To all of the ASB candidates for the 2023-2024 Tyee school year:
Congratulations on excellent weeks of campaigning and an amazing election day! All of the current cabinet members were thoroughly impressed by your campaigning efforts and speeches. You should all be incredibly proud of yourselves. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to put yourselves out there in front of the entire school. With this selection of candidates, we know Tyee will be in such great hands next year.
Pride Month:
Pride Month, celebrated every June, traces its roots back to the Stonewall Uprising in June 1969. During a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, the LGBTQ+ community fought back, sparking a movement for equality. The celebration initially began as a single day to honor this event in Manhattan, but soon grew to encompass the entire month of June.
In 1970, the first Gay Pride parades were held, honoring the Stonewall Uprising and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. Pride Month is now a global celebration where you can help raise awareness, promote visibility, and celebrate diversity while amongst your peers and community.
This month also seeks to commemorate and recognize the impacts and accomplishments of LGBTQIA+ individuals have made nationally and internationally.
Fun Facts:
The Stonewall riots were not the first LGBTQIA+ uprising in America
The first gender reassignment surgery was in 1907
Bill Clinton was the first president to officially recognize Pride Month
Caribbean American Heritage Month:
Caribbean American Heritage month was initialized in June of 2005 when the House of Representatives adopted H. Con. Res. 71 sponsored by Barbara Lee. This June celebration seeks to recognize and celebrate the many contributions of Caribbean people and their impact in the United States, as well as raise awareness for their traditions. The resolution passed in the Senate in on February 14th, 2006, and President George W. Bush issued the proclamation on June 6th, 2006.
Since the founding of the US, many key figures have been from Caribbean islands and have made huge contributions for the better. Some famous people include:
Alexander Hamilton – First Secretary of the Treasury – from Nevis
Colin Powell – Secretary of State
Cicely Tyson
Dubois
James Weldon Johnson
Harry Belafonte
Sidney Poitier
And many more key figures!
Fun Facts:
Over 13.4 million Americans claim Caribbean heritage, and the number has continued to rise
There are 13 Caribbean islands, with 90% of Caribbean-Americans from 5 countries (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago)
Popular Caribbean foods include Conch Ceviche, Mannish water (Jamaican soup), and Planter’s Punch
Music has been shaped by multi-cultural influences, bringing bachata, cadence rampa, calypso, chutney, compas, cumbia, dancehall, filmi, Latin trap, meringue, merengue, parang, ragga, rapso, reggae, salsa, zouk, etc. Many of these have been brought to the US with huge impacts!
If you are interested in learning more about this celebration, please check out the links below!
https://caribbeanamericanmonth.com/
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/caribbean-american-heritage-month.html
Infographic: https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/national-caribbean-american-heritage-month-infographic.pdf
Student Artwork:
Original Artwork by Jay Liu (8th grade)
Pride Artwork/Artists:
Commissioned illustrations for the 2020 celebration of the LGTBIQ+ Pride by Dejusticia, a centre for legal and social Studies dedicated to the strengthening of the rule of law and the promotion of human rights in Colombia and the Global South.
Giorgio Celin
Don’t you remember? That day in Templehof
Taymour Grahne Projects l Holland Park
1Portrait, about 1963, Emil Cadoo. Gelatin silver print, 15 1/4 × 11 7/16 in. Getty Museum, 2008.74.3. © Estate of Emil Cadoo. Gift of Joyce Cadoo / Janos Gat Gallery
PRIDE ARTISTS:
- Robert Mapplethorpe became famous in the 1970s and 1980s for his photographs of the S&M gay scene in New York City, a subculture that was previously unexplored in art. The resulting photographs fascinated and shocked the art world and eventually earned him a place among the most important photographers of the 20th century. Mapplethorpe’s life and art blended together completely, as it was the exploration of his own homosexuality that led him to New York’s S&M clubs and therefore to his models.
“The work dealing with sexuality is very directly related to my own experiences. It was an area that hadn’t been explored in contemporary art, and so it was an area that interested me in terms of making my statement.”
Famous Work: Mapplethorpe’s 1988 retrospective “The Perfect Moment” brought censorship and artistic freedom into the US national discourse; discussions that continued well into the 1990s.
- Colombian-born artist Giorgio Celin tells under-represented stories with intimacy and honesty, and through a process of queering. Being a Colombian migrant who grew up in the South Italy countryside and then has lived in several European cities, he deals with his experience reflecting on migration and belonging, and depicting a multi-faceted Latinx diaspora inclusive of queer, trans, Indigenous, and Afro-Latinx peoples. According to Celin, all his works are in essence self-portraits, which frequently address themes such as intimacy, isolation, and heartbreak. As a queer individual, Celin uses queerness as a political tool to fight visual stereotypes such as heteronormative and mainstream gay imagery.
- 1The American photographer Emil Cadoo made this enigmatic photograph by combining multiple negatives, including a portrait of a young man in profile and one depicting foliage. The juxtaposition of these disparate subjects creates a dreamlike image and reveals his interest in Surrealism, a cultural movement born in the aftermath of World War I that carried considerable influence well into the second half of the 20th century.
After studying Romance languages at Brooklyn College with the help of the GI bill, Cadoo worked as a photojournalist. In the early 1960s, following in the footsteps of prominent American intellectuals, including James Baldwin and Richard Wright, he emigrated to Paris, where as a queer Black man he found racism and homophobia to be less overt.
Cadoo had a successful career in France working for fashion magazines and political journals. His photographs appeared on the dust jackets of several books—including this image on the cover of the 1964 edition of Jean Genet’s Our Lady of the Flowers—and in the pages of the provocative and influential literary journal Evergreen Review.
Caribbean American Artwork
“Fervent Hope” by Jamaican artist Paul Campbell, which has been on display in many exhibits worldwide.
Cadex Herrara’s colorful mural hopes to highlight the cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Games & Trivia
Match the Pride Flags!
Feel free to join the Blooket! (open until 6/9, 7pm)
https://play.blooket.com/solo?id=646fab2bff066995aa63337c
Match the Caribbean Country Flags!
Feel free to join the Blooket! (open until 6/9, 7pm) https://play.blooket.com/play?hwId=64701e3b838b2d5cbaa309d4
Teacher Interview: Mrs. Williams
^^Mrs. Williams’ dog, Potter!
Question: How often do you “lecture” about Biology at home?
Answer: Luckily my family is interested in talking about science and ask frequent and sometimes in depth questions that require me to go into teacher mode.
Question: How do you spend your summer breaks?
Answer: Most of my summer free time is spent walking my dog Potter (pictured above) or working on projects around my house.
Question: What are some superstitions you have for the First Day of School?
Answer: I don’t know if I really have any. The first day of school is more about letting my students know that I am interested in getting to know them, care about them, and getting them used to how weird I am.
Question: What makes a ‘good day’ at school?
Answer: When students get excited or interested in learning science and lab days!
Question: What current trends of your student or Tyee in general are baffling to you? Why?
Answer: Bruh.
Question: In which Hogwarts house would you be sorted? What’s the first thing you’d do at Hogwarts?
Answer: Gryffindor! And I would probably want to explore the restricted section of the library, try to get into the Room of Requirement, and figure out how to take my dog Potter everywhere with me.
We hope you have enjoyed reading the ASB monthly newsletters as much as we have enjoyed creating them! Have an amazing last month of school! 😊
Sincerely,
The Tyee ASB