Siren Reporter Infiltrates KKK Inside Lincoln Park's New Building Students
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Jan 2020 exclusive: siren Reporter infiltrates KKK Page 7 inside lincoln park’s new building Page 6 students sound off on flex days Page 3 Read SIREN reporter Trinity Lule’s interview with KKK National Director Thomas Robb in this issue! Cover photo: Taya Jones FALLYN SHOUP: backstage IN THE LIMELIGHT By Managing Editor Erin Brody Those of us who have done our fair share of Lincoln Park shows, whether it’s teching or performing in them, are familiar with the faces who help out behind the scenes for almost every show. One of those faces you may know is that of Fallyn Shoup, a junior theatre major from Washington. Shoup was recently given the opportunity to be the stage manager of The Nutcracker, which Junior theatre major Fallyn Shoup makes her the youngest stage manager in Shoup, who has been assistant stage manager Lincoln Park history! nine times throughout her time here at Lincoln Park, walks us through the moment when she “I’m having an immense amount of fun!” said found out she was the stage manager about a Shoup, concerning her job. “The cast is super week after the cast list was released: fun, super supportive!” “I have a production workshop class backstage, Jennifer Verba, the choreographer of the show, and they told me I needed to be at a meeting says, ”She’s doing wonderful. She knows the with Maria Scheller (the Center’s production drill.” manager) in her office with the other stage managers. “[She deserves to be stage manager] 100 percent. She’s very hardworking and always “They sat me down, and there was a sheet with knows what’s going on backstage,” says Grace all the shows and everything that’s gonna happen Scullion, junior dance major from Carnegie who this year. They just wanted to go through, show was in the show. “She’s doing just as good as an by show, who was stage managing, but they adult would do.” were really excited.” “As a junior, Fallyn has a maturity that shines “Maria asked me if I wanted to be stage manager through in her interactions with cast and crew, for Nutcracker, and it was really terrifying decision-making, and work ethic,” says Andrew because I’m only a junior.” Allison, a resident stage manager at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center and Shoup’s “mentor” Despite her nerves, Shoup took the offer. through the process. “I had to say yes because it’s such an opportunity,” “Working with her as a peer was a pleasure,” he she says, “and that’s something you can put on adds. your resume.” 1 The first 2020 installment of Hailey Bartlett and Steviee Geagan’s monthly comic .. SCHOODLES and the latest installment of Jordyn Slavic’s monthly comic... Read more original comics on The SIREN app! 2 Students FLEX ON Flex Days Ceresa Morsaint gets reactions about our new bad-weather policy You wake up on a cold, Monday morning. There This seems like a good thing for us, but how are is over three feet of snow on the ground, and students and teachers reacting? the temperature has dropped below freezing. You forgot to study for a test today, but lucky for Ryan Dulick, a Lincoln Park social studies teach- you, there is no school. You begin to drift back er, says, “I think it’s a good thing. It doesn’t count to sleep until your phone illuminates in the dark. against the school as a snow day, and since we service so many schools, they’re not going to call “Flex Day assignments,” sprawls across your flex days if everyone gets pounded with snow.” screen. Google Classroom has crushed your dreams. A Flexible Instructional Day (FID) Program is a tool available to schools to be used as an alter- nate approach to delivering instruction if a cir- cumstance arises that prevents instruction in customary manner. Essentially, Flex Days are snow days with work. History teacher Ryan Dulick Many students are asking why we’ve decided to do this and how it’s going to work for different On a Flex Day, teachers have to create assign- departments. ments for their students to complete within five days. That may be easy for academics teachers, Holly Castelli, dean of academics, says the main but how would a Flex Day assignment be creat- reason for Lincoln Park adopting Flex Days is ed for something like dance? “we don’t want to go any farther into June.” Jennifer Verba, Lincoln Park’s director of dance, Lincoln Park had to apply to the state to get says, via email, “Some assignment examples are permission to have Flex Days. Students were in- watching a YouTube clip on a modern dance pi- formed at grade level meetings, and Mrs. Castelli oneer and answering questions, or reading an says the policy will be in effect immediately. article about a professional ballet company and writing a reflection on the article.” “The first time we do it, there will be some bumps in the road,” she acknowledged, “but we’ll Generally, most teachers seem to like Flex Days. get those ironed out.” The same cannot be said for students. Flex Days, in the most basic definition, save us Lydia Ubry, a junior musical theatre major from school days at the end of the year. If we miss too New Castle, admits, “Nobody wants to do any- many days beyond the state-mandated 180 days thing on a snow day.” of instruction, it takes away from our summer. (Lincoln Park actually has a 186-day school year.) Flex Days, Con’t on Page 6 3 This past holiday season, I was gifted Nick Horn- by’s Songbook. Songbook is a book of 26 compiled essays in which Hornby reviews songs and their emotional significance. One essay in particular, “31 Songs,” lists, like the title suggests, 31 songs that moved Hornby in his young adulthood. Number 13 lists a song that Hornby claims one can “only listen to once.” The song is dubbed “Frankie Teardrop” by the 1970s New York synth-punk band Suicide. The band of two features vocalist Alan Vega and in- strumentalist Martin Rev. Wishing to prove Hornby wrong, I decided to Every month, SIREN music writer Steviee Geagan review the song myself to determine if it was as surveys the local music scene. gruesome as Hornby described. A pounding synth drum beat opens the track as Vega’s whisper-sings the opening line: “Frankie This Month’s Artist: Teardrop”. The instrumentals remain minimal, only the nauseating beat of the synth drum, a simple Nick Hornby keyboard riff, and Vega’s vocals. The narrative follows a poverty-stricken family man who, after losing his factory job, descends into madness. The day of his termination, Frankie returns home to slaughter his family before committing suicide. After each failure Frankie encounters, like being unable to buy food for his family and being evicted, Vega’s whispery taunt “Frankie, Frankie” seems to build up to something. Something the listener is not aware of. Until halfway through the eight-minute song, Vega unleashes a beastly, inhuman screech that caused the hair at the nape of my neck to stand on end and goosebumps rise on my arms. Seconds later, I slammed my laptop shut, cutting Vega’s demonic scream short. Nick Hornby was incorrect. I did not listen to the song just once. I could not listen to the song even once. New York City proto-punks Suicide (Martin Rev and Alan Vega), whose song Sadly, I was unable to face the music. “Ffrankie Teardrop” is featured in Nick Hornby’s Songbook 4 Deer Posing Danger jordan Horter runs into every driver’s fear -- Deer Collisions the late hours, sometimes ending as late as 10 at night. Many students live far away from the school and have to take rural roads. Principal Dr. Lindsay Rodgers says, “There is no specific time accidents involving animals could take place. The chance of getting into a wreck with a deer isn’t taken into too much consider- ation when figuring out the schedule because Photo Credit: tpwd.texas.gov you can be at risk of running into a deer at any moment of any day.” Does it seem like you’ve been seeing more deer lately? Turns out, the deer population is on the However, you are more likely to see a deer rise once again. The amount of deer is increasing during dawn and dusk. With the sun setting ear- because the amount of hunters are decreasing. lier after events at the school, it’s a more likely time to get into a wreck. According to the Game Commision on pa.gov, hunting licenses have been on a steady decline Scheduling for shows and sporting events are since 1982. The main reasons for the decline regulated by Lincoln Park Performing Arts Cen- were old age and health reasons. There also isn’t ter, not by teachers or coaches. The permission as much demand for the meat. is given, and students can stay during the event or until after. A survey on The SIREN’s Instagram questioned if anyone was against hunting. Twenty one people “A lot of the time,” says Dr. Rodgers, “we fol- said yes, while 28 said no. low the Cinderella rule,” which states that young drivers cannot be out during the nighttime hours Surprisingly, a main reason why people don’t of 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. hunt isn’t because they disagree with the death of an animal for sport. It’s more due to personal Some students have been in close encounters reasons, like wanting to be closer to nature or with animals, one of them being Fallyn Shoup, a simply for bragging rights.