Here's What You Missed at The Jumpoff!

Haraya's annual Jump-off is always an event that deserves to be covered, and the Torch newspaper was right on the scene! Torch staff writer Christina Dogas gives you a play-by-play of the livest party of the fall semester. Here's what you missed!

To conclude the first full week of classes, Haraya held its semester kickoff known as “Jump Off” in Taffner Field House on Friday evening. 

When I arrived, the entrance to the party was exceedingly packed. As I stood outside waiting to get in, I could feel the anticipation from everyone around me. Some people were dancing to the music that they could hear from outside. 

Many students brought guests from other colleges, giving them a chance to see a St. John’s party. It took at least 20 minutes to get into the event. Upon arriving, the music was thunderous and people were dancing to the rhythmic beats.  DJ Zeke did an outstanding job DJing at the event with his upbeat mixes. 

“It was one of the best parties in a very long time,” DJ Zeke said. “The organization did a great job at promotion.” 

There didn’t seem to be a single individual who looked uninterested. Everyone was dancing together. Whether people were with their friends or meeting new people, everyone seemed to be having a good time. At one point I forgot I was at a school event, but rather at a club. 

Nechelle Jean, a new transfer, didn’t know what to expect at the event. 

“I am so glad that I went, it was so much fun,” she said. “It made up for all of the stress that the first week of classes brought. I cannot wait to attend the Jump Off next year.” 

Jump Off was a great chance to catch up with old friends and also a possibility to meet new ones. This was a great end to the first full week of classes. 

- Christina Dogas

Stay tuned to see what exciting events Haraya has in store. It's going to be great 2013-2014 school year!

So Much To Do in a New York Minute

 Let the countdown begin!  With just a week before finals, it’s time to get bountiful doses of New York City before voyaging home or heading on vacation! So what have you been missing out on?  Let’s see.  Scrumptious delights at food trucks. Spectacular deals on the latest in entertainment. Lively festivities at BAM.  New York City’s opportunities are literally endless.  Now is the time to embark on New York City adventures before it’s too late!  Let’s unveil a few happenings this week!

            Truck + Food = Happiness.  Food trucks have been the latest rave over the past year and its demand only continues to expan. It’s nifty. It’s cool. It’s innovative. Food trucks no longer sell hot dogs and pretzels. No no. They sell gourmet delights guaranteed to blow your mind.  Known for their portable wood-burning pizza oven, PizzaMoto has managed to produce a traveling pizzeria. Though the menu is quite typical, the taste is out of this world. PizzaMoto sells personal pizzas drizzled with olive oil and garnished with melted globs of mozzarella.  Normally parked at flea markets and popular destinations throughout Brooklyn, it’s best to track this sucker down via twitter.  

https://twitter.com/pizzamotobklyn. On the other hand, if you have a sweet tooth that needs to be soothed, wait no longer—the cupcake truck is here. That’s right.  CupcakeStop is a one-stop truck for hungry New Yorkers in search for a tasty treat. Cupcake sizes come in regular and mini, so you don’t feel guilty indulging in these heavenly sweets.  Cupcake flavors range from chocolate all the way to French vanilla garnished with caramelized bacon.  And it gets better.  Customers are encouraged to submit funky cupcake ideas. If chosen, the customer will receive 100 complimentary cupcakes of their unique design. Like PizzaMoto, CupcakeStop can best be tracked via twitter. Visit https://twitter.com/cupcakestop.

            At ScoreBig.com, you do just that—score BIG! ScoreBig slashes prices for the most desirable venues not only in New York City, but throughout the United States. Mark my words.  With ScoreBig you have the opportunity to score the best seats for killer prices. Personally, I brought 2 Brooklyn Nets tickets for approximately $185 in total.  My seats were about 6 to 8 rows away from the floor seats!  While prices are always discounted, the earlier you buy tickets the greater the availability.  ScoreBig is currently featuring tickets for Mets games, Yankees games, Spiderman and The Lion King, just to name a few.  Whether you’re interested in buying tickets now, or scoring tickets in another state, this is a great and affordable resource to lock in your memory bank. 

            If you haven’t been down to the Brooklyn Museum on the first Saturday of the month, you’re truly missing out!  But I have good news.  It’s not too late!  This Saturday marks the 5^th first Saturday event of the year.  From 5 pm to 11 pm, you can revel in the cultural activities happening throughout the museum.  You will be given an opportunity to compose watercolor postcards of a destination from your imagination, which is inspired by the latest exhibit, watch a film that “chronicles the adventures of two young women traveling through multiple realities” and flaunt your latest spring threads at a garden party accompanied by musical group Les Chauds Lapins.  

- Brittany Spell

'13 Spring Concert!

So there you have it, the 2013 Haraya Music Fest!  Hopefully you guys came out and enjoyed the show! With the sweet sounds of Jhene Aiko, her calm and smooth band playing in her background as she sang songs like “Higher” and “What a Life,” Jhene had the crowd infatuated.  She did a dedication to Tupac Shakur cover of “Keep Your Head Up,” in her own Jhene-like style.  With Ab-Soul, came the TDE Black Hippies movement to the stage.  Peter Rosenberg came on stage to get the energy hype, with a few smart comments made towards Rick Ross “Dying over Reeboks.”  Pusha T lit the stage with a couple songs from Wrath of Caine, as well as his famous earlier hits.  Pusha also performed “I Don’t Like,” and “New God Flow,” from Cruel Summer, and closed the show with “Blocka.”  Trinidad James did have his gold on, the rapper actually jumped off the stage to sing with the audience while performing a couple of his songs from off of his album titled Don’t Be S.A.F.E. 

If you’re a movie person like me, then you know that The Great Gatsby is coming out next month.  I might have mention this many times, mainly because I’ve been excited for the release of the soundtrack, along with the score done by Jay Z himself.  The movie alone looks like its going to be big, and the music that has recently been surfacing, is amazing.  The full song of “Back to Black,” covered by André 3000 and Beyoncé, has come out and it's seductive with it's jazzy cover.  Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful,” mirrors the singers style of dark, sad-core indie songs, and I keep the song on repeat.  While Emeli Sandé and the Bryan Ferry Orchestra did a smooth jazz cover to Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love; the album does nothing more but impress. 

Kanye’s new album is reportedly completed and is rumored to be named Rich Black American.  According to Paul Rosenberg, everyone who listened to Ye’s album at the label said they loved it, but it was dark.  I can only imagine something deep and creative from Kanye, and I’m excited to see what ‘dark’ means in the line up for his work. Don’t forget to check out Kanye perform some of his new music on SNL on May 18^th!

What’s on my replay?

Cole Summer – J. Cole

Over the Love – Florence and the Machine

Young and Beautiful – Lana Del Rey

Back to Black – Beyoncé & André 3000

I Can’t Win – Chris Brown

- Alyssa Jones 

Fun in the Sun

Spring semester is swiftly reaching its finale and New York City is just heating up. The streets of New York are blazing this week with events roping in renowned film directors, actors and actress, as well as future NFL stars and earth lovers just in time for Earth Day. 

            Earth Day began in 1970 to raise awareness of critical environmental issues, such as pollution and wildlife extinction.  Over 40 years later and these issues are more important than ever.  In celebration of Earth Day, April 22^nd, numerous Earth Day activities are brewing inside Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall.  ALL events are free!  Granted the weather is sunny or stormy, Earth Day celebration will continue!  Activities include, live performances, sustainability talks, interactive displays and light refreshments.  Events begin at 10 am and end at 6 pm.  For more information and updates, visit Earthdayny.org

            New York City is going to be on lock Thursday through Saturday as the NFL launches their NFL draft picks for 2013!  This is the top event happening this week!  Whether you want to potentially rub elbows with a star, put on for your team or be a part of something enterprising and lively, you should be at the draft pick.  The event is FREE, but seats are limited.  Basically, tickets will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis.  Each day brings new exciting plans, but let’s just say that there will be special guests, interactive exhibits, and prizes.  Fans will have the opportunity to see the Lombardi Trophy and a collection of Super Bowl rings on display.  For specific instruction on what time and where to be to get your seat, visit Nfl.com

            The Tribeca Film Festival is an additional buzz on the streets.  Celebrities, like Robert De Niro, Whoppie and Sienna Miller, have joined in on the celebration of the festival this year.  The films being featured this year are phenomenal!  Seriously.  They range from serious, heartfelt topics to light, stomaching aching comedies bound to warm your heart.  Some film events are free, while others are simply a few bucks.  Head over to. 

http://tribecafilm.com/filmguide to scope out and determine what films are you want to check out.  Look now, so you can get your tickets ASAP!  

- Alyssa Jones 

New Albums Coming Your Way

First and foremost, Haraya’s Spring Concert is this Friday and the headliners are announced!  Pusha T and Ab-Soul will be there, so you must go out and get your tickets at Campus Concierge as soon as possible! Also, I know you’ve heard a couple names about who the surprise guest artist could be, but be sure to keep stopping by Haraya’s homepage for conformations later this week!  Trust me, this year's concert is sure not to disappoint. 

This weekend, Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y released a collaborative EP called Lie in Concert.  The two have such style and swag that sounds so good together, almost effortlessly.  The EP is available on iTunes and is a mixture of Curren$y Spitta’s smooth jazz-like beats and Wiz' classic style to give some great tracks.  The EP was released on the infamous 4/20, so you can expect the rappers ode to the day.  A definite for when you're looking for something chill to vibe to. 

"The Great Gatsby" will be out next month and it's sure to be a huge success, with names like Jay Z to do the score for the film, you can expect something fresh and unusual.  This weekend, a snippet from the movie was released and the track sounds pretty dope, "$100 Bill,” is one of those timeless cocky tracks where Jay is going to prove to you just how much money he really has on the track, and you can’t help but respect it.  I’m pretty excited for the movie and more music to come from this track alone. 

As the weeks wind down to a close, and as summer is right around the corner, I thought I'd note a few predictions for this summer in music.  Drake is sure to drop some heat and blaze up the summer with some anthems that will have you happy for life, friends, and parties.  Yeezy is expected to bring a new album which is sure to have you excited, especially for his collaborations with Daft Punk.  I hope to see more underground rappers get light, like Ab-Soul and Troy Avenue, and most importantly just good music all summer long.

Whats on my Replay?

Live In Concert – Wiz Khalifa & Curren$y

Get Lucky – Daft Punk, Pharell & Nile Rodgers

Money Team- Mac Miller ft Ab-Soul, Smoke Dza & Da$h

Girls Love Beyonce- Drake

No New Friends – Drake ft. Lil Wayne & Rick Ross

- Alyssa Jones

Eliminating the Culture of Dependence in Africa

It is 2013 and the West still sees Africa as very dependent on foreign aid. In fact the word “dependent” is pushing it because Africa does not need all the foreign aid she receives. Yes, some economies are still in need of it but most of it is not used well or appropriately.   Africa has been deemed “dependent” on foreign aid for some years now. The West keeps injecting foreign aid into Africa yet it seems to be getting poorer and more” dependent” by the years. The notion of poor African countries needing foreign aid to survive is getting old and very ineffective, especially when there seems to be no results.

In my opinion, the West does not really care about the welfare of Africans that is just the image it is trying to portray. You know that “so many people are dying in African and it is our civil duty to help” image.  It is all profit centered. If there was no money to be tapped from Africa, foreign aid wouldn’t be so prevalent- or even be there at all. It is like a bargain, I give your country money for development (even if the money really isn’t used for development) but I get first dibs on your Country’s resources. The west does not care about human rights in African countries neither do they care about corruption. If the West puts in the same amount of energy it puts in foreign aid into fighting against the breeching of human rights and corruption, these countries would do so much better.  Foreign aid is crippling African countries and thwarting them from breaking out of the very old realm of colonization. The culture of giving Africa foreign aid is slowly teaching Africans to be complacent, uncreative and needy.  

In my opinion foreign aid should be temporary; it should be given to countries in large sums only after wars, natural disasters and other such ailments that can potentially destroy a country’s well being. It shouldn’t be given on a long term basis especially.

 The West needs to stop perceiving Africans as beggars and vice versa. Africa existed and thrived  before she became the white man’s burden, before colonization, before the whole idea of us needing “foreign aid” , so why would it stop existing and thriving if foreign aid stops?

 “ True independence would come to Africa only when the continent boosts its internal trade and rids itself of its dependence on external aid," Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said during a state visit to Botswana in September 2012.

-  Jasmine Mbadugha

For in depth information, read these articles:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123758895999200083.html

http://allafrica.com/stories/201304050919.html?page=3

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/spiegel-interview-with-african-economics-expert-for-god-s-sake-please-stop-the-aid-a-363663.html

Welcome Back!

Hey Harayans!
We are proud to announce that Ab-Soul and Pusha T will be some of the artists performing at our 2013 Haraya Spring Concert! We will be announcing more artists soon, so be sure to stay tuned on all of our social media. 

Tickets will be going on sale this week and can be purchased at Campus Concierge. Prices are as follows: $5 for St. John's Students and $20 for Non-St. John's Students until April 24th. After April 24th, prices will increase. The Guest Policy is 1:3, and when purchasing tickets for guests, their names must be submitted at the time of purchase. On the day of the event, guests must bring a STATE IDENTIFICATION. Without state ID, they will not be able to enter the building. Please, Harayans reiterate this to all your guests. On the day of the event, only St. John's Students will be able to purchase tickets at the door. If you have any further questions, please feel free to email us.
Featuring:
Pusha T, Ab-soul, Peter Rosenberg from Hot 97, Austin Millz, DJ Zeke, The Crazy Boys/Harlem Shakers!
There will be a pre-show! From 7pm-830pm


Hey Harayans!

We hope you all had a relaxing and prosperous winter break! Be sure to look out for our upcoming events for Black History Month! You won't want to miss them!