Dynamic Vol. 3: Direction

Direction

Dynamic, Vol.3, Spring 2024, Bryant Junior High School

Editors note

For the theme Direction, we wanted submissions that would reveal the direction some might have already reached, and want to express it, or the direction someone is trying to go. We wanted submissions that show the uniqueness and variety that everyone has and how they can use it. Everyone has a direction they take, and we want to bring light to the hardships but in the end, contentment, everyone’s path holds. Enjoy!

Bella Luper, Editor-In-Chief

While figuring out the theme for this year’s literary magazine, we came up with many ideas over the course of a week. Shipwreck, Direction, Fork in the road, Highway, Although, Rise Up, Inside Out, Sincerely Me, Growing, Dear Future Me, Message In a bottle. It took us about 2 days to break down some of our options. Our main 2 that we agreed on were “Shipwreck” and “Direction”. With “Shipwreck”, we were going to go with peaceful and a lot of blues indicating the water, and having little pieces of

wood around the book. For “Direction”, we were going to go for peaceful colors, similar to “Shipwreck”. Our mindsets while thinking on how to pursue this were, ‘How would I feel on an airplane’. After some discussion for 3 days, we decided on “Direction” I am so happy on how this Literary Magazine came out, and I am extremely proud of the staff that worked on this!.

Table of contets

04-05: Sway, Alexis HolleySwan lake, Amery Felton

06-07: Bullet: Anabelle Tappe

08-09: Grief, Lexie MethenyAutumn Falling, Sophia Burton

10-11: I am from, Alyssa Andrews

12-13: Sunset on the beach, Adison Richards

14-15: Loss of my life, Emily Carden

16-17: My Nana, Braycee WhisenhuntMarch’s Child, Tehya Hinkson

18-19: I believed, Lexie Metheny

20-21: My Name, Ashton Schafer

- Peaceful Waters, Adison Richards

22-23: Search Bar, Sophia Burton

24-25: Some Will, Brenden Murdock - Moving Forward, Brayden Johnson

26-27: Blue, Miles Cheatham

28-29: Society, by Alexis Holley - Into folklore, Aislyn Martin

Sway

She Like a flower

Starts as a seed

But blooms into something more

No matter the weather

Through thick and through thin

She sways in the wind

So cut her down

And throw her away

But she will always grow back

Better than before that day

By Alexis Holley

Swan lake

By Amery Felton

Bullet

My feelings grow stronger each day

But I just watch you walk away

I’ve looked at you a million times

But now it feels like a crime

When you catch me staring

You seem so caring

Then you go and dump me

After I give you my hearts key

It’s like a bullet to the heart

And I just let you hit restart

No matter how you beat me down

I’ll always keep you around

You’re stuck in my head

Cause losing you’s the only thing I dread I can’t get over you

No matter what I do

So I’m locking myself up

And hoping I don’t erupt

When I’m sad I don’t let anyone know

I won’t let my feelings show

I just wish they’d disappear

So I won’t have to fear

All the things that could go wrong

Make me seem so strong

Cause I just push through

All the pain I feel for you

It’s like a bullet to the heart

And I just let you hit restart

No matter how you beat me down

I’ll always keep you around

You’re stuck in my head

Cause losing you’s the only thing I dread I can’t get over you

No matter what I do

So I’m locking myself up

And hoping I don’t erupt

The way you held my hand And messed with my head

I thought you had plans

Or at least meant what you said

It’s like a bullet to the heart

And I just let you hit restart

No matter how you beat me down

I’ll always keep you around

You’re stuck in my head

Cause losing you’s the only thing I dread I can’t get over you

No matter what I do

So I’m locking myself up

And hoping I don’t erupt

It’s like a bullet

By Anabelle Tappe

Grief

Grief is like a summer thunderstorm

the rain is like tears, the sadness lightning is the anger, thunder the result

The rain comes in stops and start, pelting the earth one moment and slowly pattering down the next

The lightning can be small, barely noticeable, or it can be bright and bold and so eye catching you could see it from inside a house

The thunder can scream, scream itself hoarse, demand your attention, or it can be quiet, angry whispers just for the earth to hear

But like every storm, it will come and it will pass, leaving only bare traces behind that melt away under the sun and the earth is better for it, the grief eroding away until next time

By Lexie Metheny

Autumn falling

By Sophia Burton

I am from

I am from the softball fields

And long practices on hot Saturday nights

The dusty fields and the cold grass

And the cold benches in the dugout that always made me cold

I am from the softball fields

From my mom yelling “We got to go or we’ll be late”

To long after-game talks

I’m from pitching lessons every now and then

To games twice a week

I am from the softball fields

I watch as I hold the ball up to start a pitch

And think of how if I pitch badly, we lose the game tied game, next score wins, as the bases are loaded

Wondering if I walk her or strike her out

I am from the softball fields

From the sweat and tears are rolling down my face

I can feel he grainy dirt on my hands as I pick the ball up off the ground

The feeling of stress and anger

All the emotions running through my head

I am from the softball fields

From the taste of the thirst quenching Gatorade

To the amazing ballpark hot dogs

From the pre-game warm-ups

To the delicious after-game ice cream

I am from the softball fields from the smell of sweaty players

To the smell of fresh hamburgers being grilled from the freshly mowed grass

To the dusty field

I am from the softball fields

From the physical and mental pain

To the happiness and joy of playing such a wonderful sport

By Alyssa Andrews

Sunset on the beach

By Adison Richards

Loss of my life

Trigger Warning: Metaphorical Violence

Sometimes I wonder if it hurts you like it broke me

You sit there on the other end of the screen and throw everything away

I wonder if you saw how much your words made me bleed

My brain craved to know if I had been the problem, That maybe my heart belonged in an insane asylum

I watched as you laughed with your other friends, trying not to show my pain, wondering if you leaving had been for our gain I wanted to know if I was at fault, or if it was yours; the one who put the gun to my heart

The words “you’re losing me” left my lips a plethora of times, But you ignored all my warning signs

Words that we’d whispered late in the nights creeped into my mind, yet now, they all took on different meanings

The strained “I love you” and the easy “goodbye” suddenly it seemed that all your love was a lie

I yearn to know if it was ever true, did you ever love me like I loved you?

The sunshine to my midnight rain, yet your absence brought waves of pain

Pain I hadn’t been prepared for, but on it came, my heart infected like a gross disease

I told myself it wouldn’t just be a high school love, but now we cannot be in the same room without a barrier between us Thoughts wander in my mind thinking that maybe one day I’ll get back my best friend

The one who was beside me when my mother left, the one I swore I’d love till my dying breath

But never has that goal seemed so impossible, as I read the note that made my roaring pain docile

Closure is a powerful thing, one I got with great struggle, Yet until we talk again my heart will always whisper how you were the loss of my life

By Emily Carden

My Nana

I am from fun, relief, and happiness

From my grandma’s house

I am from my grandma

And she’s not grandma, to me, she’s Nana

In the country, flower beds on the ground below the front porch

I am from the sound of my grandma’s tv and the neighbors kids yelling outside And feeling safe and at home

I am from always eating chocolate pie and drinking lemonade And smelling her tropical blossom spray

I am from church every sunday then starbucks after and the pool outside in the summertime

I am from Nana’s house that is just home

By Braycee Whisenhunt

March’s child

By Tehya Hinkson

I believed

when the only piece of solid land in a world crumbling apart shatters, all hope is lost i believed in true love once it was a naive dream having someone who would look at all your flaws, look at the broken mess of a person you were and still accept and love you i believed it because that’s what i saw my mom and dad divorced when i was young, so young i never remembered them together my mom and stepdad fought constantly, the threat of divorce looming for a decade before the dam broke and it fell apart as my mom attempts to move on before the process is done, i turn to latch onto my dad and stepmom they’d been together for almost eleven years, they loved each other they never screamed, rarely argued, were always so caring and loving and seemed perfect i idolized their relationship then one day, they sat me down they were starting counseling because they talked about divorce they wanted to try tho, try for them, try for me, and they wanted me to be involved so i could see what it was like to fight for someone you loved

and things were hard, but they began to look up i come back, excited to spend time with a family that was whole, leaving broken pieces behind for a while, when we had another sit down and my whole world shattered they decided that they would be getting a divorce she wasn’t as happy as she could be, and he didn’t want her to just settle and to see two people who loved each other so truly, so deeply, so wholly, break apart after so long because it just couldn’t work hurt and my hopes of finding a love like theirs disappeared like mist in the sun because if they couldn’t make it work, if they couldn’t stay, then how would that ever happen for me so no, i don’t believe in true love, i don’t believe in soulmates i let that naivety fester too long, but it washed away too fast

By Lexie Metheny

My Name

My name. Why couldn’t it be a simple name like John or Gene. Why did it have to be unique like Maroon? Something laid back but still unique, like Maroon. Maroon is a simple color but still, as I said, “unique.” Instead I know only one other person that has the same name as me. John or Gene are my dad and my grandpas names. I was going to have the name Gene, but instead it had to be about the kids my mom nannied.

My dad went a different route. With him wanting to name me Gene, or as a better name Luke. Why you may ask Luke, he was a nerd and liked Star Wars. It was either Luke or Lukaus. Why did my name have to be what it was?

My brother did not have a name like that. He instead had the name Gavin, I don’t think they even tried with his name. My name is Ashton, and no if you were to ask, I was not named after Ashton Kutcher. That would’ve been a better thing to tell people. Just a little bit of trivia for nights when we watched “Open Season” or “That 70’s Show.” How am I going to have trivia after two kids who are well into their twenties?

Well if i did go through the painstaking process of getting my name changed, would i still like my new name like Luke and John. Yes it’s still on the table.

By Ashton Schafer

Peaceful Waters

By Adison Richards

Search Bar

Trigger Warning: Reference to suicidal thoughts

I begged myself time and time again

To overdose on melatonin

Because maybe then, I won’t wake up

But according to google, I’ll probably just sleep in.

I looked up way to many times

How to draw blood while using a knife

And even then it didn’t actually work

Then I wake up the next morning, and it’s all a blur

I have easy access to cigarettes

But I can’t seem to want to be like my parents

Because I can’t breathe when they smoke

And google says that’s a painful way to go

I’ve played through thousands of situations in my head

With AI chat bots on the internet

And every time I ask if I should die

The bot begs me not to end my life

I know there is help

Google tells me that way to much

And I’ve called the number a few times

It never helped me save my life

No matter how far the internet advances,

The search bar will never replace my friends

So instead of dying today

I guess I’ll go to sleep instead

By Sophia Burton

Some will

Every athlete will always have memories of when sports started to get real

They remember when they get their first real shot, whether it was in high school or their first time in college

Maybe even as a professional

Even if it was good or bad, they will always remember that moment

This is when you figure out it won’t get easier

Some might quit, some might succeed

Some of them you knew from the start they couldn’t do it

Some you would have thought they could take it

But really they crumble right when it gets hard

But the small percentage will succeed

When you go longer in the world of sports you will see less and less competitors

But the ones that do stick around get better and better

But where do I fall

I think I can succeed better than the ones that you see or hear on social media

By Brenden Murdock

Moving foward

By Brayden Johnson

Blue

I hate change

I’m meant to change for survival, for myself but instead I change for you I choose too

You tell me what colors to be and I change with every command I’m as green as the grass you walk on Almost blending in or I’m as red as the love I have for you Never ending within you say you wanna see blue I can’t blue isn’t a color I’m capable of becoming at least not without help from you though I still try to be blue on my own but with every attempt, I end up back where I started disappointing you

I try to hide the fact I can’t be the color you want I try to show you what other cool colors I can be but you want blue and I’m not blue so you’re not happy

i’m scared if I can’t be blue you’ll leave so I continue to try and be you say being blue would be better for me it’s for my own good you say you care for me but the truth is you won’t care until I am blue

I can only repeat myself I can’t be blue without you but you say you can’t help it won’t do any good

so you watched me destroy myself all for you though at the end of the day you still want blue

I try to be understanding I really do

I understand you can’t help but you can’t understand I’m not blue

By Miles Cheatham

Society

Society

Their judging eyes like stone

Staring into my soul

Success

You either brag to much or brag to little

You are lit

Like a lightbulb to realize

Success is the only way to be seen

Society

Where you’re to smart or to dumb

Where you’re judged by the color of your skin

No one truly understands one another

Wandering lost in their own little world

This is society

By Alexis Holley

Into folklore

By Aislyn Martin

Colophon

The 2024 Spring Direction issue of Dynamic is the third volume at Bryant Junior High School, Arkansas. The magazine was created in InDesign. There were three main departments on our staff; Literacy, Visual Arts, and Publicity. The staff had rubrics that they used and filled out for each piece submitted, and turned them into the editors of their department. Editors would look over each piece and their staff members rubric to decide what would be showcased in the magazine.

Helvetica Now, Petit Formal Script, and Adelle Sans Devanag were the three fonts that were used. Titles were done in Petit Formal Script, and page numbers and trigger warnings used Adelle Sans Devanag. While copy, captions, etc. were done in Helvetica Neue.

Colors were chosen and tinkered with on coolors.com and spread out in this issue.

Dynamic is an award-winning staff, earning multiple awards including Best of ASPA at the 2023 Arkansas Scholastic Press Association convention. At the 2024 Arkansas Scholastic Press Association convention Dynamic earned Superior and Best of ASPA in Design, Superior and Best of ASPA in Cover Design, and Excellent in Thematic Development.