Fox Theatre Musical Review

By Pooja D.

Here's a preview of the upcoming Broadway musical season at Atlanta's famous Fox Theatre.

Mamma Mia

The famous Broadway musical Mamma Mia will be coming to the Fox Theatre from September 23 until September 28. Throughout the musical, Sophie is trying to figure out who her real father is so that he can walk her down the aisle during her wedding. Unfortunately, she has never met her father and her mother has never talked about him. Taking things into her own hands, she finds her mother’s diary and decides that her father must be one of three men. She invites all three of them to her wedding and signs the letter with her mother’s name. Find out what happens when her mother reunites with the three men, sing along to the songs, and enjoy Mamma Mia.

The Phantom of the Opera

This French musical will be coming to the Fox Theatre from October 22 until November 2. The main character of the musical, Christine, is a wonderful opera singer. Quite suddenly, rumors start spreading that there is a phantom living at the Opera and that the phantom does not want the opera singers to perform the play Faust. No one heeds the phantom’s threats, and on opening night, the lead breaks her leg and chaos ensues. The phantom kidnaps Christine during the first performance and takes her to the cellars of the Opera house. The phantom decides to keep her there in the hopes that she will come to love him. Christine, however, loves another, Raoul. Will Christine be able to escape and marry Raoul? Who is the phantom? Find out in The Phantom of the Opera.

Dirty Dancing

Dirty Dancing will be coming to the Fox Theatre from November 25 until November 30. This musical features Frances Housemen, also known as Baby, and what occurs during her vacation at a resort. During her stay, she develops a crush on the resort’s dancing instructor, Johnny. One day, as she was helping out the staff, she observed the secret parties that the staff had after their shifts were over. Baby becomes intrigued by the new type of dancing she sees the staff engaging in, and through a series of events, Baby finds herself as Johnny’s dance partner for an upcoming competition. Follow what happens with the pair as they continue to dance throughout the musical.

Newsies

This family friendly Disney musical will be at the Fox Theatre from January 20 to January 25. The story takes place in New York in 1899 and features the story of a young, rebellious boy named Jack Kelly. Jack is a homeless orphan and makes money by selling newspapers, but he longs to leave New York and make a life for himself. While working, Jack runs into two other boys, David and Les, and they become good friends. When the prices for newspapers are raised due to the greed of the newspaper owners, they stand together and help organize a strike to bring down the prices. Watch Newsies and learn about the importance of standing for your beliefs no matter what anyone else says.

Wicked

Wicked will be at the Fox Theatre from February 18 until March 8. This amazing musical runs parallel to the book The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum but it is told from the witch’s point of view. It starts off with the song declaring that the Wicked Witch is dead. Everyone is happy, but then we are told that she was not always wicked. We go back to the time when all the witches, good and evil, were in high school and how the choices they made affect who they became. The musical also explains how the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion became the characters that Dorothy met. This family friendly musical gives you a better picture of The Wizard of Oz and is enjoyable for everyone.

Blue Man Group

The Blue Man Group at the Fox Theatre will be in town from April 7 until April 12. They use a variety of common object to create music in an artistic and new way. The Blue Man Group does not say a word throughout their performance and lets their innovative music wow the audience.

Pippin

This Tony Award winning musical will be at the Fox Theatre from May 5 until May 10. The musical takes place in the Middle Ages and features a young, educated boy named Pippin. Throughout the musical, we see him try to figure out where he belongs. He follows the advice of the Leading Player who is the leader of a theatrical group. Follow Pippin on his adventures and watch him come to the realization of where he is happiest.


Fox Theatre:
660 Peachtree Street NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
(404) 881-2100

For more info on these awesome shows, go to atlanta.broadway.com

Poetry: I am

By Sabrina Y.

I am a young girl who dreams of a promising future.
I wonder every time I write if I will become a best-selling author someday.
I hear cheering as I break yet another 1-inch board with a potent kick. Kiap!
I see in the halls, my benevolent friends whose personalities are as bright as the sun.
I want to attend a boarding school where there is a strong focus on academics.
I am a young girl who dreams of a promising future.

I pretend to be no one else but me.
I feel proud whenever I accomplish a grueling or strenuous task.
I touch the community’s heart by demonstrating how a teen can make a difference.
I worry that I am not good enough to join Harvard.
I cry, eyes stinging and red, whenever I hear tragic stories of death or prejudice.
I am a young girl who dreams of a promising future.

I understand from experience that I can benefit from being challenged in class.
I say teens should put away their iPhones and volunteer in their community.
I dream, with a heart filled with passion, of becoming as famous as J.K. Rowling.
I try with great effort, to look at the glass half full rather than half empty.
I hope I can positively impact the world someday.
I am a young girl who dreams of a promising future.

A Novel in a Month? The Adventure That is NaNoWriMo

By Meghan K.

The deadline seems impossible. You sit down at your computer, your hands shaking, and reach for the keyboard. You type slowly at first, but then faster and faster, fingers flying over the keys as you begin to write the novel you will work on for over a month.

Okay, so maybe it isn’t quite as dramatic as that, but National Novel Writer’s Month, or NaNoWriMo, as it is sometimes affectionately called, is definitely a huge challenge, although I have to admit, it is a fun challenge to take on.

First of all, there are two different sections of NaNoWriMo that you should know about: the regular NaNoWriMo and the Young Writer’s Program, or YWP. The regular NaNoWriMo is mostly geared towards adults, meaning anyone over the age of 13 years old is permitted to sign up for it, while the Young Writer’s program is more geared towards those between grades one and twelve. There are several differences between them, such as the YWP’s more flexible word count goals, however for the most part, they are pretty similar.

But enough with the technical stuff! Let’s get to the information you want to hear!

I spent last November (more specifically, November 2013), working on an idea. I managed to register for NaNoWriMo on November 2nd, meaning I had no time to put together an idea for a plot, or even so much as an outline. All I had was an idea, the drive, and the time.

That hair-brained idea actually turned out really well in my opinion, considering how little planning and effort had gone into it.

I poured myself into my novel throughout November, writing and rewriting and re-rewriting until, after weeks and weeks of writing, I reached my goal of 10,000 words on November 24th, and became a “winner” of NaNoWriMo, which happens when you reach or surpass your goal.

Did I surpass my goal? Definitely! It just so happened that 10,000 words happened to fall right around the beginning of my story, so I wrote some more, and I’m still writing! And when winners meet their goal, CreateSpace, a publishing group run by Amazon, is willing to give them somewhere between two and five free copies of their book between December 5 – 10 and June 20th of the following year!

If you get writer’s block, never fear! There is an amazing community of writers on the forums, so if you need feedback on a part of your story, need ideas, or if you just need to vent about writer’s block (which may cause you to write about writer’s block in your novel, if it fits!), someone is bound to give you a hand sooner or later!

Anyways, NaNoWriMo may seem daunting at first, but it really is a great opportunity and it’s a lot of fun. I will most definitely be back next year. So, are you up to the challenge?

Being Homeschooled: The Possibilities

By Megan K.

I’m sitting on a nice comfortable chair on my back deck, enjoying both the spectacular view and the warm sunshine, a glass of iced tea in one hand, a pencil in the other, and a notebook in my lap, coming up with ideas for my latest LGG article, while my counterparts are sitting in a classroom. Now, I bet you’re wondering, “Why aren’t you in school?” I don’t actually go to school; I’m homeschooled.

Shocked, right? Well, not so much for me. I’ve been homeschooled since preschool, so this is a pretty normal day for me. Or I could do my schoolwork at the dining room table, or sit on a patio at the beach, with a book in my hand, some even warmer sunshine, and the sound of the roaring waves several stories below keeping me company.

Math can be done under the big, sturdy tree in my front yard. Science can be done planting different things in my front garden and seeing what works and what doesn’t. My art teacher is a local, learning artist. My piano and vocal teacher is a musician herself who lives so close to me that if I had an audition for a play, I could say “Hey, I have an audition coming up and I need to sing for it. Can you help me work on my audition piece?” and since I’m homeschooled, we can work on it whenever we want for as long as we need to. There are a lot of opportunities and a lot of possibilities when you’re a homeschooler.

Sometimes, we even get to go places people don’t usually get to go. For instance, we got to go behind the counter in the paint section of Home Depot and see how they colour it. Did you know that even if you compared the colour “recipes” of two almost identical colours, they could very likely be totally different? I sure didn’t!

Now, not every homeschooler does the same thing I do. Some go to a homeschool school for a few days of the week and then work at home the other days. Some use many of their everyday activities as schoolwork. Some don’t take summer break. But they all have the same hundreds of thousands of possibilities as to what they can do with their schoolwork and where they can do it.

When I go places, a lot of people will ask me “Why aren’t you in school?” or “Where do you go to school?” or sometimes “Are you on break for school?” And I can say with pride, “I’m homeschooled.”

How Not to Write an Article

  By Madison R.        

  Pres Perser Persevere Perseverance. Just attempting to spell the word without autocorrect is a practice in the principle itself. Webster’s defines perseverance as, “continued effort to do achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.” What it fails to mention is that, in the world of amateur journalism, that ‘opposition’ may come in the from of hazardous low-fat apple sauce and that the ‘continued effort’ may involve imbibing unhealthy amounts of caffeine or actually having to speak to another human (yikes!). As a person admittedly reliant on the powers of Google, the conundrum of writing an article for the first time is inextricable, due to the fact that there is no article on how to write an article. Trust me. I Googled it. Repeatedly.

I originally resolved to write an article about under appreciation of cafeteria workers,

with the objective of conducting an interview with one of the lunchroom staff at my school. As you have hopefully noticed by now, there is a curious dearth of an interview right about here. That is because I failed. Not only did I fail, true to form, I failed my first assignment spectacularly. I have chosen to classify the following venture as How Not to Write an Article in 3ish Stumbles That May Be Perceived As Steps From Afar for reasons that will become apparent.

Step 1, Fail to realize that low-fat applesauce can and will kill you. I have never been the most sure-footed by any measure, but this one certainly reaffirms my title of reigning Klutz Queen. After filing all necessary paperwork and consulting several different administrators, the only person left to approve my interview proposition was the one person who would actually schedule and arrange it. My principal. It may sound foreboding, and it was, but I knew the principal to be kind thus far and was in respectable standing with her through different school involvements. All of this hope was soon to be annihilated by low-fat applesauce. I plucked up my courage and went to speak to her where she sat across the lunchroom floor, which unbeknownst to me, was riddled with puddles of spilled lunchroom brand low-fat applesauce. Stepping in one, there was a sudden lack of friction between my foot and the floor. I glided gracefully for approximately 3.5 seconds before falling face-first to my imminent death in front of my principal. I only in fact died of embarrassment for a few moments, as you may note that there is an article and not an obituary in this slot. The principal was somehow rather unnerved at having five feet of flailing teenager hurtle towards her and my interview request didn’t come off quite as planned. I suppose she got too occupied with school ending or me collapsing next to her influenced something, but I never heard back from her before leaving to continue my career of public humiliation in high school.

Step 2, Procrastinate. Along with my title as Klutz queen, I dually rule the Procrastination Nation with an iron fist. Or I guess I’ll get around to ruling it later. Whoops. Surprisingly, it is not the most advisable course of action to have to change topics a few days before article submission and then wait until the last possible moment to write said article at three AM. I did however; accomplish watching two seasons of a TV show and crocheting half a scarf to try to avoid writing this article.

Step 3, Drink several gallons of coffee late at night to try to finish your article. I think this one speaks for itself.

Step 3.5, Accidently disable your keyboard’s autocorrect while typing the article. Try to correct the problem and watch through tears of desperation as the entire interface of your laptop’s word processor begins to shut down. Reboot. Turn off. Cry and eat Nutella. Reboot.

In all seriousness, failure is not an uncommon thing amongst journalists of all ages and calibers, at least according to Google. Just look up the “Journalist Attacked by Flock of Ostriches” video and it’s very easy to see that it could have been much worse for me if my principal had been an angry six foot tall avian and not a bewildered professional educator. Lying face down on the cafeteria floor, part of me would like to think that failing repeatedly is the only way to really succeed. To quote the cinema masterpiece that is the The Lego Movie, “I know that sounds like a cat poster, but it’s true.” As soon as you fail a few times, hitting the cafeteria floor hurts a little less. And sometimes, in journalism or any other area of life, you don’t fail quite as bad and we call it “success”. If it means I get to keep writing and getting closer to that “success” thing I hear happens to other people, I can’t wait to fail again.

Gamma Gamma Sigma: The Older Girl Scout Adventure Group

 By Nia A.

      Gamma Gamma Sigma (GGS) is an older Girl Scout group for girls ages 13-18 or Girl Scout Cadettes through Girl Scout Ambassadors who participate in addition to their Girl Scout troops or join as Juliettes. GGS is a new and unique leadership development Girl Scout program that combines Girl Scouts with a “Sorority Type” club. Sponsored by Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, there are several GGS groups in Metro Atlanta that meet at various times during the month; girls have the option to participate on a regular basis or as time permits in their schedules. I am a member of the Gwinnett Gamma group that meets once every month and we plan community service, outings, and events that appeal to the likes and interest of teen girls. The purpose of GGS is to try to keep girls in Girl Scouting until high school graduation. Activities in Gamma Gamma Sigma include fun things we like to do, such as hanging-out with friends, making plans to travel, planning fun events, completing service hours and community projects and planning activities for other teen Girl Scouts. The goal of GGS is to bring girls together through the bond of sisterhood, allowing exploration of common interests and think on a global Girl Scout level. Gamma girls are encouraged to develop their leadership skills by serving as a leadership chair or on a committee. All meetings are lead by Gamma girls with adult advisors providing guidance. Gamma girls display their ability to work well as a team, by being respectful and using their voices to vote and determine what the group will do for the year.

     As an incentive to continue in Gamma Gamma Sigma until high school graduation, Gamma Girls are eligible to walk their graduation stage with an honorary GGS Green & White graduation cord and a certificate of completion. To receive the honor cord you must have participate in GGS at least two years, serve in at least one GGS leadership position, and have at least 60 hours served as a Gamma girl.

      I, myself am a member of Gamma Gamma sigma Gwinnett, and I think that it is an awesome opportunity to socialize with other girls my age and do fun activities that appeal to my likes and my age group. So far this year, we have traveled to the Georgia State National Fair, attended the Lion King, as a team, we have hosted Girl Scout Journey overnight events. We have worked with several local non-profit agencies to complete service projects such as collecting personal hygiene items for the Gwinnett County Children’s shelter, Creative Community Services, Inc, packing boxes for veterans and a landscaping and cleaning project for a local church. Gamma Gamma Sigma has given me a sense of sisterhood and the opportunity to gain adult mentors. I have also developed many skills during my time with Gamma Gamma Sigma.

      I plan to continue participating until I graduate and hope to be elected as GGS president. As of this year (2014), Gamma Gamma Sigma Gwinnett had its first graduate, Tiffany G. She has served as the GGS Gwinnett president during the 2013-2014 term and has completed countless service hours and community service. While the GGS concept is new to Girl Scouts and is still in its early stages, the program is taking hold and becoming very popular in the Atlanta area. Girls are encouraged to join at anytime during the Girl Scout year and to participate consistently or ongoing to earn the graduation cords.
      Gamma Gamma Sigma is designed to get girls out of their comfort zone and help them become better young women. By the time Gamma Girls graduate, they will have formed many friendships, worked with countless organizations, attended many events and will have developed their leadership experience. If you think GGS would be a great fit for you as a teen Girl Scout, feel free to contact one of the local groups below.

Gamma Gamma Sigma - Gwinnett                    

Contact: Mary Hughes                                           

Phone: (770) 702-9149                                         

Email: gammagammasigma@gmail.com       

Gamma Gamma Sigma – North Gwinnett MS

Contact: Christine Solar

Phone: (678) 389-1598

Email: christinersoler@yahoo.com

Gamma Gamma Sigma - Mableton, GA            

Contact: Jymme Reed                                           

Phone: (770) 702-9121                                         

Email: ggs@gsgatl.org                                         

Gamma Gamma Sigma – Roswell, GA

Contact: Lisa Martin

Phone: (770) 702-9120

Email: lmartin@gsgatl.org

Gamma Gamma Sigma –Paulding and Douglas

Contact: Theresa Carcioppolo

Phone: (404) 862.8476

Email: tcarcioppolo@gsgatl.org

Games Around the World: Kabbadi

By Emery R.

Kabbadi is a game that originated in an early Indian civilization. It is the national game of Bangladesh and the state game of Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, and is a part of the Asian Games. My class played this game before spring break to wrap up our unit on Southeast Asia. When I asked my Humanities teacher, Ms. Kate Michalak, why she chose this game for us to play, she told me that she wanted something way beyond the United States and because she wanted an authentically Asian game for us to play, that was safe, or could easily be made safer, what with the rules.

Set Up:

Two teams are on opposite sides of a field. Basketball court, swimming pool, an actual field, it doesn't matter. The members of each team hold hands. That is a crucial part of the game. You can use chalk to draw the lobby (a line), the bonus line, and boundaries.

The Raider:

The two teams take turns sending a "raider" to the opposing half, to earn points by tackling members of the opposing team. You might want to substitute tackling with tagging so that nobody gets hurt. There is a line called the lobby that the raider cannot cross, unless they are tagging one of their opponents. If the lobby is crossed by the raider then they are out. After tackling/tagging a member of the opposing team, the raider tries to return to their home side. Tagged members of the opposing team are out and are sent off the field for the rest of the game. The raider can also earn an extra point if they touch a line fittingly named the "bonus line" and return to their home. The raider can be out if they cross a boundary line or if a part of their body touches outside of the boundary line (exceptions are taken if they are struggling with a member of the opposing team).

The Defenders:
The defenders during all of this, are trying to stop the raider by trying to tag them. They can use their linked bodies to trap the raider or bait them and then tag them, whichever strategy they want to use. A common strategy in my class was to snake around raiders and trap them so that they could be tagged. If any of the defenders cross the lobby, they will be declared out.

A team gets an extra two points (called an Iona) if the whole opposing team is out. In the end, the team with the most points is declared the winner.

Ms. Michalak said that it's funny how games popular in the U.S. have become popular world wide, but there are other games that are played throughout a whole continent and we don't even know they exist because we've grown up our whole lives playing basketball and tag, and not looked beyond our country for games to play. I very much agree with her because you see tons of people play basketball every day, but you never see them playing something like Kabaddi that originated outside of this country.

Being cognizant of others' cultures encourages good things like friendly relations with other countries and ethnic groups, and gives you a new piece of knowledge. Games like Kabaddi are one of the most enjoyable ways to learn about different places and peoples around the world.