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Thursday, March 6, 2014
Orchestra performs at CASMEC
lifestyles The Answer is the Sun Interact reaches out to refugees in Afghanistan By Emi Kamezaki
PHOTO COURTESY OF CARL S. GUTEKUNST
ABOVE: Homestead Orchestra performs “Lord of the Dance” at the Winter Pops Concert By Laura Tang This past month, Homestead’s Orchestra performed at the California All-State Music Education Conference (CASMEC) in Fresno from Feb. 20 to Feb. 23. CASMEC is an invitational conference in which a select few orchestras throughout California are chosen to perform in front of music teachers and experts. Homestead was given the honor of performing in this invitational conference after a difficult selection process in which a blind panel listened to CD recordings from around 40 orchestras throughout California. Homestead’s Orchestra was
the only high school orchestra to be chosen to play at CASMEC. To prepare, the orchestra practiced during tutorial every Wednesday and had several three-hour after school practices as well in the couple of months leading up to the conference. “Everyone is super attentive during practices, meaning we don’t waste time between reps,” said senior Keane Virola, a percussionist who plays instruments ranging from xylophone to drums. “We improve a lot from this, so our music actually starts to sound amazing and I could jam out to it in the back.” Despite the conference being held in much closer quarters than expected, the orchestra per-
formed exceptionally. “The area we performed in was not as grand as we thought it would be,” said sophomore Joshua Bao, violinist in orchestra. “(But) I think our orchestra sounded really good despite being cramped and uncomfortable.” “We definitely played better than in rehearsal and previous performances,” added junior Shannon Chiu, violinist. “I think orchestra was immersed in the music and ready to perform.” Aside from Homestead’s Orchestra performance, the conference comprised guest speakers as well as performances by other groups.
Thousands of students wait with bated breath, packed like sardines into the stands of a high school gym. This group congregates annually, at Interact Club’s Fall Leadership Conference (FLC); some to network and learn leadership skills, but others in anticipation of their District Council’s big announcement: the release of the year’s projects. The lights dim and the roar of the crowd lowers to an excited whisper as all eyes focus on the screen at the center of the room. The video begins, leaving the crowd is spellbound by the procession of impactful images and emotional music. A pause, then five simple words appear: THE ANSWER IS THE SUN. The crowd roars in approval and support. This is Interact’s International Project, the goal for which thousands of students in District 5,170 will support this school year. Aimed to assist struggling refugee
families in Afghanistan, “The Answer is the Sun,” calls for the shipment of 5,170 solar-powered cookers and “Wapi” water pasteurizers via the club’s collaboration with Trust in Education. According to Interact’s website, the project will also “provide people in third world countries with solar technologies so they can avoid fossil fuel usage and leapfrog directly to solar.” Through events such as (insert activities here), Interact plans on raising the funds necessary to purchase the “cookits.” In some cases, students will have the opportunity to physically assemble the devices which will be sent to Afghanistan.
“[The project will also] provide people in third world countries with solar technologies so they can avoid fossil fuel usage and leapfrog directly to solar.” - Interact website
From Bell Bottoms to Yoga Pants By Priya Sodlapur
Designers in the fashion world are constantly striving to introduce new and original trends; however, looking back, inspiration from previous decades has played a huge role in current street fashion trends. Fashion in the 1920’s was extravagant and glamorous in attempt to cover up the troubling economic times. In relation to the feminists movements thriving at the time, the iconic “Flapper girl” style was very becoming. Drawing inspiration from masculine fashion, women modeled skinny bodies, short bobbed hair, and taped down chests. In contrast, they wore loud make-up including rouge cheeks and crimson lips. A further rising trend in the 20’s was glitter, from glittery dresses
to champagne-colored clothing, and sparkles and pearls completed any outfit. Fashion in the 1950’s embraced the iconic “girl next door look.” This trend focused on very feminine apparel including full skirts, swing skirts, and poodle skirts; however, trends in the 50’s focused prodigiously on accessories essentially including neck scarves, big voluminous curls, saddle oxfords, and hair turbans or scarves. The 1960’s represented a very different part of fashion that had never been explored before - Mod. Mod fashion essentially embraces bold colors, loud prints, such as checkered, and modern trends. The bold experimentation fostered new dress styles includ-
ing the A-line dress, sack or potato dress, velvet mini dress, baby doll dress and the spaghetti strap dress. Representing the mod fashion trends was the plastic raincoat, which became very iconic for its loud colors. Fashion in the 1970’s branched out far from the 60’s through bell bottom jeans, tie-dye, and subtler, earthy colors. The 70’s embraced a much looser, and idyllic style with cotton tees and midi dresses. Surprisingly, the 80’s completely went in the opposite direction than the 70’s by pulling away from earthy tones and diving into very bold, bright, and loud color palettes. The 80’s was all about leg warmers, miniskirts, stretchpants, and shoulder pads. Also 1980’s fashion is often associ-
1950’s
Peacoat
1990’s
patterns (such as polka-dots and stripes), and adding new detailing to plain clothing, such as lace embroidery. While plenty of fashion has been inspired from previous fashion, new trends have been introduced to street fashion as well. Among the most popular of these trends are yoga pants and leggings, UGG boots, combat boots, and moccasins. The overall sense of fashion among teens has increasingly become more casual and provocative. V-necks and crop tops are often worn along with casuals sweats and large sweatshirts. As fashion on the streets continues to grow into new territory, it seems to still be able to hold onto traditional inspiration.
Floral dress
Headscarf
1920’s
ated with the popular “fingerless gloves”, and big earrings. Fashion in the 1920’s encompassed a very relaxed, simple and classic style. Baggy clothing such as boyfriend jeans and overalls were very popular, and people balanced this trend with crop tops, and bodycons. The iconic accessories of this era ranged from crimped hair and scrunchies to edgy sneakers. Current fashion trends have been inspired by the previous styles of these eras and inspiration from 90’s can be seen in the popular trends of pastel, cool colors, crop tops, baggy sweaters and button-down jean shirts. However; designers have taken a spin on these “vintage” trends and introduced color-blocking, mixing
1980’s Geometric skirt
2010’s
Combat boots ILLUSTRATIONS BY DIPSHIKHA KANDEL & PRIYA SODLAPUR PAGE DESIGN BY DIPSHIKHA KANDEL