2 - Atlanta Public Schools

W h o
would
rather
wait for
a movie to
come out on DVD
than see it now in the
theatres? Alex Daniels.
2
Aud
io
sual
i
V
The Shins May 3
concert at the
Va r i e t y P l a yhouse received
mixed reviews
from their highly expectant
audience.
um
e
str
Ra
gt
im
Ro
4
Teacher Dave Winter
knows from experience
the high cost of thinking
but not expressing your
feelings to the people
you appreciate the
most.
Men
6
1
7
e rie
ag
Nexus’ calendar brings
you the dates you
need to know for the
best summer concerts,
festivals, holidays and
special events.
C
o
n
t
e
n
t
s
8
The Grady
drama and
music program
staged Ragtime this
spring to rave reviews. Grady’s first
musical in six years
leads us to ask that
the next one come
much sooner.
nexus
Volume 1 Issue 2
May-June 2005
Cover photo by
Dave Winter
From the staff
Straight
from
the Don
Harrison Martin- [Design Editor]
Senior year has left me battered and
exhausted so I will leave you with
a quote, “Yeah, I bought all that I
could at this bank, and then I got the
rest from this guy Ralph in an alley.”
P.J. McGlynn-Section Editor [Menagerie]
“We’re going to go to Home Depot.
Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get
some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe
Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don’t know, I
don’t know if we’ll have enough time.”
Duy Lam-Section Editor [Visual]
180 school days later and summer
break is finally here. However, before
you know it, school will be back and
you find out that you have a quiz on
the book you had forgotten to read.
Alex Daniels-Section Editor [Visual]
We’ve managed to squeeze in another quality issue for you guys. Rest
assured, with full color and a batch of
full-time staffers coming next year,
the best is yet to come.
Chloe Blalock-Section Editor [Audio]
“The problem with people who
have no vices is that generally
you can be pretty sure they’re
going
to
have
some
pretty
annoying virtues.”~Elizabeth Taylor
Alastair Carter-Boff-Section Editor [Audio]
He who fights with monsters
might take care lest he thereby
become a monster. And if you
gaze for long into an abyss,
the abyss gazes also into you.
Jeffrey Carpenter-Section Editor [Rostrum]
Everyone should appreciate the
little things in life. People in this
country take too much for granted and don’t think about where
their good fortune came from.
Part of Grady’s mission statement is to
“appreciate and embrace diversity,” something
the school is very proud of having. Walking
down Grady’s halls, our diversity is easy to see.
Individuals of different race, religion, ethnicity,
gender and socio-economic class intermingle on
their way to class. But step into any given Grady
magnet class, and this diversity is drastically
reduced. The racial balance suddenly leans heavily
toward the Caucasian end, which is otherwise a
minority at Grady. Socio-economic diversity is close
to gone.
For the past three years, I have taken classes
with different groups of the same 50 or so students.
We are not a diverse group, and our magnet classes
don’t represent the diversity that Grady claims to
have.
Don’t get me wrong, the magnet program at
Grady is a great thing. It provides an academic path
of excellence for its students’ four years at Grady
by putting them in challenging and interesting
classes. Unfortunately, it diverts resources away
from the rest of the school who would benefit from
the special attention the magnet program offers.
I appreciate everything that the magnet program
has done for me and my classmates, but the
system in inherently unfair.
I can’t do anything to make the magnet program
more diverse, but I can do my part to improve
the communication and interaction of all Grady
students. When we started Nexus this semester,
we wanted the writing to be a true representation
of Grady High School, not just its magnet students.
So far we have failed in this endeavor. I want Nexus
to be something that all of Grady enjoys and feels a
part of. Not just a select privileged few. Help me to
make this publication what it can be. Bring diversity
to a new Grady publication with your submissions.
–Micah Weiss-Managing Editor
Nexus: a publication of The Southerner
Contributing
Writers:
Jessica
Baer, Justin Biggs, Alice Bufkin, Scott
Douglas, Kevin Hill, Sarah Marriner,
Max Meinhart, Sarah Muntzing, Robert Sanders, William VanDerKloot,
Thomas Walker, Omari Wallace
Advisor: Dave Winter
Print Staff: Alvin Hambick, Harlon
Heard, Michael Jackson, Adlai McClure,
Charlotte Napper, Benjamin Shaw
Founding Editors: Harrison Martin,
Russell Owens, and Micah Weiss
Advertising: Nexus is a non-profit
organization that relies on advertising to generate renue to cover
printing costs. Nexus is read by approximately 1,500 people and is a
great way to publicize. To advertise
with Nexus, contact Dave Winter at
[email protected].
Nexus is a bimonthly publication of:
Henry W. Grady High School
929 Charles Allen Drive NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
Volume 1 Issue 2
Nexus is a submission-based publication that relies on your submissions for its content. Nexus accepts
submissions for all of its sections and
features (submissions may be edited
for length or content). Submission
forms are located in the Southerner
room, or can be obtained from Mr.
Winter. For more information, or to
turn a submission in, please contact
Mr. Winter or any member of the
staff at [email protected].
music elitism limits experience
BY ALASTAIR CARTER-BOFF
Rooney [Rooney]
Review
audio
Music claims
one’s identity
M
u s i c
can often help define a
person. Their attitude, friends,
style and personality may all be
influenced by the genres of music they
listen to. You can see this very clearly at any
high school. Most of the kids that listen to rap and
R & B tend to clump together, as do the students
who listen to rock music and all the other factions
that exist in a high school. The groups do not generally
associate with one another, although there may be
certain crossovers. It’s almost like musical segregation,
as if an unwritten rule won’t allow the groups to
intermingle. This refusal to interact with one another
often causes closed-mindedness. This takes all of
the enjoyment out of listening to music, there is no
variety without experimentation and change.
If these groups would get to know each
other, that unwritten rule of society
would be broken, and high schools
could operate in harmony.
focus
Music in
Rooney has been around for a
few years but has gained recent
popularity via The O.C. Their
claim to fame song is “Shakin,’”
with an upbeat sound and
unique guitar riff. Once you hear
the track, you will instantly fall in
love with it. Best called “SoCal”
guitar-driven pop, Rooney is a
nice vacation from boring music.
-Max Meinhart
Bona Drag [Morrissey]
Bona Drag shows the more
abstract side of Morrissey’s
lyrical genius. More of a
compilation presented in album
form, it still flows exceptionally
well. A great intro to Morrissey’s
post-Smiths work, the naysayers
of Morrissey’s solo career should
be forced to listen to this album.
I never thought I’d be moved by
a song about a Ouija board.
-Jessica Baer
Lost and Found [Will Smith]
Smith’s latest album is one to
help restore the faith of his fans.
He offers the gentler half of his
persona in the song “Mr. Nice
Guy,” showing the public there’s
more to him than “Sumertime.”
But
the
release
can
be
monotonous and reminiscent
of the Will Smith of the ‘90s.
Overall, the LP is worthy of the
“Will” to buy. -Rusell Owens
The Shins
Tuesday,
May
3,
The Variety Playhouse
hosted a sold-out show
for The Shins. Since being
featured on the soundtrack
of the recent box-office hit Garden State, The Shins
have enjoyed a steady rise in popularity. Opening
for them were the Brunettes, a New Zealand-based
group of seven playing their first show in Georgia.
The Brunettes’ set was brief and mostly
unvarying, with a laidback indie sound similar to
the Shins. Their entourage of bandmates, however,
brought character and personality to the stage,
and their New Zealand accents and interspersed
instrument collection kept the crowd engaged and
cheering happily in anticipation of the Shins.
The Shins, however, were a mild disappointment.
2
[NEXUS] May- June, 2005
Their play list and music performance was
adequate and enjoyable, but the complete lack of
stage presence left something to be desired. Their
wavering enthusiasm was mirrored by the crowd.
A homogeneous crowd only added to the boring
shadow cast upon Tuesday’s show. The show closed
with a predictable encore, and while the Brunettes
came to watch with the audience, they were not
enough to salvage our hopes. In a sentence, the
Shins are excellent on CD, but their live show is
more dead than alive.
-Chloe Blalock
audio
Live at the BBC [Pixies]
A quality introduction to the
Pixies is hard to find. Most of
the “Best Of’s” are unable to do
them justice, being based more
the Pixies’ radio time, andthus
leaving out chunks of Pixies
history. Although shorter than
greatest hits CDs, this is better
able to cover Pixies history. It
allows a fuller introduction.
-Jessica Baer
4 Skins [The Good, The Bad, The 4 Skins]
A skinhead band, not the NeoNazi racist idiots found in the
United States, but the hardcore
British brawlers found in punk
venues across England. This
under-produced punk album has
been out for a while but has had
very little circulation within the
US. While not all the songs are
pretty, this band is re-inventing
dangerous music.
-William VanDerKloot
Make Believe [Weezer]
Weezer has struck out with their
latest musical folly, which is part
of the band’s decline since the
realease of Pinkerton (apparently that album used up all their
song writing ablility) in 1996. The
Green Album was bearable in
small quantities, and Maldriot was
mediocore. Unfortunately, Make
Believe is absolutely terrible.
-William VanDerKloot
Releases
Oasis [Don’t Believe the Truth]
Cheyenne Jackson [All Shook Up]
Better Than Ezra [Before the Sunrise]
Meshugga [Catch 33]
Coldplay [X&Y]
The White Stripes [Get Behind Me]
Master P [The Ghetto Bill Gates]
Shakira [Fijacion Oral]
Foo Fighters[In Your Honor]
Backstree Boys [Never Gone]
Fat Joe [Things of that Nature]
Redman [Real Gone Wild]
John Hiatt [Master of Disaster]
Cassidy [I’m a Hustla]
Trick Pony [R.I.D.E.]
Yin Yang Twins [USA]
Robin Gibb [Live]
Bow Wow [Wanted]
National Music
Scene
Experience Music Project
A stone’s throw from the
Space Needle, the Experience
Music Project aspires to
provide its patrons with a
complete
sensory
music
experience. But how do you
convert an auditory medium
into a visual institution? Based
on my afternoon at the EMP,
I’d say it’s not easy.
The current marquee exhibit
“Bob
Dylan’s
American
Journey”—is comprehensive,
but I kept wondering what
Dylan himself would make of
the assemblage of personal
letters,
photographs,
and
other memorabilia.
In one
viewing station, I watched
a young Dylan categorically
reject the idea that he was
the voice of his generation.
Decades later, the museum
seems to be casting him in
the same reluctant role. The
best exhibit, is devoted to
Seattle’s own Jimi Hendrix;
the shallowest, to the Beatles.
The latter exhibit has the
most interesting and diverse
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artifacts
to
be
s u r e ,
but it’s
also the part of the museum
that deals the least with the
music itself. You simply can’t
appreciate the Beatles only by
assembling the merchandise—
the board games, the bobblehead dolls, the paint-bynumbers
sets—that
was
churned out to capitalize on
the success of their music.
-Dave Winter
3
theatres are for the birds
Review
viSUAL
Fun at Flicks is
fast forgotten
BY ALEX DANIELS
This horror film is a great remake
of a 1979 movie and is based
on a true story. In the movie,
the Lutz family moves into
what they thought was a dream
home. However, the house was
the site in which a mass-murder
occurred. The family begins to
hear voices terrorizing them.
The family is chased out after
only a few weeks in the house.
-Justin Biggs
Sin City [Warner Bros.]
Robert
Rodriguez’s
violent
film stars Bruce Willis who
plays a cop named Hardigan
in a corrupt city. Although the
storyline jumps around it still
maintains a clear and coherent
flow. The movie is also shot
in black and white with a few
exceptions, but the footages
remain clear and impressive.
-Thomas Walker
the education of shelby knox [PBs]
Robert Maass
4
[NEXUS] May-June, 2005
Marion
Lipshutz
and
Rose
Rosenblatt tell the coming of age
story of a teenage girl who joins a
campaign for comprehensive sex
education in the high schools of
Lubbock, Texas in The Education of
Shelby Knox. PBS will broadcast this
POV (point of view) documentary on
June 21, 2005 at 10 p.m.
The film’s slow start paints a
picture of Knox’s life. She is then a
15-year-old high school sophomore,
budding opera singer and politically
conservative
Southern
Baptist.
When Knox learns that Lubbock
County has some of the highest
rates of teen pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases in the country,
she joins a local youth commission
that advocates comprehensive sex-
education in the public schools,
instead of the current abstinenceonly policy. Knox herself has taken
a vow not to have sex until she is
married.
The film gets most interesting
when Knox realizes that gay people
can’t ever get married, making
comprehensive sex-education all
the more important for them. After
spending time with a gay-straight
alliance, Knox becomes an advocate
for gay rights, and declares herself
a Democrat, something she and her
parents never thought she would be.
Although the documentary isn’t the
most riveting of films, it does a good
job of showing the transformation of
one Texas girl and teaches a little sexed along the way. -Micah Weiss
THEATRE
Upcoming
Documentary
The Amityville Horror [MGM]
THEATRE
can’t really remember the last movie
I went to see on the silver
screen. It’s not that I don’t enjoy a
high-budget Hollywood bloodbath as
much as the next guy, but I’m overcome by
a sense of nausea every time I enter a theatre.
Ask most of America, and I guarantee that you
won’t find many people that fancy an $8 admission just so they can pay another $10 for concessions, search for a seat in the dark, endure the
smell of rotten popcorn, get their feet stuck to
the floor, and get ‘shh’-ed. Here’s the deal: the
service sucks, the price is absurd, and when
it’s all over, you realize that it’s probably
nothing that you couldn’t have waited
another few months to catch on
DVD from the comfort of
your own home.
Set during last year’s amazing
Red Sox season, Fever Pitch is
a romantic comedy about love
and baseball. Jimmy Fallon plays
a life-long, extreme Boston Red
Sox fan who has to decide which
is more important: true love or
his season tickets. If you aren’t
already a baseball fan, you will
be. -Sarah Marriner
THEATRE
I
Fever Pitch [20th Century Fox]
vISUAL
VIDEO GAMES
Tekken 5 [Namco]
Tekken 5, the newest addition to
the Tekken series, is almost as
revolutionary as the first. With
more characters, moves and
amazing graphics, it is another
PS2 game that is worth the price
tag. Although the character plots
leave much to be desired, the
customizable options will keep
you playing for years to come or
until Tekken 6. -Robert Sanders
Releases
DVDs
Chappelles- 2nd season
The Aviator [Miramax]
Be Cool [MGM]
Million Dollar Baby [Warner]
THEATRE
Hitchhiker’s Guide [Touchstone]
Garth
Jennings
did
an
admirable job adapting the
zaniness of Douglas Adams’s
book, Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy, to film. Mos Def
makes a surprisingly good Ford
Prefect, while Slartibartfast and
Zaphod Beeblebrox are among
the best-cast characters in
recent memory. The movie is
consistently funny, and borders
on brilliance. -Scott Douglas
DVD
Wonderfalls [FOX]
Wonderfalls revolves around
the character of Jaye Tyler who
hears inanimate objects. She
soon learns that she must follow
their instructions to prevent dire
consequences. One of FOX’s
biggest mistakes was canceling
the one-hour dramedy after only
four episodes, but fortunately
all 13 episodes produced are
currently on DVD. -Alice Bufkin
[Paramount]
Hitch [Columbia]
Coach Carter [Paramount]
Movies
Cinderella Man
[Universal]
Lords of Dogtown
[Tri-star]
The Honeymooners [Paramount]
Batman Begins
Bewitched
[Warner]
[Columbia]
War of the Worlds
[Paramount]
Video Games
True Crimes 2
[PS2]
[ALL]
GTA: San Andreas [XBoX]
Batman Begins [PS2]
Battlefield 2 [PC]
Falcon 4.0: Allied Force [PC]
MoH: European Assault
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In-Depth Review
PSP fights for handheld dominance
Here’s a holdover for PlayStation fans until the
PS3 is released in 2006. Sony’s new handheld
system, the PSP (PlayStation Portable) has
revolutionized the world of handheld
gaming.
With MP3 capabilities and the ability
to display full-length movies, the PSP
has pushed the envelope beyond
simple gaming and rendered the
competition obsolete. High-resolution
images and DVD-quality video are
displayed on a crisp, 4.3”, 16:9 LCD display, and
game graphics are only a notch below those of
the PS2.
Games, video, and other media are now stored
on special UMD-formatted disks (inset), and the
handheld’s
slick
design and glossyblack paint make it an
eye-catcher that won’t go
unnoticed. A solid line of games
(Metal Gear Acid, Gran Tourismo 4
Mobile, Ridge Racer) are already
available.
The system itself sells for around
$250. Software runs on the pricey side,
with games running as high as $50 and
UMD movies around $30. Sony has also admitted
to a problem with the PSP’s short battery life.
Prices aside, the PSP is a capable system that
everyone should try to get their hands on.
-Omari Wallace
5
ROSTRUM
Don’t just think it‚ show it
Why expressing your appreciation for people matters
BY DAVE WINTER
I
was having this perfectly
wonderful reunion dinner with
a former student and managing
editor of mine when the
whole evening changed
me forever. She was then a sophomore at Emory
and I had just joined the faculty at Grady. I was
having a good time, catching up and reminiscing
with one of the most reliable and accomplished
student journalists I had ever taught.
Then suddenly, her whole demeanor became
rigid and her tone cold and frank.
“I think you should know that during my
senior year, I never felt that you appreciated me
or the work I was doing.”
I was stunned. My jaw must have landed
just short of the table.
How could she not know how much I
appreciated her? She worked so hard, she set
the tone for our entire program. She was our
best reporter, our most mature manager. She
was integral, and I recognized that fact and
appreciated it every day that I worked with her.
But evidently I didn’t say it.
“I’m not telling you this to make you feel bad,”
she said. “I’m telling you so that you don’t make
the same mistake again.”
Teachers often say that they learn more
from their students than they teach them. That
statement was never truer for me than it was that
day.
I was thinking about that dinner four years
ago this week as I was teaching (of all things)
caption writing to my sophomore journalism class.
I told one, two, then three embarrassing stories
about horrible mistakes made by wonderful people that worked
hard and did great things.
“Have you ever produced a perfect newspaper?” one
precocious sophomore asked me, and I admitted that I never had.
I also realized that I had come off as this fault-finding perfectionist
who sees only the errors and not the overall.
I think I’m often guilty of that sin— of expecting excellence
from other people and then assuming it’s always going to be there
from the people I admire and trust the most. Perhaps it’s a natural
human tendency, but it’s also why one of my favorite former
students looked me square in the eye and told me that I had never
made it clear to her how much I appreciated all that she had done
to make our shared work meaningful and successful.
I never want another wonderful student to feel that way again.
I’m writing this in the hopes that
some of you will find places in your own
experience where you can avoid this
same hurtful misperception.
My new
motto: when you think an appreciative
thought about someone, say it.
The ironic thing is
that the time that I get
to express the most
appreciative
words
about my students
is when I’m writing
something they aren’t
supposed to read:
their recommendation
letters to get into
college. As I’m writing
these
all-important
informal assessments,
I often wonder if I
made these feelings
known to the student
that I’m writing about.
Sometimes, I even
wait for a moment
when that student
seems to be having
a
particularly
bad
day and ask them if
they want to read the
letter, or I even ask
them to proofread
the letter (I can’t
edit my own writing
worth a darn), in part
because I want them
to know how much I
appreciate how hard
they’ve worked in
my classes or on the
publication staff that I advise.
I know I’m supposed to seal the
letters and sign the envelope as proof that
the letter is a confidential assessment,
but then I think about my new motto and
that night at the Flying Biscuit and I’m not
conflicted about sharing the contents of
the letters.
While I get to express my appreciation
for my students in the letters I write,
students don’t always reciprocate by
thanking me for writing them. That I
enjoy writing rec letters doesn’t mean that
it doesn’t take a long time or that it’s not
difficult work that competes with my other
“It means a lot to
recieve a small
gesture of appreciation from people that
you care about.”
6
[NEXUS]May-June, 2005
continued page 7
ROSTRUM
continued from page 6
commitments. I urge you seniors to
find away to show your teachers that
you appreciate what they do for you.
Folks like Ms. Simmons, Mr. McCurdy,
Ms. Willoughby, and Mr. Cramer
have been helping people get into
the colleges of their choice for a long
time. And you can thank teachers
for the other amazing things they
do for you. For that matter, you can
thank all of the people in your life to
whom you owe a debt of gratitude.
It means a lot to receive a small
gesture of appreciation from people
that you care about:
•The thank-you bowl of pesto to
share with the wife and kids
•The coffee that a student
remembered to buy when visiting
Jamaica
•The heartfelt handwritten note
on a thank-you card
•The old-time baseball book
a student buys you because he
remembers that you’ve loved
baseball your whole life
•The quick note to your parents
scrawled
on
their
newspaper
subscription: “thank you for your
son”
The gesture doesn’t have to
be large; in fact, the small gesture
of appreciation is more poignant
because the small gesture says, “In
an ordinary moment, I was thinking
about how much I appreciated you,
and I just wanted to make sure you
know how I felt.”
I received another thoughtful
expression just two days ago from
an appreciative student. The irony:
she brought me cookies and biscuits
from the same restaurant where
I had learned the value of such
gestures and the terrible high cost
of missing the opportunity to make
them.
School diversity fits Ragtime
BY KEVIN HILL
A
few
days
after the last
performance of Ragtime
as I was basking in the
glow of a successful run,
I was taken aback by a
comment from someone
in the community. By
this point I was quite
used to the glowing
comments about the
talented cast or the
wonderful costumes and
scenery. This comment,
however, was unique and
revealed something I had
completely overlooked.
Though I don’t remember
the exact wording, the
compliment pointed out
that there are very few
schools around that could
even attempt Ragtime
due to the necessity of a
racially balanced cast.
I am often reminded
when I visit other schools
that Grady is a pretty
unique place. Earlier in the
semester, the Advanced
Chorus performed with
two other schools in a
concert at Spivey Hall on
the Clayton State University
Campus. Grady students
were quick to point out that
one of the other choirs was
almost completely AfricanAmerican while the other
was almost completely
European-American.
Unfortunately, this is very
common throughout the
state. Always the exception,
the membership of the
Grady Chorus reflects our
population.
This was also the case
with
our
performance
of Ragtime. The story of
Ragtime is important are still feeling more than a
because it ties the hundred years later.
development
of
Much like the style of
a style of music, ragtime, Grady is a culturally
ragtime, to events diverse community rich
that occurred in with a variety of musical
America
during and artistic talents. This is
the early 1900s. why our performances of
It examines how the musical Ragtime were
cultures
came so successful. Even as I
together and often write this article I am made
collided to create aware of this very fact
this
wonderful, as two of our seniors are
beautiful
and practicing on either side of
important style of my office. In the orchestra
musical expression. The room I hear Marian Helsel,
wisdom
a cellist,
a
n
d
The wisdom of Rag- working on
profundity
part for
time is that out her
of
the
tonight’s
horrible events concert. In
m u s i c a l of
Ragtime is comes a style of my
right
that out of
ear I hear
(or maybe music that has in- D a v i d
in
spite fluenced
culture Brown in
of)
some
chorus
around the world.” the
pretty
r o o m
horrible
editing
events, comes this style of one of his numerous R&B/
music that has influenced Gospel compositions on the
music and culture around keyboard. What awesome
the world. An impact we music.
“
7
photo by Dave Winter
Clockwise from left: Tateh (Nick Ward),
Little Girl (Caroline Denton); Evelyn Nesbitt (Courtney Hunt), Judge (Chandler
Kelly); Emma Goldman (Sophie Cox);
Maid (Viviana Chavez-Vega), Little Boy
(Zachary Gaslowitz), Mother (Kimberly
Hagan), Younger Brother (Joe Oliver),
Sarah (Morgan Phillips-Spotts), Policeman (Dylan Woodliff and Chris Collier);
Henry Ford (Dylan Woodliff) and his
Model T (Miles Keeney-Ritchie).
photos by Dave Winter
O V E RV I E W
Cast survives,
then thrives
After six years of one-acts, plays
and recitals, Grady’s theater was
once again the site of a musical:
Ragtime. The play is based on the
novel by E.L. Doctorow about family
and race relations during the turn of
the century. The Grady adaptation,
by Ms. Lisa Willoughby and Mr.
Kevin Hill, proved successful and
will hopefully pave the way for future
musicals.
The choice to perform Ragtime
was carefully considered. “We
wanted a show that would start
off the program with a bang,” Ms.
Willoughby said. “[Ragtime] seemed
like a natural choice for the Grady
audience.” Ms. Willoughby and Mr.
Hill chose Ragtime because it had
high educational value, because it
required a diverse cast, and because
it is a challenge to produce. “Mr.
Hill wanted to make sure the musical
was feasible but still challenging,”
Ms. Willoughby continued.
The play did prove challenging,
incorporating more than 60
students, from cast members to
stagehands to the orchestra, which
provided most of the background
music for the play. Participants
also had to deal with coordinating
the music and voices, finding space
for the orchestra and filling in roles
when actors dropped out of the
play.
“Everything that could go wrong
went wrong up until the show,” said
senior Morgan Phillips-Spotts, who
played the character Sarah. Yet the
production pulled together due to
the joint efforts of the large cast
and crew.
“It’s always true that the
ensemble creates a real bond,”
Ms. Willoughby said. “I was really
gratified at the extent to which that
was true in this show.”
Both Ms. Willoughby and Mr.
Hill hope to do more musicals in the
future, though probably on a smaller
scale. The skill and commitment of
the students will hopefully make a
regular musical possible once again.
“A school full of talent can do an
awful musical,” Mr. Hill said. “It’s
students willing to work hard and
commit to it that makes it different.”
-- Alice Bufkin
Clockwise from left: “What a Game”; Father (Raphael Velez), Little Boy (Zachary Gaslowitz;
Sarah’s Friend (Marian Davis) fronts the chorus mourning the death of Sarah (Morgan PhillipsSpotts); Man (Chandler Kelley).
photo by Dave Winter
photo by Jane Zamarripa
photo by Dave Winter
T H E
V I E W
F R O M
T H E
P I T
Bringing a taste of Broadway to Eighth Street
Whenever I travel to New York City, I always
see a Broadway show. New York has many things to
offer: food, Central Park, and people watching, but
the thing I always have on my mind is the theater.
Not only do I love the acting, I love the music even
more. The mysterious glimpse of the baton as it
grazes the top of the orchestra pit makes me want
to relieve my curiosity and climb in. A few weeks
ago I got to experience this mystery right in our
own theater.
At first, I was reluctant to be a part of the
production of Ragtime. By being part of this
production I had to attend long rehearsals
and learn music that seemed impossible.
The first couple of rehearsals I attended were
stressful. When an actor missed his or her line, we
would wait for what seemed like an eternity. But,
as the show approached I started to feel like a real
Broadway musician; rehearsals ran smoother, and
our intensity rose to performance level.
I could remember getting up during the
intermission during my latest viewing of Fiddler
on the Roof, teetering on my tip-toes and peering
over the edge of the crater-like structure, just so I
could see the musicians turn off their stand lights
or furiously practice before the next act. Behind our
solid gray screen, that was used to keep us under
wraps, we were “extreme counting,” as I call it. Every
time our mouths opened we melodically whispered
measure numbers, glancing over each other’s
shoulders, reading each other’s lips to see if we were
in synch. We would tap our feet and snap our fingers,
anything to make our next entrance. Because we
were a tad under-rehearsed and a little nervous (at
least I was) we had our mishaps.
On performance night we had a job to
do, and it required our complete attention. As soon
as the lights dimmed, my eyes became adjusted to
the bright stand light that I had always wanted to
illuminate, the light I could only see on my tip-toes
during intermission. Putting on his headphones,
our conductor, Mr. Hill, became our superior— we
were now devoted to his every instruction. The once
distant baton was in fluid motion right before our
eyes. I was no longer curious of the activities that
occurred in the many pits of Broadway, I was in the
first of many pits to come to Grady.
-- Sarah Muntzing
photo by Jane Zamarripa
Clockwise from left: Booker T.
Washington (Charles Gibson),
Younger Brother (Joe Oliver),
Coalhouse Walker (Russell
Owens); chorus members
(Kimberly Hagan, Sarah Taylor), Evelyn Nesbitt (Courtney
Hunt); Mother (Elly Bookman).
photos by Jane Zamarripa
A c t o r
Style of Ragtime, diversity of Grady
mesh together perfectly
I have never worked so hard and tirelessly
on anything else in my life; and neither have I taken
more pride and satisfaction in the finished product of
anything I’ve ever had a part in producing. Acting in
Ragtime was one of the most genuine experiences of my
life.
Playing the principle role of Coalhouse
Walker Jr., was fun, yet it required an immense amount
of dedication, focus, and talent. For anyone to pull off
a role as complex and emotional as Coalhouse requires
an extreme amount of talent and determination (sorry
if I came off a little conceited). While attending Grady,
I’ve been involved in several productions, but I have
not fallen in love with any other character like I did
Coalhouse Walker, Jr.
Something that caught my attention was
how the audience fell in love with Coalhouse as much
as I did. To an actor, being able to have the audience
receive your character and love him, whether he’s the
villain or the hero, is one of your primary goals. To see
the audience cry with your character and feel his agony,
to see the audience sympathize with your character and
relate to him, to have them laugh when you smile and
grieve when you die is the thespian’s true reward.
Working with the cast and backstage crew
was amazing. I became good friends with many people.
There were times, however, when the racial tensions
portrayed in the musical mirrored relations amongst the
cast. We were able to overcame these instances as the
characters eventually did in the musical. That’s when
you can tell when a play hits home: it stays with you, and
it affects your life in ways that nothing else can. Plays
reflect society, and the struggles, differences, and ideals
that are inscribed into it.
Everything I look at now seems to harness
in it a quality or value that I observed in Ragtime. And
everywhere I go now, I carry with me a little piece of
Coalhouse Walker Jr.
--Russell Owens
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5
4
Screen on the
Green: Some
Like It Hot
at Piedmont
Park, begins at
sunset.
Los Lonely
Boys and
Santana play
Chastain Park,
8 p.m.
Virgina
Highlands
Summerfest,
admission is
free.
9
10
11
NBA Finals
begin on ABC
at 8:30 p.m.
Screen on the
Green: To Kill
a Mockingbird
Music Midtown
12 with new
dates. Tickets
are $75 for
the weekend.
14
16
17
Screen on the
Green: The
Birds.
Harry Potter
and the HalfBlood Prince
released.
Decatur Beach
Party, 60
tons of sand
poured in the
streets with
live music.
23
24
7
6
12
8
Coca-Cola
Summer Film
Festival
begins at the
Fox Theatre.
13
15
Modest Mouse
plays the Fox
Theatre, 8 p.m.
20
19
21
22
Screen on the
Green: Mommie Dearest
Father’s Day
27
28
29
i
3
j une
Last day of
the Georgia
Renaissance
Festival
26
menagerie
2
1
18
25
Atlanta Pride
Festival at
Piedmont Park
30
Collective Soul Screen on the
plays the Roxy Green: Grease
Theatre, 8 p.m.
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17