Ella Draper #8- Rose Colored Glasses

 Rose Colored glasses 

 300 words

We tend to get caught up in our own thoughts a lot as humans. The opinions we make are based on background knowledge, and previous experiences. Almost everything we do, make, say, or stand for is based on our own perspective. 

The question is why do we as humans make these decisions and opinions based solely on our personal perspective when we know logicly the smart thing to do is to get another's' perspective on something?

Personally my answer to that question is stubbornness. Although we all want to be “correct” about things and have the “right” answer, when it comes to opinion based topics most of the time your ego becomes greater than your want to be correct or right. 

What I mean by that is when given a problem or topic with multiple opinions layed out in front of you, we tend to pick the opinion or side based on our personal wants, needs,or thoughts before consoling with another person who has their own personal perspective. Our egos become too fragile to even think it is necessary to get another outlook on situations. 

“She sees the world through rose colored glasses'’ a phrase widely used to somehow criticize the optimistic perspective many young women hold on life. We can just look at strangers and personally through our perspectives decide rather or not that person holds a valid perspective on life. Before we even speak to a person we all judge and make inferences on that person's life. 

Rose colored glasses aren't so bad and everyone’s perspective is both equally different and important in this world today. Even the most uneducated, lazy, or obnoxious people hold some sort of valuable perspective and out look on the world because of the different life experiences we have each lived through.

Enza C - #8 - Diversity In The Superhero Realm

     Diversity is extremely important and seeing a more diverse representation on screen is a very key factor that can help make our society grow.

    Diverse perspectives can inspire creativity, drive innovation, and deepen understandings. Diversity introduces you to have exposure to all kinds of different people, cultures, traditions, and practices that are unlike your own. Diversity will help you learn the skills to communicate and interact with other communities, concepts, and belief systems that you are unfamiliar with and therefore gain a more worldly, balanced, and informed perspective. Not only will diversity enhance your own social development, but it will also increase your true understanding of the world. 

    As a pale, Hispanic and African American women with super curly hair, I personally haven't seen many characters that look like me or that I can personally relate to. When growing up and not seeing much representation, its hard to fully understand and accept yourself. For so many years, I've often invalidated my own experiences and thought that my own culture was something I didn't really know how to celebrate. Seeing someone like me as a character on the TV, could be beneficently in so many ways. It would help me feel confident, empowerment, and proud of my heritage and culture. 

    The closest superhero that relates to me is the hero Miles Morales who is a Afro- Latino male. I remember when I first found out about his movie that was releasing, I was super excited to see a some-what familiar character that hit close to home being displayed on the screen. Upon first watching the movie, it was so nice seeing similarities that existed in my household beginning shared with so many other people around the globe. Seeing someone who looks like you on screen, for thousands of people to see, can be so empowering and uplifting.    

word count - 305

#8 - Kayla R. - Diversity Among Superheroes

 Diversity Among Superheroes

There has always been quite a controversy when it comes to the superhero world and what superheroes’ stories look like. While we have slowly started to give recognition to different race superheroes, there is still very little recognition to different cultural superheroes, or even heroes from the LGBTQ+ community. 

While there was talk about a spin of a homosexual superman, there were huge amounts of hate that was backlashed to this idea. There was a very obvious feeling of homophobia within specific fans of superman, and many of them became disgusted with this idea.

It was people like them, that have caused the current superhero world to be broadly white and heterosexual, representing very little amounts of different cultures, beliefs, and sexualities. 

Many people argue that bringing in different and diverse superheroes would destroy the originality of these superheroes’ stories. This idea is controversial though, because many superheroes already get their stories changed or altered throughout the years or each time they are remade/reintroduced. 

I believe that there should be different superheroes introduced or the current superheroes altered to different stories coming from different backgrounds. The diverse population of our world deserves representation in superhero form. Every young child should be able to feel that connection with a superhero that is similar to them. 

It is unfair that many children and people don’t get to feel similarities to superhero figures because they don't look/act like any or many of them. With an increased diversity of superheroes many more people can feel equally represented and able to relate to fantasized people with superpowers. 

Word Count: 264

8- Trevor O: Don't Give Up

 

Every day, we are all confronted with hardships and challenges. Oftentimes, when faced with a challenge, we will try our very best to overcome it but will end up failing anyway. However, we must not let temporary failures or setbacks distract and demoralize us. We must rise and confront the challenge again, head-on, until we succeed.

It is easy to lose hope and feel like overcoming a particular challenge is impossible after you experience failure. However, even if you have “fought the battle” and lost, you still walk away with valuable knowledge of what the “battle” is like and can develop strategies to win it in the future. Some “battles”, especially ones unlike anything you’ve ever faced before, can be difficult to win at first. But with enough effort, you will eventually prevail.

For myself in particular, when I hear this quote, I think about my experience taking the PSAT. The first time I took the PSAT, I went into the test having not studied at all and with the assumption that I would be able to score well anyways. While I didn’t end up scoring terribly, I still was unhappy with my results. Rather than giving up, I decided to give it one more shot when the opportunity came around again this year. This time, I knew what the metaphorical “battle” would be like and knew what to expect. As a result, I was able to better prepare by studying in the week leading up to the test. Come test day, I felt more confident and was able to successfully “win the battle” and obtain a much better score on the PSAT.

Word Count: 273

8- Vivi L- Fear of Change

     Every day things in our lives change. Whether these things are big or small, they have an effect on us. Reflecting upon whether I am more for change or more for a steady, stable life, I have one answer. I am neither.

 I know I am certainly not the person who likes to do the same thing every day. I crave change in my everyday life and often can get easily bored with life if I do not have constant change. 

I use to believe that change was a bad thing and fear it because, without it, my life would never be bad, (or so I thought). I have been through so much in my life, my brother’s death, my dad leaving, and so much more. For the longest time, I felt as though I never would catch a break from the constant bad things happening to me. Until one day my perspective on change, well, changed. 

Change is not always a good thing and not always a bad thing. After a while, I got used to the constant changes in my life and began to worry. I believed that without constant change or events occurring in my life, people would find me boring. I would not say that my change in perspective was a good thing because it brought constant worry to my life and mixed with the fear that I have of being abandoned by people. I’d like to say that I have outgrown this fear of change, but truthfully, I still fear it occasionally. I fear that if I am not going through consistent changes, I will not seem as interesting to others and ultimately not be seen as “enough.” This fear is something that I still work on every day and will continue to until I have outgrown it. 

Change is neither a bad thing nor a good thing, what it is, is new perspectives, new opportunities, and new experiences. I know I am not the person who likes a stable life with no change because it drives me to boredom. However, I question whether I can handle constant change.

WORD COUNT: 354 of 1217

8- Emily G: A Certified Rebel

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is most known for her great representation of women empowerment as the second female associate justice in the Supreme Court of the United States during a time of gender inequality. She shoved her way into the male dominated courtroom and drove an opening of perspectives toward changing the way women were treated, despite the abundance of challenges she faced. 

RBG had a very vocal and strong minded personality, which contributed to her many powerful stances taken in the faces of patriarchy. She is often considered as the woman who was never afraid to speak her mind, no matter the place she was in. Many would call her a rebel, as she went against the common ideals of the time that women were supposed to remain quiet and modest. 

She gradually moved up credentials due to her convincing speeches and men, such as President Jimmy Carter and President Bill Clinton, seemed to support her involvement based on their role in allowing her to move up. During her time served, she became an ally within gay rights, women's rights, the poor, and many other marginalized groups through the cases she won. 

The shift of women receiving full equality and respect from sexist men is still being fought for, but because of RBG, the end of inequality is nearer than it was before her. She was such an important factor within the system of women, workers, and civil rights and her legacy will continue to live on. 

Word Count: 247

Esmeralda Barajas - Keep fighting!

 Fight For What You Want

All of us, in some way, are fighting a lot of struggles in our life. Whether it is chasing our dreams, battling an illness, losing a loved one, or doing everyday work. Make a promise to not let yourself down. 

I can understand that sometimes we lose all our hope due to some unwanted situations but you have to realize that fighting a or multiple battles is a part of life. 

There is a possibility that you have to fight the same battle more than once. Don’t escape the arena. Or else, you can never win. To be precise, you have to try again and again to reach your desired destination. For instance, if you are working hard to achieve a specific goal, you have to do it several times. Each time you are trying, you are fighting a battle. 

There are several actions in your life, where you have to fight regularly. You have to understand that as long as you are giving efforts, you are not defeated. Life is pretty uncertain. Life is like a rollercoaster. We all have our ups and downs. It will throw curve balls at you wanting you to give up but you can't cause eventually you will get what you want. So, make sure that you are not stopping your efforts to win the battle of your life.

Word count: 225

Esmeralda Barajas - Domino Effect

 Dominos

I believe that anything, good or bad, has the potential to happen at any given time. We have little control over what happens around us but we do have control over how we react. I believe everything is a learning experience and therefore in a way everything does happen for a reason so we can learn from it. I think that everybody shapes their own individual path by the choices they make everyday. At times, it may seem that certain events were destined to be in your life but really I think it was all the choices you made before that put you into that moment. Everything that happens to a person affects them whether it's big or small and shapes their entire life. I do believe all the choices you have made before have a reason or purpose in shaping your individual path through life. 

Life is basically like dominos one tiny event or one tiny interaction could affect how you are shaped and how your life will go on. We meet people that either stay in our lives or teach us a lesson. Those people I truly believe shape how we are from then on. They shape how we will handle another similar situation or how you will act. 

Events also happen for a reason. Whether it was you making a choice leading up to the event or you making the choice in the moment. 

Whether it is small or big every effect has a cause. The cause is the reason. 

Word count: 253

8 - Lorenzo M. - Follow Your Passion to Escape a Scandal

 

Follow Your Passion to Escape a Scandal

Word Count: 291

Either in Preschool or Kindergarten, at the end of the day we were allowed to participate in activities till our parents arrived.  Two popular activities that the teacher’s would setup were an art station as well as a computer station with those big old bulky computers for us to play on.

However since the computers dominated all the other activities, the teacher put us on a list and would read off names and ask us the question, “Computer or no computer” and would go on till all the computers were rightfully filled.

There always seemed to be a pattern as I would always be picked on a specific day, and back then I was huge on drawing so I declined the offer multiple times so whoever was underneath my name always guaranteed a spot.

One day I was minding my own business just in the zone drawing till I get a tap on me shoulder and it was some other teacher next door, she explains to me something happened to the computer, don’t remember what exactly but basically 

The incident occured on the day it was my turn on the computer.

I told her I wasn’t on the computer but she didn’t believe me, basically downplaying my intelligence, frountaly my teacher vouched for me and backed me up saying I wasn’t on the computer so the lady moved on to her next victim and didn’t even apologize.

But the school wasn’t broken and was able to replace the computer shortly after or fix it.  So whenever someone says “Follow your passion”, don’t take that just for a career job as it can very much save you out of unnecessary situations or help you get out of one if you play the plan out right.

7- Dayanara M - Kitchen Table Moment

Ever since I can remember, I would always eat dinner together with my family. I honestly think there is less than five times that I have eaten dinner by myself in my room. Even when there is no one home, I still eat my meals at the dinner table. I love the 30 minutes we spend together during dinner. We talk about our day, the latest family "chisme" (or gossip), and eat good food. That's why I think I'm more like a kitchen table than a coffee table. I appreciate the time I spend with my family and close friends. My mom always says, "Las penas con pan son menos" which is a Mexican saying that means, "Worries with bread are less". I correlate the comfort of my mother's meals on a bad day with the kitchen table I'd eat them at. Sometimes, I just drink Diet Pepsi alone at the table, just to bring myself a little bit of comfort. I also kind of wish I was those type of people with a comforting energy. The type of person where even just being around them automatically makes you feel better. That's the kind of comfort I get from my dinner table, from being with my family. But when I think about coffee tables, I think about having guests over. People who you like enough to open the doors of your house to, but not necessarily share a meal with them. Sharing a meal seems more intimate to me. You're inviting someone to join you in a necessary action to keep you alive. You don't really need a conversation over a coffee table three times a day. I really value most of the people in my life and value the time I spend with them. The time spent eating food on a kitchen tables seems more valuable to me. That's why I am like a kitchen table more then a coffee table. Word Count- 322

7 - Taylor L - Just A Drive

Word Count: 394

  Sometimes the life of a student can seem monotonous, lacking any thrill or excitement during the daily repeated schedule of school, work, practice, homework. It dulls life, almost slowing it down. In an effort to create a slight pause in this tedious cycle, we made a choice.

  In reference to “we”, I am talking about a handful of students, a group of friends. All burnt out honors and AP students. All exhausted athletes. All tired new hires, learning the harsh realities of retail jobs and flipping burgers. Aside from our after school lives filled with mostly homework and extracurriculars, we are graciously granted a 40 minute lunch. In these 40 minutes, we are encouraged to eat, use the restroom, socialize, and “take a break” from the classes that make up about seven hours of our day. Those activities didn’t suffice our needs that day. We needed a greater pause. 

  Teenagers are scary drivers, testing the limits of their brand new beater car and hoping they don’t kill their friends in the process. We were lucky one of our friends has a nice car, equipped to take turns at speeds that would’ve rolled my ‘07 Malibu and can accelerate to over a 100 mph in a few seconds. Piling into his car, leaving our backpacks in the trunk, forgotten and out of mind, we turned the music up and got as far away from school as we could. Laughing filled the car, the breeze from the rolled down windows tangled our hair, and the screams when we thought we were for sure going to crash somewhere out in the backroads will forever fill my head when reminiscing on that one lunch.

 

  It was slightly dangerous. Incredibly fun. The more the hand on the speedometer turned right, the more relaxed I felt. It was an unanimous fact that the stress of deadlines, projects, and other irritants from school were figuratively driven out of our minds. Racing through the backroads gave us all such an adrenaline rush we reached a destination in which there was some sort of peace. 

  And as we pulled back into the dreaded parking lot and drudgingly walked back up the steps, rejoining the tedious cycle of school life, we each smiled to ourselves. It is apparent that sometimes, we all need a pause in life or in our case, just a drive. 

Blog #7 - Enza C - Different, but alike

     I personally don't think I am too alike to my parents, I share some blatant similarities but  I have a lot of different morals and a lot of different beliefs than them. And I act and think differently than both of them.

    But if I had to choose which parent I was more like I would choose my mom. This is because my mom, just like me, is very goofy, nice, loving, and friendly. We both are very open-minded and try to understand other people as much as possible. Unlike my dad who is very closed-minded, thinks what he wants to think, and is not very social. 

    My mom is a saleswoman so she is very comfortable and friendly towards other people and knows how to talk to them. And just like her, I try to understand people more and try to see their point of view and make them as comfortable as I possibly can. Just like my mom I love talking to people. I am very social and loud. But if someone is the opposite of me and is antisocial and quiet, I try my best to not be over the top to make them feel weirded out.  (Because I know sometimes I can have a strong personality.)  

Similar to my mom I love meeting and talking to new people, I love getting to know new people, and I love to be friendly and positive towards everyone.  Just like my mom, I'm very inclusive to everyone of all backgrounds, of all body types, and of all origins. But lastly, the reason I am more alike to my mom than my dad is becuase I do not have a strong connection with my dad. My dad can be a really negative person and bring down anyone in his path. 

I am different from my parents in terms of morals and beliefs. This is because me and my parents grew up in a different generation and have different views of the world. My mom and I share some similar beliefs but not me and my father. I am also different because I believe that I am more positive than both of them (I know that sounds a little rude but it's true ). I believe I see more good in people than my parents.  And unlike my parents, I really like to spread positivity to other people. This is because social media is a big part of my generation and is very accessible and it's a really quick way to spread positivity. I can easily message someone or comment to help bring up their self-esteem or to help them understand that they are not alone and everything will be okay. But my parents are kind of old so they don't really understand how to use technology to their advantage in that way and I don't think they would because they're at an age where they believe everyone should be supporting themselves. And they don't truly understand the concept of support from others can sometimes influence you more than the support of yourself (it's a little sad to say but it's true, people tend to listen to others when it concerns something positive about them rather than to listen to themselves).  

Words - 539 

Blog #5 - Enza Cosio - Dance of the butterfly

     A song that deeply inspires me is the song Butterfly response by Zawaba. This song inspires me because it represents my emotions, reminds me about how I've grown as a person, and most importantly because it reminds me of blue butterflies, the loves of my life.

     It represents my emotions because it's a sad and slow song but it's also strangely loving and makes me excitedly happy every time I listen to it. And I just feel a connection with this song. This song also reminds me of how much I've grown as a person because I used to be a very negative and anxious person. I used to get anxiety attacks over everything I did, such as thinking people were judging me while I walked because I was walking weirdly and I always thought badly about myself. But now I have more self-love, more confidence, more happiness, and more love in my heart than I ́ve ever had before. 

     This song also inspires me to not only try to be more positive towards myself but to everyone and about everything else I encounter. I have had a hard time keeping friends due to my anxious behavior and I don't want to make those same mistakes again. 

    A line from this song that sticks out to me is,  ̈Remember, my dear, You're strong, You're loved, You're beautiful, so beautiful, And you belong here on Earth, I love you. ̈ This is because it is a really positive line and it's an amazing line to remember. Self-love and mental health is something that is very important to me. Everyone's life matters and no one should say or think otherwise. It is very important for everyone to love themselves and to be happy. As a high schooler, I know a lot of teenagers are self-conscious and have insecurities. Everyone should always be reminded of how amazing, strong, and beautiful they truly are. This line is just very positive and a beautiful reminder to every person in this world.

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Word count - 333 (OMG AN ANGEL NUMBER- 😳) 

Blog #4 - Enza C - Girl.... put the phone away

 Blog #4 - Are there times when you think using your phone while you’re with other people is rude? 

I believe that it is extremely rude to use your phone while you’re out with other people. It is inconsiderate and self-centered to be talking on a phone while around others, to be polite you should excuse yourself and remove yourself from the event, however, don't whip out your phone and disconnect yourself from the event. In doing so it also makes your friends believe that you don't want to be there in the first place. 

Being on your phone while out majorly disrupts our actual, present moments and makes you miss out on important in-person relationships. It takes away your focus and makes you miss memories and important moments. 

Being on your phone in public can also actually affect your mental health and really take a toll on it. People tend to attach themselves to their phones in unhealthy ways and become co-dependent on them causing increases in stress and depression. 

In recent years there have been major increases in addiction to the internet. Internet addiction has similar brain correlates to other forms of addiction such as heroin and other recreational drugs. The impact of this behavior is very worrisome and troubling for children whose brain and social skills are still developing. Children may be out in public and see an adult on their phone, making them believe that it is okay to also be on electronics while in public thus weakening their social skills and making them not know how to properly act while out with other people.   

 

Words- 253

6- Vivi L- Why do we obsess over music?

 

Different sounds. Different genres. Different eras. Years go by, trends die off, fashion dies off, movies get old, but music, music lives forever. 

New music is always being created by upcoming and old artists. Everyday we see “influencers” and celebrities try to become singers, creating new music. Yet, even though we have access to new songs, genres, and sounds, it is still extremely common to  listen to music from the 90s or old rap artists such as Biggie and Tupac. Among my own generation, it is extremely common to listen to music created between 2000-2010s even though this music is anywhere from 10 to 20 years old. This music features artists that we continue to love today such as Nicki Minaj, Drake, and Lil Wayne. So why do we still listen to old music? We listen to it because of the impact it created on us the first time we heard it. This music was what we grew up listening to and the music we remember at our earliest times.

 Music has different impacts on everyone. Music can lift you up when you are sad or add to you sadness if you need it to. It can get you hyped up before a game or calm you down after a busy day. Music can help you through even the hardest times. The right music or artist can change a person’s life. While many of my friends and I joke about my “obsession” with the artist J. Cole, at the end of the day I listen to his music for a reason. I listen to him because of his inspirational songs on dealing with hard events. I listen to him because he has a way with words that most artists don’t. J. Cole speaks his truth and while I may not relate to everything he raps about, I am able to take his words and apply them to my own life. So while music may seem like just another trend or part of life that comes and goes, its impact on any human being is what will stay forever.

#7 - Kayla R. - Is it Truly Fate?

Is it Truly Fate?

Many people like to use the common idea that everything happens for a reason, but many of us question how true that statement really is. When going through slight inconveniences it is definitely the most comforting thing to believe, but in times of deep grief, loss, and bad luck, this statement doesn’t really provide anything but frustration. 

For example, when a family member or pet passes away, you don't really want to think that it “happened for a reason”, because what reason could truly explain something so heartbreaking? Although it is a morbid example, in such situations we seek comfort and healthy advice from other loved ones and friends, not just to be told that there’s some reasoning behind such a terrible situation. It may give us hope for a brighter end, but in situations like that, it is much more difficult to think of the bright sides to the situation. 

When it comes to more specific and less angering or heartbreaking situations, I think that the statement is much more comforting and not necessarily as daunting as in other scenarios. With slight inconveniences, it is easier for us to just brush it off with such a statement. We like to think that our futures and the futures of others aren't always 100% in our hands, and statements like these can provide comfort to that idea. 

We should definitely keep the statement in use, but only in certain scenarios and situations. The phrase should be used cautiously and carefully in order to protect the feelings of many people who endure tough situations. 

Word Count: 262

7- Trevor O: Like Father, Like Son

 

For as long as I can remember, members of my family have drawn comparisons between me and my parents. My grandmother always would tell me, “You’re just like your mom” or my aunt would tell me “Like father, like son”.

While I think they are definitely exaggerating, I myself do feel I have many similarities with both of my parents, particularly as it pertains to their personality and work ethic. For instance, my mom is fairly introverted like myself. We both tend to be quieter and more reserved. She always excelled in school and was a top student like myself. In terms of similarities with my dad, I would say I sort of inherit his hard-working tendencies and his self-motivation. We are both constantly striving to do our best and improve ourselves. But perhaps the largest similarity between my dad and I is our competitiveness.  

Despite these similarities, I also am fairly different from both of my parents in many ways. My interests and my parents’ interests are extremely different from one another. I’ve always been interested in technology and computers and eventually want to get a job in tech, but neither of my parents are too technologically savvy. My parents and I tend to have both minor and major disagreements about many certain things and worldviews.

Overall, I feel as though I am both similar to and different from my parents in many ways. In my experience, that’s how it tends to be for most people. In some regards, we are just like those who raised us. Yet in other instances, we couldn’t differ more.

 

Word Count: 265

7-Ella Draper-Surface Pressure

 Surface Pressure

Strength, lifting yourself up, lifting others up, mentally, physically, strength can be a tiring gift to have. We all as humans have been given a role in which we need to be strong. Whether your role is in your family, your job, or relationships, strength is something others surrounding you rely on.  

Pressure, the pressure that sinks deep weight onto your shoulders when you are trying to be strong for others. The questions posing in your head, “what if I’m not strong enough?” “What if I let them down?” 

Recently a character in the new and beloved disney movie, Encanto, a character named Luisa shares her struggles with being strong for others and the extreme pressure that she faces on a day to day basis. In the movie, Luisa has the power of super strength and is constantly using it to help those around her and in her town with their needs, additionally being the middle sibling Luisa has been the rock for her family emotionally for years. In luisa’s song she goes over all of the ways she feels pressure and how her physical and mental strength comes with challenges. 

One of my favorite lines from the song reads, “ Under the surface, I’m pretty sure I’m worthless if I can’t be of service”. As I am also the middle child of 2 sisters I relate to Luisa in many different ways, but the biggest one is how she feels useless if she gives up or isn't working for others. This quote shows just how our minds can manipulate us to think we are not good enough when we aren’t strong enough to complete something. Everyone feels weak or becomes weak to obstacles from time to time, yet this does not define us as people. 

Our strength is an asset, not a necessity, and the pressure from others to be stronger is more often that of our own imagination. 

Word Count:319

7 - Vivi L- The Emotions Behind a Plastic Egg

    I am sure many of us have experienced or seen in some way how many people celebrate Easter. Whether you do or do not celebrate Christian holidays, I am sure you have heard of easter egg hunts. Growing up, my family was not very involved in religion, but we did have a few easter egg hunts. 

     I was born being the youngest by twelve, thirteen, and fifteen years, so by the time I came around, my parents were not interested in dealing with traditions and celebrations that they had done plenty of times. However, I did get to participate in a few easter egg hunts. The most memorable was when my sister had to distract me for hours while my mom put out those bright-colored, plastic eggs. Why was it memorable? Well, it was memorable because my older sister who was around nineteen years old at the time decided to take all the eggs from me as I was hunting for them. Yes, I did cry, a lot. 

     Since I have only had around two to three easter egg hunts in my entire life, the ones that I did get, do hold a special place in my heart. It was a special feeling that feeling of adrenaline when waiting for parents to shout “GO!” Seeing the bright plastic colored eggs, ranging from neon green to bright pink and dark purple. Searching as far as my eyes could see and running all over the yard trying to find the biggest eggs. Even the moments when I’d shake the eggs to see if the candy was worth it or not.

     While these little things do not seem all that important, there is something these all have in common. A feeling that I have tried not to get rid of since then, the feeling of being a child and being young. Yes, I am almost seventeen which is still extremely young, but this feeling was youthful. Similar to playing out in the street all day long with your friends until eight or nine PM on a summer day. While I will still be able to make new memories similar to these, there will never be a time when I will get to relive those exact moments. So while I did not “experience” many of these easter egg hunts, I did feel the emotions involved and will never forget the nostalgia associated with my childhood.

7 - Lorenzo M. - The Evil Eyes of a Neighbor

 

The Evil Eyes of a Neighbor

Word Count: 344

Depending on how mean my parents want to be, they may have something for me to do on a sunday, it’s just one “simple” chore, then I’ve done my community service and am free to go.  But the one they always have in mine for me requires me to leave the house, the garbage.

The job itself is not the issue here, it’s what the outside world has to offer the minute I step outside in my pajamas.  The minute I open that garage door it’s like carnival outside my house cause 

neighbors seem to spawn everywhere the minute my parents ask for me to take out the trash.

Luckily for me they don’t ever talk to me, probably because they are scared of my family from my sister crying every once in a while.  However they do stare for the five seconds I step outside the house and then quickly walk back and I mean they stare.

Probably why they don’t want to risk speaking to me cause I do give them looks when I see the slightest bit of side eye.  Really what’s giving me immunity for that is my age because it will for sure look immature for an adult to beef with a minor.

They of course quickly become fake whenever my mom wants to take out the trash saying “Good Morning” when really my mom has a bigger grudge on them than I do because they are terrible at parking their cars.

But it’s only for a couple of seconds and I’m sure they are nice people and only looking at me from the noise the trash cans make, and it’s fun making them uncomfortable by staring back at them cause I give them no reason to stare at me for that long.

With that in mind there can be reasons why people don’t like chores other than doing the job itself but try and not beef with your neighbors over starring cause you have to see them from time to time, at least do it without them noticing.

7-Emily G: Embracing my Coffee Table Relation

 

You see the world differently when you are short. Everything and everyone appears to be huge compared to what average "heighters"  are used to and the constant reminder of your height starts to feel like a direct attack. I often feel like a coffee table in a world filled with kitchen tables. 

I am five foot zero at the ripe age of sixteen and twelve days away from being seventeen, and I have been the same height since sixth grade, so, of course, I have some pent up anger toward a bodily function I was, I guess, blessed with. In today's society, short people are seen as an easy target for tease and sadly, being short for some people has become a personality trait. But, being short is not just about not being able to reach the top shelf or ride that ride at Six Flags or being lucky because "guys like short girls", it's more than that. 

My body is theoretically related to a coffee table. I am sometimes described as "compact" or "inferior to height", which actually hurts more than realized and it often makes me desire a life of a kitchen table; tall and untouchable. Short people are evidently more commonly derided mainly based on our appearance of not be intimidating and kitchen tables get to roam free without worry, but most of us short "heighters", or coffee tables, are capable of countering those ideals. 

A coffee table has cups placed without coasters, feet heavier than bricks, and little kids sitting on top of it, but it gets us back by being in the way of our toes when they are stubbed and our knees when we run into them. Short people are ridiculed for height they cannot control, called names that are meant to be a joke but words weigh heavy, and being perceived as a little kid who should not be taken seriously, but we get our revenge through not letting anyone take advantage of our tendency to be lost in the crowd. 

I actually stand out in a crowd through my confidence and humbleness of being low to the ground. I stopped letting people walk all over me and bully me into thinking being short is a bad thing. Being short should not be a weakness, as being tall is not a weakness. I am not saying I hate tall people, or kitchen tables, but I do hate how I feel surrounded by kitchen tables who joke more than praise, when all I want to do is be my coffee table in peace, in addition with coasters under cups and less bruised toes and knees. 

Word Count: 441

6- Dayanara M - Disneyland is my Favorite Waste of Time

My favorite luxury I have is being able to go to Disneyland. When I was little, my parents would take me and my brother every year. Although we haven’t gone for 3 years, I still remember when we stood in line for 4 hours. It was right after Cars Land opened in California Adventure, and of course I wanted to ride the fast cars. It was scorching in Anaheim that day. I remember my little brother’s forehead getter tanner than the rest of has body, so my dad bought him a Mickey cap. At the 2 hour mark. I was looking around thinking, “What is going on.” My mom was pretty much beat, but at the time I remember her putting on a happy face. Hour 3. Goodness gracious we are never getting on these cars. At this point I just started counting the rocks on the floor. For a moment I think I forgot why I was even there. Now let me take you back in time, this was July 2012, my six year old self did not have Fruit Ninja on the iPod fourth generation. All I had was a toddler brother to bully and my ability to count to twenty. Finally the line was crawling faster than a baby who smells chicken nuggets. It was going great, until we realized my two year old brother was probably a couple inches too short to ride. For context, my brother Leo was a big boy from the get go so all we had to do to get him in those cars was to stack his cap on top of my Disney Princess autograph book. Boom, just like that we were officially Disneyland criminals and getting those automobiles. When I tell you that ride was the craziest thing 6 year old Dayanara has ever experienced, I’m telling the honest truth. That ride was worth every minute in line, even ten years later. - - Word Count- 322

#6 - Kayla R. - The Power of Our Young Advice

 The Power of Our Young Advice 

Our elders sometimes tend to provide us with great wisdom, but what they fail to realize is that sometimes us young ones have some too. Many people view us and each new generation that tends to come as almost useless or full of silly trends, with no real thoughts in our minds. 

Many of them fail to see that they can learn many things by just observing us, like love. Many older people tend to be much more conservative within their feelings and about the way they go about loving someone. Their tendencies are more traditional, while ours seem to be much more accepting and open. Over generations, we have come closer and closer to becoming more comfortable with one another and being welcome to each other's love, and helping one another out when we need it. As the past couple years have unfolded we have built a community, one that understands one another and loves each other, because we all understand the struggles we all were once facing. 

With our experiences, we have learned to be gentle with each other, and care for each other through love and acceptance. Not to say that some older generations don’t do the same, but with their histories in comparison to ours, we most definitely have fought things together with love and acceptance with one another. 

If they chose to pay more attention to our actions and give us a lot more credit, I believe that many of our older generations could feel more connected with us, and even with people of their own generations. 

Word Count: 262

6 - Taylor L - Choresome Chores

 

Choresome Chores

Word Count: 395

Chores, roughly defined as routine tasks involving cleaning of some type that are all associated with being miserable. Chores can be so bothersome and tedious at times that even the word “chore” was given a second definition and is now commonly used as an adjective to describe miserable things.

Some people enjoy cleaning. I don’t. While I do think there is a necessary standard of cleanliness that needs to be maintained, I thoroughly detest doing chores. Whether its something as simple as making my bed or taking out the trash or deep cleaning bathrooms, it’s all just one big miserable headache to me. It is difficult to decide on my least favorite chore. Laundry and mopping immediately come to mind. While seemingly different, they both require lots of steps to accomplish one thing.

Laundry is time consuming, yet important. Without clean clothes, towels, or blankets life is just as inconvenient and inefficient as the task itself. Laundry involves more than just throwing clothes into a machine. You must first sort the clothes based on fabric types and colors. Then start the roughly two hour process of washing and drying. Afterwards, every item must be dealt with, depending on if it requires folding, pairing, or hanging. 

Mopping is also just as much of a hassle. In order to mop, you must first move everything out of the way. This includes furniture, trash cans, rugs, etc. Then it is imperative that you sweep the area you’re planning on mopping. Sweeping in itself is bothersome, especially when you’re miserably failing at attempting to sweep all the dust into the dustpan and always being left with a line of residual filth that never makes its way into the pan. After successfully sweeping, you then have to do the whole process again with a mop. Whether you have a Swiffer or a plain mop, it’s still tiresome and strenuous. Now, there’s an incredibly inefficient and annoying drying time in which that area is completely off limits. 

Both these “chores” seem like extravagant and long missions, each having multiple steps and requiring lots of physical effort and work. Not only are they extremely inefficient and time consuming, the products are very necessary in order to have a clean environment. This adds to the infuriating aspect of these chores, because despite all the faults of their respective processes, their product is important. 

Ella#6 The other side of the door

 On the Other Side of the Door 

On the other side of the door lies my secrets, truths, and fears. My guard that I rarely let down. Security in my emotions, content in my shelter. 

Other windows allow people to look in, peer into their souls. Share their deepest darkest truths in exchange for sunlight. Sometimes I wish I could be a window, wear my heart on my sleeve and constantly overshare parts of my life with strangers just crossing by.

 However, Windows are fragile, they don’t stand a chance of hiding or keeping away information from people that shouldn;t hear or receive it. Doors are strong and sturdy, my door is only opened once I fully trust and have faith in another person. 

Yet, every door leads to a room, a space you can take up as your own, or share with another, and although each room in a house only needs one door to control the entrance and exit of others, each room could use a window to brighten up the space. 

Personally I found my window a few years ago just before entering high school. With big changes to my school's family life I was feeling very anxious and depressed. With my door standing strong, I was unaware how hurtful it would later become to leave the mess of hurt and pain on the floor. Then I became closer with a girl named Maddy, one of the shiniest windows I have ever met. Within moments of speaking to her, you too will understand the clear thin piece of glass she places over her feelings. She was constantly, sharing stories, talking about her ups and downs, and would start crying mid conversation letting her emotions peak through no matter the subject. 

Maddy taught me alot, she showed how to be less guarded, speak up when I needed help, and how to not care what other people think about my life. All of the love, hate, happiness, thoughtfulness, and sadness on the other side of my door was finally being let out. Although I still stand with a tall door ahead of me, I now know how to open it up whenever appropriate.

So even if you find yourself like me, shielded in almost every social encounter, a strong door locked off to the world, maybe you just haven't met the right window to share your vulnerability with yet. 

Word count:395