4- Aby L: A Lesson In True Selflessness

A lesson in true selflessness: Over the multiple years I've been alive and conscious, I've learned many hard lessons. One being, no matter how selfless you behave. How kind you are. How blindly you love. One decision you make for yourself. One action you take to improve your life. You will instantly be coined “selfish”. All previous choices and actions get blurred. Your reputation will plummet and you are plainly labeled. Selfish. Lessons as such can go one way, you break your back, bending over to prove your loyalty, your kind heart and your selflessness. Or you realize no matter what people say, what people believe. What people think. You, you are the only person who knows your heart, mind, body and soul. You are the person who knows who you are deep down. You will see people say what makes them look better and what makes them interesting. You are collateral damage to everyone you pass. People come and go and you can try to act as precious and perfect as you can. You can put on a mask. Put on a smile. But the second you turn your back or make one wrong move they run and say whatever harmful things they can to be a better person. Everyone is fighting to be better than the last person Fighting to be important. Fighting to be valid We are all fighting to feel, to live, to breathe. Stop. Stop raising everyone above yourself. Stop putting yourself last. Stop invalidating yourself, and feel. live. Breathe. Make your life the one you want for others and prioritize yourself. Because that, that is selfless. Be selfish. Put yourself first and do not at any moment let people in who only want to harm yourself. Surround yourself with the people who are fighting for the same things, who want to see you succeed, who want the best for you and themselves. Be selfless in the most beautiful way you can. Be selfless for your own self. Do what you can to truly exist. To truly live.

4 - Abhishek S: Growth and Discovery

 This year I decided to challenge myself and take up playing the violin in our school orchestra. It has been an uphill climb getting adjusted to the new environment, people, and conventions involved but has ultimately been an enjoyable experience.

I remember first walking into the music room with a sense of immediate awe at the sheer height of the ceilings which created better acoustics when playing. This contrasted the almost claustrophobic classroom settings I was used to. 

I walked up to the Orchestra Director, Ms. Mackinson, and asked if it would be possible to join — keep in mind I was requesting the class change a few weeks well into the school year. “Do you have any experience playing the violin” is what she asked me to which I responded without a hint of irony saying “none at all”. 

 Despite me being completely unprepared, Ms. Mackinson’s genuine kindness made the experience so welcoming. The beginning was rough…really rough. I had not read music in so long it might as well have been Russian on the page — I really was clueless as to what I was looking at. 

Actually playing the violin was a whole other story in and of itself. I had that signature grating, scratchy sound that is common for beginners. I distinctly remember feeling intimidated because everyone around me seemed to have everything figured out. This is a common emotion when entering new spaces you are not accustomed to, but it is always worth it to see it through — it’s the only way you’re able to grow. I, like most people, hate this feeling and try to improve as fast as I can so as to not be as far behind.

At this point, I have been playing and practicing with the orchestra for a few months now and I have improved a lot. It is one of my most fun classes and I look forward to it. There is something so beautiful about each individual, each with their own instrument being able to follow these strange alien writings and somehow come out with music.

The sound of luscious strings playing together creating rich chords is something that never gets old. The cellos and bass form the foundation of sound with a low and strong vibration that can be felt all throughout the room. The violas and violins layer nicely over that with their higher pitched notes that harmonize with the others. 

All in all, practicing violin with the Will C. Wood Orchestra has been such a transformative experience. I am glad I did not second guess myself and took a risk. It is always a good choice to challenge yourself and take full advantage of your opportunities.

4 - Hailey M; Procrastination

 Quote: “We do not have the right to sit and feel hopeless. There is too much work to be done.”

This quote stood out to me as I read it, and I feel like I can apply the quote to my own life. When you are sitting around all the time, feeling like giving up, it’s not helping your obstacle at all. The quote is saying that you need to get up, and put the work in if you want to get something done. I can relate this to myself because of how much procrastinating I do, resulting in me getting stressed out, when it’s my fault in the first place for not doing my work on time. With the quote saying “we do not have the right,” I am applying it to myself, saying I have no right to get stressed and upset when I have the opportunity to do my work on time, rather wanting to procrastinate instead. I should be getting ahead on most of my work, as this would solve my issue of being so overwhelmed with everything. 

Going back to the quote, it’s trying to explain that you aren’t ever going to get anything done in your life by feeling sorry for yourself. By keeping on top of my work, and not waiting until the last minute to do larger assignments, it would likely make my life a lot more organized. Since I often get overwhelmed with all my classes, this quote has reminded me to work on stopping procrastinating, and to start taking my schoolwork more seriously, especially being so close to graduating. 

Word Count: 269

4 - Yasmin Garcia: the Absense Of Emotion

 The absence of emotion. Alyssa.

 One of the main characters in the End Of The F***ing world is named Alyssa. Alyssa’s vibe has always been different, unique, and low effort. She acts like she is always cool and calm, and is sincerely narcissistic at the beginning of the show. This is shown in the second episode when she and James go on a “date” and Alyssa cusses out the waitress. She shows very little emotions and empathy towards others throughout the first four to six episodes in the eight episode season. 

Filling the void. Alyssa 

Throughout the first season, when she meets James, slowly she starts to try and fill her absence with meaningless sexual activites and reckless behavior. She tries to paint her own being in a different picture to place herself in a spot she has never fit into- loved. Creating herself into a different mass than she is, is her attempting to fill up what her father took when he left behind. 

First feeling of compassion. Alyssa. 

When she finally begins to actually feel, it hits her heart like a bus. The unknown ground of feeling loved is a battle that not everyone has to go through, but she did. Never filling that feeling of emptiness with love and walking on eggshells around the people who claim they care about you. But her character evolves when she first feels James's hand around hers. The feelings that she has felt all of her life, that she was never allowed to have emotions or feel her own feelings, was a lie.

Alyssa. The development from young immature lady, to a woman in a single season.

4 - Cecylia B: A Core Memory

Week #4 - The escapee One of my interesting core memories was the frog escapee at my grandma's house. I know it sounds really weird but let me go more in depth. One faithful weekend I went to my grandma's house as I usually do to visit both my friend that lives near her and my sweet grandmother herself. Me and my friend were just enjoying eachothers company in the backyard until we both had the bright idea to catch a frog. My grandma's backyard has a creek right behind it so this wasn't out of the norm. So naturally we started to lift pots, rocks, and anything that looked like it could have frog under it. Eventually we ended up finding this little frog that was really cute and just holding it and just messing with it. I wanted to keep the frog as my pet so I told my friend to wait for me in the kitchen with the frog in her hand so that I could get a little container and poke holes in it for it. I ended up putting dirt, water, and leaves in the container so the frog could have a little “habitat”. Where was my grandma during all this you say? Well she was upstairs watching La Rosa De Guadalupe so there was no way she even heard us. That is her show and there is nothing you can do to get her attention when she's watching her show. Anyways, I come back to the kitchen with my friend waiting there for me and I open the container for her to put the frog in it. I either was too slow while closing the container or she just didn't have a grip on the frog because when I tell you that frog flew, it flew. It started to jump all over the place, from the counter, to the cabinet, to the counter again. We were scrambling everywhere like dummies trying to catch this frog and honestly it reminded me of the scene from Princess and the frog when the frog hunters were trying to catch Niveen. Then all of a sudden it was nowhere to be found. Me and my friend got on our hands and knees trying to find this frog but we still couldn’t find it anywhere. We ended up giving up on finding the frog and we both came to the conclusion that the frog will either shrivel up and die somewhere or we’ll magically find it later. That was not the case at all. My grandma was making her evening tea and then all of a sudden me and my friend heard her yell my name from downstairs. We both looked at each other probably thinking the same thing and we booked it downstairs. The frog was on the microwave door. Lets just say she was not happy, we let the frog go outside and ended up having to explain everything to her. That day I learned not to bring frogs in the house so I don’t advise you to either. Word count: 507

4 - Genecis Z.: White Roses

 

    When I was younger I was always attracted to things I perceived as pretty. Wherever I went my eyes roamed for the prettiest thing I could find. Sometimes it was a specific cloud, or rain drops, or a shiny star in the night sky. 

    On this specific day my attention was caught by the neighbor’s white roses. They were absolutely gorgeous. 

    They were nothing special now that I think about them again but back then I was a child, and to that little girl, those roses were beauty itself. And so like any other child my first instinct was to touch the white roses. When I did lay my small fingers around the stem of the rose I was shocked to feel pain. 

    I guess I just forgot that small detail about roses because I was just so enthralled with the white velvety petals and the bitter sweet scent coming from within the flower. I remember seeing blood drip down from where the angry thorn had penetrated my finger tips and just thinking, why?

    My young mind couldn’t comprehend how such a beautiful flower dressed in such innocent white petals could cause so much pain. Because to me beauty was frailness and elegance it wasn’t meant to be sharp or mean, it had to be perfect. 

    And then I wondered if everything that seemed beautiful hid it’s thorns away until it was time to attack.

 

    Years passed and I was older, and I still looked around for pretty things, but that white rose never left my brain once. Its existence shook me because my perspective on beauty was being compromised by the rose’s sharp thorns. 

    I now feared that everything I saw as pretty was going to leave me bleeding once I got too close. I was afraid to fall prey to blindsided beauty and end up defenseless because that rose led me into its trap by its appearance. Therefore if a simple flower could trick me so easily what could a person do. 

    And so I kept my distance from things that seemed too good to be true. 

    But then I fell prey again. 

    And then again.

    And then once more. 

    I was pricked by so many different thorns and bled from so many different places. But then I finally learned my lesson. Beauty is addicting. It’s deceitful. And it is everywhere. 

    Now I am sixteen and I understand much more. The world doesn’t grow roses without thorns, and beauty doesn’t exist without flaws. And I know the whole “nobody is perfect” line is overused, but it’s true. 

    I still seek beauty and I still fear the thorns, but now I understand that if I want to experience beauty I must uphold it’s flawed sides, because even beauty itself isn’t perfect. 

Word count: 461

3- Cecylia B: handwritten cards

Week #3 - The best gift Do handwritten letters still have value in this digital age? I believe they do. I value handwritten letters more than anything, more than any long paragraph text, more than any gift someone could give me. I feel like when someone takes the time to write to you about how much they care about you or appreciate you, it really shows that you mean a lot to that person. Even more so when it comes from a significant other. Whenever my aunt has either her birthday or Christmas coming up the only thing that she ever wants or even accepts are handwritten cards. Every time. I’ll ask her “hey what do you want for your birthday?”, “what do you want for christmas?” and without fail she says “write me something”. I always sigh because at times I can never think of anything to say but I always end up finding the right words. Honestly I understand why she wants handwritten cards all the time. It's something you can cherish and read over and over. How many emails and texts have you printed out, saved, or re-read over the years? The answer is most-likely none. Handwritten letters hold a special value no email could. Taking a few minutes to write a card or letter, no matter how long or short, is a gift of your time, attention, and thought to the person you're writing to. It doesn’t have to be a gift for a birthday or christmas, it could just be out of the blue. You could brighten someone's day even if it was the worst day of their life. Imagine someone took the time to write you a letter, how would you feel? Word count: 282

4- Destiny Dyer: The Relationship Breaking Addiction

 

Everyone that owns a phone is guilty of using it at times they know they shouldn’t. When you are with other people there are definitely times where it is inappropriate to be on your phone. 

If you are actively speaking to a friend and you pull out your phone it is not only rude, but insensitive. It is apparent that whatever message came up on the phone is more important than what they had to say. They are going to assume that you are uninterested in the conversation and probably be offended that you ended it with your eyes glued to a screen. 

If someone is opening up about something important that has happened to them and you open up your phone they will be a little more than offended. People appreciate undivided attention, especially when it comes to speaking about hard topics. It is very hard to keep up a conversation when the other side of it is occupied with something on their device.

Nobody wants to be friends with a person who finds what's happening on their phone more important than who’s right in front of them. 

When you are interviewing for a job you wouldn’t want to grab out your phone and start answering texts. This sends the wrong message to the interviewer and makes you look unprofessional. It is hard to convince someone that you are fit for a job when you can't even keep away from your phone long enough to finish the interview. 

Excessive phone usage while you are in the presence of other people is something that shouldn’t continue to happen. It makes you look bad as a person, and it is hard for others to tolerate. 

Word Count: 284

4 - Melany B: Happy memory

                                                 Core Memory

A memory that I will never forget would be when my friend Gwen rear ended my car. So, about a while ago my friend had been talking to this boy for about a week and she asked him if he would like to get boba during lunch. This was during spirit week, pajama day to be exact. 

My friend Haviahna and I decided that we would be “undercover” and follow them on the date just to make sure that everything was going okay between the two. We all decided that we will follow behind Gwen, but keep our distance so her date would not notice us. Well I decided to leave first and then I'll just trail behind her but she followed me. I noticed it and I got mad because the plan was not working, because I wouldn't know where to go since I was supposed to be the one following her. 

Well, things didn't go as planned because once I was at the parking lot intersection the car ahead of me  was stopped in a weird position. I had to adjust my car in a weird position too and I said “Oh I almost hit the curb” and once the word curb left my mouth. Gwen rear ended me. With her date in the car. Embarrassing. I didn't know what happened so I said “Oh my god did I just rear end them?” “No hun, Gwen just hit you” said Haviahna, and in unison we looked at each other and said “Aw, she's nervous” I looked at my rear view mirror and saw that, her date had his hand over his mouth trying not to laugh and I could just read Gwen's lips of her saying “Oh my god”. We didn't even leave the school yet! In shock we drove off, and as I was at the intersection I looked at Haviahna and said “I will never forget this moment” and she said “Core memory, that’s is a core memory right there” and we just laughed about it. I sped away to lose them so I could follow her car and not make it so obvious that we were going to follow them. 

We parked not too far from her car at the boba shop and it looked like it went great. As we were waiting we checked out my car to see if there was any damage, there was not. We decided to go back to school and we were there before them, when they arrived we all just looked at each other trying not to laugh. I went to class later and I wanted to hear everything from his point of view and he told me that he was just looking at her and she got distracted and “saw the car getting closer”. So that concludes that he made her nervous, then I asked Gwen what happened and she pretty much said the same thing. It's been about four months since the incident happened and we still make fun of her for hitting my car but it's a memory that we can all look back on and laugh about. Always pay attention the the road because you might just rear end the wrong person. 

Word Count: 539