The GHS TorchThe official publication of the Greenhill Junior Classical League

“Per aspera ad astra”

December 2014

In this issue...Pg. 2 Pg. 3

MS Movie Night Ludi (Games)

Upper School Saturnalia took place on December 16th

during lunch. The gift exhange this time was not only limited to food, but to

any gift under $10, which resulted in many interesting gift options. The Saturnalia event

was also a pizza party along with the gift exchange. With many seniors and juniors,

one sophmore, and three freshmen, the lunch was quite eventful.

Middle SchoolStory by Natalie Neiman, MS Staff

Upper SchoolStory and Graphics by Areeba Amer, GHS Torch Editor

Saturnalia

This week the JCL

celebrated the Roman hol-iday known as Saturnalia. It is a

festival that honors the ancient god Saturn. In the middle school, the JCLers usually celebrate Saturnalia with a gift

exchange, in which the members of Latin in the middle school buy treats at the Buzz for each other. Saturnalia is a favorite holiday at

Greenhill School, and all year long JCLers look forward to it. The recent Saturna-

lia was really fun, and everyone had a great time. Everyone got what

they wanted, and lots of candy was eaten.

I’ve got a blank space, baby, so I’ll write a column No, this is not an in-depth review of Taylor Swift’s Blank Space music video, but yes-her video is a large part of this column. I swear this is classics-related…trust me. I never believed that watching TV, playing video games, or anything of that sort could possibly help out with the piles of homework I have each night; I stand corrected. It was approximately 11pm on a Thursday night when I promptly realized that I still had yet to finish memorizing my Odyssey passage for an English performance the follow-ing day. I was acting as Calypso in the scene where she is about to let Odysseus go home. Believe me, I had already practiced the nights before, but it was not a polished performance. I cannot work without music so I went on You-

Tube and found a random song on the “What to Watch” page; it was Blank Space by Taylor Swift. I blindly watched the music video without acknowledging that I still had to memorize part of the passage. Then it hit me- Taylor Swift clearly based the song on Calypso. It makes sense; her seductive self, her long list of ex-lovers, her short, destructive temper, etc. Just as a heads up, I’m no actress so this epiphany I had that night saved me from certain death of my grade. I continuously replayed the video until I felt I had a good sense of Calypso’s character, and then proceeded to actually performing my dialogue in front of a mirror. Needless to say, I got an A+ on that presentation.

I’m careful to recommend the video for it is quite…disturbing to say the least. Nonethe-less, let this be a lesson (or two) to you readers: First, please check your planner before 11pm. Second, never underestimate the power of media. As unlikely as it may seem; the seemingly dead language and culture are now depicted and symbolized in the “digital” age. Keep a look out for glimpses of Greco-Roman mythology in songs. This is what happens when I have a blank space in The Torch; I write a column..

Page II The GHS Torch December 2014

(You can tell me when it’s over if the column was worth the pain…)

-Areeba Amer, GHS Torch Editor

JCL Movie Night proved to be a great success, just as expected. It was a relaxed night

of Harry Potter that felt vaguely like a sleepover. The movie itself was en-joyable, and yet seen so much that you could whisper with friends on the side. The pizza only helped the soft friendly

mood that helped start off the weekend. A mixture of dif-ferent aged JCLers joined together to watch Harry and his friends defeat their foe. Everyone enjoyed the movie togeth-

er, helping JCL grow together as a team. Hopefully this team will be able to do well at Area, which will be here before we

know it. With friends giggling to the side, Latin spells in the air, and pizza in hand, Movie Night was a night of happiness.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban rated 4.5 stars The movie itself was entertaining, a good classic movie

to play in the background, because everyone’s seen it. With the complications of werewolves and time travel, it added a level of complexity to a young adult movie that is rarely seen, but was easy to understand. Because it is the third movie in the Harry Potter series, Prisoner of Azkaban showed many plot twists, adding an almost murder mystery thriller aspect to the mood of the plot. Following the same characters as the first two, it adds more details and information to the storyline of the story, and yet it contained a plot inside itself, so that it could be watched without having seen the others recently. With Latin spells, magic, and friendship, Prisoner of Azkaban was a nice way to relax and enjoy the won-der of Harry Potter.

MS Movie NightSam Bovard, MS Staff

-Areeba Amer, GHS Torch Editor

The Torch StaffEditor and Graphics: Areeba Amer

Contributing Staff:

Veda Velamuri Natalie Neiman Sam Bovard

Issue IV comes out... February 10th, 2015

LudusPage III The GHS Torch December 2014

Y D L S E F S Q S N P B N K AV Z V E N O C A Z O E I A R NR O R P J O M S D E B E N F MV T O M A T W H Z A E U R T VK E P R S D M M H Y Q H G G BF Y N I Z R G P A V C S N O WM Z R B Q G O S X N G P U G PS H F P V J J B R C C Q M T PC P R E S E N T S E U O R A JR F W J A L S I X L D R R C OE T J I C H W N T G F A I T DI L E G N A O S D F D S C Q RO X I G V J H E I E J L V K DL E R S R X S L K A R O W S TE S J L E M Z F L I P C R B I

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