Have you ever needed a fresh new start because your days felt like one long, arduous night filled with despair and uncertainty? Well, don’t feel as if you are alone. For, throughout history, mankind has often had a need to rediscover a time for reflection, renewal, and revitalization following tremendous obstacles faced in society. Scholars named one such era as the Renaissance—a time of revival or the rebirth of art, music, architecture, and literature.
The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy during the 1300s and lasted throughout Europe until the late 1600’s where a vibrant, rich culture flourished. During this time, great artists and writers like Michelangelo (The Creation of Adam); Leonardo Di Vinci (Mona Lisa); William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet), and Geoffrey Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales) to name a few, generated some of the greatest expressions of beauty through the arts known to the world.
Centuries later, another famous rebirth occurred during the 1920s called the Harlem Renaissance. It reflected an intellectual, social, and artistic explosion centered in Harlem, Manhattan, and New York City which was a turning point in Black cultural history. From this rebirth, came the creative genius of the composer, Duke Ellington; gifted trumpeter, Louis Armstrong and prolific writers such as Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Zora Neale Hurston, and W.E.B. DuBois as well as the incomparable voices of Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, and Ethel Waters. After such a dark period in our history, they arose to enlighten us with their weary blues.
We are presenting a new initiative named, the Alpha Renaissance, as we invite you (students and staff) to express your emotions and share your feelings through your creative gifts—artworks, poems, essays, plays, short stories, journal entries, music, inventions, and even DIY’s (Do it Yourself) entries. Be innovative. Be honest. Be free. Alpha students and staff to express yourselves as we embark upon a new adventure—The Alpha Renaissance! This will be the rebirth of Alpha.
While you are working at home, take time to enjoy some of your passions while creating artwork, designing sculptures, hairdos, clothing lines, writing poetry, short stories, and even plays. Some of you may even invent the next 21st Century virtual reality game!
There are prizes and awards that will be presented to those who participate with excellence-every submission MUST be fully complete. We look forward to seeing your masterpieces.
Let the Alpha Renaissance begin! we are presenting a new initiative named, the Alpha Renaissance, as we invite you (students and staff) to express your emotions and share your feelings through your creative gifts—artworks, poems, essays, plays, short stories, journal entries, music, inventions, and even DIY’s (Do it Yourself) entries. Be innovative. Be honest. Be free.
Whichever form of expression you choose, years from now someone may be reading about your generation’s amazing renaissance. In the meantime, we are planning to offer incentives, prizes, awards and even to publish the works of accomplished participants. Remember, this is your time to freely express yourself. This is not to create an extra assignment but an opportunity for self-expression. Go and make history!