conversation changing the

Trinity Whiteford // staff writer

We’ve all heard of race equality at some point and time in the last year or so. Not very often do you hear about a program that centers itself around making Traverse City a better place through race equality. That being said, there’s tons of programs out there, but not many around here, which is where the E3 program comes in. E3 stands for Educate, Elevate and Engage, and this new organization is helping Traverse City to not only grow and become more diverse, but also to celebrate the diversity we already have.

The concept of E3 came together on June 6th, 2020, when a group of local BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) members decided to create what they call the “anti-racism task force.” Since its inception, they now have sponsors and put on community events, as well as a “Collective Care’’ section where people can look into donating money to the foundation and contributing to scholarships. Their biggest scholarship, “The E3 Dream Scholarship,’’ is awarded annually to young people of color for college or career aspirations, and is based on Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream Speech.” This scholarship is intended to push through boundaries and give students of color the support and help they need to get the right forms of education to be successful.

I met with Marshall Collins, one of the founders of the E3 program, to get a little bit more insight as to how the group began. “When we first started, it was phone calls after the death of George Floyd I should say, the murder of George Floyd. Obviously, there were a lot of people who were upset, but there was a core group of BIPOC communities: people who got together on phone calls, knew certain people who knew certain people, [who] called, and that’s kind of where we created our group from,” Collins shares. The end goal of E3 is to eventually diminish any sort of hate or racism towards BIPOC individuals in our area. “Our total mission is to eradicate racism in Northern Michigan, and once we do that, hopefully it just spreads throughout,” Collins wishes. “I know that’s been a mission of our nation for a long time, but we just made it a straight mission just for our area and areas that impacted us.”

Collins feels he can positively impact the community just by being involved with the program. “I’m a council member. We’re still balanced in power. My work goes a lot within the community, so I work closely with the educational piece because I work for Northwest Ed, so I can help and support educator schools, teachers, anything in that realm,” he notes. Collins finds that E3 is more of a council instead of a democracy, so everyone ultimately has equal power, but they contribute based on their individual strengths. His work mainly lies within creating community events during Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage month, as well as any other celebrations for LGBTQIA+ people. “We just try to make sure that we’re helping and supporting all organizations, and the best way we can do that is through help, through volunteers, and people just want to do their service work, too,” Collins elaborates. “I would say the community piece is calling people into conversations, educating yourself on the history, on race, and how to be an antiracist, so show up and be a voice so those other voices are silenced.’’

After our interview concluded, Collins decided to pose a question to me before we parted ways. “I would ask you this: what is Central doing to address and stand up to racism?” This question shocked me because the only answer I could give him was the very few clubs that Central has for both LGBTQIA+ individuals, and at one time we had a Diversity and Inclusion Club. But, if I’m being honest, that’s not enough to completely diminish racism in schools in general, nonetheless Traverse City. By putting this article out, I’m hoping that the word gets out to end racism, not only in schools, but in our community as well, and make a more peaceful environment for everyone.

Collins encourages young people to make the right choices about how they treat others and how they educate themselves without judgment. “We really have to pull people into conversations like that education piece [and] just have the conversations of why we feel the way we feel,” he concludes. “[We need to] get to a better understanding, and the only way we can really break that cycle is [through] policy change, conversations, [and] understanding, but we’re not going to get to a policy change until we start having those conversations [and] until we start having those understandings and changing the way people think.” //

We all know the abundant amount of music classes available to take at Central, but we don’t ever take the time to acknowledge the musicians in our very student body who publish music outside of school. Musicians Behind Central tells the stories of three independent musicians, their ambition, and their aspirations.

Alejandro Lepczyk ‘24 (he/him), who simply goes by “Ali” to friends and followers, is a musician who hails from Central. He has been independently producing music in some form or another for his entire high school career. While the name of Ali’s latest release, entitled “I saw the moon (1998),” sounds peculiar, this project is porous in emotion. This six track album embodies the spirit of a burnt out youth attempting to make understanding of the never-understood.

“I figured why listen to someone else’s experience when I can make my own,” says Ali, referring to his start in music production. Ali plays a wide variety of instruments that he incorporates into his music including guitar, bass, piano, and drums. “Piano is definitely the easiest because I was classically trained for several years,” explains Ali. Despite being a skilled musician, there is still a lot of trial and error with being a multi-instrumentalist. “I practiced violin for two years, but I recently tried to play and learned I sort of lost it,” he admits.

When it comes to what separates him from other artists, Ali finds “literally nothing. I was thinking about this last night and I couldn’t find a reason why anyone would listen to me and not their homie who does the same exact thing…I wear bigger pants,” jokes Ali. This claim to lack uniqueness turns void when you learn that he produces his music using an analog system: more specifically, a boombox. Recording via analog went out of popular circulation when the CD came to the mass market, so using a tool such as this takes a more manual approach. And though cassettes are infamous for their muffled white noise and static, Ali incorporates this into his music seamlessly for an album that feels like it’s draped in a thicket of nostalgia.

A large inspiration for “I saw the moon (1998)” are Lou Reed’s recent releases, which consist of remastered demos from his early days as an artist. “It’s super home recorded and lofi (Low-fidelity), but it has that lyrical twist on things that makes it more enjoyable to listen to,” Ali notes.

Despite his inspirations, Ali is his own artist. The uniqueness of “I saw the moon (1998)” is uncanny to any project I’ve heard in Traverse City, and I’m insanely excited to see what Alejandro Lepzyck does next. //

The first thing you’ll notice about Chloe Stewart ‘23 (they/them) is that they wear all black everything all the time, complimenting their mysterious aura and even more mysterious music. Stewart is a gothic electronic artist who goes by the stage name “Amias Voltaire.” Stewart started their music journey young in life, when they were given a MIDI Keyboard. “I made a ton of music, but never put it out or did anything with it,” says Stewart, recalling their first keyboard experiences. Those MIDI skills had been dormant until recently, where Stewart has been in full swing producing cold, eerie darkwave music.

Stewart’s main inspiration is The Cure, a popular English band from the 70s. The parallels between “Amias Voltaire” and The Cure are immediately apparent, capturing The Cure’s original feel, but with a darker take. “I have no idea what I’m doing half the time,” laughs Stewart. “But I think that’s the fun of it.” Stewart manages to create wild soundscapes that feel as if they’re straight out of some modern noir film, implementing every emotion they feel as they compose the piece - a hard task to accomplish in music - with the darker emotions creating the main symphony for these musical pieces of suffering, love, lust and loss. //

On paper, Tristan Hutchinson ‘24 (he/they) may seem like an ordinary student, but that facade shifts when you learn that he’s an extraordinary musician. The bright green buzzcut, piercings, and platform boots are just a few staples of this eclectic EDM artist who hails from TC Central.

Hutchinson started producing music in the early days of his freshmen year. “My first song was in collaboration with Ali. It was called ‘Ebola Freestyle’ because we were super sick when we recorded it,” explains Hutchinson. This song, while satirical, would jumpstart Hutchinson’s interest in making music, where he often collaborates with Ali.

Currently, Hutchison is working on a project called “Super Fly Spaceship,” which incorporates new stylizations like death metal vocals. “I like to experiment how far I can take sound,” says Hutchinson, in reference to his new project, where he is actively putting his creativity on display by combining sounds you wouldn’t think would go together, but they do. He manages to tailor it perfectly for his niche, giving his music a character akin to himself. //