The ARockalypse is Nigh

During my last two years at high school the arts program started to get more recognized, music especially. The Minster of Arts on my school’s Student’s Council was a boy named Mac who was in a band and involved in several activist groups. When he became Minster of Arts he started working around the clock to combine his two loves in a fun way that would involve the school. He started “ARockalypse Now”, a night for the school’s musically gifted to show off and “rock out”. They were a hit from the start and each time we had one there would be more and more students watching and participating and more and more teachers coming to see it as well. It became a big thing to look forward to not just because we got to see our friends perform but because it gave us a big chance give something back to the world.

Teenagers are lazy, end of story. We’re too busy thinking about ourselves to go out and be activists. I am more than willing to admit that I was lazy before ARockalypse was started. I didn’t feel like going out and getting involved in something like this. I waited for these opportunities but once I had one I grabbed onto it. the group Mac usually donated money to was Green Peace Canada though there were times when he split it between two separate organizations. When Mac arranged ARockalypse Now all the money for tickets, all of it, went to Green Peace. He would buy bread, cheese and butter to sell grilled cheese sandwiches and pop and the bands often sold tee shirts with some of the profits going toward Green Peace as well. I loved this and I couldn’t help but want to help out.

For the first year I helped out by taking photos of the bands for the school’s newsletter and year book (the bands also got copies if they wanted some) but the second year they did ARockalypse Now I helped out with setting up the event. I bought food for the concession, donated all the pocket change I had while taking tickets, little things that don’t seem very important. This wasn’t enough though. I started looking further into what Green Peace did and how I could help.

Green Peace work with environmental campaigns around the globe. They have campaigns to defend the oceans, save the Boreal Forest and ending nuclear threats, among many other smaller campaigns. After ARockalypse Now I started looking our for chances to donate to them and became a “Cyberactivist”, signing petitions online and responding in forums that were read be the government. I started to follow their tips for green living, which I still try and do now. I still continue to donate when I have extra money to spare. I have embraced my freedom of speech and the free culture of the Internet to help support a cause I believe in.


Works Cited

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. New York: The Penguin Group, 1972. Book.

Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture. New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 2004.

Some Links to Visit

ARockalypse Now Fan-Video

Green Peace Canada