DukeEllington
School of the Arts - est 1974
daisyJames
Volume 1, Issue #3
Building the 21st century writer
DukeEllington
School of the Arts - est 1974
daisyJames
Volume 1, Issue #2
DaisyJames lifestyle magazine produced by Literary Media & Communications at Duke Ellington School of the Arts Editor’s Welcome
BEN WILLIAMS torture &
The Hunger Games
So...we have rolled onwards and upwards, from Issue #0 to Special Editions and here we are at Issue #3. For those that have been following Daisy James, you have yet to see the class of 2014 take the editorial reins. This is what you have in your hands - our issue and it is, obviously, the best so far. But I guess I’m biased. We started planning for this issue early. The ten of us juniors in the Literary Media & Communications department sat around the tables in the school cafeteria, brainstorming ideas, half of which would never come to fruition. ‘It should be pink!’ We shouted at each other about everything - fashion, music, polls, Obama. That night I went home and attached eyes to a loofah, I brought it to school the very next day and used it as a communication device for our meetings. ‘This is Sammy the talking loofah, if you’re not holding Sammy, you can’t talk.’ He was quickly thrown to the floor and the shouting began once again. When the first deadline arose, almost everybody turned up with ideas (despite our instructor’s pessimistic predictions). But as time went on, due dates got pushed and weeks stretched into months. We were warned that: ‘You can’t have it ready for print by the end of next week.’ I said that ‘I don’t believe in can’t.’ As I write this, the homestretch and late nights have just begun. So I guess we’ll see. Despite his pessimism, we really do have to thank Mr. Oyedeji (and not just because he gives us grades). He yells at us, is disappointed in us, is proud of us, forces us to read features when we just want to order fries, and even more behind the scenes. Without him, this whole thing really would fall to pieces. Also thank you to Mr. Williams, whose class Mr. Oyedeji frequently pulled us from. And thank you to everybody who turned in his or her work on time. I’d like to thank everybody who turned it in late too, but just a little bit less.
Barrett Smith, editor COVER PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE MUSEUM STUDIES DEPARTMENT:
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Instructor: Derek Horton Lead Photographer: Tavon Taylor Photographers Assistant #1: Mojahne Jones Photographers Assistant #2: Isaac Freshour Key Light: Jenay Johnson Fill Light: Mariah Stewart
What’s Going On Now?
The Howard Theatre returns
Daisy James, Volume 1, Issue #3 DAISY JAMES is a independent publication of LMC, LITERARY MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS @ DUKE ELLINGTON SCHOOL OF THE ARTS, 3500 R STREET NW WASHINGTON, D.C. 20007 DEPARTMENT CHAIR MARK WILLIAMS EDITOR: BARRETT SMITH SUPERVISING EDITOR: QUADAJA HERRIOTT PHOTO EDITOR: GENEVIEVE KULES CONTACT: DAISYJAMESMAG@GMAIL.COM CONTRIBUTORS: ASIA ALSTON, ELLIE COHEN, BRIDGET DEASE, LUCIE DELOBEL, NORA GUSHUE, QUADAJA HERRIOTT, MALIK HYLTON, GENEVIEVE KULES, TRESEAT LAWRENCE, KHAT PATRONG, CELIA REILLY, MONA SHARAF, BARRETT SMITH, MALIA WILLIAMS-HAYNES. INSTRUCTOR/MANAGING EDITOR: KOYE OYEDEJI COPY EDITOR: LISA P. SMITH ONLINE / ASSOCIATE EDITOR: KELLI ANDERSON LAYOUT & DESIGN: BARRETT SMITH PHOTOGRAPHERS: GENEVIEVE KULES, ZOE GATTI, BARRETT SMITH, TAVON TAYLOR THANKS TO: Kelli Anderson, Olivia Drake, Brittany Fenison, Jade Foster, Jody Grossman & The Fillmore Silver Spring, Fred & Chana Hayes & the American Field Service (AFS), Kristen Hartke, Tia Powell Harris, Kieiron Irvine & the Instrumental Music Department, Alan King, Bill Kules - Mimi Mazerei & The Parent’s Committee for the Literary Media & Communications Department, Angela Mack, Barb Power, Marta Reid Stewart & the Museum Studies Department, Twenty20 Productions, Rick Weber, Mark Williams.
contents 4 feature: trending...for now Malia Williams-Haynes questions the staying power of the Instagram social networking application.
6 SmCity The rapper, producer & Duke Ellington alumnus talks to Malik Hyton.
11 Opinion: Who runs the world? Girls. Tréseat Lawrence is out to spread the message that girl power is on the rise.
12 Feature: Valedictorian Is A Disorder Barrett Smith is suffering in the quest for perfection...and she’s not alone.
14 fashion: Style on the Streets Celia Reilly takes to the streets to find out what’s hot in Georgetown.
16 Cover Story: The Duke Ellington Show band. Bridget Dease sits down with the students and teachers behind the school’s show band, The Radical Elite.
19 The Performance: Barrett Smith takes a trip with The Radical Elite as they performe at the National Portrait Gallery.
22 Feature: Inside The Classroom Daisy James continues its regular series on the hidden talents of the teachers at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.
25 The 2012 U.S. Elections in review - Ellie Cohen wonders just how autonomous teenage political decisions are.
28 The 2012 U.S. Elections in review - On election night Tréseat Lawrence wasn’t confused about where her alliegience lay.
30 Essay: Most Everyone’s Mad Here: Quadaja Herriott doesn’t do organized religion. She’ll tell you why...if you listen.
32 Feature: AFS Lucie Delobel sheds some light on her experiences as a foreign exchange student and the AFS program.
37-43 Reviews - Chiddy Bang, Waka Flaka in concert, Alicia Keys, Taylor Swift, Twlight Breaking Dawn Part Two, Skyfall + More.
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Trending... ...for now Malia Williams-Haynes explores the app, Instagram, as a trend and questions why it’s become so popular.
How many likes does it take to get on the featured page? Nobody knows but we obsess over the idea. Who doesn’t now, when it comes to Instagram? For those of you who might be stuck in the twentieth century, Instagram is a free photo sharing application founded by Kevin Systrom. You choose people that you want to follow and their pictures show up on your timeline. You can also post your own pictures and like or comment on pictures. A recluse may wonder why Instagram is so popular - isn’t it just a bunch of teenagers sharing a bunch of pictures? However, since its release in 2010, it has grown to have over 80 million users and not all of them need fake IDs. ‘It allows people to send a message in just a visual,’ says web specialist, Kelli Anderson, ‘And as communication becomes more simplified in this fast-paced, realtime world, saying everything in an image or a symbol is more and more the choice that people make when they want to say something to the rest of the world.’ Some people say Instagram is a popularity contest. ‘The more popular you are the more people will check out your pictures,’ says Manii Crawford, an 11th grade student. People are so desperate for followers and likes, some will go as far as buying them. Recently, I was scrolling through my timeline and I noticed an ad to buy Instagram followers and likes. I clicked on the link and was surprised to see that for only $13.99 you can buy 500 followers or likes. It may well be the filters that got this thing going, they allow you to enhance your pictures and give them a certain style of lighting (vintage, sepia, glow). The filters give simple photos an artsy feel - Instagram draws us in by reconnecting us with that feeling of being in a kindergarten art class and thinking the scribble of your mom is a masterpiece. Like other social networks, people use Instagram for many different things. ‘I mostly follow my friends, but I do follow some famous people,’ says Jajuan Scott. You can also follow businesses like Starbucks, artists, and accounts that promote others. People post many different things as well. ‘I mostly post pictures of myself,’ Scott says, while Crawford prefers to follow artists and photographers so he can ‘check out different artwork.’ He says that he also posts ‘pictures of food I’ve made and plates I’ve eaten.’ Some people post pictures of “artsy” things like sunsets and rainbows, others post pictures of what they’re doing, and a lot of people just post pictures of themselves and their pets. But Instagram is not for everyone, and some actually feel pressured to download the app just because all of their friends have it. ‘I downloaded the app so everyone would stop bothering me, but I don’t have an account’ said Sierra Richards, an 11th grade student at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, after I saw she had Instagram on her phone and asked her to follow me. She told me that she really wasn’t interested in having an Instagram. ‘Everyone’s always asking me to follow them and then they
look surprised when I tell them I don’t have an Instagram.’ Richards appears to be in the minority; when I asked users about what they like and don’t like about Instagram, people had a hard time thinking of the negatives. However, Anderson says ‘When I go to shoot, the first thing I think about is not Instagram it’s “click the camera button.”’ She’s sure this will change soon, she says ‘like if I can push a button and a car engine starts, why can’t I push a button and Instagram starts.’ But for the most part people had all positive things to say about Instagram. Scott likes Instagram better than twitter, the microblogging application, ‘I can just post a picture of what I’m doing instead of writing it.’ Crawford likes that he can ‘check out different people’s artwork on Instagram,’ but sees the trend as being a fleeting thing. ‘Something new is going to pop up and Instagram’s going to be yesterday’s news, just like Facebook and Myspace.’ You’ve been warned.
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←Webstagram and Followgram: View and manage your Instagram profiles online.
things
you didn’t k now you could do: websites & apps to improve your Instagram Cartagram: It shows popular public photos from Instagram arranged on a map. →
Instagrid: A web gallery of your Instagram photos. →
←Instabam: Find Instagram photos taken close to your physical location.
Instafriends: Find out who isn’t following you back. →
←S n a p w i d g e t : E a s i l y e m b e d a n Instagram photo gallery on your website or blog. ←Timehop: Get a daily email with Instagram photos you took one year ago. Casetagram: Create an iPhone case from your Instagram photos. →
←Postagram: Send Postagram postcards from your iPhone or Android.
Gramjunction: Link your Instagram photos to Flickr accounts. →
“An interview In Ten Steps”
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Simeon “SmCity” Booker wears a bunch of different hats. He is, all at once, a music video director and a concert promoter, responsible for the Indie Life concert series that saw local DMV emcees on stage with national underground rappers such as Freeway and Black Milk and owner of the record company Twenty20. But at his core, SmCity is a rapper, SmCity is hip-hop and I think he’d tell you that himself.
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Interview: Malik Hylton Photos: courtesy of the artist & Twenty20 Music
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SmCity is known for his "The Indie Life" campaign that has consisted of short films, events and of course the music. Since 2000, SmCity has been featured in URB Magazine's Next 100, AllHipHop, The Washington Post and the Washington City Paper, amongst other publications. He has shared the stage with the likes of Drake & Young Jeezy after recognizing that there needed to be a platform to showcase indie talent, SmCity developed The Indie Life: Concert Series. His goal was to bring a nationally known indie artist to Washington, D.C. and pair some of the most decorated independent artists based in the DMV with that headliner as well as himself. As a part of the series, SmCity has performed with Big Krit, Cyhi The Prince, Freddie Gibbs, Freeway, Kendrick Lamar, Stalley, and a host of others.
It seems almost cliché, if not redundant, to describe him as a walking industry, but let me ask you: what would you call him instead? And so if we are agreed, that he is a walking industry, then we agree that he can tell the music industry to go stuff itself. And this is exactly what SmCity does, quite thoughtfully I might add, on his 2012 album The Indie Life: Hate, Love & Money. The 48-minute audio fest tears shreds off the hip-hop industry, pointing to its inherent narcissism and inability to take risks. It is an industry in love with itself. SmCity is a D.C. native, born and bred, and The Indie Life: Hate, Love & Money is a veritable who’s who list of underground D.C. rappers, with tracks featuring the likes of Phil Adé, Uptown XO, Pro’verb and Kokayi. The album is a throwback to the golden age of hip-hop, there’s a purist sense to what SmCity does. The beats are thumping, the lyrics are fierce and the energy is frenetic. In the video to Watch Me, SmCity holds a record company executive hostage and forces him to read his list of demands to the camera. In the My Own Boss video, SmCity and fellow local rapper, Pro’verb, insert themselves amongst the Occupy D.C. protestors at McPherson Square; they become part of that struggle, the rage against the machine – SmCity is a man of the people.
“He says Duke Ellington School saved his life...”
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Did I mention that the album was available for free? Downloadable from: http://www.djbooth.net/index/mixtapes/entry/smcity-indie-life-hate-lovemoney If that’s not a “stuff yourself” to a commercial industry driven by a financial bottom line and a profit margin, then what is?
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In order to understand what drives SmCity we have to go back, to a time before SmCity, to a time when there was just Simeon Booker. Simeon attended the Duke Ellington School of Arts and says that his time there saved his life. Before this there was the life of the 7th grader who skipped a year in school only to find that he was the smallest kid in the new classroom. Perhaps this might not have mattered elsewhere, but this was an earlier incarnation of the Washington Mathematics Science Technology high school, at a time when, in SmCity’s own words, it was attended by the kind of students that had been expelled from the notorious Ballou high school. It was a 9th grade classroom where the bullies carried 9-millimeter pistols in their backpacks. He witnessed fights everyday. He stopped going to class.
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SmCity grew up in the northeast quadrant of D.C., right around Taylor Street. ‘Everything was right there [in the neighborhood],’ he says. ‘What was most interesting was seeing the differences between my family and how I was raised, and how I would think, compared to everybody else around the way. I really crafted my identity based off of those differences. Instead of trying to fit in, I always reveled in being different from a lot of people in the neighborhood. Being raised in a politically and socially conscious family gave me a different perspective that people around the way found interesting.’
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A fun fact about SmCity - his grandfather was the Washington Regional Chief for Ebony and Jet magazines. He was the reporter who broke the Emmett Till trial and was among the Freedom Riders, the Civil Rights activists that were passengers on the interstate buses that rode into the segregated south of the United States. Journalism and the media are part of SmCity’s legacy so it is no surprise he ended up a student in the Literary Media department at Duke Ellington School Of The Arts. He took a circuitous route in getting there. The brother of a best friend had died and the friend had taken time off of school to deal with the tragedy. When it came time to return to the Duke Ellington School and its Theater department, he urged SmCity to join him there. SmCity didn’t consider himself an actor but applied nonetheless. It was late in the school year and deadlines had long since passed. The Theater department was full, but he was told the Literary Media Department had openings. ‘I never explored that writing ability,’ he says, ‘I never explored rapping or poetry until I got the opportunity to go to the Literary Media department. I had to get my writing samples together but I didn’t have any. So I had to put together some stories, write some poems, and I got in.’ SmCity says his acceptance into the school completely changed the trajectory of his life. ‘I used to hate school. I used to skip school but when I got to Duke Ellington I wanted to go to school. It was a special place. And I hope it [that special quality] is still there, in the same capacity that I knew, when my son is old enough to go to school.’
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SmCity had his fair share of role models while at school: ‘Mr. Williams’ [Playwriting & Literature Instructor and Chair of the Literary Media department] class was an incredible example of what a creative class should be and I recall the entire mandate that he brought to the department. The class we had with D.J. Renegade...man that was another [incredible] class. We broke down rap lyrics during his lessons. We came up with the science of hip-hop that expanded my views. Imagine coming to class and the class breaks down Biggie Smalls. I already knew how to use literary tools. But in Renegade’s class I learned how they were both used and not used in hiphop. It was invaluable for my career. ‘Then there was Cullen Swinson. I used to hate him when I was in his classroom, but we got on real cool after I’d completed his class. In retrospect, the stuff I learned in his creative writing course was valuable. I learned the real technical aspects of writing - iambic pentameter and all that stuff. And with hip-hop, I’m able to come at it with a different perspective because I have all of those technical literary tools at my disposal, in addition to everything else that makes a hip-hop artist effective.’
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But if SmCity had to go beyond his life to choose one person that he would consider an influence it would be Jay-Z: Jay-Z the rapper, Jay-Z the CEO and Jay-Z the husband. ‘I don’t think there's anybody else that can mix all those different worlds on the business end and artistic end,’ says SmCity. ‘There’s an emotional element to his work that other people lack. There’s a technical element as far as his life. He made it cool for guys to have girlfriends. Everybody else was talking about sleeping with as many chicks as they could. And he was too. And then he did a 180 and he actually claimed Beyonce as his girlfriend and then he married her. Without speaking about being a role model, he became one. He was a really good example for a lot of people who came from what he came from.’ SmCity believes that Jay-Z offered an exodus from “ignorant rap”. ‘When I was younger I listened to classical music and 97.1 and Celine Dion, and it was weird but that’s just what I was into,’ he says. ‘And then, when I was older, but not anymore, you could get like six CDs for a dollar. And I ordered Biggie’s first CD. That was the first rap I listened to at all. And they were saying all this dumb stuff. But when I first listened to Jay, the stuff he was saying made everything else seem kind of mindless. His work opened up all these different doors as far as being something that actually made sense. All of the greats are the rappers that actually made sense.’
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SmCity sees a positive future in hip-hop, and just as the Internet has given birth to the “citizen journalist”, there is also the “ c i t i z e n rapper” and self-distributor. ‘Technology has revolutionized not only hip-hop but the world…there is no containment anymore. There is no security anymore. I think the good thing about that, is that it gives opportunities for the underdog to have a revolution. You can’t “F” with anonymous. It has opened up a frontier for independence. It cannot be controlled. The Internet is like when they first opened up the West Coast and everyone was going and they would ride out to try and get this plot of land. That’s how the Internet is now. It’s out of control. YouTube and all that, it creates a huge opportunity for any artist or any business or anybody to get their message out in the world on their own.’
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His new project, "Dream Cemetery" is slated for a 1st quarter 2013 release. Stay Tuned.
Opinion:
who run the world? girls. females and their uprising dominance
You walk around with such poise and posture. Your hair is laid nicely on your shoulders. You are all that, or maybe not. What exactly is a female without her male counterpart? The answer to that question is probably going to be “just a prefix”. This doesn't matter, though, because we are knocking at the door. If you look closely at the generation of 21st century teen girls it’s not hard to tell that we are taking over. Is that good or bad? Of course it’s good, but some of our male counterparts may disagree. Well, they just have to come to their senses and realize that we are not being bred to be revolutionary war housewives. Sorry!
By : T La ré wr se en at ce
That’s what makes us great, our ability to be more than our ancestors and forbearers. So where does that leave us? If we are not learning how to cook supper and sew, then what are we doing? The answer is simple, dominating in every way possible. The mission starts in elementary school. The rhyming song goes as follows: ‘Girls go to college to get more knowledge, boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider!’ Are girls really smarter than boys? According to CBSnews.com, ‘...it's the boys who could use a little help in school, where they're falling behind.’ This is not to say that boys are blatantly stupid, it is just that they are losing in this game. In middle school the same idea still applies. To make a long story short, the boys only have us girls beat in the tedious subject of gym. Gym is something some of us girls can live without. However, the case of girls not wanting to participate in Gym can sometimes vary. Many girls are athletic and take pride in being able to call themselves athletes. ‘I like when boys watch me play soccer, it's like, empowering,’ says Lee Phillips, 14 year old writer, soccer player and, most importantly, girl. What I find most amazing about Lee was that she feels that it is ‘...Empowering to be the ones that are doing something different.’ When she said “ones” she was referring to girls, the people who are stereotypically not willing to get dirty. Later in life, the idea of higher scores can fluctuate. In highschool and college the girls meet their toughest match - the matured boy. The competition rises when we get to this point, we must tighten up our game plan. Entering college as a freshman, but most importantly, as a sweet innocent girl, is a challenge. The senior boys are like predators, anxiously waiting for you to drop your books on the way to class. Don't fall for it! The trap will get you caught into a never ending pit of failure. In college, the female should only focus on the most important thing - school. Jenna Goudreau, of Forbes Magazine online, writes that: ‘Over the past three decades women’s median income has increased 63%, and now more than a third of working wives earn more than their husbands.’ Women are slowly but surely being added into the career cycle with the same respect as men. Goudreau also explained that ‘It’s no surprise when, although they were once discouraged from pursuing higher education, women now surpass men in achievement of bachelor’s and master’s degrees.’ Nurse practitioning, engineering and executive level management are the positions that women are beginning to take on as careers. Forty-five-year-old Patrice Johnson holds an executive position at her job and makes it clear that ‘female leadership is better leadership.’ When asked how she felt about having such a high position, Johnson explained that she was ‘... The gatekeeper of the mission and the vision.’ Women who have the same mindset as Johnson are the commanders in our mission of world dominance. Our plan has fallen into place perfectly. Hopefully we will see a woman running for president in 2016. That prediction will absolutely be the cherry on top. So there you have it! The simple answer and the complex answer. In order to dominate we must enter the world with open minds and brilliant ideas. Those two things are what our female clan is known for. We have been inferior for so long and enough is finally enough. Whether it be prescribing medication, calling all the shots, or creating the design of the next smartphone, the females are coming and we’re coming in hard!
a
! Valedictorian
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Words: Barrett Smith Photos: Barrett Smith & Genevieve Kules
disorder
Barrett Smith sets out to discover why she and nine others are so preoccupied with success. We are the people who like to be called “nerd”, whose lips twitch toward a smile at the mocking tone of “Overachiever”; the people who, despite our complaints, want to know that we’re the people who others sit next to on test day, the ones who don’t get asked if they did the homework because of course they did. And of course it’s a lot of pressure to live up to these expectations, but it’s comforting to know that people think of you that way, that, even jokingly, people think you can’t falter. We work very hard to maintain the image you have of us, because sometimes we don’t want to do the homework, sometimes we don’t do more than what we have to, and we just hope you don’t notice those times. “We don’t want to admit that we’re lazy.” We are the people who are taking classes we don’t care about, and staying up late to work each night. We are the top ten students in our class. And we’re all trying to move up, ultimately, we all want to be number one. I interviewed seven of the top ten in my junior class at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and only two of them admitted to wanting to be valedictorian. The general responses were: “It would be nice” but I’m not going to fight for it, or I’m not going to get my hopes up, or it’s not worth all the work. I don’t believe that, nobody wants to admit that they want to be number one. Part of that, I’m sure, has to do with a perception, nobody wants to be seen as struggling. Another part is because of those times when we’re feeling lazy, when we don’t feel like putting our whole being into school; we start to move towards those feelings, to give in to them. They convince us to give up on the race. We want to give up on the race. We want to stop fighting and just live the way we should be living. Nobody who wants to be valedictorian, wants to want to be valedictorian. Valedictorian is a disorder. It holds us in its grip and tortures us, people spend nights in tears to the point where crying over their work just becomes a regular feature of their lives. There are days when none of us get dressed to come to school and you can look at us and tell how much homework the AP teachers are assigning. Theatre student Sarah Hirsch theorizes that ‘wanting to be valedictorian is about control’ but the race, it’s leaving us with no control over our lives, with only the thread of a hope that it will be worth it in the end and we can’t give up - we’re not willing to give up. ‘I want to give up all the time,’ says Mason Boudrye, Vocal Music student, ‘Every night when I’m doing Snyder’s homework [Ms. Snyder, the AP English teacher], I say to myself “this is not even important” and “I should just stop” and “it’s not worth it” but then I say “well...that’s crazy” and I do it anyway.’ Mason won’t tell you why it’s crazy. Perhaps he can’t. I wonder the same thing every night: If it’s worth it, that I’m number eight and I can’t make it up seven places in a year, but I don’t let myself accept that, I’m not willing to give up. I don’t know what I’m holding on to. I see myself as the first person to walk across the stage, with a special tassel and a special ribbon pinned to my chest. I see the crowd in front of me as I make my speech that will be appropriately inspirational and will somehow avoid all clichés. At Ellington, the top ranking student in the freshman, sophomore, and senior classes have GPAs of 4.16, 4.17, and 4.18, respectively. But the top ranking junior has a GPA of 4.38. ‘You juniors are crazy,’ says Ms. Mack, school counselor for tenth and eleventh grade. ‘You all are very tenacious over this number one valedictorian spot. And what I want to know is: Why?’
This is where everyone reaches to talk about getting into college, transcripts, etc. but if that were it, good grades would be enough, a portfolio would be enough. Another Theatre student, Maya Wesby, can’t tell you why she wants to be valedictorian but she knows that it isn’t about getting into college, ‘of course it looks nice on a transcript, or whatever, but that would be so...not worth it,’ she says. Hirsch says that part of the reason she wants to be valedictorian is to please her parents, but she admits, ‘A lot of the colleges I want to go to don’t really consider class rank, but there’s something about being first that makes you think you’re going to achieve something, even if you’re not.’ We all know it’s an arbitrary system that is neither based on intelligence nor work ethic; we’ve had long conversations about the bias of the ranking system. GPAs are based on weighted classes, AP classes factor in at an extra point, Honors at half a point. What it ends up coming down to isn’t how smart you are or how hard you work, it isn’t even test taking skills or grades. What makes the difference between number one and number ten is scheduling. Whether or not students can take AP Bio or if it conflicts with their required music credit, whether they spent a year in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), which offers more Honors classes. We know this stuff, we’ll be the first to tell you that our ranks are nonsense, but we’d still kill for them. It’s the number. One. ‘It’s the one signal that you’re the best, and everybody wants that,’ claims Dr. Nina Smith, Director of Academic Affairs at Ellington. Dr. Smith says that that’s one of the reasons she obtained her PhD., she wanted ‘to be thought of as the best at something.’ Valedictorian - it means you’re better than all your peers. ‘It’s validation for what you don’t believe in yourself,’ Hirsch says matter-of-factly, and as she speaks she looks as if an answer has been revealed to her through our conversation.
I think the more you fight for something, the more you discover that you don’t deserve it. You realize that everyone else works harder for it than you; that maybe others are giving up more or aren’t giving up as much or are giving up more acceptable things. You’re giving up the wrong things. If you’re neglecting your arts for your academics, you idolize the girl who’s giving up her family and if you’re that girl, you envy the girl giving up her happiness, her will to learn, her sleep, or her social life. Nobody can be valedictorian and do it right, but somebody else always has a better way to do it than you. I’ve interviewed the will-to-learn girl, who says she stopped fighting for first place because she didn’t know why she was doing it, she hated being in her arts department and she hated school. She says she ‘wasn’t allowing herself to breathe.’ I’ve interviewed the social-life girl, who believes her trouble making friends ‘puts [her] in a unique position to focus on [her] grades and [her] art.’ I am the arts-girl, who is stretching deadlines and half-assing the things she came here for. Ms. Mack is right in her fear that, this race to be valedictorian ‘creates a situation where you try to outdo yourself.’ But why? Why are we competing so hard against people we get along well with? Why are we competing against ourselves? Because there just aren’t enough hours in the day or energy in our souls to do it all, and that’s exactly what we’re all trying to do. I look at myself and think, ‘Doing enough to get an A is not doing enough. You don’t deserve to be valedictorian if you can’t be you at the same time.’ Others feel the opposite way, that they’re not giving up enough, that ‘maybe if she really doesn’t have friends and she’s focussed like that, maybe she deserves it.’ But that’s why we have to win, ‘because we want to know that what we’ve been doing has been the right thing to do.’
FASHION:
STYLE STREETS ON THE
INTERVIEWS: Celia reilly photos: Genevieve Kules
Where did you get your clothes? ‘I like Lord & Taylor. But I love TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Ross.’ Who/what inspired your outfit? ‘Fashion magazines and shows on television, like fashion shows. I love to see the models.’ What is a current trend that you hate? ‘I think kids look nice, they dress cute. But when kids have their knees out of their pants - I hate seeing people’s knees. And those droopy pants, when they drag on the ground. They’re getting their cuffs dirty!’
JOY
What is your staple piece? ‘Necklace I’ve worn for forty years; it’s very long and it has hearts all over it. A Juicy Couture charm bracelet.’
Where did you get your clothes? ‘Uhh.. Macy’s? We don’t really know.’ Who/ what inspired your outfit? ‘Whatever’s on top of the pile.’ What is a current trend that you hate? ‘Makeup.’
Funizwe & ! AARON
What is your staple piece? (Aaron): ‘I guess sweatshirts…’ (Funizwe): ‘Shoes.’
Where did you get your clothes? ‘Banana Republic and Sole, which is this store in Korea.’ Who/ what inspired your outfit? ‘I guess catalogs.’ What is a clothing trend you see people doing you don’t like? ‘I’m not a fan of people wearing baseball caps backwards. Oh and ripped jeans.’ What is your staple piece? ‘In the winter, a scarf, because it’s cold.’
Where did you get your clothes? ‘All over.’ Who/ what inspired your outfit? ‘I do.’
ADRIAN
What is a current trend that you hate? ‘Baggy pants.’ What is your staple piece? ‘Anything minx, stilettos, I can’t really wear them anymore, but I still wear stiletto boots when I go out. Night on the town. Oh! and leather.’
CAROLYN
Where did you get your clothes? ‘Some of it’s vintage but most of it is from local [Georgetown] shops.’ Who/ what inspired your outfit? ‘The seasonal colors and Hollywood stars.’ What is a current trend you hate? ‘Oh gosh…I don’t really know.’ What is your staple piece? ‘Hat.’
JJ
cover story:
Showing Off The Duke Ellington Show Band Photo: Tavon Taylor
One word: discipline. At Duke Ellington School of the Arts, having discipline and that sense of self-awareness is something that our students have been known to confidently walk around with. If there is any place for kids at Ellington to show how well disciplined they are, it is the Show Band. Head band director Kieron Irvine and assistant band director/dance instructor Tyra Flotte say it’s important for the band’s members to be just that. According to Mr. Irvine, Duke Ellington's show band, The Radical Elite, was established primarily ‘to add a new element to the instrumental department.’ He says that this group is a ‘new ensemble that bridges the gap between traditional ensembles and contemporary [ones].’ The marching style that the band has taken on since its debut in the 2011-2012 academic year contributes to the band’s uniqueness because it has been a genre or “style of ensemble” that generally marching bands don’t take on. Having graduated from Ellington in 2002, Mr. Irvine says that during his high school career there wasn’t a marching band at Ellington like the one that currently colors the halls with music on a weekly basis. Ellington
Words: Bridget Dease
has evolved into a safe environment where the students can express themselves through artistic freedom; however, in Ellington’s early years, the school was known to be a bit ‘conservative’. Mr. Irvine says that it has ‘taken a long time for the school to realize that it’s okay to loosen [its] ties every now and then.’ That isn’t to say that the Show Band, is a ‘get down with the get down’ type of ensemble. They have taken risks and pushed themselves in the right direction to gain that element of structure. The Radical Elite’s tradition derives from the military but by playing contemporary music that the band members are familiar with, it gives them a sense of ‘togetherness, happiness and spirit.’ Being a part of the Radical Elite is also a way to get ‘familiar with being with a marching band and following the contemporary styles’ says Tyra Flotte. Students that would like to go on and continue in a marching band ensemble would be prepared and well-disciplined. It is no secret that at Duke Ellington there are no athletics, due to the schools dual-curriculum and long day, but the
Show Band is probably one of the closest we have to an athletic group. When asked what she thinks the strongest advantage the The Radical Elite have, Ms. Flotte says that it is definitely the ‘variety of styles’ the ensemble is able to take on. After all, they aren’t just a marching band; they are Ellington’s Show Band. Most marching bands will only do theatre performances or play before a school game. The Radical Elite showcase their talents in a variety of stage performances using the marching band-style asset. The show band is regularly requested for shows, and they can participate in performances up to two or three times a month. The show band’s interest in symphonic music, old school and pop styles appeals to all ethnicities and makes them stand out as a marching band and more importantly, a show band. Before the Show Band launched their ensemble, the show choir, directed by vocal music instructor Dr. Holmes, was one of the most popular of Ellington’s performance ensemble. Mr. Irvine and Ms. Flotte say that since the Show Band has really stepped up as an ensemble, it has not been to the detriment of the vocal talent at the school. The band rehearsal is usually from four o’clock to six o’clock on Tuesdays and Thursdays but can sometimes stretch longer in the run up to a performance. One of the things that the Show Band “needs”, according to Mr. Irvine, is more rehearsal time. Perhaps the most important element that goes into being in the band is that the Ellington students participate rigorously. The Radical Elite have twice appeared at Howard University’s Homecoming and in November the the band performed at the National Portrait Gallery with fabric sculptor, dancer, and performance artist Nick Cave,
Photo: Barrett Smith
Photo: Brittany Fenison
his dancers accompanying the sounds of our band’s music through soundsuits. Soundsuits are elaborate, wearable artwork that the dancer is able to move in and convey a movement with the sounds of instruments. Cave wanted the band to rock ‘tribal funk’ mixed with their own melodies. In an earlier interview with Cave, who was at the school to preview the band’s songs (Destiny Child’s Lose My Breath, Chuck Brown’s Chuck Baby, and Rihanna’s Where Have You Been), he said that his main goal for the November 31st performance was to get the band to be more ‘primal.’ His idea of the show band being ‘contextualized and deep’ contributes to the ‘type of attention that the band demands.’ Nick Cave was also hoping that the band would create an ‘invasion’ of sorts from their loud and boisterous music. ‘It’s just about the ambiance and grandness of it all,’ says Cave. Eager to gain more insight into the actuality of band life, I interviewed four of its members. Duke Ellington School is able to give the students many opportunities and being here can be a little overwhelming. Literary Media and Communications sophomore Astra Armstrong, who is a band dancer, says that the show band ‘helps [her] bring [her] grades up.’ Being in the show band and knowing that the privilege could be taken away from her gives her that extra drive to want to do well in school and stay out of trouble. She
is also one of the only members of the show band who isn’t a part of the instrumental or vocal music departments. ‘We don’t discriminate,’ says Mr. Irvine when asked about other departments’ participation in the Show Band. Instrumentalist and junior Khalid Gray is the section leader of the lower brass section and plays the baritone. His whole thing about making the Show Band more interesting - specifically his section - is that he gets to add ‘warmth’ to the music so it won’t be so ‘edgy.’ He wants to be able to bring a certain type of sound to the ensemble by smoothing it out. Julian Spires, senior piano player at Ellington and drum major for the Radical Elite, says that he realizes that Show Band ‘exposes him to a new culture.’ With him, it’s not just about the music anymore; it’s about ‘the culture of a marching band and being in a show band’ that is very dynamic music-wise. Sophomore instrumentalist Katie Roach is section leader for the trumpets and says that the show band affects her leadership skills. ‘Usually with a string or classical ensemble, you worry about your section and your section only, but with the show band, you have to pay attention to the entire congregation of people to make sure you are uniform and in-sync with one another.’ Needless to say that, due to its discipline and talent, The Radical Elite have been just that this past academic year.
Photo: Zoe Gatti
Showing Off: Act The Duke Ellington Show Band
two
The Performance
Words: Barrett Smith Photos: Zoe Gatti & Barrett Smith
‘Alright folks, let’s play a game. It’s called pack ‘em up stack ‘em up. Grab your instruments and put them in the bus. Go!’ The Show Band had been sitting in the cafeteria for nearly an hour, some people practicing, some people catching up on sleep. As soon as Mr. Irvine finished speaking, the band members jumped up and did the best they could to run with their instruments; but as soon as they hit the cold, everyone wanted to hurry back inside, instruments were flung into piles and under the bus. Miss Brittany Fenison, assistant to the Director of Artistic Affairs, took charge, standing tall and shouting for people to stop what they were doing, ‘We have to fit all the instruments into the bus, so we have to do this methodically...Do you know what methodically means?’ There was a pause. ‘Big items first!’ someone exclaimed. ‘Big items first. Big items first. Big items first.’ was repeated over and over again as the boys loaded the bus and the flutists hung toward the back. ‘Your item is not big son! Take it out!’ They would finally board the bus, but only after they had been fed, shoes had been handed out, garment bags checked for black clothes and roll taken - by instrument. We took off, and then we sat in traffic. We were on the way to the National Portrait Gallery, Showband was performing for performance artist Nick Cave, alongside dancers in his soundsuits, at the US Embassy’s fiftieth anniversary party. Once there, two ladies dressed in all black led the band down a super secret staircase, ‘You can take the elevator,’ one of the women offered to the two boys simultaneously carrying instruments, crates of water and garment bags. One of
them was about to take her up on the offer, ‘You can take the stairs son!’ The other boy found a spare limb to push him with and I followed them down the staircase into the super secret basement. Everything was orange: the lighting, the walls, the furniture, the carpet - all orange. Mr. Irvine stood and blew his whistle to, once again, make an announcement: ‘Are all the instruments put away?’ They were. ‘Everybody sit down, please. Let’s just...take a moment’ It was the first time there’d been silence in three hours. It lasted for about a minute until Mr. Irvine continued; in half an hour, the band was being brought on a tour of the space. ‘There’s more stuff than you could ever imagine and that doesn’t even count the 700 people that will be listening to you play,’ said the school’s Director of Artistic Affairs, Tia Powell-Harris. The atrium of the National Portrait Gallery had been completely reinvented, there were giant sculptures and platforms everywhere, everything in bright complementary colors. There was a fiftieth birthday cake on one side, a pyramid and globe on the other. Everywhere you looked, something was happening, even before the people filed in.
Performance artist Nick Cave
Show Time! The band stood outside the courtyard, waiting to make their entrance. The people inside were grown artsy types. Some were dressed in black - business casual - but most were adorned with bold colours and shapes, with big overstyled hair. They were drinking and swaying; despite the upbeat music, everything seemed to be moving slowly. ‘How will we get in there?’ Mr. Irvine jumped on the teaching moment, ‘Percussion, it’s your job to move them out of the way.’ The drumline lifted their harnesses onto their shoulders and Mr. Irvine signaled the countdown. They started the beat. They started to march, followed by the rest of the band, followed by the dancers in soundsuits. Before the show, Nick Cave said that with this performance, he intended to transmit the idea of celebration. He explained this idea and how the night would go down: ‘There are three or four other performances that are sort of very somber, very quiet, and then we will be the only loud piece in there.’ Celebration. The soundsuits were taller than seemed possible, bright, the fabric dangling off of them swayed in every which way. Between them and the band, they completely took over the space. There was no border between the performers and the audience. And that was the point. The dancers, resembling shaggy giant monsters, brushed against the audience, they teased them, danced with them. They were beyond human, they were playful and innocent, they were bright, they were magical.
And you couldn’t say no to them; so when a little pink one pulled me into the group, I raised up my camera and broke it down with her. Nick Cave called Where Have You Been ‘the party song’ because when the band played it, they joined the dancers, fist pumping their instruments and letting go of the exactitude of marching. ‘Be careful’ Mr. Irvine had warned ‘don’t do those crazy moves y’all do, ‘cause y’all got weapons in your hands.’ Nobody seemed to get hit, or if they did, they didn’t notice. When it was over, Mr. Irvine blew the classic four whistles to reassemble the band and they began to march in place. As he led the band back out of the performance space, people patted him on the back, stopping him every few paces to say congratulations or good job. I was one of the last people back downstairs, I got there to see a room full of students screaming, clapping and leaping up and down. Mr. Irvine blew his whistle again - to let the Director of Artistic Affairs speak. ‘You guys don’t know this but,’ Ms. Powell-Harris paused dramatically, ‘Former first lady’ another pause ‘and secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, was here and saw your whole performance.’ There was another round of screams. And then it was time for everyone to change and board the bus again. The kid next to me wolfed down two cold chipotle burritos. ‘Okay, so’ Kevin George Jr. announced to the room, ‘We’re going to have to talk about those soundsuits on the bus.’
This sign hangs in one of Show Band’s classrooms/rehearsal spaces.
21
Words: Khat Patrong Photos: Genevieve Kules
inside the classroom:
an inside look at the ellington staff The ongoing series that looks into the hidden lives of staff at Duke Ellington School of Arts.
Nicolas Ojeda Before we sat down to talk about percussion, Mr. Ojeda, a History teacher at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, insisted that he answer his students’ parting questions. Wearing a white t-shirt and gray slacks, he doesn’t seem the type to have an interest in the arts, yet he’s been playing the conga for years, and considers teaching his art. ‘I teach history,’ he says, ‘because it is a subject that I feel can inspire people to change the world around them.’ Having arrived this year from H.D. Woodson High, Mr. Ojeda has yet to find a way to incorporate the drums into his lessons. When he taught at Woodson he would bring in his drums for the students to use but never played them himself. ‘I kept my artistic talents separate from my classroom, but I allow my students to express their artistic talents through their classwork.’ Mr. Ojeda has been playing the congas since he was six; in addition to percussion, he also plays the guitar and the piano, but having grown up watching his father sell his artwork from their home in Uruguay, and the life of an artist always scared him. He didn't want to wonder what tomorrow might bring. He wanted job security and financial stability and, as a result, he embarked on a teaching career. Yet even with the demands of education and teaching, Mr. Ojeda still found time to practice music. He played in his high school and college bands. He was once a member of Mello Disiac, a hip-hop jazz band. He has performed with theater groups and at Latino festivals and was once enrolled in a Jazz Theory course at Tufts University. He is a regular at Malcolm X Park, where percussionists and musicians are often out, performing, on the weekend, ‘People who go there routinely know my face,’ he says. He has brought in his drums for the students to use in previous lessons. Now that he works at an arts school, Mr. Ojeda has found additional ways to bring art into the classroom. He allows students to make up songs, skits, and dances - anything to help them understand history. ‘I am surprised by how passionate the students at Ellington are at a young age.’ Despite being the teacher in the room, Mr. Ojeda shares that passion, after all the congas have a strong cultural bearing: ‘From Uruguay to D.C., the congas have always been in my life.’
Davie Yarborough I can remember the first time I heard Ms. Yarborough sing, freshman year, and the lyrics that filled the room: So when my rapid eye moves side to side/and I can put my pride aside/I can really see what I aim to be/ and when I open my eyes. It’s the words in her songs that linger with English teacher Davie Yarborough, as well. ‘I consider myself a songwriter more than a musician,’ she says, ‘because I know what a musician should be and simply don’t consider myself one.’ As the daughter of the accomplished Saxophonist and Flutist, Davey Yarborough, and vocalist Esther Williams, Ms. Yarborough has grown up in a household built by musicians. When she auditioned for Duke Ellington, as a student, she considered applying to the Instrumental department but her father suggested the Literary Media department. ‘It worked out for me,’ she says, ‘because I didn't want to be in the same department as my dad.’ Ms. Yarborough has been writing since she was young. One of her first poems was called Yellow Reindeer; nowadays she is working on a novel. During her time in the Literary Media department, she grew an appreciation for radio. During the department’s formative years, the students ran a radio station called 2K Nation - for teens run by teens. While she was a student, the school would put on spring shows, each show having a different theme. During one of these shows, she performed alongside Guru, the late rap superstar and front man for groundbreaking group Gang Starr. With all the above, I was curious to know how much of an influence her parents had on her choice of a career in the arts.
‘In my family it’s not: “Do you play an instrument?” it’s: “What instrument do you play?” So, yes, I do think my parents had an effect on my life.’ Between elementary school and middle school, Ms. Yarborough played a range of different instruments. ‘I've been involved with the arts for as long as I can remember,’ she says. Growing up with two parents in the arts, it’s hard not to follow the same path. Like her father, Ms Yarborough teaches young aspiring artists. Her parents have a non-profit organization called Washington Jazz Institute that teaches young music students. Ms. Yarborough doesn't perform often but she has played at church and with her parents. ‘I just recently played at an open mic and I both sang and played the guitar this time. I am slowly becoming more comfortable with my vocals.’ When I asked her what genre she would consider her work to be, she responded that she could never put it in a genre, as it is always different. ‘The greatest part of my art that I bring to the classroom is my mind,’ she says. Since Ms. Yarborough is also an artist, she can relate to the studentartists that she is teaching. Creating is her favorite part of being an artist and a teacher. ‘As a creator you let your piece of art breathe, live and grow and also as a creator you can choose to destroy.’ Ms. Yarborough also believes that creation is a part of teaching, ‘Sometimes you must throw out all or a part of a lesson plan, or tweak it to fit an audience. I take my role as a creator very seriously,’ she says. ‘I'm sure it's nice for students to know they have academic teachers who also identify as artists.’
Jocelyn Law-Yone Ms. Law-Yone loses track of time when she paints. With each painting she completes, she feels a sense of accomplishment. And she keeps painting. When asked how long she has been painting, she pauses for a moment, as if to take in the enormity of it all, and then she says: ‘All my life,’ without any sense of exaggeration. She is a full-time teacher at Duke Ellington School of the Arts but also finds time to fuel her passion of painting. She has sold a number of her paintings and her clients range from individuals to businesses. ‘I love it,’ she says, ‘when I see my paintings in people's homes and work spaces.’ As an English and AP Art History teacher, there is obvious crossover between Ms. Law-Yone’s work and her personal interests. She is inspired by the work of Lucian Freud, the German-born British painter who is mostly known for his nude portraits like Big Sue and his thick impastoed style. The era that most inspires Ms. Law-Yone is contemporary modern. One of the dilemmas she faces as a painter is constantly feeling as though she hasn’t spent enough time on each of her paintings. ‘I’m learning that I need to spend more time on each piece because when I research other artists I can tell they spend a lot of time on their work and it looks good.’ ‘Sometimes I like to get rid of the brush completely,’ Ms. Law-Yone says as an Art Historian. One of her favorite ways to pass the time is by painting floor coverings. Historically, floor coverings are what people used when they couldn't afford carpet. Her willingness to take on different forms of painting brings her closer to her art and, by the time our conversation closes, I know that not only has Ms. Law-Yone been painting for all of her life, but that she will continue to do so for as long as she can.
Longyi by Jocelyn Law-Yone
Zadone by Jocelyn Law-Yone
The 2012 U.S. Elections in revIew
I think therefore...
...I am? Words & Cartoon: Ellie Cohen
In the wake of the presidential elections, Ellie Cohen examines the political autonomy of teenagers set to have a say on whom will be the 45th President of the United States. Presidential elections have always, and will always, fire people up. It's hard not to - you are a voter - you have the power to sway, influence and cast votes for who you trust enough to hold the country together. You have the ability to participate in choosing who will run the country and, given the vast influence of the USA on foreign policy, almost the world. The changing of the presidential guard is a momentous, at times exciting, but always a life-altering occasion one which, sadly, young teenagers are usually left out of. We are, of course, mentioned in ads; we're the fabled ‘next generation.’ We're the reason we need better schools and an easier way of living, because we, our generation, is the generation that is meant to bring change and innovation. Then why are we so lacking in the political knowledge that we need to move onto that next and all so important stage: that of the voter. It's not to say that nobody cares, because that's simply not true. Many teens care. Step into almost any classroom during a political debate and you'll see - lots of kids are highly opinionated one way or another, and they tend to be very steadfast. In one class, a large debate broke out when a girl mentioned that she and her family voted for Obama mostly because he’s black. And it’s not all terrible to vote because of race - Obama has become a symbol of change and has made many minorities feel much better represented than they have in the past. And it's terrific to be young and to have an opinion. It indicates that when the time comes, you'll be able to speak for yourself and make your
The 2012 U.S. Elections in revIew
The “My Voice” National Mock Election polled students about who they would vote for. Obama won with 460 electoral votes. (www.nationalmockelection.org)
preferences clear - that's great. But does an opinion mean that much if it's less based on fact and research than on social influence? ‘As much as I hate to admit it, my ideas on...mostly everything going around, are based on my parents,’ says Enanu Gerima, a sophomore at Duke Ellington, who at the time of the interview, was standing beside senior Ky’lend Adams, ‘It just makes so much sense, the things that they say. I'm just like: ah.’ Gerima watched the debates and she listened, but she admits that she hasn't done a lot of digging herself - her parents’ influence makes a big impact on her thinking. ‘I don't know, really, if Romney's ideas were good or not. I just know the times I'd hear him speak...some of the things he said made sense, but in comparison to Obama, you know...’ Gerima shrugged, then laughed. ‘...And he [Obama] is attractive.’ Adams’ opinions are very different. ‘I am very involved in politics,’ he said ‘...I believe I form my opinions myself. I am a very opinionated person -’ the remark drew a smirk from Gerima, but he continues ‘-so I make my own opinions about who should run the country.’ Out of the five teens I interviewed, only two considered themselves ‘into’ politics, and those that did have an interest found that many people around them were largely influenced by their surroundings. ‘You are nothing but your upbringing,’ says Meridian Umana, a senior. ‘Yeah, there are some people who we r e j u s t t o ld Obama was the way, and some people were told Romney was the way, but...some people have the interests of their families and communities at heart, and that defines who they want to vote for.’ It's true. Many youths interest in politics is based on what their parents or guardians find safe in terms of policies, personality, and even sometimes looks and race. Though we don't always
agree with our parents, we have an innate drive to trust what they say. The people they believe in are the people that they feel will support them the most, and the people who support your parents the most are the people supporting your well being, which is why it's not odd to see kids who have the exact same stance or degree of militancy as their guardians. This is not the case for 19year old Desiree Varsel from Greenville, South Carolina. ‘From really early it was very clear who I was going to vote for...My parents don't vote and my mother has never voted so I didn't have any family pressures.’ But just because her view is more fact-based and less about her surroundings, doesn’t mean that she hasn’t seen people who are products of their environments. ‘Most of the vocal Republican voters in my state are white, older, and typically well-off. They are people benefiting most from the institutionalized oppression of other people. And they think that, in leveling the playing field, they're somehow losing something...I most definitely think there were a lot of people voting for Romney because he was white. Generally, I think that's the way most people think around here, they grew up in an environment that celebrates and institutionalizes prejudice and it clouds their otherwise clear judgments.’ D.C. is a very liberal district, especially in our schools, so it’s easy to forget how harmful opinion based on influence is. But when you see what the redder states feel about our president, and how their main drive is to protect their own way of being, it changes things. We all choose whom we’ll vote for based on how we will be benefited. Foreign policy is important, of course, but what most people really focus on is money and jobs and all the things that directly affect us.
The 2012 U.S. Elections in review
Source: http://latuff2.deviantart.com/ It’s easy to want to deny it - nobody wants to feel selfish. But we matter to ourselves more than most other people, at least subconsciously, and that’s why we choose whom we choose. But when your decisions are based on things you heard from your mother or something your friend told you on the way to school, it leaves you with one foot in the dark and with a whole lot of opinions that aren’t even your own. But is there a remedy to this conditioning? ‘If you have an opinion on politics, religion, anything, you’re going to have to do some research, you’re going to have to ask some questions,’ says Adams. ‘Having an opinion is the first step,’ Gerima adds and then pauses before continuing; ‘But even then, I don’t think it can be fixed at all, because some people are really stubborn, wedded to what they were taught. You can put plain proof in front of people and they’ll get defensive. It’s their opinion, so that can’t be fixed.’
And so this is blue country, and we raise a glass in President Obama’s name and the victory he achieved on November 6th - ‘four more years,’ the crowds screamed ‘four more years;’ and I couldn’t help but wonder, as someone set to vote in the next presidential election, if their screams and the sounds of others’ family, friends and environs - had already decreed what party I’ll be voting for. ‘Once you get out of your environment, you’re open to form your own opinions and ideas. It’s just about finding a new environment and taking it upon yourself to educate yourself,’ says Umana, and it’s absolutely true. Our biggest struggle is finding the environment in which we can learn and flourish, and a pedestal to inform all the people who the campaigns have left behind. If we raise enough awareness, we really can become that much-needed new generation.
27
The 2012 U.S. Elections in revIew
Commentary:
Words: Tréseat Lawrence
Close But No Cigar!
- Romney tried but lost, and boy did President Obama make a fool out of him!
Treseat N. Lawrence looks back at the 2012 election night and the Democratic victory she reveled in. It was around nine o’clock, my family and I were eating and staring aimlessly at the television screen hung in the corner of our dining room. It was election night, the night where families like mine would gather to stare at the TV, hoping that their candidate takes the win. The 2012 election was highly anticipated and hotly contested; there were many that did not want to see President Obama take the win. Commentators on the Fox News Network were in a buoyant mood, projecting that the Republican nominee, former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, would take the White House. I was shaking as the count came in, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer had projected that Governor Romney was twenty electoral votes ahead of President Obama and something inside told me that it was all going to go wrong. I went to bed. I couldn’t bear it. Three hours later, I heard my mother scream down the hall ‘Close, but no cigar! Close, but no cigar!’ Close, but no cigar...but for whom? In 2008, America was full of hope, change, and the five hundred million dreams that our president promised to fulfill. Back then President Obama’s hair was a rich dark brown and now, four years later, it carries a shiny salt and pepper tint. Who is to blame for this man’s stressed out hair follicles? Is it the eight years that was packed on his shoulders from our previous president? The aftermath of the Iraq War? Or the worst financial crisis the nation had ever seen? Or was it those conscious of the role race played - the constituency that Obama can barely keep from throwing out thinly veiled slurs and accusations that he is a sell out who has abandoned his people? Either way, we can all say the man has had a tough first term, so much so that I was personally surprised he even chose to run again. The Republicans had a lot of fun choosing their nominee and the whole affair (excuse the pun), from Newt Gingrich to Herman Cain, was played out for the world to see, faux pas after faux pas. From the mess, Governor Mitt Romney emerged as the GOP’s golden child. And as the campaigning months rolled towards the November 6th vote, the commercials, messaging and commentary between the two parties began to get dirtier.
It was obvious after the first presidential debate that Obama had to toughen up, show a rougher side and pull out the black belt. Romney came in swinging, somehow avoiding any details behind his so-called tax plan. During the second presidential debate, I thought that Obama was like a master chef throwing in that last pinch of salt, serving up a dish that exposed the holes in Romney’s rhetoric. The underlying thought that emerged from the last couple of campaign months was that the race was clearly going to be tight. It was around midnight when my mom opened my bedroom door. ‘Wake up!’ she screamed. I was asleep, a sleep that helped ease the anxiety and worry I felt just three hours earlier. I really thought Obama was going to lose. I leapt up, and my heart was beating fast because my mother’s frenetic energy did not mean any one thing, she could be just as animated that Obama lost. I couldn't take it anymore, I had to know what exactly was going on. I followed her down the hallway to my parents’ room. Every TV in the house was on and I could hear they were each on full blast. The cheers and cries from the Americans on each TV screen clashed with one another. All I could think at the moment was somebody had won and it better be Obama. ‘Yes!’ my mother was screaming again, clapping for joy! I looked at the TV Screen and there it read, Projection: Obama wins ReElection. I then joined in with my mother’s screaming, clapping, and dancing.
The 2012 U.S. Elections in revIew Obama won. What else could anyone talk about? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram all lit up with excitement. In contrast, the Romney Headquarters was silent and supporters were clueless. It looked as though they were in shock. Romney had initially taken the lead but didn't keep the momentum going up. His concession speech was short and sweet and got right to the point. He was magnanimous in accepting his defeat. Obama’s speech was the cherry on top of what was full of sweetness. The first lady, Michelle Obama, and their two daughters, Sasha and Malia, joined the President on stage. Four more years for our history-making president - the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to twice win the majority of the popular vote - and an estimated two more days of my mother’s screaming excitement.
Source: http://sayer.deviantart.com/
Hot or not? - A guide to who you could see on the ballot in 2016
by Barrett Smith
Senator Paul Ryan - In 2012, Pa u l R ya n s t o o d b e s i d e Romney as the republican vice presidential nominee. His pretty blue eyes and his charm an intentional offset to Romney’s perceived lack of humanity. When Romney calmly conceded in November, Ryan just kept on rolling, making his presidential ambitions clear. “Losing is part of politics and can often prepare the way for the greatest victories.” He said at the Jack Kemp Foundation Leadership Awards Dinner.
Governor Sarah Palin - We were introduced to Sarah Palin in 2008, as McCain’s running mate. It was commonly said that she was the reason he lost the election, however this stance is being reevaluated after Romney’s blundering loss. Romney was a man who ‘kept women in binders’, Palin is a woman. Romney was a rich business owner, Palin is a family woman - mother of five wirh her high-school sweetheart. Her daughter is a single mother, her son is an Iraq-war veteran. Palin’s candidacy would not be about policy, rather she would be an emotional appeal.
Mayor Julian Castro @JCastro2016, a fan made twitter account, has already sprung up to promote Julian Castro, Mayor of San Antonio, as a candidate to be our first Hispanic president. Castro entered the national spotlight at the Democratic National Convention, where he became the first latino to deliver a keynote speech. After that, he started a series of political moves that would help him as a presidential candidate - he’s signed a deal to write his autobiography (a move that set the ball rolling for Obama in 1995.) Just before christmas Castro told Metro.Us that he believes we will see a Latino president in the upcoming generation.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was a strong, politically-involved first lady, then went on to become New York’s first female senator. In 2007, she announced that she intended to also become America’s first female president; and, though she was trumped by Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries, she would be a stellar candidate if she were to try again in 2016. She has made good use of her time as Secretary of State - vouching for women’s and human rights and 65% of Americans approve of Clinton.
Essay:
Most Everyone’s Here
Mad
Words: Quadaja Herriott
I. The Book Of Me
Quadaja Herriott examines how religion affects her life and behavior as well as that of her peers.
I am damned to hell. Or so I was told. The reason? I don’t believe in the concept of an almighty God. The idea is difficult for me to grasp, as I have my own beliefs. For me, the universe, and everything in it, is eternal. Nothing that exists now was ever created, nor will it be destroyed. There’s simply no room for an ultimate creator in my philosophy, but there is a ‘perfect universal presence,’ as well as multiple deities. ‘The soul is uncreated, eternal and has infinite power and knowledge.’ When it comes to the afterlife, I take on reincarnation - the concept that people are reborn after dying. Individuals go through many cycles of birth, living, death and rebirth until liberation is reached. I was - I still am - curious about why my views are so offensive to others, why anyone’s religious or spiritual ideas would be anathema. Although these are my theories, I’m open-minded about learning to accept the views of others and what they believe. My experiences have told me that not everyone is as broad-minded and tolerant. There are people that, regardless of the position they take, show no respect for the opinions and beliefs of others. II. Disputes On Religion Ended In Murder Some simple disagreements end in bloodshed and it’s been that way for centuries now. A New York Times article from 1902 leads with the headline: Disputes On Religion Ended In Murder. The news story details how a German storekeeper, Charles C. Rubson, shot and killed his wife, Emma Rubson, after a series of religious disputes. Charles C. Rubson was a Protestant while his wife remained an ardent Catholic church worker and a member of several Catholic societies. After killing his wife of twenty years, Rubson shot himself. His fourteen-year-old daughter witnessed it all. They could not agree to disagree. This kind of intolerance is not something confined to the past. At the time of writing, the Associated Press reports that in Jos, Nigeria, gunmen fired into a crowd from a moving van, killing ten people in what was widely seen as an act of religious intolerance. The gunmen were suspected to be Muslims and Jos is a predominantly Christian town. Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people, is evenly divided between a mainly Christian south and a predominantly Muslim north. The rise of a sophisticated northern-based Islamist insurgency known as Boko Haram, has been held responsible for more than 760 deaths in the country this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. III. Self Realization,
Not Self-Categorization.
‘Other religious forms and faiths are not wrong,’ says Jennifer Maschal-Lorms, the youth coordinator at the Unitarian Universalist [UU] Congregation of Rockville, ‘in the UU world we believe in respecting them and we view them as valid...there’s “inherent worth and dignity in every person.”’ I consider Unitarian Universalists to be “welcomers;” they accept that people search for, and find themselves, in different ways and are not offended by their views or the journey they take. ‘Our worship is different at each congregation, some may seem more similar than others. Our beliefs, in some ways, are an individual system, i.e. my personal belief in an afterlife may differ from that of others I worship with, but that does not detract from our worshiping together and journeying towards truth together.’ The goal for Unitarian Universalists is self-realization, not self-categorization.
IV. Apparently God and the Devil were once friends.! I’ve found that there is an innocent ignorance that religious zealots possess; the general response I get when I vocalize my position is: if I don’t believe in God then I worship the devil. But isn’t it the case that if I don’t believe in God then I don’t believe in the Devil either? Apparently, they were once friends. ‘It’s obvious that people don’t do their research when they say things like that,’ says Aurielle Catron, a senior at Duke Ellington School of the Arts and a longstanding atheist. ‘They are naive and probably don’t know much about their own religion. The “do what you are told” kind of person who questions nothing.’ Catron is open about her atheism, but says that she has studied different religions for philosophical reasons. ‘Though the bible has contradictions and dead ends, the stories can teach you life lessons.’
V. This is why I don’t talk about
these things.
Cartoon: Skyler Szollos
My mother once asked me: ‘How can you be a good person when you don’t believe in God?’ She studied my demeanor as I did my homework, the both of us sat on my bed. I sensed that she was trying to figure me out. ‘Have I really raised you so wrong?’ she asked, as her eyes began to tear up. When I looked at her I considered lying; I considered telling her I was just making sense of it all. Instead, I just smiled wryly and went back to my work. She got up and walked away. I also expressed my disbeliefs to a friend who attends a local Baptist church and her response was: ‘Maybe you can come to service with me sometime.’ Initially it seemed as though she was trying to convince me of her beliefs, her tone was stern and her facial expression was one of disapproval. She touched my knee as if in pity, ‘This is why I don’t talk about these things,’ I said. And her demeanor immediately changed, it was a different kind of pity, ‘I didn’t mean it that way,’ she said. Of course you didn’t. VI. Revelation I’ve always felt so misplaced because I’m used to being around Baptists and Catholics and an assortment of other religious freaks. But judging someone based on his or her points of views doesn’t benefit much. I find the whole thing to be juvenile. Why should it matter to you how other people live their lives if they aren’t tampering with how you live? It’s like this with everything: sexuality, abortions, parenting. I suppose people need confrontation; they need pointless entities to stress about. Maybe my stressing over being wholly understood is a pointless act. Why not live unto myself and only interact when necessary? That’s what it came to. I stopped searching for answers, stopped trying to place myself in any particular category and just thought...
AFS:
Connecting lives, sharing cultures
French-born Lucie Delobel examines her own and other Foreign Exchange students’ experiences in the AFS Intercultural Program. words: Lucie Delobel
Photos: Genevieve Kules and courtesy of Afs-usa flickr under creative commons agreement
I had a routine. I would awaken in the morning and remain in bed with my eyes closed, listening to the sound of my mum’s footsteps downstairs as they entered my room. She’d turn on the light and say: ‘Bonjour ma puce! Tu as bien dormie? Allez, debout, sinon tu vas être en retard!’ asking me to get up and warning me that I might be late. This fall, I did the very same thing: I waited for her footsteps, but they never came. Still half-asleep, I wondered why she wasn’t coming, when the alarm clock rang beside me. My eyes flung open and I stood up in panic. Then I remembered. I turned on the light. The alarm stopped. I got up, standing in the middle of my new room, my new life. It's been about three months since I boarded a flight to Washington D.C., leaving everything I knew behind in Claret, a small village in the south of France, and flew over the ocean to come to the United States. I am one of over thirteen thousand students worldwide to participate in a foreign exchange program facilitated by American Field Service (AFS), a program that, according to its website ‘draws young people from around the world that want to get to experience different cultures and opportunities.’ As participants, we live abroad with a host family while we attend school or work for a community program. We temporarily place our lives on hold, saying goodbye to friends and family. We take a leap of faith, and I wanted to examine our individual motivations, to find out why we really chose to participate in the program and how much the reasons differ from person to person.
‘Why? That's a very good question…’ says Sara Cardi Cigoli, a 17-year-old AFS student from Carrare, Italy, who is in the Theater program at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. The general response is: ‘To discover a new culture, learn a new language and meet new people.’ There are varying motivations that would lead a teenager to decide to participate in AFS and set off to a foreign country, as 400,000 others and I have. My own answer will be ‘to live and grow.’ I suspect that there are a lot of teenagers that might find the prospect of living in a strange country, with total strangers, daunting but I didn't and perhaps a huge part of that is owed to the work that AFS does in preparing participants for the experience. Chief among their concerns is that those traveling abroad dismantle their presumptions and be willing to adapt to all the changes that a new home may bring. During the year before I left, I attended four AFS weekends in Mèze, France on the Mediterranean coast. During those weekends, participants took part in activities and discussions about how people generally react to living in another country, the mistakes they often make and what they need to learn in order to be prepared for their year abroad with the AFS volunteers. Our AFS instructors always said: ‘You have many questions, and we have some answers, but your year abroad will answer them all.’ There were some awkward moments with my host family but they quickly passed and we get along well. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. A number of other AFS students have had to change host families once or twice because they didn’t fit in well with each other. It is a reminder that no amount of training can prepare you entirely for an experience that will be unique from one individual to the next. AFS Intercultural Programs began simply as the American Field Service, in 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I. Young Americans living in Paris volunteered as ambulance drivers at the American Hospital of Paris. The transition of AFS from an ambulance and camion service in World War I to the present-day international student exchange programs began after World War II, when 250 American Field Service ambulance drivers assembled in New York City to discuss the future of the organization. In 1947, they launched the secondary school student exchange program that is now referred to as AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc.
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AFS has three rules: No drinking alcohol, no hitchhiking and no driving. If any of those rules are broken, the AFS exchange students are immediately sent back to their home countries. Camilla Pirovano is an exchange student from Milan, the second largest city in Italy, currently attending School Without Walls in Washington, D.C. According to her, Camilla’s original host mother exploited the rules in order to have her sent back to Italy because they did not get along well. Camilla, based in Capitol Hill, took a day trip around D.C., but got lost on her return, she tried to reach her host mother but when she failed to do so, she turned to the assistance of the bus driver. ‘I was completely lost and panicked,’ Camilla explained, ‘the bus driver knew of a woman on the bus who lived not far from my host parents’ home and who could give me a ride.’ She explained that she wasn’t allowed to ride in the car of a stranger because of the AFS rules but the driver insisted that the woman was very nice and could be trusted. ‘In the end I accepted because I didn’t have any other choice,’ says Camilla. The woman drove her safely home but her host mother was furious. She called AFS and told them what had happened. Camilla was going to be sent back home. AFS participants have a liaison who looks out for them during their time abroad. ‘I called my AFS liaison and explained the details. She understood me and canceled my flight back to Italy,’ Camilla says, but her host family was no longer willing to host her. ‘The next day, I told all my problems to a friend at school and she immediately decided to host me. I was so relieved!’ That night, Camilla took her things from her current host and went to live with her new family.
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These kinds of experiences are usually the exception to the rule. Like me, most AFS participants talk about striking up a good relationship with their host families. AFS conducts a vigorous vetting process when it comes to choosing host families, staff from the program visit those who are volunteering to host an AFS student. The visit takes place in the prospective family’s home and an interview is conducted with each member of the family. Then, if they are accepted, AFS sends them profiles of a couple of students and the family chooses the person they think will fit best in their home. The problem, these days, is that there aren’t enough host families. Fred and Chana Hays have been a host family for AFS over thirty times, they say that they enjoy the opportunity and it keeps them young. ‘You get to add another interesting and delightful person to your family,’ Chana says, ‘you are able to learn more about yourself by learning about what is important elsewhere in the world. You get to teach kids about the way you think and make decisions. Disadvantages? I can't think of any. Some might say the stress of learning the habits of another child, worrying about them, but I think if you lay the groundwork at the beginning about your expectations, then there's not too much stress.’ Fred doesn’t see the shortage of host families as being a new concern. ‘I think it’s always been hard,’ he says, ‘...people think we are a global society now and, perhaps feel as if exchanges are not as important as they once were, but they are. Exchanges are as important as they ever were. It takes a special kind of person to host and I feel as if those folk were always rare.’
Three months ago, I would have thought it was strange to eat eggs and potatoes for breakfast but I got used to it pretty fast. That said, I still miss eating my favorite cereal - Special K Chocolat Noir or having a slice of the typical French baguette with Nutella for breakfast. Since I have been living with my host sister, Razi, she’s started to show an interest in AFS. Like me, she has expressed the desire to leave home and find a second one in a foreign country. ‘I don’t know when to go,’ says Razi. ‘I am thinking about leaving for my junior year but I don’t really want to miss a year at Duke Ellington because of my art classes.’ I told her that she isn’t obliged to leave for a whole year. There are AFS programs that range from just three months to a school semester and two months during the summer. There are also university programs and voluntary work abroad for people above 18 years old. As part of the program, I attend the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in the Literary Media & Communications department. Each time I enter the school, a wave of dynamism and power hits me, but I wanted to find out other impressions of the school from other foreign students. I asked Essi Perttunen, an AFS student from Hämeenlinna, Finland. ‘Total shock for me,’ she says ‘it’s completely the opposite than what I am used to.’ I asked if this was a good thing, she responded: ‘Here, the school system is too easy and not productive enough but I still like it because it is very fun.’ She later told me that the Finnish school system is the best in the world. I looked it up on the internet and found on Wikipedia that ‘The Education Index in 2008 lists Finland as 0.993, amongst the highest in the world, tied for first place with Denmark, Australia and New Zealand.’ After my morning classes at Duke Ellington, I join my AFS friends Sara, Essi and Magdalena for lunch. I enjoy these times of the day, as we get to talk a lot about our own countries and share our views on the United States and the school. We once discussed what we each missed the most about our countries. ‘The sea and the weather’ said Sara, ‘the climate where I live is perfect, not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter.’ Essi missed the saunas, ‘In Finland, every house has a sauna and in my family we use it three times a week at the least. I also miss Finnish chocolate.’ She received some in the mail from her mother. I tasted some and I have to say, it’s delicious.
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After school, on the way home, my head is always filled with thoughts. Living in another country really does make you think. I contemplate who I am, who I want to be and where I will end up. When my AFS friends and I discuss returning to our countries, Sara’s immediate response is: ‘I want to do my senior year here, I don’t want to leave!’ But we have to. We cannot forget our lives back home. Still, the general consensus among us is that we will one day return. Being abroad makes me want to see more of the world, to live in other places, and I am not the only one. Sara expresses similar thoughts, as does Essi: ‘I will travel in different places in the world and might live someplace else in Europe like Germany.’ Host parents also speak about a global connection to the world. Chana says the best thing about being a host parent is having children all over the world - ‘people who, along with their families, care about you when something happens in this part of the world, and who take care of you when you go to visit. It’s also about having that connection with the planet Earth, that brings the rest of the world closer to you.’ At dinner, I go down to the kitchen and I sit at the table next to my little host sister Elez. I am very attached to her as I am with the rest of the family. They gave me a second home and, without hesitation, accepted me into their family. Elez once told me: ‘Since you are here, everything is perfect.’ At night, when I go to bed, I think about my life back home. I miss my family and friends a lot but I don’t want to leave the life I started here. I am often torn apart by the desire to be in two places at once but then I realize: ‘This isn’t a year in a life; it’s a life in a year.’
Heading the other way: An American High School Student discusses his experiences with the AFS program Tony Frye participated in the AFS program during the 2010-2011 school year. He spent a year as a 10th grader in Ylöjärni, in Finland.
Lucie Delobel: How did you learn about AFS? Why did you decide to leave the US for a year and go to Finland? Tony Frye: I learned about AFS from our neighbors who, when I was in middle school, hosted an exchange student every year. So I kind of always wanted to do it. And sophomore year seemed like the best time because it would give me time to do all the college junk of junior and senior year. So all that was left was to choose was a place. I had no idea where I wanted to go, only that I wanted to go somewhere. So I spent a while thinking and first I wanted to go to France, then Thailand, then Singapore. Finally, my mom was at some party and heard something about Finland and we started doing research and I just said ‘OK! Going there. Done.’ LD: Will you go back to Finland? TF: I'm hoping to go back to Finland, but that might change depending on where my friends end up. Right now, one of my best friends is in the UK, so I hope to see her, and I expect that a lot of my other friends will travel around a fair amount. Right now, it's just way too expensive for me to go and I have to be planning for college and getting work done for scholarships. LD: What did you achieve at the end of that year abroad? TF: ‘What did I achieve?’ is a hard question...because it's like asking someone: What did you do this year? Do you realize how much **** you do in a year? It’s a lot. Then make all of that stuff a 'first' and it feels like even more. Everything becomes a first, even the most mundane things - taking your first bus, buying your first groceries. Then all the people, all the places. It's a lot. So I made a whole lot of friends, made some very enlightening mistakes, as people do, learned a lot about myself. Learned about people and families. I learned a lot of stuff. LD: What did you like the most about AFS? TF: AFS was good. They did what they were supposed to do, which was to get us to the country and set us free. They didn't really try to do much, which is fine, and the events where all the exchange students got together were great - especially when every AFS exchange student from all over Finland got together and went Skiing in Lap Land and then later went on a cruise to Sweden.
CONCERT REVIEW
CHIDDY BANG Chiddy Bang is a hip-hop group composed of the Nigerian but Newark-raised rapper, Chiddy (Chidera Anamege), and producer Xaphon Jones (Noah Beresin). The two have just released their first and successful album, Breakfast. ‘Breakfast is the first, most important meal of the day,’ says Chiddy, ‘we named our new album Breakfast because this is our first proper album, and the most important moment so far in our careers. Plus, a lot of significant things seem to happen for us while we’re eating breakfast foods.’ This isn’t the first time the world has been introduced to Chiddy Bang. Chiddy and Xaphon met freshman year at Drexel University, in Philadelphia, and began creating and self-distributing music via the Internet, attracting fans with their smart combination of hip-hop, electronic and indie rock styles. Chiddy Bang has always conceived their songs digitally. ‘Noah makes the beats, emails them to me, I write a rap on my computer, we go into the studio,’ Chiddy explains. They released their first mixtape, The Swelly Express, in 2009, with the famous and memorable track Opposite Of Adults, and then quickly followed up with two others, Air Swell in 2010 and Peanut Butter and Swelly in 2011. When I went to Chiddy Bang’s November 29th concert at the 9:30 Club in the heart of Washington D.C., I wasn’t surprised to find it was a great success. The concert was scheduled to start at 10 p.m. but, instead, the crowd remained static as the opening act performed. They had no interest in him. They all came for Chiddy Bang. As 10 p.m. approached, the lights turned off. “Chiddy! Chiddy!” screamed excited fans. The lights on the stage turned to a low blue. The crowd got agitated. A giant version of the album cover flew up towards the back of the stage. Shouts of ‘Chiddy Bang!’ arose, mobile phones sprung up to take pictures of the stage, fans lifted their arms in the air. Xaphon Jones and Chiddy came on stage, and the music began. The songs Never and Ray Charles are played to great enthusiasm from the fans, particularly for the song Ray Charles. Almost the entire concert floor danced to the chorus: ‘Ooh boy, open your eyes - A girl like me ain’t waitin’ all night - Ooh boy, better think twice - I got that honey, that sugar, that spice.’ The rapper Cheese Burger joined them onstage and both he and Chiddy prompted the crowd to give them the words to use in a freestyle. They wrote the words on a paper plate and threw them into the crowd when they finished the song; the crowd was impressed by the duo’s ability to improvise. As the song rolled on, Xaphon got crazy on the drums and the guitar, Chiddy yelled ‘hands up’ during most of the chorus, to keep the crowd participating and energized. Synergy was there, the audience danced throughout, fans lifted their arms in the air. The band closed with the Opposite of Adults, Chiddy Bang’s biggest hit to date. Chiddy and Xaphon soaked in the applause. They left the stage under the screams of the fans but, of course, came back for an encore and played one last song, Mind Your Manners. The music stopped and Xaphon threw his drumsticks into the crowd and fans fought over them for a while. Chiddy Bang said goodbye and left the stage, the house lights came up and you could see everyone leaving with smiles on their faces. Reviewed by Lucie Delobel
sweat towel: Waka Flaka
The
A
concert review in six acts
1. JOSH,
THE COOL
Just by the length of the line, wrapped around the corner, I knew that it would be an interesting night. I was surprised though, it was a really diverse crowd of people. Well, more diverse than I would have expected to see at a Waka Flocka Flame concert. ‘I've been f*cking with Flocka since Lebron Flocka James,’ said Josh, a 19 year old college student, referring to Flocka's 2007 mixtape. He wore skinny jeans, a tie-dye shirt, vans, and a baseball cap backwards, showing his swooped bangs. Not the first image you'd think of when speaking about a Flocka fan but still, he was cool.
2.Security The security guard seemed to be extremely fond of me. Every now and then, he would catch my attention and mouth things to me. I had no idea of what he was saying. The music was loud and I was in my own world. But, he was cute so I looked back often, catching his eye every time. He motioned me over to him and I climbed over a row of seats to get there. He asked me if I wanted to go backstage and, of course, I said yes. Then he asked me how old I was and, after telling him I was 17 (young enough not to have to show I.D. but old enough to almost be legal) he said that I was too good to go. I'm still not sure what that means. A few moments later, he offered me a drink.
words: Asia Alston 3. MOSH PIT I wasn’t satisfied with the good view and exclusivity that our extra money got us. I needed to be in the mosh pit, down and dirty with the real Flocka fans. I left my belongings on the balcony, where they would be safe and secured, and hurried down the stairs. I pushed my way through the double doors that led to the crowd and was immediately hit by the smell of marijuana, which, instantaneously, changed my mood. Maybe that’s the reason I danced so wild that night. I navigated my way through spaces in the crowd to get closer to the stage, which wasn’t easy, sometimes bumping into someone who was a little too turnt up. ‘BRICKSQUAD!’ was constantly being yelled and everyone was either rapping lyrics, jumping up and down or deeply under the influence. It was more exciting down here.
4. "NO, IT'S MY SWEAT TOWEL!" ‘I can cut it in half, if y’all want.’ This was the solution to prevent a fight between my friend and another girl at the concert. See, this is what happened, Flocka threw his towel at ME (not really) and these two reached for it, leaving me standing in the middle of a serious battle of tug of war. I would say this went on for about a good ten minutes, which, in reality, is longer than it seems. The two exchanged words (more like threats) but neither was willing to throw in the towel. (I did that to stress the point.) And that's when security got involved. He went in the back and returned with a knife, doing his best to cut the nasty sweat rag evenly down the middle. ‘It's still wet from his sweat,’ my friend said, in triumph.
5. "WALKING ON WATER" ‘If I was the old Flocka, I would have been jumped in the crowd,’ said Flocka, as he walked off the stage and into the pit. Before I knew it, the crowd started swarming in his direction. I just happened to be in the middle of it, probably the shortest one, getting trampled. It was almost like my feet were no longer responsive to my thoughts, they did only what everybody else told them to. If you know the expression ‘packed like sardines in a can,’ then you can understand the feeling. People were literally falling to Flocka's feet (most likely from being pushed down) and being stepped on like they were just another piece of dust on the floor. That is when I knew that it was time to head back up to the balcony. ‘It was like when God walked on water,’ I heard as I quickly escaped the scene.
6. THIS WAS THE
MORAL OF THE STORY
Showers of Rosé Moscato were thrown into the crowd as Waka gave his last words of inspiration. ‘Put your middle fingers in the air if you don't give a f*ck about your haters, if all you care about is your f*cking money. This one's for you.’ And he walked off of the stage, leaving the crowd with middle fingers in the air and alcohol stained clothes. An abrupt ending to an exciting night left us wanting more. There was a buzz about the crowd as they filed out of the Filmore, people were looking for the next "turn up" spot. My friend and I got ourselves together and tried to merge in on the action but, first we had to say our goodbyes. I waved at the security guard and began to step off, but he wanted a hug. Of course, I gave him one. I was expecting to exchange numbers or something but, no. That's when I realized, what happens here, stays here. And soon, everything will be a blur.
Girl on Fire Artist: Alicia Keys RCA Records Release: November 23, 2012
RED Artist: Taylor Swift Big MAchine Records, LLC Release: October 22, 2012
Alicia Keys’ new album, “Girl On Fire”, seamlessly flows from track to track. It begins with an introductory piano solo that leads straight into the first song, Brand New Me. “Girl On Fire” contains simple tracks about finding oneself and love, but Keys’ lyrics also explore complex issues such as the intersection of the themes death and love. Her fifth studio album is calm in places, only to segue into songs that drop a beat at the very beginning of the track. Girl On Fire (featuring Nicki Minaj), the title track, is an extremely fun and catchy song in which, Keys sings about the flames that surround a girl and how her head is in the clouds. The lyrics paint a strong visual picture. It is a song that I felt I could relate to, a song that could be seen as a metaphor for any number of things. Brand New Me is the strongest track on the album, it’s both a love song and tale of discovery. The song attempts to explore the guilt that you can feel when you experience change in your life. Keys begins the song with an apology for the change that she’s recently gone through, but throughout the song she realizes that she loves those changes. By the end of Brand New Me, Keys realizes that she is free now. It is a song of liberation. When It’s All Over, a stark contrast to Brand New Me, opens with a deep beat and “ayy ayy,” an almost sexual song peppered with continual “uh uhs” and the “ayys.” I found the track calming and was completely drawn into the music. The drums are the heartbeat of the song and the synthesised elements are the blood flowing through her lyrical veins. Keys creates an atmosphere with this song that leads into a conversation at the end with a young child. It is a sort of realization that the song has multiple purposes. Maybe it isn’t written sexually, maybe, given Keys became a mother between this album and her previous one, it’s a song written with the young in mind. The kid leads into the song right after it, Listen to Your Heart. It is almost a message to the little boy she was talking to in the previous song. Just about every song on this album has purpose, a refreshing complicated alternative to the popular songs on the radio today. Keys does a beautiful job compiling this album. And, though I wasn’t very impressed the first time I listened to it, I am in love with it now.
Taylor Swift continues with her usual boy-crazed popcountry music in her fourth album, “Red.” She covers her usual range of themes with the angry song, the heartbroken song, the “over you” song, the girls’ night out song, and the don’t-let-mego-song. Despite the album’s predictability, I’ve fallen once again for Taylor Swift’s catchy tunes. I’ve listened to it a number of times now and continue to enjoy it. I find myself bobbing my head and dancing along to the likes of Stay Stay Stay and Treacherous, which might be some of my favorites on the album. The album opens with a song called State of Grace, a popish effort that draws people into the album. It is markedly different enough from some of her previous work and serves to entice people once they start, and once they do, it’s hard to stop. Though her topics can be repetitive, she mixes it up in terms of instrumentation. Swift impresses in the song Stay Stay Stay with the use of a Ukulele as a primary instrument, complimenting her up-beat lyrics. It gives the song a light bouncing-on-clouds feel. The title song, Red, is about the loops love can throw you through. It is relatable - especially to teenage girls (we constantly think we are in love). It has a country feel, but has that pop twist that Taylor Swift is a master of. I usually don’t like country music, but when it comes to Taylor Swift, I make an exception. Yes, Taylor Swift is a pop icon but she has certainly found her musical niche. I have come to respect her ability to embrace her girly boy-crazy side. I remember sitting on my porch with two of my best friends singing Fifteen at the top of our lungs. That is what listening to Taylor Swift signifies to me - a fun night with your best friends in the world. And in my book, that’s a pretty good rating.
Reviewed by Genevieve Kules
Reviewed by Genevieve Kules
Skyfall, the 23rd installment in the classic James Bond, has Daniel Craig reprising the role of the famous British spy, for the third time. After the high praise for his previous James Bond movies, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, there was much hype for Craig’s third outing in the 007 franchise. In Skyfall, Bond comes out of hiding after being presumed dead, when the bombing of MI6 - the secret intelligence service for Britain - endangers the life of “M”, the head of MI6. Throughout the movie, M is forced to reconnect with her past while Bond reconsiders his loyalty to her and the MI6. Both M and Bond share the issue of their age, questioning whether or not they are too old to still be “in the game.” The film is filled with classic James Bond moments, though with a modern twist. Skyfall is one of those films that I was partially obligated to see, both because it can be considered a “classic” and also because Daniel Craig is one of my favorite actors. Despite both of these factors, at times, the film frustrates. It had slow moments followed by a rush of action. The beginning was packed with high-octane scenes, typical of James Bond, but midway through the film, the plot was ponderous, with time spent on scenes of Bond and M as they contemplated their futures. Staying true to classic Bond movies, 007 has love interests, Sévérine and the staple presence of Miss Moneypenny. Both love interests seemed to be thrown in the movie for the sake of having them, rather than being true romantic characters for Bond. There also was the reincarnation of the classic character Q. After his absence from the last two films, Q came back as a young computer hacker, rather than the old Q who would give 007 classic gadgets such as Grappling Suspenders and Camera Guns. Skyfall, compared to the two most recent James Bond films, is a huge step forward. Perhaps this is because Quantam of Solace set such low expectations for the ensuing movie, perhaps it was the return of some classic 007 elements, that pleased older fans. Skyfall was a huge success, making $35.5 million in box offices so far, Skyfall is only beat out by Twilight. It will be interesting to see where Daniel Craig, slated to make two more Bond movies, takes 007 as character and actor age together. Reviewed by Mona Sharaf
The Twilight saga has touched many teen hearts (mine not included) so for fans of the series, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 2 represents a bittersweet conclusion to the vampire adventures and their moral and emotional story arcs. The movies in the franchise are, of course, based off the popular book series, written by Stephenie Meyer, that debuted in 2005 and has since gone on to sell over 116 million copies worldwide. Breaking Dawn Part-2 picks up where Breaking Dawn Part-1 left off and follows Bella Swan’s (Kristin Stewart) and Edward Cullen’s (Robert Pattinson) struggle to protect their human-vampire crossbreed child. The couple teams up with other vampires and even werewolves, including Bella’s long time friend, Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), to keep their child safe. As someone who hasn’t read the books, I was pleased to find that the movie stood on its own, without prior need for explanations as to what was unfolding in the plot. Unfortunately, however, comprehension did not make this movie any more enjoyable. The acting was sub par. I could see the struggle on Kristin Stewart’s face as she tried to depict emotion throughout the film. Her signature blank stare didn’t engage me in any way and I couldn’t relate to her character at all. I found Robert Pattinson’s role inhibited him and, as a result, his character flat and uninspiring. The same could be said for many of the roles in the movie. I wasn’t drawn to any of the characters, all seemed unrealistic and two-dimensional, with uninteresting motives and plot lines that were overdone. The special effects were poor. The vampires can run extremely fast and leap high, but I could tell when certain effects were being used and they served as a distraction pulling me away from the story. When Bella attempts to attack a wolf, you don’t even see her jump off the rock she was standing on, she just flies straight up. It looks ridiculous. Along with the special effects, the arc of the story is confusing and hard to follow. It switches back and forth from one conflict to another without resolving them. The transitions between them are choppy. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what had just happened and couldn’t completely immerse myself into the story. I would not recommend this movie to anyone. Reviewed by Nora Gushue
The Fault in Our Stars John Green Dutton Books Release: 2o12
In John Green’s fourth solo novel, The Fault In Our Stars, protagonist, Hazel Grace Lancaster, is diagnosed with terminal cancer at the young age of thirteen. Clinical depression follows hot on the heels of this diagnosis, after Hazel is pulled out of school. She joins a youth support group for children with cancer and, while initially reticent about the group, she meets Augustus Waters, a young boy who will come to change her whole view on life. With Augustus, Hazel learns to live each day like her last, knowing that this could very well be the case. What attracted me to The Fault In Our Stars was the hype surrounding the author. Green has already seen success with previous novels Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. The premise of The Fault In Our Stars was the story of two star-crossed lovers, and one of them had cancer. I was interested in seeing how such a story could develop. This novel is tailored to young tween girls, yet as I began the novel I was surprised by Hazel’s lack of femininity. Hazel speaks with the voice of a teenage boy, rough and uncaring. Augustus was also an unexpected character. Through Hazel’s eyes he is the “perfect boy with a perfect body and intellect.” Green portrays both of them as pseudo-intellectuals discussing deep, thought-provoking topics that are not typical for teenagers, and because of this I was left feeling as though the characters were representations as opposed to fleshed out characters; they lacked all the trappings of teenage insecurity. Despite my cynicism about the first 250 pages of the book, the ending has such an emotional pull that I cried for both of the characters. While the beginning of the novel often times reads like something you would read in elementary school, the ending was thoughtful and so moving that even the most skeptical reader would find it to be the perfect finale for the melodrama. Reviewed by Mona Sharaf
The Queen of Water Laura Resau Random House Release: 2012
The Queen of Water is a story about the struggle between social classes in Ecuador; members of the ruling class of mestizos, or Spanish descendants, and the indígenas, the common field workers. In this novel, Virginia is an indígena living in a shabby earthen-walled dwelling in an Andean village in Ecuador. When Virginia is seven years old, she is sent away with a mestizo couple to be their servant and nanny for their new child. Virginia thinks that, like always, her family will come and save her. Little does she know, it will be years until she is reunited with her family. During her time as a servant, Virginia changes from the "dirty indígena" that she believes she is to the beautiful mestizo that she has always wanted to be. Throughout the book, Virginia’s old beliefs of who she is and who her family is change drastically, as she develops a bond with the family who she works for. But when Virginia is betrayed by the person she trusts most, she makes the hard decision of whether she should go back to her old life. While the plot of this book has rich meaning, made more emotional because it is based on a true story, the elementary writing in this book threw the whole thing off. The novel seemed to have a plot for young adults but had the language of a young middle school student. The book did not flow but rather was a "laundry list" stating all the facts with little emotion. Though the book had many sensitive topics, they were written in such an ungraceful way that the full effect of the story never came across. The Queen of Water is a good quick-read or a novel to give to younger children. If you’re in search of an intense tale that really moves you, then this is not the novel for you. Reviewed by Mona Sharaf
presents
featuring
the
Performance
PATTI
Series ofLegends
LaBelle
AT THE JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Monday, March 25, 2013|7:30 pm
A benefit concert for the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, kicking off our 40th Anniversary Celebrations
*SPONSORSHIPS & VIP TICKETS Sponsorships: $2,500-$100,000 VIP Tickets: $500 Each Available Through The Ellington Fund 202.333.1235 or info@ellingtonarts.org *Premier Orchestra Seats & Admission to VIP Reception*
PERFORMANCE ONLY TICKETS Sold Exclusively Through The .HQQHG\ &HQWHU %R[ 2IÀFH 202.467.4600 www.kennedy-center.org
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