Seize the Homecoming

Amber & Kate modeling mums

This past week was homecoming for all of us at Ray High School. Being a freshman I'm new to a lot of these things. One of them being mums. The Wikipedia definition of a homecoming mum is this: "Southwestern United States.The garters are then worn to the game and dance. These are usually very elaborate and consist of many ribbons and ornaments with a chrysanthemum in the center. The decorations are usually related to the wearer's interests and school." and the Urban Dictionary definition is "a big ass bow thing made out of ribbons, that you get for homecoming from your date." 
     I am one of those forever-alone girls so I figured I would just make my own mum. I am also one of those creative, outside of the box, kind of girls. So the part about my own interests really let me be creative. I don't  do sports and that's usually what is on mums so google helped none. Who wants a mum with football crap on it? Umm no one, that's who! 

     Most Fridays we have school-wide pep rallies. All the grades sit in specific sections and at the end, there is a battle cry contest. Whichever grade has the loudest and best one gets bragging rights. It's really competitive and intense. So when it was the freshman's turn, we did our best but all the upperclassmen began boo-ing us. The boo's were louder than our cheers and sent us down to the bottom. Not a cool moment for the class of 2016...
     That day on my way home I was still peeved about the pep rally. I was listening to my iPod and Newsies came on. Then it hit me like a pape to the face. Freshman are just like Newsies! Our Pulitzer is all of the upperclassmen. We have to be brave like the newsboys and let the school know that we been here!
     The following week all the freshman got their act together. We organized ourselves with the help of our Human Geography teacher, Mr. Roberts (shout-out!),who donated his classroom for all our pep rally supplies. We made signs, shredded newspapers and had lots of air horns. I also got to work on my mum. I decided it was going to be a Newsies mum. The ribbons were newspaper, the logo was on the middle  bow and the word Newsies was spelled along the center. It came out pretty well.
     Friday finally rolled around and everyone was ready for that pep rally once and for all. Right before it my friend, Amber, surprised me a mum she made for me. It was a traditional mum and when she saw the one I had made, she loved it. So did all my other theatre friends, they said they totally got it and "that's rich"! 
     So when it was the freshman's turn to do our battle cry, we threw shredded newspaper in the air, yelled at the top of our lungs and jumped up and down. We really gave it our all. Even the seniors stood up in surprise. Freshman don't do this sort of thing! When our principal was announcing the winning class she said, "This week's winners went from the bottom to the top! It's the freshman class!" The announcement was met with another flurry of newspaper and cries of joy. It was the first time ever in the history of our school that the freshman class won the homecoming pep rally. Put that in your juice box and suck it, upperclassmen! 

  

Show Tunes and How Apparently They Aren't Normal People Music

     When asked what kind of music I like best, I usually answer with country music. Really I only listen to two genres; country and show tunes. Broadway show tunes are just so underrated it's sad. I'm sorry if wanting to be involved in a story while singing. That's what these songs do, they help tell a story. A wise person once said, "There is a show tune for every occasion." That wise person was spot on because there are just so many!
      Having a bad day? "Hasa Diga Eebowai" from The Book of Mormon is your song. Going on a date you are really excited for later? Try singing "Tonight" from West Side Story. Getting mixed feelings from a "friend"? Then "Mix Tape" from Avenue Q is for you. Just met someone special? "I Can Hear the Bells" from Hairspray. Feel like eating your town? "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd. Trying to learn Spanish? "Sunrise" from In The Heights. Trying to write a newspaper for rebel newsboys? "Watch What Happens" from Newsies. Stripper? "Out Tonight" from Rent. Do you dream of being a house wife? "Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm" from How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Are you a perky blonde who is giving your abnormally green friend a makeover? "Popular" from Wicked.
     There is always a good moment for a show tune because there are so many musicals about really crazy things! Some are believable and even have historical accuracy like Newsies, Rent, In The Heights, and West Side Story. Others go off of stereotypes like The Book of Mormon. Some come from movies like most Disney musicals and Hairspray.
     Some people however, like my mother, don't appreciate them at all. Apparently "normal people" don't listen to this kind of music. This really sucks because how cool would it be to pull up to a red light next to some gangster who is blaring some ghetto rap music and be able to thwart him with "Ohmigod You Guys" from Legally Blonde The Musical. Wouldn't that just feel great?!
    

Confusion on Cliques and Where I Will Sit For the Next Four Years

     As I've mentioned before on this blog, this fall I am doing something pretty big. I start high school. *insert thunder and lightning here* In the movies, when you see a high school cafeteria you see all of these different tables with all of these different groups of people sitting at different tables. I've begun to think: What table will I sit at? My clique is made of all kinds of different people. Come to think of it, do I even have a clique? I'm friends with all kinds of people; theatre geeks, nerds, stoners, goody-two shoes, preps, athletes (shocker I know).
     My closest friends and I are just kind of weird. I am bonded with these people for all kinds of different reasons. Some I like because they are funny, I perform with, I secretly don't even like, they are nice, and so on. It's odd now that I think about it. We are just a big melting pot.
     I think we will just have to claim a table to ourselves. It will be like The Island of Misfit Toys but for my friends and anyone else who wants to come. A table for people who are just like us. Unclassifiable.

My Fourth Of July and How Rebecca Needs Insurance

     I've never been a very fearless child. I can't swim, ride a bike, or pop fireworks. That third one is sometimes a problem around this time of year. Now that I'm a teenager and not looked at as such a little kid, I can avoid fireworks with more ease. Fireworks just make me jumpy and give me heart attacks. To me they are just little red bad ideas. Most of the time parents teach their children not to play with fire, but on this particular summer night, they hand them the fire. But this isn't even normal fire. This fire is loud and pops everywhere and at everything.
   My family always has an annual Fourth of July party and this year my friend Rebecca tagged along with us. Besides multiple bug bites, everything was going well and we were having fun. Then my niece, Maria, pulls out packs of 100 count Black Cats. Black Cats are little firecrackers that you light in your hand then throw before they explode. I was a good sport and threw two but then decided to just sit down and hand them the fireworks instead. Maria has been doing them for years. I remember being much younger and her having all kinds of explosives in one pocket and a lighter in the other. She would always drag me along with her to set them off so I trusted her. Rebecca on the other hand has always lived in Corpus Christi, a city an hour away that has too much concrete and too many bans against this sort of thing. Needless to say, I was weary.
     As the night grew on Rebecca gained more and more confidence and eventually was competing with Maria. It was a game I used to play (and always lost at). It's like a game of chicken. The Black Cats have a long enough fuse so that when they are thrown they don't explode in the air and they do on the ground. What the players do is hold the lit firework in their hand then throw it at the last second so that it does explode in the air. Maria was in the lead and Rebecca kept gaining confidence and making me more and more nervous.
     Then Rebecca did what Maria and I kept warning her not to do. She held on too long. The firecracker went off in her hand. Becca stared in shock. Maria jumped. I screamed, flipped and freaked the hell out. I thought my friend had just blown her hand off!
     As I was trying to catch my breath and return my heart rate to a normal beat Rebecca came towards me.
     "Can I have another one?"


To check out Rebecca's blog,  ***click here***

Jeremy Jordan and How I Can't Believe He's From Corpus

     The Tony awards are only a week away and Mr. Jeremy Jordan is nominated for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical. Jordan stars in the musical, Newsies. Newsies is based on the actual Newsboys Strike of 1899.
     I had never heard of this new show and when I first heard about it, all I heard were two words; Jeremy Jordan. I live in Corpus Christi, Texas and apparently so did he. "That's cool." I thought and blew it off.
     Later one of my friends told me about someting that happened in choir that day. Ms. Byus (yes, like High School Musical but I'm 100% serious), the choir director, was telling the class about Jordan. "  He is nominated for a Tony this year and we all should be very proud of him not only because he is a Corpus Christi native, but he also went here to Baker." I had never heard this before! This guy could win a Tony and I'm walking the same halls as him?! At this, everyone started talking so Ms. Byus had to hush down the kids, "Yes, yes, kids. But I wasn't his choir teacher when he went here."
     "That's why he's gonna win the Tony!"retorted some kid in the back of the class. The whole class laughed but Ms. Byus was less than amused.
     So that night I went home and listened to the Newsies soundtrack on Spotify. It was really catchy and soon I was singing right along. I wanted to know more about Jordan and the whole show itself. In one interview he said "This is a huge responsibility. I remember being eight years old and seeing it in the theater. This movie means a lot to people in my generation." I was clueless. What movie was he talking about? It turns out that there is a movie of the same name that the musical was based on. I had never heard of it because it is a few years older than me; it's from 1992 to be exact.
     That weekend I was at Half Price Books and found an old VHS tape of it for one dollar. That's how you know it's old. What else can you buy for a dollar? When I was paying for it I made small talk with the cashier. "Hey I remember this movie! It was pretty good." I told him it was on Broadway now but he didn't really seem very interested. It wasn't until I mention Jeremy Jordan that it clicked for him. "Oh! That guy?! He went to Carroll. I remember now. A Tony, huh? Maybe we should be selling this for more than a buck..." Too late! I had bought it already.
     So I developed my opinion of the show through the 1992 movie, YouTube clips and other people's reviews. I love Newsies now and I wish I could play one but I am a painfully tall hispanic girl so I seriously doubt that will ever happen. The more I think about it, the cooler Jeremy Jordan seems. He came from my city. He probably ate a few Whataburgers, put up with our crap weather, and was frustrated with our miniscule theatre life down here (it pisses me off all the time). He was one of us but is now a star. As I type this it's hitting me; what if I know a future Tony winner...BAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! Yeah right! A city like Corpus Christi can only produce one person like Jeremy Jordan.

My Last Day As A Baker Bronc

     Today was the end of a long journey for me. I've spent the last three years here and changed so much.
     I've gone to school with these people for the past eight years so we have all become brothers and sisters. It's why most of us don't date. Who would want to date their sibling? No one, that's who. It's why if we do date, we date kids form other schools.
     First period we got our end of course exam results (I did well) and the whole class was buzzing with anticipation and nerves. It hadn't hit us yet that this was our last day together. By fifth period however, I was ready to start crying. The following are just a few of the people I had to say goodbye to today.
      I had a couple of friends in theatre who I wouldn't see anymore. Christian was going to Carroll and I asked him if he was going to continue doing theatre over there. He said yes and that made me feel a bit better because I knew I would see him again. I did make him promise to not be better than Ray before I gave him a hug.
     I shared that theatre class with Alec too and he was going to Moody because that dork got into the health and science program. That class we were watching a Broadway documentary and West Side Story segment came up. I looked at all of my friends and they all smiled at me; I looked at Alec and he was slouched over fast asleep. WHAT HUMAN IS ABLE TO SLEEP THROUGH WEST SIDE STORY?! All I'm saying is that he better not sleep like that when I'm up there as Anita. He assured me that he wouldn't.
     The next period was Spanish and I had to say goodbye to Matthew. Matthew is a little monster and he "stans" lots of celebrities. Whenever I am curious about pop culture or music in general, he is my go-to guy. His Twitter is @MatthewBGaGa1 and you should all go follow him. Anyway,Matthew is very...well he's very white. Spanish is not his strongest subject and often depends on other people to help him. The day before, we took our final exam for Spanish and needless to say, we were all worried about the grade he would be making. He needed to make a B and he had a 78.6 in that class. When we got our scores back he informed us that he got a 99! Good for Matthew! We were all very proud of him and sad to see him go. But hey, he heard the Spanish teacher at King is very lenient so hopefully he will survive without us.
    In U.S. History I had to say goodbye to Ryan because he, like Alec, was going to Moody. When I first met Ryan we were doing a duet scene. He was a fox who was trying to convince a bunch of grapes to let him eat them. I was the grapes (not exactly winning a Tony for that performance anytime soon). It was a comedic scene and our director decided to showcase it so it was a success. This year Ryan and I became closer through our History class and NJHS. Everybody had him in a group hug as the final bell rang. Needless to say, the tears flowed freely.
     The hardest to say goodbye to however was definitely Steff. We rode the bus together for five years straight and old each other everything. We were best friends and she is going to Carroll in the fall. We both saw this coming but didn't want to acknowledge it until now. As we got nearer and nearer to her stop the tears came more and more. What would we do without each other? We vowed to do things together over the summer and I hope she stays true to her promise.
    


     Today was a very hard day because I had to say goodbye to say to a lot of people. Really it wasn't goodbye but a see you later. I know I can call, text, and look at their Facebooks, but it's not the same. We can't see each other everyday anymore. When we do meet again, it will be a special occasion, not just another Tuesday. Today was inevitable because now I can go to Ray in the fall and be totally prepared. Even though I said goodbye to these people, I will always have their love and support.

My Night of Neon Light

     At my school when we hear the word "dance" a lot of us think that means "dry hump each other to ghetto music". So when I heard we were having a prom, I wasn't exactly thrilled.
     Another thing that really put me down about it was that I wanted to go with a certain guy. About a week before prom I told him that I had a crush on him. His response? "Yeah, and you're a great actress." A GREAT ACTRESS?! That's the best possible complement he could give me? While that did wonders for my confidence level, my best friend was also left heartbroken by a different boy. So we figured we would go to prom with each other. It's not like we were going to get asked anytime soon.
     The day of prom I didn't bother to even go to school. Our final exams were over and we weren't doing much anyway so I thought I would just spend it prepping for prom. I went to go get my hair done and the stylist straightened it. It took an hour and a half to get all of my curls to go flat. I got up thinking that we were done, but she shoved me right back down into the swivel chair. Then she begins to curl my hair. I'm sorry; what?! After another hour of glaring at the stylist through the mirror, I ask "Are we done now?" She laughed. She then commenced the most complicated pattern ever on the back of my head. Finally I had a perfectly messy bun with a red flower in my hair. How it happened, I have no idea. In the end I looked very well...Latin.

     When it came to makeup, I was told "Go find the reddest lipstick you have." so I came back with my favorite stage makeup. I put it on and got a "DAMN THAT'S RED!" I threw on my dress and then was out the door and headed to Kate's house, where I was meeting up with some friends. From Kate's house we went to City Diner and laughed until our stomachs hurt. We figured that the dinner was going to be more fun than the prom itself. Eventually we left for the Ortiz Center where our prom was to be held.
     As we drove up we saw one of my good friends, Quentin. He looked dashing in an all white tux and we called him over to us. The first words out of his mouth made my night, "OMG your dress! You look just like Anita! So West Side Story!!!" Quentin knows just what to say to make me smile. As in one of my previous posts, I have a bit of a fetish for West Side Story and Anita is my dream role. Of course we danced and took plenty of pictures that were very West Side Story-esque. He was my Bernardo for the night.

Frances and Austin

     Every dance I had meant something different to me. I danced with another one of my good friends, Natalya (click here to see a 5 second clip of us dancing) and remembered why we are such great friends. As another one of my friends, Austin, spun me around the dance floor to "Neon Moon" I realized how much I missed having classes with him. With Frances I noticed how grown up and beautiful she was and it hit me that we were all growing up. With Steff a wave of dred hit me like a brick. I didn't want her to go to any high school except mine. I jumped around with Kate and I could barely contain my excitement to do high school theatre with her in the fall.
    Technically Lauren was my date, but she enjoys dancing more than I do so she never left the dance floor. I didn't mind; I walked around and chatted a bit with everyone.
     Our theme was "Night of Neon Light" so there were glow sticks everywhere. It was actually really pretty; so pretty that we were all surprised. The only thing that wasn't perfect was the DJ. He would stop the song so that we were all singing acapella. It wasn't pretty. If we wanted to hear these kids belt out lyrics to songs they barely know, and butcher it, Baker would do more musicals. DJ aside, it was a great night. My date and best friend, Lauren, spent the night at my house and we talked about who we danced with and who we wish we had. It was a great way to end the year and we lit up the night with our high spirits alone.