The
HOWLER Holiday EDITION
14 DEC 2023
THEHOWLER@ALLENDALECOLUMBIA.ORG
ROC2CHANGE ROCKS ’Tis the Season MACKENZIE OPIRA
ROWAN BISSONETTE
ROC2Change, a learning summit with different activities hosted by students, that had over 400 students from 40 schools in attendance. Each year two or three schools host, and this year’s summit theme was “Give respect to get respect.” All the students get split into three groups with each activity having a set room. Room 1 was an activity where the hosting students would share an experience and students in the room would take a step forward if they had ever experienced the same thing. That was my favorite activity because some of the stories people shared were interesting. Room 2 was about boundaries. Here you would write down 5 of your boundaries, then go around the room and share them with a stranger until the music stopped. I enjoyed the people hosting in this room and the music they played was really good. Room 3 was a “snowball fight” with colored balls. While the hosts played music you could throw them wherever, but when it stopped, you had to find someone with the same colored ball to talk about prompts they Photo of AC and Harley students and faculty at ROC2Change had on the screen regarding cultural food, how parents react to your grades, and heritage. This activity was my least favorite because most of the time I had no ball in my hand when the music stopped because I was hard at work throwing, and when in the other rooms everyone sounded so loud and rowdy almost like a party and then when we got there it wasn’t quite up to our expectations. Overall this was a really good experience, I had lots of fun and learned about other people•
Every year on the weekend after Thanksgiving, my family starts decorating for the holidays. We take out all of the menorahs and put them in windows and on shelves. We take out our horde of dreidels and a penguin that we hang on the doorknob and this candy wreath that my mom made years ago. And we put up the Christmas tree. During Chanukkah, which falls early in December this year, we light candles on the menorah, adding one for each of the eight nights. We make latkes and spin our many dreidels and invite friends and on occasion attempt to make sufganiyot or jelly donuts. We’ll often exchange small gifts over the course of the holiday. Photo by Sheri Silver on Unsplash On Christmas Eve, we drive up to my grandpa’s house, we get pizza and wings and eat dinner with my dad’s side of the family. On Christmas morning my grandpa makes pancakes for breakfast and once everyone is up we all open presents. My grandpa and uncle always wrap their presents up in the comic pages of newspapers. I’ve always said that I celebrate family on Christmas. Being Jewish in a world that mostly isn’t Jewish is always weird, but the time I feel it most is always November and December – the time leading up to Christmas. And while it’s always awkward, this year has felt different than previous years. It’s got me thinking about how we as a majorly not-Jewish school and country acknowledge Jewish Holidays. As a school, we try to include Hanukkah, grouping the song “Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah” in with the Christmas carols played by the brass ensemble at Holiday Breakfast and occasionally asking Hanukkah-related trivia at lunch. AC doesn’t have to do these things and it’s wonderful that we include the Jewish holiday in the traditions. It’s easy to look at these things and call ‘Tis the Season continued on page 2