Judges Give Us the Scoop on Homecoming Music

By Grace Brumbaugh

At Handley, the complaint about the Homecoming Dance is always the same: the music stinks. Katie Hays, a junior at JHHS, even stated that, “I never really enjoy Homecoming because of the music.” So what kind of music do the Handley Judges really want for Homecoming? We asked them to find out. Surprisingly, a favorite emerged among the many interviews, and it was throwback music.

Once Katie started by saying, “It would be really cool to have an ‘80’s music homecoming. Can we do that?” many of her peers jumped in with shouts of agreement. Max Hamme confirmed his agreement by exclaiming, “Everybody loves a throwback!” He and Cammie Sanders began suggesting classic songs such as Take On Me and Don’t Stop Believing.

Tony Staples, a junior, stated that the dance should throw in songs that evoke immediate nostalgia for our generation like Kesha and other early 2000’s music. Students Echo Gibson and Elizabeth Petitta revealed that they too would love to include more 2000’s era music. Echo furthers her point by saying, “I don’t think we should always play trap music. It would be cool to have something we can all jam to.”

After learning the topic of debate, Katherine Martin, a junior, was ecstatic. Smiling excitedly, she cheered, “We should play ‘80s music, definitely! And maybe some early 2000’s songs too!” The girls around her, hearing her comment, launch into a rendition of Hey Ya.

However, not all of the student body supported changing the entire musical selection available at the dance. Sophomores Joe Constantino and Cole Cestaro believe that we should combine the music of years past with our throwback picks. “I actually like some of the trap music,” Joe admits, “but I would like stuff with more rhythm. Maybe some Drake.” Cole nodded, “I also think that maybe there should be a really good slow song at the end, instead of having slow songs randomly added in the middle.”

Liliana Schaeffer, a student in her last year at JHHS, had a lot of opinions about the music played at the Homecoming dance. “I think trap music doesn’t reach a lot of the students here,” she said, “I’m all for an ‘80s themed Homecoming, but I think we should break it up with some indie pop.” After a slight pause, she adds, “It could be something people really like too, like Portugal the Man.”

While some aren’t entirely disenchanted with the music played at past Homecoming dances, a general consensus emerged: the music needs a refresh. Even those who enjoyed the music played in past years have said that incorporating music from 1980s and 2000s would be a welcome change from the same old songs we have grown accustomed to hearing on the dance floor. Although a drastic change usually calls for an update, the Handley Judges showed us that what Homecoming is missing is a reflection on songs that have shaped us as people and are bringing us all together now.

Trust is

By Trinity Grove

Trust is

Jumping into the deep end of a pool and telling yourself you’re safe.

Stepping into the dark and saying there is nothing there,

but beware

don’t let your eyes hang low;

too much sleep will make you sick.

(Class is in session.)

Be CAUTIOUS, for there are snakes in the grass,

monsters under your bed, and in your closet.

Watch what you say and be careful what you let them see;

court is in session, you WILL be judged.

Walking knives looking for backs, but to the pleasing eye they look

just

like

us.

Some trees

have more shade than others.

Lesson of the day: when you stick your neck out for someone,

make sure you can protect it.

(Class is dismissed.)

All I need

By Caleb Toothman

Spring dew drips off a flower of red

The morning light awakens me while

I lay in my bed

I open my eyes while tears run down

My skin

For that I’ve known I’ve committed a sin

Though I know I cannot say I’m sorry

It’s hard with all these feelings down upon me

Makes me question what I’ve seen

I sit there on my bed and weep

I pray the Lord my soul to keep

Just a little love is all I need.

The Calm Before

By Grace Keeler

When I was consumed, covered in the murky darkness of something else altogether, you came.

You said to me, hands outstretched, that you were here to bring me back, back down to the ground.

Because flying seems like a great idea, until you’re too high, and the wind blows you off course,
and now you’re in the middle of a full-on storm, and you can’t see, and it’s all too much,
and maybe you should just give up.

But then, there you were, the light at the end of my tunnel, my beacon of tranquility.

You reached into my soul, and you obliterated the storm,
and you left nothing but a light drizzle of memories behind.

And maybe we all need to experience a storm to appreciate the calm before.

Figure in white

By Luke Campbell

Figure in white I’ve done all I could.

Cut the ropes that pulled me above the

Surface and let me sink with my chains

That keep me where I stand and encased in stone

Now the crows wont let me hide and I don’t

Want to shine, deep in void’s shallow shores.

So the sun took me away

To all and everything fallible

                                                                             

In my wake away from the pink clouds

Blinded and buried underneath artificial light

And rotting outside a callous mind

My nerves tightened to a fastened world

Figure in white draw me a new change

Just something to dry out the rain

Now time sent me into the shadowed woods

Without a map, and eyes to see the stars

Now the snakes are pulling me down

Closer and closer,

Until I dropped and drowned

I’m riding a river to the light of everything,

To the dark of nothing when the sun is gone

The water washed my bones awake

To now decay with a bed of flowers

Until the end of hours.

When the flowers bloom

By Emily Melara Ramirez

I have waited for a long time.

I waited as leaves leaped to save themselves,

I waited as trees fell asleep,

I waited when the snow powdered the outside world and froze all life,

I waited all throughout the mute months.

With loneliness as my only companion and a short candle melting in my hand,

Your promise still stayed as a hearth I can return to.

The dying coal revived despite the cold smothering its sparks,

Its rebirth melting the icy terrain.

Warmth erupting to melt the snow around me and brought life back to the land.

As the primroses begin to smile at me,

As the lily-of-the-valleys whisper me sweet nothings,

As the daffodils fill me with warmth,

I demanded from the moon who gossiped to her stars,

Is this just temporary, or will it last?

This joy enraptured me as the hot summer went on,

But was calmed when fall came as the fire burned to comforting ashes.

Yet if the promise of the flowers are renewed every season,

My hearth will survive and that coal will burn on

Murmur to me your vows before the death of it all,

Before the world falls silent again.

Joy, please promise me all the seasons.

Then, even if the sun rises from the west and sets in the east,

This hope will stay with me throughout the year.

The rising of the sea

By Kara Lewallen

The rising of the sea…

Oh, how very troubling it is to me.

Goodbye sandy beaches where surfers go to crest the waves.

Goodbye to beach towel heaven where wrinkled skin soaks up the rays.

Farewell to habitat amongst the sand dregs.

Where will the sea turtles go to lay their eggs?

I once knew an island or 100 islands that floated so spectacular in the blue waters.

Now, they are gone... and how about those sea otters?

Rainbows of corals... a garden in the ocean.

How to restore them… is there a mathematical quotient?

Those white mountains of ice and a powerful white bear claw,

all just a memory of when glaciers stood tall.

New York City, Miami, San Francisco, and Baltimore, you had your heyday,

but now... you will be no more.

East Coast, West Coast, Gulf Coast it makes no difference...

The water is rising, no matter your preference.

What will you drink when the salinity of the sea fills your sink?

What will you grow when your soils are full of salt and your plants wither and die?

It makes ME want to cry.

Will going to the beach ever be the same again?

When sea levels rise,

mountains shrink...

Now, what do YOU think?

From El Salvador with a smile

By Kevin Melendez

When people ask me where I am from, I usually say El Salvador even though I was born in Virginia. I don’t exactly know the reason, but maybe it’s because I’ve been speaking Spanish longer than English? Is it because the things I do are influenced by my Hispanic culture? I used to hate saying El Salvador because I thought people would judge me.

Everything I am, feel, and think is based on one question.

The people around me care about me, so why should I let them down?

Now that I’m older, I take into account where I came from. When my parents tell me that the reason they came here was for a better future for me, I have no choice but to try at school, because if I don’t, I’m afraid they will say that they came and immigrated to this country for nothing. I am afraid of the future, the pressure, my life as a whole. But I keep a smile because that is the most important thing in life. So when people ask me where I’m from, I will happily accept my heritage and culture, and will say El Salvador with a smile.