11 - Grace B. Bumblebee

 Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays of the year. I loved the spirit, the costumes, the parties, the tricks, but most importantly the treats. Growing up in a Christian household my mom never wanted us to be anything remotely scary, so any ghosts, vampires, or zombies were all ruled out. So one year when I was 4 years old I decided to be a bumblebee.

I’m not sure why I decided to do that, but I did and it was the most iconic decision I’ve ever made. I had these antenna headbands and to a four year old me, that really played a part into making me appear as a real bumblebee. I had worn huge yellow wings that were literally bigger than my whole body, and my body suit was of course black and yellow. I genuinely believed at the time that I looked so good that I was making other kids jealous. Looking back now they definitely weren’t jealous of a small, Christian girl running house to house and grabbing handfuls of candy when the sign only said “Please Take One.” But I still convince myself to this day that they were.

Being a bumblebee was the only costume I was truly passionate about. I wore the same costume for 3 years in a row because I loved it so much. By the time I was through with it, you couldn’t even tell what it was and even its colors started to fade out. Had that costume still been okay to wear, I can guarantee it would’ve been worn for more years to come. 

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11- Tyler B. Be Your Worst Self

“Be your worst self” this is the motto of Spooky High, the location where the game Monster Prom takes place, Monster Prom is a comedy dating game where you play as one of 4 monsters trying to take one of your eight most charismatic classmates, who are also monsters. Though the game seems like it would just be a silly dating game to play with friends, but it actually shows how life continues even when things don’t go your way, and how all these classmates are more than just datable monsters. Starting with my first statement, if you don’t end the game with the right standings with the monster you ask to prom, you will get rejected, and though the ending says that your life gets worse after that, the end credits say different. While the credits roll we see polaroids of all the characters having fun together, regardless of who you chose to play or date. The end credits are telling a story of how even though the game treats prom like the biggest event of your life, it is really only just a small blip in your life, and how even the people you get rejected by are still your friends regardless of what happens. The game is telling us that high school is just the beginning and end of a chapter in life.

Besides taking one of the monsters to prom, there are many different endings you can get, some are funny, like helping someone punch the sun, yes, the literal sun (he does it too), or helping a ghost girl create the perfect party. But there is at least one ending for each character that helps them become a better person, and it addresses a multitude of real problems people have, i will now provide some examples. Damien LaVey, a arson loving Demon whose dads are the kings of the 8th circle of hell, and want him to become the general of their armies, but Damien doesn’t want that, you discover that is aggressive and arson-prone boy is actually soft on the inside who has a dream of becoming a hair and makeup artist/stylist. And if you choose to follow this story you help him stand up to his parents and discover in the end that his dads just want him to be happy, making him the stylist for their armies instead. You help him be honest with himself and give him the courage to admit to his parents his true feelings. 

Monster Prom is a great game for so many reason I can’t list them all, with many great characters that I can’t list all of them either. But maybe you’ll see a character analysis on some of them in the near future, maybe, who knows?

Word Count: 462

11 - Lilly T.: Crease, Fold, Repeat

 

People use sticky notes for all sorts of things. Some people use them to write down reminders, while others use them as bookmarks for books or as a placeholder in a textbook. I use sticky notes as a way to set reminders for myself, but I use them more often for folding origami. I know it sounds like a waste of paper, but it’s what I enjoy doing.

Usually, I would have to cut up larger pieces of paper into somewhat even squares to be able to make some origami. With sticky notes, I’m able to get perfect squares without any effort needed. I usually strive for the closest I can get to perfection when it comes to folding origami, and the perfect squares sticky notes give me contribute to this goal. There’s also something satisfying about the sticky part of the sticky note keeping the paper together when I fold it. 

The origami I make from sticky notes remind me of all the origami I’ve made for friends and teachers these past few years. I know of some teachers who have kept my origami taped to their monitor, or friends who just keep it in their instrument case or on top of their desk. I enjoy what I do because of these people, and I will continue to do so. I don’t fold as much origami now compared to how much I used to, but I still do some in my free time.

Sometimes, something as ordinary as a sticky note or another everyday object can become something that shapes you in any way.

Word Count: 265

11. Kaiyue L. - Embrace Your Mistakes

​“If you were born with the weakness to fall, you were born with the strength to rise.”- Rupi Kaur

In school, we're taught to fear the fall. We are taught to not make any mistakes and fear the consequences. Specifically, it's the feeling of shame, and our natural response is to avoid its source. If we say something embarrassing, we hide our face. If we get a bad grade, we hide the test away. Unsurprisingly, that's the worst move to make if you ever want to get better. 

As students, we should learn to embrace our mistakes. While we should strive to do the best we can, we should take time to acknowledge the fall. It's okay to be vulnerable, to fail, to mess up, or to wish that you could take it back. There is actually no weakness in failing, only humanness and vulnerability. Without it we would never have true growth, and we would never feel the highs of the rise.

Even I am still climbing my way out of my fall, and everyday I am learning my own strengths and discovering an inner light I never knew I had. I'm not ashamed of making mistakes, I just pick myself right back up and restart where I left off.

Wc: 256

11- Alejandro M: Postseason Baseball

 

It could be your birthday. It could be the holiday season. It could be the end of the school year. Or it could be October and playoff baseball time. Once the calendar flips to October, you can feel the energy coming from the MLB season as its regular season is wrapping up with the postseason around the corner. The excitement and energy of postseason baseball is all a sports fan needs. Just one month of the most exciting baseball you’ll see. Just one. But that’s all you need.

My Giants, unfortunately, have not been able to play in the playoffs much in the last 5 years. Just once have we made it in those years and that was last year. But last year gave me a flashback of all the feelings I used to get growing up watching Giants postseason baseball. I grew up only 15 minutes away from the ballpark and I grew up in a golden era of Giants baseball. Giants winning baseball in October was the reason why I fell in love with baseball and sports. Last October, even if we only played in 5 games, it brought me so much joy, anxiety, and excitement. I went to my first Giants playoff game in October and that energy in the ballpark will never be topped. It was by far the best sports game I’ve been to as we beat LA in a 4-0 shutout. 

But you also don’t have to have your favorite team in the playoffs to love postseason baseball. From 2017-2020, I had to watch October baseball without my favorite team, but I still enjoyed the most I could. You can feel the energy of other stadiums from your TV as the stadiums are packed to see their teams play for the crown. I would always enjoy watching the Dodgers and Yankees choke year after year, while also rooting for some underdogs to shake up the playoffs.

Everything about October baseball is all I can ever ask for. I was lucky enough to experience my Giants in the playoffs at least one more time before I would head off to wherever life takes me after high school. Even though the Giants lost in the first round, I still loved every second of it this season. This is the baseball that, in a way, made me the person that I am today and made me become so passionate about baseball and many other sports. October baseball is all I ever need.

Word Count: 415

11-Krishna C: Power

Doubt, such a small word but it holds so much power and most people don’t even know it. There is a saying that I think about often. I think about it when I am trying to complete an assignment, I think about it during practices or weightlifting, and I think about it during  conversations with everyone I talk to.

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you will be correct” That quote I think is so powerful because it opens the mind to the idea that it controls more than most people think it’s able to. You have already failed a task if you go into it with the mindset that you won’t be able to accomplish it.

Going into a scenario with the confidence that you will accomplish whatever task is in front of you will more often than not make it come to reality. Now I know that it sounds cheesy and fake but if I had to give an example that hits close to me it would be in weight lifting, now I know that this isn’t an easily relatable topic but hopefully I do a good enough job explaining it. 

When I am attempting a personal record for any lift, this scenario has happened to me time and time again where if I pick up the weight and think to myself “damn this heavy” I have already failed. Although if i try again but this time i tell myself that I can do it and i actually believe it then more often than not i am able to accomplish it. 

Now I know that sounds like I'm trying to sell an idea but my point is that mindset for me is very important, with anything in life when I believe I can do it, I do it. The doubt in your mind is so powerful, but on the flip side, believing in yourself will have the same power.

 Always stay positive even when failing, giving up will never get you anywhere in life. 

WC-340

11- Khiem D.: Hardcore Henry: The Art Of Action

 Hardcore Henry: The Art Of Action

Hardcore Henry is a 2015 action movie following the protagonist quite literally as it is a first person movie. It is about an amnesiac cyborg man who wakes up in a Russian Lab which then has to save his wife from a telekinetic albino. Yes the plot is stupid, but thankfully we aren’t talking about it we are talking about how the director perfectly captures the heart of action movies. He achieves this by combining great choreography, spectacularly crazy setpieces, and an over the top feel.

Let’s start off with the main premise, the first person camera which immerses us into the choreography. And what a glorious display of choreography as every movement feels visceral as Henry stabs a person, we stab the person, when he Assassin’s Creeds somebody we feel the force behind it. If it isn’t entertaining why do it right? That’s the whole point of action movie choreography and that’s what the director does by employing his expertise as he had previously shot other projects in the same first person format. He also has a background in parkour and has a moderate understanding of firearms so pretty much the core of most action.

Then we have the environment in which Henry and us experience as we have the near limitless urban landscape of Moscow, Russia. Word of warning, if you're afraid of heights, this is magnitudes worse then most movies because of the first person as Henry scales buildings, parkours along the tops of bridges, and generally gets tossed like a ragdoll a ton. This all builds to create a fresh ever changing arena for him to progress through, even once through a forest and abandoned factory.

Now we get to the main show, how incredibly unrealistically crazy everything is as there really is not an important plot. Everything happens just to make the journey from beginning to end entertaining, forcing the audience to turn off their brains to just bask in the ultraviolent media, like viewing a gladiatorial fight. For example, the albino guy I mentioned is never developed further besides the bad guy who happens to be crazy powerful, being able to toss a tray to embed in another person’s skull. Then there’s Jimmy the immortal sidekick (I’m serious) who is easily the best character, who dies like ten times in the movie only to reappear as another persona. If you’re ever looking for a movie just to have fun and if your not squeamish about gore, nudity, and overall debaucherous content, give Hardcore Henry a try, it’s literally free on YouTube for some reason.

 Wordcount: 430

11 - Lucas V: The Best Homemade Halloween Costume

 

    The week before Halloween I had a great idea of what I should wear. The person I wanted to become was a character from Clash of Clans and Clash Royale which were very popular mobile games at the time by a company named Supercell. I had worn this costume on Halloween in 8th grade which I believe was in 2017/2018 ish. I had the weekend before to go shopping and design what I would wear. This costume was all custom so my mom and I would have to go shopping at art stores like Jo-Anne and Michales. This was a pretty good DIY costume since I did all the cosmetics and my mom would do the fabric designs. I remember spray painting the shovel and the helmet in my backyard.

    I wore this to school but unfortunately, I got the shovel confiscated because I didn’t know you could bring those to school. The thing was that I didn’t use it as a weapon and plus I had a helmet that wasn’t taken away. Everyone at school was amazed at how the costume came out and people actually knew the reference to the game. There was even foam coal that would pin onto my backpack making the costume like the troop in the game. With this fabric with the foam coal, my mom designed it so that I could actually lift it up and get my supplies from my backpack.

    
    Later that night before I went out to trick or treat, I made some adjustments to the costume. Instead of having a piece of orange paper for the flame, I made a hole in the pool noodle(the housing) and put in those battery-operated candles to give it that sort of real effect. This was another great idea as during the night people can see the flame and it makes me stand out from the crowd of kids in the neighborhood. I still have the costume and I might wear it again next year with some adjustments so that it can fit me.

Word Count: 343

11- Antonio L: Second Guessing, Again, and Again

 Second Guessing, Again, and Again

Still stuck on doing something? DOUBT you’ll get it done on time or have the motivation to do it? How can someone have doubt?

To put it simply, it’s like letting yourself fail before you let yourself start. Telling yourself that you could make this decision now to quit so you don’t have to face the embarrassment of failing in the future.

A longer explanation of doubt involves the process of overthinking. It’s nice to strategize how you want to do things in life, but overthinking means thinking about the minimal things that could mean a lot to you and how things would progress after that, mainly affecting you and your future.

There’s a lot of doubt in the people around you as well. You don’t know it because they’re probably overthinking the simplest things as well, like starting a conversation, wondering things like, “What if they don’t want to talk?”, “How can I keep the conversation going?”, “What do I gain from talking to this person?” or “What if now’s not a good time to talk to them?”

High school in my eyes will always be about how people try to build a positive image for themself so no one can really hate them. Because they doubt, they doubt that anyone thinks of them as any good. 

But we don’t know that. We don’t know how everyone feels about one another, and the absence of an answer will create more doubt in a person’s mind, doubt that’ll carry on to other things, like public presentations. No matter how big the audience, or how important the topic you’re presenting, people will begin to imagine the worst possible outcome and consider it more probable than the best outcome they can think of at that moment. 

This builds missed opportunities for people, as they don’t allow themselves to experience the mistakes and embarrassment for themselves, instead of in their head. In the absence of communication, people will spend most of their time in their own minds, becoming comfortable with how they think of the world around them, mashing fantasy and reality. 

That’s why it’s best to allow yourself to do some things normally, without an overly complicated plan. Instead, just a simple one that can be improvised along the way. Something that doesn’t require a lot of thinking. Because a person who thinks a lot is a smart person, but they’re also a very cautious person, usually cautious about the wrong things. 

I myself doubt a lot, also for the wrong reasons as well, though you probably didn’t know that because you already have your own image of me, but here I am, shaping your image of what you think about me, and I won’t know how I’ll get viewed for it. 

Almost makes me doubt whether to mention or write about this, but I don’t care as much. Choosing what to care about and how to move on past that can allow you to doubt less. Building confidence in yourself is one way to help as doubt can also be connected to self-esteem issues. Conformity in what you do normally can allow you to be at your best, perform at your best. 

Moral? Don’t care about every little thing so much, but that’s up to interpretation, and I wonder how this’ll be interpreted, but I don’t have to worry since it’s not in my control., best I can do is hope I actually wrote something good enough to deserve a good interpretation.

Word Count: 581

11 - Charlene H: Selling Myself Short

Word of the Week: Doubt            

Feelings of self-doubt are normal, occurring when a person experiences a level of uncertainty about an aspect of who they are.

Usually, people learn to overcome self-doubt, and sometimes, short-term self-doubt is a good thing. Self-doubt can cause people to reflect on, question, and challenge themselves in order to improve. It can even be a source of motivation.

However, self-doubt can also be a vicious parasite, slowly eating away at someone and making it nearly impossible for the person to explore inner peace. 

I’m going to share something most people don’t know about me. From fifth grade to the end of middle school, I was plagued with self-doubt that consumed parts of my life. Sixth grade was one of the best school years of my life, I’m not going to deny that, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t constantly doubting myself.

Failure was one of the main reasons for my excessive self-doubt. Every time I made a mistake, no matter how minor it was, I was always embarrassed and I overanalyzed, and this happened daily. I sometimes spent hours after school thinking about mistakes I made and how I could’ve prevented them. It fueled those feelings of doubt that liked to shoot me down. I couldn’t see good qualities in myself; I was entangled in the idea that I was stupid and annoying.

But when I was in seventh grade, I discovered a quote: “If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.” Though this isn’t something I abide by, it was still eye-opening for me. Now, the quote obviously does not apply to major life events such as a financial setback or moving into a new place. It’s more specific to trivial things. Even with overthinking habits, I surprisingly had never once considered that most of what I had worried about became insignificant as I went from one worry to another. The moment I read the quote, I tried to remember the trivial mistake I was worrying about a year prior, but I couldn’t.

Currently, self-doubt doesn’t rule my life the way it did years ago, but I am still affected by it. My mind often becomes fixated on events where I feel I am not confident in my abilities, which gives me freeze responses and makes it hard for me to concentrate.

I am still learning that too much doubt can hold me back from my performance. The only antibiotic to the infections of self-doubt is self-belief, and it takes courage to keep going up against self-doubt and not succumbing to it.

Word Count: 434