12 FEATURES All about being awkward Musically diverse
volume 50, issue 06 March 3, 2011
BY PANIZ AMIRNASIRI FEATURES
Talk about awkward: sophomore Katherine Chin excitedly embraced her friend only to realize that her “friend” was actually a complete stranger. A dead silence enveloped the room as she fidgeted uncomfortably in her spot afterwards. Her eyes searched desperately for a place to look other than at the stranger. After what seemed like an hour, she apologized for giving the complete stranger a hug, attempting to explain that she looked just like her friend. With a questioning face the stranger nodded and quickly walked away. “I just said sorry and we both blushed. And then she was just kind of like ‘oh, it’s okay,’ but you could tell she thought I was weird,” says Chin. In high school, societal awkwardness is a topic that most students can relate to. Some students choose to confront the situation, making an attempt to decrease the level of awkwardness. “This one time when it was quiet, [one student] got up and blew her nose super loud in front of the whole class. It was awkward, but then everyone started to laugh,” says sophomore Jazmin Sacchi. “The best thing to do is yell out ‘awkward’ which makes it all different kinds of awkward, but then
turns it into a funny moment.” Sophomore Ashley Koh has learned how to deal with awkward moments through past experience. “This one time I was walking to class and I was almost late, so I was kind of running. I tried to squeeze through the doors after someone opened it, but my backpack got caught on the handle so I kind of bounced back and got stuck in between the doors. It was kind of embarrassing because the people behind me had to help me out since I couldn’t turn around and free myself. But after that I just laughed it off, because if you think about it, I must have looked really awkward,” says Koh. Koh adds, “I think English class is when the most awkward situations occur, because you have to raise your hand a lot to gain participation points. A lot of times, I will raise my hand just because I’m desperate for more points and I will end up saying something completely irrelevant to the situation. It gets kind of awkward when you say something stupid or wrong and the whole class just stares at you quietly. But then you just have to laugh it off.” “One time in Chemistry, I was drooling on my textbook and all of a sudden everyone noticed. I just tried to laugh it off and make a joke about it,” says sophomore Tina Pai. Describing yet another method, freshman Alex Garcialuna says, “It’s best to just change the subject.” Other s t u -
dents utilize a different strategy by trying to distance themselves from the situation. “I’d just walk away without saying anything, and if the person I was talking to called my name, I’d pretend I couldn’t hear them. Or I would pretend my phone was ringing and say I have to go,” says sophomore Ted Yang. Preferring to use a unique method, sophomore Miles Lang says, “I try to make it more awkward and then say ‘hawkward’ while making a one-winged hawk with my hands. You have to make it more awkward so that the initial awkward level can’t compare.” Senior Gemma Alcala views awkward situations in a completely different light as she says, “I don’t really feel awkward that often because I don’t care [about awkward moments].” Awkward situations are certainly not limited to students as they can also occur between teachers and between students and teachers. “[If it’s between a students and a teacher] it’s probably one-sided. The student thinks it’s awkward, but the teacher doesn’t realize it,” says junior Jeffrey Bragg. Physical education and health teacher Barbara Beaumont says, “I am very comfortable with my students, so I don’t have many awkward situations, or I don’t perceive them as awkward. With awkward situations I just try to make myself as comfortable as possible, and try to make the others involved as comfortable as I can as well. Laughing is always good medicine if it was funny; if you can laugh at yourself it helps.” Though certainly not pleasant, awkward social situations are a common aspect of high school life. As they are difficult to avoid, it can be helpful to find a strategy one can use the next time one faces a socially awkward circumstance.
NATALIE PALTER
CHENWEN HWANG
BY DEREK HAN FEATURES
“I’ve looked up lyrics. It’s the beat and chorus that you can remember even though you don’t know Korean.” Senior Monique Beaudouin describes as she talks about one of her music interests: K-pop. Some of the more widespread music interests at Aragon include hip-hop, rock, classical and jazz, but many Aragon students, like Beaudouin, have taken interests foreign music. K-pop stands for Korean Pop and originates from South Korea. “My friends first introduced me to K-pop,” says Beaudouin. “Quickly’s . . . play[s] Korean music videos and when I saw one, I got hooked. The songs are really catchy. They’re definitely something you remember.” She describes K-pop as a genre anybody can be interested in, even though the Korean language is not as widespread as some other languages. “It’d be fun to understand the lyrics because there’s an element that’s lost in translation and it’d be interesting to know what they’re saying. A lot of K-pop is a return of boy bands. The energy of five people is different from the individuality of pop singers.” Not too far from the K-pop’s country of origin, another foreign genre is high in popularity: J-pop. Country of orgin: Japan. “I watched a lot of anime when I was a kid and when you watch anime, all you hear is Jpop,” says sophomore Derek Ngoon. “That’s how I got into it. It sounds cool, it’s a great positive feeling. When you listen to J-Pop, you think of action and anime fights. It’s awesome.” He adds, “I’m not really sure what they’re saying. It’s just awesome listening to it, I just don’t know how to describe it, I just love listening to it.” Foreign music can also bring pride to one’s homeland. Sophomore Igor Oliveira’s interest in Brazilian music connects him with his home country, Brazil. “I lived in Brazil up until I was seven years old and all they had was Brazilian music,” says Oliveira. “When I came to America, I started listening to both [Brazilian and American music].” Growing up listening to both, he points out few differences between Brazilian rap and rock. “It’s just kind of the same as American music but it’s just in
Portuguese and the music talks about situations that don’t happen in American but in Brazil,” he says. “The songs are about the hardships Brazilians go through,” he says, “It makes me proud because it symbolizes all these hardships we go through and listening to these songs, I know that Brazil is the most successful country in South America.” Sophomore Connie Ngirchemat’s discovered her interest in Hawaiian music on accident. “I was ‘Youtubing’ reggae on YouTube then some Hawaiian music popped up, started to like it from there,” explains Ngirchemat. “[Hawaiian music] is very soothing, it’s something you can sleep with. The songs are about love, getting out there and being happy. It’s very positive.” “Reggae is in a lot of languages, I listen to the English version mainly, and I also listen to Tongan and Samoan. Hawaiian is more soothing and reggae is more upbeat,” she adds. For some music lovers, experimenting with different types of music around the world creates feelings of wonder and curiosity. “I listen to a lot of different kinds of music such as French, Indian, and South American because I was born in Argentina,” says senior Joseph Kwon. Foreign music interests are more than just a hobby for the talented saxophonist. “I’m a professional musician and music is a way people express themselves, and language is a way people express themselves. There’s so many nuances in language, and I really want to learn about certain cultures, [so] I do it by music,” he says. “It’s the sweetest music I’ve ever heard. The language is just unique. For example, [take] French rap; French rappers are aggressive but don’t hurt your ears. I don’t what their saying, but it’s just beautiful,” Kwon adds. The different foreign genres, J-pop, K-pop, Brazilian, Hawaiian, reggae, and French are only few out of many types of foreign genres in the world. Foreign types of music allow individuals to gain both understanding of different languages and cultures worldwide and broaden their scope of interests. For more articles and photos, please visit aragonoutlook.net.