NOVA: Where Savvy Students Go
12/3/2008
Kenneth Burchfiel
[This was a rough draft of the article. I hope to put the final draft up soon.]
Our school is in one of those strange areas where, if you tell your classmates that you’re going to a top-ranked community college, some of them will look down on you. In truth, attending [...]
What Winter Will Bring:
An Amateur Weatherman’s Forecast
11/2/2008
Kenneth Burchfiel
If December is the most wonderful time of the year, November has to be the most stressful—for meteorologists, at least. This is the season of winter forecasts, where amateurs and professionals alike try to predict how much snow and cold the coming months will bring.
Before I made my [...]
I wish I were a freshman
11/2/2008
Kenneth Burchfiel
When I was a freshman, I envied the seniors more than anyone else in the school. Perhaps it was the car keys, or the amusement park trips, or the knowledge that college was just a year away. It’s strange, though. I’m now a 12th grader myself, yet I find [...]
The PDF link (see below) features a pizza spread that I worked on for the McLean Highlander, our student newspaper.
specialty-pizzas-spread
Obama is not your Savior
10/8/2008
Kenneth Burchfiel
President Bush and Barack Obama might see one another differently, but this much is true: both have benefited from the American people’s tendency to turn to the executive branch for protection. George Bush’s approval rating surged to 90 percent following the 9/11 terrorist attacks; Barack Obama, in the midst of [...]
[Recently installed a keystroke counter on my computer. (Not a keylogger, mind you; a key counter.) What I found was that this story, about 5300 characters in length, actually took some 13,000 characters to type. It just goes to show that the writing process takes a little editing.]
The three classes missing from your schedule.
9/15/08
Kenneth Burchfiel
You’re [...]
[A possible Highlander editorial in the future, but for now, a standalone piece.]
The Two Faces of Segregation
6/9/2008
Kenneth Burchfiel
The history books purport that segregation ended on the 2nd of July, 1964, the moment the Civil Rights Act was passed. No longer could a white owner evict an African-American tenant based on the color of [...]
[I've always been a big fan of the Onion, a satirical newspaper. Consider the
following practice for a dream job.]
Man’s Voice Becomes Too Deep To Hear
6/6/2008
Kenneth Burchfiel
Buffalo, N.Y.: Scientists confirmed yesterday that Bills player Keith Ellison’s voice is outside the range of human hearing, an unprecedented development. Ellison had mixed feelings about the news.
“It’s cool, man,” [...]
[Story for the McLean Highlander's May 23rd edition.]
Plane People
Aircraft spotters make use of local sites
5/18/2008
Kenneth Burchfiel
Drive by the airport one day, and you might see a strange group of people in a parking lot with cameras and binoculars. For a second, you may not understand who they are—or why they’re spending the afternoon at [...]
Writing to the Test
Kenneth Burchfiel
[Written for the May 23, 2008 issue of the McLean Highlander, a high school paper]
Forgive me, please, if this editorial is not one of my better ones. You see, in the spirit of AP tests and the SAT, I have decided to follow the trend and establish a 30-minute time limit [...]
