Life

As the days count down to the end of the school year, I look back on everything Ive done throughout my life and realize I have no regrets. Everything I did, I did because my heart willed me to and those moments made me happy. Ive avoided drama all of my life until recently and begin to remember why I always got away from it. But as I move on to college, and with my life, I begin to become nervous. What was once thought to be happy days in my life are now filtered with uncertainty. I just hope I choose the right college with the right location to help me become happy. I hope I can find what happiness is, and keep it tight forever. Everything happens for a reason. I know God is always with me and I pray that he leads me and anyone who shall cross paths with me, to a happy and joyful life.

Tangled Plants Furzan A.

Nathan Price had seeds which he planted on the flat ground, arrogant in his ways, he went against the housekeepers advice by planting them in mounds. When it rained all the seeds washed away and then he learned his lesson by planting the seeds in mounds although he would not admit it. After the seeds germinated and grew it became clear that plants could not bear fruit since they were not native to Africa. The plants situation mimics the Price's situation, they are not native to Africa and have not adapted to it either. They are twisted and crooked just like the stems and leaves on the plant because they  cannot fit into Africa with their Western habits.

The Power Of Rewriting. - Keana M.

"Imagine a life so flawed it flows with devestating perfection. First, picture the sea. I want you to be its soul, the heart in the waves. The seaweed are columns of tangled, complex slime like bitter emotions overthought beyond all simple recognition. Every space is filled with thoughts: delicate, posinious dreams scaled like a snake, swallowing a mouse, digesting precious life in one bite. Letters strangling other letters in the misguided attempt to form words."


I enjoy exercises where we are supposed to rewrite the work of another author because not only does it allow you to express yourself, it lets you explore the words of the author while being creative.

Love Story Sestina- Keana M. & Katie M.

October mist blankets the city lights.
In the busy downtown, the mundane hipster
rides his fixed gear bike; on his back rests his guitar.
Off of his lips hangs a lit cigarette.
Thinking about the girl with the thick rimmed glasses,
he replays the first moment she walked into his life.

The girl wonders what he's doing with his life.
Holding back tears as memories, she stares down at the city lights,
longing settles at the bottom of the empty glasses.
He stole her heart at first sight- that young mustached hipster.
Hoping she'll encounter him again, she puts out her cigarette.
She closes her eyes, humming along to the radio's guitar.

As if she were there, he writes songs to her on his guitar.
He knows he needs her in his life
because, without her, he feels like a wet cigarette,
and his heart is beginning to resemble the dimming lights.
He thinks he'll never see her again- that beautiful jaded hipster.
Everywhere he looks he sees her reflection in the glasses.

Night after night, her tears fog up her glasses
because she can't help but think of him every time she hears a guitar.
To her, he is so much more than just a hipster.
She hopes that there's more to her life
then just looking down at the lights.
She pretends he's next to her as she lights her last cigarette.

He rides his bike to the corner store because he's smoked his last cigarette.
As the sun comes up he puts on his glasses
and the world flickers as the lights
turn off and the sun shimmers on his guitar.
He knows he wants more to his life
than just being a pretentious hipster.

The lovely female hipster
walks to the corner store in search of a cigarette.
She can't help but wonder what she is doing with her life.
Still pondering, she adjusts her glasses.
The cherry red wood of a guitar
catches her eye as it reflects the store lights.

Life has a way of coming together,
beyond hipster materialistic matters- a guitar, a cigarette, or glasses,
the lights of love, always allow two people the grace of being together.

How The Lovely Bones has stuck with me

Earlier this week we were asked a number of questions regarding literary merit and one asked which novel has stayed with us and why. Instantly the first piece that popped into my head is the oh-so-popular and magnificent novel The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I first read the book sophomore year and since then I can't count the number of times I've re-read it. I've now read it enough to know specific lines from it.
Every time I read the book I understand and recognize things I overlooked or did not comprehend during previous reads; it's almost like reading a completely new novel each time I re-read it.
Sebold's mastery of combining darkness, humor, and beauty is powerful enough to express several truths about human nature, including the most frightening parts that we often choose to ignore, pretending our society could never be so evil.
I have become increasingly obsessed with the character or Ruth Connors who is my favorite literary character of any book I've read. Her obsevations on life and death influence not only my writing, but my own thoughts about the true nature or death, the afterlife, the supernatural.
The novel is a journey, a long winding road that Sebold takes her readers down by the hand. Influenced by her own painful rape in her early life, Sebold's searing use of emotion and imagery inflict strong feelings throughout the novel and it's impossible to not feel either happy, terrified, or uncomfortable while reading this disturbing work of literary art.
-Katie M.

Losing Our Sanity by Dominic H

As the days get closer, more and more stress is being added; two words: College funding. Just when you thought it was over, Financial Aide comes right at you. Worrying, "will I get accepted? How much will I get? Can I afford college?" Although the application process is over, it gets too the nitty gritty. This is the part that truly affects the rest of our lives. I personally am becoming more and more stressed about this process. I'm not worrying about getting accepted, just whether I can afford it. It begs the question, why is college such an expensive commodity? It creates such a huge amount of financial burden and stress on everyone involved. We students have gone through our lives as "kids", and then we are forced to grow up instantly. When money wasn't supposed to be an important thing for us, it suddenly is pushed to the forefront of everything. Even the applications themselves cost money to be turned in! Its madness.

The Cloak of Invisibility comes off Furzan A.

As many have you have seen and heard from the news that protests are erupting throughout the Middle East some are more violent than others. The inspiration for these protests came from Tunisia and then Egypt, both countries which were able to remove the insipid dictators in power. This has caused a chain reaction that has put a tiny light of hope in the minds of the new generation that WE have a voice. It has caused them to take of the blanket of oppression coerced on them and has let them become visible to the world. They want their plight to be heard. I applaud those brave people rising up to the heinous people in charge of their everyday lives.
The one thing I am ashamed of as an American is the news of an AMERICAN TERRORIST TRYING TO BOMB A MOSQUE IN THE NORTHEAST WAS NEVER HEARD. At the end of January an army veteran tried to bring explosives to a mosque but was fortunately caught before he was able to carry out his idiotic idea. Since then I have never heard any news on that topic on major news networks, I only heard it from small time news networks. If it was a Muslim who had an explosive it would have swept through the media like the plague but it was an American terrorist this time it was kept quiet. I find that extremely hypocritical and offensive. I question myself, "what is this country coming too?"