Open Mic Night

In this issue of Sound Off, we get to be a fly on the wall for Open Mic Night, held at The Rig, a meeting place in Camden for teens in 9th-12th grade "that provides opportunity for our local area youth to develop connection - with themselves, with one another and with the community."

The coolest thing about this spot is that on a Friday night, kids from all different social stratas hung out in one place with a little bit of that Breakfast Club vibe.  Whether they played foosball, or sat quietly creating something or reading or conversed in small circles, whenever anyone got up on The Rig's stage to sing or perform, everyone in the room supported the performer, clapping afterwards. Here's a look at some of the scenes that went down that night. 

Meet Peytonious Maximus, a.k.a. Peyton Feener, 17, a student at The Community School. This girl is on fire. She participates in Roller Derby,  she DJs, she volunteers for Project AWARE, and Out As I Want To Be!; she worked on Obama's re-election campaign and she's a musician/ singer.

See more of Peyton in Pen Bay Pilot's "Hail To The Rad Kids" column.

 A wall of inspirational (or random) expressions graces The Rig's hallway.

This is one of Peyton's expressions.

 This is Peyton's friend above, "Tuesday McQuatters" and fellow band musician, who prefers to only have her hand photographed. She plays bass, guitar and ukelele. "I'm a freshman, but I'm wise beyond my years," she laughed. Asked if they would play, she said, "I guess we're just chilling tonight."  "We had band practice today, though," said Peyton. "It was pretty beast. We're setting up a demo for a record company."

When playing foosball, things can get heated. Competition is fierce. Pictured: Joe Simmons takes on Alex Henthorn and Jacob Corney of CHRHS. (Courtesy of The Rig Director, Nicole Marie Fuller)

Joe Simmons has been featured in Sound Off before for his original website creations. Here he shows off his latest computer generated logos or isotypes (see below).

The isotypes explained from top to bottom. "The disco guy is just like a 'Warning! Disco sign, and the next two warning signs relate to video games. The isotype on the bottom is like the evolution of a guy who is running, then he's biking , then he's getting a little lazier on his Segway and then sitting with his laptop. It just says to me that with technology, people are getting lazier and lazier and not getting active."
-Joe Simmons

Jalina "Jolly" Brown, 17, was there to not only hang out but also to film the Open Mic Night as a promo for The Rig. 

 "Hopefully we'll get a short two-minute video out of this to get people to donate and get the word out about what The Rig is," she said. Jolly is also an artist and an actor. She auditioned for Project AWARE's public service announcement videos and played the part of a pregnant girl. 

"The PSA was basically about how two seconds can change your life and how you should think about the decisions you make before you make them," she said.

See more of Jolly in Pen Bay Pilot's "Hail To The Rad Kids" column.

 

  
What's so interesting about this song is when Tuesday starts to sing, everyone stops talking and listens. Haunting cover of "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails.

One of the performances was an old Bob Dylan cover by the band below.

Band members Orion Krause, Aidan Gordon, Cooper Krause, Taylor Benner and Caroline Albertson 

Asked what the band's name was, Aidan Gordon said, "Um, we don't really have a name. Call it the Aidan Gordon Experience." Asked if the rest of the band was "on board' with that, he said, "Yes."

Using a DJ behind him to cue up the music, Jacob Corney did a Karaoke song of "All Star" by Smash Mouth

For more photos of the Open Mic Night, check out The Rig's own gallery.

"Open Mic at The Rig is always a hit. It gives kids a chance to express themselves and get positive attention from their peers. It's refreshing to experience so much talent and passion on nights like these. Some students have never been on stage before, and like many other Rig activities, it gives them a safe opportunity to push their comfort zones slightly."
-Nicole Marie Fuller, Director of The Rig 


To submit something to Sound Off, email editor@fivetownctc.org, call (207) 236-9800 or mail to: Five Town Communities That Care, P.O. Box 1135, 219 Meadow Street, Rockport, ME 04856. Please include a real name and a phone number/email address so we can get in touch with you for editing purposes.
   

The Video Generation

In this issue of Sound Off, we're excited to be able to offer a multimedia example of what kids are doing with video these days. Meet the WJAM News correspondents--a group of CHRHS seniors and one junior who use the school's film/video department to deliver the daily morning announcements. But these are no ordinary announcements. They use all of their creative skills, technical knowledge and artistic vision to put together high-concept, film-school quality video segments called "intros"--and they only have 80 minutes every day to do it.  

WJAM News correspondents (l to r) Eliot Grigo, Brendan Carey, Jordan Knowlton, Emily Ruger, Alex Smith, Kristina Alex

The above video clip is one of their produced "intros" and a story within itself. You'll find out why they got in trouble for riding bikes in the hallways of the high school in Pen Bay Pilot's feature, "Attention students, this will not be boring."

Every week, the students rotate their various roles so they have experience in front of the camera and behind the scenes. These roles include script editing, audio and video switching, and management of the daily video broadcast.

“This class teaches them a number of ways to increase their technical abilities. They learn Final Cut Pro (a video editing program); they learn how to edit video, how to manage a digital switcher from a video standpoint. They also learn how to use a mixing board for audio," said teacher Chris Walker-Spencer. "The other piece are these little mini film projects they work on, which we call “intros”. It's really Film Class Lite. They get to spend maybe 20-30 minutes a day doing it, not a ton of time but they get to work together and become more independent as the semester goes on."


In addition, the students rotate being on-screen talent, where they have to get over their fear of public speaking and read the news from the teleprompter.

Meet the WJAM News team and what they are getting out of this entire experience. 

Q: What is the best thing you’ve gotten out of this class and do you think you want to do live broadcast TV or the news for a living?

Jordan Knowlton, Senior
“I am not interested in this as a career, but this class has helped me a lot with public speaking  and being in front of an audience. Everything in this class has helped me in every other class I have, including technology.”

Emily Ruger, Senior 
"I’ve actually never thought about it. It’s kind of fun being the talent, but my public speaking has gotten so much better. Before this class, I was like ‘I’m not going to be on camera,’ but now it’s one of my favorite jobs because it’s the easiest. You just read off the screen.” 

Kristina Alex, Senior 
"It’s not really something I’d like to do for a living. I want to do something in the medical field. I came into this class not knowing anything about computers or anything like that. But, it has really helped, like making the intros. I now know how to use that software. Also, I do talk really fast and slur my words, so having to sit here and go over the teleprompter and really engage the audience by speaking slowly and stuff like that has really helped."

Eliot J. Grigo, Senior 
"Probably my favorite part of this class has been around being around film equipment. It’s also been fun to be around a bunch of seniors who want to do some good work, but also want to have some fun. Probably my public speaking has been most improved. I know most of us weren’t that good at public speaking before this class. I’m taking another film class, “Intro to Digital Filmmaking” and with the combination of these two classes, I’ve learned so much about filmmaking and editing, shooting and planning. As far as a career, I am interested in going to film school and have already applied to a couple."

Brendan Carey, Junior 
"It’s definitely not something I want to do for a living, but it was cool to see how it all works and I got to use the editing programs. I liked editing the videos the best. I use it if I need to for a school project."

Alex Smith, Senior 
"I’ve always enjoyed public speaking and I’ve been involved in a lot of theater. It is really interesting doing something like this because the first time I came into class, I was a little nervous talking in front of the whole school, but I was really excited about it. I’ve really enjoyed this class. It’s been really fun to be on both sides of the camera, because I’m so used to being on the talent side. It’s just interesting to see how things work. Probably I won’t do this for a career, but I just like being on the other end of the camera more."

Teacher, Chris Walker-Spencer 
"They’re always working on ways to improve their own work or try new things. It all depends on who you have in your class. Elliot probably came in with the strongest skills, certainly in photography. He’s planning on going to film school. But the other students work well as a group and by the end of the semester, they were making their own films too.  This group’s strength is their collaboration. They’ve really gelled and not every group does,. They have differences in opinions and styles, but they’ve learned how to mesh together."

To submit something to Sound Off, email editor@fivetownctc.org, call (207) 236-9800 or mail to: Five Town Communities That Care, P.O. Box 1135, 219 Meadow Street, Rockport, ME 04856. Please include a real name and a phone number/email address so we can get in touch with you for editing purposes.

 

Industrial Meets Art

In this issue of Sound Off, we are featuring a whole new spin on the term "hands-on." The following shows what happens when Art Class meets Shop Class and what can happen when Five Town teens work with metals, woods and other industrial elements to create a collaborative (and functional) art project. 

Drawing for a steel-framed table with granite top.

Jack, Isaiah, Alex and Emma posing with the steel legs the made on the Bender.

Artists: Emma McGurren, Isaiah Backiel, Alex Mansius, Jack Prime

Students in Mrs. Southworth’s class at CHRHS have undertaken a first-ever merging of art class with welding/industrial arts. Starting with a drawing of a table they collaborated on as a group, then each taking turns to rework the steel legs with a “bender,” a machine that forms steel into certain shapes, they are in the process of creating functional art. One of the students had a scrap piece of granite at home to add to the table project.

Student Lauren Merritt sanding the wooden stool seat.

Original drawing of the stool for the Music Room.

Artist: Lauren Merritt

Lauren is seen here working on a wooden stool for the music room. In his group's initial design, they wanted a drum top to be the seat of the stool, but they couldn’t find an old one, so they made this wooden stool with three different pieces of wood glued together, sanded and rounded instead.

“This stool was meant for the music room so the theme, obviously is music. The seat of the stool is going to have music notes etched in instead," said Lauren as he finished sanding the glued pieces into a smooth rounded shape. "The bottom frame is going to be kind of like the lines on a sheet of music."

Artist: Jack Prime

“This ground sculpture was from a project where we were given a word to use as inspiration and then were given ten feet of metal to make a sculpture based on a word. The word I got was ‘frustration’ so I I tried to make it reflect the words and made the sculpture all zig-zaggy.”

Adult Comments: "It all started because Steve Nystrom, (who teaches Industrial Technology, Woodworking and Welding, among other courses at CHRHS) is a trained engineer. And a lot of things coming out of his class were very functional, but I started thinking we could do something that would be both artistic and functional. I started getting into working with metals myself and seeing the potential there, so he and I started working together and thought, 'This is a really good combination.' This is the first time art classes have joined with Industrial Technology, Woodworking and Welding. It's like a pilot class and I think there are some kids, who spend a lot of time down here find this really appealing. They've found something they're really passionate about."

-Visual and Performing Arts Teacher, Mrs. Suzanne Southworth 

A Delta planer as used in shop class for woodworking.

Artist: Paul Woodworth

Drawing of The Metal Room

Artist: Jack Prime

Electrical outlet.

Artist: Randy Mercer

Adult Comment: These drawings were done using the Metal and Woodworking shop as inspiration. I left it quite open to let them take their own direction on how they wanted to treat this assignment."
-Art Teacher, Carolyn Brown

Editor Comment: Often, when I'm working with teenage boys around writing/literature, the classical curricula reading list does not interest them. They only seem to get interested if a non-traditional subject matter appeals to them. In the same way, I love how woodworking and metalwork appeals to these boys above and how they've transcribed the mechanics of it into an artistic form. 

The Wolf Pack

In this issue of Sound Off, we want to introduce The Wolf Pack, a group of high school students at CHRHS who serve as peer mentors to middle school kids to help them resist peer pressure to do drugs and alcohol. 

The Wolf Pack together for one of their regular after-school meetings

 
The Wolf Pack conjures up the image of a closely bound, fiercely loyal group and that's an apt description for these 15 kids who started a little more than a year ago, under the guidance of high school teacher Chris Audet. Last year, a Bangor Daily News article underscored how committed these teens are. They've not only taken a vow not to drink or do drugs themselves, but they also search for ways to exemplify for younger students how they can have a healthy, happy, and fun drug- and alcohol-free life throughout high school. We're going to meet several of them in this blog and see how they view their roles with the younger kids.

Camilla Walker
Q: What is the Wolf Pack all about in your words?
A:  The Wolf Pack is a group of high schoolers who go to the middle school every two weeks. We've all pledged to be drug and alcohol free and just show the younger kids that you can still be involved in high school and have friends and do fun things without being involved with drugs and alcohol.

Cailand Sweeting
Q: Why did you decide to be part of this group?
A:  I just decided to be drug and alcohol-free all throughout high school and I was already friends with some of the members and so, it was a really good fit.

Autumn Coyle
Q: What do you get out of working with middle school kids?
A:  They're just fun to talk to. I didn't think they were going to enjoy us coming there, but it seems like some of them really do. I just hope it changes the high school in the next couple of years.

Eddie McClusky
Q: What is satisfying to you about what you're doing after you've visited the middle school?
A:  I really like having deep discussions with the middle schoolers and I feel like I'm educating them about high school and about drug and alcohol in the high school. It's very satisfying. I think they definitely value our opinions. Basically what the Wolf Pack shows them is you can be cool without having to do drugs and alcohol.

Bekah Hilt
Q: What are some of the cool things you guys do that make the middle schoolers think, "Yeah, I want to do that."
A:  Well, we play games and we ask them about questions they have about drugs and alcohol and they're really good about it. They'll ask us examples like: "what if your friend is doing drugs or alcohol--do you tell on them or do you confront them?" We have to come up with really good answers--the right answers.

Adult Comment: This is an amazing group of students who really care about the health and wellness of their school and their community. I am lucky to be working with students of this magnitude.
-Chris Audet, Advisor 

Supernatural, Death and Beyond

In this October issue, we are exploring the themes of death, the supernatural and beyond. Here, we've compiled a group of images and writing that Five Town Community students from a variety of schools have created...and their own interpretation of these themes.

Artist: Makayla Maxwell

Artist: Tia Basford
I called this piece The Circle of Life because this is where I imagined your spirit goes when you pass on.

Editor Comment: Tia was part of The community School last year, but I held onto this piece until I could find the right issue for it. The artwork was done using black cut out paper onto a white background.

Skull by Alice Wang

Artist: Alice Wang
For the skull, I was testing out my drawing skills. I saw the original image of these two skeletons online and I wanted to copy it. I wanted a romantic and sad drawing, kind of like the tragedy of Titanic. I was thinking of those two characters in that scene where she loses him to the water and wanted to have two skeletons hugging.

Poseidon

Alien

Artist: Lauren Merritt

  
If you’ve ever seen on the Sci-Fi Channel, there is a “Face Off.” There are a lot of special effects makeup artists and I guess you could say I developed this style from what they had to do for a challenge. What I saw from past makeup challenges, the twist on the back of the head is an idea they did with a pumpkin on “The Wizard of Oz” and they really morphed it. The alien I made is [in response] to one of the challenges they had one day watching the show, so I drew it mixing my concepts with theirs. I’m interested in a lot of movie stuff and video game design. I guess the hardest part is getting [the drawings] is trying to get everything the way I want to. 

 Artist: Leo Washburn
Editor Comment: I saw this photo at CMCA and found myself a little entranced by the spookiness of it. XX managed to superimpose his "ghostly" subjects onto a night-time scene (see how to do that here) and the effect is certainly chilling.

Artist: Eddie Socker
The inspiration for it was really just fun. We had a project where we had to draw a skull using crosshatching with ink and I made a few add-ons for fun.
 
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Reviewer: Dakota Sprague
The Book Thief is set during the Holocaust about a young girl Liesel who is traveling on a train
with her mother and brother to her new home.
 
Her little brother dies on the ride there under suspicious circumstances. Before she goes to
her new home she is going to her brother's burial,where she steals a book called The Grave Digger's
Handbook from the cemetery after it falls out of a grave digger's coat. 

The thing is Liesel can't read. Hans Liesel's new foster parent finds the book under her mattress and it pushes him to teach her to read. Soon she begins to steal books at book
burnings. “Death” follows her around not sure what to think of this young girl!

When I first started the book it took me awhile to get into it. As the book went on, it started to catch my attention with the powerful descriptions; it felt like you were actually there. “The last time I saw her was red. The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places, it was burned. There were
black crumbs and pepper, streaked across the redness.” (p.12). At some points I just didn't know how to feel as I read. It's a really heart touching story that can inspire many with its trip through cruelty, poverty and love. Death is used as the
narrator which I think was phenomenal; it shows the world different perspectives of what death really meant in the Holocaust time period. “I am haunted by humans” (p.550).

This book is a perfect example of how powerful reading can be. It takes a young girl's problems away as she reads. As I read this book, it gave me a different perspective of the Holocaust and how things changed the world and the people
in it.

Adult Comment: I believe Dakota connects with the idea that books can change lives, that the printed word can save us from despair and connect us to others even in the worst of times.
-Andrea Itkin, Passages Coordinator

To The Edge

Part of Sound Off's mission is to dig a little deeper, to peel off the layers off what it means to be a teenager in these small Midcoast towns.  Often when given a school project, teens will deliver a form of self-expression that is quite accepted and acceptable. There is nothing wrong with that. But sometimes, a student will paint, construct or photograph something that goes a different direction, usually borne out of something very personal. The end result might not feel entirely comfortable to an adult, but the magnetism of the piece is unmistakeable.  The theme of this issue is taking it "To The Edge"-pieces that take the concept of artwork past the expected to the edge.   

Artist: David Munson   

Adult Comment: David is interested in all forms of art. He works with surface design on garments as one of his projects at home. This is one of a pair of vests embellished with metal studs and embossed with fabric patches. 
-Art teacher Carolyn Brown

Artists: Colby Hill and Haley Cushing
 
My father and friend made a skateboard out of Canadian Maplewood by pressing it in a concave press. We made the deck of it and then the art is just a tree with diamonds around it. My friend Haley and I liked the color and design and made it just for fun. The skateboard itself is rideable.  
-Colby Hill

Artist: Alice Wang
 

 Artist: Alice Wang 

Artist: Alice Wang

Editor comment: Alice's work immediately caught my eye. She was so proficient in so many mediums; drawing, sculpture, fashion design. The ceramic shoe above was done in the style of Lady Gaga. Her fashion sketches alone show she's going places. In fact, Alice spent her summer at The Rhode Island College of Design program. As you can see above, a model at an end-of-season show wore one of Alice's unconventional designs. 

Alice Wang (photo: Kay Stephens)

Alice's designs were so fascinating, I ended up interviewing her for The Pen Bay Pilot series, "Hail To The Rad Kids."  To see the inspiration behind the above designs, click on the story link above.

 Artist: Bella Perry 

Adult Comment: Bella's work is based on the novels by Stieg Larson Girl with the Dragon Tattoo using cardboard, newspaper and paint. I believe Bella was partially influenced by student work she saw in last year's (2011) Fine Arts Night, by Andy Schlebecker as he worked with unconventional materials, including Altered Book materials, to create self-portraits.
-Art Teacher Carolyn Brown 
-Art Teacher Suzanne Southworth

Artist: Cody Barnett  

We had to pick a word to go with this exercise. It was the first day of art class and I was just doodling around. I haven’t used crayon in a while and I originally started with drawing the guy and then was told I had to incorporate a word so I was like “Oh God.” I couldn’t think of a word so I said, thought “why not, just use the word, Word.” 
 

Artist: Cody Barnett
I just kind of went with this drawing. I play a lot of video games so I drew this assault rifle 636. A tree is coming out of the rifle. I’ve grown up seeing a lot of war—this whole decade has been war and this is a way of showing peace through a different way. 

Adult Comment: Cody has an awesome follow up drawing to the ones you have here. He is now at Montana State studying graphic design.
-Art Teacher Suzanne Southworth

Artist: Kierra Bunting
(Photo and story appeared in Pen Bay Pilot's feature "Hail To The Rad Kids.")
 

“I like street art a lot,” she says of one of her photos featuring the graffiti of Frank The Bunny from the movie, Donnie Darko on a utility box behind the Cutting Edge. “I was hanging out back here with my friends to go look at the water and I turned around and there it was. Donnie Darko is one of my favorite movies, so I think this is one of the cooler [examples] of graffiti in town.” She took her film SLR camera, one of 10 old-school and digital cameras she has acquired. “So I zoomed in on it and I just wanted an angular shot.”

Artist: Kierra Bunting
 

I really like graffiti on these signs—they’re all around town. There’s another one—‘Can’t STOP dancing’ and another one that says STOP and someone spray painted Hammertime underneath. 

Editor Comment: I got to spend some time with Kierra and walked around town with her to see what inspired her photography. Like a lot of teens, she finds little hidey-holes all around the Midcoast, places adults don't normally seek out, like that place under the stairs where she found the graffiti on the electrical box. Her photography emphasizes little sharp details in Camden that we walk by a million times and never see.

Artist: Tyler
(Photo and story appeared in penbaypilot.com)

Tyler, who donated his artwork to the Out! As I Want To Be auction said: "I donated my art because I love Out! As I Want To Be. It's a fabulous place for people to go and feel comfortable to be themselves. While drawing, I feel comfortable doing what I'm good at, so I figured I'd donate this [Adam Lambert] piece to them. It was actually for school project last year. I had to draw my idol, and well, he is my idol."

Adult Comment: Tyler donated two charcoal portraits to our Silent Auction for an Out! As I Want To Be fundraiser. This one was "Adam Lambert" and he had another one, "Burlesque."  They show his keen observation and skilled hand - and both were sold! Both of the pieces that Tyler donated to our auction were very personal works. His self portrait showed the hesitancy LGBT youth feel about being out there, yet depicted his own very personal style, as well. His generosity is so appreciated.  All told, 40 community members and businesses contributed artwork, services and merchandise to the auction which raised more than $2500 for Out! As I Want to Be's drop-in and other programs for youth. It is a great outpouring of community support
-Harriet Mosher, Director, Out! As I Want to Be
-Lis Clark, mentor 

We're now looking for fall submissions! The next theme is:  Supernatural & Beyond ( writing or artwork that explores concepts of death and worlds beyond our own.).

To submit, email editor@fivetownctc.org, call (207) 236-9800 or mail to: Five Town Communities That Care, P.O. Box 1135, 219 Meadow Street, Rockport, ME 04856. Please include a real name and a phone number so Stephens can get in touch with you for editing purposes.