Halloween fun for all ages
The history of Halloween
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Old horror classic for a reasonBy Tim Cross
Classic horror movies make you wake up in the middle of the night in tears or sweats. People may claim that old scary movies are cheesy or not scary, but many of them have film awards such as: The Exorcist, Jaws, and Rosemary’s baby. These movies were some of the original movies to jump start the horror genre that fans know and love today. At the time of its release, The Exorcist’s trailer was banned from movie theaters for being to scary, and the film was also was banned across the whole Middle East. While the new horror flicks have big budgets, more technology, and special effects, their classic scary movies counterparts were made on low budgets and they still found ways to make them scary. A few classic horror movies have made big marks in history, and lots of the new scary movies have lost the scary part and become parodies of the genre. Thankfully, classic scary movies stayed on the point of horror and scaring the audience. |
Angel Beaver
Halloween? How Did It Start? No one is sure why, but Halloween just magically appeared 2,000 years ago. Halloween falls on October 31 and always has. Started as a Celtic pagan ritual, the practices mostly comes from the British Isles. The current celebration of Halloween was based off an ancient festival, where people would light bonfires and dress up to ward off evil ghosts and spirits. Then the celebration was merged into a Christianity based society and the festival changed. The original name of Halloween was All Hollows’ Eve. People gathered around bonfires, feasted, and sacrificed personal items to “keep the spirits at bay”. It was the day before All Saints’ Day on November 1st. The Christians often combined their rituals with pagan rituals to help those who had converted to the faith keep traditions. In the second half of the nineteenth century, All Hallows’ Eve snaked its way into America as immigrants came from foreign lands such as Ireland, England and Scotland. Halloween automatically became popular, and the themes became more and more spooky. People would shake with fear from stories of the immigrants, turning it into a terrifying holiday. But, over time people have turned it into a candy retrieving, costume wearing, fun-filled holiday. Halloween, as it was now called, had transformed from a day to ward off evil to a night of kids’ fun, candy and dress-up. Parents wanted their children to have fun, not be scared, though the underlying “spirit” was still spooky. Every year Halloween had been in America, it grew larger and larger as a celebration. Floats were made, shops were stocked with popular candy and filled with costumes. In 1942 and 1943, Halloween celebrations were cancelled in some places due to World War II. Parents and siblings were likely too worried about loved ones overseas to celebrate, and much emphasis was put on conserving materials during the war. Halloween had a large resurgence in the 1970s. Popular costumes at the time were fairies and pumpkins. Costumes continued to rise as big business and In the 90s punk rocker and vampire costumes were all the rage. Teenagers were all about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Today costumes all often about revealing costumes with teenagers watching things like Mean Girls, American Pie and other teen movies. These movies have increased the demand for “Sexy” cougars, kittens, nurses, maids and the like. It makes many long for the demons and spirits of days past. |
Pumpkin CarvingPumpkin carving is really fun because you can make a lot of faces and images.
The possibilities are endless, like cats, Mr. T’s face, and Dr. Who’s weeping angel. Many things can be put on or in pumpkins such as knives, candles, and lights. You can also paint, color, and decorate the pumpkin Carving pumpkins can calm you, and can make you have a nice time. One fun thing is pulling and getting rid of or roasting the seeds. Many even use the flesh of the pumpkins for a pie adding to the enjoyment of pumpkin carving. |
Minaj rises to the top
By: Mykah Lorena Dover
Hip-Hop artist and singer Onika Tanya Maraj, better known as Nicki Minaj, was born on December 8th, 1982 in St. James. When she was five she moved with her family in Queens, New York.
She lived with her father who had a horrible and severe drug problem and long history of violence. At one point he set a fire to the families home, in attempt to kill Minaj’s mother. Despite her past, she continued to work on her music career and took any opportunities she could in efforts to overcome her past.
Before becoming the most popular female rapper and singer, she did back up singing for local singers in New York. After doing this for a while she was discovered by Dirty Money CEO Fendi who came across Minaj’s MySpace and loved what he heard. He signed her to his label immediately.
This connection led to Minaj meeting Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne also liked what he heard and she was soon signed to his label; Young Money records. They collaborated on a series of mixtapes, which gave Minaj the chance to show off her funny and outgoing personality.
After years of Minaj slowly rising to the top, she is now known as one of the most famous female rappers of this generation. She is the only artist to have seven songs on the billboards top charts at one time.
Minaj is now considered a huge female icon and is always sure to remind her fans to “stay in school, respect your body, don’t go giving it away, and never depend on a man.”
Hip-Hop artist and singer Onika Tanya Maraj, better known as Nicki Minaj, was born on December 8th, 1982 in St. James. When she was five she moved with her family in Queens, New York.
She lived with her father who had a horrible and severe drug problem and long history of violence. At one point he set a fire to the families home, in attempt to kill Minaj’s mother. Despite her past, she continued to work on her music career and took any opportunities she could in efforts to overcome her past.
Before becoming the most popular female rapper and singer, she did back up singing for local singers in New York. After doing this for a while she was discovered by Dirty Money CEO Fendi who came across Minaj’s MySpace and loved what he heard. He signed her to his label immediately.
This connection led to Minaj meeting Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne also liked what he heard and she was soon signed to his label; Young Money records. They collaborated on a series of mixtapes, which gave Minaj the chance to show off her funny and outgoing personality.
After years of Minaj slowly rising to the top, she is now known as one of the most famous female rappers of this generation. She is the only artist to have seven songs on the billboards top charts at one time.
Minaj is now considered a huge female icon and is always sure to remind her fans to “stay in school, respect your body, don’t go giving it away, and never depend on a man.”
Expression through music and art
Students at Kenwood look deeper into their own self-expression.
By Kayla Holland
Artistic expression takes on many forms. Whether it is painting, writing poems or books, composing music, or one of the thousands of other ways that people express themselves artistically, but in this case we are talking about music and art.
It seems that many teens nowadays use music and art more than anything to expressive themselves. What is even more interesting about expression is that everyone expresses himself or herself differently and for different reasons.
Rashawn (Shawn) T., 10th grade, loves to mainly express himself through music because he believes he isn’t very good at art, though he still loves it. The genre and all around mood or meaning of the music he uses to express himself always depends on his mood. Music means a lot to Rashawn. He looks deeper and thinks about what music really does mean to him.
“Music is kind of my escape to get away from reality. I just listen to the words and the beat and just let go and get into the song. I think both (art and music) are a big part of my life. I don’t think I could live without it,” says Rashawn passionately.
He loves music so much that it’s the first thing he goes for when he gets home. As soon as he walks in the door the first thing he does is turn on his radio and listen to some of his favorite music genres.
Rashawn says that Monster by Three Days Grace is the song that expresses him the best.
“It’s what describes me because that’s what I feel like most of the time,” he says.
He uses music a lot of times because it expresses what he is feeling and his different moods. Although he loves music, he also likes art, but he is more specific in the kind of art he likes.
Rashawn is drawn primarily to the stylings of abstract art.
“I can kind of relate to it because when you look at it you can’t tell what it is or it’s suppose to be,” says Rashawn.
Another student here at Kenwood named Ashtan A., a senior, enjoys music a lot and she listens to it every day as part of her routine. She also says that she uses music more than art to express herself.
“It’s like a way of life and a way to express yourself,” says Ashtan happily.
“Because with music you feel it and the beats just go more with what you’re feeling in my opinion.”
Ashtan says that I Don’t Care by Fall Out Boy is her life theme son, mainly because of the chorus, and how it expresses how she doesn’t care what people think.
Ashtan really likes art, but she isn’t really sure why, but guesses she does because she doodles in class a lot. Pastel art is her absolute favorite type of art because pastels are her favorite tools to use for her own art.
“I think they blend better to me. Well, it makes me feel proud because my best work is usually with pastels,” says Ashtan.
By Kayla Holland
Artistic expression takes on many forms. Whether it is painting, writing poems or books, composing music, or one of the thousands of other ways that people express themselves artistically, but in this case we are talking about music and art.
It seems that many teens nowadays use music and art more than anything to expressive themselves. What is even more interesting about expression is that everyone expresses himself or herself differently and for different reasons.
Rashawn (Shawn) T., 10th grade, loves to mainly express himself through music because he believes he isn’t very good at art, though he still loves it. The genre and all around mood or meaning of the music he uses to express himself always depends on his mood. Music means a lot to Rashawn. He looks deeper and thinks about what music really does mean to him.
“Music is kind of my escape to get away from reality. I just listen to the words and the beat and just let go and get into the song. I think both (art and music) are a big part of my life. I don’t think I could live without it,” says Rashawn passionately.
He loves music so much that it’s the first thing he goes for when he gets home. As soon as he walks in the door the first thing he does is turn on his radio and listen to some of his favorite music genres.
Rashawn says that Monster by Three Days Grace is the song that expresses him the best.
“It’s what describes me because that’s what I feel like most of the time,” he says.
He uses music a lot of times because it expresses what he is feeling and his different moods. Although he loves music, he also likes art, but he is more specific in the kind of art he likes.
Rashawn is drawn primarily to the stylings of abstract art.
“I can kind of relate to it because when you look at it you can’t tell what it is or it’s suppose to be,” says Rashawn.
Another student here at Kenwood named Ashtan A., a senior, enjoys music a lot and she listens to it every day as part of her routine. She also says that she uses music more than art to express herself.
“It’s like a way of life and a way to express yourself,” says Ashtan happily.
“Because with music you feel it and the beats just go more with what you’re feeling in my opinion.”
Ashtan says that I Don’t Care by Fall Out Boy is her life theme son, mainly because of the chorus, and how it expresses how she doesn’t care what people think.
Ashtan really likes art, but she isn’t really sure why, but guesses she does because she doodles in class a lot. Pastel art is her absolute favorite type of art because pastels are her favorite tools to use for her own art.
“I think they blend better to me. Well, it makes me feel proud because my best work is usually with pastels,” says Ashtan.