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INSIDER
MANOR INK | DEC. 2021 | 15
Interact’s Red Ribbon Week promotes awareness
By Makayla Dutcher
The Livingston Manor Central School
Interact Club hosted a Red Ribbon Week
for the elementary grades in order to
teach and promote drug prevention
awareness. In addition, they focused on
achieving a bullying-free school.
The event took place from Oct. 25 to
Oct. 29. LMCS
STUDENT
JOURNALISTS
These stories are
reprinted from
the December
issue of LMCS’s
Manor Monthly.
staff and students
celebrated those
who make the
choice to leave
drugs alone and
lead bullying-free
lives. Spirit days
attached to Red
Ribbon Week
highlighted these two themes. Monday,
students wore red to show they were
“Red-y” to live a drug- and bullying-free
life. Students wore their favorite team
jerseys on Tuesday to “team up against
drugs and bullying.” On Wednesday,
students were encouraged to wear camouflage
clothing so that they could “be
all they could be, drug free.” Students
said “peace out to drugs and bullying”
by wearing tie-dye on Thursday. The last
day, Friday, students wore their favorite
hats to say “hats off to being drug- and
bullying-free.”
There was also an assembly for Red
Ribbon Week on Monday, Oct. 25, which
was titled “Mad Science” and was sponsored
by the Livingston Manor Rotary
SERIOUS FUN
The Livingston Manor
Rotary Club, along with
the hamlet’s Parent
Teacher Student Organization,
sponsored a
“Mad Science” assembly
for LMCS elementary
students during
Red Ribbon Week.
Jaime Snow photo
with assistance from the Parent Teacher
Student Organization.
In addition to the school spirit week,
the Livingston Manor Rotary Club also
hosted a night out at Rotary Park on
Wednesday evening, Nov. 3. There were
games, free hot dogs, face painting,
character drawings, information booths,
animals, Clifford the Big Red Dog and
fire trucks. The event promoted drug
awareness and education, too.
The Interact Club’s purpose in having
NEWS STORIES BY MANOR’S JOURNALISM CLASS
Red Ribbon Week was to get information
to the general public about the dangers of
drug use.
“In today’s society, there is a huge
drug epidemic. Drug overdose deaths
continue to impact communities across
the United States, as does bullying. In the
school and at the park, we hope to bring
spirit and enjoyment while promoting a
message to be healthy, and bullying- and
drug-free,” said Interact Advisor and
Rotary President Jaime Snow.
By presenting these events to the community,
it is Rotary’s hope that people
will make smart choices. By sharing
information about the harmful effects of
drugs and bullying, maybe addictions
can be prevented and those who have
been bullied will feel empowered to
reach out for assistance.
SWIFT’S ‘RED’ REVISITED
By Emily Ball
Award-winning singer and songwriter
Taylor Swift released her remake of
“Red” on Nov. 12. “Red (Taylor’s Version)”
features 30 songs, 20 of them being
from the original 2012 album, and ten of
them coming from “the vault.”
Swift has redefined the music industry
throughout her career. In June 2019,
Big Machine Records purchased Swift’s
master recordings from her first six studio
albums, even though she had tried to
buy them herself many times. That sale
and other disputes factored into Swift’s
decision to re-record each of her first six
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albums, thus creating new masters
and giving herself complete
ownership. Her first re-recording, “Fearless
(Taylor’s Version),” was released in
April, and resulted in the original recording
falling off the charts completely.
In Swift’s attempt to make these albums
different from the original and gain
popularity, she adds vault tracks. Her
vault tracks are songs she had written
during the album’s eras, but ultimately
decided not to release them at the time. In
“Red (Taylor’s Version),” the vault tracks
feature artists including Phoebe Bridgers,
Ed Sheeran and Chris Stapleton.
“Red (Taylor’s Version)” starts off with
“State of Grace,” which is one of Swift’s
best album openers. Its upbeat intro sets
the mood for the rest of the album, which
Swift describes as “happy, free, confused
and lonely at the same time.” The album
transitions from cheery, optimistic love
songs like “Stay Stay Stay” to heartbreaking
breakup songs like “The Last Time
(feat. Gary Lightbody).” These polar
opposite songs, placed next to each other
on the track list, are meant to portray the
album’s theme.
The re-dos mostly sound similar to
the originals, just with better clarity in
Swift’s vocals and sharper production
qualities. You have to remember that she
is not re-recording to change her music,
just to gain ownership of what she has
written. The biggest change to a song on
“Red” is the remake of “Girl At Home.”
In 2012, the song had more of a country
sound to it. Now, it has been transformed
into a pop song, given the same energy
as her “Willow” remixes from last year.
If we dig into the history of “Red,”
Swift spoke about wanting to make the
album pop rather than country, but
her production company did not allow
it. The “Girl At Home” alteration was
clearly her attempt to make it what she
always intended it to be.
The ten vault
tracks on the new
album begin with
the devastating
song “Ronan.” Swift
wrote this single in
2012 about a threeyear-old
boy who
died of a neuroblastoma.
Her lyrics are
based on quotes
about him from
his mother. This
sorrowful song is
Red (Taylor’s
Version)
Republic Records
Released in 2021
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very hard to get through because of how
heartbreakingly well she tells his story.
Up next is “Better Man” which is a
song originally written by Swift, but first
sung by the band Little Big Town. This
is not the only song she reclaimed on
“Red.” The song “Babe” is also featured
in the vault tracks, which was written
and performed by herself and the band
Sugarland in 2018. Personally, I favor
“Red (Taylor’s Version)” for both of these
songs. I feel that she captures what she
has written for both songs better than the
other bands were able to.
Picking a favorite vault track is something
I cannot do, but “Nothing New”
featuring Phoebe Bridgers would be near
the top of my list. The combination of
these two women’s voices makes me feel
something no other song can. Bridgers’
soft sound captures the feel of the hopelessness
Swift describes in the lyrics.
There are two vault songs that are
overwhelmingly upbeat and have almost
a 1989 vibe to them. “Message in a Bottle”
and “The Very First Night” have a distinctly
happy feeling compared to the rest
of the vault tracks. These two songs are
infectious, with a newly-in-love mood.
Lastly, but absolutely not Swift’s least,
is the second version of “All Too Well.”
This version is more honest and less filtered
than her last, and is even five minutes
longer. This ten minute song leaves
its listeners in nothing but awe and with
tons of fury towards Jake Gyllenhaal (the
topic of this masterpiece). Lyrics like,
“You kept me like a secret, but I kept you
like an oath,” and, “I’m a soldier whose
returning half her weight,” make this
already emotionally destructive song so
much more powerful.
“Red (Taylor’s Version)” broke streaming
records on Spotify its first day of
release. It became the most streamed
album in a day by a female artist, and is
predicted to “smash” her last re-recorded
album’s stream. Swift produces continues
to impress while displaying how
talented she is as an artist in the music