February 7, 2007 Page 5 By Kat Specht Staff Writer kvs5045 @psu.edu In 1994, in Long Beach, California at Wilson High School, a first-year English teacher named Erin Gruwell was creating hope for a classroom full of "un- teachable, at risk" stu- dents for the first time. To these students, each day that they woke up every morning was good enough. Most of them were in opposing gangs, and struggled to survive through the day. After all, to them, they were "at war." Gruwell was shocked to see how much teach- ers had given up on these 14 year old students. The majority of them, in the beginning, did not & even know what the Photo From Google Holocaust was, yet all most all of them had been shot at sometime in their lifetime. Inspired by The Diary of Anne Frank, she gave them each a composition notebook to keep their own journal and to tell their own story. For the first time, these students had a voice. The words Gruwell read shocked her. "When 1 arrived at juvenile hall," one anonymous Freedom Writer penned, "it was scary. They treated me like a crimindl. They even took my mug shot. This was my first experience setting foot into a caged place. I was unlike any of the people surrounding me. Caged like beasts were murderers, rapists, gangsters, and robbers. The first night was the scariest. I heard sounds I had never heard before. Inmates banging on walls, throwing up their gang signs, yelling out who they were and where they are from. I cried my first night." "School . . . why bother going to school? What's the use of going if I don't have a place to live?" another taint- ed Freedom Writer scribbles in their composition book. The name "Freedom Writers" comes from a play on the : words "Freedom Riders," in reference to the 1961 civil right's i movement bus rides from Washington to New Orleans to protest segregated bus seating. The Freedom Riders had something to fight for, and so did the Freedom Writers - the right to be heard. i Gruwell fought and won the opportunity to ® teach these students all the way to their senior year. In 1998, all the 8 students of her class § graduated high school. Most went on to col- lege, and some even are currently attending graduate school. Her passion and drive changed the lives of her stu- dents, and now, her story is inspiring millions around the world with the 1999 published compilation of The Freedom Writer's Diary and several other books based around her story. She recently had a movie made about her story, starring Hilary Swank playing the part of ‘Gruwell. Gruwell currently also heads The Freedom Writer's Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization to help spread The Freedom Writer Method into schools across the world. You can visit the website and make donations at: http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org. ovie Review: Pan’s Labyrinth Fairies, fauns, magic, and mon- sters are all prevalent in this new fairy tale story by Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy and Blade II are among some of his other movies), but this is no children's story.} Guillermo presents a dark andj tragic story set in the post-| Spanish civil war time period.| Pan's Labyrinth ("Pan" meaning "faun") revolves around a young girl by the name of Ofelia who moves away from the city with her pregnant mother to live with her mother's new man, who hap- pens to be a captain in the Spanish] Army. Throughout the movie, Ofelia encounters fairy tale crea- tures and is set to do tasks by a faun while at the same there are troops still rebelling against the captain's house. Pan's Labyrinth follows two parallel stories that interact with each other, which is presented very well. Through the blood, gore, violence, and horror comes a heart warming story while at the same time very sad. Pan's Labyrinth was nomi- nated this year for six | Academy Awards including Best Foreign Language Film (since it is ‘entirely ‘in Spanish with Englsih subti- itles) and received a 22 ‘minute long applause at the ‘Cannes Film Festival. It iwould not be hard to not only say this movie is Guillermo's best, but one of this year's best in film. Pan's Labyrinth lis a must see movie and eas- ily deserves four out of four stars. : . JOEY DiCAMILLO Photo by Google “Freedom Writers” 1s now playing at a theater near you, starring Hilary Swank as the inspirational Ms. Erin Gruwell. Fireside Music Series: Chinua Hawk and Wes Mingus Photo From Myspace Chinua Hawk and Wes Mingus graced us with their musi- al talents during his month's first Fireside Music Series perform- nce. On Feb. 1, the two filled the Lion's Den with their collaboration of funky guitar rhythms and soulful vocal vibratos. Having played together for almost four years now, the two have cre- ated their own unique sound taking influences from Motown, blues, funk, and even modern pop music. "They have a vintage-modern type sound," says Mallory He : Anthony, a freshman at Delco. "They take that old soulful sound, but add they're own new age style toit." "We like to keep our sound real 1 natural," a Photo From Myspace says Mingus. Natural indeed, the two created a room full of emotion with just an acoustic guitar and a singer. Covering old and new hit songs, Hawk and Mingus played all the crowd favorites. With a little encouragement, Hawk had a lot of students singing along with him. At one point, during "My Girl," he completely stopped and let the students sing the cho- rus of the song. Chinua Hawk and Wes Mingus have played at a few different Penn State campuses as well as venues all across the east coast. For a list of their upcoming shows or for more information in general you can visit either musician's website at www.myspace.com/chinuahawk or wWwWw.myspace.com/wesmingusmusic. - PETER SPIZZIRRI
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