PRESENTED BY STUDENTS DEMAND ACTION
NOVEMBER 22:
UNITY
Following the unfortunate tragedy at Saugus High, we hosted an event focused on the theme of unity. Performers were assembled from around our community, including poets, public speakers, artists, singers, and musicians. Over 70 attended our event.
Overview
THEME: UNITY.
WHEN —
FRIDAY
NOVEMBER 22, 2019
7PM-9PM
WHERE —
GLOBAL PREP ACADEMY
23310 Cinema Dr.
Valencia, CA 91355
FACTS + FIGURES
72
in attendance
performers
14
$60
in donations
to Saugus Cause Fund
PERFORMANCES
CRYING IN THE RAIN
BEN H. WROTE, SANG, and PLAYED...
CRYING IN THE RAIN
BEN H. WROTE, SANG, and PLAYED...
MEGAN H. WROTE...
SILENT BORDERS
VIBHU V. WROTE...
HOGS IN THE YARD
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inspiration: I took my inspiration from the “30 to 50 feral hogs in the yard” tweet made in defense of assault rifles. When the phrase gained meme status, a research paper regarding hogs and gun control came out by complete coincidence, and it revealed that assault rifles are ineffective against hog populations. Not only do hogs quickly repopulate and have thick hides that AR-15 rounds cannot pierce easily, but they are also intelligent when it comes to patterns and previous experiences and can easily avoid being shot at by finding new strategies. I found it incredibly interesting that hogs learn from their past mistakes with assault rifles while humans do not.
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performance description: In my performance, I projected the digital version of my illustrated story “HOGS in the YARD” onto a big screen and read out my story. Because the writing in the story is raw and derived from exactly what I feel about gun violence, I wanted to express myself in the role of a child questioning pro-assault weapon advocates’ poor decisions regarding gun control.
JULIANNA L. and PETER W. PERFORMED...
IMAGINE
by John Lennon
JULIANNA L. and PETER W. PERFORMED...
IMAGINE
by John Lennon
FIREARM
QUYNN L. WROTE...
i created FIREARM with the intent to be shocking. i wanted to use numbers to my advantage. i wanted to use facts, forcibly throwing them into the viewers’ faces, so that eventually they would have to pay attention. i felt that creating a piece that was big (the art piece itself reaches even further than floor to ceiling) would be the only possible way to create the response i was going for. i wanted people to feel guilty, even sick to their stomach. i would be lying if i said the creation of this piece wasn’t upsetting for me. researching the numbers and finding photos of victims made me feel physically ill, but it needed to be said and seen.
my goal was to force people to pay attention; especially those who have been choosing to remain in the dark for the purpose of avoiding guilt. i hope i accomplished this.
STRENGTH
ANDI C. CRAFTED...
"BANG BANG"
SCOUT M. WROTE, SANG, and PLAYED...
When I approach a topic for a song, I always try to explore the possible emotions that are being impacted. Usually all my songs are from firsthand experiences, but in this case, I (luckily) haven’t been in a violent situation that involved guns. So I did my research. I looked up all the most reported shootings in America and watched as many testimonies as I could to get inside the mind of a student or civilian. The quote that stuck out the most, and inspired the lyric, was from the Feb 14, 2016 Parkland shooting where Nicholas Cruz, the alleged shooter, said to a freshman while loading his gun, “you better get out of here, things are gonna start to get messy.” After hearing that, kinda knew what I wanted the song to sound like. I wanted it to have ‘sad’ lyrics with an ‘angry’ sound to it so I could capture the emotional response people typically have when a shooting occurs. I had a rough melody from my archives, so all that was left to do was write. I wanted the song to be a little longer than what I usually do to kinda capture how long it is taking to bring change to mind. After I had all my inspirations and emotions built up, it didn’t take long to write at all and it’s probably one of my favorite pieces