Attack in Fort Hill
By Miriam Klar
Avigayil Plotzker

People tend to have a blurry idea of what happened in the Fort Hood shootings. I'll help clarify that day. Fort Hood, one of the largest army bases in the world is located in Killeen, Texas. On November 5^th 2009, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasam, a 39-year-old psychiatrist attacked the very army base in which he was serving, shooting anyone he laid eyes on. Thirty people were injured, and another thirteen died.

The U.S. was going to send Hasam to Afghanistan later in the month. However, based on his reputation for being against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, authorities suspect that he initiated the shooting as a means to find a way out of going on the mission. Previously, Hasam had spoken out against the war, but he never showed any signs of violence until he started his shooting expedition at Fort Hood.

Hasam himself was shot and captured, at which point he was brought to the hospital, fully alive. He was treated and is presently being held in custody.

This frighteningly and vicious act has shaken many Americans. President Obama spoke for the country, calling it “a horrific outburst of violence”. This attack is said to be one of the most devastating events in a long time and is the “worst mass shooting ever at a military base in the United States”.  This attack occurred directly down the road from another shooting of 1991 in which twenty-two people were killed and twenty were wounded.

Sophmore Shabbaton!!
Riki Silber

Sophomore Shabbaton: two weeks ago these words made me nervous, yet today they form the sweetest memories, still marinating in my mind. I packed, unpacked, and then packed again. I tried on every outfit, double checked that I put in my hair products, and practiced my smile for pre-Shabbos pictures. Two and a half hours of sleep was all I needed to last me the rest of the weekend.

Shabbos glazed over me on Friday as I entered into the shul, and I knew it would be a unique weekend. My grade welcomed Shabbos together, in true unity for the first time. I sang the entire night with eighty girls. Some were my best friends, many were close, and the rest were simply acquaintances. I can continually explain the warmth of the savory chicken, and additional descriptions along these lines, but I won’t waste my breath – or the stamina of my fingers, for this matter – writing out schedules and menus. After all, I believe you get the point.

Our “achdut” lasted the rest of Shabbos and only built in strength toward Saturday night, even spreading itself into the tenth grade hallway on Monday. As a girl from 207 dropped off her change for privilege sale the other day, I as well as a number of others from 211, 205 and 209, helped clean up. This was the moment I knew that we finally did it. We finally became a grade.