HARBINGER this need to be replaced asap;.
www.harbinger.com
Shawnee Mission East Issue 13 Jan. 28, 2003
Advertising diversity Students’ work to be featured on billboards Dianne Smith Opinion Editor Next month, if you're out driving downtown, look up. You just might see the smiling faces of SM East photography students on a billboard. As part of an artist-in-residence workshop at the Kemper Museum of Modern Art, advanced photo students from East and Paseo Academy worked under the guidance of featured artist R o b i n B e r n a t to create an actual billboard. The sixteen students were given a rare opportunity to experience diversity while simultaneously spreading diversity through their art. The two schools were selected for two reasons. The first was that East and Paseo Academy have good, solid arts programs, which produce dedicated and focused students, according to Kemper Museum education coordinator Kristy P e t e r s o n . Secondly, Peterson said that she wanted to bring together students who come from different parts of the city and different states to draw different perspectives and viewpoints about issues relevant to the community. This workshop let the budding photographers meet students with whom they would not normally associate. "Kansas City is diverse but very separated," Paseo Academy senior C r y s t a l B a n u e l o s said. "Where we live and stay is separated and so you don't get to see other areas." Bernat was the primary facilitator of the three day workshop, leading the students in creating the billboard design and assisting them in making decisions as a group. The students had to choose a theme and a catchphrase, take pictures of each other using a digital camera and design the final product. Each one of the two billboards and five bus posters will feature digital photos that the students took of each other during the second day of their workshop. There will be four pictures on the billboards, each showing two students from different racial backgrounds. Candid shots, instead of posed pictures, were picked to portray the students acting out the catchphrase.
See B i l l b o a r d , page 2
Singing for
Sebelius
SM East Choraliers add their voices to governor’s inauguration Holly Garringer Special Section Editor Two weeks ago, the state of Kansas ushered in the new year with the inaguration of a new governer, K a t h l e e n S e b e l i u s. However, spectators and Kansas politicians alike were not only able to hear change in leadership, but also the Shawnee Mission East choir. “It was such an honor that, out of all the choirs in this area, SME got chosen to perform for some of the most important people in the state,” said junior M a r i a K e r s h i s n i k. After an hour and a half bus ride to Topeka, the choir literally had backstage passes to the inuguration. The choir warmed up and practiced right in the halls where Kansas politicians make the desicions that shape our state. “The last time I went to the capital was with my fourth grade class. Never in a million years would I have guessed that someday I would be invited to come back and sing for so many people. Warming up in the front hallway was something I’ll never forget,” said junior E l l e n K i r k. With the events of the past two years, and the possible theat of a coming war, security at the inuguration was tight. Soldiers were posted at every corner, and police officers could be seen everywhere. Bomb sniffing dogs were enlisted to check out any kind of suspicious looking bags. Every car, including the buses the choir rode on, had to have special signs in the window, allowing them to enter the parking lot.
At the capitol: Choraliers warm up before the performance (above). Gov. Sebelius is presented with gifts from Native American leaders while the choir watches (left).
“It was weird, because with all the soldiers and police photos by Nate around, you would have Stites thought that the mood would be quite somber. But the whole time we were warming up, I could see the soldiers watching us and smiling. It was a very surreal experience that I will always remember,” said junior M i c h a e l B e l l. Through loud winds, and large crowds, the choir coul be heard. Standing on the steps of the capital building, their song, “Go Ye Children,” flowed out to the masses. “Without sounding corny, I really want to say that the choir really came together and sounded great. Moments come and go, and I really feel that the choir came together and made this one great,” said choir teacher T r a c e y R e s s i g u e. Ressigue also commented that the choir was chosen to participate in the ceremony almost solely because their reputation precedes them. “It’s pretty cool that in twenty years, when people talk about going to this inauguration, we will be a part of that conversation, “ said Kirk.
East students join thousands in Washington march
A Plea for Peace Andrew Finnerty Online Edtior Twenty SM East students disliked the idea of war with Iraq so much that they journeyed for 24 hours on a charter bus to join 500,000 protestors on Saturday, Jan. 18, in the Washington, DC, March for Peace, the largest anti-war protest since the Vietnam War. “This year’s main theme will be to march for protest against the Iraq war, war in general, and promoting nonviolence and peace,” junior J u l i e W u said. Wu organized the group from East that went to the march. She got involved when a friend from a group involved in the March for Peace contacted her about advertising the protest and organizing a group from her school to go. She advertised the March for Peace on the announcements and with posters in the hallways until the administration made her stop because the group was not school sponsored. The march began near the Capitol and went past the White House, as well as other government buildings and the Washington Naval Yard. A few counter-demonstrations occurred along the route and the police presence was heavy around government buildings. “It makes me nervous, because I had a friend’s mom who went to many peace rallies and at many of those the police spread tear gas. I don’t think that the police will break [the march] up. This is supposed to be a free country,” sophomore A m e l i a W i e d e r a e n d e r s, who attended the march, said before going. The march was peaceful and there were very few arrests and disruptions. According and senior S a m S t e p p, who attended the march, the police presence was not very large in most places and “the biggest mass of police was
protecting the counterdemonstrators.” Stepp added that the police were nice. “One of the police officers even gave me directions when I needed to find my bus,” he said. The counter-demonstrators, who expressed support for President Bush and the US miliM a r c h o n W a s h i n g t o n : Junior Marcia tary, numbered less than 100 Lowe pauses with other Kansans during the and didn’t do much march. photos courtesy Marcia Lowe. more than anger the anti-war demonstrators. “Some of [the counter-demonstrators] held a sign that said ‘Hippies Go Home.’ What they really need to know is that it was mainstream America there, not radical communists. There were people from all parts of the political spectrum in this unified call against war… Expressing dissent is the ultimate form of patriotism; we are using our First Amendment right,” Stepp said.
See P e a c e M a r c h, page 2