Griffin Rites Literary Magazine 2021: Celebrate the Moment

• STUDENT PUBLICATION•

JANUARY 2021• ISSUE 51 • VOL 1

Celebrate The Moment

GRIFFIN RITES

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Staff Cheyenne Brown | Editor Destiny Mattingly | Assistant Editor Ruth Estrada | Staff Joshua Harper |Staff Isaak Peterson |Staff Mingus Craddock | Staff Support Dr. Shannon Le Grand |Adviser

Cover Art by James Le

Purpose Griffin Rites strongly supports the first amendment and opposes censorship. Freedom of expression and the press are fundamental values in a democratic society. The mission of institutions committed to preparing productive citizens must include teaching these values, both by example and lesson.

We welcome letters to our staff and reserve the right to edit them for length and clarity but not to change ideas. Letters may be opinionated and argumentative but not hostile. They must be signed and submitted to F6 or mailed to "Griffin Rites Editor" at 5815 NE 48th St. Kansas City, MO 64119.

Advertising space is available.

Please contact Griffin Rites editor at winnetonkanews@gmail.com for more information. Our student news program is a member of JEMKC, MIPA, and NSPA.

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CONTENTS 2 ABOUT US 3 CONTENTS 6 ICARUS 7 MEMOIR 8 ESCAPISM PHOTOGRAPHY 9 NO LIVE 19 10 GAMBLING 11 PASTELS ARTWORK 12 METAPHOR 13 BLACK AND WHITE ARTWORK 14 YOU KNOW ME 15 THE NINJA WAY 16 ART GALLERY 17 ART GALLERY 18 EFFECTS OF THE WORD "FAT" 20 CLOSING ARTWORK Artwork by Laine Swanger

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Artwork by Elizabeth Odell

"Self Portrait" by Rachel Pollard

Artwork by Aislynn Stewart

Artwork by Sydney Griffin

Artwork by Aislynn Stewart

Artwork by Sydney Griffin

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Artwork By Marissa Smith

Icarus

By Delany Bresnahan

I feel like Icarus.

Tempted by the Sun, Tempted by the heated flicker of a flame, Tempted by freedom.

I feel like Icarus, As he fell from the sky, Wax dripping down his back, The Sun in his eyes.

I feel like Icarus, When he was swallowed by the sea, The salty spray slipping into his mouth, Into his lungs.

I feel like Icarus,

Wanting to carve his own path, Knowing that the Sun would melt his wings, But throwing caution to the wind as he flew higher, Higher to freedom.

Icarus, And his hubris flew higher to the sun, Believing himself equal, Only to have his pride melted by the heat, The heat of the Sun too much for it to handle.

The Sun melted Icarus’ wings as it did his ego. I am Icarus, Carving my own path, Flying too high, Too close to the sun. I am Icarus, Tempted by a freedom I am unable to have, Tempted by the Sun. I am Icarus, With wax burning down my back, As I fall to the sea.

I am Icarus, But I will laugh as I fall, The Sun in my eyes, And the salty sea enveloping me.

Closing my eyes to the Sun, I shiver, The heat leaving my skin, Frozen.

Lost to the sea.

My wings of wax melted, Heavy, Unmoving.

They drag me down to further depths, Where I am comforted by the cold.

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"Memoir"

By Alyssa Lykosh My dad always says to “work hard and learn skills that make you valuable.” He tells me that this is how you can really make it in life. I come from a line of very hard workers. I’ve always been taught how important it is to move the rock yourself. You have to go after what YOU want in life. From the time I was 7 to 9, my dad worked 7 days a week and 12-hour night shifts. He still managed to come to most of the recitals, concerts, and games because it was all just as important to him. But being younger I never really understood why he is sleeping during most of the day when we were all awake then be gone at night.

As I got older, I realized he was working for his family, just like his dad did for his. My grandfather was a union carpenter. He passed away from lung cancer in 2012 but before that, he tried to cram as many lessons into my little head as he could. My dad, on the other hand, is still trying. Everything my dad learned about working hard he learned from his dad.

He tells me that life is short, he needs to teach me as much as he can while he still can. Every time I’m with him, and he has the chance to teach me something about anything under the sun, he takes it.

One of the things my family is most proud of though is in Maine. Around a hundred years ago my greatgreat-grandfather started building a house there and slowly, it got passed on down the line. My dad worked on it with his grandfather and his dad until it was just him. He goes up and works on that house and that’s where I’ve learned most of my lessons. We go up there, and you aren’t on social media and your phone, you’re actually there. My dad shows me all the things he built with his dad and I get to help him fix old things and build new ones. Now that I am getting older myself and have to start thinking more about my own future and what I want it to look like, I think back to what I’ve learned from my dad. He has taught me how to be strong, independent, and hardworking. He taught me to always give things your all and go after what you want. Because of him, I get to teach my kids one day about how important it is to work hard, I get to tell them about their grandfather and great-grandfather and who they are and were. I’ve learned some of the most important lessons you can learn in life from my dad, and I could not be more grateful for it.

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"Escapism" by Megan Schuler

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No Live 19

By Emma McGuire Covid-19, or should I say no live 19, First you take our lungs--then you take our life. We’re trapped inside with nothing, But outside isn’t much better, Our life is like a feather, Frail and exciting to see, But one wrong move it could all float away. We leave the place we are protected just to buy food. We risk our lives for toilet paper and bread. We’ve run out of gloves and face masks. The one thing that could save us; gone. We don’t have vaccines, Death has overtaken, people need answers scientists don’t have. When will this end? We can’t take much more. Will it be me next? Covid-19, or should I say no live 19.

Artwork by Sadie Waggerman

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Gambling

By Joshua Harper Gambling is for the high rolling risk-takers who know what to do, when to do it, and don’t live in the slow lane! But that doesn’t mean it comes without its risks. For a normal legal gambler, they stick to the games they do know-only doing something different with low minimum money input.

The foolish gambling addict lives for the rush of dopamine they get from winning or earning. The term “addict” is a word to describe someone that simply: "just can't get enough”. While most games are to be found in Vegas, other forms of “gambling” are here-there-everywhere. From horse racing to cockfighting to Russian roulette, sometimes, the term “high risk, high reward” is the thing that will bite you in the butt soon. Greed also comes In many forms.

“Greed; the intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.” They want to have more brings downfall in all.

"Escapism" by Megan Schuler

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Artwork by Alex Shelton

Artwork by Aislynn Stewart

Artwork by Sadie Waggerman

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"Metaphor"

By Clover Life is suicidal crazed lions The lions can make you want to give up and lose all hope, They can haunt you, break you, make you give in They are like demons that tell you no you enter an abyss that you can't climb out of The strength of the lion is strong The power of the lion is mighty his roar is defeating as it pounces on every weakness of its prey as it digs its claws into your inner soul Its jaws surround your neck choking every breath, you have left to give leaving you defenseless, lifeless, and a feeling of helplessness

"The Experiment" by Abby Dixon

If you are one of the lucky and escape his grasp then you have a hefty scar that bleeds a lifetime If you are one that surrenders, you allow the lion to continue his destruction by feeding his inner desire to kill and you become the meal that continues the ongoing cycle of death

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Artwork by Morgan Rippy

Artwork by Rachel Pollard

Artwork by Nina Mendoza

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Artwork by Aislynn Stewart

"You Know me"

By Aspen Traw You know me, but you don’t know me.

You know my face, My smile, You even know my favorite color.

But you still don’t know me.

You don’t know what I’ve been through.

You don’t know what I’ve seen Or what I’ve done.

You don’t know about the times I slept in a car.

But that’s because you never cared to listen.

You tell me I’m resilient and praise me for it.

But you don’t know about the times I’ve cried myself to sleep Over the things I was “resilient” about.

You know my hair color.

You know my eyes too. You know about how family and friends mean everything to me.

But you don’t know why, You never bothered asking, You never once took the time. You know about my deep desire to be somebody.

But you don’t know that it’s a need not a want.

You know the me on the surface.

You don’t know the real me,The me screaming to get out, Where everyone can see.You know me, but you don’t know me

Artwork by Klaira Motko

"The Ninja Way"

By Ray Guerrero Naruto wants to be Hokage, And knock some sense into Sauske.

He trains nights and day, This is his Ninja Way. He has spikey yellow hair, And had the strength of the nine-tailed fox.

To make sure the fox stays in his cage, He’s trained by the pervy Sage.

Roll back time to when Naruto was a troublemaker, He would do anything for attention.

Though you’ve got your reasons, It would help if there was someone, anyone to care about you, But no one seems to like you much or that you are sorry for the past.

But like Naruto always says, “ I never give up!”

Because that is the Ninja Way.

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Artwork by Jaliyah Westbrook

Photo by Laine Swanger

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Artwork by Abby Dixon

Artwork by Laine Swanger

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Artwork by Aislynn Stewart

Artwork by Annyah Yap

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The Word “Fat” and its Effect on Children Across America.

By Josie Houghman

The word fat has been weaponized by people of all ages for hundreds of years, and the effects of being called names is damaging for people of any age. Now that people are starting trends such as “#bodypositivity” it is clear that the media has a big role to play in the continuous battle people are fighting every single day.

Lizzo, the big body queen known for empowering big people and little people alike is proof that no matter how much effort you put into making other people feel good you still aren’t safe from the pressure the media puts on people to “get skinny” no matter how healthy you are on the inside.

Lizzo is vegan, and she does work out, from her home gym to getting out there and dancing and singing for hours on stage in front of thousands of people but despite everything she does to prove she is healthy, ruthless things are said to her such as calling her “pig” and to “kill herself”. In March of 1954 Life magazine featured an article titled “The Plague of the Overweight”.

After that article, the media boomed with fad diets and shady ways to lose weight because the culture in the media portrayed what society liked, and at that time it was skinny women. The current parental generation was raised by Baby Boomers and Gen X, and the media took off around the time these people became parents, so the ability to use media to bash parents for lifestyle choices they were making for their children and for themselves was fueled by doctors and nurses as well as other parents during the most developmental times in babies and young children.

This caused many parents to accidentally promote eating disorders and mental illnesses attributed to food struggles not only for their children but for themselves as well. As children, the current parental generation had access to multi-media. Between the beginning of CD’s, to the ability to record music onto cassette players, and even the access to colored television in their homes on a daily basis. Children all across the world are subject to societies beauty standards from such a young age due to the fact that those standards are engrained in everyday life.

From doing your hair for school, to wearing a certain pair of shoes because they are what’s “in” makes it almost impossible to escape the everlasting pressure students face every single day, their appearance. When did the word “fat” even become an insult, and why does it have such an association with the media? Fat, defined as “having too much flabby tissue; corpulent; obese” is used as a noun and adjective. Fat is found in Old English from a verb meaning “to cram, load, adorn” but surprisingly, in the 1300s fat was used to describe land that was “fertile” or “abundant”.

During the 1600s it could be used to describe someone that was “wealthy” or in other words “well off” in terms of lifestyle and wealth. It wasn’t until the 1940s when the terms “fat head” and “fatso” came to describe people that were “foolish and fat”.

By the mid 40’s-50’s, thinness was the beauty standard, and everyone outside the standard was deemed ugly and unlovable.

The radio, news, magazines, and ads played a huge role in their life and suddenly they were around media everywhere. This caused the beauty standards to be in front of their faces before they could even comprehend what “beauty” was. Now, my generation is being projected upon by our parents untreated disorder of eating because most of them believe they are just trying to protect us. In my opinion, this heightens the possibility for childhood obesity as well as disordered eating because we are taught from the very beginning of our lives that we should not enjoy food, which causes some children to hide and store food, as well as feel ashamed of their natural bodies at a very young age.

When I was 8 years old, I weighed about 100 pounds. My parents decided to put me on a diet in order to “fix it before it became a problem”, what they failed to realize is what I needed was support from my parents to promote intuitive eating, not monitor what I ordered for lunch and control what I ate for dinner.

And to be fair, they really were just trying to help me, but an 8-year-old shouldn’t have to worry about what their body looks like, or why they have to eat one thing and drink another when their siblings could eat and drink whatever their body craved. Did have a problem, but the way I was treated for my size wasn’t 100% attributed to my health. I felt like an embarrassment, I felt ashamed of my little 8-year-old body, and when I watched television or went online, the realization that I didn’t look like the “pretty” women, or even other 8-year-olds set in very quickly. I was called “fat” before I even knew what that world meant, and I felt lost for a really long time. It is clear to me that childhood obesity is an issue, it effects around 13.7 million children and adolescents in America every year, but the way we deal with childhood obesity is completely wrong.

In fact, health professionals have concluded that there are multiple issues associated with obesity. One of those issues is not physical, but in fact emotional and mental. Some people just need support and guidance to create good eating habits and body acceptance, and don’t get me wrong the impact of health on your childhood is very serious, because if health issues arise later in your life.

There are some health aspects that are irreversible and could shorten the longevity and quality of your life, but even healthy people are judged and subjected to harassment based on how they look, especially if they don’t fit the standardized beauty that people all around the world are chasing to find. “skinny” doesn’t equal health. “fat” doesn’t equal the opposite.

The health and wellness of your body is so much more important than your appearance and what others perceive your health as.

Most “fat” people will agree that going to the doctor has always been an everlasting punishment because of the fate they put to your name. “Oh you have a cough, hm, must be your fatness” “Broken wrist, yep, it’s the fatness”, no matter what it was, it could always be attributed to a little junk in the trunk because fat people don’t get sick or break bones like normal people, right?

There are so many moments in which we dread getting out of bed and looking at ourselves in the mirror only to see the husk of who you are and what your life means. You are more than the number on the scale, you are more than “eat a salad” or “work out”, and you are way more then “fat”. A lot of people are always so worried about the “fat agenda” and “promoting obesity” don’t you know that we are just trying to find a way to love the body we’ve been trained to hate?

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Artwork by Sydney Griffin