Desdamona and Carnage perform for English classes

On Friday, May 29, Desdamona and her partner, Carnage the Executioner, performed in the Performing Arts Center for various classes. They opened the mic up to students to allow them to present any of their work and also performed some of their own pieces. They don’t rely on the use of instruments, but rather beat boxing.

“I’ve been beat boxing since age 9,” said Carnage. “I first heard it from Buff Love from Fat Boys. Then I saw them on MTV and I would watch his mouth and try to make my face and mouth the same. I’m basically self taught and I’m still learning.”

Carnage gives private lessons to a large age range of clients.

“My youngest is a 3 year old client,” said Carnage. “The mom wanted me to work with her son because he had delayed speech, so it was sort of a speech therapy to help strengthen syllables and words. On the other end, my oldest client is a 45 year old bass player.”

Carnage has other interests apart from music.

“I have two daughters so I love spending time with them,” said Carnage. “In addition to giving beat boxing lessons, I do social work at a private agency that teaches people that changing the way they think leads to changing their feelings which leads to changing their reactions.”

While Carnage provides the beats and some lyrics, Desdamona provides a majority of the vocals in their partnership. Although they sometimes work together, they don’t always. Desdamona has also worked with or opened for Wyclef Jean, GURU, Bahamadia, Zap Mama, Black Uhuru/Sly & Robbie, Saul Williams, Ursula Rucker and Rhymesayers Artists. She works in a variety of different places, including overseas.

“I’ve performed in many venues in front of many different artists,” said Desdamona. “I like performing overseas. They pay well, they feed you, and you don’t spend much money. The government in France also has a lot of grants for the arts.”

Desdamona has applied for many grants by writing an artist’s statement and has been awarded three. Desdamona and Carnage can be found on iTunes and MySpace Music, both together and individually.

BHS Band Concert

BHS Band Students gathered in the PAC on Monday, December 7, at 7:30 pm to perform a winter concert.

They performed five songs : Firework, Rakes of Mallow, Sleigh Ride, Walking into History, and Fire Dance.

“Walking into History was the big one for us,” said Senior Melissa Manz, “because we all put so much intensity and emotion into that song. I think we were all really proud of it.”

The band played their song, Fire Dance, with BCMS 8th grade band students.

“When we played with the 8th graders, I thought it was a little hectic and the stage was really cramped,” said Senior Jenna O’Flannagan, “because there were so many of us, but it went well.”

The bands next concert is February 9, 2010, at 7:30 in the PAC.

Suessical- What was, what is, and what’s to come.

September 2009 the musical was chosen. By September 21st the cast was picked. Throughout October and the beginning of November the cast and crew spent hours nearly of day of the week practicing their roles. Now the performances have begun.



“Were all excited for opening night,” said sophomore Amelia Haggen, “But I’m really afraid I’ll screw up. All that practice builds up a lot of pressure on you.”

The Suessical began with a special performance for 900 elementary students on November 18 . Performances for the general public will be on the 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd.

“All of our hours of work are put on display in just four showings.” said Haggen, “So we can’t mess things up, because there aren’t any do-overs on stage.”

New iPod Nano with Video

The Apple event today (9/9/09) has brought a new iPod to the stores. It may look like the 4G iPod Nano, but it has a very impressive  list of add-ons.

• Video camera (640×480)
• No Still Shots
• Integrated mic
• Integrated speaker
• FM Radio! That you can pause, and iTunes tag.
• One-click YouTube uploads (through your computer)
• Voice Over like Shuffle
• Pedometer with Nike+ syncing online
• Voice Recorder
• 2.2-inch screen that’s .2 inches larger than last model

This iPod is available today. The 8GB nano will cost $150 and the 16GB is $180.

Arts Finale 2009

Last Thursday on May 27th BHS entire Arts and Music department gathered together for the final art show of the year. Appropriately named the Arts Finale, the show included a walk-around gallery of all works of art created by BHS art students who were enrolled in Art I, Drawing I and II, Painting I and II, Jewelry, and Ceramics I, II, and III all submitted artwork to represent themselves and their classes to the rest of the community. Ceramics students put together a silent auction that enabled parents, peers, or appreciative art collectors to bid on student-made pots, bowls, or small sculptures.

At eight o clock, the doors to the Buffalo PAC were opened and people began to filter in to get seated for the All Choir Concert. The music department had chosen songs from various musicals and classic tunes to better show off their students talents in all rangers of pitches and harmonies. The Freshmen choir, the Varsity choir, the Men’s choir, the Varsity Singers, the Treble Singers, and the famed BHS singers all dressed for the evening and sang their best to end a year of hard work and preparation. Many of the senior students, this being their last choir experience of their time in BHS, were given solos and as their final notes rang through the gathered audience emotions ran high.

This year has been filled with many opportunities for students to show off their art talents. But a night consisting of the combined works of all of the three arts departments truly expressed the greatness that our students have attained over their time in BHS this year.

Buffalo Students excell in Mississippi 8 Art Conference

On May 8th, a group of selected Buffalo Art students boarded buses headed to Rogers highschool to participate in a district wide Visual Arts Competition. Over the course of the year, the students have been instructed in the various forms of art, and have been encouraged to practice their growing skills by taking extra art classes such as Drawing, Painting, Jewelry, or Ceramics. These students have worked hard, perfecting their craft and experimenting with different aspects and mediums of art with the Mississippi 8 conference as the ultimate goal in the eyes of the young artists; an equivalent to a State tournament for any athlete.

On May 8th, nineteen students boarded the bus with their art pieces specially selected by the BHS Art Department and headed to Rogers Highschool where the artwork was all on display.  Large scale mass media paintings, hand made dresses, charcoal drawings, photographs, and ceramic tea pots were a few of the things lining the tables that the other schools had submitted for this event.

“I think the best part of the competition was walking around listening to everyone talk about art.” says Junior Samantha Greenfeild, “Some of the people there were so passionate about art that listening to them critic and comment on things taught me some things.”

After a few rounds around the gallery, all of the students attending this event were driven to the Walker Sculpture Garden for a picnic and an afternoon of inspiration from the famous sculptures found there. Another short trip and the students were back in time for the Award Ceremony to begin.

Out of the nineteen students from Buffalo, five students came home with awards for their work. With congratulations all around from other schools to all of the students from Buffalo, the young artists came home with smiles on their faces and inspiration in their minds. For some of the students this art competition was an end to a year of hard work and determination, and for others its the reminder that next year is a fresh start.

“I guess it never occurred to me that Art is more of a competition to some people rather than a hobby. I had fun just drawing what I wanted, and now I have to wonder if I should take it more seriously.” reflects Greenfield, “Though, I probably will just keep doing as I always have done. To me Art is an expression rather than a competition.”

Huff takes Second at High School Art Competition

The 29th annual High School Art competition and Exhibition kicked off last night at the Paramount Theatre in St. Cloud. High School students around the state enter their artwork from detailed paintings and watercolor to sculpture or Ceramic peices. This year 15 schools and over 170 entries were submitted to the show; a record high since the show started in 1980. Of the entries, nine were from Buffalo Highschool, and of those nine, Junior Abbigale Huff recieved second place for her drawing ‘Generations’.

Generations is a picture of Huff’s grandfather and of her father. The twist to her drawing is that it is completley assembled by text, meaning that instead of pencil strokes that a traditional drawing has, this drawing is peiced together from words.

“To be able to create a realistic image completley out of text is extremely difficult to do.” says Kirissa Grams, a drawing major at St. Cloud State University and one of the judges at the competition. ”This drawing has so much emotion. When you draw a photograph it is difficult to apply the same life a photograph holds. This drawing has Life in it.”

The art show is not only a competition but a gallery in itself. Jon Holtz and Ciann Jackson, art teachers at BHS, loaded up three vehicles of former and current art students to visit this gallery on award night.

“It’s good for our students to see what other schools are making and witness the level of how their students are making it.” says Holtz.

After looking around in the galleries, the students clapped for their classmate when her name was called as a winner at the award ceremony. Though Huff was unable to attend the ceremony and receive her award, she was well represented by the art students of Buffalo High.

The artwork entered into the gallery at the Paramount Theatre in St. Cloud will continue to be on display until May 1st. Free of charge, come visit the gallery to look at the award winning ‘Generations’ and admire the other vaious art peices created by highschool students.

Buffalo Mock Trial places seventh in State

On Tuesday morning March 10 the Buffalo Mock Trial team left the High School to compete in the State tournament, held in Duluth, MN. Participating team members included Senior Jacob Westman, Senior Micheal Chenowith, Junior Lindy Jensen, Junior Graham Wyatt, Junior Kenzie Haight, Junior Dan Comstock, Sophomore Colm Macnab, Sophomore Micheal Porttin, Sophomore Kassi Williams, Freshman Beth Macnab, and Freshman Zach Marrandino. Coach Mrs. Raymond and Coach Mr. Ronken instrumentally helped guide the team to State.

Buffalo Mock Trial left the High School at 7:45 on March 10, arriving at Duluth around 11:30. They had until 4:00 to get settled and ready for their first trial against Visitation High School.

“You could feel the tension, when we got there we were treated to a lunch and I didn’t really want to eat anything for fear of it coming back up during the trial, said Chenowith. I’m glad I didn’t too, my nerves were crazy during the actual trial, I was pretty nervous, but I’m glad how it all turned out.”

Buffalo began their trial at 4:00 against Visitation, a High School for girls only.

“You know, the trial was amazing, we had new theories and new ideas come at us that had never been heard before and we did excellent, we stayed on our feet and we fought strong, says Westman. I couldn’t have been happier with our performance.”

Buffalo dropped the first ballot by a total of four points and was paired with Canby High School for the next round. Buffalo came out victorious with a 20 point lead over Canby. During both trials Graham Wyatt suffered a severe illness that caused his voice to become hoarse and his face pale.

“He did exceptionally well for being so sick, his performance was amazing, he delivered his closing and examinations perfectly, says Raymond.”

Buffalo competed against Lakeville North in the round before determining who advanced to the final competition, Buffalo’s opening was delivered by Westman, followed by witnesses Chenowith, Macnab, and Jensen, closing arguments were delivered by Wyatt.

“The performances this year at State were the best they had ever been. I was so proud of our performance in each round, I can’t wait for next year, says Raymond.”

Buffalo lost to Lakeville North by one point. Receiving a ballot with Buffalo winning by three and another ballot with Buffalo losing by four.

“It’s a point. But that’s all that matters is that one point, I would have rather lost by 20 points than by one, because that way we wouldn’t have to think about all of the “what ifs,” says Wyatt. Overall though, I’m so happy with what we did this year and how much we achieved, I’m excited for next year now.”

Buffalo Mock Trial had a of 20-0 record in the normal season and including regionals, altogether if you add the Bison’s Mock Trial record for the last three years they are 59-1.

“I have high hopes for next year, says Raymond. With us only losing two seniors this year and 10/12 spots still closed up for returning members who only leave the two remaining seats for new members, I wouldn’t be surprised at some interesting results next year.”

New technology raises ethical questions

On June 29, 2007 the Apple iPhone was released. With it, a multitude of advanced technology all in the reach of one simple click. At first, the iPhone featured multiple applications that could be used to access any  information you desired throughout the World Wide Web.

On July eighth, 2008 the Application store for both the iPhone and the iPod touch was released. An application store on the iPhone gave the user access to a multitude of applications for any desire. You can solve a quadratic equation with three simple clicks, you have the access to a translator for language tests, there’s even a chemistry application that allows you to view the Periodic Table Of Elements and the individual information on each element.

Even before the iPhone there were problems with students cheating with technology. The instant messaging feature on Cellular devices (also known as texting) posed a threat. Causing some schools to ban Cell phones from the grounds.

Schools have banned any form of iPod or cell phone from being used on any test or any in class assignment, but this hasn’t stopped most students from finding a way to get the answers from another source. A website has even published 73 ways to cheat on a test. Along with tips and methods on how to not get caught.                                                   

“I think it’s going to get harder for us to be able to use our iPods and cell phone,” says Sophomore Billy Longstreet. “We probably won’t be allowed to have in technology in school soon.”

Auditions upcoming for Les Misérables

Students buzz about the spring musical, Les Misérables. Even though this classic is quoted in shows such as Family Guy and Scrubs, most students don’t know what it is. This is a show that has influenced our culture: it has over 30 songs, and a large cast of 50 to 60 people.

“It’s a really huge show,” said Sophomore Mallory Nelson. “It’s really complicated, intense, and a lot of work, but it’s going to be really amazing.”

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