:

My experience with blogger has been frustrating. Due to the fact that none of us are experts with blogger we have had many difficulties. For example blogger doesn't automatically save posts or comments. When someone says creating an informed school community to me. One thing comes to mind and it's everyone knows about all school functions and activities and some people show up to help and show support.
How has uniforms affected Metropolitan?
I don’t believe that uniforms have affected morale and shaped school climate at Metropolitan. What people are wearing is still an issue.  In my opinion it doesn’t matter people will still do what they want and make things more difficult. Everyone will act the same way they would with or without uniforms.

A weekend with Jaimie:

Getting to know the last weeks of someone’s life isn’t something that we as people get to read about often.  It’s going to be an emotional story that will catch the reader’s interest and touch someone’s heart.  I agree that the purple and black is hard to read.

Persuasive Writting:

Which to choose cloth, paper, or plastic bags. I choose cloth because paper uses trees, and plastic uses petroleum; so I opt to use cloth. Cloth bags are easy to take with you and use again and again. We need to keep our earth clean, so let’s use cloth.  Remember bags at certain stores cost .10 or more so you’re saving money while helping the environment let's recycle and reuse.

Personal Narrative:

                                  Climbing the Mountain:

For my 15th birthday My family and I went on vacation to Hawaii, we decided to climb the Ko'olau Mountain which turned out to be a day idea when we were have way up the mountain and the the temperature rose to 100 degrees. My mother sat down at one of the rest stops and said she wasn't climbing anymore no matter how many times we asked. So my sister 8 at the time decided to stay with her. My father and I decided to keep on going that we were half way there. We climbed and climbed for what seemed like forever and when we got to the top and saw the view it was worth. It was an incredible view.

Satement of Introduction and purpose:

My name is Annalys Fuentes I am a senior at MBA. Even though at times I will be writing about things of interests but primarily I will be writing about Opinion and Local news.

What I would like to achieve in my blog is provide people with news that is both interesting and controversial.

Student Council Disbanded:

After having an election and having students put into office, Cross students found out that their student council was terminated no more. In addition to the student council activist’s politics club was also disbanded after he organized a downtown protest in favor of more spending on textbooks and less on administrators.

Isaiah Lee

Isaiah Lee, who was elected as council president last year, said he was not directly informed of the decision.“Ms. Moore did not inform anyone the decision was made that no one knew of,” Lee said. Instead, he found out the news though an email last week.

Ms. Moore

Moore said Thursday that the school has no student council at the moment and is working to rebuild one that better represents Cross. Student council should not be “a group of elitist kids that say, ‘We run Cross,’” as it was in the past, Moore said. “We want total inclusion in the building.” Cross is often described as having two schools within one: a small AP/honors track (to which Moore was referring) and the general student population. Lee said he doesn’t plan to be involved in the student council’s new incarnation. He has decided to step back from the council and focus on getting into college next year. But he objected to the way the decision was made the latest in the line of decisions being made without student input. “I personally don’t feel it’s fair to these other students who worked so hard, to have all that taken away,” he said. Is this fair? 

School Reform

Cross Student Council Disbanded by Melissa Bailey