#and marching band (which i later joined) defined all 4 years of my high school

[nero-neptune]

idk, i just think that (to a point) Everyone's a product of the media they consume. that's why certain media is called 'formative', esp if you watched it young. one thing you watched/read could’ve lead to an interest which could’ve gotten you to learn/participate in/avoid something you wouldn’t have otherwise. take away all the books you’ve read, movies you’ve watched, music you've listened to, etc etc- you’re likely a totally different person. which is neither good nor bad, that's just called being a person who lives on planet earth.

[daggerzine]

Deardarkhead’s founding member and drummer, Rob Weiss, give up all the secrets.

Kevin, Rob and John- the current lineup 

South Jersey’s Deardarkhead started as a band shortly after I had started doing this very zine, DAGGER (my first issue was March of 1987 and they began in ‘88). I had met drummer and founding member (and the only original member left) as kids as he grew up down the street from me on the mean streets of Linwood, NJ. Fast forward several years later and Rob is into underground music and forming a band (and working at Sound Odyssey, our local record store in the Shore Mall).

The band was really a breath of fresh air in the South Jersey scene back then as most bands in the scene were either metal or by-the-numbers punk. DDH went across the pond for their influence and gathered it in bands like the Jesus & Mary Chain, Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division and many more (many years ago our friendship was further solidified when he told me he was a huge Naked Raygun fan). The band were able to take these influences and create something truly unique. 

Through a myriad of ups and downs and band members, Rob (drums) and guitarist Kevin Harrington (longtime vocalist Michael Amper left nearly a decade ago) hooked up with a bassist last summer, John Bennett and began playing out again and the band is excited about recording new music.

All of the band’s releases had been on their own Fertile Crescent Records, but nearly a decade ago the band got a serious boost when NYC indie label, Captured Track released a compilation of the band’s early days (Oceanside- 1991-1993). It’s a superb compilation and a great place to start for newcomers (of course DDH completists need it as well). In 2016 Texas shoegaze label Saint Marie Records released an EP, Strange Weather. I was a bit hesitant as the EP was their first record as all instrumental, but the songs were so good that I needn’t worry.

As you’ll read below, Rob’s anxious to record more music and hit the stage as well. That makes me excited as I really hope DDH have lots of gas left in the tank.  

When did you first start playing drums? Did you pick up any other instruments?

I started playing drums in 2nd grade, but I had always wanted to play drums since I was in kindergarten. We had a piano in my house and all of my family played, so I grudgingly agreed to take lessons. A friend of my mother's, who was a piano teacher, would come to our house for the lessons. After about three weeks in, during a lesson, I was asked to repeat a song. I asked my teacher if I could use the bathroom first. Minutes and minutes go by, and my mother comes to the bathroom door asking "Rob are you coming out?" My reply was "I want to play drums!" Lesson over, and the rest is history as they say. I started learning to play other instruments when DDH formed in 1988. I got a 4 track and experimented, until I got good enough to write songs on guitar and bass. If you give me an instrument, I'll make music with it. 

Kurt, Mike, Blakely and Rob- the early daze

 What do you remember as the first indie/alternative bands that you began listening to?

I was really getting into New Wave during the last few years of junior high school. Stuff like Blondie, Devo, The Police, The Cars, and The B-52's. I mostly rejected classic rock at the time, as I wasn't too interested in bands that were no longer around. By high school (1982-1986), I was getting into bands like U2, The Cure, Echo and The Bunnymen, Duran Duran, Public Image Limited and INXS. 

 When did you get hired at (South Jersey record store) Sound Odyssey? How long did your tenure there last and what was it like?

I started at Sound Odyssey in 1987. I was going to Stockton State College at the time and had started hanging around WLFR, the college radio station. While I wasn't a DJ myself, I met a lot of like minded people there, including our mutual friend DJ Bob Portella, who was working at Sound Odyssey then. He put in a good word for me and I got the job. Sound Odyssey was a great record store and I'd probably still work there now if it existed! It was a small chain of about seven stores, owned by the Richman Brothers, and for a mall record store it was amazing. We had a bit of everything: vinyl, tapes, cds, imports, 12"s, 45's, videos, t-shirts, posters, guitars, effect pedals, small amps etc. I bought so many records at that store and it was an important, formative period in my musical education. I made a lot of great friends there (both employees and customers). It was definitely a social hub of the time, as there weren't too many record stores in our area. I came in right at the end of the era, and sometime in 1989 it was sold to the British company, W.H. Smith, which turned it into a Wee Three Records and then The Wall. Although it had changed into an average mainstream record store, I continued working there until they shut it down in 1998, but it had moved to the other end of the mall a few years before. After that, I worked at another local record store, CD Warehouse/Exchange, for a few years. 

 Kevin, Rob, Mike and Blakely- aka: the next lineup (Kevin replaced Kurt)

Had you been in any bands before Deardarkhead?

Prior to DDH around 1987-1988, I had started a short-lived band called Aslan's Pride. We were very U2-esque and only played a handful of shows. Blakely Parent, who had recently moved from Baton Rouge to Ocean City, was our bass player and he would go on to be in the initial line up of DDH.

 Tell me about some of your influences. I know you loved a lot of UK stuff like Echo & the Bunnymen and Jesus & Mary Chain but you also loved Naked Raygun.

I'm definitely an Anglophile, as most of my favorite bands are British or from the UK. In terms of my major influences when I started DDH, I'd list: The Cure, U2, Echo and The Bunnymen, The Beatles, Bauhaus, The Police, Joy Division/New Order, The Church, The Psychedelic Furs, The House of Love, The Cocteau Twins, The Jesus and Mary Chain and 4AD/Factory Records/Creation Records in general. While DDH was definitely on the post-punk side of things, we also liked a lot of punk bands: The Dead Kennedys, The Sex Pistols, The Dead Milkmen, The Ramones, The Buzzcocks, Agent Orange etc. I never really got into the hardcore scene, and preferred bands that were more melodic, which is something I've always loved about Naked Raygun. They are totally kick ass, but the songs are very anthemic and super melodic. 

 Tell me about the beginnings of DDH? Was it 1987 (same year I started Dagger)?  Was it you, Mike and Kurt early on?

DDH actually started in 1988, after Aslan's Pride broke up. The original lineup that recorded our first demo "Greetings From The Infernal Village", was Blakely Parent (vocals, rhythm guitar), Kurt Douglass (guitar), Josh Minor (bass), and me (drums and ebow). So Dagger started a year earlier. Frances Avenue, the street you and I both lived on, was pretty happening for South Jersey!

The first recordings- on gold-plated cassette

 Tell me about the revolving lineups? I know Blakely Parent came aboard pretty early on. Who else?

We've had fairly stable lineups over long periods of time, although at this point I'm the only original member. After the initial lineup, Josh Minor left and Michael Amper came onboard in 1990, as our vocalist and rhythm guitarist, with Blakely Parent moving to bass. Kurt Douglass left in 1992, and was replaced by Kevin Harrington, who is our guitarist to date and is a defining element of our sound. Blakely left in 1994 and we continued on as a three piece. The next major change was Amper's departure in 2009. Unable to find a suitable vocalist, Kevin McCauley joined us in 2010 on bass and we became an all instrumental three piece. McCauley departed in early 2019 due to family obligations. We had been on a hiatus for a few years before that, as my mother was sick with Alzheimer's and I was completely overwhelmed dealing with that. She passed in June 2018. Around the end of summer 2019, John Bennett joined us as our bassist, and we've done three shows together since the beginning of 2020. 

 Were the early recordings collaborative or was one person doing a bulk of the writing?

Every DDH record and lineup has been about collaboration. I've always encouraged everyone to contribute ideas. We don't really have one standard way of writing our songs. Sometimes one person will bring in a mostly finished idea or maybe just a few sections and other times we've written tunes after jamming on a riff out of the blue. We tend to spend a lot of time arranging the song structures, so it's definitely a group effort for us.

An early EP- 1992

 Was there a specific studio where you did most of the recording?

Every recording was done in a different studio: 

Greetings from the Infernal Village - my house Linwood, New Jersey Spiral Down and Vibrate - Dekar Studio, Northfield New Jersey Melt Away Too Soon - Audio Plus, Northfield, New Jersey Ultraviolet - The Catbox, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Unlock the Valves of Feeling - The Churchbox, Lancaster, Columbia, Pennsylvania Strange Weather - Miner Street Recordings, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 The Catbox and The Churchbox were both run by Ken Heitmueller and Jay Sorrentino of Suddenly, Tammy!

 Did the band tour back them (or now)? What’s the furthest away you’ve played?

We've pretty much stuck to the East Coast, as we've never had any label support. We mainly concentrated on putting out our own records.

 Who are some of the bigger names you’ve opened up for?

The Psychedelic Furs, Supergrass, The Lilys, Everclear. 

 How do you feel about the early recordings? I still think the Melt Away Too Soon EP is really great.

We've always tried to make the best recordings we could, with what we had at the moment. Since we never really had any record label money behind us, we had to pay for all the studio time out of pocket. Most songs were done in a few takes with minimal overdubs. Constraints are a good thing, as you can get lost in infinite possibilities. I think we always sound like DDH, no matter what the lineup is, but I do feel there has been a continuous evolution of our sound over time. I'm proud of every record we have released, and feel lucky to have worked with so many talented people. 

The Captured Tracks compilation

 Tell me about the Captured Tracks collection, Oceanside: 1991-1993. What year was that and how did it come about?

That came out in 2011. I was at home one summer day, when I got a call from Mike Sniper from Captured Tracks. He wanted to know if we would be interested in having our early recordings released as a compilation, which would be part of a series called The Shoegaze Archives. The idea was to shine a light on American bands, from the late 80's to early 90's, that were working in a similar vein as their British contemporaries, (eg. Lush, Ride etc.), but never got the same attention. We were the second release in the series and all of the tracks were remastered with sleeve artwork featuring photography I took, that we used to project on stage when playing.  Overall, it was a great experience in terms of exposing an entirely new crowd of people to what DDH has been doing all along. Mike Sniper and the entire Captured Tracks staff were wonderful to work with and we are big fans of many of the bands on the label. Thanks again for contributing liner notes, we were honored!

 Your most recent EP is the vocal-less Strange Weather EP Saint Marie Records, the Texas shoegaze label. How did that come about? Will you do more stuff with that label?

After we finished the recording, I shopped it around for the better part of a year with some labels I thought might be a good fit. Wyatt Parkins, from Saint Marie Records, responded favorably and we worked together to get the release out in March 2016. We'd love to do another record with Saint Marie, but that's up to the label.  Strange Weather, certainly got some of the best reviews we've ever had, however being a instrumental, shoegazer/dreampop/post-punk/indie rock three piece is a hard sell for a lot of folks. That said, DDH always finds a way to keep doing our thing. 

Strange Weather EP- 2016/ Saint Marie Records

 Bring us up to what the band is doing currently. Is there a new vocalist yet? Any new recordings? Shows?

As I mentioned in the lineup question, we played three shows in Atlantic City during January and February 2020, with our new bassist. We played out one new tune and had started working on more material when the Coronavirus pandemic hit. Everything is up in the air until that blows over, but ideally we'd like to write new songs, play more shows, and hopefully make another record sooner than later.

 Who are some of your current favorite bands?

There is always a ton of stuff I'm checking out every day, but some of my heavy rotation lately includes: Ringo Deathstarr, Cigarettes After Sex, Khruangbin, Wild Nothing, Tycho, DIIV, Washed Out, The Horrors, Destroyer, Arctic Monkeys, Pinkshinyultrablast, The Wants, Tara, Seablite, Sulk, Feet, Hatchie, Southpacific, Beabadoobee, Slowdive, Ride.

 What are your top 10 desert island discs?

Let me just say, as a hard core music junkie, narrowing it down to only 10 choices is next to impossible! This is the hardest question ever, and on any given day you might get a slightly different list. Here are ten records I adore, and still listen to regularly, in no specific order:

 The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta

The La's, The La's

My Bloody Valentine, Loveless

The Cure, Disintegration

Miles Davis, Kind of Blue

Echo and the Bunnymen, Songs to Learn and Sing

The Dukes of Stratosphear, Chips from the Chocolate Fireball

U2, War

Slowdive, Souvlaki

The Cocteau Twins, Treasure

Still destroying stages  (and women’s hearts)

Final thoughts? Closing comments? Anything you wanted to mention that I didn’t ask?

Thanks for asking me to do the interview. I feel like it could easily go on as long as Jack Rabid's Big Takeover interviews with The Chameleons! For those of you who have never heard of us, please check us out at: www.deardarkhead.com

 Bonus questions; What’s the weirdest fan letter or strangest thing you have ever received in the mail regarding the band?

We never got any super weird fan letters, however since we put out the majority of our recordings on our own label, Fertile Crescent Records, we'd get a demo submission now and then. I recall getting a tape from a rap artist in our area early on. I of course politely replied saying that we were in no position to sign any artists and even if we were, rap certainly wasn't our area of expertise. For all I know it was one of my smart ass friends winding me up, as it was pretty bad. If that was the case, they never let me in on the joke!

A few recent flyers.

If you missed it, all things DDH can be found at www.deardarkhead.com  

[mildlincrs]

hello everyone! it’s been a while since i released any new content, so i wanted to start off with this post directed towards people who are starting high school. i’m currently a rising sophomore and i wanted to both share my experience with freshmen year and offer some advice:’) 

also, some great posts/videos that i’ve seen for incoming freshmen:

advice for high school freshmen - @studyign on youtube

advice for incoming freshmen - @tbhstudying on tumblr

feel free to ask any questions if there’s a certain topic relating to this that you want answered, or if you want to know anything else about my first year of high school! i’d be glad to answer :’) hope this all helps!

my freshman experience

i currently attend a stem magnet school - it’s supposed to be a very rigorous school, so i had to apply in 8th grade to attend. my courses were intense but not extremely hard - which i expected, and so there was a lot for me to keep up with. i struggled a little bit at the beginning with management of work & extracurricular activities, but marching band really helped me focus. since i had so many rehearsals and competitions, i was forced to make time to study and do my work. my grades held up - i won’t talk about them in specific because at one point in the year i just stopped caring about grades. 

i’ve always experienced high stress and anxiety levels. i wouldn’t say that high school caused them to skyrocket even more, but i found myself dealing with that a lot. i would be out of it often during school, and it kind of showed in my work - i had this one bad week that i remember where i botched an exam that would have been really easy because of stress and i just. had a lot of rough days in general.

extracurricular activities, however, made the entire year worth it. during the summer before school began, i participated in marching band, and i met some of my closest friends there. we’re still super tight and are now really excited for another season:”) as time-consuming and physically demanding as it was, marching band was a lot of fun for me and it (along with DCI shows) became one of my new passions. i also joined my school’s urban/hip-hop dance club! i had danced for 12 years (formal training in ballet) before high school but had to drop during the fall for marching band, so that club helped me keep doing what i loved - and to be very honest i started to love hip hop and urban (and contemporary and modern) more than i did ballet lmao

overall i’d say i had a good year. there were certainly ups and downs, but what was most important for me was bouncing back, which i was able to do pretty well! right now i’m preparing for sophomore year and balancing a lot of other shit but. i personally think everything should be okay in the end.

advice

1. take advantage of extra time

my homework load this year wasn’t too bad. the thing was that when i did have homework, the assignments were often lengthy and to be completed in a short period of time. using lunch breaks, study halls, and even bus rides to get a head start on assignments will honestly save you so much trouble. ignore people who call you out for it; you’ll be better off than them at 10pm at night.

2. be prepared

get ahead on school work when you have the chance. get started on your summer assignments now so that you can actually enjoy your summer. take advantage of free-time and start studying for anything coming up. you will thank yourself later when you have significantly less to do the night before a project is due or the night before your final.

3. bring a water bottle and chapstick/vaseline with you 

hydration is so important. it’s literally a need for survival and while i’m not saying you should bring a gallon’s worth of water to school everyday, bring water to keep yourself replenished. i found that drinking cold water in the morning helped me feel a little more refreshed and alert :”) and chapstick! it’s always good to keep your lips moisturized, so it’s never bad to be prepared.

4. get sleep

for the love of god. if you don’t get sleep before school, you’re wrong. it’s so important to maintain a sleep schedule for yourself, or you’ll be groggy during the day and you also won’t pick up on things during classes. running on caffeine alone won’t cut it. if you know you’re going to have a long night, try doing as much as you can and then cutting yourself off at a certain time. this way you’re guaranteed to get some sleep, and then you can wake up early in the morning to finish working. this definitely won’t work for everyone!!! it helped me with marching band time though:”) there are certain applications/websites that can help track your sleep and other things like that which may be of use to you too, so take advantage of those.

5. don’t bring too many supplies to school

it’s unrealistic to bring an entire pen collection with you in a large case to school everyday. yes, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but my point is that you only bring what you need. bring what you know you’re going to use - the bare minimum. it’s not worth it to get stressed over a lost pen case and lost materials in said pen case. this happened to me - i lost my pencil case and ended up losing some of supplies that i had used for a long time and i was very bitter for the rest of the week because i couldn’t find it;;

6. get involved outside of school

find things that interest you! whether you join a club or organization or sport, it’s always a good thing to find something that you’ll want to do and enjoy. you’ll often be able to relieve a lot of stress from school that way as well. volunteering is also a great thing to do! use freshman year to look for opportunities that interest you, and that way you can try it out and see if you want to do it in the future. honestly just go for it. if you’ve never done cross country before? go for it. it’s never too late to do something new.

7. set aside time for yourself

self care is important!!!!!!! making sure that you are healthy is your main priority. if you’re not feeling well, don’t take that test. you will regret it and it’s better to give yourself time to recover. additionally, if you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed or just. aren’t feeling that great, give yourself a break. stepping away from schoolwork and relaxing will help you feel better, i promise. i have a self care tag that probably has a ton of suggestions for things to do if you’re feeling stressed or down. that said, take advantage of advice you see on tumblr. try things out and see what helps you wind down and feel better.

8. don’t worry about the psat

just don’t. honestly it’s not a huge deal, and coming from someone with anxiety, it’s not something that’s worth stressing over. prepare for it if you want, but you’d be better off preparing for tests in classes that you actually take versus a standardized practice exam that won’t even be sent to colleges. this doesn’t mean that you should blow it all off when you take it though - take it seriously, and then enjoy the memes that follow.

9. don’t get worked up over your grades

freshman year is meant to be a year where you transition from middle school to high school. you’re meant to make mistakes. it’s okay if you make mistakes. you will make mistakes. use freshman year to figure out what habits and routines work for you. figure out a planning system. figure out a studying schedule. figure out what you’re going to do outside of school and think about how you’ll balance it with everything else. if you end with a few bad/sub-par grades at the end of a quarter/semester, that’s fine. no one will care, and you still have time to bring it up. and even if you end with mediocre grades, you have 3 more years to show improvement. you have time. also!!!!!! please please please don’t let bad scores affect your self  esteem. numbers on a screen or paper do not define your intelligence. you’ve probably seen that statement before, and that’s because it’s true. your grades do not define your self worth, and if anyone tells you the opposite, they’re wrong. you are amazing; never forget that.

there’s not much that i can add that i’ve not yet seen floating around on tumblr, so i’ll end it here! again, feel free to shoot me an ask if you have any questions :)

[musicacademic]

New Beginnings

Sunday 22nd of September 2019

Hi there!

I’m not entirely sure how all of this is supposed to work but I’m trying my hardest to figure it all out. I’ve created this Tumblr account as a way of recollecting my time as a BA Music student at the University of Lincoln. Most of my posts will most likely consist of rambling nonsense and random notes that I feel I should share from my journey through life as a musician and a student in general. 

Hopefully, if I can continue consistently (Alliteration) with these blog posts then this may be a very helpful tool for me to use later on in my studies when looking back on all the work and effort I have put in over the years.

As an introduction for my first ever blog post I would like to take note of my abilities and musical experiences thus far so that I can look back on this as a marker for where my journey begins.

So far I have played in 3 bands:

- The Whole Package (NEEVA) 

- Paranoik

- National Citizens

The Whole Package was the first band I’ve ever been in as it was my college band for my first year. We played a lot of different kinds of music but if I were to classify the genre of this band I would probably say Indie / Pop as those are the songs that we played the most when we weren’t performing tutor given pieces. 

Our members consisted of:

Adam - Guitarist

Shira - Vocalist / Guitarist

Charlotte - Vocalist / Pianist

Will - Bassist / Drummer

Jack - Bassist / Drummer

And Me! - Vocalist / Guitarist / Bassist / Drummer / All Round Mess

Paranoik was the total opposite of everything that The Whole Package stood for. We were an aggressive, fun-loving metal band who loved messing around and playing Metallica, Megadeth, Mötorhead and more! (Just can’t stop with the alliteration today apparently). This was the band that I played in for my second year and I would say that it shaped my musical styles and preferences quite a bit over the year although that could also be related to the problem child that was my academic and personal life throughout August 2018 -  May 2019 but we don’t talk about that. Paranoik was a much more technically advanced band with all the members being interested in the same genre of music and better-suited ability-wise for the pieces we were playing. My vocal ability was dramatically affected by being a member of this band as I changed from singing Indie / Singer-Songwriter music to hitting lows I never thought I could reach and using techniques like Vocal Frying which felt so amazing to be able to do. Through screaming, my vocal range changed a lot as I lost some of the control I had over the upper octaves of my range but I gained a lot of lower notes and I definitely think I benefited from having this experience overall. 

Our members consisted of:

Adam - Guitarist (From The Whole Package)

Connor - Guitarist

Malachi - Bassist

Tom - Drummer

Me - Vocalist / Screamer

National Citizens is the band that I am currently a member of. This band is less experienced and advanced ability-wise than my other two bands but it is easily made up for by the passion, drive and love that we all have for the music that we create and the performances that we give. This band is the first one that I’ve actively joined without a push from my college education and it’s one of the best decisions I think that I’ve made so far in my musical career. Since I joined the band on March 9th 2019 we’ve progressed so far having played 3 festival events (Bankstock, Fox Fest, Tingley Celtic Festival) which is soon to be 4 as we’ve been booked as an act to play Lincoln Pride which I am over the moon about, released a 4 track EP called The Car Crash EP that can be found on most streaming sites (Spotify, Deezer, iTunes, Apple Music, etc.) and brought out our own merch, which I wear constantly and may have done a photoshoot to promote today. It’s been such an amazing journey that I’ve been so lucky to be a part of and I honestly couldn’t think of anyone better to be sharing it with than my two favourite guys. If I were to classify National Citizens genre I would probably go with Indie / Alternative as we take a lot of inspiration from bands like The Front Bottoms and Twenty One Pilots but most of the stuff that we play is our own original content so I like to think that we define our own genre.

Our members consist of:

Em - Vocalist / Lead Guitarist

James - Rhythm Guitarist / Bassist

And Me again - Backing Vocalist / Drummer

Before College and my deep dive into playing in bands, I used to spend most of my time at home writing original songs for my GCSE Music course or playing in my High School band (School Plays). 

If I were asked to define what genre I write in I don’t think I would be able to name just one. In the beginning, the early days, the deep dark past of my soul I used to write many break-up songs that sounded like rejected Taylor Swift lyrics, even though at 13 years old I hadn’t ever actually experienced true heartbreak yet. The other types of songs I’ve tended to write are Soundscapes, Joke Songs, something reminiscent of what I can only describe as The Wombats meet Hozier and many other strange combinations. 

As for my Musical Theatre experience: I have very different opinions on the theatre as every time I hear any song from West Side Story I die a little inside remembering the pain of trying to read multiple lines of percussion score for instruments that I’d never played before as a Year 9 whereas playing We Will Rock You in Year 8 opened my eyes to my love of reading and performing music to a whole new level. I think that in my eyes musical theatre would be a guilty pleasure but it’s a strange mix of me not being able to stand listening to it and listening to the entire Dear Evan Hansen album on repeat and I have no clue why.

I think this is where I will wrap up my first blog post as it’s 23:56 and I have my first day of University lectures tomorrow which I have to be at for 9 am so wish me luck!

To New Beginnings!

Asher

[wumbleberry-fc]

Chai, Flowering Tea, Blueberry-muffin Tea, Kombucha

Chai: Where do you want to travel next?

I would like to visit Canada, since I’m going to live within 60 miles of the border real soon, and I would also like to visit more states in the US, as I have been in 20 states now (not including only being in an airport).

Flowering Tea: What is a movie you can always watch?

I am always down to see the movie Airplane! It’s hilarious I recommend it with high regards.

Blueberry-muffin Tea: Tell me a memory that makes you smile.

This is the story of June 2nd. (WARNING: VERY LONG)

So, the last assembly of the school year is dedicated to the senior class, and it’s known as the Senior Assembly. It features speeches by a couple students, final performances by senior drillers and senior cheerleaders, a performance by ‘Man Drill’ (where some male juniors dress up and perform in a hilarious parody of what regular drill might do, meme style), performances by any senior soloists or groups of senior students who wish to play something for the class (2016 featured a lovely original jazzy performance by all the senior brass, and then some students sang ‘Fix You,’ among other things), announcements of the staff who will be leaving with the seniors, department honors,  and then there is a moving up thing where each class transitions to the next class, and the seniors go into the middle of the gym and watch a slideshow of whatever pictures the students sent in, and then the band plays the alma mater for the last time for them (also, they play at the entrance procession as well).

This year, it was combined with Gordy Games, which is a day where pretty much classes are super short, and then it’s a fun, casual day, with food trucks on campus, bouncy houses, a dodgeball tournament, video games, a movie, and yearbook distribution, where anybody can go wherever they want and nobody cares what you do, so long as it’s legal. It’s the one day where no administrator even semi-actively tries to enforce the no underclassman off-campus policy, and it’s just a super easy day to not worry about the end-of-year stress and just be kids for a day.

Well, this year, I was one of the three seniors who gave a speech. Back in late April, word was sent that they were looking for seniors interested in speaking at graduation. One student would speak at graduation, a couple would speak at the Senior Assembly, and one would speak at the Last Lesson.

Only a total of 7 of us even bothered to draft a potential speech. A week after writing the draft and presenting it to a panel of teachers (on May 1st), I found out that I was one of those chosen for the Senior Assembly (which was the one I wanted).

Flash forward a bit: Three days before the assembly, I was pulled from my last period and told to report to the principal. When I got there, she told me that a meeting should’ve happened way earlier but she was swamped. She then told me that there was no flow in my speech at all, there seemed to be no clear point, and it needed to be completely rewritten, and so I promised that I’d have a brand new speech written with a point and a flow by lunch the next day (Yep! 21 hours to rewrite from scratch a 5-minute speech).

The next day, which just so happens to be my birthday, I had my new speech printed out and ready, and I was a ball of nerves as I walked into her office at 11:30. She had me read the new speech, and she said “This is a million times better, thank you. I approve of this speech,” and I was so relieved oh my goodness.

Now onto the day of the event and the happy memories!

It was a late start Friday (8:50 instead of 7:20), but we had to be there by 6:30, which was fine. We did the run-through of things, and when us three speakers finished, we were able to go, and I joined the philharmonic orchestra in a zero period rehearsal to practice our combined pieces for the concert the week after, and then we had 12 minute classes.

The entrance was long but I loved walking in to the sounds of everyone cheering for our class with the band playing some pep tunes and it was great! There was a greeting, the drill performance, the first speaker (who was alright, not very emotionally stirring or anything. It was... speechy.), the cheerleaders, the Man Drill, and then it was my turn.

I went up to the podium, and gave this speech:

Hello. I am Alex Walter, and I have one thing to say:

I love Hazen.

Well, I have more to say than just that. I stand here before you today representing the senior class. I am not a Representative of the class, I am not the four-year three-sport varsity athlete, I am not the most popular guy in the class—I am a regular, run-of-the-mill senior student. Except for one thing.

I love Oliver M. Hazen Senior High School. After 4 years, not many of the 388 of us can say the same. While I don’t hold the belief that ‘Hazen is whack,’ I do understand where it comes from.

It began four years ago, when 368 of us sat in these bleachers for the first time as a Hazen student. At our orientation, we were oriented to Hazen, told the rules and guidelines, and given our first warning about our culminating project. Immediately after, we forgot our way around, nobody remembered to not clump around in major hallways and stairwells, and were told not to put off our culminating project. Four years later, and we still don’t know the bell schedule, where everything is in the school, how to keep walking in the hallways, and what the culminating project is.

Furthermore, thanks to No Child Left Behind, we were privileged to have the opportunity to take all these BRAND NEW Standardized Tests. Wasn’t that Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium fun!? And how about that new version of the SAT WITH Essay?!

Miscommunication, though, is one of the biggest reasons Hazen isn’t always kept in the highest regard. I miss the days where the food services accounts emailed about a low balance $5.00 before overdrafting, instead of $5.00 after. I’m waiting for the day when the system finally marks excused absences as excused. Especially when I was in the Lecture Hall all day. And speaking of the Lecture Hall, as I pointed out there during the Constitutional Convention, it took three and a half years to find out how to check how many detention hours I had. Luckily, despite not being the best student, I didn’t have any.

Beyond all of this, though, we must keep in mind that, just like life, Hazen is more than a few things. Hazen has many layers, just like onions, ogres, and all of us. We are more than our grades and test scores. We have our special interests, hobbies, priorities, and lifestyles. Our beloved Assistant Principal Mr. ____ is more than a strict disciplinarian. He is a loving father, a fantastic dancer, and the best reader of Green Eggs and Ham that I have ever met! And Hazen is more than kids who don’t listen, government-mandated and -implemented educational standards, and faulty electronic systems.

Hazen provides amazing acceptance and diversity in both opportunities and activities. Seriously, last year we formed a club where we would literally sit around and play Super Smash Bros. Brawl for an hour and a half each week. And that is on top of D&D club and Gamer’s Guild club.

We have a Gay Straight Alliance, a Black Student Union, an Asian Student Coalition, and a Latino Student Union. We have the Yearbook, the Kilt, and Lit Mag, which all feature superb writing and artwork! We have a drama department that puts on an astounding two shows a year, or in the case of this year, eight! We have top-class, state championship-winning FBLA, Drill, Cheer, Choir, Orchestra, and Band programs! WE HAVE A MARCHING BAND!!!!! We have a school store operated by DECA that introduced me to the wonderful world of bagels. We even have athletics!, who, while they might not win all their games, they win spots in our hearts.

I personally don’t participate in all of these activities and groups, as, well, it’s hard to be an active member in seven groups who all meet at 2:15 on Thursday. But the ability to have so many choices to pick and choose from is brilliant.

It’s these choices that define our Hazen experience. For me, I chose to join the band. I joined a group that not only gets to make music, but gets to support our school and our community. I got to scream, or cheer, to my heart’s content and dance like nobody was watching at games. I got to play stand tunes and pop songs for you all. I got to grow as an individual in both musical maturity and emotional maturity. I gained an accepting environment filled with friendly people. And by marching this year, I even got the athletic component in and did some physical exercise. I got the full Hazen experience, all in one.

It’s our choices that characterize and embody Hazen as a whole, and, I have to say that I don’t want to leave. You make me proud to be a Highlander. You make Hazen a place I want to be at. You make Hazen a place I love.

I’ll miss you.

(I know at least two people who recorded my speech, but I still haven’t seen either of them so I can’t provide that for you guys, but it was beautiful!)

After that, it was a Orchestral Quartet, the final senior speaker (who’s speech was sad and deep), the senior dances, the farewells to the departing teachers, the moving up, the slideshow, and then we left for Gordy Games.

At Gordy Games, I kept receiving compliments on my speech, and I hung out with my three greatest friends. We ended up bailing the school, and went an got Thai food at a place about a mile from campus, and then walked over to a park another mile away and had a picnic and it was my first ever picnic type thing and we just sat there for over 2 hours eating and talking and hanging out and it was like the best ever, and then we walked another 2 miles back to one of our houses, and departed from there at around 5, after 4.5 hours together.

And every time I think about that day, my face just brightens up completely, because it was the four of us, together, completely happy on a stress-free afternoon being best friends and I love them all and that is one of the happiest days of my life!

TL;DR: A speech that I had to rewrite last-minute for a school-wide assembly went brilliantly well and afterwards I hung out with my 3 favorite people (that I’ve met physically) and had an even better time, for one of the best days in my life.

Kombucha: What do you order on pizza?

Either an all meat pizza, an all meat stuffed pizza, a cheese pizza, a sausage and green pepper pizza, or what I just found to be good, a chicken bacon ranch pizza.

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Thanks for the asks!!!