Author: lquinn

EDM – A New Genre of Music

Published by lquinn
(Pictured: Paul Rankin (8) dancing to his iPod music)

In the ever-evolving sphere of music, a new genre has carved itself a niche: EDM.

EDM, an acronym for ‘electronic dance music’, is the newest craze sweeping the nation. Although the genre itself is actually older than us kids, EDM has only just begun to catch on to the public eye. Before now, the music was primarily known for being played in darkened clubs, but never before have any DJs become household names. These days, electronic artists such as deadmau5, Armin van Buuren, and David Guetta have reached worldwide status as some of the best sources EDM.

Electric dance music is comprised of many subgenres of music, typically built on the premise of being able to dance to it, hence the ‘dance’ in ‘electronic dance music’. Despite what the general public says, there are actual differences between each subgenre. If trance and hardstyle (two very different genres) were considered to be stylistically the same, DJs everywhere would keel over from heart attacks! Like rock, EDM genres range from very mellow (glitch hop and dubstep) to the electronic equivalent of death metal (hardstyle).

Paul Rankin (8), shows that it’s possible to like everything on the spectrum, as his favorite genre is “hardstyle,” because he likes “the general crazyness of it,” but then says that his favorite DJ is “Pretty Lights, ‘cuz it’s chill music.”  Paul also wants to go to the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) when he’s older, a true sign of a real EDM fan.

Elizabeth Richardson (8) also has no specific favorite genre, as she proved when asked what she listened to. “Skrillex, Knife Party, deadmau5…A recent song I’ve been listening to is “Who’s Gonna Save Us” by Revolvr.” Obviously, it’s easy to relax to the sounds of many different types of electronic dance music.

Whether you’re in it for the dancing or for the music, plenty of people find EDM to be their choice genre of music, and a whole new integral part of this generation’s culture.

-Lauren Quinn

Rival Brands

Battle of The Brands

Published by lquinn

Throughout history, many questions have been regarded as thought-provoking inquiries: from “Which came first – the chicken or the egg?” to Sophie’s Choice, philosophers have written essays, stories, and books based on logical situations such as these. Recently, however, a new question has popped up: Converse or Vans?

Looking around any of your classrooms, you’ll most likely catch kids wearing one of those two brands. The question kept bugging me, so I decided to ask around to see which one has a bigger following among today’s youth.

Interviewing a few Garner students, I recieved some interesting answers that strengthened arguments on both sides. Danny Perez (8) answered without hesitation. “Vans, because they have more variety.” Additionally, he stated that “they’re just cool.”

Backing up Danny’s claims, Tyler Wright (8) responded quickly when asked if Vans were an essential part of skating culture. “They were the world’s first skating shoes.” He then added that “they’re pretty much the only type of shoe that I have.” When the Vans/Converse apocolypse comes, it’s clear that Tyler is on the Vans side.

Betraying my own shoes, I crossed the line into Converse-land to hear the selling points for the rival team. “Vans are just too ugly,” said Rocio Pizano (she better watch her back. There may be hordes of angry skaters after her skin, now that she’s said that). Robert “Danny” Riviera (7) gave an answer that no patriot can argue with: “They’re [Converse] the all-American brand.”

On top of everything else, there are the kids who aren’t on any side. Hanna Burmeister (8) couldn’t say which brand was better. “They’re both great skating shoes, and they’re both very fashionable.” Others just didn’t think either brand compared to their own personal favorite. Claire Shelly (8) showed a clear preference to TOMS over both shoe lines when she answered with “I’d wear TOMS anyday.”

Is this a historical rivalry, a battle between cliques, a feud from the East coast to the West coast, or something deeper? With bombardments from all viewpoints and sides, this appears to be one hot topic that isn’t cooling down anytime soon, so leave your favorite brand and your reasoning as a comment!

By: Lauren Quinn

Powerful Poetry

Published by lquinn

Mia chows down and chats at lunch, fueling up for English.

Imagine, if you will, a world made for families, kinder, and more loving. This type of world is exactly what Mia, now a seventh grader, fantasized about and spun into golden words. Those golden threads of words were woven into an award-winning poem, “I Wonder”,  about the world –our world –and the way we’ve populated it with violence and hate.

When asked about how she feels about having won, she answered “I feel so awesome and grateful that I won, and it’s hard to believe that I did win.” This amazement is attributed to the fact that 7th and 8th graders were in the contest as well, and, as a 6th grader, she took the 1st place award. The San Antonio Poetry Fair, which took place late May at UTSA, was run by an intimidating  panel of judges, and they chose hers out of a large selection.

According to Mia, her inspiration was that she wants to change the world “and make it a better place” because she doesn’t like the way it’s heading, and she believes that it should be kinder, more loving, and a family place. She thinks that the judges chose her because the majority of us agree with her views, and everyone wants the world to be different, so it probably won for its powerful, influential values.

Ms. Muzny, her 6th grade English teacher, is extremely proud of Mia, and believes that she helped inspire Mia to want to try something that she’s not entirely comfortable with. This school year, Mia is in Mrs. Summey’s 7th grade English class, and hopefully she’ll create more wonderful masterpieces this year.

Written by Lauren Quinn