6 - Blu M: 672 Geary St, San Francisco, CA

 Space mountain, entering a concert, waiting in the emergency room.

Now, you may be thinking, “what do these completely different experiences have in common?” Well, to put it simply, it takes a very long time for one to get their turn at with each of these. The three activities I have chosen all have an incredibly long line to wait in, just for your moment of euphoria, once in a lifetime experience, or two-second diagnosis. I have experienced each of these, and yet, they still don’t top my list for longest time I have waited in line.

So what exactly is the longest line that I have waited, more specifically STOOD in? Mensho Tokyo SF, located at 672 Geary St San Francisco, CA. 

It was late at night in the Tenderloin of San Francisco, my mom and I had a tiring day of hanging out in the city and since we were staying for te weekend, we found no fuss in eating dinner at such a late time. Time sitting at about 9:30 pm on a Saturday, my mom and I decided to walk up the incline of Geary, a few blocks from our hotel to get some ramen. Ironically, we had been wanting to eat here for months, so we hopped on this chance.

Approaching the storefront, we were met with a line that went roughly 4 doors down from the eateries small entrance. As hungry as we were, we chose to stay, and countless other customers filed in behind us. Luckily, there were many small shops around us for my mom to pick up snacks for the time being, so that was a plus. However, things kept nagging us. The line would stay dormant for literally 30 minutes at a time, the people in front of us seemed drunk and were obnoxious, and top top it off, it started pouring rain at around 10;30 pm (keep in mind that we were now waiting for an hour.)

To ease the annoying experience, we got to meet a lovely woman named Karen who just flew into San Francisco that night for a wedding. We talked and even shared our table with her by the time we got in, which was around 12:30 am. The meal was exquisite, the perfect thing to rid us of hunger.

Many people see waiting in line for more than, lets say 10 minutes, as overrated and a waste of time, and while I do agree with that occasionally (like getting into a grocery store), many things are well worth the wait! Sure, this extremely long wait for single bowl of ramen was intensely long, but the experience made it one of the most memorable, fun moments that I have had. Nothing that you have an urge for is a waste of time, so waiting a little, or a lot, surely shouldn’t hurt.

Word Count: 486

5 - Blu M: The Sound of a Sound

 Turn on the radio and take a listen. Most of the time, you will hear a sound, whether its boom clack dat dat dat or yeaaah yeah ohh blah blah blah.

Music.

Most of the time, you can hear music in the background of your everyday life, and you may not even realize. Take a single day into consideration. Maybe you wake up and watch a show, music. You get in the car, roll your windows down, and the car next to you is blasting something, music. You’re walking around the neighborhood or on campus and can hear the phones of people surrounding you, music. You’re outside and wind starts blowing, carrying leaves into the air, music.

Wait, leaves in the air? Music?

Correct! The music in our everyday lives doesn’t always come from something so superficial, like the radio, your phone, or your own voice. Growing up with my mom, who was a classical violinist, and currently DJs, plays the guzheng, and is a dancer, I have unlocked a deeper recognition and appreciation for music, or moreso, sound. Life without sound is essentially a life with no music.

My mom would always tell me to take a long listen to whats going on around and describe what I heard, whether it was cars running over a poorly installed sewer grate, birds chirping, or just the sound of our shoes tapping pavement as we walked. I would reply with those thing and out of the blue, she would turn the beat into a song, or relate it to a piece of existing music. 

I totally get it! Literally any sound ever can be considered music, or an aspect of it. Looking back on the history of music too, we learn that the origin of music in its early forms were all drum based. Sticks, rocks, clapping, slapping, rhythm. Yes! Since such early times, humans (or Neanderthals even) have picked up this idea of “music” from what surrounds them

Of course, many of you reading may be thinking I am crazy, or find it odd that I can view our shoes as being instrumental. However, I do hope that you can take a single day of yours into consideration and open your eyes to the music of our lives.

Word Count: 378

7 - Blu M: My Two Parents

My two lovely parents, cool in their own ways, odd in others, the (literal) foundation of my life. Without my two parents, I wouldn’t be alive. Of course, they created me, blah blah blah, I am here today. When I look back to compare them, I see so much and yet so little at the same time.

For starters, my mom and dad both shared an incredibly strong love of music. In fact, my dads passion for music was what caught my mom‘s attention. She had seen him dancing with so much joy, and with my mom being a serious dancer too, she was impressed. Mom tells me that he danced a bit roughly, and because of his 6’4 stature, he flopped around everywhere like a bending tree. And yet, she was still drawn to that.

My parents also shared the love of food, lovely San Francisco, and simple but cute, talking to each other. They loved so much about each other, my mom loving my dads long (really long) hair, his height, his voice, a lot. My dad loved her conversations, her passion for anything music, and her resilience. Yes these are different things they enjoyed, but they all fall in the same category of each other.

Of course, with similarities comes differences, and I can count a few. If you were a stranger to them, you can see many right off the bat. My dad was tall, white, and had a thick southern accent, while my mom is much shorter, brown, Asian, and talks like a local Californian. My dad worked as a glazier for many prominent buildings in San Francisco, stemming from the City Hall to the Salesforce building, while my mom works as an at home director for major advertising companies, leading in million dollar clients and developing amazing strategies for her company. It’s so silly to think that these different people would get together.

There is one more major difference between my two parents that I strike as important. My mom is alive and my dad is dead. All of this backstory I have given to you has been about my two parents, yet all this context that I have received has come from my one parent, my mom. I've grown up with an absent father figure my entire life, and didn’t see any issue with it. I developed this internalized hate for my father when I was younger because he left us. He left her. He left me. But as my mom told me more and more, the hate grew less and I saw him for how she does. I saw why he had to leave.

A few years ago, when I was signing up for VECHS in the 8th grade, my mom gave me my birth certificate, since I needed it (I don’t even remember what for). I was filling out my registration form, and I saw his name. I always forgot his full name. And so, me being a silly, simple middle schooler, I googled it. And what did I find? An online obituary. He was gone.

Now being older, I recognize my two parents for who they are, or at least what I know. They were the same, and they were so different, but one similarity stands strongly among the rest.

They both love me.

Word Count: 553

7 - Lilly T.: Related, Yet Different

Being related by blood does not necessarily mean that you and your parents have a lot in common. Each person is unique, making you different from your parents. Personality and perspective are two things that can vary greatly from person to person, whether they are related or not. 

My personality is actually almost the complete opposite of my parents’ personalities. While I like to keep to myself and stay quiet, both my mom and my dad are outgoing and are not afraid to talk to random people. I have no idea where I got my introverted nature from, but it is definitely not from them. The only times I am not acting shy is when I get comfortable with the people I talk to. 

Perspective is something that differs quite a lot between my parents and I. I might see a certain situation as fine, while they see it in a completely different manner. It’s similar to some math problems having different approaches to solve the problem. Yes, I might match their perspective of certain topics, but for the majority of the time that is not the case. 

Either way, I am different from my parents despite being blood-related to them. Harmony and agreement are two things that are not that common at home because of our clashing personalities. There are times where my parents and I argue, but that is part of what strengthens (though not all the time) our relationship in the end. They can get on my nerves sometimes, but I still love them even with our differences.

Word Count: 261

7- Grace B. Have Joy

 

As human beings, our goal in life is to achieve a never ending amount of joy. To enjoy your life. To be overjoyed by the positive things around you. To be joyous for your family and friends. To have joyfulness through difficult times. 

Joy. We see this three letter word as the biggest achievement in life, but what holds us back from reaching it? If you’ve noticed, love goes hand in hand with the meaning of joy, so to reach it spread love.

Obviously don’t just tell random people you love them, but show them you have love in your heart. Don’t be afraid to do nice things. Be the person who’ll make a positive impact in one’s day. Have that person go back home remembering the small gesture you gave them. Allow them to be joyful.

Family and friends are those who should know they are appreciated by you. Doesn’t hurt to show it more. Do the little things for them. Don’t boast about the kind thing you’ve done, the greatest gifts are from those who are humble. Do it out of the goodness in your heart. I promise, it will make your kindness more enjoyable.

As years go on, and you establish the habit to spread kindness and love, soon your heart will be full of it. Continue to be the light in someone’s darkness and someone will be yours too. When you look back on the good you’ve done, you will have joyance. Enjoy those around you. Have joy.

252

7 - Charlene H: Zootopia’s Commentary on the Real World

 

Media Analysis

I watched the Disney movie Zootopia in theaters in March 2016. I am someone who loves Disney, mystery, and messages of inclusion, all of which Zootopia has. It is one of my favorite films due to its crime mystery plot and commentary on racial discrimination.

In Zootopia, race is represented through prey and predator. The film mainly follows two characters: protagonist Judy Hopps and deuteragonist Nick Wilde. Judy is a rabbit, while Nick is a fox.

When Nick tried to join the Junior Ranger Scouts as a child, he was bullied, beaten, and rejected solely because of his looks. Because of Nick’s traumatic interaction, he gave into the stereotype of foxes being “shifty and untrustworthy” and made it a part of his personality, as he felt that others wouldn’t let him be anything other than just that. This is an example of a self-fulfilling prophecy, which happens when a originally false belief leads someone to change their behavior in ways that confirm that belief. When applied to the real world, minority groups may carry out expectations when they feel they are stuck in the stereotypes they are labeled as. Negative stereotypes can influence the quality of life for some, as shown by Nick’s character.

Bellwether, a sheep, is the villain and cause of the film’s central mystery. She wants to create a social structure where prey animals are superior to predators. As a result, she secretly makes a serum capable of reverting civilized animals to their basic animal roots. By doing so, she plans to make prey animals view predators as a threat to society. This temporarily works after Judy erroneously claims at a press conference that the biology of predators is the cause of their “savagery,” driving the animals of Zootopia to discriminate against predators and believe they are naturally evil.

When people are faced with fear that eventually gets supposedly validated, their prejudices can morph into blatant discrimination. In Zootopia’s case, prey animals have an ingrained fear of predators due to biological history, and their ingrained fear being supposedly confirmed causes a frenzy. For example, Officer Clawhauser, a bubbly cheetah, is no longer the front desk employee at the police department after it is believed that a predator should not be what animals see when they walk in. Clawhauser is assigned a different job instead. This symbolizes minority groups in the real world who are denied jobs just because of their physical and biological differences.

Judy also learns about the bias she didn’t realize she held. She grew up thinking that predators were dangerous. She doesn’t consider the consequences her claims at the press conference would have on Nick. This reveals that in the real world, people may have deep-rooted prejudices in their subconscious. Rather than address what people know consciously, it is better to rewrite unconscious biases. The subconscious mind, after all, has more power than the conscious mind. Luckily, Judy admits she is not perfect. She is capable of feeling guilt and remorse for her actions, and she knows how to apologize and take responsibility for those actions. She is willing to rectify harm that she may unintentionally cause to others.

Overall, Zootopia shows the significance of tolerating differences. It also teaches the importance of connecting with others and identifying behavior that needs to be changed.

Word Count: 550

7 - Alejandro M: Are You Like Your Mom or Dad?

 

Getting compared to your parents happens to every person in this world. But they mostly compare you to your parents when you are usually at a young age. And they also usually only do physical features, like your eyes, nose, and mouth. But what about a person’s personality? And what about when they are in their teen years or somewhere around those years? 

I physically am more alike to my dad than my mom. But personality wise, I have a mix of both. Since I am usually compared to mostly my dad than mom, then we can start with how me and my dad are alike or different. If you know both of us well, then the first thing you can notice from both of us is our very calm, but sometimes too calm, personality. We both are usually chill with most things around us and can at times be a little too boring. I learned a lot about how to be one of the most boring people somebody can be with. We don’t like lots of noise, we don’t like to be very crowded, and we don’t like to have too much fun.

On the other hand, my dad is a jokester at times while I really don’t like jokes. I just grew up to be a very boring and not fun person, and when my dad would come up with his occasional jokes, I would usually just stare at him and tell him with my eyes to just be quiet. Excluding that, me and my dad are very alike to one another.

My mom and I are much different in our personalities. As I said before, I am very calm and at times boring. My mom is the exact opposite. She is energetic and wants to always bring the vibe up. This is something I can never be capable of doing. I just don’t have the energy in me to do everything she does to be so energetic. But one thing we are alike in is that we both at times can get very upset at something and just start yelling at everybody. 

Everybody is a unique person, but without our parents, we could’ve never had the personality each of us have right now.

Word Count: 376

7. Kaiyue L. - The Universe Is Random, So Is Your Luck.

"Everything happens for a reason."

In my experience, I hear this phrase the most when something hasn't worked out the way someone wanted, like a break-up, or a failed job interview. Even when that happens, most of the time people sugarcoats the real reason in order to feel less at fault. It's a way for us to comfort ourselves and move on, but not everything happens for a reason, sometimes life just sucks.  

I've always found it profoundly unsettling and exceptionally childish to accept that the purpose for life's hardship, disappointment, and misfortunes is to teach us an appropriate lesson that we have been "destined" to learn. A failed business, illnesses, the loss of a loved one, nightmares, natural disasters, each is excruciating in its own unique way. But, the idea that life's unfairness is somehow supposed to be justified by a scripted reason is apathetic and... well, ultimately lazy. 

I don’t believe things happen for a (personal) reason. If you get cancer, you get cancer. If you get hit by a truck, marry the wrong person, get laid off from your job because of a recession, or get trapped by a global pandemic. Things are just beyond your control and you don't really benefit anything from it half of the time. 

A more extreme example would be this: Imagine your doctor coming into the room telling you "I'm sorry that your 8-year-old son was paralyzed from the neck down by drunk driver, but everything happens for a reason." That sounds absolutely absurd.

While we should own up to mistakes we've made that account for a failure, often times bad things just happen. To believe otherwise condemns those less fortunate to having somehow deserved their fate. Worse, it can lead us to accepting injustice.

7- Antonio L: The Unreasonable Events of Life

 The Unreasonable Events of Life

Events that go on in everyone’s lives can be either predictable or unexpected. But what if there was a reason behind every event? 

The actions of others can sway a person’s choices they’ll make in the future. For example, a kid being told they’ll grow up to be a successful person has that positive motivation given to them to strive towards a better goal in their life, compared to a kid who’s told they can’t do much in the future, which will eventually lead to them not doing much or giving up a lot. 

Words mean a lot to people. It’s the means of constructive criticism that can make a person change something about themselves, no matter how small or impactful the statement. Of course, these words can be interpreted in many ways depending on who’s receiving the words or who’s giving the words.

Misinterpretation is the leading effect of this, and ignoring the words said can also occur. These all eventually lead to people committing actions, which all have their own personal goals, good or bad.

But what about things that don’t seem to have a source of reason. The Earth itself and human diseases are some examples of what I mean. The Earth always has weather depending on your region or location. The reasons for certain weather-related events like hurricanes, tornadoes and tsunamis can all be tracked in some way, giving it a reason to occur. But I’ve been beating around the bush, and I haven’t actually gone for the root yet, and that’s the “what ifs?” part or the effects/possible outcomes. 

Like what if a hurricane was heading towards your home, and you ended up homeless? There can’t be any reason for that. Or what if a tornado destroys the home of one of your family members? There’s no faith that happened for a reason.

All of this can be applied with human diseases as well. A person can make all the right choices in their life concerning their health, but they’ll still get an unexpected seizure in their sleep. 

I know this was a huge tone shift, but there’s no way that people can say events like these or ones that affect either them or family members directly happen for a reason. I’ve experienced loss of family members over the years, and I can say for sure that there really was no reason for them to go so abruptly. 

The best people are given for why unreasonable events occur are that it was up to fate, or something that’s highly reasonable, but not the actual reason. Events, mainly tragic ones caused by nature, happen without reason. It’s almost impossible to change the nature of our planet and the nature of all people on Earth, because that’s just how life goes.

 Living and human life in general can be interpreted in many ways, with some believing we have no purpose to be on Earth, a small planet part of a large galaxy full with planets that could possible have other civilizations, and some who believe that our purpose is to fix the errors of others made on Earth, making life equally best for everyone. 

Some choices are reasonable, to a certain extent, but to answer the question, I don’t believe everything happens for a reason.

Word Count: 548

7- Khiem D. : The Dapper, Deranged, Dastardly, Devilish, Satō From Ajin

 The Dapper, Deranged, Dastardly, Devilish, Satō From Ajin

Before we get acquainted with the gentlemen on the left I would like to point out that this was technically a show on Netflix therefore through a loophole I technically am writing about a character from a show. This is by no means an advert for you to go watch the show as it is a stain on what the manga offers so as usual read the manga, it’s great I promise. Satō or Hat (Yes very creative I know) is a man from Ajin, who possesses the power to reform through these ghosts called IBMs making him essentially immortal as everytime he dies, he is reset back to the point his body was when he gained the power. He is the main antagonist of the entire series and poses a great threat due to his inventive usage of his power like when being tranquilized he would cut off his own arm or straight up kill himself to negate the effects of the tranq. Along with that he has an elite military background, an ambiguous amount of black market assets, and the aforementioned IBM, which is essentially a second separate entity that is essentially bulletproof and able to act on its own. With this it makes him a powerful adversary to compete with our protagonists and some very well choreographed fight scenes.

I would be lying if I told you he was an extremely deep villain with a layered backstory but simply put, he is just an agent of chaos. Everything he does is to satiate his innate boredom as an immortal which is an interesting dynamic as every time he seems to have some action that contradicts this, the audience is left wondering if he is truly genuine at that moment or manipulating the game, as he puts it. He observes the world as a game in itself as an immortal, he essentially has a save file so to speak with no actual repercussions. This allows him to keep evolving, finding new ways to use his powers and essentially min-max his way through many situations. From the aforementioned resetting suicide to having his regeneration disintegrate objects, the concepts keep building onto itself making it a very entertaining read. If I had to put it simply he is like the Joker (before the sad clown Joker movie version), only really serving as an obstacle but man is he an entertaining obstacle.

Once again if you haven’t sensed a theme here, I really recommend reading this manga as it is severely underrated mostly due to it’s terrible adaptation. Words cannot describe my hatred for the adaptation as it is on Berserk levels of terrible adaptations. The art in the manga was so immaculately drawn that the sheer sin that most of the adaptation is mostly CGI hurts my soul. The way the author choreographed fights is reason enough, yet it boasts stunning visuals, a whole host of unique ideas (most of which comes from the gentleman above), and overall a pretty gripping action drama story. 

Word Count: 503

7-Krishna Clay: Your Life, Your Choice

 

Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? I could take up both sides of this argument, but one key word changes my answer. “Everything.” Everything doesn’t happen for a reason. I don't think everything happens for a reason because I think your choices will change your future. Although you don't control all situations you do control how you handle them. With most things you are at the mercy of the unforgiving world. A way I found to help myself feel more in control is to mainly worry about what I can control. 

The things in life you should worry about are the things you can control. A mindset shift that helped me become a lot happier of a person. It will make you feel like you are a lot more in control of your life and it makes it easier to get up and get what you want because you know that you can do it if you really want it. There might be obstacles but we live in a world where there is never only one way to achieve your goals. 

An example would be college football. This year because of COVID all teams were able to keep their seniors and extra 5th year instead of the usual 4 years. This led to not many people leaving the team which made it harder for high schoolers to get offers because there are less roster spots.  

I can’t control how college football decided to deal with COVID. Although it made it harder for me to get where I want to, from the college coaches I did talk to, I now know that I can play at a high level of college football and be successful there. I see my goal and because i believe that i can get there i only need to worry about how I'm going to get there, because the main route wasn’t an option for me i need to focus on what i do to get there whatever route that is. 

My point is that I could sit and pout about how COVID messed up my whole plan and blame my failure on that. Or I could get up, make a new plan, find a new way, and get where I want to be. Complaining will get  me nowhere so it’s pointless to feel bad for myself because then I am only killing my own dreams. 

Worry about what you can and don't let yourself get in the way of your dreams.

WC:407