March Review

MARCH REVIEW

Red Cross Month Philadelphia Flower Show By : Britney Guerriero By : Julia Reasoner When we think of the month of March, The annual Philadelphia Flower Show is we think of the most obvious holiday - St. predicted to have a “Wonders of Water,” Patrick’s Day. What is the Red Cross? The theme as a break from the snow, ice, Red Cross is a humanitarian organiza- and cold weather. It will be running from tion that provides emergency assistance, March 3rd to March 11th. There has been disaster relief and education in the United a slight increase in the price of tickets States. And Red Cross Month is a month if you are looking to attend. The prices to dedicate how grateful we are to those have gone up one dollar from last year’s who serve us in this organization. We use prices. If you buy tickets after March 1st, this month as a chance to honor and cel- they will cost they will cost $32 on week- ebrate the everyday heroes. Every eight days and $35 on weekends for adults, $22 minutes The Red Cross brings help and aid on weekdays and $24 on weekends for to people in need. And you can help, too! students, and $17 for children. This show This March The Red Cross is encouraging is worth the money. The crowd it attracts you to uncover your inner hero. By donat- annually is estimated at 250,000 people. ing, volunteering, donating blood, taking There is a wide selection of plants, from a class, etc, The Red Cross depend on your vibrant desert blooms to delicate orchids support to make a difference in the coun- and lush flowering vines. The displays, try. On average of 91 cents out of every designed by the country’s leading gar- one dollar, the American Red Cross funds den designers, are inspired by temperate are invested in humanitarian services and forests, tropical rain forests, native wood- programs to help those in need. And as lands, and desert landscapes. founders say, “Red Cross Month is a great Visitors can find tips on outdoor living time for people to become part of the and conservation in home gardens at a Red Cross.” new exhibit, “The Backyard.” They will also be able to craft their own mini-wa- Origin Of St Patrick’s Day ter gardens, floral headpieces and suc- By : Hannah Connolly culent planters in the “Make and Take” The modern St. Patrick’s Day celebrations workshop, and interact with thousands will likely be characterized by commer- of colorful butterflies in “Butterflies Live.” cial lucky charms and green beer, all of This year, the William Penn Founda- which has very little to do with the histori- tion awarded the Horticultural Society a cal figure of the saint. As it turns out, it grant to build an exhibit that shows how took centuries for the holiday to accrue plant systems sustain the Delaware River the elements that now seem crucial to its Watershed through marshes, streams, celebrations. The March 17th celebration fields, and mountains. Not only is this a started in 1631 when the Church estab- great opportunity to see beautiful flower lished a Feast Day honoring St. Patrick. exhibits, but it provides a new learning He had been Patron Saint of Ireland who opportunity for those interested in gardens died around the fifth century. This was and plants role in the environment. If you centuries before the modern version of the can, try to buy tickets while they are still holiday was first observed, but very little available and attend this amazing event! is known about who he actually was, ac- cording to Marion Casey, a clinical assis- Spring Break tant professor of Irish Studies at New York By: Gianna Backburn University and a regular marcher in the St. Even though it only happens once a year, Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan. and last as little as a week or two, it is We know that he was a Roman citizen, what millions of college students live for. because Britain was Roman then. He was It is a time when young adults flock to the enslaved and taken to Ireland, where he beaches and celebrate the warm weather either escaped or was released, Casey says, to come. For centuries people have cel- “And then he became a priest and went ebrated the arrival of spring, like the Greeks back to Ireland, where he had a lot of luck and Romans. But, spring break as we know converting the Druid culture into Chris- it, started in 1928. When Fort Lauderdale tians.” Legend says, St. Patrick was actually built Florida’s first olympic sized swimming born Maewyn Succat, but that he changed pool. It brought in top competitive swim- his name to Patricius, or Patrick which de- mer during their breaks from classes. By rives from the Latin term for father figure the late 30’s, almost two-thousand student after he became a priest. Supposed luck of athletes were coming to Fort Lauderdale. his is the root of all the themed merchan- Then in 1960, MGM released Where The dise for modern St. Patrick’s Day. Boys Are, a movie showing college women It wasn’t until the early 18th century that on their spring vacation. This only enticed many of today’s traditions were kicked young adults more into escaping to the sand into high gear. Since the holiday falls dur- and sun. In 1986, MTV launched the first of ing Lent, it was to remind celebrants what many Spring Break specials. Will so much the holiday actually stood for that the publicity and with how many other cities church first associated an item, customary were welcoming the Spring Break revenue, for all saints. With St. Patrick, assigning him it all combined to ensure that Spring Break the symbol of the likewise lucky shamrock. would not end anytime soon. Modern-day celebrations and themes continued to take shape during the rest of Saint Patrick’s Day Parade the 1700s. In 1762, the first New York City By: Britney Guerriero parade took place. It wasn’t until 1798, the Saint Patrick’s Day is the Irish holiday cel- year of the Irish Rebellion, that the color ebrated on March 17th every year. The green became officially associated with the Holiday is an annual feast day celebrating day.. Up until the rebellion, the color as- the Patron Saint the day is named after as sociated with St. Patrick was blue, as it was well as honoring Irish heritage. This parade featured both in the royal court and on is one of the oldest parades being first held the Irish chose to wear green, and they sang in 1762. And it’s held in so many different the song “The Wearing of the Green” dur- places; Chicago, New York City, Georgia, ing the rebellion, cementing the color’s rel- etc. In New York City, the parade begins at evance in Irish history. 11 am on 44th street, moves pat 50th street past Saint Patrick Cathedral, and ends all Fur Rendezvous Festival the way on 80th street around 5 pm. This By: Julia Reasoner holiday has spread throughout the entire In Anchorage, Alaska, once a year United States and we also celebrate it by they have the Fur Rendezvous, commonly wearing green and eating corned beef known as the Fur Rondy. More than 15 cabbage. So go on and get your Irish on events and over 100 activities can be found this Saint Patty’s Day! at this winter festival. This tradition has been around for 80 years, starting in 1935 and What’s The Point of Daylight Saving still actively occurring today. It started as a Time? three-day sporting event timed to coincide By: David Dugan with the return of the miners and trappers In the middle of March, we’ll be setting our loaded down with everything from their clocks forward an hour overnight, losing winter work. The original event featured an hour of sleep. Thankfully, this will be were skiing, hockey, basketball, boxing and happening over the weekend this time a children’s sled dog race. The current events around, so we won’t be losing sleep where and activities have grown and expanded, it really matters, but as we go through the however, sports are still a very important confusion of changing clocks all around the part of the Fur Rondy. house, we can’t help but wonder why we Some of the fan favorites are Outhouse do this? Races, and Running of the Reindeer. During We’ve been going through the routine of Outhouse Racing, contestants put outhouses Daylight Saving Time our whole lives. We on skis and and they must race them down lose an hour of sleep at the beginning of a hillside. The objective is to go the fastest the year only to get it back later on. Most and win the race. Running the Reindeer of the time we just go through the motions is an event in which there is a mad dash without really questioning it, but think down the streets with caribou at the racers’ about, what really is the point? heels. The objective is to outrun the cari- A lot of people think that the reason we bou. Another popular event is the Rondy have Daylight Saving Time is because of World Championship Sled Dog Races. Dog farmers. Farmers need sunlight for their teams and their mushers complete three crops to grow, and so it’s easy to assume high-speed loops over three days and the that we set our clocks forward so that one with the fastest elapsed time is then an- farmers get an extra hour of daylight. This nounced the winner. This competition began seems reasonable, but ignores the fact in 1946 and is considered the grandfather of that changing our clocks doesn’t actually all Alaska races. The 2018 Sled Dog Races change the amount of daytime we get. It will begin on Fourth Avenue at D Street and doesn’t matter if the sun sets at 7 or 8 PM, run out and back to Campbell Creek. or rises at 7 or 8 AM, the amount of time Much of Alaska’s native heritage still that the sun is in the sky in a day stays the shows through in the Rondy. There is also same. the Fur Rondy Blanket Toss which mimics There are two competing reasons for hav- an ancient Alaska Native whaling tradition ing Daylight Saving Time, a practical one in two ways. First off, a walrus skin is used. and a more frivolous one. The frivolous Also, everyone can have a turn to either one is that shifting the clocks forward gives jump or grip the blanket’s edge while tossing people more sunlight during the warmer others as high as 20 feet into the air. On top months so that they have more time to of this, arts and crafts are an important part enjoy the weather. The problem with this is of Alaska Native culture, and Rondy incor- the same as the problem with the farmer porates displays of various crafted works. explanation. The amount of time that the Some include beautifully decorated show- sun stays in the sky is the same regardless pieces to art that evokes traditional ways of what our clocks say. of life. They can be found all over the state The more practical one is that by increas- at The Charlotte Jenson Native Arts Market. ing the amount of time the sun is up in Personally, I would love to attend this winter the evening keeps people from turning festival. Winter is one of my favorite times of their lights on until later, which saves en- the year but given that it is in Alaska, I will ergy. This is the main reason why countries not be able to attend. If anyone finds them- started adopting DST during the World selves in Anchorage, Alaska, check out the Wars, when saving resources was extremely Fur Rendezvous. important. The problem with this is that in the modern world, we are using energy re- Women’s History Month & Interna- gardless of whether or not it’s light or dark tional Women’s Day out. Even if we have our lights off because By: Hannah Connolly it’s sunny out, we’re still using TVs, comput- Women’s History Month started In 1987, af- ers, electronic appliances, phone chargers, ter being petitioned by the National Wom- etc. en’s History Project. Congress passed Pub. L. So, how much of a difference does DST 100-9 which designated the month of March make? Almost none at all. Studies have as Women’s History Month. Within a few shown that the difference in energy used years, thousands of schools and communities during DST is extremely small, less than one began to celebrate Women’s History Month. percent. So, that begs the question, is a dif- Also, International Women’s Day is annu- ference of one percent really worth all the ally held on March 8th to celebrate women’s trouble of changing our clocks and losing achievements throughout history and across sleep? I’ll let you decide. nations. It is also known as the United Na- tions (UN) Day for Women’s Rights and World Beat International Peace. By: David Dugan The history of Women’s History Month As we get into the year of 2018, with Win- goes back to 1978. That is when a Califor- ter coming to an end and Spring around nia school district participated in Women’s the corner, hopefully we are all now get- nia school district participated in Women’s ting used to writing 2018 instead of 2017 History Week during the week of March on all of our papers. 2018 also marks a big 8th. March 8th is International Women’s year in America, with Congressional elec- Day, so women began the celebration of tions being the big focus as we get further Women’s History Week around that day. in. Internationally, there have been hap- While the participation of this Californian penings as well, with elections being held school district in Women’s History Week and governments being formed in Europe didn’t seem all that relevant at the time, it and abroad. would become very relevant a year later In China, President Xi Jinping and his party in 1979. That is when a 2-week long confer- officially did away with Presidential term ence about women’s history was held be- limits, effectively letting Mr. Jinping lead for ginning July 13th, 1979. This conference was life. This is just the latest in a series of moves co-sponsored by groups such as the Smith- made by the President to consolidate his sonian Institute, Sarah Lawrence College, power and expand China’s global influ- and the Women’s Action Alliance and when ence. The move was met with backlash they learned of the celebration held in that from many across the world, who accuse Sonoma school district the prior year, they the President of dictatorial actions. decided to get to work to create a National President Trump announced the imple- Women’s History Week. mentation of a 25% tariff on steel imports By February of 1980, their work had made and a 50% tariff on aluminum imports. it all the way to the White House and a Originally, it was believed that these would month later, U.S President Jimmy Carter be broad, applying to all imports. How- would proclaim March 8th, 1980 as Na- ever, since the announcement the Presi- tional Women’s History Week. During his dent has been open to negotiating exemp- proclamation, he stated how both men and tion with allies, most notably Canada and women helped build the United States; how Mexico. Supporters of the move say that women are the unsung heroes of history and this will give the US extra, and much need- how their contributions are so often un- ed, leverage in negotiations over NAFTA, a noticed by society in general. A year later, deal with they say is harmful to American Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and Repre- workers. sentative Barbara Mikulski co-sponsored a Italy had a highly anticipated election, Joint Congressional Resolution proclaiming which saw new parties rise to prominence. Women’s History Week – beginning March The elections saw center-right and center- 7th, 1982. Over the next several years, schools left parties join together, making coalitions all across the country began to expand to combat the rising populist parties. The Women’s History Week into Women’s His- Five Star Movement, which is only a few tory Month. By the time 1986 arrived, 14 years old, became the single largest party states had declared the month of March as in the country’s legislature. However, be- Women’s History Month. cause of the way most European governments work, it remains to be seen who will end up with the power. In order to form a majority government, parties without clear majorities must form coalitions. De- spite being the biggest party, the Five Star Movement has vowed to not form any coalitions with any of the established parties. So now, there are three likely outcomes. One, the Five Stars give in on their promise, and form a coalition with the center-right. Two, no coalition is formed and Italy en- ters a highly unstable hung parliament, a government with no majority. Three, the center-right and center-left form their own coalition to spite the populists. This is the least likely to happen and most likely to generate outrage.