Features
Trump's Actions since inauguration
Emma Duffy
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2017 Multicultural Performing Arts Faire: Bigger and Better
Callie Spice
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Bigger and better is the idea for this year’s Reagan Multicultural Performing Arts Faire — according to Profe Gonzalez and Madame Knight, the International Club Board of Directors. Last year, the first ever Multicultural Performing Arts Faire was held at Reagan with a goal of celebrating, educating, sharing, and showing pride of all the cultures represented at Reagan. This year, on March 9 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the goal is the same but with more performances, exhibits, games, and food!
Focused on educating the students of Reagan and the community on all of the cultures of the world, the fair will be very interactive. “It doesn’t celebrate just one part of the world or one ethnicity. It celebrates all cultures. It has food! It takes place after school in the evening. It’s interactive; it’s not just a performance. Guests can come in and talk to people about their cultures,” Madame said. Food is also a big part of the fair. With the contribution of at least one nonperishable food item, guests are free to eat all the foods displayed throughout exhibits— and there are many! Each exhibit is unique and will teach guests about the cultures they may not know much about. The fair is not only educational, but fun. For activities, there will be chess, tug of war, Jiu Jitsu, Tae Kwon Doe, an African Caribbean drum circle, a piñata, and even more that you’ll have to come to the fair to see! The fair is rooted in performance, hence the name. Before all the activities and exhibits take place, many performances are held in the auditorium representing all of the different cultures. There are performances for everybody! For those that enjoy dance, there will be a Vietnamese dance group as well as a Japanese dance. For those interested in music, there will be a rap trio, a K-Pop performance, a German song, a Spanish duet, and a Spanish solo from Puerto Rico. There will also be spoken word pieces along with other categories of performance. The Multicultural Performing Arts Faire is an event that has been in the works for months in advance and is produced by International Club. Madame said, “International Club is the fair. We plan it, we work on it, we put it all together. It’s an International Club production.” Starting the process in January, “We start planning. Our club does a lot of it and the students just really take charge. They’re in charge of doing the exhibits; they’re in charge of helping find performances; they do all the advertising. It’s a lot of work but it’s a team effort,” Gonzalez explained. “I’m proud of the students, all the work they put into it and how they really come together to make this event happen,” Gonzalez continued. |
A few of the students behind this educational, fun-filled fair are Suzy Duchac, Marian Mercado, David Rodriguez, Josie Sielen, and Joseph Sujecki. Some of the preparation that went into this was, “exploring other cultures and looking at what they offer,” Duchac said. Sielen explained this was “so people can feel included in their background to feel like they’re part of what’s being celebrated.” They all agree that a big purpose of the fair is to educate visitors on all the heritages and cultures that Reagan has to offer with a sense of togetherness. Sujecki said, “The goal is to expose the students of Reagan to other countries and heritages to show who we are as a school.” Rodriguez agreed, saying “I think the goal for this fair is to expose different cultures to our community that we go to school with everyday and possibly even more people than from our school that aren’t familiar with them.” There are many cultures right in front of our eyes that we don’t know enough about.This fair will broaden that knowledge.
Mercado said through International Club she enjoys, “the coming together of the communities, the different cultures and just getting to really know more cultures than what we already know.” Rodriguez appreciates how there will be “a bunch of different types of countries represented in the fair. It’s not all going to be around one common culture, there’s going to be different types; and there’s going to be different activities that are going to be included so it’s going to be pretty cool.” Why should students come to the fair? There’s many reasons! Sujecki said, “Instead of sitting at home they get to get food for free! There’s going to be lots of food and tug of war, chess, and other games.” Rodriguez said, “They should come to the fair to have a good time in general. There’s going to be music and activities and a bunch of food— and you know, people like food a lot. I think that they should go because it’s just going to be a great time. Come to the fair!” Food is a “big draw,” Profe Gonzalez agreed. There is definitely going to be a lot! She said, “You can try food from all different places. We have a lot of students making food, we’re getting food from local restaurants,” and there’s also exhibits making cultural food on the spot. Profe concluded, “Everybody is welcome. We want everybody from school; bring your parents, bring your friends, bring your outside community members. We just want it to be awesome!” You can help in making this year’s fair bigger and better than last year’s just by attending! They want even more attendance than last year and they’re ready for more guests as they expand on every aspect of the fair this year. “It’s a community coming together and celebrating all different backgrounds together. Not just your own but other people’s and recognizing these other cultures.” Sielen said. Be a part of the community and enrich your knowledge on the cultures of the world by coming to International Club’s Multicultural International Faire on March 9 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. for food, fun, games, exhibits and performances! |
THE MARCH FOR NUTRITION
Mya Bailey
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More Than “Pretty for a Dark Skinned Girl”
Freedom Gobel
Silence allows injustice to slide. Kayana Adams, Reagan junior, is living proof that young people can make a difference by speaking up.
“I've always received compliments like, ‘You’re pretty for a dark skinned girl.’ I wondered, ‘What's a way to get people to understand that it's not okay to say things like that?’ In response, I started a movement,” said Adams, founder of ‘Embrace My Complexion’, a movement created to empower women and young girls with darker skin.
The problem is buried deep.
There is a deeply rooted mentality in a large population that suggests darker skin tones are less attractive than lighter complexions. Everyday, girls and women are praised with insults when it comes to their beauty. Aesthetic appeal is unfortunately dependent on the color of your skin for a prejudiced society.
“It's been happening all my life. I've just wanted to know what exactly those comments meant. If I was a lighter complexion, would I be prettier? Is it that people with darker complexions, my complexion, aren't pretty? That's never settled well with me,” said Adams.
“It's not the same” between the genders.
“I think these problems exist for males and females, but it happens more often for women. My brother is of a darker complexion as well, and he rarely experiences this. In our society it seems like women accept darker skin in males as attractive, but men don't always have that same mentality about women. It feels like men are more accepted.”
The media is part of the problem.
The media influences the public opinion greatly, and feeds lies to the young girls and women it affects. Negative, underlying messages are propagandized to wide audiences: the lighter the prettier.
Adams explained, “Darker complexions aren't portrayed as much as lighter ones. Even when non-white models are used, make up is often used to make them lighter. It's ridiculous.”
Raising awareness is the first step.
“I know that many people won't defend themselves because they don't know it's wrong,” said Adams. “If people understand where I am coming from and truly want to help, then real change could be made. I think the people that my movement has reached understand the real issue and want to create social change, but more people to need get on board. I want a major impact.”
Beauty comes in all shades.
Adams’ main goal is to change the way people think about darker complexions. “We are often categorized as uneducated or unattractive. I want to change that.”
“I have a younger cousin who is eight years old, and I think she's beautiful. I don't want her to be okay with being belittled for having darker skin. I want her to know it's not a compliment to be ‘pretty for a dark skinned girl’. I want to be a voice for people who won't say anything and know it's wrong, and for people who don't realize that ‘pretty for a dark skinned girl’ isn't a compliment. You don't have to be white to be pretty.”
“Darker complexioned girls, you are beautiful.”
LEARN MORE!
Visit the website: embracemycomplexion.weebly.com
SPREAD THE WORD!
Pass on the message by word of mouth or purchase promotional t-shirts ($12) to show your support. You can help create change.
“I've always received compliments like, ‘You’re pretty for a dark skinned girl.’ I wondered, ‘What's a way to get people to understand that it's not okay to say things like that?’ In response, I started a movement,” said Adams, founder of ‘Embrace My Complexion’, a movement created to empower women and young girls with darker skin.
The problem is buried deep.
There is a deeply rooted mentality in a large population that suggests darker skin tones are less attractive than lighter complexions. Everyday, girls and women are praised with insults when it comes to their beauty. Aesthetic appeal is unfortunately dependent on the color of your skin for a prejudiced society.
“It's been happening all my life. I've just wanted to know what exactly those comments meant. If I was a lighter complexion, would I be prettier? Is it that people with darker complexions, my complexion, aren't pretty? That's never settled well with me,” said Adams.
“It's not the same” between the genders.
“I think these problems exist for males and females, but it happens more often for women. My brother is of a darker complexion as well, and he rarely experiences this. In our society it seems like women accept darker skin in males as attractive, but men don't always have that same mentality about women. It feels like men are more accepted.”
The media is part of the problem.
The media influences the public opinion greatly, and feeds lies to the young girls and women it affects. Negative, underlying messages are propagandized to wide audiences: the lighter the prettier.
Adams explained, “Darker complexions aren't portrayed as much as lighter ones. Even when non-white models are used, make up is often used to make them lighter. It's ridiculous.”
Raising awareness is the first step.
“I know that many people won't defend themselves because they don't know it's wrong,” said Adams. “If people understand where I am coming from and truly want to help, then real change could be made. I think the people that my movement has reached understand the real issue and want to create social change, but more people to need get on board. I want a major impact.”
Beauty comes in all shades.
Adams’ main goal is to change the way people think about darker complexions. “We are often categorized as uneducated or unattractive. I want to change that.”
“I have a younger cousin who is eight years old, and I think she's beautiful. I don't want her to be okay with being belittled for having darker skin. I want her to know it's not a compliment to be ‘pretty for a dark skinned girl’. I want to be a voice for people who won't say anything and know it's wrong, and for people who don't realize that ‘pretty for a dark skinned girl’ isn't a compliment. You don't have to be white to be pretty.”
“Darker complexioned girls, you are beautiful.”
LEARN MORE!
Visit the website: embracemycomplexion.weebly.com
SPREAD THE WORD!
Pass on the message by word of mouth or purchase promotional t-shirts ($12) to show your support. You can help create change.
Prom Dress shopping that wont break won't break your budget
callie spice
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National Women's History month
Morgan Stark
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National History Day
Alexis Torres
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National History Day is one of the world's most popular, non-profit programs that allow over half a million middle and high school students to engage in conducting original research on the historical topic of their choice.
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National History Day is one of the world's most popular, non-profit programs that allow over half a million middle and high school students to engage in conducting original research on the historical topic of their choice.
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Students all over the world have been researching and using their creativity to their own advantage for this particular program. Ronald Reagan High School has been participating in NHD for the past 3 years. Mrs. Holtgreive, one of the school’s history and psychology teachers, originally conducted the NHD showcase in the school’s first year of participation. In recent years, Mr. Walker and Mr. Koester, both history teachers, have organized the entire showcase by making schedules, helping students with their research and project, and finding judges/teacher/students to be a part of the showcase.
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Mr.Walker’s Opinion on why NHD is important:
Mr.Walker’s Opinion on why NHD is important:
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On Jan. 25, the students moving on to the regional competition were chosen. The variety of students participated in the categories: performance, paper, documentary, website, and exhibit. Each student was showcasing their unique perspective on why their topic was relevant to this year’s theme “Taking a Stand.”
On Jan. 25, the students moving on to the regional competition were chosen. The variety of students participated in the categories: performance, paper, documentary, website, and exhibit. Each student was showcasing their unique perspective on why their topic was relevant to this year’s theme “Taking a Stand.”
SOME OF THE QUALIFYING STUDENTS:REGIONALS
Every eligible student will be preparing for the regional NHD competitionㅡtaking place on March 4 in Madison, WI. By editing their presentations and organizing their thoughts for the questions they will be askedㅡNHD showcase finalists have to work hard in order for them to reach the next level and represent the school once again.
Participating in the NHD showcase has shined a light on the positive aspects of being an active member in your school and in learning about history. The class of 2019 have been hard at work investigating numerous history accounts. One studentㅡRicardo Guerrero Z.ㅡexplained his interest in the NHD requirement and why he was honored to be apart of this event. He says, “I’ve learned a lot and I think that one of the biggest things I have learned was that if you are going to do a really good project, a lot of people are gonna notice but it is a lot of hard work and really stressful but in the end if you work hard you will be proud.” He concluded with the statement, “So like a positive aspect was, I guess doing different types of work and learning because like, I don’t know, we are used to having the teacher telling us facts and stuff then just taking notes.” Every student has a unique learning styleㅡwhether it is visual, auditory, or tactileㅡbeing a part of NHD allows students to learn the way they learn best when they research and present what they find stimulating and fascinating. Some examples would be, Mackenzie Konkel and Krystal de Jesus,who are regional contestants, basing their NHD project on Candy Lightner and Drunk driving. “We felt that no one really knew her because actually behind changing the drunk driving age from eighteen to twenty-one in the 1980’s,” says Konkel.
For those participating in the 2017-2018 NHD showcase, Guerrero has some words of encouragement that can prepare those for when it is their time to choose their topic and how they plan to present it: “I would tell them to not choose like, an easy project. I would say to go with something you really like and something that will challenge you and of course something that is going to make you learn.”
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Mr. Walker’s Opinion in how to be successful in NHD:
Mr. Walker’s Opinion in how to be successful in NHD:
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Links to some of the qualifying students NHD projects:
Website by Alex Murnane and Ah Yu Ya Documentary by Ricardo Guerrero Z.
Links to some of the qualifying students NHD projects:
Website by Alex Murnane and Ah Yu Ya Documentary by Ricardo Guerrero Z.
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In conclusion, NHD is considered by many to be a wonderful experience that allows students all over the world to learn about history in an intriguing and exciting way that motivates students to take part in history.
In conclusion, NHD is considered by many to be a wonderful experience that allows students all over the world to learn about history in an intriguing and exciting way that motivates students to take part in history.
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Mr. Koester’s Final Thought:
Mr. Koester’s Final Thought:
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From clovers to rainbows
alexxus hart
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black history month
Ema Nimphius
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Realizations: An Experimental Inquiry Not Only About Music but also Life Itself
corinne Kronschnabel
Prepare to stretch your ears because this semester’s band and orchestra concert is going to be an oddity! Not only will there be funk jazz and excerpts from a ballet piece that caused a riot when it was first performed, but a piece written by an in-house composer will also be performed. That’s right — band director Adam Murphy’s concert band piece “Realizations” will be played for the second time in history by none other than the advanced band. It took nine years to develop the band program and to get students that could not only play non-conventional advanced level music, but also student that wanted to play non-conventional advanced level music. And now, it is finally time.
Picture this: high school age Murphy goes to meet a music composition professor at University of Greensboro in North Carolina. He is shown a piece that consists of cello and pre-recorded noises. After the session, he says to his parents, “Mom, Dad; I don’t think I like that music. But I have a feeling that in four years, I’m going to like that music.” His prediction ended up being correct, because a few years later while attending graduate school at UW-Milwaukee, he got the chance to compose something truly unique. He was offered a wondrous opportunity by Professor Thomas Dvorak, the man who not only brought Murphy to Milwaukee, but also practically wrote the book on concert band music. Dvorak has a history of working with young composers to write pieces for band, because “even though there’s a lot of pieces being written for band, there’s not a lot of opportunities for people to write for band and have their music played,” Murphy said. That is the opportunity that Dvorak presented to him. He wanted Murphy to compose a piece for the University of Wisconsin’s Youth Wind Ensemble, which is exactly what Murphy did — with his own twist, of course.
At the time, Murphy had been listening to a lot of music that utilized spectralism. Spectralism is a compositional technique where the composer uses different timbres instead of notes and harmonies to create a melody. Timbre — also known as tone color or tone quality — is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound, or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production. For example, a trumpet has a very different timbre than a soprano singer; their tone sounds completely different. Murphy’s plan was to apply spectralism to concert band instruments, which is not a traditional idea that happens in band music. “I wanted the students who were going to play my piece to play differently than they usually do,” Murphy said, “which is a challenge because the piece is not idiomatic.”
The term “idiomatic” is used to denote the specific features, qualities, or technical possibilities that characterize each individual instrument or type of voice. One of the reasons Murphy’s piece isn’t idiomatic to concert band instruments is because it was originally written for piano.
“Well, not exactly,” Murphy clarified. “When I wrote it in the composition software, I just happened to write it for piano because that’s the instrument with the largest range of notes. Then I had to orchestrate it for all the different band instruments.” He had to figure out how to assign all those notes to different instruments in order to get unique timbres. Assigning those notes is hard work, but playing them is even harder. Here’s why — if a pianist played the piece, it would make sense to them because they could make connections between notes and phrases. It’s more of a challenge for concert band performers because no one person has the entire melody — it is split between different sections in the band, therefore making it harder to make connections between parts.
So, Murphy wrote the piece. It went through multiple changes, including altering rhythms and deciding on a name. It was initially called “Wind Ensemble Piece in Progress” then “In Uncertainty” and then it finally rested on “Realizations.”
“At the time I was having a lot of in depth conversations about philosophy and theology with two other teaching assistants,” Murphy said. “We talked about things like religion and the meaning of life and such. I kinda came up with the IB answer — other people with their differences can also be right.” His realization was that people are going to think different things, and whatever they decide as truth can be truth for them.
And that is what “Realizations” is all about: answering big questions, realizing that it’s fine if the question doesn’t get answered right away. Things take time to process, understand, and answer. In fact, in the piece there is a question that is presented right at the beginning. It keeps on reappearing throughout “Realizations” and gets developed upon because the answer just isn’t quite right. To the untrained ear the piece can sound confusing, but aren’t our own minds cluttered, especially when making hard decisions?
“I really like the end of the piece,” Murphy said. “It’s a big ‘A-ha!’ moment, and starts off very loud and strong.” You’d expect it to end big, but it doesn’t. After a decelerando (slowing of the tempo / speed) and decrescendo (tells the performers to play quieter and quieter) there is supposed to be a single ringing sound left in the air that eventually fades into nothing. The sound represents “The one outcome, the one thing that we then take from that realization — because at the moment it feels really impactful, and then we just have the memory of the experience,” Murphy said.
If you want to pursue composition in college, Murphy has some advice for you — do not feel like you have to compose like Mozart, or any other famous composer. “Ninety percent of colleges don’t want you to write like Mozart, because he did Mozart the best,” Murphy said. “Unless you’re five years old and already turning out the hits, do not try to re-do him. Most universities will have you try to find your own voice, or experiment with new techniques. They really like hearing the ‘weird’ stuff.” If you want to write a symphony, write a symphony! If you want to write concert band music, write concert band music! If you want to write a piece involving blenders or typewriters, write a piece involving blenders or typewriters! The point is, that whatever you compose, make sure that your own creative flair is there — you can totally be inspired by someone, but there’s a difference between inspiration and copying. As David Holsinger — one of Murphy’s most favorite composers and conductors — said, “...[composing] is not natural. No one simply knows how to write well for band. The only way you can learn it is to do it, have people play it, and then revise or do it differently next time.” Lather, rinse, repeat.
Here is one last thing to think about; it is a general piece of advice provided by Murphy that is exemplified in “Realizations.” He said, “If you’re trying to figure things out, slow down. Usually we try to answer these tough questions and we are stressed and frantic and worried, and we end up too worried that we actually avoid answering the question. When you think you have an answer, don’t completely accept it right away. Continue to question things. See where your thoughts take you.”
If you want to hear “Realizations” and all the other odd pieces the band and orchestra are going to play, come to the concert on March 29 at 6:30 and prepare to stretch your ears!
Picture this: high school age Murphy goes to meet a music composition professor at University of Greensboro in North Carolina. He is shown a piece that consists of cello and pre-recorded noises. After the session, he says to his parents, “Mom, Dad; I don’t think I like that music. But I have a feeling that in four years, I’m going to like that music.” His prediction ended up being correct, because a few years later while attending graduate school at UW-Milwaukee, he got the chance to compose something truly unique. He was offered a wondrous opportunity by Professor Thomas Dvorak, the man who not only brought Murphy to Milwaukee, but also practically wrote the book on concert band music. Dvorak has a history of working with young composers to write pieces for band, because “even though there’s a lot of pieces being written for band, there’s not a lot of opportunities for people to write for band and have their music played,” Murphy said. That is the opportunity that Dvorak presented to him. He wanted Murphy to compose a piece for the University of Wisconsin’s Youth Wind Ensemble, which is exactly what Murphy did — with his own twist, of course.
At the time, Murphy had been listening to a lot of music that utilized spectralism. Spectralism is a compositional technique where the composer uses different timbres instead of notes and harmonies to create a melody. Timbre — also known as tone color or tone quality — is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound, or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production. For example, a trumpet has a very different timbre than a soprano singer; their tone sounds completely different. Murphy’s plan was to apply spectralism to concert band instruments, which is not a traditional idea that happens in band music. “I wanted the students who were going to play my piece to play differently than they usually do,” Murphy said, “which is a challenge because the piece is not idiomatic.”
The term “idiomatic” is used to denote the specific features, qualities, or technical possibilities that characterize each individual instrument or type of voice. One of the reasons Murphy’s piece isn’t idiomatic to concert band instruments is because it was originally written for piano.
“Well, not exactly,” Murphy clarified. “When I wrote it in the composition software, I just happened to write it for piano because that’s the instrument with the largest range of notes. Then I had to orchestrate it for all the different band instruments.” He had to figure out how to assign all those notes to different instruments in order to get unique timbres. Assigning those notes is hard work, but playing them is even harder. Here’s why — if a pianist played the piece, it would make sense to them because they could make connections between notes and phrases. It’s more of a challenge for concert band performers because no one person has the entire melody — it is split between different sections in the band, therefore making it harder to make connections between parts.
So, Murphy wrote the piece. It went through multiple changes, including altering rhythms and deciding on a name. It was initially called “Wind Ensemble Piece in Progress” then “In Uncertainty” and then it finally rested on “Realizations.”
“At the time I was having a lot of in depth conversations about philosophy and theology with two other teaching assistants,” Murphy said. “We talked about things like religion and the meaning of life and such. I kinda came up with the IB answer — other people with their differences can also be right.” His realization was that people are going to think different things, and whatever they decide as truth can be truth for them.
And that is what “Realizations” is all about: answering big questions, realizing that it’s fine if the question doesn’t get answered right away. Things take time to process, understand, and answer. In fact, in the piece there is a question that is presented right at the beginning. It keeps on reappearing throughout “Realizations” and gets developed upon because the answer just isn’t quite right. To the untrained ear the piece can sound confusing, but aren’t our own minds cluttered, especially when making hard decisions?
“I really like the end of the piece,” Murphy said. “It’s a big ‘A-ha!’ moment, and starts off very loud and strong.” You’d expect it to end big, but it doesn’t. After a decelerando (slowing of the tempo / speed) and decrescendo (tells the performers to play quieter and quieter) there is supposed to be a single ringing sound left in the air that eventually fades into nothing. The sound represents “The one outcome, the one thing that we then take from that realization — because at the moment it feels really impactful, and then we just have the memory of the experience,” Murphy said.
If you want to pursue composition in college, Murphy has some advice for you — do not feel like you have to compose like Mozart, or any other famous composer. “Ninety percent of colleges don’t want you to write like Mozart, because he did Mozart the best,” Murphy said. “Unless you’re five years old and already turning out the hits, do not try to re-do him. Most universities will have you try to find your own voice, or experiment with new techniques. They really like hearing the ‘weird’ stuff.” If you want to write a symphony, write a symphony! If you want to write concert band music, write concert band music! If you want to write a piece involving blenders or typewriters, write a piece involving blenders or typewriters! The point is, that whatever you compose, make sure that your own creative flair is there — you can totally be inspired by someone, but there’s a difference between inspiration and copying. As David Holsinger — one of Murphy’s most favorite composers and conductors — said, “...[composing] is not natural. No one simply knows how to write well for band. The only way you can learn it is to do it, have people play it, and then revise or do it differently next time.” Lather, rinse, repeat.
Here is one last thing to think about; it is a general piece of advice provided by Murphy that is exemplified in “Realizations.” He said, “If you’re trying to figure things out, slow down. Usually we try to answer these tough questions and we are stressed and frantic and worried, and we end up too worried that we actually avoid answering the question. When you think you have an answer, don’t completely accept it right away. Continue to question things. See where your thoughts take you.”
If you want to hear “Realizations” and all the other odd pieces the band and orchestra are going to play, come to the concert on March 29 at 6:30 and prepare to stretch your ears!
read across america day
jackie jones
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