May 23, 2011
PHS Jazz Page 2
PHS/DHS Leaders Unite Page 2 Spring, 2011
Hope for Japan Portland High School Student Angela Dang has launched a T-shirt campaign to raise money for the Red Cross. By CHIP WEBER Immediately following the devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan March 11th, hundreds of charities were launched to help the victims of this catastrophe. Several projects have even been started throughout the Portland Public School System to raise money for the people affected by the earthquake. Angela Dang, a senior at Portland High School, spearheaded a T-shirt campaign to raise money for the Red Cross, a major contributor to helping victims
The destruction in Japan has made scenes like this one occur frequently (CNN) of all types of natural disasters. The T-shirt reads across the chest, “Hope for Japan” with the rising sun, a national symbol in Japan and part of Japan’s flag, replacing the ‘O’ in ‘for.’ Ms. Dang is enrolled in the Graphic
Art & Printing class at Portland Arts and Technology High School (PATHS). David Nichols teaches the class of 15 students, but unfortunately, the class will be discontinued at the end of this year. Without the
Please see JAPAN, page 4
In This Edition PHS Photo PHS Talent Show Club Gallery Coverage, Page 2 Anatomy of LeadHas Record Year 2010-11 ership Program, Page 2
The motivated club members put on a very aesthetically pleasing gallery while also making a fair amount of profit.
By QUINN LAVIGNE On April Fool’s Day the Portland High Photography Club’s 3rd annual photo show, “Portland in Focus” took place despite a late season blizzard. Helmed by Please see GALLERY, page 6
Customers look through some of the many beautiful photographs on display
Thank You to Richard Connor, Greg Kesich, and the Portland Press Herald for Their Generosity and Interest in the Bulldog Edition
Along with “Wallace’s Unmentionables”, Page 2 “Water for Elephants Review”, Page 3 “Tearing Down History”, Page 3 “A Tale of Two Cities Skits”, Page 7 “PHS Excursion to Egypt”, Page 7 More Great Photography
PHS News
Bulldog Edition, Spring 2011, Page 2
Showcasing the Abundance of Talent at PHS Many great performances help to make Portland High’s 2011 talent show a memorable night. By BARRY QUINN Portland High School has talent, and on Wednesday, March 22nd, our talent was showcased in a spectacular fashion. The beautiful rendition of the national anthem performed by the Portland High School Boys A Cappella Choir kicked off the evening. Captivating emcees Nate Porter and Alyson Palacci gave the production an excellent rhythm and were entertaining from start to finish. A packed audience was treated to an incredible series of performances, containing acts of remarkable variety. First half acts included a rocking cover of the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” by Troy and the Crabtrees, a heartwarming version of “Last Kiss”, the Taylor Swift hit, by Quinn Bouwens, and Please see TALENT, page 4
PHS Jazz Band: Untapped Greatness Five of Portland’s own musicians have come together to create amazing tunes. By TATUM GALE In a world of chart-topping artists such as Ke$ha, Kanye, Britney and GaGa, it appears that music has really lost its class. The underground teems with potential, but it’s hardly accessible
PHS/DHS Leaders Unite to Solve Problems The Anatomy of Leadership program teaches students how to deal with problems and lead their peers. By ELIN ROLAND This year’s 2010-2011 Anatomy of Leadership program successfully partnered with the Salvation Army. The Anatomy of Leadership program has existed for twenty years. The Leadership program is a joint venture bringing students from Portland and
Please see LEADERS, page 4
The 38 students in the program enjoy their last day at a leadership retreat at Camp Kieve and can be infested with uppity hipsters “too cool” to be liked. Luckily for our beloved Portland High students, there is a solution to the query of where to find truly classy, clean music: our very own jazz quintet, Wallace’s Unmentionables! Available to be heard at many school functions and coming soon to various coffee shops in the area, this highly skilled group of high school students will blow away any recollection of the auto-tune laden, bass-heavy club hits which have absolutely no attainable meaning or long-term value. Check out the WU Facebook page and Youtube account for more photos, as well as videos and upcoming events.
Members (from left) Cody Cook, Dexter Morse, Jeff Peisner, Nick Thompson-Brown, and Tate Gale of WU play at the Portland Public Library
PHS News
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Tearing Down History (Editorial) First Amendment speech and government speech are hotly debated items lately after Governor LePage decides to remove a mural in the Maine State Department of Labor Headquarters. By JACOB HATCH In the Maine State Department of Labor Headquarters there once stood a mural depicting Maine’s labor history. However, it is no longer the case. Maine’s new governor, Paul LePage, determined the mural was decidedly one sided and favored, too heavily, labor unions and their members. The mural was removed and is now in an undisclosed location so as to protect the
public from this left-leaning depiction of Maine’s workforce. Along with the removal of the mural, the State Department’s conference rooms are being renamed from Maine’s most historically important labor leaders to something more neutral; something along the lines of a mountain or a lake. This recent turn of events is ridiculous and is reflective of LePage’s odd ideology. In recent months there has been a veritable flood of global crises that deserve full attention from our local and national governments alike. In light of these events, it seems comical that LePage’s administration would rather focus its time and energy on something as harmless as a mural.
Moreover, the mural celebrated Maine Labor Unions and pivotal strikes that led to drastically improved conditions for the blue-collar residents of the state. The largest labor movement in the history of Maine came in the form of the Shoe Strike of 1937. During this period, factory-workers could toil away upwards of seventy hours a week and receive twenty to twenty five dollars pay. Women would work upwards of fifty hours and receive as little as five to seven dollars. The average Maine factory workers made roughly twenty percent less than their Massachusetts counterparts. The American Civil Liberties Union Please see MURAL, page 5
The mural depicts many scenes from Maine’s labor history (Portland Press Herald)
Water for Elephants Review A thrilling story of romance, violence, and the circus.
(Fox 2000 Pictures)
By OLIVIA WARNER The film Water for Elephants, based on the best-selling novel by Sara Gruen stars Robert Pattinson as Jacob, Reese Witherspoon as Marlena, and Christoph Waltz as August. Jacob, Robert Pattinson, is taking his Animal Sciences final at an Ivy League school when his parents are killed in a car crash, and he is devastated by the news. He never finishes his final and drops out of Please see REVIEW, page 5
(Algonquin Books)
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class, Ms. Dang does not know if she would have ever started her T-shirt campaign. “I was in class thinking of shirt designs, and I kept receiving updates on Japan, and I thought it would be a good idea to make a shirt,” says Ms. Dang when asked how she came up with the idea for the T-shirt. She then proceeded with her idea to sell the ten dollar T-shirts and then to donate the proceeds for the sale to the Red Cross. Having raised nearly $130 through t-shirt sales and donations, Ms. Dang’s benevolence has been admired and has inspired the Portland High School community. “All I hope is that I have made a difference,” says Ms. Dang.
Deering High Schools to work together to discover their leadership potential. The principles of leadership students learn and work with are based on the “The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization” authored by MIT professor Dr. Peter Senge. This year’s group of students, led by Mr. Pisani, Mr. Gordon, Mrs. Pendleton, and Ms. Pendleton, was given five case studies dealing with systems challenges that the Greater Portland Salvation Army faces. These challenges included improving the Salvation Army’s elderly center, summer camps, website and communication, and volunteer recruitment. The Leadership experience culminated with a student led juried exhibition presenting the student’s solutions to the Salvation Army as well as Portland High School’s principal, Mike Johnson and Deering High School’s principal, Ira Waltz. Principal Mike Johnson said of the presentations, “I was struck by the creativity of the ideas.” He said that he was extremely impressed by the presentations, as he has been every year. Anna Fisher said, “Instead of just learning from a book, I was able to get an opportunity to apply my knowledge to a practical scenario.”
Ms. Dang sporting her T-shirt (Portland Public Schools)
Energetic Members Natalie Anderson (left) and Reesey Partlow (right)
TALENT
sumed with a touching version of “If I Die Young” performed by Emily Colello with Nick Volger on guitar and Barry Quinn on continued from page 2 piano. But that portion was only the beginning; the second act was truly a treat for the a hip performance by our Step Team. Other audience to watch. Great performances in highlights of the first half included Munye the second act included McKinzie Parker’s Mohamed’s poetry, Will Chapman’s fantascover of Miranda Lambert’s “More Like tic guitar cover of “Do What”, and, of course, You”, David Zhao’s extraordinary swordsBomee Choi’s diverting and inspiring covmanship, and Ellen Taffere’s truly awe-iner of “Can You Hear Me?”, a Chinese song. spiring Rascal Flatts cover. The Portland After a brief intermission, the action re-
High School Jazz Band closed the event with a bang, and their polished performance will be remembered for years to come. The participants would like to thank Mr. Smith and the stage crew for their assistance throughout the process. Without them, a fantastic show would not have been a possibility. Portland High’s talent was in full swing on Wednesday, March 22nd, and it was a memorable performance the likes of which Portland High will not forget.
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REVIEW continued from page 3
college. In shock he acts impulsively and hops on the Benzini Circus train passing through his town. On this train he meets a plethora of interesting circus workers who help him get a job as the circus veterinarian. Jacob’s boss is August, Christoph Waltz, who has a tendency to be quite abusive to both the animals he cares for and his wife Marlena, Reese Witherspoon. As time goes on, Jacob and Marlena fall in love. The relationship is a dangerous situation
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described Maine as “One hundred years behind the rest of the country.” The strikes that occurred during this time period ultimately led to increased minimum wage and reduced hours for Maine workers. Not only that, but also these uprisings laid the foundation for legitimate union recognition in the state of Maine. The strike was depicted on one of the eleven panels of the recently removed mural and is indicative of what the mural, as a whole, represented. Apparently, the celebration of worker’s rights and the most historically important events in Maine’s labor history are too one sided to be represented in our Labor Office.
LePage’s approval ratings (PPH)
for everyone and results in a tragedy for the Benzini Circus. All in all, this movie was pleasing to watch. It was filled with dramatic scenes of love and tragedy. The tragic scenes are somewhat graphic to watch. The hardest scenes to watch are the scenes of the husband being cruel to his wife and the many circus animals, in particular, Rosie the elephant. This movie is true to the book, capturing the most emotional scenes honestly. Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon deliver amazing performances, authentically transporting the viewer back to the early 1930s circus era. Water for Elephants engaged me, mesmerizing me until the end credits rolled.
Adrienne Bennett, LePage’s spokeswoman had this to say, “The artwork was not appropriate for the Department of Labor because it is one-sided in favor of labor interests at the expense of business interests at a time when LePage is pushing a pro-business agenda”. She was also quoted as saying, “We feel the mural controversy is counterproductive to the work the Department of Labor needs to focus on and our state as a whole needs to focus on.” LePage’s office also released an anonymous fax from a “Secret Admirer” stating that this mural was being used in precisely the same fashion as North Korea utilizes communist murals to “brainwash the masses.” Bennett’s comments are incredibly confounding in that they genuinely make no sense. The mural was removed for favoring labor interests? A mural depicting workers from nearly a century ago fighting for basic rights that the United States Government had promised them is too in favor of the laborers? She goes on to say that this mural was focused in the opposite direction of LePage’s pro-business agenda. The removal of the mural is a much more extreme act than placing the mural there in the first place, and shows an enormous level of hypocrisy. The comments on the controversy being “counterproductive” are ludicrous as well. How removing the mural in the first place was in any way productive, and moreover, how can an administration complain about a controversy that they knew full well would be created if they chose to act in the way that they did? LePage went as far as to have the mural removed on a weekend when the offices would be closed so as to hide this action from the public
eye. This choice alone demonstrates that the administration was cognizant that there would be a dramatic, public response, and yet still chose to go through with this action regardless. Ironically, they instigated the entire “controversy” knowing that what lay ahead and the adverse response it would garner. Now, unbelievably, they complain that the controversy they created is counter-productive. Finally, it is odd that the governor’s office chose to release the anonymous facts to the public. It is unclear whether or not the circulation of this document was a justification along the lines of, “At least we’re not this crazy,” or an actual insight into LePages’s group really viewed the mural. Either way, it seems totally unnecessary to have even acknowledged the document, let alone to have given it to the “light of day”. In a time and place where there is a never ending supply of global, national, and state issues to tackle, Mainers can rest assure that LePage and his administration are keyed into the truly big issues. These issues, of course, consist of the metaphoric meanings of our art work and the names of our state building conference rooms.
Governor LePage hard at work... (PPH)
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English teacher Ms. Deborah Keyes, PHS Photo Club, now in its seventh year, is dedicated to helping members grow and thrive in the ever-changing world of photography. This year, twenty-two members displayed 66 original prints at 3fish Gallery, just a stone’s throw away from Portland High School. 3fish Gallery owners, Christine and Ron Spinella, generously allowed the Photography Club to use their private gallery for two days in exchange for a few photos of their choosing. Having a gallery opening on Cumberland Avenue, on First Friday, was an excellent opportunity for students to showcase the Clubs’ outstanding photographic achievements. Challenging weather conditions aside, over $1,100 worth of framed photos and unframed prints were sold. This year, the Photography Club was fortunate enough to be able to have the gallery open on Saturday afternoon which helped to increase sales by nearly $200 and which made this year’s event the most successful gallery the club has ever enjoyed.
Bulldog Edition, Spring 2011, Page 6 Next year we hope to make the event even bigger, seeing even more familiar faces along with first time gallery-goers! It’s a great event that helps support an art form to which people are not exposed (no pun intended). We hope to see you all next year!
The club’s Treasurer Chip Weber (left) and President Quinn Lavigne (right) stand with the Spinellas
The works of (from top left, clockwise) Paul Foster (2014), Quinn Lavigne (2013), Chip Weber (2013), and Izzy Walter (2013)
PHS News
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PHS English Class Performs Portrayals of a Classic Members of an Honors English 9 class portray Dickens’s masterpiece A Tale of Two Cities. By ELIANA FINBERG Ms. Pendleton’s Honors English 9 class is held to high expectations. Recently, her class concluded its reading of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. As a final assessment, Ms. Pendleton assigned her students a skit project. “The skits allow students to demonstrate a higher level of learning, complementing the traditional assessments of written tests and essays. Students can creatively express their understanding of the novel. The assignment also encourages collaboration with peers and problem solving – useful skills which reach beyond the classroom,” commented Ms. Pendleton. Added Mr. Johnson, “This form of creative assessment gives students a chance to show their strengths which they may not be able to show in classroom settings. I had a lot of fun watching the kids!” Students organized themselves into self-selected groups of two to four members. Each group needed to select two related scenes from the novel, re-write a script for each scene, blending Dickens’ language with modern language, and to demonstrate how the two scenes chosen were connected by a specific motif or theme. Further, each scene would require its own backdrop, props, sets, real-
istic costuming, and intriguing movement, speech, and characterization. The students had approximately three weeks to complete the assignment. Each group selected two scenes that were different from every other group’s so that everybody’s work was completely unique. The first step was to examine the details, emotions, and ideas of the scenes one wanted to work with and to rewrite it in a way that was modernized and more
Katie Shambaugh (left) as Miss Pross and Laura Frank as Madame Defarge
understandable. After that, much time was spent on memorizing lines, finding props to make the sets, costuming (mostly from Goodwill), and creating the backdrops. The most time consuming part of the project was creating the sets. In order to create the sets, students needed a large area in which to work, an ample amount of paint, and hours for sketching and painting students’ ideas onto the cloth. When the sets were finished and put up behind the actors/actresses, they enhanced the performance and really brought the whole project together. Along with the elements of the scenes, a prompt book was passed in before each group began the presentation. The prompt book consisted of a title page that explained one’s chosen motif or theme, both scripts, drawings of each set design with a quote that linked the motifs, characters, and scene analyses, and a typed explanation of the importance of one’s motif and how it connected to the rest of the book. The scenes were preformed on Friday, April 29th. Margaret Adham said, “It [the process] was really time consuming, but the scenes I preformed will be forever imprinted on my mind. I especially liked the fact that we got to video tape our scenes. We video taped on location in the West End. Many people stopped and watched what we were doing. Please see TWO CITIES, page 8
PHS Excursion to Egypt Two PHS students make an adventurous trip to the faraway lands of Egypt. By Alexandra Kiladjian During April vacation, two Portland High School students traveled the world and had an experience they will most likely never forget. PHS students Alex Kiladjian and Nicola DiPietro spent April break in Egypt, accompanied by Mr. Smith, a few family members, and a tour guide. Their trip was organized through an organization called Explorica. Explorica sponsors trips through schools to allow kids to experience the world. This trip was a great opportunity for the students and other travelers to experience a culture that is so unlike our own. “Everybody’s covered up,” Alex said when asked about the major cultural differences between the United States and Egypt. “You really only see [the women’s] eyes, Please see EGYPT, page 8
The Great Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza (Wikipedia)
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they’re all in complete black . . . that was a huge culture shock.” The travelers flew into Cairo, and first stayed in Giza, right outside of the capital city Cairo. During their time in the city of Cairo, Alex said they were surprised at the great amount of poverty that they saw and at the uncleanly living conditions of many of the people living there. “It was a lot dirtier,” she remembered, “it made us really feel lucky to be living here [United States].” After their stay in Giza, they flew to Aswan, a town in southern Egypt, where they took a three-day cruise on the Nile River from Aswan to Luxor.
Bulldog Edition, Spring 2011, Page 8 In contrast to the dirty, busy city of Cairo, Aswan and Luxor were green and beautiful. “It was so beautiful, the greenery and the desert,” Alex said, “those were definitely my two favorite places.” After spending time in Luxor, the group flew back to Cairo for one more night, and then flew home the next day. One concern before the trip had been the recent political turmoil in Egypt when President Mubarak was forced to step down by huge protests that sometimes lead to violence. When asked about this issue however, Alex laughed and expressed her surprise that they ran into no trouble at all while they were visiting. “We never felt in danger. We didn’t see guns or anything. We felt safe the entire time.” There was nothing but praise to be said of the trip, the beauty and exoticness of the landscape, and the great experience of spending time in a different culture.
TWO CITIES continued from page 7 One woman asked what play we were performing. Our efforts caught a lot of attention.” The final scenes were very well presented and were witnessed by Ms. Pendleton, Principal Mike Johnson, and Mary Capobianco, Curriculum Coordinator for Humanities for Portland Public Schools. The students put in a tremendous amount of time and energy into completing the final A Tale of Two Cities project. Said Ms. Capobianco in a letter of praise to the students, “I was pleasantly surprised to see the focus was through your own critical lens and understanding. The costumes, authentic props and creative backdrop certainly added a high level of creativity to the dramatic interpretation. . . Attending these skits was a reminder about the talent of our young people and the commitment of our teachers.”
Joe Menard (left) as Madame Defarge and Ben Hart as the Marquis St. Evremonde
Questions? Comments? Want to Write? Email: pendla@portlandschools.org Editors-in-Chief - Eliana Finberg & Lenore Altholz Staff Writers - Eliana Finberg, Tatum Gale, Jacob Hatch, Alexandra Kiladjian, Quinn Lavigne, Elin Roland, Olivia Warner, Barry Quinn & Chip Weber Graphics/Layout - Chip Weber Advisors - Amanda Pendleton & Maryann Pendleton Anthony Green (left) as a gaoler and Spencer Cohen as Darnay
On behalf of the entire staff, thank you for reading this issue of the Bulldog Edition