The post below is the second in our series of submissions from the Long Beach Writers, a group of students in Literacy Workshop classes given by Devon Day at Wilson High School. As you read this Wilson High School will have had its graduation on Thursday June 12th, some walking across the stage will have been through Day’s Literacy Workshop, a key to their obtaining their diplomas. The Long Beach Writers are working throughout the summer on their writing and submissions for the Long Beach Post, as of today, the last day of classes, over thirty students have signed up to continue meeting with Day and their classmates and continue their writing. The big story behind the story is they’re raising funds to go to Inwood, West Virginia to meet their pen pals and experience first hand the similarities and differences in culture between Inwood and Long Beach.
This week’s contributor is Rudy, a quick to smile freshman who plays the trumpet and is on drumline. I asked him what type of music he likes to play and with a smile he says, “Blues, jazz…” Rudy writes below of his experience watching the opera “Anne Frank.” When he and I spoke about his experience, he mentioned his annoyance with fellow students goofing around, talking and disrupting his ability to fully enjoy the music. He looks forward to going to West Virginia to meet his pen pal and see the nature in the area. I asked him what his future was beyond his graduation in 2011 and he said he is going to college to study law enforcement and would like to become a police officer. Our community would be well off with Rudy on patrol.
A Lesson Through Opera
By Rudy
In Wilson High School we had special guest that performed a show which we call the opera. It was the opera of Anne Frank.
The soprano sang parts of the diary and played the part of Anne Frank. I knew what the opera was going to be about, but there were also students who were being immature when the lady on the stage was performing and singing in a high pitch voice. The soloist was surprising. Her name was Ani Maldjian. She had an amazing voice and was a great actor for being a soloist. She would tell us the story while she was acting and I would think of the past of Anne Frank. I tried to concentrate on the emotions in the music. The music of the piano was really lovely at first but when she changed the tone, the music and the performance gave me a different feeling. It began with a lovely song and it ended with a sad song. If there was no music there wouldn’t be any emotional feeling.
After the show the director invited a special guest to talk to the Wilson students. The guest was a holocaust survivor named Gerda Krebs-Seifer. She survived the horrific experience of the holocaust during World War II in Poland. When Gerda Krebs-Seifer was telling us the story, I felt really bad. I felt the pain when she lost her mother without saying goodbye to her. I was in tears and I thanked God at the moment that we have a safe place to live. It is very sad and hurtful living in a place where one could be killed for anything. My heart broke down when she said that the Nazis would grab babies and throw them onto the wall. I could picture that in my mind. It feels really bad having the children killed and suffering without anyone to help them. I just can’t imagine why the babies were thrown out windows to the streets below. After she ended her story I looked up and I said in a silent prayer, “Thank you God that we are living in a safe place.”
Being exposed to the opera and to the story of holocaust survivor Gerda Krebs-Seifer is an important education. Sometimes it is easy to let bad things happen and not step up. I am thinking this is a lesson for the bystander—the guy who watches bad things happening to innocent people and does nothing.
You can help send Rudy and the other Long Beach Writers to West Virginia to meet their pen pals! To make a donation contact me, or check future posts by the LBWriters for donation information.
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