KARINA BLODNIEKS
WRITING
About: I wrote this profile feature post-2016 election about one student who was struggling to find her voice in a Trumpified world. I felt this perspective was important to the discourse on the election, because more often than not, major media outlets are talking more about potential policy disasters than they are about the narratives underlying them. Being in a relatively red school, however, I ensured that this piece handled the subject's opinions gently and didn't put them in a light where it was patronizing or could potentially put the subject at risk for bullying.
Natalie Mendoza sounds something like a character from a young adult novel. She’s bold, passionate, and champions a message that she shouts with fervor.
But Mendoza isn’t a fictional character from John Green’s latest book, and unlike the female figures so often found in mainstream media, she’s not concerned with love or her image. Instead, the Cooper City High School Senior is simply trying to readjust her focus.
“For someone who comes off as the typical angsty teenage girl, I’m really not,” Mendoza said. “I feel like I have a lot of clarity to me.”
Mendoza has spent the last few years photographing everything she could find, from trees to Trump protests to tea time. She finds a sense of belonging behind the camera, capturing her version of the world to make sense of the obscure.
“My art is my mode of expression,” Mendoza said. “It’s my voice.”
This voice hasn’t always come easily, however. Like many adolescent girls, Mendoza spent a long time trying to figure out how exactly to speak in a world where so many can simply speak louder.
“Growing up, I was always so conflicted with the fact that because I was a girl, I couldn’t do the same things as boys,” Mendoza said. “It was always very well-known. So the fact that I have a voice and that I can use it is something I’ve always taken advantage of.”
Despite the pressures pushing against her, Mendoza has always kept her head high above water when it comes to stereotypes and false perceptions. From a young age, Mendoza has taken on her role as an activist.
In fact, her older sister Alyssa Mendoza said that she’s been challenging convention for as long as she can remember.
“I believe that growing up with Natalie taught my whole family about ourselves,” Alyssa Mendoza said.
Now, however, Mendoza believes her voice is more imperative than ever, as she tries to stay vigilant regarding the president-elect. On November 9th, she came to school dressed in all-black, with “not my President” sharpied onto her arms and face.
What many may see as an unnecessary act of liberal faithlessness, Mendoza sees as purposeful action aimed at upholding her beliefs.
“I love being a woman, and I love Hillary Clinton,” Mendoza said. “I love the fact that I can scream it from the top of my lungs. I love the fact that it makes me just feel like this strong human, that I can embrace what being a woman is.”
According to Mendoza, one of the best photography experiences she’s had was taking pictures at an anti-Trump protest in Bayfront, Miami. She travelled down with her best friend, Nicole Tjin a Djie, to contribute her footprint to the march of hundreds of women who felt the same emblazoned sense of betrayal.
Following suit with her political beliefs, her art seems to take to the motif of teenage power. Mendoza believes that every moment of adolescence is its own unique image.
She loves photographing people, light, and color. She loves the fact that each photo she captures is simply an imprint of her life, left behind in art.
“There are things universal about the human experience, too, like the first time you pick a flower and someone tells you it’s a weed, or the first time you ride your bike, or watch your siblings fall in love,” Mendoza said. “I can take pictures of that and have my personal perception of it.”
In likeness to her empowered idea of adolescence, Mendoza takes great pride in the connections she’s made to the people she loves. In particular, Mendoza refers to her relationship to Tjin a Djie as a moment of insight into her own psyche.
“When you meet someone that you can just learn from without having to feel guarded, it teaches you a lot about yourself,” Mendoza said.
Tjin a Djie reciprocates, expanding on the idea of Mendoza’s emboldened activism.
“She gets me out of my comfort zone,” Tjin a Djie said. “And not just in terms of us going places together, but she challenges me to think differently.”
And indeed, Mendoza prides herself on the contrast between her thoughts and the mainstream.
“I love myself,” Mendoza said. “I love the fact that I don’t care, and the fact that I don’t have to prove myself. I love that I can be who I am, and if other people like it or get it, that’s cool, but if they don’t, that’s cool, too.”
As far as the future is concerned, Mendoza is as unsure as most graduating seniors, but she believes her self-reliance will take her where she needs to go.
“I’m sure I’ll fail a lot and stumble across the way, but I don’t think that it’ll be this A,B,C cut path that people have done,” Mendoza said.
Her future, just like her photography, is something that is highly experimental. Regardless of where she goes, Mendoza is sure she will leave her impact on the world.
As for now, however, Mendoza has a single message she’d like to share.
“I think young people, especially after Trump being elected, are having a hard time seeing how much power we all have as strong young women,” Mendoza said. “Always fight back and stand up for what you believe in, because if you don’t, no one else will.”
About: I wrote this piece as a part of the University of Miami's Peace Sullivan/James Ansin High School Workshop in Journalism and New Media. After finding an abundance of sources in my first article (shown in the News Gathering section), I wrote a second article to focus in on one aspect of the community that I found particularly interesting: drag. Writing this piece was fun, and I got to follow one of my subjects, Shelley Novak, on his transformative journey from free time to work one evening on South Beach. Due to the nature of this article, I had to take care to ensure each subject's preferred gender pronouns were used correctly, because no two queens are exactly alike in their gender identity. I chose to leave this article in its original form to show the flaws in my writing and how my flow and rhythm have progressed.
Tommy Strangie has been wearing the same black pumps for 25 years. In the iconic Miami drag scene, they’re about the only things that have stayed the same.
Known throughout South Beach as Shelley Novak, Strangie has been a Miami drag queen since 1992.
“We have a real South American-like, Sabado Gigante kind of colorful, fruit-on-the-head, guy-dressed-as-a-bumble-bee vibe to Florida drag,” Strangie said.
Drag shows have been a major part of Miami nightlife since the late 1940s. At that time, New York and Los Angeles were hot spots for drag, but Miami slowly made a name for itself in the drag scene. Today, Miami is experiencing a thriving drag culture. It has evolved throughout the years, but it remains a mainstay in Miami entertainment.
Strangie says Miami has its own drag scene aura unlike any other city. In the early days, the practice was far from accepted, and discrimination was rampant. In the 1950s, Miami-Dade passed an anti-crossdressing ordinance that made it illegal for males to dress in drag in public.
Eventually, the culture shifted. In the late 1980s, South Beach was relatively cheap, empty and waiting to be discovered. The gay community began to occupy the area, setting up drag bars in their wake.
The real onset of Miami drag, according to Strangie, was when fashion icon Gianni Versace made the drag nightlife visible. Dubbed the Miami renaissance, this period of growth turned South Beach from a casual locale to a drag hub for performers around the world.
Stavros Stavrakis, known in the community as Athena Dion, agrees.
“Miami in the 90s was really it for drag,” Dion said. “I think at that time, queens and South Beach went hand-in-hand with Miami’s identity.”
Venues like Score and Palace have hosted drag queen shows for decades, contributing to the rise of Miami’s nightlife.
After Versace’s murder in his Miami Beach home in 1997, though, Miami’s drag culture began to suffer. Edison Farrow, a nightlife promoter in Miami for 16 years, dealt with this firsthand.
“For a while, drag got lost a little,” Farrow said. “It happened when it got expensive to live in South Beach.”
Miami’s drag scene came back in 2009 when RuPaul’s Drag Race first aired on TV. This turned the playful performance of drag into serious business and drew national attention to drag sites around the world.
“In the early days of South Beach, it was almost clownish, off-the-wall drag,” Farrow said. “Then it turned into pretty, professional drag.”
Not all of the community has a positive outlook on the shift. Dion started doing drag in 2011. She posits that drag is not what it used to be. Because it became more streamlined and competitive, it lost its unique edge.
“Social media platforms and shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race are trying to create guidelines for drag,” Dion said. “It’s not right. Drag is a form of expression, and it’s different for everyone.”
Despite this outlook, Dion says she loves what she does. She calls herself a social drag queen, and says that for her, performing is about connecting with the audience.
“Drag is more than dressing like a woman,” Dion said. “It’s creating a new person.”
Antonio Mendez started dressing in drag in 2015. He’s dabbled in South Beach but has mostly performed in other areas of Miami, paying special attention to art galas. He felt he couldn’t bring a certain level of creativity to his performances.
“South Beach drag is not something I could compete with,” Mendez said.
Other areas in Miami are beginning to create their own drag scenes. This counter-culture has attracted many aspiring queens.
“It’s growing exponentially in a really good way,” Mendez said. “It’s ratchet, but it’s very come-as-you-are with no judgment. We’ve never turned anyone away. We’re not about that.”
About: This piece is actually a compilation of various opinion articles I had written at points throughout 2016. None of the original pieces were published, because many of them lacked a relevance that the collection of them has. This is the most recent article in my portfolio. Note the progress in word choice, sentence structure, and flow.
The evolution of a news writer
About: Below are two news articles I've written about the school band. The first was published in December of 2013, when I was one of two freshmen writing for the paper. The second was published in November of 2016, in the first semester of my final year on staff. Note the differences not only in sophistication of writing, but of the topic of the piece.
On Friday, December 13th, the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band of Cooper City High School played their Winter Concert at 7:30 in the CCHS auditorium.
The band put in many hours, in and out of school, to make this concert possible. Described by Band Director Christopher Schletter as a stepping stone for the expectations of next semester, the Winter Concert was the first of the program’s public performances of this year.
The CCHS band is comprised of two main parts: Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble. The Symphonic Band is made up mostly of underclassmen, and they played the “Christmas Pop Medley”, “Chanukah Tryptic”, and “Manatee Lyric Overture”. “Manatee Lyric Overture” was the most difficult piece many of the members had ever played, according to Schletter. Symphonic Band spans over two class periods, one for woodwinds (third period) and one for brass instruments (fourth period). The two classes had only two rehearsals in which to come together and practice their three pieces. According to Schletter, the Symphonic Band has improved most, due to the fact that they had more room to grow as musicians.
“The symphonic band has come so far since the beginning of the year. Many students switched instruments, had little experience, or haven’t picked up their instrument since the end of last year, and that same group put on one of the best shows I’ve ever been a part of,” trumpet player Gabrielle Fickinger said.
The Wind Ensemble is made up primarily of upperclassmen, and only has two freshmen: clarinet players Melanie Smith and Juan Mayz. Wind Ensemble performed “Second Suite in F for Military Band”, “Pas Redoublé”, and “Sleigh Ride”. Significantly smaller than Symphonic Band, the Wind Ensemble was mostly fine-tuning their skills in the semester before the concert, said Schletter.
The Winter Concert was holiday-centric, and according to many who watched, set high standards for upcoming concerts. Both Schletter and many members claim that the concert was highly representative of the work they’ve done during the first semester.
“I see a lot of progress to be made before we can reach superior ratings at district and state festivals, however we have achieved a lot since the beginning of the year and have grown enormously as an ensemble, as displayed in our Winter Concert,” Band Secretary Zabryna Atkinson-Diaz said.
After the Winter Concert, many members have high hopes for the next semester.
“The potential of this band lies in the potential of the students. I think they have ability to become more than they think that they are,” Schletter said.
In a climate of social unrest, CCHS’ very own Sound of Pride Marching band has made an attempt to say that black lives do, in fact, matter.
This year, the Sound of Pride debuted a competition show called The Right, written by former band director Chandler Wilson. The original intention was to highlight the progress of the black community from the Civil Rights era to the current Black Lives Matter movement.
Previous shows have covered topics such as film, the wild west, and the cycles of the moon, but a statement on political affairs has never surfaced.
“The overall tone of the show is very real and grim,” Band Captain Juan Mayz said. “It’s about the reality people faced back then. We are highlighting the struggle that African American people have faced.”
With “A Movement for Rosa” being their central song, the Sound of Pride is using dissonant chords to musically represent the harsh reality the black community faced during the Civil Rights movement. In their opening scene, the Color Guard rushes out with their hands up, making various signs referencing black history.
“Our body movements are going to be very descriptive of police holding riot shields,” Mayz said. “Part of the Color Guard is going to come in with hand signals such as Black Lives Matter, black power, or a sort of ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ motion, as we see in a lot of real places where there’s actual riots going on and actual violence.”
From beginning to end, the show highlights adversity in particular. Using gray flags at the beginning, the music progresses to slowly paint a happier image of the movement, eventually ending with colorful flags. Musically, the ending of the show is up to interpretation, leaving some on a despondent note and others feeling hopeful.
“In my personal opinion, our most important portrayal is that we have hope that one day we can all look past racial divides and discrimination and get along,” Color Guard Co-Captain Dawson Worley said.
Drum Major Morgan Malan says that this vague ending is intentional.
“The show ends on neither [a positive or negative note], so it just leaves you with an eerie, incomplete feeling,” Malan said. “It’s supposed to prove the point that, yeah, we’ve come a long way, and whether we’re all good now is up to the audience, but it’s definitely not complete.”
While the original intent is up in the air, the vast interpretations point to the success of the show as a work of art.
“I think that all of our history books paint the Civil Rights movement as negative,” Malan said. “I just think this is a different way of presenting [the movement].”
Regardless of interpretation, one thing is certain: a statement of this sort has never been issued.
“I don’t think we’ve had a show this real before,” Mayz said. “We’ve always based it on pieces of music, but never on a topic that is so controversial.”
November, 2016
December, 2013
Note how my command of language changed to become more sophisticated. More than that, however, I think the shift in my angle is note-worthy. I feel the second article has much more substance. Anyone can write that the band performed. It takes a journalist to find the story behind it.
BY KARINA BLODNIEKS
There is no question that the recent election cycle was tumultuous. In the wake of this nationwide divide, many teachers on campus took it upon themselves to educate their students on current events that related to their curricular subjects. However, with such sensitive topics as President Trump’s sexual assault accusations, many teachers are rightfully retracting from the discourse in the name of emotional safety.
But therein lies the issue: by placing fear of controversy above the pursuit of informed citizenship, the education system fails the very students it seeks to improve.
“I don’t feel like there’s enough talk about politics in the classroom,” senior Jeremy Brower said. “School should be a place to discuss current events, yet it doesn’t seem to occur.”
Indeed, there is a lively debate going on in the academic community about whether or not the classroom is the place for politicization, as can be found in the University of Chicago’s letter to incoming freshmen, which states that the University refuses to invoke a “fear of censorship.”
In a lot of high school classrooms, however, the discourse is lacking. While many social studies classes synthesize curriculum and “real world,” there seems to be a lack of current events in everyday classroom discussion.
"In class during past elections, part of our conversations reflected current events,” freshman English teacher Melissa Cabrera said. “This time, there's barely any talk. I think the silence comes from the fear of possibly and accidentally offending someone."
While the Broward County School Board policy does state that teachers must acquire “prior written consent” from parents before collecting information on topics concerning political affiliation, it is not directly outlawed if the correct avenues are taken.
But the school board also states that “in order for teaching and learning to take place, a safe and secure school environment is essential,” a clause that many teachers feel calls for the depoliticization of classrooms.
“Emotional safety is paramount to education,” Debate Coach Wendy Schauben said. “If a student doesn't find a classroom a safe place to become an informed citizen then they will not endeavor to be one. I think the only time to have a real, informed conversation about politics is after the safe space has been established and students have had the time to do proper and unbiased research.”
Many teachers, in attempt to keep the classroom a positive environment, will stray away from imposing their own beliefs on their students, particularly with younger populations. But measures are also being taken to ensure that students are able to discuss their political thought in an environment free from bias.
“I for one do not encourage a discussion of either the students' nor my personal political beliefs,” World History teacher Peggy Wilfong said. “I am fine if they wish to discuss policy, laws, ideas, issues, etc., but I have found over time that one's personal preferences should remain just that - personal.”
But part of the job of engaging critically with the structures that surround society is breaking social taboos, because oftentimes, the things that we’re told to be silent about are the very things that are most important.
“I think the classroom is a good place to have political discussion,” environmental science teacher Michael Mauntler said. “I think it helps people appreciate each other’s perspectives and hopefully creates a more open-minded society.”
One main question arises in the quest to educate students on hot-button issues: without having these debates in an educated, controlled environment, where are students supposed to get their information?
The American Trends panel reports that 61% of millennials get their news from Facebook or other social media outlets, a startling statistic in the age of fake news, which the Columbia Journalism Review found could be strongly tied to news found on Facebook. What is most concerning, though, is that the current classroom culture seems to do nothing about this. While education is, ideally, in the pursuit of knowledge, many educators fail to deliver by leaving hard-hitting debate at the door.
“I believe that discussing politics in class helps keep the students informed about what is going on in their nation and around the world, letting them know of the different policies and rights they are entitled to,” freshman Carla Luna said. “It gives students a chance to view different perspectives on major topics like gun control, immigration, women’s health, and discrimination. I feel as if I’m not very informed about these topics.”
Democracy thrives on informed citizenship, but the fact of the matter is that many citizens are not going out of their way to become more informed. The American Press Institute found that less than half (45%) of millennials regularly followed five or more “hard” news topics. So when many news outlets fail to entice readers, many classrooms fail to fill the knowledge gaps.
While the common argument against high schools discussing politics is that most high schoolers can’t vote, participation in a democracy is not simply relegated to voting. Many major political issues are simply remnants of societal structures that show up in everyday life.
One way to prevent malevolent cultural practices, as theorized in Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, is by transforming education into a critical platform to address issues. When we use the classroom as a place to teach students that, while normative, things like racism are wrong, we begin to elicit the formation of young thinkers.
Part of the conversation has to happen in an accessible place, which for many students is the classroom. Many critics of this idea believe that imposing ethics on students in an educational setting is akin to cultural brainwashing, but there are ways to avoid structures that don a bias. And while the School Board of Broward County does prohibit teachers from sharing political views (both for their protection and for the inquisition of their students), by simply facilitating safe, healthy, and open discussion, many teachers can provide an environment that not only breeds free thinkers, but gives them a place to act as political theorists.
“The classroom is the place for political discourse because we as teachers need to model the right for everyone to have free speech,” English teacher Shannon Brandt-Asciolla said. “[But] at the end of this debate, the teacher should most definitely make sure that the students understand that with free speech comes consequences, so whatever they choose to voice should be taken with care.”
Discussion is imperative to an informed electorate and, more importantly, an informed populace. Many teachers are rightfully scared that their communities can grow hostile and toxic with the introduction of sensitive topics; however, by keeping to a critical yet conscious environment, students will be able to effectively formulate political, ethical, and social norms that best fit their beliefs.
"Discussing politics in the classroom fosters an environment that breeds real world policy change," junior Jared Ally said. "The solution to our political endeavors begins with a classroom discussion."
Localizing broad events
About: The newspaper, yearbook, and broadcast staffs all attended the National Newspaper Publisher Association's Mid-Winter Training conference, and I was to write an article about it. The merit in this is my ability to turn a run-of-the-mill event into an article with larger implications. For this, I examined a theme that came up often in the conference: the use of activism in journalism.
CCHS Journalism Attends NNPA Mid-Winter Training
BY KARINA BLODNIEKS
In the age of fake news and alternative facts, the CCHS journalism department journeyed to Fort Lauderdale to explore the role of activism and accountability in new media.
Hosted by the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the conference took place at the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six hotel, where high school publications from across Broward County met to discuss the social climate facing the African American community, particularly through the lens of journalism.
“The overall message was to say to high school students and to millennials that they are important to the future of the country now – not later, but now,” NNPA President and CEO Benjamin Chavis said. “We believe that the future of journalism and the future of the publishing business is going to be increasingly in the hands of millennials.”
Historically, the organization is aimed at supporting publishers of black-owned newspapers across America. Intrinsically fitting with this battle is the idea of advocacy journalism, dealing particularly in the realm of the role of journalists to be activists.
Bobby Henry, the editor of the West Side Gazette, Broward’s oldest black-owned newspaper, commented that journalism and activism are essentially one in the same.
“The first black newspaper was called Freedom’s Journal,” Henry said. “It was because of advocacy against slavery and injustices that the black press was born. I think the press is supposed to be an advocate for the people. It’s supposed to be a voice for the voiceless.”
Throughout the day, talk of activism drove the discourse.
Dr. William Barber, President of the North Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), called upon the millennials in the room to speak loudly for what is right.
“We have to have writers who will write the truth,” Barber said in his speech.
However, it’s becoming increasingly evident that the truth is no longer simply relegated to writing. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have changed the landscape of journalism, pushing news sites to a more fast-paced beat.
Panel member and Recorder Media Group editor-in-chief Ebony Chappel spoke on both the dangers and benefits of social media, noting that while fake news spreads faster online, it is only through Twitter that news (such as the Ferguson riots) can spread during media blackouts.
And in such a fashion, Twitter may find itself on the forefront of journalism as the current administration continues to place media gags on federal employees, such as the recent measures against the EPA.
“The workshop put so much emphasis on journalistic integrity,” Yearbook Editor-in-Chief Morgan Malan said. “In a time where someone can lie so blatantly and still be elected president, it’s important for journalists to learn that the truth is still important.”
But the message relayed did not stop at the heels of current journalists. In fact, the role of scholastic journalism continued to shape discourse around education and critical thinking. Broward County School Board member Dr. Rosalind Osgood spoke on former President Barack Obama’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), a policy reincarnation of George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act.
ESSA decentralized education in an effort to give children the resources they need to thrive after graduation. By scaling back standardized testing while still improving state accountability standards, the ESSA aimed to restructure the education system in American schools.
The scholastic journalist is particularly subject to this legislation, which impacts the availability and, oftentimes, success of student publications across the country. As part of such an ever-shifting field, student journalists seem to be constantly learning and growing.
“When we invest in young people, we leave a legacy,” Osgood said in her speech.
For the students in attendance, this effort for advocacy did not go unnoticed.
“I learned that as a student journalist, it’s very important to have a voice and speak the truth at the same time,” CTV Member Kiara Bencosme said.
Students from Broward Schools gather to hear Dr. Rosalind Osgood, BCPS District 5 official, speak on the importance of education.