Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

possibility of perception’s interjection?

In another form of media? In another strand of consumption?

Each ion in this cloud in which we now live was not designed for your benefit; You condense attention and profit, until gold rains down onto your managers. Managing mechanisms to keep you in check–their check.

A checkbook of Monopoly money, a monopolized card deck.

You take their criticism, but you don’t want their advice.

You’re addicted to being perceived, You’re addicted to displaying yourself like a con.

You’ve been coaxed into the panopticon.

On Class Clowns

In fourth grade, the gap toothed boy abruptly decided that he had had enough. On picture day, he gored his signature red Gap-Kids sweatshirt against the wall hooks by the lost and found and replaced it with a silicon squirrel head that he noosed around his neck. While the photographer was fussing over the class photo, repositioning frilled shoulders and wilting collars and parent’s dress shoes 4 sizes too large, the squirrel emerged from behind the tilted heads like a desert mirage. The photographer’s neck blossomed a fire engine red and the class erupted into laughter— the knees-caving-into-ribs-into-stomach kind that lasts the remainder of the day, an hourly afterthought. We cheered his name as our homeroom teacher marched the half-boy, half-squirrel to the principal’s office. After that, the boy began to wear the squirrel head to school everyday, secreting his gap-teeth behind the unseeing whites. It didn’t take long for them to get sick of it— which is to say they had begun to get increasingly unsettled by each lurking shadow that metamorphosed into the boy crouched feral. asked members of The Union in November what they wanted to perform or to help plan the assembly if they didn’t want to be on stage, Wright said. “We met four or five times as a group to get ideas together and to plan it out.”

But as long as the teacher continued to blame the boy as the source of all afternoon rowdiness, as long as no one else had to stay behind on Friday to stack the chairs back onto the desks, as long as they had something to laugh at come lunchtime when they got tired of forcing some meatloaf-and-milk concoction down the throat of some too-skinny boy, no one ever said anything, at least not to his face.

No, they concluded, no matador could be to blame for his metempsychosis*— the bull was charging through the ring entirely on his own.

*metempsychosis: The supposed transmigration at death of the soul of a human being or animal into a new body of the same or a different species.

Some students participated in multiple performances, such as Ramatou Kirimou (10). Kirimou was in the step performance, created and edited a video where Black students shared their thoughts on the month, and read the poem “Beautifully Black Me,” by Erianne Flores (9). Kirimou was inspired by videos she had seen in past assemblies when she suggested the idea for a video to be played at this assembly, she said.

By including the step performance, The Union was able to work some education into the assembly, Flores said. “It was a way to give a little bit of Black history while also keeping it light-hearted and fun,” she said.

The Union also held some joint meetings with the Black Excellence Affinity Group (BlEx) to allow members of both groups to get involved in the assembly, Wright said. This included BlEx faculty advisors Bri’ana Odom and Lisa Scott, who choreographed and performed in the step performance, as well as Office Assistant Shy Parris, who read Langston Hughes’ poem “Theme for English B.” Huff and Wright also asked administrative assistant Ennis Smith if he would sing in the assembly after being impressed by his talent during last year’s Music Week assembly, Wright said.

Each of the groups performing, such as the step group, rehearsed together on their own time, Kirimou said. “Ms. Scott and Ms. Odom choreographed the step and they sent us videos before winter break so that we could have the hang of it,” she said. “After we got back, during I periods on Mondays and Thursdays we had rehearsal periods.”

For Flores, who gave a reflection on how the school’s community helped her connect with her Black heritage, the assembly gave her a chance to express herself, she said. “Usually, when I perform in an assembly, I read poems, so I wanted to switch it up and tell my story that way.”

While students rehearsed on their own, the group was unable to rehearse together before the performance, save for a quick sound check during B period the day of the assembly, Miranda said. “We didn’t have a big rehearsal, which made it a little stressful,” she said.

Despite this, the performance was a success, Huff said. “It just felt amazing to see all the work come to fruition, to see how much the community enjoyed it.”

Everyone in the performance supported each other, Miranda said. “I loved that when one student was performing, the other performers on the side were cheering them on,” she said. “It speaks to the spirit of celebration and joy in this community, how if students have a vision, they can see that vision through, see it come to fruition, and share it with the rest of the community.”

“I just choose the songs based on what I have been liking and the most popular current songs.” The dancers rehearsed after school and on the weekend. “The medley was the thing that took the most practice because we had to practice our quick changes,” Tsai said.

Following the medley, students danced to Akon and Hamsika Iyer’s Chammak Challo in traditional lehengas and flashy sunglasses. Fazal participated in the dance to embrace her culture, she said. “In previous Asia Nights, there wasn’t a lot of South Asian representation in all of the activities, so Rani [Ogden (11)] and I chained together to do a dance,” Fazal said. “We decided that we wanted to do sunglasses so the dance would be more light hearted since we weren’t great dancers.”

This year’s EWWW board prioritized inclusivity, Ogden, another EWWW board member, said. “The board was really supportive and encouraged the dance and my short film on Indian clothing,” she said. “I hope we can do more of it in the future.”

The show ended with another annual tradition: the fashion show. Students strutted the stage, flaunting vibrantly colored qipaos, han- boks, ao dais and more. Brianna Wells (10) wore one of the dresses from her mother’s wedding day, she said. “My mom really wanted to see me in it.”

Compared to the virtual Asia Night during the pandemic and the scaled-down version last year, Tsai said that this year’s event was much more organized. “Last year, it was very last minute, but this year, I was already putting together dances during Winter Break.” Preparation began in mid-December. EWWW set rehearsal schedules and figured out other logistics of the event, Lee said. To gather performances, the board sent out a Google Form to club members to fill out if they’d like to perform or help MC the night, Lee said.

EWWW co-advisor and Visual Arts Teacher Mirrie Choi thought this year’s planning went smoothly. “I’m impressed at how the students handled everything on their own –– I don’t think there were many challenges because the leaders were so diligent and organized,” she said.

The advisors mainly helped connect with the administration and parent groups, Choi said. “The Korean Parents League, Chinese

Family Network, and South Asian Families have all been strong supporters of Asia night in the past.” The advisors reached out to those groups to ask if they would like to participate again, and there was no hesitation on their part, Choi said. “The parents associations helped provide and serve all the amazing food, which is a huge part of what makes Asia Night so special,” she said.

This year, EWWW joined forces with Studio HM and Fisher Gallery to broaden the festivities. “We thought that they would be great additions which would also help make the event bigger and reach more people,” Tsai said. The gallery was curated by Christine Tao (11) and Visual Arts Teacher Emily Lombardo using Asian students’ poems, ceramics, paintings, and other art. Studio HM will arrange the cardstock that students drew on during Asia night into a quilt to be hung in Fisher.

Seeing the large turnout this year, Choi hopes to continue expanding Asia Night’s reach, she said. This may include shifting the performances from the Recital Hall to Gross Theatre and including the Middle Division. “I’ve heard from parents who wanted to involve the middle school students, and I think that would be a great way for students to foster relationships and mentorships in a fun way, earlier on,” Choi said. “As the Asian population is growing, there is a necessity for us to feel connected and appreciated.”

Choi also sees the importance of solidarity in light of the rise of violence against Asian people, she said. “[Asia night] is for Asian students, families, and faculty to really feel that they have a community in which their background, culture, and selves are appreciated and celebrated,” Choi said. “But it is just as much for the entire HM community to be able to enjoy and show their support –– there’s a lot of love for the Asian students, it’s wonderful that we have the opportunity to come together and celebrate it collectively.”

Asia Night is a particularly special event for Lee because it runs in her family. “My mom, Rosemary Yim, who graduated in 1996, was a co-president of EWWW so I think it’s really cool that Asia Night is a generational tradition.” Since then, Asia Night has grown into a larger celebration of Asian culture that has become more embedded in the community.