10: Blu McCormick- My Room

My bedroom, my comfort place, my creative output, the place of my individuality. It wasn’t the most common for me to enjoy talking about my house. Growing up, and even still now, I never let people in on where I lived. Long story short, I had this irrational fear of people coming to my house and doing something inexplicable. I don’t know how this fear has come to be, however, I still love to share about place within my home's walls, especially my bedroom.

If I were to invite any of you to see my room, coming in would be quite the experience. For starters, my room is always freezing, and it’s not because the heating doesn’t work here. I keep a fan on blast 24/7 in there. Staying in colder temperatures has always been comfortable to me, so I’ve never seen it as odd, but now as I type this out, it’s a bit silly. The smell of my room is also notable too. That sentence may sound odd and even gross, but I ensure you that it’s a good thing. Wall plug-ins are a must in my room, and the smell of the spray I use each day has just come to stay. I’d describe this scent as fruit in general, since my wall plugins may be cherry or tropical, while my spray is berry. And finally, your eyes will be directed immediately to my back wall, which is covered entirely with ivy to created a fake plant wall. It’s super dark and rich in color, and it fits my theme perfectly! Now, that’s enough for the IMMEDIATE experience of my room…

Going along with the theme of wall decor, I have nature-themed posters scattered across the walls of this room. Butterfly prints, a larger tapestry categorizing insects, flower posts, and a huge array of small random things plastered up on these not-so-bare walls. While my room continues to get filled with more decorations, I still have to buy more and more. Just recently, my mom bought me this colorful terracotta frog that looks like it’s climbing a wall, so I HAVE to have that up too! I’m able to stick a lot of things on these walls still, and my ceiling is still pretty bare. I do have some hanging plants and other things hanging, but a lot of it is still bare!

Moving away from my smaller decor, my furniture can be what you’d expect. IKEA basics, including my white bed with built-in drawers and a trundle, my old white 8 drawer dresser, and a (you guessed it) white shag rug,  as well as some pieces from World Market, including my daybed and bedside table. My bed and daybed are decorated with fruit themed covers, my bed covered in a peach decorated comforter, and my daybed topped with a yellow pineapple futon (isn’t my decor so consistent?). I really like these pieces, they’re what I’m familiar with and perfectly fit the theme of my room. Fruity smell, nature-esque decor, what a perfect fit! 

Some final small detail to add would be the lighting and sound of my room, yes I know this blog is getting quite long, but my room! LED lights, fairy lights, and small decorative lights are sporadically placed all around my places. And I always have some sort of music playing, whether it’s on my silly little speaker, my TV, or from my room next door.

So there you have it, a tour of my room without confronting my out of pocket fear of inviting people over. I hope you can get a small sense of  where I live in, and can see my character in how I’ve designed it. I love my room, and I hope you smudge at least enjoyed it yourself!

Word Count: 632

10 - Grace B. Windshield Wipers, My Worst Enemy

This past weekend I discovered a new arch nemesis of mine. You would think it’d be a person or something harmful to me, but no, it's not. It's an essential object that wipes away the tears of the sky while driving, meant to enhance your vision of the roads ahead. You guessed it, windshield wipers. 

I was having a great day at work, making sandwiches, salads, and pouring huge amounts of soup in bread bowls. Time flew by and it was time to take my lunch break. I decided to make a 6 inch turkey sandwich with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, onion, and provolone cheese, and of course I toasted it in the oven. I grabbed a soda and a bag of chips and trotted to the car. I saw a friend and we talked for a minute, and with a funny grin on my face I sat in the driver's seat to prepare to eat the delicious masterpiece I had just concocted. Unfortunately it was extremely hot in the car, so I turned on the car then the AC and relaxed for a minute to enjoy the moment of silence. Then disaster struck.

Now something I forgot to mention is that I have my license, but unfortunately no car insurance. And the car I was sitting in? Yeah, that was my sisters. Technically I hadn’t driven since my license test back in October of 2021, it was now March 2022 and obviously my memory of the objects in the car were a bit foggy, so no judging. 

I’m not sure what exactly caused this tragedy, but suddenly the windshield wipers just turned on. Without a hesitation I clicked up and it stopped for a few seconds and *swoosh* the wipers went. And I tricked clicking again and again there was pause then *swoosh.* At this point my patience was not tested, but the annoyance began. Again and again I went clicking and *swoosh, swoosh, swoosh,* the wipers went. Now I was mad. The aroma of my delicious sandwich was already filling the car, my stomach growling, and the embarrassment I had of the people walking by seeing my struggle was just getting to me. At this point I was just clicking up and down, and the windshield wipers were just continuing to *swoosh.* I suddenly pulled it back and the windshield cleaner came out spraying the car. Then the wipers went spreading it around. I suddenly came to the conclusion that this was never going to be fixed. I was devastated then I did one more click and bam it stopped. No more swooshing. I was relieved.

In conclusion, you can stop the windshield wipers by putting the thing in its original position, that's what I googled anyway. I still have no clue where the original position is, so when tragedy strikes again, history will definitely repeat itself.

478

10 - Lilly T.: We Can Do It

Think of times when you or a character that you’ve seen or read about could have done something to help someone else who was in need. Were you able to help them? Was that character able to help them? Being brave doesn’t have to be something as extreme as risking your life in order to help another person or thing.

Standing up for what you believe is a simple, but also hard, form of bravery. Some people are not mentally prepared for opposing opinions, while others are scared to see how others will react to their statement. Being brave is an internal battle of conflicting emotions with yourself. However, it can also affect other people.

Extreme examples of bravery would be risking your life for another person or animal. Some may say they can easily risk their life for another person, but it’s not as simple as that. They might be able to say that, but can they really do it? Saying you can do something requires very little effort, but actually getting around to doing it, especially if it is something important, requires different amounts of responsibility and bravery depending on what you are trying to accomplish.

Bravery is not a trait that everyone has, but it is an important trait to have if you want to accomplish or protect something important to you. If you tell yourself you are going to do something, then go through with it. In times of crisis, bravery is definitely an important trait to have.

Word Count: 252

 

10 - Tyler B: Borderlands Greatest Villain

 

Anyone who has played Borderlands 2 knows exactly who I’m talking about, here’s some background info. Borderlands is a first-person looter shooter video game that is set on a chaotic planet called Pandora, Handsome Jack is the insane CEO of a company that technically owns the planet, but he wasn’t always like that. He had a wife and a daughter, who turned out to be a Siren (1 of 6 women gifted with superpowers in the whole universe) who turns out to be very valuable, as a man tries to kidnap her. During the chaos she uses her powers to activate 2 turrets to kill the kidnapper, but accidentally killing her mother, which sends Jack off the deep end, as he makes a personalized prison to keep his daughter in so she doesn’t hurt anyone else, but also uses her powers with technology to help execute his grand plan, to kill all the bandits on Pandora. Which seems like a somewhat reasonable goal, all the bandits on Pandora are crazy people abandoned and left for dead, there’s only one problem with that, he sees every living soul on Pandora as a bandit, meaning he wants to kill a entire planets worth of people, now do see the crazy part?

Getting into the main games, he hires the help of 5 vault hunter to help him find a vault (alien tech gates that lead to ultimate power) and throughout the events of the Pre-Sequel, Jack shows his first signs of insanity. Instance one, after the mayor of a mining town on Pandoras moon tries to attack Jack even after he said he would let the mayor go, Jack proceeds to kill the mayor, following this with the statement “woah, that felt kinda good”. Instance two, after being assisted by 2 legendary vault hunter and a group of scientists, after thinking that all the scientists are trying to betray him, he proceeds to toss them all out a airlock in space, again following this action with the statement “Damn, this feels good”. After many other events that don’t matter to Jacks story, he is betrayed and left for dead inside a vault, where he then escapes and kills the CEO of Hyperion, changing his name to Handsome Jack, names himself the new CEO, and starts his plan to destroy all life on Pandora.

Moving into Borderlands 2 I will summarize some of the events of the start of the game. Jacks daughter, Angel, has been told to help 6 vault hunter that he tried to kill earlier, until he tells her to betray them. After the events of Angels betrayal she then helps the vault hunter, for real this time, find a vault key that opens a vault that will summon a monster for Jack to use to destroy Pandora, as it is revealed that Angel is a siren that is guarding the key, we reach Jacks breaking point. Angel asks the vault hunters to kill her, as she has been trapped in a cage for 15 years of her life, Jack does not like this, because though his actions and the way he treats her says differently, Jack truly did care for his daughter and love her, and in his mind he was just protecting her from the dangers of life on Pandora. After the death of his daughter, we see a change in his mannerisms, before he would talk to the vault hunters and make jokes about them and just say random stuff, now, anytime he talks to them, he is deadpan and serious, they took the only thing that mattered in his life away from him and he wants to make them pay. Later on he gives a speech to the entirety of the planet, slandering the hunters for brutally murdering his daughter and how him, the real hero of the story, will end them, as he puts it, “because that’s what heroes do”. We now reach the end of the game, where the vault hunters defeat Jack, kill the guardian ( the monster Jack was trying to control), and then get a monologue from Jack about how he’s the hero, they’re the villains and that this isn’t how his story ends. Jack then is killed, ending his reign of terror over Pandora, toppling Hyperions massive corporate empire, and ending the story of one of video games greatest villains.

What makes Jack the great video game villain? To me it’s because he truly believes he is the hero, bringing peace to a lawless world, we see his noble goal turn into brutal bloodlust and rage as more in his life is taken away from him. Throughout the 2 games he is in we see the signs and cues of his psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies grow and grow until it’s too late to save him. He was the hero, but by the end of his life, he was most definitely the villain of his own story.

Word Count: 824      

10 - Charlene H: Uncertainty in a New Stage of Life

Prompt: Graduation is a major milestone. What does high school graduation mean to you?

I’m graduating in less than three months.

That’s crazy. I was 15 when the pandemic hit. Now, I’m almost 18.

I constantly hear juniors say “I’m 17? Whoa. It means I’ll turn 18 next year,” “It doesn’t feel like I’ll be a senior next year,” or even “I’m not ready to be a senior.” I understand why they say that. Even as I’m on the verge of turning 18, I still mentally do not feel like a senior. While I am not the same as my 15 year-old self, I feel like I should still be 15. It does not feel like high school is about to run out. It does not feel like I’m about to be an adult. In fact, I don’t want to be.

High school graduation, in a literal sense, means a person has earned all their credits in high school. It means receiving a diploma. But high school graduation isn’t just about that. It isn’t just about completing a K-12 education. High school graduation signifies both an ending and a new beginning. It means going into the next phase in life after a chapter in life has closed.

That’s what I’m afraid of. It causes some discomfort.

I only ever hang out with people at school. It saddens me knowing that I’m likely never going to see any of them again—the classmates I’ve grown up alongside since either elementary school or middle school as well as my friends. After high school ends, we’re all going our separate ways. We’re all growing up, maturing, and moving on. We’re all venturing off into unknown territories. 

New days come and they fade away. I don’t know what the rest of my life will bring, but the more I roam, the more I want to look behind and stay right where I am. Creating a new life after high school will be hard when I am accustomed to the lifestyle I have now. My class rank is 13 of 412 according to Aeries; I strive for the highest grades. I don’t find school enjoyable, but I am used to focusing on it. With me about to graduate, I need to figure out how to move forward to make sense of my life.

Graduation means the start of adulthood. It means having to pay bills, taxes, insurance. It means harsher consequences. It means working more than I ever had before. Graduation means I am no longer on the free trial of life. It means I have to start paying for the full version.

A future I scarcely know is about to arrive. I’m about to start a new chapter that hasn’t been written yet.

The ever-changing outside world in the rear-view mirrors is closer than it appears.

Word Count: 457

10. Kaiyue L. - Can't Help Myself

Last year, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu's art piece "Can't Help Myself" went viral on TikTok and Twitter. It first debuted in 2016 as a commission for the Guggenheim Museum in Venice, Italy. Now, it's the subject of widespread debate on social media platforms for the complex meaning behind this dystopian work of art.

"Can't Help Myself" was a robot arm with one specified duty and intention ---- to contain the thick, deep-red hydraulic liquid within a fixed area. When the sensors on the machine detected that the paint had strayed too far, the arms scooped it back into place, towards the middle of the area. At first, the robot would dance happily after every pulling back the spillage by swinging its arm around, many years later, it looks worn down and almost... hopeless. At this point, the spillage had become unmanageable as it grew over time, and the robot was slowly wearing itself down and becoming rusty due to the liquid. 

If you analyze it on an artistic level, you'll realize the sound of rusty metal screeching sounds a lot like screams of panic. It spent its days in a never-ending cycle between sustaining life and bleeding out (The hydraulic fluid almost looked like blood for its dark maroon color). It's a metaphoric representation of the average working-class today, drowning in more and more responsibilities in an attempt to stay alive and live miserably until our inevitable death. 

The arm finally stopped running just about 2 years ago, after working its entire life programmed to live out this fate. 

WC: 260

10 - Alejandro M: Challenging Yourself

 

Do you like challenges? Or do you like to work smarter and not harder? Do you like to be part of the pack? Or do you like to stand out? Are you more of a person who just gets on the escalator to not tire themselves for whatever they’re doing after? Or are you more of a person who challenges yourself and climbs up or down the stairs unlike most other people?

Most people would want to be like stairs so that they can feel special compared to others, but it can be hard to get outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself in life when most other people are not doing the same thing. Being like escalators is not a bad thing at all. Those people just work more efficiently than others and do just enough to succeed in their lives. When deciding whether to use the escalators or stairs, these people decide to use the escalators as there really isn’t any reason to work harder, like tiring yourself by going up the stairs, for something that the escalators can provide. 

But being like stairs can show the desire of a person who wants to challenge themselves in any little way. These people do things many people just decline to do to either make themselves a stronger person, or just to feel that small satisfaction of doing things that most people decide not to do. Being like stairs is more of a mentality and effort thing. Going up the escalators can be very tempting, but why not challenge yourself and go up the stairs for once.

I personally consider myself as mostly an escalator. I like to do what many people are doing, I really don’t challenge myself to my full potential, and I like to work smarter and not harder. I at times can show signs that I’m more like stairs than escalators, like times where I decide to do extremely more than what a teacher is expecting for an assignment, but I think many people, including myself, see me as more of an escalator than stairs. 

Word Count: 350