Interview conducted by Grace T.
Tuesday, October 3, 2023, 2:44pm: Our varying weather preferences make the set-up a bit difficult. In the end, Loula sits in a chair on the lawn, basking in the sun, as I huddle in the glorious shade of the sculpture. I click record. The interview has begun.
Grace: Oh wait, you’re too far away for [my phone] to pick up what you’re saying! Can you bask in the sun, like, three feet forward? Thank you, Loula Barnes. Okay. First of all, what’s something that you’re passionate about?
Loula: I think most people know this, that I’m really passionate about playing the drums, especially at CPS. I feel like I’ve had a lot of really good opportunities to do that and I’ve gotten a lot better. Like, I started in jazz band and [I’ve done] jazz band every year, which has been really fun, and also jazz combo. And then, like, I think some of my favorite experiences have been doing things for [the] musical pit band, and having a band with my friends has been pretty fun. And I’m always down to talk to people about drumming.
Grace: Nice! And what’s one of your favorite songs?
Loula: Ok, this is kind of just coming from the drumming thing, but I think one song that I’ve liked since, like, middle school has been “Take Five” by the David Brubeck Quartet. It has a really good drum solo, but it’s also just, I don’t know. A really cool vibe. The time signature and the melody [make it] fun to listen to.
Grace: Nice! And what’s one item on your bucket list?
Loula: I guess this sounds overly ambitious, and I think I’m just thinking of this because of all of the college thinking I’ve had to do, but ever since I started learning about, like, physics stuff…it sounds really cool to be able to do the math of quantum mechanics and understand quantum mechanics from a math perspective, because all you get right now is, like, popular science explanations that are really confusing. So it’d be good to have a deeper understanding of that and it’s definitely on my bucket list. But that’s, like, a not-very-bucket-list kind of thing. So.
Grace: No, it totally is! It’s your bucket list. You get to decide what’s on it. Okay, how have you changed during your time at College Prep?
Loula: Over my time at College Prep, I’ve definitely just become more…outgoing. I think, like, just getting to know people in my grade, I’ve gotten, like, comfortable in my classes to kind of just joke around and have fun. I think…I want to say I’ve become less of a perfectionist. I still definitely have that, but I think…I’ve been focusing more on kind of, like, enjoying my classes and what I’m learning, rather than trying to be just, like…you know, 100 percent and everything. Also, every year my hair gets, like, half an inch shorter.
Grace: I love that for you. And this is the last question: What is one of your favorite College Prep memories?
Loula: I think one of my favorite College Prep memories was maybe the tech week for the Pirates of Penzance production, just because it was really fun to do the drumming [in the] pit band for that, because the music was just really strange and really funny, but we all got to joke about that. And the drums were pretty fun. And also it was fun doing drama tech for that, ‘cause I feel like that was the first semester of drama tech where I feel like I knew everyone else pretty well. I definitely got to kind of get to know people better during that week. And by the end I just felt like it had been a really fun time even though it was kind of academic chaos, as well.
Grace: Is there, like, a specific moment you can recall, even if it’s super tiny, that was really fun from that week?
Loula: Maybe when we had a break during one of the tech rehearsals, and me and I think a few people from the band, [and] I think some people from drama tech went out and popped bubbles from a bubble wand. I don’t know why, but I think Christian had a bubble wand and we just went out there, in the dark, popping bubbles.
Grace: I love that. Nice! Okay, well, thank you for sitting down to chat. This has been lovely.
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