“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!”

Last year, our Dance Company performed a piece to the songs Beautiful by Apocalyptica and Who You Are by Jessie J. (All choreography credit goes to Michelle Leininger.) We affectionately referred to it as “Mirror Mirror.” You can watch the video here. (I guarantee what I am saying will make a lot more sense if you do!) This video of the dance is taken from a practice after a few months of time away from it, so it’s not exactly up to par, but it illustrates the choreography pretty well, so just bare with me! I am the girl in the red shirt and gray shorts.

The piece starts with the instrumental music of “Beautiful.” The dancers are seated on their stools looking into a hypothetical mirror. They analyze every small detail of their body in isolation. The key in this part of the dance is emotion. For the potent message behind the song to come through, each dancer must personally connect to it and expose their genuine emotions. That being said, what is the message? Mirror Mirror is a dance about the pressure we put on ourselves to be perfect. It is about the internal struggle when we fall short of our expectations and how obsessive and overwhelming that becomes.The first day of practice, Ms. Leininger told us (originally there were five dancers and a Company B as well) to sit in a circle. Each of us had to share with the group something about ourselves that we do not like or that we feel insecure about. I was shocked at how bold of a move that was. I had never felt so vulnerable before. Eventually I realized it was that vulnerability that enabled me to pour myself into the dance; it transformed Mirror Mirror into art.

The dance moves become increasingly aggressive throughout the instrumental portion.  This represents an escalating frustration with our flaws. “Beautiful” ends with the dancers shivering and slowly standing up. At the peak of our disgust, “Who You Are” starts playing. One by one, the dancers fall backwards and catch themselves right before they hit the floor. The repetition of this movement represents how often we despair over our imperfections and barely catch ourselves.

In the chorus of the song, all four dancers do the same body roll (the one that sort of looks like a scene from the Matrix, for those of you non-dancers!) on the lyric: “Sometimes it’s hard…to follow your heart.” Although I never clarified this with Ms. Leininger, I always interpreted this move as a representation of the openness and confidence required to “follow your heart.” For much of the dance, we are pulling away from the mirror or hunched over ourselves, but in this move, we completely unfold our bodies. The move illustrates how we must expose ourselves to truly accomplish what we want in life.

In addition, Mirror Mirror illustrates the power that friendship can have on confidence. At the beginning of the second verse, we stand in a line and each take a turn obsessing in front of the mirror. The girl behind each dancer swings her away. Right after that, the girl in the green jumps into our arms and we fling her forward. This symbolizes friends forcing someone to get back on her feet and to remember  her worth.

At the end of the dance, we all snap, walk away from the mirror, and strike a confident pose. These moves contrast the self-conscious and awkward moves from the beginning of the piece. The contrast demonstrates how the dancers finally accept themselves and their imperfections. With help from their friends, they regain confidence.

If you have any questions about the dance or other pieces that Company did, feel free to ask! We did some pretty cool things with it in my school.

On page 210 in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield takes his little sister, Phoebe, to a carrousel. He notes: “Anyway, we kept getting closer and closer to the carrousel and you could start to hear that nutty music it always plays. It was playing “Oh, Marie!” It played that song about fifty years ago when I was a little kid. That’s one nice thing about carrousels; they always play the same songs.”

For those of you who have not read The Catcher in the Rye, you should know that Holden Caulfield spends most of the book condemning and critiquing the world around him. He is cynical and pessimistic about the nature of mankind. There are only a handful of characters in the story that Holden does not despise, one of which being his little sister, Phoebe. She somehow makes him see the world in a more optimistic way. He treats her well compared to how he treats other people.

In the scene on page 210, Holden is walking through the park with Phoebe before he plans on leaving town. Holden sees the carrousel and notices how it never changes. I think J.D. Salinger presents a larger commentary here than just on how this merry-go-round has remained the same over the years. I believe the carrousel represents children and their uncorrupted worldview. As people grow up, they start to care about serious matters. Countries become entangled in conflicts that alter their people’s way of life. Generations experience earth-shattering disasters and ground-breaking developments. And yet, children seem to always care about the same things. Imagination, play, creativity, curiosity. Children’s ideas are infinite.  And they all start their lives innocent and joyful. When Holden Caulfield notes that the carrousel plays “the same songs,” this is J.D. Salinger commenting on the pleasant simplicity of a child’s life.

What are some examples of childhood simplicity you can come up with from your own life? Personally, I know that my mom and I shared a love of dolls when we were younger. We both loved Cabbage Patch dolls and Barbies. Even though we lived our childhoods years apart and in very different environments, we both cared about the same things.

Source: http://misguided-humanity.tumblr.com/post/15976065816/my-goal

I found this picture on tumblr several months ago and ever since then, my mind keeps coming back to it. The girl in the picture is removing her shirt, revealing a skeleton where flesh should be. This simple picture calls up so many different issues.

First, I believe this drawing symbolizes how brainwashed today’s youth is in regards to body image. The girl featured in the picture illustrates the “ideal” shape. Although I agree that her shape is beautiful, too, I contest the idea that hers is the only admirable one. Allow me to compare this piece of artwork to sculptures from the Greco-Roman era.

Source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Nuta_CQvImI/TEueOtItPOI/AAAAAAAACj0/64ZgAeO14yg/s1600/Crouching-Aphrodite,-Venus,-Louvre-unrestored.jpg

This is a sculpture of the “Crouching Aphrodite” in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love. The Romans considered her to be the quintessence of beauty. Notice that the way she is crouched is causing some ripples of skin on her stomach. This might seem odd to humans now that this sculpture represented the perfect body. That is because our vision of beauty has become warped. The sculpture and the drawing from above illustrate two different body shapes, but neither one is better than the other.

Second, the drawing symbolically illustrates the effect that some eating disorders have on the body. There are many different forms of eating disorders, but this picture hits on those that make you thinner (yes, there are some that do not). Disorders such as anorexia and bulimia become addictions as potent as drugs and alcohol.  Men and women get sucked into them and the disorder becomes an unbreakable habit. This eventually wears them down to the bone. Literally.

Last, the skeleton in the picture has striking implications. Skeletons are symbols of death. The girl in the picture is obviously alive because she is performing the action of taking her shirt off, and yet underneath her shirt is a skeleton. This suggests that she is both living and dead at the same time. The idea that she is “dead” underneath the surface speaks to the severe mental strain people with eating disorders experience. Many simply go through the motions of their lives but feel nothing on the inside.

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul Mccartney
Copyright: Sony/ATV Tunes LLC

Lyrics here: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beatles/happinessisawarmgun.html

Source: www.gradywilliamkerr.com

Although many people associate the Beatles with four “mop-tops” in suits singing cutesy love songs, the image that comes to mind for me is of four long-haired men creating poetic, poignant, and provocative music. The song I am discussing here is: “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” off of The Beatles (White Album). There are many theories as to what this song is actually about, but here are three ideas I believe are possible.

1)  John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr became deeply involved in the counterculture movement of the 1960’s. Many of their songs off their later albums have political undertones or blatant criticisms. “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” could be a political message about America’s over-eagerness to involve itself in the Vietnam War. The phrase “Mother Superior” refers to a leader of a religious organization. Lennon and McCartney could be sarcastically labeling the U.S. as an almighty guide which every country follows faithfully. When they say “Mother Superior jumped the gun,” they mean America jumped into war too quickly. The chorus includes the lyrics: “When I hold you in my arms/ And I feel my finger on your trigger/ Don’t you know nobody can do me no harm/ Because happiness is a warm gun.” This section symbolizes humans’ obsession with fighting. We kill people and demolish countries in war and yet somehow we still associate war with glory. In the chorus, Lennon and McCartney deride our misguided sense of comfort and contentment we derive from war. 

2) The second way “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” could be interpreted is as a metaphor for John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s sexual relations. I think I will refrain from describing what exactly John meant by “She’s well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand/
Like a lizard on a window pane,” or “I need a fix ’cause I’m going down,” but suffice it to say that this song is overflowing with sexual innuendos.

3) The last theory for this song is that “a warm gun” is a metaphor for a heroine-filled syringe. The line “I need a fix ’cause I’m going down” symbolizes a heroine user’s addiction to the drug. The lines “When I hold you in my arms/ And I feel my finger on your trigger/ Don’t you know nobody can do me no harm/ Because happiness is a warm gun” expresses the euphoric state of mind that heroine induces. The first verse is the equivalent of drug trip and the echoes of “Bang, bang, shoot, shoot” allude to the act of injecting heroine with a needle.

Source: webspace.webring.com