In early March, dozens upon dozens of actors, stage hands, technicians, light crews, writers, and directors showed up for the final dress rehearsal for the Blue Barn Theater’s newest production, Marjorie Prime. Then, in the words of Blue Barn’s Resident Technical Director Bill Kirby, “Everything stopped.” This story of half-finished productions, rehearsals for shows that would never happen,...

A screen with a dozen anxious faces grew progressively tense as eight lines of text appeared. Instantly, almost as if on cue, each two-by-two panel erupted into cheer.  On Apr. 24, MN journalism students poured into a Zoom call where State Journalism results were being revealed on a shared screen. Among the dozens of categories announced was ‘Yearbook Theme Development’, a hotly contested...

Loss can seem like an impenetrable darkness, seldom parted by rays of light and hope. When middle schooler Jenna Witherspoon was losing her battle against cancer, a song was commissioned in her honor to ensure her memory lived on through music. “In my Perfect Place” was born. The Millard North Wind Symphony created their own light in a time of uncertainty by becoming one of the first high school...

There are roughly three million high school seniors across America, all of whom are losing an important time in their lives to COVID-19. Sports seasons, graduation, senior prom, all gone.  Senior Mckenna Cottone spoke for all of America’s senior class on an episode of ABC’s Tamron Hall Show on Wednesday, April 29th.  The Tamron Hall Show is a widely popular daytime talk show that is broadcast...

Quarantine can be very boring. Being stuck in your house unable to see friends face to face is an experience that can be hard to endure. Fortunately, there is something else you can do to take up time besides Zoom classes and homework: binge watching. What better time to explore the different media that lies in your hands? Through different streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, entertainment...

Several days, several weeks or even a little over a month may have passed since you’ve last come in contact with people that aren’t your family, and as humans, we are not meant to be alone all the time.  The deprivation of human contact can take quite a toll on a person and their body. Scientists across the world are finding that during these last couple of weeks, humans have never shown such...

Twice a month, senior Shivani Mudhelli opens up her computer to greet a friend, Andrea Lizzeth Mayer García, who lives 1,200 miles away. Mudhelli speaks in Spanish while García responds in English as they exchange formalities, discuss their lives, and attempt to converse in a non-native language. Spanish teacher Theresa Jensen first piloted this interaction assignment to her IB Spanish class three...

Everyone’s lives have shifted since the hit of COVID-19. School has closed, leaving all students and teachers cooped up at home with a new system of learning to navigate. While students only have to worry about finishing assignments, teachers have come home to find they have a few new students: their children.  Many teachers are still struggling to master the distance E-Learning process. They...