By Josh Galvin ’13
THE ROUNDUP
The crowd huddled around the door on a cool December morning, singing a plea for entrance.
Some spoke only English, while others sang the verses in fluent Spanish. Clearly, these people came from two different cultures; under normal circumstances, they would not associate in this way.
However, during this particular celebration, it did not matter. In that moment, they became united through God.
Dec. 10 marked Brophy’s third year of hosting Las Posadas, an event that commemorates the journey of Mary and Joseph just before the birth of Jesus.
“It started when I started at Brophy in 2009; we had around 100 people attending,” said Spanish Honors Society co-moderator Ms. Maria Dominguez. “(The first year) was a lot of preparation, but we have been going strong since then.”
As per tradition, the group made three stops around Brophy to ask “innkeepers” for shelter, following the story of Mary and Joseph. Three times, the people inside the buildings deny them entrance, until finally the pilgrims enter the Great Hall, and the party commences.
The push for acknowledging the holiday came not from Brophy faculty, but the parents in the community.
“There are a lot of students here with Hispanic heritage. These parents brought it to our attention that they wanted something traditional that they could contribute to the Brophy culture,” Ms. Dominguez said.
The parents, among them Los Padres Latinos Unidos de Brophy, took their request to Brophy Principal Mr. Bob Ryan, who was “really excited” about bringing this to the school, according to Ms. Dominguez.
Aaron Chavez ’12, a member of SHS and the leader of the student section of Las Posadas, and his parents were one such family. They have participated in the celebration for the past two years.
“(Las Posadas) was a time for food and fun as we gathered to celebrate not only our culture, but our faith as a community on Brophy’s grounds,” Chavez wrote in an email.
“My favorite part of the day is when we gather in the Great Hall to sit and eat Mexican food with each other. It is a nice time to relax and just be able to enjoy each other’s company.”
Since that initial year, 300 people have learned about the festivities and joined in regardless of heritage.
“We wanted to bring their culture to families who don’t know about Posadas … the best way to know about other countries’ traditions is by living them,” Mrs. Dominguez said.
“It provided me with the chance to meet new students that I previously did not know and work with a side of the school that I normally do not get the chance to,” Chavez wrote. “I was able to meet with other student families during the celebration.”
While the focus of the event is definitely the remembrance of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, Las Posadas has also invoked the Spanish Honors Society to bring up current issues.
“(The innkeeper’s attitude) is exactly what is happening right now with immigration today, not only in Arizona but also Spain, where I am from,” Ms. Dominguez said. “After we go to each stop … we read a prayer for immigrants to try to connect what happened to Mary and Joseph with today.”
Then SHS members read excerpts explaining a story that has happened to an immigrant in an unjust situation.
“Everybody gets silent and they listen to (the stories), first read in English and then Spanish,” Mrs. Dominguez said.
“You can feel the respect.”
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By Michael Ahearne ’14
THE ROUNDUP
wordreference.com
Wordreference.com is one of the many alternative translators to Google translate that students are using more and more. The site can translate to many different languages, including French, Spanish, Chinese and Russian.
Unlike Google translate, Wordreference can help with determining the translation of a word that has multiple meanings, and users can get real advice from native people of certain languages.
It also has some very useful verb conjugates for other languages including: French, Spanish and Italian. The website’s list of translations continues to grow with the help of other online users.
The site has a very useful language forum where you can look for uncommon translations, or make a post asking how to translate something. And for those who are always on the go, there is a free iPhone app for it too.
wolframalpha.com
Wolframalpha is a website where users can basically enter whatever question they want and it will give them an answer.
The site can help with topics such as math, science, notable people, history, culture and media.
Enter any question into Wolframalpha.com and it will use its vast amount of algorithms and data to spit back out an answer.
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kingofweb.com
King of the Web is a website that shows off YouTube channels, while having people vote on them to see who the best is. On this website, users can nominate or vote for YouTube channels to be entered to win different prizes and the title of “King of the Web.”
You can vote up to 10 times a day in different categories, such as King of the Web, Gaming King, Music King and Education King.
This also helps to reveal small YouTube channels, so if you are ever looking for a new YouTube personality to watch, you can explore this website for some.
