“Saturday, March 24,1984. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois, 60062. Dear Mr. Vernon, We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did *was* wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us – in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct? That’s the way we saw each other at 7:00 this morning. We were brainwashed.”

These are the opening lines to my favorite movie of all time: The Breakfast Club. This 1985 teenage drama is, in my opinion, pure cinematic perfection. (I could be biased… But who wouldn’t be after watching it 30+ times?) The movie tells the story of five seniors in high school who land themselves in a Saturday detention for various reasons that are explained as the movie unfolds. Claire is the rich popular girl, and Andrew is a varsity wrestler. John Bender is the bad-boy delinquent, Brian is the socially-oblivious dork, and Allison is the reclusive “basket case.” At first, they all keep to themselves with the exception of Claire and Andrew, who are both popular and thus in the same crowd. Bender entertains himself by provoking and teasing the other students. This eventually leads to conversations where the students get to know personal information about each other. They push each other to their limits. By the end of the day, the characters have let their guards down and have allowed everyone to see the kind of people they are behind the guise of their respective social groups.

For those of you who have not seen The Breakfast Club, I look at it as the more mature parallel to Mean Girls. They both had similar effects on me, anyway. However, where Mean Girls remained a comedy, The Breakfast Club is more of a drama, and covers far more serious topics such as drug use, suicide, and sex. The film illustrates the variety of pressures that can control a teenager’s life. It made me realize that every teen, regardless of appearance or social status, deals with the same problems. This priceless bit of insight changed the way I look at people in my school and community. I do not see people as “jocks” or “druggies;” instead I look at them and I wonder what their life is like. Infiltrating the wall everyone puts up around themselves helps me to understand people better. I empathize. Once I realized that I didn’t have to feel intimidated or inhibited just because someone is in a different social group, it allowed me to connect with so many more people. As Andrew Clark puts it: “We’re all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that’s all.” 

When I say the word “ballerina,” what comes to mind? If you are like most of the world, you will think of little girls in pink tutus or women in flowing gowns twirling and leaping across a stage. Those images of beauty and flawless movement are exactly what ballerinas want their audience to see. However, underneath their smiling facade lurks brutal intensity and painful dedication.

This past August, artist Javier Perez released a video called “En Puntas” that demonstrates the mental and physical struggle ballet dancers endure to perfect their movement. In the video, Amelie Segarra dances on top of a grand piano en pointe. (Pointe is a form of ballet done in shoes that contain layers of densely packed paper, fabric, and cardboard in the front. Pointe shoes allow dancers to balance on their toes instead of the balls of their feet, which elongates their legs and exaggerates their movements.) However, Amelie Segarra’s pointe shoes are different- giant steel knives were attached to the bottom. Now not only is she balancing on her toes, but she is doing that on the edge of a blade.       

In the video, Amelie attempts to dance on top of the grand piano. The knives scrape across the wood, dangerously close to the edge of the piano, creating a penetrating scratching noise. I think this represents the fine line pointe dancers tread between art and torture. Right in the middle of those ideas is dramatic perfection. The way Segarra flirts with the edge of the piano and comes close to falling off several times deliberately makes the audience on edge (bah dum tss). Javier Perez wants the audience to feel anxiety over Amelie’s dance because that gives insight into the intensity of a ballet dancer’s stenuous training.

Throughout the video, Segarra’s movements become increasingly violent. She bourres and stabs at the piano. At a few points, she screams out at her feet in frustration. The severity of her movements and shouts represent the strain dancers put on their bodies to reach perfection. Particularly in ballet, dance moves are specific and exact. If a ballerina cannot perform precisely, she is not needed. The stakes are high for professional ballerinas, so they put their bodies through tremendous strain in order to live up to expectations. This level of pressure is physically and mentally exhausting, and Perez captures this battle in Segarra’s violence.

So, moral of the story: although dancers make it look easy, never underestimate the intense dedication and training that goes into ballet.

Northern Ireland endured almost a century of non-stop violence and terrorism from the early 1900s to the late 1990s. Technically, the British owned Northern Ireland until 2011. Since Ireland was not part of the UK, this meant that a portion of the country was under control of another. The problems arose from some people– Unionists or Loyalists, and largely Protestant– wanting to let Northern Ireland remain under British control, while others– Irish Nationalists or Republicans, and generally Catholic– wanted Northern Ireland to rejoin the rest of Ireland. People viciously defended their side and the conflict entrenched itself in Irish culture.

In 1913, Irish Nationalists created a militant organization called the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to fight for Irish independence. In 1916, the IRA staged its infamous Easter Rebellion against the British. There were hundreds of casualties, including many civilians. Over the course of the 20th century, the IRA transformed into different associated groups. In the mid 1970s, the IRA became the INLA (Irish National Liberation Army). Despite the name change, they essentially inflicted the same level of terrorism as the IRA did in order to demand Irish independence.

In 1993, the INLA detonated bombs in the town of Warrington, England. The second explosion killed two children: 3-year old Jonathon Ball and 12-year old Tim Parry, as well as wounding dozens more. This tragedy inspired Irish rock band The Cranberries to write the song “Zombie.” In this song, The Cranberries express the people of Ireland and England’s exasperation over the perpetual terror caused by the issue of Northern Ireland.

Lead singer Dolores O’Riordan sings: “Another head hangs lowly/ Child is slowly taken/ And the violence caused such silence/Who are we mistaken?” In the second verse she repeats the idea of violence causing silence. Through these lyrics, The Cranberries express how the repeated terror and aggression does not spark change or even discussion, like it should. Violence is such a common part of their lives that people hardly stir over it anymore. O’Riordan also sings: “It’s the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen/ In your head, in your head, they’re still fighting.” 1916 is the year of the IRA’s Easter Revolt. Fighting has been constant since then. The phrase “in your head” is repeated many times throughout “Zombie.” I think that this is a commentary on how the issue is born of people’s opposing ideas, but it is also a way for the band to ask what is wrong with these militant groups. The lyrics “What’s in your head? In your head?/ Zombie, Zombie, Zombie/ In your head” implies that the conflict people are still fighting over is an internal monster. They continue to lash out over an idea that should have been dead a long time ago.

“Départ” is one of the poems in the collection Illuminations, composed by Arthur Rimbaud and published in 1886. Rimbaud started writing poetry in his early teenage years. People did not take notice of his work, so upon a recommendation, Rimbaud sent his poetry to another French poet named Paul Verlaine. Verlaine enjoyed Rimbaud’s prose poetry and invited him to come to Paris and live with him, his wife, and infant son. Less than a year later, Verlaine left his wife and child to pursue an affair with Rimbaud. The two were 10 years apart– Rimbaud was only 17 years old at this time (see his picture below; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rimbaud.PNG). Rimbaud and Verlaine traveled around Europe drinking absinthe and smoking hashish. They temporarily settled in a rather poor section of London, called Bloomsbury. It was during this time that Rimbaud wrote Départ.

Départ

Assez vu. La vision s’est rencontrée à tous les airs.

Assez eu. Rumeurs des villes, le soir, et au soleil, et toujours.

Assez connu. Les arrêts de la vie. – O Rumeurs et Visions !

Départ dans l’affection et le bruit neufs !

(Source: Arthur Rimbaud, Illuminations)

Translation:

Departure

Enough seen. The vision has been encountered in all skies.

Enough had. Sounds of cities, in the evening, and in sunlight, and always.

Enough known. The stations of life. — O Sounds and Visions!

Departure amid new noise and affection!

(Source: John Ashbery, Illuminations)

I think “Départ” expresses Rimbaud’s apathy towards living in London. He feels he has experienced all that the city has to offer: he has heard the sounds, seen the sights, and learned all there is to know. The title embodies his desire to venture away from monotonous city life. One thing I read while I was researching Rimbaud is that he loved to travel. Rimbaud actually deserted poetry by the time he turned twenty. Instead he traveled around Europe, mostly on foot, and worked odd jobs. Later, he enlisted as a soldier in the Dutch Colonial Army only to jump ship in the Dutch East Indes. From there, he traveled to many other developing countries.

With this in mind, it makes sense why Rimbaud’s year-long stay in London would have made him anxious to move on. The repetition of “Assez…” and then a past participle establishes a frustrated rhythm to “Départ.” “Assez vu…Assez eu…Assez connu..” emphasizes Rimbaud’s impatience with the lack of variety in London while reflecting the monotonous rhythm of the city itself. The last line differs from the first three because it does not begin with “Assez…” I believe Rimbaud did this to express how refreshing it would be to depart from the city “amid new noise and affection!”