Go Read Go Bucs Go Away Page 4 Page 6 Page 12 & 13 The Drumbeat “What’s in it for you?” It’s Dark All the Time ‘21 Parsippany High School Vol. 4 Defining 2020 By Sumaiya Rehman the true reality 2020 surrounded us with. Suddenly, we gained a whole If you were to recap the year 2020 in new perspective on the world we one word, what would it be? thought we knew. Last year consisted of constant For a full half year, America felt iso- surprises. I’m sure most of us would lated in every way. Socially, political- ly, and even economically. Being away from our friends, our family, and our own grandparents was something we were not used to, but we had to learn to adjust to. For the safety of everyone around us, we had to change our own lives. The year 2020 had its fair share of major events that will go down in history. From the death of Kobe Bryant, Australian Wildfires, the We witnessed a microscopic virus Black Lives Matter Movement, the take millions upon millions of lives COVID-19 Pandemic, all the way around the world in just one year; to the 2020 Presidential election, not a single continent left un- there must have been some lessons touched. Travelling and conducting say these were negative surprises. we learned. business across borders has never Our lives completely changed. Not So if we were to recap the year 2020 been easier which enhanced the even 3 months into the year, we in one word, what would it be? virus’s ability to disseminate. were stuck in our homes. Little did Impactful. We learned the lesson of begin- we know it would last for over five 2020 taught us many lessons that we ning to care for others. For the safety months. By May of 2020, more should take the time to consider for of ourselves and everyone around us. change took place. When the Black our future. We learned all the little things Lives Matter movement began to Together we learned how change that happened in the big world take action, when we started losing can have a vast global and individual around us that we never even people we knew due to a pandem- impact. It’s now clear to us the true thought twice of until we were stuck ic, when we had to learn to adjust significance of our global economy, see 2020 page 2 to new norms, our eyes opened to and how connected we really are. Page Number 2 The Drumbeat It’s Dark All the Time ‘21 2020 in our homes. About Young Arts Academy We felt isolated and By Krishna Parikh alone, but at the same time, the world learned to If you are an avid writer, artist, or visual performer, you may have heard of Young Arts come together and slowly Academy. YoungArts is a national non-profit youth foundation that serves to recog- begin to work towards the nize and provide opportunities to young artists through an annual competition. It change that we all wanted was founded in 1981. Students from ages 15 to 18 are welcome to submit their work, for so long in the world. whether it be traditional art, digital art, poetry, fiction writing, photography, filmmak- During our isolation ing, dancing, and other performing arts. Applications open in the summertime. Youn- period we learned that gArts receive about 7000 applications annually, and 10% are selected. Selected students there are millions more can enter the YoungArts comprehensive programs that provide opportunities to de- like us as well, and we velop their craft, along with financial and professional support. There are three award tried to work together categories: Finalist, then Honorable Mention, and lastly, Merit. Cash prizes ranging and become friends with from $100 to $10,000. Winners are also able to showcase their talent during National each other in our virtual YoungArts week. Alumni are also provided lifetime support in various forms by the worlds. foundation. Currently, it’s providing a grant to alumni affected by COVID19. If you We learned to find the are interested, visit youngarts.org. Their website has submission guidelines, videos from good in the midst of the mentors and alumni, and magazines that display winners’ work every year. Go check it chaos we were surround- out! ed with. We learned the lesson The following poem is a piece by a YoungArts 2021 winner.: that what life will bring to us is always unexpected. Napalm Girl We can never be ready For Phan Thi Kim Phúc for anything. But with the lessons learned in War thick like jelly on breakfast bread allegiance to is the same america that loves 2020, we should be ready & we finish breathing a new summer the smell to continue the good we silting in rice paddy June. Our temple of napalm in the morning, a mouthful of brought out of the cha- cries an elegy lodged in the throat ash otic year, and further this of mercy. Mama paws me to the empty sweetened by agent orange. Vietnam is good to make us become lantern the dust the greatest in the future, light; teaches me the throat is a pipe in my bones burying and baying for the So if you could de- organ: tubing calcified with teething burn. scribe 2020 in one word, tragedy. It’s a common belief: how Cao Dai un- how would YOU define In what life is a nine-year-old girl corked it? abandoned to soldiers, we ask. I tell my my body to a diaspora, unpeeling permis- children sion the story of a scar like an old folk tale: skin from the flesh that domesticated look, disaster the land lacquered with entire histories of like a name. In my next life, the picture violence is my prison: a reminder of earth plumped is dyed the color of your mother’s ao dai, with watered grief and new God bloom- indigo for immortality, indigo for i’m still ing alive. from the belly of Bible; a thousand words In mourning, the america they pledge to say a daughter thirsting for home. Page Number 3 The Drumbeat It’s Dark All the Time ‘21 Totem’s first competition is still running for those interested in the prompt. Details are on the flyer. Feel free to twist the prompt I FEEL AT HOME WHEN... in your favor, and be creative! We are al- ways looking for submissions, so feel free to Totem Magazine is hosting its first competition of the year! submit any type of writing or artwork! You are invited to write a poem about a circumstance Home where you feel most at home. No restrictions on the style of poetry. The winner's poem will be included Why am I never home? in this year's edition of the magazine! I cannot be myself within these Ouestions and submissions at: four suffocating walls where [email protected] who I truly am isn’t welcome, and my lungs are pierced with Is the prompt not your cup of tea? No worries! cold air with every breath. Totem is always I cannot find warmth that lasts. accepting any poetry (or Yet, somehow, life brought me short stories and to you who taught me comfort, artwork). We accept and helped me grow and love. anonymous entries as Still I’ve had the misfortune of well, just let us know if you prefer we do not having to love from a distance, share your name :) and I clash with the question Why do I have to love behind closed doors? It doesn’t feel like home where a mattress sits on a bed frame, from which my mind plays made-up memories. Still, where sleep layers onto itself within the embrace of his arms, is painfully out of reach. I ache as every moment passes, finding solace in how each one is a moment closer to being where I truly belong. I ache but I find solace in knowing that my home is a person, not a place I’ll have to leave behind, and I find solace in knowing that when I grow up, I’ll pack my love and leave the past, and I’ll run home to you, and I’ll be at home for good. Page Number 4 The Drumbeat It’s Dark All the Time ‘21 Coming-of-age Quarantine Reads You might recognize this title from the movie, but The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is an By Katelin Chen incredibly well-written coming-of-age novel. Chbosky As we are beginning to make the gradual transition creates a story where communication with and between back to in-school learning, whether you are at school high schoolers is more realistic, and relationships more or staying at home, it might be a good idea to pick up a authentic. Instead of focusing on an out-spoken pro- book to take a break from whatever you may be reading tagonist, the story of the high school experience is told for school. Here are some suggestions, across multiple through someone who would rather stay quiet and genres.* watch from the sidelines. Poetry If you enjoy reading poetry, there are many books where characters’ stories are told through stanzas, and The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is one of them. Acevedo portrays the life of a girl who feels trapped by forced religion, and eventually finds an outlet with every line she writes. Fantasy Realistic Fiction In a world where magic is always a possibility, a king Some of the most popular young adult novels are real- takes a new bride every night, and has her killed by istic fiction, and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is dawn.