This year, rather than going to the Wildlife Prairie State Park as many previous subfreshmen have, the Class of 2012 will head to the Chicago Field Museum. It will be the second year in a row that subfreshmen have gone to the museum. Read on for more about the field trip.

Senior Ruthie Welch might have been the only Uni athlete to qualify for state at Friday night's Class A sectional meet at PBL, but several other Illineks came close. Check inside for photos of the action. Welch will compete in the state finals Friday in Charleston. If she makes the first-day cut in the 800, she will advance to the championship race on Saturday.

Senior Ruthie Welch won the 800-meter run Friday night in the Class A sectional meet at Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School. She ran the event in a meet-record time of 2 minutes, 22.37 seconds, almost 4 seconds faster than runner-up Erika Ramos of Hoopeston Area, a state finalist last year. Welch was the only Uni athlete to qualify for next weekend's Class A state finals at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

Rita Dove is one of the premier contemporary poets of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Her book of poetry "American Smooth" won national acclaim. In this poem she takes us back to an evening in 1940, when Hattie McDaniel of "Gone with the Wind" fame became the first African-American to receive an Academy Award.

Here's your second Big Show diary entry, written by senior Andrea Park. Big Show, the annual showcase of student-written and -directed comedy skits, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the North Attic Playhouse. Look for the two remaining entries by Anna Cangellaris and Anna Gooler this weekend.

Epic action adventure movies are fairly common nowadays, so to be worth watching, a new one has to be exceptional in some way. In the case of "Beowulf," director Robert Zemeckis has used motion-capture technology to give the legendary hero a 21st-century look. Jack Snyder watched the recently released DVD and came away impressed, though with a few reservations.

When Sierra Marcum saw an ad in The News-Gazette for its Readers Writing Contest, she chose to submit a story about her experiences in Limerick, Ireland, in a tiny parking garage in a gigantic van. Little did she think that such a frustrating experience would get her story published and win her a $150 gift certificate. For a closer look at one of Uni's most talented writers, read on.

The Langston Hughes poem "Let America Be America Again" has become one of the most famous products of the Harlem Renaissance. Though written 70 years ago, can anything be more relevant than these lines? "Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death/ The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,/ We, the people, must redeem/ The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers./ The mountains and the endless plain —/ All, all the stretch of these great green states —/ And make America again!"

Recently Lauren Piester has gone on a reading spree. "Every free moment I've had in the past week (when I wasn't catching up on a little bit of extremely important television) I have spent reading," she writes. "With the summer and its ample reading time coming up, I thought I would take a moment to recommend some of my favorite books/series to you."

Starting today the Gargoyle will present a series of diary entries by four members of this year's Big Show. The annual showcase of student-written and -directed comedy skits is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the North Attic Playhouse. Senior Carl Zielinski starts off the diary today; look for other entries later this week by Andrea Park, Anna Cangellaris, and Anna Gooler.

"The Forbidden Kingdom" unites kung fu superstars Jackie Chan and Jet Li in their first movie together. It also provides a new twist on the Chinese legend of the Monkey King. Do Chan and Li live up to the hype, or is there something left to be desired? The discriminating Danny Ge gives his verdict.

Thirty-five comedy sketches: That's what you'll have to feast on if you go to Big Show '08 this weekend, and we know you will! Rachel Skoza gets the lowdown from directors Anna Cangellaris and Eunice How. Check inside for all the details, including a list of skits to be performed. All the money raised from ticket sales will go toward this year's X-Week charity, UC Books to Prisoners. Bring paperback dictionaries (any language, please!!), and you'll get a $2 discount!

"Hard Problems" is a documentary that focuses on six American high school students, including Uni's Alex Zhai, who make it to the highest level of math competition: the International Mathematical Olympiad. Check inside for Gordon Ruan's review to see what the documentary has to offer, even for those who don't consider themselves math aficionados.

Isaac Radnitzer, Uni's award-winning varsity goalkeeper, will be recognized this summer for being named to the Chicago Fire's Boys Soccer All-State All-Academic Team. Radnitzer was one of only 86 student-athletes to be named to the team. He and his fellow honorees will be invited to a Fire match in late June or early July at Toyota Park, where they will receive special recognition at the game.

After Black Ice, it's time to switch back to something more classical with Maya Angelou. In this beautiful poem, a heart-wrenching Angelou compares a free bird to the plight of a caged bird. She says that a free bird takes its freedom for granted while a caged bird struggles to discover life and freedom.

Prom is less than two weeks away, and Deborah Ladd knows what that means for first-timers — the rush, the pressure, the expectations. Take a deep breath and read on as Deborah shares her advice and puts it all in perspective.