Most of us celebrate Thanksgiving, yet almost all of us don’t really know how it originally started. Let’s roll back time to December 4th, 1619. Approximately 38 settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred, just north of the James River in an area near Jamestown. This was the first settlement of the Virginia Colony. This moment of arrival was considered as “a day of thanksgiving” to God. The captain or person of power said the following, "We ordain that the day of our ship’s arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”  However, one of the following Thanksgivings were cut short due to the Indian Massacre of 1622 resulting in the death of nine settlers. Although the very first Thanksgiving was taken place in 1619, the official origin was 1621. Squanto from the Wampanoag tribe taught the pilgrims how to catch eel, grow corn and also acted as a translator for them. Squanto had learned English when he was enslaved in Europe and in his travels. In return for the kindness of Squanto and the Wampanoag Leader Massasoit, they set apart a day to celebrate “Thanksgiving”.

Thanksgiving in modern day and age is a lot different than Thanksgiving in the 1600s but, still hold the same foundations at heart. Example, although we may love to play and watch American Football, we still say and give our thanks to “God” or others for Family, friends, food, etc. Much modern day food we eat on Thanksgiving is of course Turkey, Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, and pumpkin pie. Other families like to visit relatives or travel on Thanksgiving rather than stay at home.

From the simple beginnings of Native Americans and Pilgrims to the complexities of Football plays and Turkey dinners Thanksgiving has been a day where everyone gets together, aunts, uncles, cousins and parents to say Thanks.

By: Emmanuel Alcantar

Halloween: Dance the Night Away by Emmanuel Alcantar

(Pictures by: Natalie Franco)

      The Halloween Dance is one of the many events students from Central Los Angeles High school for the Visual and Performing Arts get to socialize. After conducting a survey of a total of three hundred and fifty ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade students, the results showed about a thirty two percent average of ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders would actually attend the dance. After most students heard that they can’t bring their friends from other schools, they decided not to go at all. I’m here with Tenth Grader Alexxa Anzures at the Fine Arts Building in Cal State LA asking about her experience at the Halloween Dance on Friday.

Emmanuel: What were you looking forward to in the Halloween Dance?

Alexxa: The Music, I love music and how it expresses who you are.

Emmanuel: How was the DJ in this dance, was it the same as the one last year?

Alexxa: No, we had a teacher doing songs in some random room above. The DJ last year was on the ground. The DJ we had last year been pretty good but, the teacher was alright as well.

Emmanuel: According to the survey I just showed you, ten percent of 10th graders said they were going to attend while about fifty percent said they were not going to attend; did you notice a difference in the number of people at the dance?

Alexxa: Yeah, a lot of my girlfriends didn’t show up but, many of my guy friends did. There were barely any people in this dance.

Emmanuel: In your own opinion, did you like the Halloween Dance and what could it do to improve its experience for students next year?

Alexxa: I thought it was okay, not great but okay. I think they should make the system less complicated and let people bring students from other schools to this dance like they did last year. A lot of my friends go to different schools and some of them don’t even have a Halloween Dance. I think they should allow students from other schools to come so that a lot of people attend and to let other people experience this as well.

Emmanuel: After this year’s dance, will you be attending the one next year and if not why?

Alexxa: I will probably go to the one next year but, I won’t stay the entire time, I’ll just stay an hour and probably leave with my friends.

This is Emmanuel Alcantar saying Farewell.

 By: Nicholas Robinson

"Our theatre has been said to have ghosts in it." Multiple students and teachers have said to have seen or heard some sort of paranormal event around the school, the most sights being the theatre. Before the school was what it is today, it was a burial ground. Teachers and students believe that there is something lurking in the lower levels of the theatre so I went and did some investigation.

    But first, I decided to look into the history of the land where VAPA now sits. The school is located on what used to be known as Fort Moore. The fort was established by US forces during the Mexican American War, when the Americans occupied California, then claimed by Mexico. The first American flag to fly over California was raised near where our swimming pool is now on July 4th, 1869. The fort was named after Captain Benjamin D. Moore, who was killed in action earlier in the war. He died after being punctured in the heart by a Mexican lance in the Battle of San Pasqual in San Diego County, on December 6, 1846.

    It turned out there was never much fighting on the Ft. Moore hill, but according to the LA Times, the first deaths on the hill were four soldiers who were killed when a powder magazine exploded. They were the first people known to be buried on the hill.  The first officially recorded civilian burial was of Andrew Sublette, on Dec. 19, 1853. He was hunting in Malibu Canyon when he shot a grizzly, but the bear managed to kill Sublette before it died. After he was buried on the hill, his dog refused to leave his grave, and died there three days later.  The hill was the city’s first non-Catholic cemetery, and many bodies were buried secretly in the middle of the night.

    By 1857 what was then called “Cemetery Hill” was the site of public hangings.  The most famous hanging was held on Valentine’s Day of that year, when two men were hanged for murder. Three thousand people crowded the hill to watch. The hill became famous as the final resting place of men who were on the losing end of a wild-west shoot-out. According to the Southern California Genealogical Society, six deputy sheriffs were killed on the hill in a shoot out with cattle thieves. They were all buried on Cemetery Hill.

    Since the theater is where the sightings were the most reported, that is where I headed. I took a camera and explored the lower levels. I went down there with out a doubt there was nothing there. Not to my surprise, I was right. I was down there for about 20 minutes and left disappointed. You can see the video on our website. (Coming soon!!)

    I asked students that thought they heard something He said that it was a weird noise ringing throughout the hall. There is a very simple explanation for that, there is a lot of work on the floor above and it could easily have been someone sweeping. I had the same experience. Now that you know the facts, what do you think about this? Have you ever had a paranormal experience here at VAPA? Share with us at vapasjc@yahoo.com!