2B Anthology Fall 2021
Cover Don’t write on this
Writers Ellie Bessette Kadence Blaine Pierce Buchmoyer Josiah Carter Eva Cassada Hudson Fox Evan Iovanov Emily Lopez Bonilla Joseph Lorusso Nicholas Machado Alexis Plotts Jack Prosser Joseph San Pietro Erick Sanchez-Fernandez Sofia Saucedo-Sato Ella Scott Lang Shickle Rheese Ullery Alex Valladares Parada Emeryce Worrell
Ellie Bessette A is for Abnormal Psychology. In 2007, the Oxford dictionary of physiology defined abnormal psychology as A branch of physiology devoted to the study of the classification of etiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental disorders and disabilities. Also called psychopathology. That definition is filled with words I don't know and quite frankly, have never seen. Like Etiology ( The cause, set of cause or manner of causation of disease or condition ) or just abnormal psychology in general. Which leads to the next question, how did I even come upon this topic? Johns Hopkins University offers a summer program for high school students where they study the bases of abnormal psychology and clinical cases that have to do with it. Considering that I want to be a doctor, and that Johns Hopkins is my DREAM school if I could go anywhere, it should not be surprising that I find myself scrolling through the Johns Hopkins summer programs page when first block got a little too slow for my taste. ( Sorry Mrs. Taylor, as much as I like your class, computer operating systems aren't really my thing ) So that explains why I stumbled upon the topic of abnormal psychology. Abnormal psychology was on a list of 10 other topics that I could pick to learn about should I ever be lucky enough to go to a Johns Hopkins Summer program and I was not that interested. Or was I? From what I already knew about psychology and the brain, I found it vague and often got frustrated or annoyed since there was so much left up to interpretation and so much was unknown. But as I learned about Abnormal Psychology I found myself interested, reading more and more. I thought, wow, this is not what I expected at all and as a result this topic climbed over and over the other topics that held my interest more. So in conclusion, the reason that I was not interested was not that I was not interested in the topic but I was not interested in the things I already knew. The current knowledge I had did not hold my attention but as I learned more about it I found it more interesting. I think the main thing I learned is not that abnormal psychology is interesting but that a lot of things that can be written off as "uninteresting" in your mind are really just because of preconceived bias on what you already know, and that there is something cool to learn about for most things you think uninteresting.
Kadence Blaine What is happiness? According to Wikipedia: the term happiness is used in the context of mental or emotional states, including positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. It is also used in the context of life satisfaction, subjective well-being, flourishing and well-being. To me, happiness is a warm feeling through your whole body that gets triggered by a certain event or person. Happiness can be a rare feeling for some people, while others may feel it so much that they take it for granted. I've gone through a point in my life where I thought I would never feel happiness again. I don't know how to describe that time other than emotional numbness. I didn't feel anything and I'm so lucky that I was able to push through it because it completely halted my ability to do anything other than lay around. Nobody seemed to understand what I was going through either. Sometimes the feeling (or lack of) comes back so I've learned to appreciate, savor, and cherish moments of happiness in my life because I now know what it feels like to have it taken away from you.
Pierce Buchmoyer Dogs are wonderful pets and they are great friends. I will be telling you guys a couple of facts and cool things about dogs and also maybe some reasons why you should get them and should not get them. Dogs listen very well when you teach them stuff because when you first get the dog it might not know how to sit or anything so you have to teach the dog how to do those things. They also have very good hearing and they also have pretty good hearing as well. Dogs are very good pets just to chill and watch tv with unless there are very yappy and wont stop barking. They also love to play with toys and they like to play fetch and just run outside. When they are very young you will also need to potty train them as well but it also sucks because as they get older they will start to pee and poop everywhere. They also don't like to listen as much when they get older and it gets very annoying but all they will really do is just sit around and sleep all day and then sometimes they will even get mad if you pet them if the dog is really stubborn.
Josiah Carter If I could go back in time to the beginning of middle school and give myself advice I would tell myself three things. I would tell myself that things get harder and to be prepared for it, listen to the advise people are giving me, and ask as many questions as possible. I would tell myself that things get harder. I would tell myself this because when things got harder for me in the last years of middle school and the first years of high school I was not prepared and as a result I am struggling now. I would make sure that I knew what was coming in my future years and to prepare myself for it. When I was in middle school I did not set good study habits for myself that would have helped me in school now. Additionally, I would tell myself to listen to the people around me because they were giving me good advice. Back then, I failed to see that they were trying to help me and set me up for success in the future. If I would have taken their advice instead of shutting them out I would be in a much better place than I am now. The last thing I would tell myself is to ask questions. I remember in middle school I was too scared to ask questions and was not learning to the best of my ability. I also was not as engaged in the material as I could have been if I was more inquisitive and had participated in class more. I think that if i had been more prepared, listened to people, and asked questions in the beginning of middle school than I would have been able to be in a better place today both socially and academically.
Eva Cassada Celebrating holidays with both sides of our family is kinda hard. My mom cares a lot about family, especially her family, and especially visiting them whenever she gets the chance. Honestly, her side of the family is...not my favorite. I love my grandparents, and my mom's brother and his wife, but the rest of the family is...not that great. There's nothing that wrong with most of them, except their borderline sexist and probably homophobic, which is a big problem since I'm literally bisexual. Anyways, they are a little weird, and I'd rather not spend most of our time with them, but my mom loves being with her family and can't seem to understand why we don't (it's because we're all introverts and don't really know them that well). My dad's side, on the other hand, is amazing and I love every single one of them. It's kind of ironic, that they're more southerners than my mom's side of the family and yet my mom's side of the family has a lot of rednecks and is a little more conservative. My dad's side of the family lives in southern Virginia, and most of them have lived in the same small town since the 1700's or something. My cousins, who are more like my uncles because of our age gap, are both really into superheros, which was my absolute obsession when I was younger, and I still love love LOVE watching all available Marvel content. One of my aunts is a science (I'm not sure about the specific field) teacher at James Madison University, and I really love science. It's my favorite subject and I want to be a scientist when I grow up. Not only that, but I kind of want to go to James Madison University. It's not just because of her, of course, and I'm not sure about it, but I've been on parts of the campus before and I love it. Since we spend Thanksgiving at my mom's side, Christmas at our house, and of course we all have other people to celebrate Christmas with at different times and are just generally busy at that time of the year, we ended up starting a tradition we like to call Thanks-mas. In case you couldn't tell, it's a combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas. We always have Thanks-mas at my aunt and uncle's house, and they just announced that they were going to have a baby a couple days ago. My other aunt and uncle already have two children, who are a lot younger than me, they're in like 2nd grade and kindergarten or something like that. We usually talk for a bit before eating, and it feels like a pretty normal Thanksgiving then. Afterwards, the adults talk a while more, and then we all sit in the living room and exchange presents. The order usually goes from youngest to oldest, so I'm like the fourth person to open presents. And that's how we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas all at once! I absolutely love this holiday, it's probably my favorite one just because I love my family and I rarely get to see them, the only other time most of us are all together like that is during the spring, we'll usually have some sort of family reunion thing. I think that I'll definitely do this when I'm an adult, at least with my friends, because I feel like that would be a lot of fun with them. 3
Hudson Fox Being able to get along with anything is a great skill to have. For example, humans are naturally social creatures, so you will have to talk to other people. Famous people, people that are looked up to, have to talk to tons of people every day. You can't choose to talk to only some people sometimes. Remember that you can be approached as well as approach them. There are other things you will have to bear besides being social, such as work, your environment, and possibilities. You won't always have the best phone, car, or house, but you have to accept that those are the things you have. If it really bugs you, get a new one, but complaining never solves anything, try to be fine with what you have instead. I think that being accepting is a great trait to have because you will be happier, need less things, and you will be more likeable. My first reason to try and be more accepting is you will be happier. Always wanting the newest version of something is bad for you because it will make you jealous, angry, and short tempered to people who have better things. Wanting things is not always bad, it can motivate you to do better, but feeling like you need something you don't can make you feel bad. There are stories of people who are waiting for things to be released, harassing or attacking the creators because they feel entitled to the product. If you keep the things that you need and want in moderation, you'll be much happier because you'll get what you want and enjoy it much more. My next reason to be more accepting is you will need less things. This point links up with my first point. The easier you're pleased, the less things you need, then you can be happy from small things. It can also be cheaper to want less things. If you buy the newest phone every time one comes out, you will be spending lots of money, money that could be better spent. When you find something that you do want, then the money that you would've spent can be used for that. It's way more convenient and cheaper to want less things. My final reason to be more accepting is you will be more likeable. Most people don't want to hang around people that are always because that can make them feel worse. When people like you, people will want to talk to you or do things with you. Think back 30-40 years when technology wasn't a popular thing, you could just talk, go to a forest, a park, or anywhere. You don't need money to go there, it's free and good for you. If you meet people that you become great friends with, that's great. You don't need anything to be more likeable except have a great attitude, that starts with being fine or happy, even, with the things you have. You can think how adults always say how privileged we are, we know it's true, but if you really think about it, you'll feel happier with the things you have because others don't have the things you do. In conclusion, accepting the things you have for what they are will make you a better person. I think that being accepting is a great trait to have because you will be happier, need less things, and you will be more likeable. I've been trying to be more accepting, personally. Every aspect of my life are things I want to feel privileged to have, such as school, my house, and technology. I like to think I'm pretty accepting, so I'd like to help the people around me be more accepting. If everyone can accept the things they have, the Earth will be much more peaceful and happier.
Evan Iovanov Personally, I like reading. I am also good at reading, as I can read English fluently. I can also read and understand words that most people can't. I can also write English pretty well, and I am pretty good at spelling too. I can usually figure out how to write a word based on its pronunciation, or vice versa as well. That being said, there are many more languages in the world that exist and are not English. In fact, there are over six thousand languages spoken in the world today. Most of them, if not all of them, have a writing system. Many languages have there own unique writing systems, but many languages also share writing systems. Some writing systems include the Latin writing system, the Cyrillic writing system, and the Arabic writing system. I can read a few languages, I just do not know many of the words. Here is a bit of background on writing first. Writing was developed in Sumer as the cuneiform writing system. Another well-known writing system today was the hieroglyphics system used by the ancient Egyptians. The character system was also eventually developed in China and has remained a thing until this very day, although it has changed a decent bit. All of these writing systems have something in common however. Something that isn't in common with the system of writing used in English or Norwegian. Each character represented an object. In each of the first writing systems, characters were used to represent objects or ideas. There would be a character or a set of characters for something like a tree or a bird. Some east-Asian languages, particularly Chinese and kind of Japanese, still use a system like this. However, around 1,000 B.C.E., the Phoenicians came along. The Phoenicians created something that would change the world forever, the alphabet. You might be able to tell, because the word phonetic derives from the Phoenician name. The Greeks later created their own alphabet based off of the Phoenician alphabet. Most languages in the world today use some sort of alphabet. One of the languages I can read, with the exception of knowing the meanings of words, is Serbian. The Serbian language uses its own version of the Cyrillic alphabet. The Cyrillic script was developed in Bulgaria during the ninth century A.D. Letters such as A, E, K, O, and T remain the same in the Bulgarian alphabet. Bulgarian has some letters that look like English letters, but sound different. Examples are X (H), У (OO), Н (N), З (Z), В (V), С (S), and Р (R). However, Serbian has letters that Bulgarian does not have. For example: Ј (Y), Љ (lj, and the j is a y), Њ (nj, again, the j is a y), Џ (dzh, which is a letter that Bulgarian and other Slavic languages have a letter combination for; ДЖ), Ђ (dj, this time the j is an English j), and Ћ (which is a sound similar to ch in English, but not quite the same). I can read some Serbian words as quickly as I can read most English words. Reading Serbian is also easier than English because all words are pronounced as they are spelled.
Another language I can kind of read is Russian. The Russian language also uses a version of the Cyrillic alphabet. The Russian Cyrillic alphabet is more similar to the Bulgarian alphabet than the Serbian alphabet. Only two letters in both Russian and Bulgarian look the same but sound different. One letter is Щ, which is pronounced as a hard sh in Russian but as an sht sound in Bulgarian. Another such letter is Ъ, is an A or U like sound in Bulgarian, but in Russian it does not have a sound and is used to separate a hard consonant from a vowel. There are some other weird Russian letters that do not even sound close to any sound in English. One such letter is Ы. Ы is a letter that makes a sound similar to the sound that the letter I makes in English. However, while still similar, it is also very different. You have to produce the I sound with your tongue further back in your mouth. In my opinion, it is the hardest sound to pronounce out of any of the sounds in any of the languages that I am currently trying to learn. With the exception of a few letters, Russian is a pretty easy language to read. For the most part, Russian is also a phonetic language. In fact, even with all of the letters it is pretty easy to read. It just isn't easy to speak. Out of all of the languages that I am currently trying to learn, Russian is without a doubt the hardest of them all to speak. Yet another language that I can read is Romanian, but again, I don't know the meanings of many words. Unlike Russian and Serbian, however, the Romania alphabet uses Latin letters. This means that it uses the same kind of alphabet as Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, Croatian, and English. Romanian was on of the easiest languages for me to learn to read, because I already knew most of the letters. I only needed to learn the letters with dots or other marks beneath them, as well as letter combinations. The letter Ț makes a sound like that of 'ts' in English. The letter Ș makes a sound like that of 'sh' in English. The letter Ă makes a sound that kind of sounds like 'uh', but still a little different. The letters  and Î both make the same sound, they make a sound kind of like 'oo' but also like that of 'ew'. The letter C in Romania reads as a regular c, except when next to an I, when it is pronounced as 'ch'. 'Ch' is usually only ever put next to an I and it makes the same sound as C. The letter G in Romanian makes its regular sound, except when next to an E, when it is pronounced as J. A gh is used to add a regular G sound before an E. In my opinion, out of all of the languages I am trying to learn, Romanian is still not the easiest to read. The easiest language to read that I am learning is German. German is a very phonetic language, and it uses an alphabet very similar to the English alphabet. It also doesn't have as many weird letters or letter combinations as Romanian. The weirdest letter in German is the ß (called eszett, or essett), and it is pronounced in a similar way to 's' or 'sz'. The three other letters in German that the English language does not have are the letters with umlauts.
The three umlaut letters in German are Ö, Ü, and Ä. They are pronounced like their regular vowel counterparts, but with your tongue moved up. The most common letter combinations in German include 'ch', 'sch', 'tsch', 'ei', 'ie', and 'eu'. 'Ch' is pronounced like a really hard 'h', with your tongue near the roof of your mouth. 'Sch' is pronounced like the 'sh' in English. 'Tsch' is pronounced kind of like the 'ch' in English. 'Ei' is pronounced like 'ai', 'ie' is pronounced like 'ee', and 'eu' is pronounced like 'oi'. One last language that I can read is Japanese. Japanese is unlike any of the other languages that I can read. It has characters that represent objects or ideas, like what is the case with the Chinese language. However, Japanese also has additional styles of writing that kind of represent alphabets. The character system in Japanese is similar to Chinese, because they are kind of the same thing. The kind of characters that represent things in Japanese are called kanji, while the characters in Chinese are called hanzi. Most Japanese kanji look just like Chinese hanzi, but with different pronunciations. This is probably due to the fact that the Chinese and Japanese languages have different sounds. Chinese has many different consonants and vowel accents. For example, the way you pronounce "i" can change the meaning of the word from four to death. Japanese, on the other hand, only has five vowels and only a few vowel accents that come naturally. All consonants in Japanese end with a vowel such as 'ka', 'yo', 'wa', or 'fu'. The only exception is 'n', or when it becomes an m when in front of a p or a b consonant. There are well over 40,000 kanji. The other Japanese writing systems are called hiragana and katakana, and they both resemble alphabets. The hiragana and katakana systems each contain 46 basic characters, but 71 with diacritics. There are five characters for the vowels a, i, e, o, and u. Because every consonant is followed by a vowel, there are five characters for each of the following consonants: k, s, t, h, n, m, and r. For example, for the consonant k there would be ka, ki, ke, ko, and ku. The only oddities are chi (which replaces ti), tsu (which replaces tu), shi (which replaces si), and fu (which replaces hu). The character 'ha' is also read and pronounced as 'wa' when used as a particle. For the consonant y, there are only three characters: ya, yo, and yu. For the consonant w, there are only two characters: wa and wo, but there used to be another character, wi, that has been deemed obsolete and is no longer used. The kana 'wo' is read and pronounced as 'o' when used as a particle in a sentence A dakuten, which looks like a quotation mark, can be added to certain hiragana or katakana characters to change the sound. Dakuten can change the following sounds: k -> g, t -> d, h/f -> b, and s into z. A dakuten is sometimes added to a katakana 'wa' to represent a v. A handakuten can be added to an h/f consonant to change it into a p. Words in Japanese are separated by particles such as ha(read and pronounced as wa), no (which is used to represent possession), to (which is 'and'), and wo (pronounced as o, usually comes before the verb).
Emily Lopez-Bonilla Andromeda is an ancient Greek princess from some old myths. Obviously, she wasn't ancient in her time, but now we look back at these legends that supposedly took place centuries ago. She was the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, the king and queen of Aethiopia. There are many retellings of the story of Andromeda, but the story goes: Cassiopeia, Andromeda's mother, angers the sea god, Poseidon, by saying that she is more beautiful than the Nereids. Logically, Poseidon sent a sea monster, Cetus, to attack their city/kingdom. Andromeda is chained to a rock as a sacrifice, but it worked out in the end because Perseus, some dude on his way to kill Medusa, saves her, and then marries her. Cassiopeia is thrown into the sky as punishment, but after Perseus and Andromeda eventually die, they are placed into the stars.
The story of Achilles is next. Achilles was the greatest warrior of army Agamemnon in the Trojan War. His mother dipped him in the River Styx, making him invincible, except she held onto his heel, making it the only part of his body not dipped. That became his "Achilles heel", his one weakness. He fought in the wars and had a possible lover/best friend named Patroclus. Patroclus was killed by impersonating Achilles, Hector stabbed him, then Achilles killed Hector. Achilles ended up dying later by an arrow guided by Apollo but shot by the Trojan prince, Paris.
Now Athena is different than the other two, Athena is a goddess. Andromeda was a regular mortal, Achilles was the son of Thetis and his father was somehow related to Zeus, but he was not a god. Athena is the goddess of wisdom and war. She is the daughter of Zeus and is one of the 12 Olympians. Since Andromeda and Achilles (he might be a demigod, but they die too, it's all unclear) are mortals, they have single stories that eventually end. Athena is immortal, so she gets to appear in many stories. She is the patron god of Athens and is associated with weaving and other handicrafts. She is almost always portrayed with grey eyes, her shield: aegis, a spear, a chiton or full armor, with an owl, an olive branch, or tree. Her shield has Medusa's face on it, and it can turn people to stone, just like Medusa. The story of her birth is an interesting one. Metis, her mother, was turned into a fly and swallowed by Zeus, he did this because of the fact she was prophesied to have 2 children, Athena and a boy who would be more powerful than Zeus and eventually overthrow him. Eventually, Zeus began to have terrible headaches, Hephaestus took an ax and split his head open, and Athena jumped out in full armor. Athena has always been my favorite god, for multiple reasons, intelligence, strategy, and all of her stories.
Now how does this relate to me? Well, in the 4-6th grade I became really interested in Greek mythology. I started reading a book series called "Goddess Girls" and Athena was one of the main characters. The other book series I read was "Percy Jackson and The Olympians". Percy's namesake is after Perseus, the hero who saves Andromeda. Percy's best friend and love interest, Annabeth Chase, is the daughter of Athena. In the last book, Percy gets dipped into the river of Styx, just like Achilles, and gains invincibility. Percy Jackson is my favorite book series ever, I hold it very close to my heart.
Joseph Lorusso This letter I will use for a favorite food. My favorite food is probably Pork Chops. That's probably because I also really like steak but since it's different animal the taste gets better. I usually eat it on special occasions, or dinner. There are many, many ways to cook it with different ingredients but I'll share how I cook it. First, I usually preheat the oven to 400 degrees and while that heats up I usually get the ingredients together. I get together olive oil, pepper, salt, garlic (fresh and or powder,) cilantro, parsley flakes, onion (fresh and or powder,) the pork chops (can't have pork chops without pork,) melted butter, and to go with the pork chops, some corn, and fresh asparagus. I then rinse off the pork chops and pat them dry with some paper towels. After that, I sprinkle the pepper, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, into the melted butter, usually in a bowl. I then brush the seasoned butter on to the pork chops, and now they are ready for the stove. I grab a pan, doesn't matter what size, for you could cook them individually or multiple at a time. I then start searing the chops in a little oil, and if you have fresh garlic and onion, chop them up and throw them in the pan on medium to medium-high heat. The chops are done when both sides are thoroughly cooked, which is a nice golden color, and have a nice char on the edges. Keep the pan as is, you will use it later. Next, wrap each pork chop in aluminum foil and put them on an oven safe pan, then put the chops in for about 10-13 minutes. While they are baking, I start boiling some water in a pot and grab a streamer. Then while the water is boiling I start cooking the asparagus in the pan I used earlier until they are cooked until desired, for me that is when they are soft and charred. When the water is boiling, turn the heat down, put the corn in the streamer and put the streamer on the top of the pot, over the hole, and cover with the lid so the corn will cook because you are now steaming it. When the corn is cooked the pork chops should be done, whether before or after the corn's done. Once the chops are out, it's time to start plating. Put the desired amount of chops, some corn (also, season the corn with whatever you may like, I use pepper and salt,) and asparagus (same here) on a plate. Next, sprinkle some parsley flakes on top of each food, for that will make presentation better and add a little bit of flavor. Then have a bit of cilantro and put a piece of cilantro on the pork chop and you are done, now you have some great tasting, and great looking pork chops! Now go sit down with your family and enjoy your meal as I do.
Nicholas Machado Books have been around ever since the Chinese found out how to write on paper and they turned it into scrolls. Books are written for many reasons. Some authors choose to write books to persuade their readers. Others choose to write books to tell about the history of a topic. Others choose to write just to entertain their readers. You can write a book on just about anything. But what makes a book a good book? Why do authors write books? This essay will talk about books, and other facts about books.
Firstly, what is a book? A book is something consisting of a story. It can be any type of story. It could be a history story, a nonfiction story, a fiction story, a sci-fi story, a fantasy story, and more. There are so many stories in the world, and the list goes on and on. A book is created by an author, who can choose what type of genre to write their book in. Some of the most popular authors in the world are J.K. Rowling, who is famous for her fantasy fiction book series called Harry Potter. Then you have William Shakespeare, who is most famous for his romance story called Romeo and Juliet. There are so many authors in the world, and each one creates their own original book.
So we now know what a book is, and what makes a book a book, but what makes a book a good book? There are many things that make a book a good book, but some of the most important things are plots, settings, and overall, how well your story intrigues your reader. The author uses all kinds of tricks to intrigue the reader. The most popular and most efficient being descriptive words. Descriptive words easily intrigues your reader because it makes it easy for them to imagine the book. They imagine they are one of the characters, and it makes the book more enjoyable for them. Descriptive words describe the plot and the setting to the reader. An example of descriptive words would be something like The weather was cool and crisp. Chills went down my spine as I stepped out of my house to take a walk. A squirrel scampered by me with an acorn in his mouth. Descriptive words intrigue the reader, which turns a book from being an average book, to being a great book.
Finally, why are books important? Books are important for many reasons. One reason is for young children just starting to read. It helps introduce them to the world of imagination, and it teaches them new words and it teaches them how to write. Now, for more experienced readers, books are good because it increases the readers knowledge of the topic. Books can help readers in so many ways.
Without books, the world would be a very dull place. Books bring color to this world, and many people enjoy to read because of how good it is for the author, and the reader. There are many genres of books, which help the readers enjoy the books more. Books are a great thing in this world.
Alexis Plotts Star Wars is the ultimate battle between good and evil (the dark side and the light side). I watched a lot of Star Wars rebels in preschool until my parents finally bought The Phantom menace through Return of the Jedi. Every Friday night we would watch one. Once we watched all of them I insisted that we watch all of them again. After this my mom stopped watching them with my dad and me. After watching them over and over again I started reciting the lines as I watched the movies. Eventually we started watching them more then just every Friday night.
My dad was never concerned about how obsessed I was with Star Wars until he saw my reaction to Disney making another Star Wars movie. Lets just say I got a little over excited. Every day I would remind everyone I talked to how many days until the new Star Wars movie comes out. I'm pretty sure everyone was very annoyed with me. The week before the movie came out I was losing my mind. Every conversation I had I would randomly just start talking about Star Wars. I would watch Star Wars every chance I got. Every conversation I had with my dad was about the new Star Wars movie. When we saw it for the first time. I absolutely loved it. We bought it as soon as it came out on DVD. I watched it a lot.
When I was in 5th grade another Star Wars movie called The Last Jedi came out. I went even more crazy. This time every time I walked into my classroom I would announce every day until the new Star Wars movie came out. I got in trouble a lot for blurting out random facts about Star Wars in the middle of class. I am very grateful for the amount of patience my 5th grade teacher had. I got to see the movie opening night. I almost passed out from excitement especially because there where cosplayers. I remember wearing my Star Wars pajamas with ray on them because the movie was late on a Thursday night and I had school the next day. after seeing the movie once we went back 2 more times that week.
At the book fair in 5th grade I got my first Star Wars guide. I immediately read it cover to cover. I brought it to school every day. I got in trouble for reading it during class a lot but at least I wasn't blurting out random Star Wars facts as much. I love that book so much and took it everywhere. Eventually the binding started coming a part so I couldn't take it everywhere. Even though it was falling apart I still read it a lot.
In 8th grade we had to make a presentation with a slideshow and a speech on something we are passionate about that we have to present in front of the whole school. We called then chapel talks. Of course I did mine on Star Wars. Even though everyone else was really nervous I never got nervous. I was extremely excited. I got to get in front of the school and go on a rant about how awesome Star Wars is for a grade. I already do that a lot anyways I didn't really see a difference between doing it in front of the school. The only difference was that people were forced to listen to me. Of course I go a 100 on it. I'm a pro at going on long rants about Star Wars.
Jack Prosser Have you ever looked up and just wonder what goes on up there in the clouds? I catch myself doing it a lot where I just daze off and stare at the clouds. That may sound a little weird, but I would actually recommend you do it sometime. It is so very relaxing and can instantly put your mind off of something if it is bothering you. But back to my original question, which is what is going on up there? I am not looking for a scientific answer, but more of a personal opinion because everyone's answer is both wrong and right regardless of science. In those terms isn't everything both wrong and right? I can believe what I want to believe, but that won't change what we believe. You see in both of our eyes, the other one is wrong and you are right and vise versa. But if we get a middle man and he sides with me, why do people just assume they are right. Because someone else probably believes that the other one is right so why do we change our opinions so often. We listen to the majority too much and we shouldn't. We have our own eyes and ears but we just conclude that the most people on one side it correct side and other people are just out casts or just plain wrong. It makes no sense. But If you have noticed I have completely changed subject but now I will answer my own question from my own opinion. I believe that clouds are what keeps us on the ground. They are a way to make us feel grounded and to keep us on earth. I couldn't explain why we can go above the clouds but I would rather not and just see it as going closer to god. No one can change my opinions or who I am and I take pride in that and everyone needs to stand up for their opinion.
Joseph San Pietro Kahlua cake is my favorite dessert along with ice cream. Kahlua cake is a circular cake in the shape of a donut. It has an indescribable taste almost like chocolate. Topped with powdered sugar right out of the oven, it almost melts in your mouth. My first time ever having Kahlua cake was an Easter season. My grandparents invited my whole family over for an Easter party years ago. My grandpa loves cool whip, and I mean he loves it. Leave him with a tub of cool whip, and he will eat it all. I put it on my Kahlua cake an realized why he loved this cake and cool whip. I fell in love with the taste. My grandpa had made it the night before and I kept telling him how good it was. He said to me next time he would make it the day of so it would be warmer and fresher. By no means was it not fresh the day after it was just as good but when it is warm, it's the best taste in the world. Around a year after, I called my grandparents and asked them for the recipe. They told me the recipe and I went straight to my parents telling them the recipe and what to get at the store. I made sure to tell them to get cool whip. I made the cake and I was sure it would be one of my favorite deserts if not my favorite. I ate it not long after it came out of the oven. My whole family said it was good. I make it every once in a while now. That is how I came across Kahlua cake and how I came to love it. The ingredients in Kahlua cake might surprise you. You need 1 15.25 ounce chocolate cake mix box, 1 3 ounce instant vanilla pudding box, 3/4 cup of Kahlua, 1 cup of chocolate chips, 4 large eggs, and 3/4 cup of vegetable oil. That seems pretty normal for a cake but there is one more ingredient. And the final ingredient is 16 ounces of sour cream. It might sound bad but you should try it. Once baked, you can't even taste the sour cream. Kahlua cake is my favorite desert and It comes with a story of how I tried it and how it came to be one of my favorite deserts, if not my favorite.
Erick Sanchez-Lopez Frederick Douglas. The first school I ever attended. It's been so long, about 8-9 years from now. It's crazy to think it's been that long. I still remember my first day vividly. I wonder what would've happened if I never went to that school. Where would I be now? Would I still act the same? It's questions that are impossible to find out but it's interesting to think about. During Kindergarten, I didn't make many friends. I became friends with someone called Blessed. I still know him to this day. We lived right next to each other so we talked basically everywhere. In the bus, school, even after school we would go out and play. It was a fun year. Then came summer break. I remember going to Virginia Beach. We stayed there for a week and I remember being so small. I would barely be able to swim in the 4 ft. pool. I grew up a lot now but I was a pretty small kid. Once I came back, it was the beginning of first grade. But I didn't finish 1st grade in Frederick Douglas, unfortunately I had to move to a new house. It stung having to say goodbye to the little but amazing friends I made in Kindergarten. It took awhile to get over it but at least I got to attend a new school. Garland Quarles Elementary was my next school.
I had my materials ready, pencils ready, not knowing what to expect. I had a new teacher. Her name was Ms. Carper. I remember well entering her classroom for the very first time. The kids all looked at me weird, at that time I had a Mohawk, I don't miss that haircut. Everyone was taking a math quiz while I arrived. They looked about done with the quiz. As my new teacher sat me down in my new seat. I had a very weird feeling. It felt lonely and weird being there. Not knowing any of the people there. But I at least knew how to complete my work. My teacher handed me a sheet of paper. It was the same quiz the kids were taking. She first asked me if I knew how to add numbers, I responded with yes. As the pencil and paper were in my hands. I looked briefly at the paper and then to the students. A kid confused on the problems, and another focusing real hard at the paper. After looking at the paper, I said to myself, "This is pretty easy." It was simple addition problems like 4+0 and 2+1. I was confident I was going to finish this quiz in an instant. I took the pencil and flew past the paper. Correctly answering the 20 problem sheet. I also realized I was the first student done. As I looked up to my teacher and tell her I finished, she gave me a shocked look. She wasn't expecting me to complete it that fast. Other students were also shocked. As I hand her the paper she told me to patiently wait on my desk. As I look around, I see the name of my teacher, Ms. Carper, not knowing that she is going to be my favorite teacher. She is the teacher I look up to the most.
I still remember when she would be glad when she handed me my tests, quizzes, and assignments. She was even willing to play tag with us in the playground. For the rest of the first grade, I had a great friendship with Ms. Carper. There were even days where she would put Just Dance videos on the smart board and we would have our "free time." I haven't seen her in awhile, she recently got happily married a couple of years ago. Her name is Mrs. Lamb now. I hope she's doing alright. She was my teacher from 1st to 2nd grade and I'll never forget those 2 best years of school. I made a lot of friends there too. I'm happy I got to make many friends, I mostly speak to them today still. After first and second grade, it was the beginning of 3rd grade. Once again, I went to the store and got my materials ready for the first day of school. I also realized how everyone was changing as the years passed. People looked taller, I saw smaller kids now as I crossed the hallways, and it was crazy how fast years were passing as I switched from grade to grade. 3rd grade was a simple year. I remember learning how to multiply and divide. I was always scared of multiplication and division since 1st grade. I had no idea how to work those, and I was afraid I was going to fail every single piece of work involving those subjects. Well, as we finally got into the topic with my 3rd grade class. I realized it's actually not that bad. I got the hang of it well. I was so worried about those 2 subjects but I got the hang of it pretty quick. I was always pretty good with numbers. After knowing how to multiply and divide, I was comfortable with doing tests and assignments. In the blink of an eye, 3rd grade had ended. I remember going to my friends after the last day of school and staying the night. We talked about our days and how it went. As I got home I was ready to relax for the rest of the summer. But something unusual came up. I thought I was going to spend the rest of my Elementary grades in Quarles. Turns out schools had to make changes to their districts and bus pickups.
My district was in that list and turns out I had to transfer to another school along with many other kids. Upset again that I had to move to another school and leave behind some friends back in Quarles. It was the first day of fourth grade and one year away from graduating to Daniel Morgan, my future middle school. I headed onto class and saw a lot of other kids confused and not wanting to be there. I understood that feeling. As time passed I realized what else can we do and decided to talk to some people. I made a couple of friends and also had some new experiences. It was a really weird year. It was not boring but also not fun. I had a better experience at my other schools. Once again, the year passed pretty quick and the last month was coming its way. We had a field trip to visit Daniel Morgan, my future middle school. Once my class and I arrived. The school seemed so big. It looked like 10x bigger than my elementary school. As I saw the building from inside and out, I realized it was going to be an interesting 4 years in middle school. I couldn't wait to have that experience. Another new experience. Fourth grade ended and not long after middle school arrived. I made it to open house the week before middle school started and met my teachers. Some of them I still remember today. Dr. Reames, my math teacher, Ms. Webber, my english teacher, and Mrs. Hodgins, my science teacher. I had a fun year there. Made some friends, I remember also developing my first crush but that was the least compared to everything else. 6th grade came up and it was also a pretty fun year. I had new teachers and more friends. I also met Urias in 6th grade. We've been really good friends since then, I can always trust him with anything and he can also trust me with anything. We have each other's back and never betray each other.
Obviously like any friends we had disagreements and arguments, but we worked it out. As sixth grade came to an end, I was prepared for seventh grade. I made a lot of mistakes and learned from them. I also started to mature a lot and hit puberty. During seventh grade I saw all kinds of things. People with girlfriends and boyfriends, older kids, and I saw that people started to attend more sports. I was interested in joining the school soccer team but sadly due to my mom not being able to bring me, I wasn't able to join. Luckily this year as of 2021-2022, I will have a chance to join the Handley team. I had a lot of fun in seventh grade and saw a lot of people change. Some in a bad way and some in a good way. My mom explained to watch out for, stay away from bad things, and be careful. I listened to her. Luckily I was never involved in any trouble or any fights, I hope to keep it that way. As usual, seventh grade came to an end before we knew it. Sadly, it was also during COVID-19. It was one of the worst experiences I've had to encounter. Half of seventh grade was a waste and had to switch to virtual. Eighth grade was around the corner but no one was excited. We were told that eighth grade was going to be mostly virtual and at home. It left a very sour feeling. The entirety of that sucked. I gained weight, couldn't talk to many friends, and it was frustrating dealing with overwhelming amounts of homework online. I was hoping for that year to end. Ironically, this year felt the slowest and it felt like it was never ended. Finally, eighth grade came to an end. One of my worst grades and SOL scores of any school year. I wasn't to happy but I was hoping that freshman year at Handley High School wasn't as bad. And now, almost halfway through 9th grade, it has been a fun experience so far in John Handley. I've made a couple of new friends, i'm able to talk to my old friends again and I'm just glad COVID is dying slowly. That pandemic ruined everything. I'm excited for the rest of this year and the next years to come during high school.
Sofia Saucedo-Sato Taekwondo is a martial art that originates from South Korea. It is a defensive martial art and it combines both defensive and attacking moves for each technique.
I started taking taekwondo when I was ten years old. I wasn't originally planning on taking taekwondo, but after watching my brother do it for about two weeks, I was intrigued and I started to learn alongside my brother.
In taekwondo, we learn a variety of movements such as self defense, different kicks and punches, and poomsaes (which are forms where different movements are combined). We also practice sparring, which is when we put on gear such as shin pads, arm pads, chest pads, and helmets to protect ourselves while we fight. A sparring match is usually three one minute rounds in which two opponents fight each other by attacking and defending.
When my brother and I started learning taekwondo, we began without any belts. However, as we started to learn different kicks, punches, and poomsaes, we started to progress and we eventually made it to become second degree black belts. Before advancing to the next belt level, you need to learn and memorize a specific poomsae that correlates with the movements and kicks that you are currently learning. Also, before you can earn your next belt, you must learn and memorize a kicking combination that is specific to your belt level. For example, when you are a white belt, the kicking combination you must learn is front kick, front kick, ax kick. At each belt level, you will take a test where you will be tested on how well you memorized your poomsae and how well you performed it, your kicking combination, and you will be required to break a thin board by either kicking it or punching it, however this depends on your belt level.
Since my brother and I are currently second degree black belts, we have so far learned a total of eighteen poomsaes. We are also currently members of the tiger competition teams. My brother is in the sparring team, so he has two extra training classes a week where he focuses solely on getting better at fighting. Meanwhile, I am a part of the poomsae team. This means that I have two extra training classes a week where I learn new techniques and details and where I improve my poomsaes. In addition, this summer I became a taekwondo instructor. I have now been teaching for about five and a half months.
Taekwondo is one of my favorite sports to do because it has helped shape who I am today and it has made me both mentally and physically stronger.
Ella Scott If I could go back to the beginning of middle school and give myself some advice, as cheesy as it is, I would tell myself to stay out of drama. I would also tell myself that you’re not better than anyone, so don’t act like it. I definitely could’ve used the stay out of drama advice. I could’ve acted much more mature if I could tell my past self that I didn’t need to be in unnecessary drama. I should still stand up for myself but don’t talk bad about other people because it always comes back around, and don’t start things. Make friends, be nice to them, listen to them, and help them, but don’t talk bad about them or others. Don’t try to give too much advice, and if they start something, try to end it instead of keeping it going. Honestly, I think that everyone could use this advice when they start middle school and some of us even get it but we don’t take it very seriously. Of course being young and starting middle school, you’re gonna want to try to figure out who you are and act cool but in the long run, you’ll get a lot farther being yourself and not treating others like they are lesser than you. Middle schoolers can be pretty mean and I think that most of us regret it as we get older. The exact thing that I would say to myself would be something like “Make sure to not start drama and finish it when you can. Be yourself and don’t be rude to others for doing the same. Figure out who you are, but do that by being who you want to be and not caring about what other people think of you. And focus on school more than you think you should. Sometimes you get bored but try your best. School is more important than drama.” I think that I would’ve benefited greatly from that piece of advice. It would’ve changed who I was all throughout middle school and probably who I am today.
Ella Scott When I want to restore my energy, I really like to listen to my playlist with a bunch of my favorite songs on it and go do something fun like my makeup or hair or something. I also really like taking hot showers. I really like to listen to Taylor Swift though. She’s my comfort singer because I’ve listened to and loved her music since I was in like 2nd grade, so it calms me down and makes me happy when I listen to her. I feel like often taking naps makes me feel worse, so I prefer to go and take a shower while listening to music instead. I also really like long walks or long drives with my friends. Like when I went to the beach, my friend and I would go out every afternoon and go on a walk around the place where we were staying and it was so refreshing. It was like nothing else mattered except for the pretty view of the beach and nice warm air. When I go on long drives with my friends and family and we listen to music and have a fun time, I really love those car rides. They’re some of my favorite things in the world and it makes me so much happier than I previously was.
Robert Shickle I think this is a perfect thing to write about because I have a lot of a certain type of art in my room, and this art is viewed in many different types. On the wall right behind my bed I have a total of 55 8x8 Inch canvases. Each one of them is a different music album by a different artist. I think music in general is art, the vocals, the production and etc. With every album comes an art cover, and this art cover represents the album. Almost every album cover has a meaning to it and I think that's important but don't get me wrong, some are completely useless. Back to the point, like I said, I have 55 different albums on 55 different canvases and when all stacked next to each other I do think it is a true piece of art that with music and art created by others, I have chosen all sorts of different albums and put them In a certain order to create what I think looks best. I think that this art that I value the most because I got to put it together in the way I wanted to. I've changed it, I've expanded it, I've switched some out and etc. I don't think I would say it's the most valuable object to me, but its up there.
Rheese Ullery Alphabet...The letters of this nation, the nation of freedom, the nation that brings people together, and puts people apart. Everyone knows the alphabet, everyone in this nation knows the alphabet. People sometimes think that the alphabet are just letters or even just symbols. But the alphabet is something more. It is how we speak, how we connect to people. We connect to people with those "symbols," we drive people away with those "symbols." The alphabet means something more, I believe it means something more.
When you first start school, you usually learn the alphabet. But what they don't tell you is that you're learning parts of our language, you're learning the letters that make us. Schools tend to not speak of how important this topic is, how important it is to understand. They never speak of the history, who how it came to be. They never explain why, why we need to understand and why we need to learn our letters of this nation. You need to understand, its crucial you understand. If you don't understand our letters you can't understand our past, our future or our present. Someone needs to tell you, someone who can research this topic and bring forth the information needed to complete this task. Someone like me, I will tell you what the schools didn't. What they didn't tell you about our alphabet.
The history of the alphabet starts off in Egypt approximately 2700 BCE. Egyptians had started using symbols to connect and communication with other nations that have followed their path. Their symbols and "letters" were the "Phonetician Alphabet" It provided way less ways of speech like the alphabet we have today. Consisting of only 22 symbols and prefixes. This alphabet was their way of writing hints of the past, their present and our past. Its not clear who wrote this way of writing. This writing probably transformed of what we know as Egyptian hieroglyphs. As you can guess, writings and letters changed into more and more advanced forms of writing. Eventually leading to our's the English Alphabet.
In the end, The alphabet has changed and transformed over thousands of years. Its amazing what our species can do when it comes to creating and coming up with many tools to express, language, feelings and even beliefs. I think we should keep our alphabet and other accomplishments alive for as long as we can. Keep our alphabet alive for more generations to come.
Jairon Valladares Parada Longboard, what is it? It's like a skateboard but built more for speed and precision than a skateboard. Skateboards have harder, skinnier wheels while a long board has bigger softer wheels. Longboards are meant for different types of things, like longboard dancing, cruising, sliding, and downhill riding. Longboards have lots of surface area for you to stand on and are very portable; some can be super long and short. longboards are fun to ride and everyone should try it. Longboards have a lot of parts for it to be a longboard, like the wheels that spin but can't spin without bearings and speed rings. To hold all the components that make the wheels spin so, a long board needs trucks, kind of like an axle for the wheels. The trucks need to be locked in place with screws and nuts and the screws go through the grip tape which is optional for some longboards but helps with grip to stay on the board. Next is the deck. There are many different types of longboard decks for different types of riding. Some decks are pin tail, kick tail, drop down, etc. All the decks differ from person to person and your overall riding style and taste. My favorite longboard deck is the pintail or drop down because pintail decks feel like you're surfing and drop down longboards have good stability because they're closer to the ground and feel like a mini gt3 car that takes on curves well. Longboards are fun to ride from your house to the store, park, school, friends house and anywhere else. Longboarding is also fun to just ride outside and get some fresh air and feel the wind, but is overall fun. Longboards are a good way to get to a place faster than just walking and fun. The wheels spin like a speeding car on a race track going top speed and the trucks act like a car's suspension that absorb impact and stabilize. I like to think of longboard as a hover board and that you're just floating over the ground and if were invented and tested and are safe to ride I would buy one and learn to ride it as well like a longboard. Finally, I would totally recommend to get a longboard and try it out.
Emeryce Worrell San Diego In October of 2021, I was sent an email inviting me to play in a soccer showcase across the country in San Diego. Not only would I be playing my favorite sport across the country, but I would be playing in front of hundreds of college scouts and with girls that were two years older than me. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. To be able to show off my skills in front of college scouts at such a young age. Of course I accepted the offer and boy, was it an experience. In the beginning of November, I started training with my San Diego team. Being a guest player was different. The girls were super nice, but I hadn't earned their respect yet. Even at practice I was afraid to mess up because I wanted to let them know that I was worthy of playing with them. I only got to train with them for a week before we left for San Diego. The last practice that we had before traveling day was very relaxed and laid back. We didn't do as many drills and we joked around a lot. Although it was fun, it didn't make me feel any more prepared for San Diego. On traveling day, I was very anxious. Although I was excited to go to the famous state of California, I still had to worry about how well I was going to play in the up-coming games. The only thing I could think about was if I was going to mess up or not. Would I do well? Would I fail my team? Would I score? Everything felt so surreal. As soon as we got to San Diego, I felt excited. My jitters were gone. I spent the day with my mom and had a good day. The next day was my first game. That's when the nerves hit. I was extremely nervous, but I had to put on a tough face. The whole day I couldn't stop thinking about my game. Was it going to go well or not? I just wanted to get it over with. After the game was over, my nerves were gone. I played well and played even better the next two days. My coach brought to my attention that there were college coaches that were surprised that I was as young as I am. They thought that I could definitely roll with this older crew. Although my time in San Diego was a roller coaster of emotions, I still think of it as one of the biggest opportunities in my life. It presented a chance for me to step out of my comfort zone and show off the skills that I have been working on for so long. I am so glad that I took the opportunity to play in San Diego. It will be an experience that I will always remember.
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