SCHOOL ACTIVITIES June 13, 20182A GRAND SLAM PERFORMANCE

BY ALEAH GREEN Torrance High School’s 10th Annual Slam Competition “exploded” on May 17 in the auditorium. The event was produced by English teacher Ms. Gonzales and math teacher Traci Castro and hosted by renowned slam poet Shihan Van Clief, who has been featured on several poetry platforms including the television series, Def Poetry Slam. This year’s setlist involved a variety of topics, in-cluding poems about cultural identity, love, and so-cietal reflection. The first half of the show featured per-formances like Nancy Bowls’ My Artist’s Block, Chidinma Azinge’s Everybody wants to be Black until it’s time to be Black, Elyssa Ruiz’s Same Shade of Red, Daemon Burch’s Keeping You Alive, Isabel-la McDades Screw Up, Therese Rico’s This Home, Kaila Hashimoto’s To My Future Husband, and Jack Arroues and Ryan Johnson’s English, we love you but… A 10 minute intermission followed. The second part consisted of Priya Esperanto’s I Don’t Speak Spanish, Aleah Green’s Ode to My Stepmoth-er, Jack Ballard’s Why Me, Bianca Flores’ Numbers, Timmy Simon’s In a Relationship with My Anxiety, Nabeela Salem’s Full of Rainbows, and Aleyna Yim’s A Slam Poem about Love or Something, as well as a closing performance from Shihan with the crowd favorite, This Type of Love.

The confluence of raw talent and emo-tion from every poet made the night a success. In the end, three poems placed: the third place recip-ient was Bianca Flores, second place was Nabeala Salem, and the first place winners, who received the grand prize of $100 and the big trophy were Jack Arroues and Ryan Johnson. Many were impressed by the linguistic talent the students had to offer. Senior Yaxhel Lo-zoya opined, “The performances were great; this year was by far my favorite.” Moreover, the per-formers exhibited a similar feeling of anticipation. Slam participant Timothy Simon stated, “In all hon-esty, the show left me at a loss for words…” Slam winner Ryan Johnson concurred, stating that his fa-vorite part of Slam was “the audience enthusiasm and support throughout the entire show.”

The night was full of clever wordplay and hysteria that left the audience wanting more. With such captivating performances, it left many wondering what next year has in store. This year’s slam may have been the tenth of its kind, but as the centennial year comes to a close, the performers leave a poetic legacy behind.

TALENTED TARTARSBY SARAH HEIMFORTH On Wednesday night, May 9, the Torrance High School Talent Show transpired in the auditorium and was hosted by the art program and organized by Ms. Heflinger. It highlighted the talents of many THS singers, artists, and a dancer. It was a good break from the stress of AP testing and the looming idea of graduation. Andrew Loreto auditioned for the Master of Ceremonies position and excelled in introducing many artists, like Nicole Julia Gutierrez and Rhyen Crane. The program included nine singers, a guitarist, and a dancer. The concession stand sold snacks during the short inter-mission as a final senior fundraiser. The show began with the singing abilities of Kiona Peebles, Rhyen Crane, Diego Hockenberry, and Aleyna Yim. Daisy Cendejas showed the audience her years of practice on the six-string by playing an instru-mental cover of “Two Moons.” The first act ended with a soulful cover of “House of the Rising Sun” by Kalani Lopez. After the short intermission a video show-cased some of the more eccentric talents that couldn’t

be shown on stage, like being double-jointed or extremely flexible. The show commenced with the talented vocalists Nicole Julia Gutierrez, Claudia Mwangi, and Jocelyn Sil-va presenting their mellifluous melodies. Also, Amilia Hernandez frolicked a stunning interpretation of the song “Creep,” and Ronan Alexander concluded the engagement with an eagerly anticipated original rap performance. The crowd enthusiastically chanted the names of their favorite artists while the judges prepared to di-vulge the winners. You could hear the hearts pounding in-side everyone’s chests. Third place went to Rhyen Crane, second place went to Kalani Lopez, and first place went to Aleyna Yim. Many students disagreed, stating that Ronan should have won. Senior Kevin Moreno, opined, “I thought he did really great and the crowd was really pumped up,” despite the fact it was difficult to hear his recital. Although the show suffered some technical diffi-culties, many students enjoyed what had become a huge success. If you are proud of your talents, then others will be proud of you.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, FASHION!BY ELIZABETH BASILE The Torrance High School Fashion Department held its an-nual fashion show, displaying the work of the fashion club and classes as shown on models walking down the runway, on May 16 in the Little Theater. The event started with the prerequisite Fashion 1 class’ cre-ations. The students made a variety of clothes ranging from sleepwear to formal, sometimes with repurposed materials. The fashion show also always has a club to promote and this year hip hop got the gig, showing their style through dance. In Costume and Wearable Art class, a favorite accessory was the Masquerade mask. The Advanced Fashion class took clothes to the next level with more flamboyant styles. The fashion club president, Rina Matsumoto, had collections from more than one class and added special effects to some. For instance, with her collection,

“Enchanted Garden,” she made the show a little brighter with tulle (pronounced TOOL) dresses that lit up. Rina also showed an outfit that did magic. Her model walked down the runway wearing a blouse and upon reaching the end it became a dress. Each student created a garment with their own imagination and inspiration. Stefania Manzo said she used the qualities of mystery and magic in her designs with inspiration from social media sites like Tumblr. Some students garnered their inspiration from favorite celebri-ties. Max Ehlers said he used styles from Lady Gaga for his designs. The Fashion Show had a full turnout and the audience seemed to enjoy the clothes. The fashion department will be puting the proceeds toward better equipment or a fashion field trip. The fashion club is tai-lored for anyone interested in any aspect of clothing or fashion. Zhiyan Hui credits being in Fashion Club for helping develop her eye for color. All the designers showed great talent and potential.

JAZZ CONCERT

BY JACK ARROUES The Torrance High School Jazz Band held its an-nual Swing Night on June 2 at the senior patio under the night-time sky. The audience feasted on lasagna, garlic bread, and various desserts while enjoy-ing the jazz-filled evening. The evening kicked off at 5:00 PM with performances from the jazz band’s three in-dividual groups or “combos.” Each combo was comprised of 6 to 8 players and played their own swing, ballad, and latin piece. Notable combos include Dave and the Ethans, The Blue Estrogen Zucchinis, and Arden and The Leaves. The combo presenta-tions were followed up by a surprise recital. Junior sax-ophonist Lorelei Perez ex-plained, “My favorite part was seeing jazz band alumni per-form an impromptu sextet with our jazz teacher and bassist Matt Menaged.” It was obvi-ous that the jazz band students were highly entertained by the unplanned and unrehearsed (yet very much capable) alum-ni group. Finally, guests were pleased by the entire jazz band at once (the Big Band) which played a variety of jazz stan-dards and eccentric renditions of popular music. For example, one piece combined the hym-nal lamentations of “Amazing Grace” with the jovial, celebra-tory nature of samba music in a tune called “How Sweet the Sound.” Junior trumpeter Arden Siadek reported, “Friends and family were delighted by the performance, the weather was excellent, and our long hours of practice were well worth it.” The band ended with an excit-ing Duke Ellington swing tune called “C-Jam Blues” but in the style of a mambo. Overall, the sundown sensation was a success with many attendees surprised by and proud of the musical tal-ent present at Torrance High School. Be sure to not miss the unique and elegant event next year!

LEARNED IN THE MOVIES BY LOGAN NIETO The Torrance High School Film Club premiered its annual Film Festival on Friday, June 5 in the school’s auditorium. Here, as-piring THS filmmakers presented their final projects to an eager audi-ence, and its safe to say the majority of the crowd was not disappoint-ed. This chronicle features a highlight of the films presented, and does not intend to make a value judgment upon the films not mentioned. The first film presented was “Attack of the Killer Shoe,” created by Eric Cook, Hanz Gallego, Alan Parra Delgado, Joseph Su, and Tristan Newman. This horror-mystery documented the murderous rampage of a sentient shoe, and its subsequent de-feet. Viewers were both on the edge of their seats, then falling out laughing, watching this gritty yet comedic film laced with a near-fatal amount of wordplay. Another was “Bombay Beach”, directed by Arthur Weisse, which acted as a documentation of the director’s trip to Bombay Beach, California. Many defining aspects of the community were shown in the film, including Bombay Beach Drive-In, a multitude of decrepit and abandoned homes, and its unique location in the Salton Sea.

According to Film Fest attendee Christian Stephens, Bom-bay Beach “was pretty neat in it’s presentation of Bombay’s scenery via it’s video clips and the light music in the background. There were also some cute dogs in the video too.” On the other side of the spectrum was “Depression,” directed by Svetlana Pak, and “Overthinking,” directed by Kylie Harris. These two admittedly darker films served to convey themes of loneliness, anxiety, and depression, as well as their effects on THS students. Although “Overthinking” took a slightly more comedic approach, both still had more serious tones compared to some others. According to attendee and fellow director Mario Natareno, “they were really deep, relatable, and hard-hitting with great cinematography and an emotional soundtrack.” The festival grossed over four-hundred dollars for the Video Production program, and gave the aspiring filmmakers of THS a chance to present their creative masterpieces. Their passion to make audiences laugh, cry, and even cheer is being displayed on a silver screen, or perhaps in this case, a maroon and gray one.

SLAM 2018 Winners Jack Arroues and Ryan

Johnson (MAY 2018)

Talent Show Contestant Nicole Julia Gutierrez

(MAY 2018)

A LOVE FOR ENGLISH IS A WIN FOR GOLD