Westminster School Simsbury, CT 06070 www.westminster-school.org
Thursday, May 5th, 2016
Richard Blanco:
The Panama Papers
BY A lbert G ao '18 & M ike R iberdy '18
BY S ean R yan '18 & E mmett de K anter '19
CONTRIBUTOR & NEWS CO-EDITOR
STAFF WRITERS
A new friend with a new perspective
RICHARD BERGEN
Richard Blanco shares his passion for poetry with the Westminster community. Richard Blanco, the youngest poet to read at a United States presidential inauguration, delivered an enthusiastic reading to the Westminster community on April 18 in Werner Centennial Center. Blanco arrived in Miami with his family soon after his birth, having emigrated from Spain and Cuba. Cuban and Latin A merican culture have greatly inf luenced his writing style. Blanco demonstrated his experience and pride as an immigrant during his reading. Being asked to speak at the second inauguration of President Barack Obama was a true honor and an acknowledgement of Mr. Blanco’s legacy as a poet. For the Presidential Inauguration, he chose to read One Today, sharing the unifying theme of the poem at the national level. In the poem One Today, Mr. Blanco preaches conscientious togetherness as the relationship
between humans and focuses on the many qualities that humans share such as the sky, the senses, and more. The day after his all-school reading, Mr. Blanco visited classes where he answered inquisitive students’ questions. At this lively question and answer session, Gary Simons '17 asked Mr. Blanco to read a poem, and Blanco quickly exposed himself as a verbally decisive poet in that he does not see it fit to simply let words sit on a page as other poets may. Mr. Blanco’s reading of his own poetry added another layer of complexity to his work: intent. Students, having read some of Mr. Blanco’s poetry in their English classes, first analyzed his poems on paper and were in some cases surprised to find that Richard’s interpretations of his own work did not necessarily match the ones that they had imagined. Mr. Blanco’s poetry exhibits a variety of themes and motifs, but the most notable and prominent of which is undoubtedly his respect for his own understanding of home and originality. For instance, one student asked Blanco about his favorite poems that he wrote in his lifetime. He hesitated at first, but then offered t wo poem s, na mely Mother Picking Produce and Shaving. In the poem Mother Picking Produce, Mr. Blanco elaborated on his description of his mom and her life experiences. The expressions “swollen with history,” the
The biggest data leak in history
contrast bet ween “black and white,” and diction “dusty” all suggest to the readers that this poem, which endeavors to illustrate a picture of historical and sweet mother, also expresses deeply the poet’s precious recollections and his strong connections with the past. In the poem Shaving however, Mr. Blanco begins by writing about his daily shaving routine, but the poem escalates into a discussion of life vanishing. Both of his favorite poems are examples that illustrate his focus on things of the past, especially those that are valuable. Mr. Blanco also passionately read a poem named When I Was A Little Cuban Boy, in which he talked about his wrong perceptions of the “The Star Spangled Banner” and his perception of America being complete perfection. The poem gradually develops into a discussion of the ideology of home. As Mr. Blanco infers in this poem, and also mentioned during his reading, he treats America as his home which he defined as a piece of land where he would love to be buried in. All in all, Richard Blanco’s visit provoked thoughtful discussion between poet and reader and allowed students to truly peer into the perspective of one of the best American poets, a poet whom the entire Westminster community quickly came to respect and enjoy.
Westminster SPACE Preview 2016 BY A S H LY N C H I N '16 CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Where: Werner Centennial Center When: 7:00pm, May 6 & 7 Westminster’s Spring Performance Arts Collective Ensemble 2016, more commonly known as SPACE, is coming to you live right here on the hill. So what makes this night of performances ever so “collective”? Simple—there will be a plethora of musical, dance, and theater performances, all in one show; it’s basically the whole shebang. Coordinated by the Westminster Dramat Association, Student Music Organization, and the Dance Co-Presidents, there will be three dances, four songs, and many humorous skits. If you like Beyonce or Drake or John Mayer or even Trump, this show is surely not one to be missed. If that doesn’t seem convincing enough, some of your favorite seniors will be taking the stage for the very first time. Students have been putting a lot of effort into making this show happen so don’t miss out and show your support. If you miss the first show on May 6, there’s always the second on May 7. Take a break from the AP stress and let yourself relax with for some great music, banter, and a ton of surprises.
INSIDE
Vol. 105, No. 8
Bernie vs. Trump Rallies page 2 Kobe Bryant’s Last game page 3 How to Survive Exam Week page 4
GOOGLE IMAGES
Many world leaders were revealed in one of the biggest corruption scandals ever. The data leak known as the Panama Papers, 2.6 terabytes of data, 11.5 million documents, pictures, and emails, contain more information than a human could process in five thousand years-information implicating world leaders across the globe in corruption scandals and covering about 214,000 shell companies over a period of 40 years. T he informat ion in t he Panama Papers affects the entire global society, and raises troubling questions about many of our prevalent leaders. The media outlet that first leaked the story, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, received the information from an anonymous source who worked for Mossack Fonseca, a company that helps people set up offshore companies. While creating the companies themselves is not illegal, the documents show that an overwhelming majority of Mossack Fonseca customers used the companies to cover up shady dealings. The nature and severity of the crimes committed by these customers with the use of shell companies varies, with everyone from drug kingpins to professional athletes making use of the service. Companies purchased from Mossack are cheap, anonymous shells with no purpose discernible from the outside, and can be used for a wide range of illicit activities including money laundering, tax evasion, and violation of sanctions. The people listed publicly so far who appear in the Panama Papers include twelve current
heads of state (one of which resigned recently due to protests and growing controversy), over two hundred politicians and people with close ties to them, organized crime leaders, drug lords, TV and movie personalities, and more. The celebrities, world leaders, and criminals named as of now only mark the very beginning. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists was the first group to start analyzing the documents, just over a year ago, and it plans to release more information in the near future. While setting up offshore entities is legal, it enables the wealthy to avoid taxes and cover up illicit transactions. So far, 200 Americans have been revealed, but after further investigation, most of them used Mossack for buying property abroad, rather than money laundering or tax evasion. The Panama Papers reveals a broken tax system on a global scale. If these tax havens are closed up, or if it becomes significantly more difficult to set up shell companies, an estimated $21 trillion to $32 trillion would be freed up, rather than being hidden away by the super-wealthy. This unprecedented disclosure won’t result in any ground breaking change for ordinary citizens, nor will it revolutionize world politics, but nonetheless it presents an issue that needs to be addressed.
What really goes on at a Trump Rally?
INSIDE LOOK: Sundays on the Hill
page 2
page 4