Vol. LXXXXVI Jonathan Dayton High School February 2021 February 2021 Edition EDITORIAL BOARD Brielle & Nicole Ramundo Ms. Rooney-Kuhn Sarah Zarember Editors in Chief Advisor Opinions Editor EDITORIAL BOARD OPINION This year has definitely been challenging for the students at Jonathan Dayton. The new virtual setting has impacted everyone’s lives and schedules, and it can be hard to find the light in this dark situation. Not being able to have the normal high school experience for almost two school years is something that the students at Dayton never imagined. However, despite the current circumstances, it is imperative that we remember to make the best out of this situation, and to continue to look forward to the improvements the future is sure to hold. Just because we are interacting with teachers and classmates through a computer screen does not mean new goals cannot be achieved and memories cannot be made. If we look to the bright side of this situation and remain calm, patient, and hopeful, we will be back through Dayton’s doors very soon. CONTRIBUTORS Anthony Bianchi Natalyah Cadiche Cassandra Cadillo Diana Elguera Victoria Perez-Palacios Sofia Sieminski THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK! The Dawg Print News 4 The Hill We Climb By: Amanda Gorman When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade We've braved the belly of the beast We've learned that quiet isn't always peace And the norms and notions of what just is Isn’t always just-ice And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it Somehow we do it Somehow we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished We the successors of a country and a time Where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one And yes we are far from polished far from pristine but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect We are striving to forge a union with purpose To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another We seek harm to none and harmony for all Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: That even as we grieved, we grew That even as we hurt, we hoped That even as we tired, we tried That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious Not because we will never again know defeat but because we will never again sow division Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree And no one shall make them afraid The Dawg Print News 5 If we’re to live up to our own time Then victory won’t lie in the blade But in all the bridges we’ve made That is the promised glade The hill we climb If only we dare It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy And this effort very nearly succeeded But while democracy can be periodically delayed it can never be permanently defeated In this truth in this faith we trust For while we have our eyes on the future history has its eyes on us This is the era of just redemption We feared at its inception We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour but within it we found the power to author a new chapter To offer hope and laughter to ourselves So while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe? Now we assert How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us? We will not march back to what was but move to what shall be A country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation Our blunders become their burdens But one thing is certain: If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left with Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one The Dawg Print News 6 We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west, we will rise from the windswept northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states, we will rise from the sunbaked south We will rebuild, reconcile and recover and every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful will emerge, battered and beautiful When day comes we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid The new dawn blooms as we free it For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it If only we’re brave enough to be it AMANDA GORMAN’S THE HILL WE CLIMB REFLECTS HOW ART IS USED TODAY By: Cassandra Cadillo, 2022 During President Biden’s Inaugural Address, and what’s more, we get to use those words to realize we were honored to have Amanda Gorman recite her our thoughts and transform those thoughts into poem The Hill We Climb. The poem alludes to the actions.” Art is constantly changing, as it reflects the social and political issues of today, such as the police social, political, and spiritual changes of our world. brutality cases and the U.S. Capitol riots. Through the Before the late 1800s, art mainly consisted of statues Art of Spoken Word, Amanda Gorman was able to call and paintings that depicted grandiose scenes and for the unification of citizens and bring hope to every subjects. Today, art depicts the ideas and concepts person watching/reading by saying that there are the artist wants to express and be heard. From Helen better times ahead. She says Reddy’s “I am Woman,” to BLM that we are not trying to makes signs that say “They buried us but our country “perfect,” and that they didn’t know we were seeds,” “we are striving to forge a union to even street art dedicated to with purpose.” These “better George Floyd, art is used as a way times” won’t come overnight, to speak one’s mind and incite but Amanda Gorman tells us action. that in order to “climb” the Amanda Gorman’s The Hill “hill,” hard work and patience is We Climb calls for the unification required. Her poem is an of citizens for the betterment of incredible example of how art can impact people’s our society and country. She provides hope to the points of view. Powerful art like The Hill We Climb has world by saying “we will rebuild, reconcile, and been used to speak out against injustice and help recover,” and that one day we should “step out of the people develop an understanding of real-world shade” and see the “light.” Her poem has touched a situations. variety of citizens because she gives the audience Over time, art has become not only a means hope for a better future. The Hill We Climb is a great for expression but a means for activism. In an example of how art is used to impact people’s points interview on Trevor Noah’s The Daily Social of view, make one’s voice heard, and incite action. Art Distancing Show, Amanda Gorman said that poetry transforms “thoughts into actions,” and the beauty of “becomes the language and the rhetoric of the people. it is that we can use it to make an impact in people’s We get to kind of co-opt it and put our own play on it, lives. The Dawg Print News 7 BLACK HISTORY MONTH—PANDEMIC STYLE By: Natalyah Cadiche, 2022 February. It is that month again. The month awareness about online scams or informing people where we recognize years of suffering. The month about ways to stay safe during the pandemic) the where we celebrate overcoming inequality. The more recent use of this practice to spread month where we fully recognize just how much the information about African American rights and Black community has fought to live the lives they live history has been highly effective. Through these today. Black History Month. One of the most chains, students are able to not only post information significant months in celebrating African American that they believe is important and needs to be and Black culture and reminding society of the fight recognized, but it also enables others who may know for equality that continues into modern times. more about racial leaders and modern racial tensions In past years, Black History Month has been to add on their own information as the chain known for parades, festivals, and a wide range of continues to be posted.