Canandaigua Academy - Academian Yearbook (Canandaigua, NY)

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THE ACADEMIAN FIRST PRIZE P. T A. Speaking Contest My family is big. I have four sisters and four brothers. We were all born in America, but my mother an-d father came from Europe. They wer-e born in Southern Italy. Their par-ents were very poor but respected in their tiny villages. Ev-en in the quiet, sunny fields, young Italian children heard stories about America. My mother's father had been to America, and many times he led the stori-es. While they were children, my parents learned to love and respect this great land. They have been in America for many years and their respect has increased. My parents can really appreciate this coun- try because they have lived under dif- ferent condltions. Many times my mother tells us that we young Ameri- cans do not appreciate our country enough. Lately I've had cause to do a little more thinking, and I've decided that she is right: for there are many reasons why I should appreciate my country. To me my real appreciation comes because I can say that I love America. When I say that, I am very happy be- cause my love is not blind. My coun- try breeds love by teaching its people. It is a country which believes in intel- ligence, not ignorance. Our govern- ment ls truly a government for the people. Laws are passed, but we know all about them. The Conscription Law, which was passed recently. could have caused much bitterness. In a land of intelligence like ours, the people have been shown both sides. They have seen the need for such a law and wanted it passed. I have a brother who has been conscripted. He was glad to go. and we wanted him to go, happy to think that he can help his country. The Declaration of Independence says that all men are created equal. Our country has lived up to this phrase. Here in the United States people from all lands live on the same street and are the best of friends. There are very few other places in the world where this would be possible. My parents have proved that all men are created equal is true in the United States. They have worked themselves up from poor immi- grants to respected citizens. Can you name any other country where this would be possible? If I didn't appreci- ate my country after this, all the privi- leges I receive in my daily American life w-ould be wasted in me. All nine of us childnen have gone to school. We have had a good education for very little money. If my parents had to pay very much, they obviously could not have afforded it. In school we have been the equals of all other students regardless of wealth or na- tionality. I love school and enjoy my work. Could I say the same of a pupil in another country? Dr. Solomon, a German refugee, tells us that German children sit up late into th-e night groaning over their difficult lessons. These poor unfortunates evidently do not enjoy their school work. They are afraid of their teachers. German chil- dren do not go to bed at night anxious for morning to come so that they can be off for a happy day in school. How can I express my true gratitude for having been born an American? We Americans read whatever we like. Can you imagine German citizens read- ing anything that they like? Even our common, daily newspapers are great things. They print all the news. It is cur business to decide what we want to believe. No cooked-up rules or ideas are crammed down our throats. We do not receive printed pamphlets which contain rules for our daily living. Our lives are our own. We do with them what we please. Our country is a free country. We are our own bosses. We have a great Constitution which insures us our freedom. In this docu- ment which all true Americans love and respect is our Bill of Rights which promises us our civil liberties. As long as our land exists, the.se liberties will be preserved. Among our civil liberties are freedom of speech and religion. I have chosen these two because they have recently been forbidden to so many European people. In America We enjoy our privileges to the point of abuse. To me my ooimtry stands for all that is clean, beautiful, and decent. I love its national anthem and flag. When I salute the star spangled banner, I can do it with a light h-eartg for my country deserves all the love and respect that I can give it. . . . Lucy Polimeni

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THE ACADEMIAN lots of noise and many familiar faces which we were glad to see. Ild like to take this opportunity t-o ext-end the ap- preciation of the band to the Board of Education and to all th-e people who helped to send us. if is 211 Forty-iive musicians from C. A. were represented in the second annual Fin- ger Lakes Music Festival held at Ge- neva High School on May 13, 1941. About 400 outstanding musicians from the Finger Lakes high schools partici- pated. Frederick Fennell directed the one hundred piece band. The Finger Lakes Orchestra w-as directed by Craig McHenry, and Marlowe E. Smith con- ducted the chorus of more than one hundred and fifty voices. SUPER- SNOOPER It certainly is uncanny to think how long some of our couples have been plodding around the corridor together. Since the last issue of the Academian some new romances have appeared. Jean McFarlane and Eddie Knapp are one couple. We see that baseball is not the only reason that Joe Mussolino came 'back to school. Bobby Mitchell has been seen down on West Gibson street quite a bit lately. Yes, Patty has a sister, fellas! Charlie Henderson and Eleanor McCarthy can be found at table four after school almost every night. iEditor's comment: And I thought he was a member of the C. A. B. A.!!D. Quite a few of us have been Wondering what Carol, i'Chopper and Don call that game of tag they are playing. All the girls are just wild about Norman, or am I stretching my imagination? It looks as though Lil Cappon has made up her mind about the boys. Nice going, Bob. Sad as it may seem, Bud Benham and Ginny Simmonds have broken up. Bud's a member of the C. A. B. A. CCanandai- gua Academy Bachelors Associationl now. Jim Brocklebank has been seen on Gorham Street on more than one occasion. Reason: Laura Carlile. It's rumored that Tommy Erdman likes a certain Perry Place gal, so move over, Johnny. Since Jack Ryan bought his new car, Rita Menihan never has to Walk. Jim and Bernie Furnal, those romantic brothers, both have their heart beats. Local talent, too. George Wavy Cowley seems to think that Esther Cornish is just about tops. Eliz- abeth McKee and Ed Pritchard are another inseparable couple. It looks as though Clyde North and Irene Hicks have made a match along with George Zimmerman and Marion Beeman. These country lads certainly do have a way with the gals. Did you know that Bill Sheavely and Connie Van Deusen, the elder, have exchanged pins? How- ever, the kids just aren't exchanging pins this year, eh Gene? I-Iere's a good rhyming one: Tones and Jones. They get along together, too. Bill Townley is still looking. Now don't ask what for! Well, exams are almost here, and school will be out. It's going to be hard for the seniors to leave C. A. Here's hoping a lot of them will come back, but to those who go to college or get a job here's a wish of good luck and success. Have I noticed a class ring, not her own, on our beauty queen's hand? Is there someone, Izzy? A certain sopho- more whose initials are B. M. thinks Dottie Armitage is tops. I heard that Jule More's favorite Bower was-the pansy. The Locket I was up in the attic one day long ago. Exploring to heart's contentg When all of a sudden a mouse ran by, So out of the attic I went. But just as I opened the door to go A glitter and shine caught my sight Now, what can that be? I said to myself As I held it up to the light. A beautiful locket, nicely engraved In the small, sweet shape of a heart, I turned it over and on the back Were the Words, We'll never part! . . . Carol A. Ostrow Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto, In God is our trust g And the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

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THE ACADEMIAN P FIRST PRIZE Phelps 699 Gorham Speaking Contest An ancient writer once said, No man liveth unto himself, we are all members one of another? Men have always lived together, and as long as they have lived together they have had governments. From this they have developed two types, one where the government is the servant of the people and the other where the people are servants of the government. The former type is th-e democracy, a gov- ernment in which the supreme power rests with the citizens. A standard definition is self-government either di- rectly or through representatives with delegated authority subject to periodi- cal renewal. We call it government of the people, by the people and for themselves. Since very large groups of people cannot govern themselves di- rectly by assembling and deliberating on every matter of common interest, the common form. representative dem- ocracy, is developed. The foundation of such a government is the idea that the state exists for the sake of the in- dividuals who compose its population, and that they are a free source of its authority. Such a government and only such a government is found in the United States and in the United States alone. It is true that some of the dic- tatorships do listen somewhat to public opinion, but they try desperately to shape it by shutting off freedom of speech and press. so that their version will be heard and read. Political freedom, economic freedom, social freedom-these we have pre- served for the individual, through all the changes that modern life has brought, and through modern condi- tions that could never have been fore- seen by our ancestors who established this federal republic. We have grown from a loosely bound group of little states along the Atlantic coast in which people followed an ancient, simple, slow-changing way of life, to the lead- ing nation in a new, fast-changing civ- ilization. Yet we have never lost that devotion to the unalienable human rights that was voiced in the Declara- tion of Independence and has been echoed in every decade of our national existence. There are two general types of hu- man rightsg the economic and the polit- ical. The economic rights are in the form of an unwritten law and are not recognized in other countries. The freedom of an individual to work in an occupation where he can do something worth while, to accumulate something from its proceeds, and to enjoy the fruits of his accomplishments are es- sential to the common welfare and to human progress. Second, the political rights. They are fundamental rights without which we can have no real freedom of any kind. These rights should be in the mind of every United States citizen as he performs his daily duties, because they give the individual such a wide range of freedom to im- prove his social and economic condition by his own agencies, and a broad pro- tection against oppression by either a majority or an organized minority holding political power. He has also many safeguards against exploitations by others, in the laws that his repre- sentatives in Congress and in his state legislatures are empowered to enact, in administrative agencies, set up to en- fonce these laws, and in the courts which are everywhere open to petition and to judicial settlement of disputes. We in the United States are accus- tomed to respect these rights but we also depend on the government to pro- tect them. In democratic countries the individ- ual rights considered essential are pro- tected either by definite constitutional provisions or by long established cus- toms, or by both. In the United States they are set forth in a national consti- tution as well as in the constitutions of the several states. Not only do the people have freedom of religion, speech, press, but they have the combination of all of these free- doms, the freedom of opportunity. Our