January/February 2021

Page 8

Good news brief

News

Eva Pierre-Antoine | Assistant Online Editor pl242581@ahschool.com

“Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical”

Rise in Voter Turnout

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ue to the pandemic’s effect on theater, musical fans came together to create a new musical entirely on TikTok. A musical interpretation of Disney Pixar’s “Ratatouille,” the show that initially started as a joke, became a wildly collaborative event. Different people contributed different aspects of production, from songs to set designs. It culminated with a performance on Jan. 1, featuring “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” star Tituss Burgess as Remy the Rat. According to todaytix, this musical succeeded in raising over $1.5 million for struggling actors.

Strides in Representation

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cross the parties, over 159 million Americans, according to CNBC, voted in the 2020 presidential election. Counting over 100 million ballots alone during the early voting period, 2020 had the highest turnout rate, in terms of percentages, since the year 1900. This is a big jump from the 136.6 million votes cast in 2016 and is especially significant, as the U.S. currently ranks 30 out of the 35 most developed nations, according to Pew Research, for voter turnout.

ew forms of representation in the government: Senator Kamala Harris as the first woman, Black and Indian-American, to be vice president; Marilyn Strickland, Michelle Steel and Young Kim are the first KoreanAmerican women elected to the House of Representatives; Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones are the first openly gay Black men in the House of Representatives; Cynthia Lummis is the first woman to serve in the Senate from Wyoming; and Jon Ossoff is the first Jewish man and Raphael Warnock is the first Black man to be Georgia Senators.

Digitizing the Literary Fair

(Graphics/Zoe Persaud)

Emily Anderson | Entertainment Editor pl238251@ahschool.com

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OVID-19 has instigated many changes on campus. From social distancing to altered club plans, both faculty and students have had to adapt to some change. For the literary magazine staff, they understand the idea of adapting to change. As opposed to previous years, the staff had to work completely online, leading them to change their previous routines to ones that adapt to the pandemic. “The staff has adapted to COVID by mainly working entirely through Google applications,” Editor-in-Chief senior Jewel Kyaw said. Obviously, with change comes uncertainty. Due to the pandemic and safety precautions, club presidents and sponsors have to get creative, usually through virtual platforms. Because of COVID-19, administration prevented the occurrence of a live literary fair. In its

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place, the staff will be creating a website to display students’ work. “We plan on putting all of the winners’ works on a website for them to view their writing,” Kyaw said. “The website will feature an author’s interview/bio along

We are discussing the structure of the magazine and the possibility of it being a website rather than a physical magazine, Jewel Kyaw, 12

“I’m so excited to see the finished project,” Assistant Editor-in-Chief sophomore Nithisha Makesh said. “This is the first time we’re making a website instead of having a physical Literary Fair in the library, so I anticipate a lot of creativity.” Although the pandemic has affected the usual way the literary magazine staff designs their work, they continue to persevere. “The staff has come together quickly and adjusted to our new reality. Creating the literary fair and magazine when you can’t meet in person has been much, much harder, but this staff has met the challenge,” literary magazine adviser Ms. Diana Adams said.

with a video of them reading their work out loud.” Despite the changes due to the pandemic, the staff still remains excited to see their final product. (Design/Zoe Persaud) Issue 3


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