![Minutes before the Activities Fair in the gym, president Abhi Gowda ‘26 prepares the stall for his club Helping Hands, Sept. 4. A relatively new club, Helping Hands was co-started by Gowda and focuses on assisting the homeless, and just last year they succeeded in raising a couple hundred donations to send to shelters. This year, they have goals to expand, with hopes to increase volunteer opportunities and take in-person trips to shelters, as well as extend their help beyond just homeless people. “The Activities Fair gives a lot of underclassmen the opportunity to really get to know the Canyon culture, and it gives them many opportunities for service and volunteering,” Gowda said. “[Through the Activities Fair,] I hope to find a bunch of new and passionate members about our club and just get our name out there and spread awareness to the cause that we’re fighting for.”](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/1-2-1200x885.jpg)
![The winter guard team makes fifth place at the state championship finals in the Denver Coliseum, March 30. The team performed to Barnes Country's “Glitter and Gold,” lead by coaches Margo Sanford, Blair Bickerton and Anna Orgren. In their class there were a total of nine groups participating, and the top five who made it to finals received a plaque. “[Walking onto the stage] is very nerve-wracking, but also very exciting as well. When you first start color guard there's a lot of anxiety and uncertainty when you first perform in front of an audience, but once you've done it for a while, it starts to become the best part of the season,” Ella West ‘25 said. “It's very fulfilling to see an audience react to something you've put your heart and soul into.”](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Both-socal-media-nd-website-main-1-1200x846.jpg)
![April marks the 25th anniversary of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, created by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC). This month is to spread awareness of the harassment, assault and abuse that happens around the world. The symbol that represented the month was a teal ribbon; however, some survivors of assault create different symbols and movements like the TikTok trend in 2022, where survivors would tattoo Medusa on their body, in honor of her backstory in Greek Mythology. “I don't think [this month is known] at all. I rarely see anybody talk about it. I rarely see much of an emphasis on posting it online, or much discussion about it, and I feel like there needs to be way more discussion,” an anonymous source said. “I think just validating every experience that a person has gone through, regardless of the degree of it, the severity, is an essential step into making sure that people are aware that this is a very real problem in a society and that we need to do better in addressing it.”](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0011-1200x900.jpg)
![Lesbian Visibility Day is April 26, and it’s a holiday to celebrate the lesbian community of the world. Lesbian Visibility day was established in 2008 by many queer activists and organizations who sought to raise more awareness for lesbian history and culture. “So this is why during Lesbian Visibility [Day] we celebrate and center all lesbians, both cis and trans, while also showing solidarity with all LGBTQ+ women and nonbinary people,” Linda Reily, in an article written by her, said.](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Lesbian-Visibility-day.jpeg)
A Very Commercial Christmas
December 14, 2018
Originally published in Vol. 15 No. 2 of The Rock
Nov. 2, 2018. This is the day that Starbucks began using holiday cups– which means that on and before Halloween, employees were unpacking festive cups, bags, menus and decorations. A once two-day holiday has evolved into a two-month one, overshadowing Thanksgiving and even Halloween. So why, you ask, did the city start stringing lights between evergreens in mid-October? It’s all thanks to the commercialization of Christmas.
The commercialization of Christmas has happened right in front of our eyes. In order to maximize market potential of decorations, gifts, and other holiday products, corporations have adopted the strategy of prolonging the holiday season’s lifespan. By provoking excitement and anticipation for Christmas for a longer period of time, more goods will be sold simply because of the time of year and the packaging that matches it. This idea was one employed by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, when he moved Thanksgiving to be the second to last Thursday of November, rather than the last Thursday. Following the American Stock Market crash in 1929, the Great Depression swept the country and left the economy in shambles– and consequently, in order to boost the economy, the president moved back Thanksgiving in order to increase market potential for gifts.
A population can only be taken advantage of when they are susceptible- so what makes us as a society feel such a need to spend an exorbitant amount of money on gifts? The answer lies within the principles of reciprocity.
“Norms are rules that you follow in society, and reciprocity norms are the rules that if somebody does something for you, you respond by doing that same thing in return,”AP Psychology teacher Katie Lemeshewsky said. “A lot of times people look at price value, and they’re like, ‘You know, I spent a lot of money so I want you to spend a lot of money on me too,’ so I definitely think commercialization has blown up. People buy a lot more because there’s that expectation that you feel guilt if you don’t reciprocate. Unfortunately the idea of giving just to give is being lost.”
The holidays are a time to spend with family, friends and ourselves. It is a time to love, appreciate and give. Those ideals have snowballed into the manifestation of a society that values gifts over the connections that they’re meant to represent. The idea of a relationship over the relationship itself. When done with the best intention, gift giving is essentially a way to project appreciation through material items. It’s the communication that one is “worth” another’s hard earned money. However, when those same connections are reinforced through words and non-monetary actions, frugal spending and exorbitant gift giving aren’t necessary at all. Living in a place like Highlands Ranch or Castle Pines, we absolutely do not need to receive a bombardment of gifts. The commercialization of Christmas and other December holidays can be an obscuring factor of the big picture– but try not to let it. By giving into gross over-amplification of value affordance based on monetary effort in gift giving, we give large corporations what they want– complacency. Complacency is in the ascendant as the primary killer of empathy, human experience and truth. So break the mold. Don’t settle for bureaucratic normalities as you wouldn’t if they were negatively affecting you– give as you would if you were the one who needed it most. Below are some of my favorite charities– ones that I think would be great to donate portions of your Christmas or Hanukkah money to.
International Rescue Committee (IRC) | Yemen- War-torn Yemen is being bombed literally and figuratively, with, respectively, U.S. supplied weapons and diseases such as cholera and diptheria. The IRC is on the ground in Yemen providing urgent medical and nutritional aid to the affected children and their families.
Donate here: https://help.rescue.org/donate/yemen-crisis?initialms=ws_modl_fy19_yemen_es_181204&ms=ws_modl_fy19_yemen_es_181204
Green Empowerment- Donations are used to build defense against the worsening environmental and political climates’ effects on people by providing access to clean water, sanitation and renewable energy in rural communities.
Donate here: https://www.greenempowerment.org/donate/
Charity: Water- Donations are used to build wells in 3rd world African countries where water is otherwise attained by women who spend their days and lives walking to find and bring it to their families. This really frees up these women to pursue something meaningful with their lives and nurture their families.
Donate here: https://www.charitywater.org/donate