IS HE DEAD?

Mr. Cohen’s Gateway junior class, journalism class, Mr. Marquis, and former Jamaica High School teacher, Mr. Croonquist went to see Twain’s humorous rediscovered play, Is He Dead? on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on February 27^th,. The found it humorous and great!

Is He Dead? is a comedy written by Mark Twain. The play was written in 1898 but was not performed until it‘s rediscovery in 2002. It was adapted by David Ives and directed by Michael Howell Blakemore. Premiering in December 2007.

The actors were wonderful and believable. The star of the show is Norbert Leo Butz, a prominent Tony Award winning and Broadway acclaimed actor. His performance was brilliant! He play’s the role of Jean-Francois Millet. The production’s supporting actors were Andre, the vicious man who put Millet in debt, Marie Leroux, Millet’s lover, and Chicago, Dutchy, and O'Shaughnessy who played Millet’s buddies that encouraged him to fake his own death, Besides these acts there were more outstanding performances.

The play is about French painter, Jean-Francois Millet. Millet was actually a renowned painter in Twain’s time. The play is about Millet faking his own death so his painting could sell. When he was “alive”, barely anyone could pronounce or knew his name. After his “death”, his paintings were noted and admired, demonstrating a theme in the play, society’s value of art. Other themes were greed, wealth, and ensue.

Millet poses as a woman, Daisy Tillou. The plot was very entertaining. The dialogues were great and humorous. The audience was very much into the play and laughing at the hilarious scenes. For example, when anyone heard about the disease Millet died of, they would grab their crotches and make scared, disgusted faces and seeing a man act like a woman was funny as well. “It was hilarious and creative” said Omawattie Balram. Many students who attended the trip agreed with Omawattie.

The props in the beginning of the play were of when Millet was poor and there were actual paintings by Jean-Francois Millet on display. They were effective and really made the play believable. The props were also good when Millet or Daisy Tillou was rich in the third act. The painting in the back of the room in the second scene stood out and makes the audience wonder about who painted it. “The play was funny and caught the audience’s attention” said junior Gaitree Persaud “It was nice how the props were poor then rich”

The play received a lot of positive reviews from the critics. "A DELIGHTFULLY SILLY AND ENTERTAINING EVENING that leads to a SIDE-SPLITTING climax!” said Joe Dziemianowicz, from Daily News. Students in Jamaica High School who saw the play thought no different “It was an excellent play” said junior, Trieshanna Bradford “I think Twain would be proud to see the production of the play”

Performed on Broadway, Is He Dead received a lot of positive reviews, from Jamaica High School to noted critics. Why wouldn’t it? It was performed very well. If Mark Twain was alive, He would have loved it as well.

Mandatory Reading: How Students see it

Students would rather read a book they actually want to read other than being forced to read a book they don’t want to read.

Every year, students have to read a book in their English class; it is mandatory for every student to read the book their teacher lends them.

“Their boring.” says junior, Christopher Wills; referring to the books given to read in school. Like Wills, many students see most books they read in school as “boring” books. According to many students, some “boring” books would be The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, Animal Farm and plays by Shakespeare.

“Some books like The Scarlet Letter and Shakespeare books are hard. I didn’t get them that much.” says junior, Jane B. “Their unnecessary. I don’t see how Shakespeare is supposed to help me in life. It’s so hard to understand.” says a senior who wishes to remain anonymous.

According to a few students, not all books provided by the School are “boring”; a few kids did like
The Kite Runner and Night.

According to senior, Alex Dosrath, he likes the books he is given to read in school. He finds them interesting. He said “It also depends on the teacher, if the teacher can’t teach it right, you would be lost.”

One student who wishes to remain anonymous said “I don’t read those books, I read spark notes.”

Many students do like to read; they like the books they read in their “spare time.”
A multitude of students said they would like to read books in school that they picked out themselves. "I like books like A Wrinkle in Time and the Harry Potter series," says Corean Saliard. Kwesi Charles agrees and says “I like Harry Potter books too; you read it and finish it in a week.”

“Reading is Fundamental. Everyone needs to read.” says junior, Farhana Zahan. Salma Hoque agrees with Farhana and says “It also helps improve your vocabulary." As many students know, vocabulary will be on the SAT’s and it looks great on the regents. Reading a book they actually want to read is a great way for students to build their vocabulary.

Books that many kids like to read are The Harry Potter series, The Twilight Series, Romantic novels, and Suspense books. A lot of students said they like Science Fiction and fantasies. A few were also fond of fiction.

“I like hood, cool, hot, gangster books.” says junior, Andre Hartley. “Students like to read books they want to read not what their forced to read” says Andre's fellow classmate, Katy Ann Ganpat.

It’s not reading in general that student’s dislike. If they were given the opportunity to choose their own books, many of them said they would not sleep or check their phones while the class is in session. They would actually read. Reading is indeed fundamental and many students do realize that but being forced to read something they don’t want to read seems unjust to many students.

Poetry Love

Je Andy Angrand-a student at Jamaica High School- went to the American Poetry Museum in Washington D.C. during January where he won an award by Poetry.com for his adorable poem 'You'.

Angrand's accomplishment was exposed by Jamaica high school's Library Review. The story behind his accomplishment is even better

Je Andy wrote his charming poem 'You' for his girlfriend, Tracy Ann, who is also a student at Jamaica High School. The poem is about their relationship before they started going out. It is written about the crush he had on Tracy Ann. Throughout the poem, he is expressing his feelings towards her with admirable lines like "Can't sleep cause you better than my dream"

Angrand say's he loves to write poetry. When asked why he wrote 'You', His amiable response was "I want everyone to know" Know what? "About her".

He found out about poetry.com at the Jamaica high school library. He went to the American Poetry Museum where his poem competed with other Poems. He made it to the finals, won an award and cash!. He accomplished in having everyone know of his feelings "about her". Look out for his new poem, 'Tammy'(his nick name for Tracy Ann).

Other Students in Jamaica high School can also win awards, win money, get exposure for their talents by writing a poem or story by sending them to websites like Poetry.com, tnjpoetry.com, and poetryamerica.com for poems and teenink.com, and writing.com for stories. Students can simply write about anything they want and get great exposure for it!

Testing 1,2,3. lalalala. Frist time posting.