March
Forum
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Nader STILL persistent through election
u G alley L athrop ____________
Staff Reporter
One must ask, does
Presidential candidate
Ralph Nader really think
he can win the presidency,
or even get on the ballot?
Nader, who announced his
run for presidency on Feb.
24, is hoping that his fifth
run will yield the glorious
result that is the presidency.
However, we all know he
has no chance. So, why is he
even running?
Every four years since
1992, the 74 year-old Nader
has stepped up on some
podium and announced
that he will be, yet again,
running for the presidency
as an Independent. And
independent he is. The man
has lost followers (except
for members of websites
like DraftNader.org) over
the years, mainly because
Americans are becoming
increasingly frustrated with
his difficulty "letting go" of
the fact that there is no hope
of his election. In the 2000
election, the highest number
o f votes he received was
418,707 votes in California,
and the lowest a little over
4,500 in Wyoming. His
popularity only deteriorated
over the next four years, as
the highest number of votes
he received in 2004 was
99,873, the lowest 2,153 in
Delaware.
If Nader hadn't run
in 2000 and 2004, the
Democrats would have
had an extremely good
chance of winning, because
most independents (if
they didn't have Nader)
would probably sway on
the side of the liberals.
Most of Nader's support
comes from the Green
Party, which, according
to gp.org, is committed to
environmentalism, social
justice and renewing
democracy without
corporate impact. Those
ideas are very similar to that
of liberals and Democrats.
They are far from the
conservative views. Nader's
run in this race could really
hurt the Democrats, as he
usually takes one to two
percent of the overall vote.
otherwise there will be some
very angry liberals knocking
on his door come Nov. 12.
During the 2004 election,
President George W. Bush
won by 537 votes; votes
Democrats say belonged to
Senator A1 Gore. Nader has
stated that Bush and Gore
were very similar, and it
was Gore's fault that he did
not win more states.
The one question that.
remains unanswered is
"why?" Why is a man whose
name strikes fear into the
hearts of Democrats and
laughter from Republicans
still running, or, by this
time, crawling? Nader, on
average, has represented
about two percent of
our population. Yes, his
supporters matter and
deserve a voice in politics,
but they can be fairly
represented by a Democrat.
It's time for Nader to throw
in the towel and put an end
to the legacy of losing that
has plagued the Democrats
since 2000.
Poor audience behavior detrimental to performers
J on H elmkamp
co-Editor-in-Chief
Imagine spending countless
hours memorizing lyrics
or lines, rehearsing, and
committing to giving your
best performance, only to have
members of your audience
completely disregard your
performance. Unfortunately,
this is all too common in the
performing arts.
According to John Ares,
Performing Arts Technical
Director, some of the most
common misbehaviors are
audience members putting
their feet up on the wood
handrailing or on the back
of seats, eating and drinking
even after being told not to,
and even making out during
the performance. "How gross
would that be, if that were
happening right next to you?"
Ares asked.
I can tell you from
experience that there is
nothing worse than seeing
your audience tuning out
your performance. By far,
the best example of this
is during assemblies. I've
performed with the band and,
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Linn High School Advanced Journalism class. Opinions expressed in
commentaries and editorials represent only those of the writer, and are
not necessarily the opinions of West Linn High School, its administration,
faculty, staff, or student body.
co-Editors-in-Chief:
Nicholas Amtz
Jon Helmkamp
Assistant Editor:
Hilli Ciavarello, Calley
Lathrop
Page Editors:
♦News: Chelsea Callas
•Forum: Adam Holmes
•Features: Sydney
MacNaughton
•Sports: Jon Helmkamp
•Entertainment: Kelsey
Schrader
•Photo Essay: Malia Chong
That one to two percent
could be the difference
between 49% and 51%.
According to Msnbc.com,
Nader has said that he won't
be "giving" votes to John
McCain. "Not a chance,"
Nader told Oregonian
reporter Bob Herbert in
a recent interview. "If the
Democrats can't landslide
the Republicans this year,
they ought to just wrap
up, close down, emerge
in a different form," he
said. Let's hope he's right,
Staff Reporters: Chelsea
Callas, Hilli Ciavarello, Chris
Erbin, Sydney MacNaughton
Photographers:
Calley Lathrop, Sydney
MacNaughton
Photo Editing: Katie
Carnahan, Jon Helmkamp,
Sydney MacNaughton
Adviser:
Ann Breyne
this year, sang the national
anthem with the Jazz Choir.
Both experiences I've had
performing at assemblies
led me to feel completely
disrespected and enraged
"Bad audience behavior
can affect student performers
in several ways; the biggest
effect may be one of shaking
their confidence. Many times,
those people up on stage may
Argan, played by Avik Bandyopadhyay, senior, sits between Cleante, played
by Tyler Harmon, junior, and Angélique, played by Jordan Scott, senior,
in "The Imaginary Invalid." Audience distractions, such as lights from
cell phones, can affect the performers' ability to concentrate throughout
the presentation.
Photo submitted by Jon Ares
at the thought that all of
our hard work was falling
on deaf ears. Our audience,
for the most part, was more
interested in talking, texting,
or listening to their iPods. But
anger and frustration aren't
always the biggest issue.
Last year I was given
the opportunity to play
harmonica with the Jazz
Choir. The first time I
performed in public, I was
terrified, it being the first time
I'd played in front of a large
group of my peers. Luckily,
I had a good audience that
night. That audience helped
build my confidence. Had
that audience been distracting
during my performance, I can
imagine how terribly I would
have been shaken.
be up there for the first time,
and it might have taken that
performer a lot of work to
build up the confidence to
get up there in front of their
peers. How sad is it to ruin
all that hard work with some
booing or howling, or other
disrespectful activity?" Ares
said.
Performers want to
be given respect and,
if appropriate, want an
audience that interacts with
the performance. "Having
an engaged, attentive
audience that reacts to what is
happening onstage gives off a
great energy to the actors that
they can feed off of. Hearing
the audience laugh at your
first joke makes an actor even
more motivated to make
them laugh again. The actors
can work hard for months in
rehearsal but the real magic
of theatre doesn't really occur
until there is an audience to
share it with," Ariel Heston,
senior, said.
Some behaviors that people
don’t seem to understand as
being rude include getting up
and leaving in the middle of
a piece, texting, or using flash
photography in the middle of
a performance.
"Flash photography is
extremely dangerous as well,
particularly to dancers, who
have a sea of black around
them and then suddenly they
have a blinding flash go off.
They can lose their balance, or
become disoriented and could
end up in the orchestra pit,
or crashing into a wall," Ares
said.
This behavior issue isn’t
only a problem with students,
but also a problem with
the community. According
to Ares, one of the main
problems is that adults in .
this area did not grow up .
with cultural experiences.
He thinks that most of their
experiences with a "theater" is
a movie theater, where food is
allowed—and encouraged—
inside the theater, and it is
"acceptable" to dump food
and trash on the floor. There is
a major difference in etiquette
between a movie theater and a
theater of performing arts.
For the sake of all the
members of the performing
arts, something has to be
done. Respect needs to be
shown to all performers.
Those performers deserve
the chance to give their
performance to the best
of their ability without
worrying about whether or
not the audience is paying
attention. So be aware of how
your behavior as a member
of the audience affects the
performers. Do not text, talk,
listen to music or use flash
photography during a live
performance.