THE LIGHTHOUSE Volume XXVI, Issue VI Lyndhurst High School April 2013 Poetry Slam brings spring fever BY BIANCA FATA Kara Mackin; Sophomores Ruka Olunlade and Haley Peduto and Freshman Matt De- On March 28, LHS students assembled Marco. in the media center for the Eleventh Annual “The lighthearted, humorous strategy always Spring Poetry Slam. Divided into nine catego- pays off,” Beatrice said about her volleyball-in- ries, the Slam was fi lled with poems whose spired poem, “I’m Only Me When I Hit You.” authors ranged from freshmen to faculty. Par- In fi fth place was Junior Nicolette Jimenez, in ticipants were also able to enjoy musical per- fourth was Senior Bobby DeMarco, third was formances by their classmates. Senior Nathan Duquilla, second was Sopho- Following tradition, while the judges deliber- more Ketevan Kobauri and in fi rst was back- ated, poets and musicians enjoyed cake while to-back Slam winner Senior Michelle Taliento. educators shared their poetry and Ms. Pas- “It was an honor to have won the slam twice, tor’s Creative Writing class delivered a group especially after hearing the other incredibly poem entitled, “What I Want My Words to Do talented poets present their work,” Taliento to You.” said. She wrote her poem, “Doing the Math,” English Teacher Mrs. DeMarco, who was about her struggles with college applications. among the four-member faculty/staff judg- Taliento’s poem conveyed the message that ing panel, recognized the following students, people are more than a piece of paper and COURTESY OF CHRISTIANE PIEZAS whose poetry earned honorable mention: Ju- that any college, trade or vocational school Seniors Cap Ki Kim and Grace Gigante perform niors Caroline Beatrice, Sarah Canaris and would be lucky to have an LHS graduate. with the chorale at the Spring Poetry Slam. ‘Fun is good’ for Dr. Seuss Day at Lyndhurst BY MICHELLE FOTI had Dr. Seuss Day as a kid,” Spahiu said. “It him paper hearts so he could love. was cool seeing how happy the kids were after Later, they were bussed to the high school On March 1, elementary students from helping them make their hot air balloons [in- auditorium to hear stories written by Kim Nor- across the district arrived at school wearing spired by] ‘Oh The Places You Will Go.’ It was man, a children’s author from Virginia. Norman crazy hairstyles and elaborate costumes for a fulfi lling knowing that I helped them.” shared her works, “Crocodaddy” and “I Know celebration in honor of Children’s Author Dr. Students in grades K-3 also received a visit A Wee Piggy.” She also recited an interactive Seuss and Read Across America Day. from the Grinch. They were summoned to give nursery rhyme, “Five Little Crocodiles,” in- The day’s activities were coordinated by Su- spired by “Five Little Monkeys,” in English and perintendent Mrs. Marinelli, along with a team Spanish. Additionally, Norman sang an upbeat of supervisors, principals, teachers and par- bedtime song, “The Storytime Boogie.” ents who volunteered their time. LHS’s Future Fourth and fi fth graders had a special Dr. Teachers Program and Peer Group Connec- Seuss celebration with New York Giants De- tion lent a helping hand with the day’s events. fensive Back Stevie Brown, who read the Dr. English Teacher Mrs. DeMarco served a Seuss classic, “I Wish that I Had Duck Feet.” dual role on the event committee, creating “I’m a Giants football fan and I wasn’t even the day’s schedule and formulating a plan to going as wild as everyone else,” said Jeffer- extend traditional Read Across America activi- son School Fifth Grader Hunter Johnson. “Dr. ties to students throughout the district. Seuss Day has never been this fun before.... “We wanted kids to recognize the founda- I wish every day could be as fun as Dr. Seuss tional lessons of simplicity that you learn in the Day.” younger grades are what you build upon as COURTESY OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Mrs. Klein, supervisor of the Language Arts, you go up in the grades,” DeMarco said. “You Lyndhurst elementary students honored Dr. Se- Social Studies, and English as a Second Lan- aren’t doing the calculus without the one fi sh, uss by listening to his stories read by LHS stu- guage Departments, said the event was worth two fi sh.” dents and Giants Defensive Back Stevie Brown. all of the preparation and effort. Kindergarten through third grade students “I spent most of my time with the fourth and commemorated Dr. Seuss by reading “One fi fth graders, and I could see they were in- fi sh two fi sh red fi sh blue fi sh,” “I Wish that spired. [Brown] promoted reading, sportsman- I Had Duck Feet,” “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” ship and a fun atmosphere,” Klein said. and “Bartholomew and the Oobleck,” respec- DeMarco said she was also pleased with the tively. They completed creative activities fol- outcome of the Dr. Seuss Day events. lowing the themes of these books, even chan- “I give so much credit to all the elementary neling their inner scientist for an Oobleck lab. teachers. It had to be an exhausting day, but Senior and Peer Leader Justin Spahiu as- the things they were doing were fantastic. All sisted with second grade activities at Wash- the little things made the simple teachings of ington School. Dr. Seuss applicable to children and adults “Celebrating was fun because I never really alike,” DeMarco said. PAGE 2 The Lighthouse April 2013 Question: If you could be in any band, what COLUMN band would you join? What would Franklin do? COLUMN COMPILED BY What would GIANNA DIPISA This one’s a really tough ques- Newman do? tion for me to answer. There are COMPILED BY so many choices coming to mind. GIANNA DIPISA I fi nd electronic music the most enjoyable music to both listen to and make. So, I’m tempted to As always, there are a lot of COURTESY OF GIANNA DIPISA COURTESY OF SEAN MCCHESNEY directions in which we could go. explore that possibility. Would Let’s knock out some of the pos- “The White Stripes.” At bass gui- I want to be in a break beat act music. Sure, you guys would still sibilities. tar: a dark horse of a selection, like NAPT? In some heavy indus- have all this EDM to fi st pump to, Shout out to Mr. Dellosa and the Flea from “Red Hot Chili Peppers” trial rock band like KMFDM? Or but it’s like asking if we’d have LHS Marching Band, but a march- fame. At drums, ranked the best do something more far out like calculus without Newton. We sure ing band would be out for me. drummer of all time by “Rolling record with Aphex Twin? I think it would, but it just wouldn’t have as How about others? Hip hop Stone” Magazine, Neil Peart of would be pretty cool to work with much swag. band? Nope. I’m certainly “street” the Canadian super-band “Rush.” Rob Swire. I’ve been following his I can’t ignore the real possibili- enough, but I stopped keeping it Finally, for our lead singer, we will drum‘n’bass act, Pendulum, for a ties that lie in this question either. I real years ago. I keep it unreal.... go with Bono from “U2” and his long time as it evolved into more mean ANY band? I could be there Fo’ real, though. brand new German surgically en- electronic rock and now his new when Elvis got big, the Beatles Vocal band? Unless we sang gineered back. Knife Party project, which is get- took our country by storm, with songs from the soul artists of the So, for our historic group (which ting really hot right now. Jimi at Woodstock, alongside the ‘70s, like Bobby “Blue” Bland or is a kinder way of saying “dead”): Two of my all-time favorite artists early DJs in Detroit birthing tech- Teddy Pendergrass, I say nay! at lead guitar, who else, but Jimi are Bill Leeb and Trent Reznor. no (yes, techno is American mu- It’s gotta be a hard rock or metal Hendrix. At bass, well, we can’t Leeb’s been in the Industrial sic). Sitting in a studio with some band, not some “alternative” band even go with bassist. We have scene forever heading up proj- of my previously mentioned acts where the song is about how hurt a second lead guitar, the Texas ects from Skinny Puppy to Noise seems kind of insignifi cant when the lead singer was by a girlfriend Tornado, Mr. Stevie Ray Vaughn. Unit to Delerium and everything in you think of cases like these. who left him crying when it was At drums, and he was great, but between, the most famous being If I could be in any band, I’d pick raining outside. No, I’m talking would be a hoot to hang out with Frontline Assembly (pretty heavy a band with both historical sig- about a band whose daily life is as well, Keith Moon from “The Industrial stuff). Trent’s music, on nifi cance and music I’m into: U2. crazier than the craziest night of Who.” Singer? Well, I would love the other hand, was the music Sure, this probably seems to have your life. The kind of band that fl ies to have none other than the “Man that made me curious about how come from out of nowhere given into town in F-14 Tomcats, drives in Black” himself start off every it was made and got me playing the acts I’ve discussed, but U2 is monster trucks and has more py- concert by coming out and say- keyboard.