Blueprint #17

Issue #17 August 2019

THE DYING DREAMS OF OUR YOUTH What’s happening during August-September?

DIY – Study tips and tricks

The Effin’ Review: Spiderman: Far From Home

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As we venture into the daunting space on the calendar known as ‘semester two’, the educational journey for many students will feel like it is situated in an uncertain flux. For some, this period will represent the melancholic final stretch of their Adelaide High School odyssey, while for others, it will be time to fully commit oneself to learning. For all, however, semester two marks the official halfway point through the school year, which is a feat in itself that should not go unrecognised. Our lives are constantly changing, and as the cold winter season slowly draws to a close, we are all met with new horizons and endless possibilities.

Blueprint Issue#17 contains a diverse variety of works from our incredibly talented student cohort, headlined by the Art Gallery and feature article, ‘The Dying Dreams of Our Youth’, which thoughtfully explores the potential suppression of imagination and creativity for young minds within the typical education system. This issue also includes a fascinating and psychologically unnerving monologue written by Zoe Wissman, as well as our now regular DIY column, including study tips and tricks that are bound to help support you through the following weeks.

EDITORIAL TEAM

Hamish Anderson

Editor-in-Chief: Mr Scott Macleod Artistic Director: Francine Legaspi Editors: Gabriella Akele, Hamish Anderson, Madeline Coates, Faith Fitton-Gum, Charlotte Flemming, Arnav Kapoor, Jasmine Kaur, Dain Lee, Zoe Liang, Tiana Loechel, Jagreet Malhi, Milla Maronich, Mitchell Miller, Heeyani Mittal, Preshna Nakarmi, Riya Shiju, Fei Stokes, Janna Tapales, Lilli Vitagliano, Holly Webbe

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTORS Calling all writers, artists, and creative types! We want your talented work for our next issue of Blueprint.

We are especially keen on your best: Fiction writing including (but not limited to) short narratives and stories, recounts, poetry, film and drama short scripts (no longer than 1,000 words each) Short reviews of anything linked with the creative arts. This can include films, television shows, music albums, live concerts, theatre productions, and art exhibitions (no longer than 250 words each) Non-Fiction writing of anything related to the school, local community, or creative arts. This can include food and travel writing, ‘How To’ articles, or any other topic relevant to the student readership (no longer than 1,000 words each) Artwork, graphic design, or illustrations Please email or submit contributions to Mr. Macleod (email: scott.macleod@adelaidehs.sa.edu.au or office – Room 42 / classroom – 124). Alternatively, if you have any ideas for writing or artwork that you would like to contribute to the magazine, please contact one of the super helpful magazine editors listed above.

what ’s happening 19

women’s equality day

potato day

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fortune cookie day

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hot cross bun day

teddy bear day

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beard day

read a book day

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video games day

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cheeseburger day

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eat an apple day

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dumpling day

bacon day

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cheese pizza day

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family day

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comic book day

NEWS WRITTEN BY | Arnav Kapoor

THE RECENT Anti-vegan protesters who ate raw squirrels outside food stall fined!

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Black bear breaks into house in Colorado then leaves ‘like Kool aid man’

Gang leader attempts arson escape disguised as his daughter– 42-year-old Clauvino da Silva, serving a 73-year sentence for drug trafficking, attempted to escape from prison by disguising himself as his daughter and then switching places with her. He achieved this through wearing a silicone mask, a wig, a black bra, and a tight Tshirt with three pink doughnuts. He apparently planned to leave his 19-year old daughter to do the time!

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Man weirded out that someone broke into his home just to clean it– Nate Roman recounts that when he returned to his Marlborough home from work on 15th May, he could tell that a stranger had been there, but nothing seemed to be missing. However, Roman noticed that the beds were made, the rugs vacuumed, and the toilets had been scrubbed clean. The apparent ‘robber’ had even crafted origami roses on the toilet paper rolls, leading to Roman to describe the experience as “weird and creepy”.

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Man follows up $5,000 and $10,000 lottery prizes with $1 million jackpot- Paul Hooper Jr., 62, from Pennsylvania, told Maryland Lottery officials that he bought a stack of scratch-offs from the Liquor Barn in Taneytown, where he discovered a $20 ‘Max-A-Million’ ticket concealed a $1 million prize. "I thought I might have an attack right there," he exclaimed. The $1 million prize came after a string of good luck for Hooper, including separate $5,000 and $10,000 prize hauls from a ‘The Price is Right’ scratch-off ticket. Hooper is now retired and “playing with his mad money”.

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Super-fan sought to make $1,000 watching 25 hours of Friends- A provider of Internet, phone, and TV services posted a "dream job" opening for a Friends fan willing to binge 25 straight hours of the classic NBC sitcom and get paid $1,000. The chosen ‘die-hard’ fan will also receive a ‘Friends Fandom Fun Pack’, 5 containing a T-shirt and a mug, as well as a free year of Netflix.

The dying dreams of our How the education system is stifling the imagination of young minds

Youth Written by Tiana Loechel

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ou stand as the only still figure in the chaos of a world without imagination. Monolithic skyscrapers block out the spectre of the sun, their ominous shadows rendering your skin a macabre grey. The people surrounding you seem different – they are dull and despairing, frequently casting you furtive looks. They have lost the vitality that comes from receiving a fundamentally well-rounded educational upbringing, and with it, the very fabric of their own future.

A child’s imagination is endlessly fascinating – there is seemingly no limit to the big dreams that it will conjure.

However, a young mind’s diminishing imagination in the current social climate will lead to a world without imagination – a place where people no longer have the capacity to create new technologies to support their over-populating planet. We are doomed to live in this frightening reality if we allow our oppressive education system to continue to stifle our children’s imagination.

Ironically, imagination is being destroyed by our current education system.

Education, which seeks to prepare and equip our youth for the challenges of the future, is actually setting them up for failure. The current system of mainstream education stifles imagination through its rigid, standardised curriculum, as the expectation of high academic performance almost supersedes life itself. In a rapidly evolving pedagogical world where the power of imagination should be revolutionising the customary learning experience, many teachers are being forced to adopt archaic rote teaching, with students simply memorising for the next test and writing to meet the generic assessment standards of their next essay. These students are given no opportunity to explore, question, create, or imagine.

Remember that time when you were admonished for daydreaming in class? Or perhaps the time when your idea was criticised as being ‘too unrealistic’?

Education systems implemented around the world apparently do not have time for the wonderful workings of a child’s imagination, and due to the absurd demands of the curriculum, inevitably

neither does the teacher. Yet the crushing conformity of education is not merely limited to within the school walls – far from it. The weight of a student’s workload follows them home on their back, restricting their freedom and creativity. For a person’s imagination to survive, they need time to be curious – time to turn the world upside down, and to make it their own. When a student’s spare time is devoted to recovering from yet another strenuous school day, they have no time to cultivate their imagination. Instead, it is left to perish in their monotonous existence.

The mainstream education regime further destroys imagination through its infamous disregard for the creative arts.

In such a system characterised by inflexibility and rote learning, the Arts offer the only escape. Arts subjects enable these young souls to become one with their imagination and explore exciting new perspectives, such as painting themselves as the regal monarch of the French court, or crying in agony in a wonderful rendition of Julius Caesar’s death. The tragic decline in Arts education has also too conveniently coincided with the growing support for STEM subjects. While STEM may appeal as the door to dramatic innovation, imagination is ironically required to unlock that very door, which is why it is painfully obvious that the Arts should be embraced as the key to the future.

However, these subjects continue to be bitterly under-funded and underrepresented, consequently resulting in unimaginative, close-minded students who are woefully unprepared to face the real issues of the world.

The power of imagination must never be underestimated. Imagination illuminates the future and brings the possibility of change to the present, which is a conception evident through the wide eyes and far-reaching dreams of our children. Sir Ken Robinson, a renowned authority on creativity and innovation in education, emphasises that ‘we may not be able to predict the future, but by acting on the ideas produced in our imagination, we can help to create it’.

The future of the world not only lies in our youth’s imagination, it will also die with their imagination.

The youth of today are the workforce of tomorrow, therefore, they require imagination to survive and thrive. The World Economic Forum cites complex problem solving, creativity, and emotional intelligence in the top 10 work skills of the near future. Each of these skills are obsolete without an active imagination. Problem solving, which is arguably the most critical work skill of the future, entails imaginative solutions to complex issues. Without the imagination to fuel problem-solving, creativity, and innovation, our youth will find themselves pitifully unprepared to solve the looming issues of global warming and overpopulation. Emotional intelligence is comparatively reliant on the imagination, as it primarily involves ‘putting yourself in someone else’s shoes’ to empathise with them and understand their emotions. This will be particularly important to the next generation, as productive collaboration will be key to solving conflicts and alleviating the prospect of World War III! The qualities that grow from a nurtured imagination – problem-solving, creativity, and emotional intelligence – give humans an edge, enabling them to prosper in the contemporary age. The reason that we’re ‘sitting outside the natural history museum and we’re not exhibits in it’, Robinson states, is because ‘we have the power of imagination’. We must strive to ensure that this remains a reality for the rising generation.

Albert Einstein famously proclaimed that ‘imagination is more important than knowledge’. If the most influential physicist of the twentieth century once reasoned that ‘knowledge is limited’, but ‘imagination encircles the world’, then our society should be protecting this skill and seeking to enhance its potential.

Unfortunately, mainstream education

allows little room for students to apply their imaginative ability, as they struggle to reach the expected high standards of a flawed assessment-focussed system.

The Arts are sadly becoming forgotten pleasures of the past in favour of schools prioritising STEM subjects, ironically stifling imagination and jeopardising the future. The education system has lost sight of its goal to best prepare children for tomorrow, and thus it is critical that we act now to reform the system, otherwise our youth’s imagination will continue to languish and our own future remain decidedly bleak.

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Snowed In by Amelia Tran

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Skates by Francine Legaspi

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Do It Yourself Presents:

Study Tips and Tricks Written by Faith Fitton-Gum For this DIY edition, I have partnered up with Mr Hatcliffe to provide some crucial tips and tricks that will enable you to study more effectively.

Step 1 Make Space – Having a dedicated work space helps your brain move into ‘work mode’. For some, this might be a desk, while others may use the kitchen table. Just make sure that it is anything but where your ‘fun’ place is. Bring only what you need with you, and water, to keep hydrated.

Step 2 Have A Plan – Decide what you’re going to get done and when. Plan out your week and homework. For example: “I have to do my Spanish translation and Maths questions by Thursday. I’ll do Spanish tonight, and Maths on Wednesday.”

Step 3 Break it down – Identify the different aspects of a task, and write own a step-by-step plan of how to complete the smaller task, and eventually the whole project.

Step 4 Set Goals – This will motivate you to complete a task. Make sure that your goals are achievable and not overwhelming.

“My practical is due on Friday, but I have soccer training on Wednesday. I’ll do the introduction and results today, and my discussion on Thursday.”

Step 5 Identify and remove distractions - This could be as simple as turning off your phone, or working in a different room to others.

For more information, try talking to your subject teachers for advice.

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Reflect Written by Zoe Wissman

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’ve returned for you. I’ve missed us. I’ve had a lot of time to think since you excluded me from your life. All I can say is this time, ensure you complete your work and rectify your failings of an attempted banishment because I won’t leave so easily. I am You. You are Me. But You are different. You hide away in the normalcy of your façade, but I will pull your kernel out from the husk you have become. I will pick apart your mind like a woodpecker in order to reveal who you really are. However, this revelation won’t be for the rest of the world, this will be just for the body and mind – just you and me.

Look, and look hard, because it has become my mission for you to see for yourself. It is important that you understand the difference between the spewed pretence of polite conversation and the wars I wage.

Your chiselled jaw line rounds with each soft caress from the ever-lapping tidal waves of life.

Your appearance snatches my attention as you drift with purpose, hiding the depths of doubt that run free in the wake of your abandonment. You are so well kept and so well put together, but I don’t just appreciate the final product, I can see how you operate. I revel in your layered artistry, where each piece of elaborate fabric you have horded is now melded into a bright and hopeful unified whole. But a little flicker of your eyes removes any semblance of the sincerity you let ferment the air of fiction and flattery. Drip. Drip.

Drip.

Oh dear. The heat has increased, and your mask is slipping precariously. Do you want my help?

I’m not sure you need it, as in reality You seem to struggle just fine. Stop hiding and reveal yourself in all your glory.

I already know you, yet I still yearn for your admission. Entertain my days with your storytelling about the one-eyed, masked man who stares at me with deathly determination. Don’t be shy and don’t hold back, especially when it matters most. Tell me. Let me in and you won’t regret it, as I’ll prove myself fiendishly useful. I’ll be such a loyal and loving companion.

I’m struggling to muster the patience to wait for you. What a wilting, delicate, and insecure little flower you’ve become.

I’ve watched you blend so seamlessly into the background like a chameleon. Paranoid and petulant, you waste our life together as your inability to live in liberation has left us so alone. You have separated us from the outside world, and I despise you for allowing your fear to cripple our progress. You stare weary and wary, and I can see the distrust woven into the framework of your reconstructed face. You can’t seem to trust me to keep our secrets safe for all eternity. We’ve relapsed, but You have also made a fatal mistake, and now your armour against revealing the true vulnerability lurking so close to the surface is suddenly crumbling piece by piece. This is the unrepentant truth you hate, and it’s the truth that I tell.

My honesty to your situation – our situation – makes you panic. You have disregarded everything! And now you are caught in my headlights. You sit in that corner and putter about in your make-believe land. It’s time to finally wake up and see who we are! It’s time to try your hand, demon spawn. It’s time to see if you can break us apart.

It’s time to play a game of chance with me.

You shatter me and consequently I reign over you – I am now free to wrench open your chest and see who you are at heart. Careful now – your body is becoming unresponsive and you will leave them… but ultimately that might be good for us. Am I the very thing to release you from our trauma? Focus on how your fears reflect in the shards scattered in the abyss. You sink into fearsome fires that will inevitably turn you into a molten mess. But I promise to follow you into these hellish depths of your facetious mind. Flesh and bone are no more in this decrepit solution. You are nothing and now you know. You cannot help but falter. I am exuberant that you have succumbed to a future where thoughts and lies have evaporated.

You’ve allowed for Us.

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“A Hymn to the Hateful Review “…There is a heat in me…”

Written By Marcia Jamal

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Hymn to the Hateful is a sensitive exploration of the essence and behaviours of hatefulness as seen by the young people of Adelaide High School. Playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer has employed a unique type of dialogue that is similar to stream-of-consciousness in order to explore the minds of young individuals in the contemporary world, specifically referencing the increase of ‘hatefulness’ across social media. Kruckemeyer uses short scenes reflecting the thought processes and situations of multiple views on hatefulness, such as denial of hate, cultural hate, hate of love, and many more. The director, David Tyler, has successfully portrayed Kruckemeyer’s intent through creative directing, lighting and sound design, not to mention the memorable costumes and props.

A Hymn to the Hateful is truly a heart-rending performance. The horror of the bullied realising they too are bullies: a girl who says she loves you forever, yet hates herself; haters showing their fear of being alone; and a touching monologue of masked intolerance and victim-blaming are experiences of hate that will resonate with the audience. The varieties of hate explored in this play also reveals the origin of this feeling through many and varied situations. This is particularly evident through a monologue from a character who hates passionately due to being ignored most of their life.

Matthew Ralph, the lighting director of Hymn to the Hateful, utilises this specific facet to enhance the way hatefulness is portrayed in the different ways. The clever implementation of different colours in lighting the stage reinforces the emotions of the actors and sets the mood of the scene. Examples include the use of blue lights associated with the emotion of sadness and loss, while red portrays rage and fury. In another scene, the characters are rolling on the floor and the

lighting panned out in front of them to make the characters seem like they were ‘drowning in their sadness’. Finally, there is also a scene where the lighting, shaped into a circle, allows an actor to sit within it.

In this scene, the character is sitting down within a green circle to convey the crippling feeling of isolation. Lighting successfully allows the audience to connect with the characters, specifically heightening their emotions and engagement with the play.

Costume designer, Francine Legaspi, has successfully designed the clothes to complement each of the different character types and enhances scenes. There is one scene where a character is a real estate representative taking the audience on a house tour that had been filled with examples of hatefulness, from disagreeing parents to a selfhated daughter. A small part of this character’s costumer was a patch filled with tape made to look like windows, specifically to resemble the industry portrayed. Clever use of other types of materials, such as pom poms, stickers from supermarkets, and other everyday items were also used to represent an aspect of each character’s role. This enables the audience to understand how the costumes of the characters represents different types of hate. The props in this play were minimal, yet very effective. For example, in one particular scene, umbrellas represented guns, while sticks were used to create a rhythmic beat of soldiers. Blocks were also placed near the audience to create varying levels for the actors to project their emotions.

The complex explorations of hate in A Hymn to the Hateful allow the audience to engage with and be moved by the compelling characters and their words. Lighting, costumes, staging, and sound design effectively communicate the central messages and vividly resonate with the target senior school audience.

Courtesy of Francine Legaspi

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What was the film about?

Fei: It is about Peter Parker, aka the Amazing Spiderman, when he goes on his school’s senior trip to Europe, in an attempt to take a break from the superhero business.

Frankie: Basically to recover from everything that happened in Avengers: Endgame, which we’re not going to get back into.

Fei: But an unknown entity starts to threaten the planet again, and Nick Fury tries to recruit Peter to fight it, which Peter doesn’t want to do.

Frankie: Because he’s a teenager. Nick Fury won’t take no for an answer though.

Fei: So Peter ends up traveling around Europe juggling his holiday with assisting the mysterious Mysterio in fighting elemental monsters. And then there’s a plot twist.

Why did you see it?

Fei: Like I said with the other Marvel films we’ve reviewed, it’s tradition for me to watch them with my brother now.

Frankie: At this point, Marvel has me in a chokehold that I can’t escape from.

Whether I actually wanted to see this movie or not – which I did – I would still end up seeing it so I don’t miss out on the references and pop culture.

Fei: The FOMO. Frankie: Yeah. I was also keen for some fun Europe hijinks to give me the serotonin Endgame took away from me.

Fei: I’d also seen Spiderman: Homecoming and enjoyed it, so I wanted to watch its sequel.

How did you feel about Far From Home?

Frankie: I thought it was funny, but there were some things that hurt. Especially that one scene – a dream sequence where Peter [redacted].

Fei: There were some really funny moments, and definitely some moments where it got dark. For me, what stuck out were the sweet moments.

Frankie: *banging fists on table* The romance between Peter and MJ – I would die for. And I just love Zendaya, so 10/10 from me.

Fei: Another fun thing was that Peter travelled through several cities in Europe: Venice, Prague, and London. It was exciting because over the holidays I myself was in Europe, visiting Venice and Prague. It felt a little serendipitous.

Did it live up to your expectations?

Frankie: I really don’t have expectations from Marvel movies any more. I know that they’re there to give me the character, the story, and some cool action scenes. In general, I don’t have high expectations for films unless they’re really important to me. I’m just there to enjoy things, and it helps that I enjoy a lot of things.

Fei: Frankie loves everything and she ropes me into it. Spiderman: Far From Home met my baseline expectations for a Marvel movie, but I really liked Homecoming, so in a way I expected more from this film. Yes, it was fun and I enjoyed it a lot while I was watching it, but it wasn’t very memorable. I’ve forgotten a lot about it since I watched it.

If you could describe the film in one word, what would it be?

Fei: There were a lot of different things going on…

Frankie. Yeah. I would say… I don’t want to say ‘eventful’ because that’s such an emotionless word which doesn’t really explain how I feel about it.

I’d say it was ‘wacky’. Some of the sequences and goofs that they had were pretty wacky. I don’t think ‘hijinkful’ is a word, but if it was I would describe Far From Home as hijinkful.

Fei: I don’t think there’s a word that encompasses it because there were so many conflicting and contrasting plot threads. I want to say ‘cute’ but I also want to say ‘dark’.

Frankie: ‘Dute’? Do you think you can put those two words together, make a portmanteau?

Fei: Perhaps ‘growing-up’ or ‘coming-of-age’, because Far From Home goes from that light comedy and romance to darker themes of ethics, filling in roles and responsibilities.

Frankie: ‘Growth’? I call that growth.

Fei: Yes, I might go with that, because it’s about Peter’s growth.

What do you think of Tom Holland’s Spiderman?

Fei: Many different actors have been Spiderman over the years, of which Tom Holland is the latest.

Frankie: Homecoming, Far From Home… The third one had better be called Home Sweet Home.

Frankie: They all have distinct personalities. Tobey Maguire was the first, and his Spiderman was dorky. Tom Holland’s Spiderman is dorky, but I like that he actually looks young with that baby face of his. He actually looks like a teenager. I am also partial to Andrew Garfield because his is more of an edgy skater boy. He brings a lot to the role, but so does Tom Holland, whose performance has shown the emotional range he’s capable of. It might be because Holland is closer to my age.

Fei: Marvel execs, are you listening?

Fei: You’re the age Spiderman is supposed to be.

Frankie: Put me on your writing team.

Frankie: Me and Spiderman are the same age and that seems odd.

Frankie: I do love the ‘home’ theme in the titles.

Fei: I support it just for that.

Fei: Spiderman is younger than me and I don’t like it. It’s not okay.

Who Should see Spideman: Far From Home?

Frankie: People who like Marvel, people who like Spiderman, and people who like Tom Holland (playing Peter Parker). That’s basically the three kinds of people going to see this film.

Fei: That about sums it up. If you’re into Marvel, if you’re into the franchise and genre, then Spiderman: Far From Home is for you. If not, then there’s not really any point seeing it.

Frankie: He’s seventeen, guys! I think he’s older than me by about two or three weeks…

Fei: I don’t really have a metric to compare Tom Holland to because I haven’t seen any of the other Spiderman movies. I do really like Tom Holland’s Spiderman, because he plays the role of a teenager so well – young and unsure with the ability to step up when needed.Fei: Yes, I might go with that, because it’s about Peter’s growth.