Barrington High School (1988-1992)
Home of the Broncos

"Women complain about premenstrual syndrome, but I think of it as the only tome of the month I can be myself."
- Roseanne Barr

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High School...

I dug up my old Religious Quest final from January 14, 1992... Interesting reading...

Ego... The Final Frontier

The question of ego. The question of faith. These are not essay questions - they are questions of life and afterlife. Faith and ego are in constant struggle with one another; the critical question is how and to what extent. Ego is the inner drive within a person that pushes him to succeed, to excel towards perfection and dominance. It is the drive that is self-serving without thought or care for the people affected by it. Faith, on the other hand, is the Devil’s adversary. Faith in a God, in oneself, in belief, or in the after-life, is the presence of mind that drives people towards purity, conscience, morality, and true love. Faith is truth while ego is an illusionist’s lie.

Albert Camus, author of The Fall, describes the consequences of allowing ego to become too strong. The story involves a man who is controlled by ego alone. Ego is fighting an unchecked one-sided battle because the man has rejected faith. His ego enclosed him entirely, thus suffocating any chance for freedom. It came to the point where he was living for his perfect self. "I was made to have a body," are not the words of sane man. Someone completely controlled by the ego is not sane. Clamence, the destined soul, has no desire or willingness for faith. His downfall is an inevitable outcome of selfishness. Would Clamence return to the bridge to choose faith and a better life? "A second time, eh, what a risky suggestion! ...It’s too late now. It will always be too late. Fortunately!" If Clamence had returned to the bridge, he would have found faith. Camus perceives faith as the subordination of the ego, for if there is faith in a higher virtue the gratification of ego would be intolerable.

Leo Tolstoy weaves a similar pattern in his autobiography, Confession. This conflict entails belief, faith, and ego. Tolstoy writes this book during a difficult time in his life - one when he was engaged in the relentless pursuit of perfection. At the time when ego was about to take control, Tolstoy was able to comprehend ego’s lie:

I felt very strongly that [my friends] were deceiving themselves and that, like myself, they had no sense of life’s meaning other than to live while they lived and to lay their hands on everything they could.

In other words, he noticed that ego was only living for itself and the pleasures of life, while life was not meaningful without faith. A revelation occurred which allowed Tolstoy to live: Death is present. He recognized that perfection and progress, in both profession and family, is meaningless and he should begin to build his belief in God through faith, for it is faith in the concept of God that founds true belief in God. Tolstoy, now illuminated, has a reason for living. "As long as I know God, I live; when I forget, when I do not believe in him, I die." Tolstoy was then able to love life through faith and abandon the restraints and lies of ego.

Elizabeth Bishop recants a similar story in her poem entitled, "The Prodigal." The poem centers on the story of a young man who was destroyed by ego, just as the Biblical son wasted everything. It was ego that destroyed him and brought him to the lowest possible level. He had sunk so low that he even respected a pig who ate her young, a cruel action indeed: "even the sow that always ate her young - till, sickening, he leaned to scratch her head." It is not until the man gains pride in himself, developing faith, that he is able to conquer ego and return home - return to faith, truth, and purity. The bats, blind to all except the truth, "he felt the bats’ uncertain staggering flight, / his shuddering insights, beyond his control," guided his way. The path towards faith is not easy, but it is one that is worth the effort and subordination of the ego.

The path towards faith is usually found in the future, and it is there that ego attempts to gain control. It is in the anticipation of the future, of the unknown, that ego again tries to reign supreme by trying to explain the unexplainable. Attempting to predict the future with certainty is an effort by the ego to convert the unknown into the known, a task that not even the ego can accomplish. T.S. Elliot expounded this concept in the third movement of his poem, "East Coker." As a result of ego attempting to be supreme and be in complete power, the unknown becomes a powerful enemy against ego. Ego attempts to avoid the issue by burying the unknown, also refered to as the dark, in a move that will continue to allow ego to dominate: "And we all go with them, into the silent funeral, / Nobody’s funeral, for there is no one to bury." No one to bury, that is, except the unknown. If this occurs, ego has beaten faith, making faith no longer necessary. It is faith that allows a person to be free from ego, from the unknown, and the elusive mystery of death and the dark. Faith lives for the present and accepts the existence of the unknown, putting aside the fact that the ego wants to control death. Ego creates yet another illusion to control death - its own form of love: "For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith." This protective barrier, love, attempts to provide security against death. Faith wins out because, with faith, you gain security in yourself and the confidence to live. A wise man once wrote, "To try to save oneself from death is to choose not to live."

The security that is found only through faith is not simple to come by. There are many peasants who do not experience the struggle to achieve faith and simply give their faith over to another, and, as a result, live under the control of ego. This master-slave relationship is articulated best by Fyodor Dostoyesvsky in his masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov. The Grand Inquisitor plays the God-like figure to the peasants, for they surrendered their faith and their freedom to him. As a result, the Grand Inquisitor not only rules with ego, but he becomes their ego for he offers the security that the peasants yearn for. Jesus is the object of faith and the epitome of subordination of the ego in this description of the ongoing conflict. With the strength and willpower to subordinate the ego, Jesus refuses to give into the three temptations, thus showing that faith will conquer over ego. Ego, aware of its defeat, tries to exclude faith: "Go, and come no more - don’t come at all - never, never!" The Grand Inquisitor, foreseeing his own demise, knew that domination by the ego would lead to the peasants death. Ego sees death as an end instead of as a beginning. Furthermore, death is the bondage that prevents the peasants from being truly free. Through faith, one can be free by accepting death for the great mystery that it is and not be afraid of it. Faith knows that ego has its own undoing: "‘The kiss glows in his heart, but the old man sticks to his idea.’"

Another group of unfortunate souls who chose to forgo faith are the sinners in hell described by Dante Alighieri in his novel, The Inferno. The entire book depicts those who were controlled by ego instead of their own hearts and faith. Dante depicts these sinners not of cruel heart, but of lacking the wisdom to choose faith instead of falling into the grasps of ego: "Here you shall pass among the fallen people, / souls who have lost the good of intellect." To some, their only sin was not to choose God; to others, they purposely allowed themselves to indulge in the pleasures of life while gratifying their egotistical desires to the highest degree. The Opportunists are prime examples of what happens when ego is in control. They lived only for themselves, even though they did neither good nor evil. This book does not describe the direct conflict, but more so the result. Each sinner is punished accordingly to their own sin, and yet again, as is the case with "The Grand Inquisitor," faith triumphs over ego. The utmost example of ego defying faith, the form of faith in the flesh, is here in the grasp of the devil who is the ultimate power of ego: "‘The soul that suffers most,’ explained my Guide, / ‘is Judas Iscariot, he who kicks his legs / on the fiery chin and has his head inside."

The conflict of choosing between ego and faith is a battle in another novel that filled the mind of a brilliant man throughout his life, a man called Siddhartha. Herman Hesse, who wrote the novel appropriately titled Siddhartha, describes the conflict of faith verses ego throughout life. Siddhartha’s life flows through different bouts of thought in an attempt to discover what is truly right for him. At first, he abandons all materialism to search for faith, but then he returns to the city to perfect materialism and control by ego. It is here that he takes pride in being the best of everything, thus making the ego the current champion in control of his life. However, it is ego, not exclusively materialism, that is the enemy of Siddhartha. He indulges in the pleasures of the ego and is lead more and more astray from the chosen path. His family is a product of ego, a vain attempt of ego to keep control of this spiritual man. The illusion of love that he felt for Kamala was not true love, only a product of expectations. Both she and Siddhartha were aware that the love they had was a lie created by ego: "‘You cannot love,’ [Kamala] had said to [Siddhartha] and he had agreed with her." It is through his son, Samsara, that he was able to experience pure love as a result of faith: "he was madly in love, a fool because love. Now he also experienced belatedly, for once in his life, the strongest and strangest passion; he suffered tremendously through it and yet was uplifted, in some way renewed and richer." It is through love, Siddhartha discovers, that one is able to find peace. During his stay in the city, Siddhartha, much like Clamence, experiences a fall. His fall, however, has a profoundly different effect, for he chooses faith instead of ego. He decides to return to the river where he found his faith and becomes the truly happy man of religion that he was destined to be. And again, ego tries to lead Siddhartha away from faith through the pleasures of the city, but alas for ego, faith triumphs.

All the topics concerning faith, love, belief, and ego, are compressed into a book by Alan Watts, Wisdom of Insecurity. Watts points out that, while some may seek the truth, they are misguided for it is not necessary to seek for what is true, but it is necessary to seek for what is false. And truth, which is already in us, may be the key to finding faith and avoiding ego. A problem arises when ego yet again tries to lead the person away from faith by telling him that he can alter creation, another way of trying to control the unknown. It takes the same faith as earlier in "East Coker" to have the faith to accept the mystery of life. Watts continues to summarize the images of those who search for faith in something objective, much like the story of the Golden Calf:

"The moment I name it, it is no longer God; it is man, tree, green, black, red, soft, hard, long, short, atom, universe. One would readily agree with any theologian who deplores pantheism that these... ‘things’ conceived as fixed and distinct entities, are not God. If you ask me to show you God, I will point to the sun, or a tree, or a worm. But if you say, ‘You mean, then, that God is the sun, the tree, the worm, and all other things?’ - I shall have to say that you have missed the point entirely."

Watts confronted and explored the conflict, as everyone must do.

Faith and ego are two indestructible forces that play key roles in everyone’s life. They are and always will be in eternal conflict, for that allows man to make the choices to guide him on his chosen path. The choices, however, are many and demanding, but they instill life with a power that no other force has. So, if one is to say, "You mean, then, that there is one choice that can end the conflict altogether?" - I shall have to say that they have missed the point entirely.

An article I wrote for the yearbook that I don't think made it, but mildly interesting nonetheless...

Everyone Has Five Minutes Of Fame

We are in class studiously taking a test. "Five minutes to go... I’ve got time," we reassure ourselves. Then, with speed faster than the parking lot empties out after school, the panic hits. "Wait a second... I’m late for announcements!" The adrenalin rushes throughout the body of an announcer makes a mad dash to the microphone. Time is not our friend until 9:13 a.m. - T-Time. (No, not the British custom, air time you fool.)

"Good morning Barrington High School, this is (Stenning, Mike, Aaron, Mary Beth, or Lazar) with today’s announcements." As we read on, many thoughts enter our head. Most common, of course, is "Who is listening?" Many other questions race through our mind as we methodically read on in an almost unconscious state. While our mouth is doing one thing, reading the announcements clearly and energetically, our mind wanders: Is my own class even paying attention? Why are the buttons next to the microphone green? Who choose the color of the carpet in this room? Can I start making fun of people without getting caught? Hmm...

The announcements vary from colleges to clubs to sports events. An outsider will never be able to feel the awkwardness of reading something like "Way to go Fillies" or "Good job Broncos!" without making it sound stupid. Maybe it’s the extra gene that we announcers carry. The fun doesn’t stop there: Try reading the scribbling of a coaches handwriting while the whole school listens. So how do we make it entertaining?

A difficult confrontation indeed. Censorship, a key word in the administrative wing of the school, closes many of our doors. "Approved... Unapproved..." Another question arises: The language and in PG movies and even the hallway, only a few steps away, are considered scandalous if over the air. Why? We continue to contemplate.

How do we make it interesting? After all, the five minutes are supposed to be "the student’s time." It may entail a little music before we begin, a special cheer to a team, an additional advertisement for an upcoming school activity, or a music selection everyone will like. (But that’s like saying the price of Coke in the Caf will fall.) A bold attempt to cheer up everyone’s day was the introduction of Top Ten Lists written and based upon life at Barrington High School. The music theory continued here too: You can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please some of the people all of the time. And yet again, censorship draws its red pen of writes "Unapproved."

And we leave the papers down as the music begins to play. We gather our belongings and get ready for third hour. We are always late, but the music lasts awhile. Another day on the job. Our pay is nothing but a simple "Good job on the announcements" or "I liked the music today." That pay, however, makes it all worth it. Some people may get their moment in the spotlight; we get five minutes, five days a week.

Among the better (and found) Top 10s, I have included two of them...
I still buy my lunch, but in a recent investigation, I found out what really goes in the specials of the day and discovered the:
Top 10 Ingredients of School Lunches
Stenning Schueppert (Read November 6, 1991)

10. Yesterday’s food - but in a different color.
9. Unidentified fur.
8. Grease (Pizza added)
7. Chemistry experiments that failed.
6. Cleaning water used in auto shop.
5. The chalk dust that collects at the bottom of the board.
4. An Unknown glob left unknown even to the entire periodic chart.
3. Left-over dirt from Horticulture.
2. Road Kill from Lake-Cook Road.
1. That white stuff that fell of E.T. when he was sick.

Top 13 Stupid Things Overheard in the Freshman Hallway
Stenning Schueppert (Read early Fall, 1991)

13. I’m so glad they have hall monitors here.
12. Maybe the upperclassmen like us.
11. Someday I’ll be tall enough to see over the lunch counters.
10. I’m so lucky that Senior sold me an elevator pass for only $10!
9. I hope the upperclassmen stop tripping over me.
8. Hey wait - I thought our team was the Colts.
7. I’ll see you on the bus tomorrow!
6. Gee, only four more years!
5. I had to stay up ‘till 9 last night.
4. Thanks for the ride mom.
3. I don’t get it - Who’s coming home October 19th?
2. Hey - I actually can fit in my locker.
1. I stil can’t find Mr. Unas.

Top 92 Cool Things About Barrington High School
The original version of my Top 92 that made it, slightly censored, into the Yearbook...

92. Well, this is supposed to be a Top 92 List but then it was changed due to the fact that no one would read all 92 of them anyway. Furthermore, if they were more than two syllables long, theAdministration couldn’t read them. Besides, wet willies aren’t free. Another reason includes the pleas from the S.E.A.L. club to stop the innocent slaughter of ink trees so we cut down this list to conserve ink. Some of the first draft list wasn’t funny, but then numbers 81-70 were censored anyway.
91. Simon & Garfunkel wrote "The Sound of Silence" after attending one RQ class.
90. The heaters only work during the summer and don’t blow cool air out until the winter.
89. Mission Impossible - Upper science to lower math in 5 minutes.
88. The security system in the Library is better than at the Tel AvivAirport.
87. Does Officer "Friendly" like little boys?
86. Want a date? Join CPR Club.
85. Even after suggestions from upperclassmen, Freshmen still exist.
84. Under the SAT when it says "Dates Taken," some people listed their x-girlfriends.
83. The swimming suits are a Chemistry demo to show how some materials expand to huge proportions when put into water.
.....
CENSORED
69. This was originally going to be a Top 69. We thought, however, that 69 isn’t enough - but then again, it never is.
68. The infiltration of beepers is so great that an Inprint article is not enough, but the drug deals are down.
67. During budget woes, there is still enough money to spend thousands of dollars on walkie-talkies for "security."
66. The perfect breakfast isn’t - even with the availability of the 500 person butter bowl.
65. Zero Hour - When did the administration learn to count?
64. The battle over the bathrooms being labeled boys/girls or men/women.
63. The Caf recycles... yesterday’s food. And we actually pay for it.
62. Kirby treats his field better than he treats most students.
61. You have an urge to shop at Bronco Billy’s, our chic boutique, instead of Woodfield.
60. The Sophomores wrongfully think they’re better than Freshmen.
59. The security gates in the parking lot couldn’t even stop a bike.
58. Hall monitors consider themselves important.
57. The parking lot at 2:47 inspired most of the movie Days Of Thunder.
56. One night in May costs more than some African families make in a year.
55. Schwarzenegger is afraid of Conan the Librarian.
54. The Pep Assemblies have never missed an opportunity to unite school spirit by repeatedly chanting "Freshmen Suck!"
53. Yuppy clones buy bottled water, which sells for more than Coke, right next to the drinking fountains.
52. The Homecoming Queen could beat up the rest of the Court.
51. A senile man is allowed to play with toys and is respected as a physics teacher.
50. The football team wears their jerseys every Friday to compensate for their small wardrobes and lack of originality.
49. Mr. Scher likes tights a little too much.
48. A pornographic dance can count for an English and an Economics project.
47. Freshmen can’t reach the top shelf of their locker.
46. There is more smoke than oxygen in the teachers’ lounges.
45. There are no resources in the Resource Center.
44. Are the study carrolls in the Library named after our Student Council President?
43. The fire alarms always go off whenever Dr. DeYoung gets bored.
42. The ice on the pool, and Mr. McCloud’s hair, are only illusions.
41. The only people who can understand the Co-Curricular code won’t be the ones who break it anyway.
40. The U of I application takes 10 minutes - if you fill it out twice.
39. From Here To Eternity is a book about 2:30 to 2:45.
38. There are more cheerleaders, pom-poms, and flag girls than athletes on the field.
37. Our locks are color coded and the buildings are labeled in case we forget what year we are or where we are.
36. Cheese fries and a Coke is considered a balanced meal.
35. Dr. DeYoung has more testosterone than the entire Freshman class.
34. We need a class called Cop Dodging 169 and Party Clean-Up 666, both divisions of Home Economics.
33. How far undercover did the Round-Up Editor go to get his feature article?
32. People who drive BMW’s complain that Blow-Pops are 25 cents.
31. Lower-Tech resembles "Ripley’s Believe It Or Not" and "America’s Most Wanted."
30. Dan Quayle is jealous of all the toys used in AP Physics.
29. Our Valedictorian looks like a Freshman.
28. More years of gym than math are required to graduate.
27. Mr. Phelan: "It's gotta be the shoes."
26. The most work Student Council Delegates do is get their 250 signatures to run for office.
25. The administration buys concrete signs instead of needed bathroom stall doors.
24. Has anyone ever set foot inside those two courtyards?
23. Eyeing a copied answer sheet from their first class, teachers still wonder why classes do better on tests later in the day.
22. The curves guys want to study are sitting across the room, not in a geometry book.
21. Fog lights are needed when entering the bathrooms.
20. Your calculus finally pays off when you integrate the volume of a leaking milk carton at the Jewel.
19. The Deans think they're tricky when they change the colors of the hall passes.
18. Burn holes in clothing identify AP Chem students.
17. The teachers are tardy more than the students.
16. Zut Alors! 91.9% is a B+. "Pas de Guignol!"
15. We do more stretching in history than in gym.
14. Mr. Mott - "He's Just Misunderstood." "Mirp... Gazba Gazba..."
13. Mr. Hicks' "Bed O'Nails" is more comfy than most of the chairs.
12. Gym teachers have more keys than Alcatraz.
11. If Seniors tried to bestow the wisdom they've amassed over the years to the Freshmen, their brains would explode.
10. "Poms Go All The Way At Camp" - Only A Headline?
9. "Point of Parliamentary Inquiry. Why are we debating politics at 10:30 on a Friday night?"
8. The hands-on demos are in Physics when we really want them in Health class.
7. The swimming pool is always warmer after a Freshman swim class.
6. Is Griffith God? Or Satan?
5. The teachers in the Caf eat on top of garbage cans.
4. The people in A.V. take turns sitting on the photocopier.
3. Ho-Ho-Ho: Season’s Greetings or Cheerleading practice?
2. Amnesty International is trying to free the shocks on Big John’s van due to the torture they must endure.
1. In the spirit of shortening the Cafeteria to the Caf, Dr. DeYoung has been renamed Dr. Dung.
Surgeon General’s Warning: This is only a test. It is simply an attempt at humor. Not only has it been proven not to cause cancer in laboratory animals, it has only reminded us of the humor we can find in our everyday lives. Do not feel offended in any way, because everyone is ridiculed. I’d like to quote Roger Rabbit who stated, "A laugh is a very powerful thing." We just hope you laughed... and enjoyed. Thanks.

I had the honor of being one of two Senior Class Speakers at Graduation. Following is the exact speech I gave on graduation day at Poplar Creek (now destroyed) in June, 1992.

Fast Times At Barrington High

Four years. Think about it. It seemed like an eternity to all of us. Now, however, the high school chapter of our autobiography is over. In the present we all know that the minutes and hours tick slowly by. Looking back, however, the past four years have passed by as faster than a wink. Looking back, we actually don’t want it to end. The friends we have to leave behind and the teachers we will no longer talk to. Never again will we wonder what’s in the cafeteria food. Never again will we flash our honor pass with a smile and keep walking by. Never again.

High school is a time of social change, activity and growth. The evolution of social events has developed from a few parties to many late-night get togethers. Ten o’clock was once considered "Late night," and "a few friends" was once less than ten. We made friends that we could never possibly forget - or want to for that matter. School events, sports games, and class discussions have contributed to our encompassing high school experience. And we can all thank the automobile for our poor attendance record at home, but we were merely hanging on to our fading youthful innocence.

With the abundance of social activity it is almost a wonder how we ever had any time left over for school work. From wood shop to choir, algebra to calc, film crit to R.Q., and an occasional open period we grudgingly choose our schedules. We did the homework, participated in class, begged for deadline extensions or extra-credit, and used our number two pencils well for those reliable and personal Scan-tron tests. We learned not only from our teachers, but also each other. The gift of education was discovered by all of us. The slow transformation of classroom atmosphere from the narrow focus of Freshman year to the useful life lessons of Senior Year prepared us well for whatever may lie ahead - be it further studies or a career.

And so approached the end of our senior year. We found ourselves bonding closer together, making new friends, and holding conversations with classmates that we missed the opportunity of knowing better earlier. The previous walls of social stratification were torn down and we met people we had only seen before. The philosophy that school wasn’t such a bad place after all is supported by the active schedules we all faced. There was Prom, summer jobs, and end of the year activity that still reminded us to say good-bye to all our friends and teachers.

As we leave Barrington we take with us the fond and the painful memories, the concreteness of the yearbook, and the imagery of the experience. We must face the world naked - our only clothing is the knowledge that we hold secure. The future doesn’t care what facts you have memorized - it cares about what you have learned and experienced. Yogi Bera once said, "The hardest thing to predict is the future." How true. Life is, on a metaphorical level, a completely open campus. Your attitude and determination make up the Boots pass you will carry. The opportunities are endless, the choices are many and difficult, but the adventure will be priceless. Be all that you can be is more than a commercial. Life is what you make it. Try to make it precious.

I look out upon all your faces together for the last time. Unless of course, we get another free meal in a few days. I hear the "You wore red also? Darn. Well, at least we don’t clash." We all have our personal questions about what lies ahead. None of us have all the answers. The key to life is an elusive one. Each individual must find their own key. Through the experience these past four years we gained the knowledge to guide us through life and strive for our goals. I never thought I’d be so sad to leave it all behind. Hold on to the memories. I know I’ll miss you all. Good luck, and thanks.

AP Physics

BHS - After 1992

Checking out the Atlanta '96 Olympic Games with Lauren Lampertz and Sean "Durr Flakes" Keeler.

         © SS

© SS

Grand Cayman w/ Alli in January, '98.

©SS

Under construction

**All photographs (unless otherwise noted) are the property of Stenning Schueppert and may not be distributed or circulated for any purposes (personal or commercial) without his express written consent. Questions or comments regarding selected photographs are, of course, welcome.
Created 9/01; Last updated February 3, 2003; v1.6.