61st &
Skyline LITERARY COMPILATION
POETRY
DIGITAL ART
PHOTOGRAPHY
Joshua
Sagisi
Selena
GIRL WITH A SMART PHONE Selena Regino
Photography by Joshua Sagisi. Oregon Bend .
LETTER TO: THE WORLD CLASS OF 2017 .Dear Society, I am a student at O’Farrell High School. I am apologizing for the character I am becoming in your eyes. The years I’ve been around you have been okay, but I feel like they can get better. I say things like this because you haven’t been very nice as of late. You’re too quick to judge. We still have hate and this is a major reason as to why our society has to evolve. I think you can change. Make baby steps towards that. I am also going to work on my mistakes and flaws. The question I constantly get is, “What are you?” My answer is, “Human.” I am just a simple man that is trying to find his path in this world. I am a girl that is trying to live her life. My dad was deported about six years ago; I wasn’t able to say goodbye. I feel completely isolated compared to others. of 2017
I am an African American male. This does not mean that I am a product of the ghetto. I am the youngest of eight, the first in my family to go to college. I am not your typical Mexican. I am not uneducated. I am not illegal. I am the complete opposite. I am compassionate. I am determined. I am college bound. I am proud of my race. I don’t care about all the bad things people say about us. We are hardworking people. I was raised to be a man and to know how to act like one. I am proud to be a woman, even though I am still learning the type of woman I am becoming. I hurt. You tried to break me. But the sun appeared, things changed, and a boat saved me from drowning; that boat was my pride. * * * I am fascinated by the beauty of speaking and how we express our emotions, but sometimes language can hurt people by harsh words. I am not a mutant because I am mixed. Just because I am a woman does not mean I’m soft spoken. I will speak my mind. I am a fighter. I am a soldier in my own life.
You think I am bad at English. You are right, but I know four languages...learning English is really hard when you’re used to speaking three other languages at the same time. I am neither part of today’s social norms, nor away from them...I am an outsider to these subjects. Respect me for who I am. Why is it that we treat everyone else’s genes as deformations when we didn’t ask for those too thick of thighs, our head shape, our hair length; why not embrace our differences and show them our differences are beautiful?
martial arts who eat rice. So society, I am not what you categorize me as. I am not your made up stereotype, and I am most definitely not going to let you shape me as a person or hold me back from my potential. If you would be so kind as to accept us for who we truly are instead of putting a label on us, that would be great. My teenage years weren’t as fun as one would think they were. Society was turning me into someone else, and that’s what bothered me. I am not competing with anyone; I am not trying to. I don’t want to.
They don’t understand that different is better. Everyone should be Stop putting finances in front of different so the world can be a little people. No oil is worth the sacred exciting. land, no budget is too small for programs, and no shortcuts should I cannot tell others how to identify be worth sacrificing clean drinking themselves and they cannot tell me water. We need to come together how to identify myself. and educate on culture. We take one negative thing that one ignorant person has told us and we take it to heart, but when we have someone who loves us dearly tell us we’re beautiful and wonderful we don’t believe it.
I could be writing a book. This is just a summary. So don’t shoot me. I’m just the messenger. Even though you shoot first without knowing what the message is.
I hate that society is like this. Do not judge someone because you do not I am not a bad person. I am just like them the way they are: STOP. tired. I want some rest and to find STOP. STOP. happiness. Not all White people are racist, not all Blacks are criminals, not all Mexicans hop borders or fences, not all Muslims are terrorists, and not all Asians are masters of
Sometimes I just want to be a maverick in this society. We deserve to branch out from the stereotypes and create our own story. There is hope.
There is hope. Live in the moment. Don’t box it up on a phone. Follow who you believe in whether it’s Jesus, Vishnu, Buddha, or a flying spaghetti monster. Learn to respect to earn respect. These things matter. We have to see it. Thank you, world. I have plenty to say but not a lot of time. Therefore, my message to you is love; love all for who they are and who they decide to be. Sincerely, ERWC Class of 2017
Photo By Selena Regino
THE MOUNTAIN PASS BATTLE NICHOLAS LAVIGNE
John sat down against stone wall trying to process the past events that had happened today. The battle had finally come to an end and what had remained of a the enemy’s army was either retreating or captured and as he sat a top the castle’s wall. He now saw the damages that were done by their long battle and now all that was left was the turned over ground absorbing all the blood from the countless bodies lying everywhere. He heard the sounds of crunching footsteps and metal clinks from the a man walking to his right. John turned his head to look at the bandaged head of Murphy with his heavy soldier’s helmet under one arm and while in his other hand holding a leather water skin.
He offered it to John saying “Every man has a dry mouth after every battle” then he sat down next to his comrade still offering him the water. John took the skin and slowly drank the cool liquid letting it soothe his sore though it had never occurred to him how thirsty he was. “Never knew you were such a poet?” He said jokingly Murphy chuckled “And what would you be?” John pondered the question for a little while “ I would be the jester interrupting your play” John said grinning at his friend Murphy broke out laughing after he subside he grew a grim face and look faced John “We have to go and help with cleaning up this bloody mess” He got up and started walking to the stairs. “Wait” Murphy stop and turned around to face John. “Do you think they’ll come back?”.
Murphy shook his head “No the scouts have reported that they’ve ran out of the mountain pass”. John looked backed to the blood soaked battlefield “So it's finally over?” Asking Murphy who was now climbing down the stairs. Murphy called back to John as he clambered down the stairs “yeah they're gone now no need to be on guard.” John felt himself falling into thought looking over the wall. When did this all begin? How did this start? Who attacked us? What happened? He obviously had the answers to his own questions but he want led to recall the incident right from the beginning. He knew it started when King Malrik’s towns started to go through a famish after a giant wave had hit the lowland farms salting the land and making it impossible to grow the needed crops to feed his kingdom. Soon his people started to protest, the King responded to them saying the kingdom of Calter had plenty of fields and farms and fields. With his people rallied under one goal he was able to form a large invading force and attacked the mountain pass fortress. The fortress was more of a wall than, but it was built to keep large forces from getting to the kingdom making it an important target for Malrik and his armies. The first attack caught them surprise they knew about an approaching army, but they didn’t know that they would try and ambush at night. Their first battle lasted the whole night the sky was lit up by burning arrows and the ground was littered in blazing torches. John had gotten into the battle later as the opposing army retreated. The next day John woke up to the sound a yells and battle cries when he got to his post he could see that the was a force of over one thousand men all of them wearing leather armor and holding spears or long ladders. He knew the fort only had up two hundred and fifty people and all of them good men, but he didn’t think they were that good. John immediately started to the back of the wall were barrels of arrows he quickly grabbed on and started to drag it to the side the army was on. He knocked one arrow to his longbow and wait for the enemy to start
their charge. He had been through some battles, but that was against bandits and robbers, but he never fought an army before. Without warning the army charged he and all the other soldier pulled back their arrows waiting. for the army to come into range. Once they came into range he released his arrow. He tried to follow the arrow with his eyes, but it was immediately lost in volley of arrows that were shot at the same time. He pulled another arrow pulled back and fired again he could already see the damage the first volley did and now he watched as the second volley decimated their ranks again pulled back another arrow and saw five explosions and from the sites of impact were 12 foot rods sticking out of the ground and around them were the sprawled bodies of the soldiers who were caught by the menacing shot. He could hear men cranking the ballistas back readying the next shot. He kept pulling back his bow and releasing arrows he barely registered that now the enemy started to fire back at him. He quickly ducked behind the battlements hearing arrows wiz over his cover and digging themselves into the barrels on the other side of the wall he immediately pulled out his crossbow. In one fluid motion he stood up, aimed, fired, and ducked behind cover. After every shot he would pull back the bowstring and placed a new bolt. When in the middle of reloading he heard the crash of a ladder now leaning against the wall he looked up and saw the top of the ladder. He picked up a pike the was lying on the ground and used the weapons tip to push the ladder back. As the tip pushed the ladder back and it came backwards falling down with the yells and curses of soldiers. John heard the sound of swords clashing. He turned right and his face froze one of the soldiers couldn’t push back a ladder and now the enemy was storming the wall. He then heard the ladder he had just pushed down fall into place against the wall again. John turned to try and push it back, but it was already too late. A man Came over the ladder and charged him John lifted the crossbow and fired
John lifted the crossbow and fired he man look at the protruding bolt in his chest and fell over Before he could react he saw another man charging him he lifted his crossbow to fire another shot, but it was empty. The man seeing his opportunity charged even faster raising his sword and yelling a battle cry swung it down at John’s head. John only had moments left he lift his crossbow above his head with both hands. The sword came down in a blink of an eye and dug into the crossbow handle. The man pulled the sword out of the crossbow bringing his arm back for a slash at John. John could see the man coming back for another strike so he brought the crossbow down to the other man’s chest level and shoved him with all his strength knocking the man over. John then pulled out his short sword and came down on the man stabbing him through the chest. After watching a comrade die right in front of him another man kicked John knocking him on his side. John rolled onto his back only to see the man raising his sword to stab him, but before he could a sword’s blade appeared in the man’s chest with Murphy behind him. Murphy yelled at him “Stop gawking and get up!” The man’s sword fell on the ground in front of John. He had been trained to use a pike and bow, but he didn’t know anything on how use a sword. He ignored the unfamiliar weapon and went to retrieve his bow. After picking up his bow John could see that now the wall only had few ladders on it, but the enemy surrounded them making sure no one pushed them back and allowed a constant stream of soldiers to take the wall. John could see that the enemy had taken only a small portion of the wall and that his allies had surrounded them The commanding knight of the fortress signalled
a charge and John watched as one hundred footmen attack the enemy from all sides The enemy created a wall of shields blocking the attacking force, but they retaliated by hitting them again and even hard than the last time. John realized that they were barely able to dent their defence. John looked around for an alternative solution and laid his eye open a ballista armed and ready. He ran to it pulling the sprawled corpses on it off. He then started to heave with all his strength, but the heavy turret wouldn't budge. He tried to push and felt it move an inch he looked up to see Murphy’s half bloody face pulling on the ballista. Murphy shouted to John over the sound of yelling and swords clashing against shields. “On three ok!?” John nodded “One!” “Two!” “Three!!” John pushed the ballista with all of his effort and Murphy heaved the ballista up. They soon got the giant crossbow aimed at the enemy, yelling at their allies to move out of the way. Once soldiers realized what was going to happen they jumped out of the line of fire. Once John saw a gap to shoot through, he pulled the lever and watched the bolt splinter a shield and go straight through five people three of them sprawled on ground knocked back by the tremendous force. Seeing their opportunity John's allies charged at the gap and pushed their way through getting through one side of the shield wall. Murphy loaded another shot within a minute of the first shot “Come on let's try again!” He said shouting to John. They pushed the ballista a foot to the right and once
there was a new line fire John pulled the lever again launching the bolt through a new line of soldiers sending them flying back, their lifeless bodies scatter by the impact. After firing their second shoot the enemy soldiers saw where it was coming from and five of them charged at them with intent to destroy them and the ballista. As the charged John felt a rush of air next to his head and saw the three of his attackers be sent flying back by an extreme force. He turned around to see another ballista had turned and shot at the enemy. Murphy pushed John down nearly getting hit by the arrow that was sent to kill him. John stood up and shot an arrow back at the archer, but he was too late the man had hid behind a stray barrel. Murphy ran up to the barrel and knocked it aside to reveal the archer’s horrified face. He thrust his sword deep into the man’s chest then pulled it back out looking for a new fight. John still pulling on an arrow released it and watched it fly into another soldier's chest. John saw another opponent and shot him. He watched as the man’s armor deflect the speeding arrow. The Knight had been been the first to climb up on the wall and he guarded the ladder with a fierce ferocity cutting down anyone that got to close to the ladder. He had just cut down his sixth opponent when he heard an arrow bounce off his heavy armor. He turned around to lay eyes on a archer 60 feet away. He clambered into a slow charge yelling and raising his sword for an overhead strike. John knew he needed a crossbow and quickly he swiftly found one lying on the ground already loaded, but the knight had just ran over it. John grabbed a shield and dashed towards the crossbow, charging at the yelling knight. The knight saw the archer pick up a shield and charge at him. Once the archer was within the in his sword’s reach he swung down for a killing blow.
John raised his shield in a blink of an eye. As the sword cleaved through the air the knight felt his sword hit solid wood burying the blade into the shield. The knight pulled back his sword, but the shield came with it making it too heavy for home to hold. He felt the tip of the sword fall to the ground. John let go of the shield seeing the massive knight struggle with the extra weight. John had no time to think he grabbed his belt dagger and stab the knights knee. He felt the dagger slip past the armor and into the knee joint. As the knight tried to pry his sword out of the shield he felt as if his knee was set on fire. He looked over at it found the archer's hand gripping the handle. He felt his knee give in and he fell to his side. Using his advantage John ran to retrieve the crossbow, he came to the knight and stepped on his chest punishing him on his back. John lifted the weapons and pulled the trigger. Instantly the bolt buried itself deep inside the knight's heart. The knight laid their lifelessly and unmoving. John looked back at the ladders and watched as his allies pushed them off and killed the remaining enemy soldiers on the wall. He grabbed a barrel of bolts and started to fire the crossbow at the enemy. Eventually they began to retreat after about fifty of them were left. John watched as they dropped their weapons and run away back to their kingdom. John dropped his crossbow and crossed back to the other side of the wall looking for a place to sit.
TO MY LOVE SELENA REGINO
I love the little things about you The tiny details I would only notice I love the way you laugh at everything Even when it's not supposed to be funny I love how you're not afraid of what the world might say I love the way you speak every thought I love your vibrant attitude I love how your curl hair I love how small your ears are I love how one ear folds and the other points to the sky like an elf I love the mole on you nose And the mole on your wrist And the mole on your middle finger that's funny whenever you show someone I love your mind Your imagination Your creativity Like you it's strong and powerful Wise and courageous I love how you always put others before you I love your fighting spirit Competitive they might say but you never give up inspires I love The way you walk The way you talk The way you breathe The way you speak And the way you think For now the words have left my mouth I'm speechless as I gaze at you I can't keep my eyes off of you I think I've fallen for you Yes, fallen I've fallen in love with this Beautiful Crazy Loud Person I've fallen in love with you I've fallen in love with myself Yes, myself I love myself I'm in love with myself My body My hair My face I love it all As I gaze into the mirror I can't help but wonder who else would I love if it wasn’t myself.
Photo By: Desirae Heras-Fernandez
A L E X I S M A R T I N POETRY BY ALEXIS MARTIN
Broken Sense Soul shakin Heart breakin Thats the pain you feel The pain you feel when your Hearts breakin Cause your soul is shakin And oh it feels so bad Which makes it easy to simply feel bad Why would they hurt you After promises not to Knowing very well Its like you ought to feel this way Then you push every one away Not knowing the cause of rejection They flock the prescense of negativity Knowing it wasnt an intention You suffer from lack of human interaction Then your heart breaks into even smaller fractions Soon those rust and eventually rot to a dust So there you sit and then in comes the gust of time diminishing the crime
Together Roses are red Violets are blue But when I see you they become another hue Being yours is all I could ever do You see me better than I see myself You won't put me on a shelf Because you love me You stole me from the gates of my own hurt I never thought what you did would work You unlocked the gate Removing me from my deep dark skies All because you heard my cries I never thought I could be loved by anyone But you've proved to me That I'm not just your fine piece of jewelry I've witnessed many things and helped you Even accompanied you in your loneliest time I am now your new drug But only my effects bring you love I've stopped most of your pains And even helped you switch lanes If we weren't young, you'd ask for that change But all we can do for now is love And in all hopes may our love remain strong and get stronger
Untitled I lay here in my pool full of thoughts and worries The one in my house next to the reflection of insecurities Where the curtains cover you but not even those can hide the monsters the ones that come out When you're revealed and alone those in mind those unknown so I lay here doing the only thing there is to do think and worry I think about the surface of the water It feels cold but soon it becomes warm the deeper you go my body is in but my head lies out my knees do the same my mind is crying out though I sit in silence I’m yelling for help I feel alone but no one cares to find out my knees that appear are covered in scars old bruises but not noticed by far they all tell a story not easily explained but they all lead me to the way I am today most importantly I know
are the scars on my brain besides the ones on my paper thin skin these scared much deeper within for the ones on my heart are all callused up unallowing me to move on to feel i’ve given up my brain functions but it’s numb it allows me to move i’m a puppet i’m done people don’t notice people don’t care people don’t ask people aren’t there the pleasures of being in highschool no real problems except for those about john and jolene we are bling while the others are dead inside wear a mask that’s the best way to get through it high school I mean or daily life because it proceeds
J A N E A
D U R O N
POETRY
G
God?
Love?
God. Who is he? What does he do?
What is love? Some would say
Where is he from? Where is he now?
It’s a feeling. Some would say it’s a
How do I know that he’s real? When will all these questions be answered?
I don’t know. And to be quite honest, I’m not sure I want to.
Look in your eyes. Others would say that It’s just a game. Them there's those who say that love doesn’t exist at all.
False, false, false, and false. But then true, true, true, and true.
They say that you have to have
Love can be everything and nothing
Faith. But in what?
All at the same time. It can be something
How can I put all my faith in something... Someone who I’m not sure really exist?
Everyone has in one world and Something that isn’t known in another.
So then i’ll ask again.What is love? So I guess what I’m really trying to ask is...
Well it’s undefinable.
Where...Who do I put my faith in?
Because love is what it is Love.
CEMENT NAYELI VALENCIA
Cement is used to construct walls Walls can keep others out or incarcerate you Cement is a substance used to bind things together Why do they try to keep us apart Cement is meant to make pathways Don't take our freedom away Cement is materialistic We are not Let cement be for what it's meant.
UNTITLED WRITTEN BY MELANIE LOPEZ
To the Victims of Bullying: You are beautiful inside out, You can do anything without a doubt, You are strong, So prove to them this is the place where you belong, If they stab your heart, Remember there is still a part, If it wasn't for your loved ones, You wouldn't be here, To stand up to anyone, But you're here, So your independence is near.
Work By: Cydney Cathey