Have you seen those signs around the school about a missing black backpack? Senior editor Shivani Khanna gets to the heart of this mystery and realizes that this is more than just losing your belongings within the mess of Uni High. It's an issue of how Uni associates itself with everyone else on the U of I campus. Read on to find out whether or not junior Cheng Luo ever did find his backpack and what the implications are for future safety measures in the school.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA, has received national attention in recent weeks after a federal report estimated that the staph bacteria are responsible for almost 19,000 deaths a year, more than AIDS. Schools have been closed in Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia to allow cleaning crews to disinfect buses, lockers, and classrooms. Student deaths from the bacteria were reported in Mississippi, New Hampshire, and Virginia. Maritza Mestre looks at the impact of MRSA on daily life here at Uni.

Last week Carl Zielinski reviewed the latest CD by metal band Avenged Sevenfold. This week he turns his review into an audiocast, featuring samples of the band's new material. Listen to the song clips, hear Carl's opinions, and judge for yourself. It's the OG's first audio review, so we hope you check it out even if metal's not your thing.

They're back! Check out the latest installment of Cheers & Jeers (accolades & derisions if you're a pretentious vocab connoisseur), courtesy of the Gargoyle senior editors. Enjoy this old classic.

Older generations are notorious for finding flaws with the generations that come after them. This year's senior editors have decided that they are undeserving of the criticism that New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has bestowed upon their generation in his article titled "Generation Q." Instead, they explain, the criticism needs to be pointed in the opposite direction: namely, the generation before theirs.

[UPDATED] The Uni girls began their season with a tough 66-59 overtime loss to host Atwood-Hamond tonight. Junior Jessi Sulivan, who made it to the IHSA state finals in 3-point shooting last year, sank a trey at the end of regulation to send the game into OT.

Considering the Uni High Stingrays compete against much larger schools, individual improvement is the best indicator of their swimming success. A successful season ended on Saturday at sectionals, where personal bests were achieved in 75 percent of the individual events.

It's one of the rituals of senior year: visiting college campuses. But there's more to a college visit than taking the official tour. Seniors Jie Han and Linda Song recently made the drive up I-57 to check out the University of Chicago. They sampled the classes as well as the cuisine and came away impressed.

Tired of dances? Student Council and the junior class are putting on something different for the school: an ice skating party. The event will be held Saturday night from 8:30 to 10:30 at the U of I Ice Arena.

A season marked by such accomplishments as Michelle Mehnert's third-place finish at the state cross country finals, the boys soccer team's return trip to the sectional title game, and the girls volleyball team's record-breaking 20 wins officially came to an end Monday night with the annual fall sports awards ceremony. Check inside for the list of honorees.

[UPDATED] With Erin Hayes out of town on college visits, Sindha Agha takes over the concert preview duties this week. The Friday appearance of Jimmy Eat World at the Assembly Hall leaves her underwhelmed. But Kumars Salehi sees some promising film and DVD releases on the horizon, and Gordon Ruan is impressed by three new video games.

Gordon Ruan has spent countless hours trying out "Halo 3." His verdict? The new features make battles more complex, challenging, awesome, and wild. All the tweaks and changes are included in "Halo 3" as a complete package to enhance the game play and amuse players. Check inside for the rest of Gordon's review.

Beginning in August, Katherine Allen and her cross country teammates ran day after day with one goal in mind: placing as high as they could in the IHSA state meet in Peoria, where Uni had come in fourth the year before. In this first-person account, Katherine writes about what it was like to compete in the biggest race of the year.

For the first three nights of November, audiences were treated to the latest stellar production by Uni's theater program, "The Diary of Anne Frank." Here's a look back at what happened onstage in this year's fall play.

The Uni chess team, featuring some of the top players in the state, recorded a two-round victory Thursday over Notre Dame de LaSalette, a private boarding school in Georgetown. Uni won the rounds by a combined score of 109-7.