In this magazine, you will find drawings, photography, poems, short stories, and late-night ideas. We hope you enjoy it!
The moment that the sun hides or the moment a toddler stands up for the first time and starts walking. I guess everyone and everything is split into stages; those of a cycle such as the days, time, and years, and those of a new you or a new adventure. We all go through it eventually and, even though being a teenager might seem like the worst thing that could happen to us, we have to think about it as a stage that will shape us, a stage that we have yet to discover in-depth, a stage in which we can have this amazing adventure. We are all going through the same thing, and sometimes it’s good to have a friend there for us who can help us and guide us. I’m so fortunate to have amazing friends, and I hope you do too.
Julian Geldzweig Shienbaun
El espacio es muy vacío, como un cuarto oscuro, es grande como un castillo y verlo te hace muy inseguro.
Todo alrededor de ti es gigante y tú tan pequeño, te hace sentir importante, como si estuvieras en un sueño.
There he sat, the last man on earth in a room, and then he heard a knock on the door.
Sebastian Crosswell
Catalina Perez
Alexandra Ugalde
Manuela Bustamante
Victoria Jimenez - Alfaro
The sun shines in the vines
As the flowers bloom like a new moon
The birds sing to the new spring And rabbits hop in the crops
The water reflects the light
As the night arrives
The stars are ours
To see and seek
Connect the dots
Like a pot squeaks
Like a child asking for sweets
In midnight the wolf howl When the flight of an owl Takes space In place.
Nicolas Cajiga
Sofia Krallis
Alejandro Murat
Messi is the best and he is a champion, He is the best in the world, He scored a goal and the ball curled Then the team became champions.
The trophy was cold. It was big and it felt like nice gold, The other teams were wearing a wig And the trophy was big
This is the best soccer match I have seen And it smell like the grass beautiful and green The glory passed so fast like a dolphin swimming
That day Messi felt like winning
This is going to be a great story
Messi felt the glory
Maybe this poem is a little dramatic But I am telling you Messi is magic
At the end of the match he had to say goodbye But his uniform was as beautiful as the blue sky.
El fútbol se juega con balón con la inspiración en el corazón. En la cancha vi el mejor jugador ganando el ballon d’Or.
La mente está en el juego, con Cristiano Ronaldo en fuego. La final del Mundial termina con la precisa copa encima.
I woke up and realized you weren’t here I saw you and suddenly you just disappeared.
We were playing like kids in the park waiting for the day to turn dark. We saw the stars shine and shine And we thought it was divine.
Hugging is what we loved doing the stars we were perusing.
I loved every part of it even when you fell asleep, I watched as you dreamed deeply I wished you would forever keep me.
I woke up and realized it was just a fantasy, the best dream of my life though. I loved how it made me feel, that ecstasy, He was so amazing and he glowed.
I miss it, I wish I could go back. I will love you endlessly, Please never forget that.
Sunday morning you weren’t here, It’s hard to think when you disappeared. Time flies when you least expect it, I miss you still and always will. I can’t believe it happened the worst day of my life, Why god why? My birthday really? When I got the news I was really surprised, It felt as if I was going to die. You were my favorite person, Please come back.
Andrea Lopez
Diego Martinez
Santiago Woodworth
The game I am made is called Plumbo: Traveling Far. I originally started making the game to see if I could program it for Gameboy ( a 30-year-old console) with the same techniques developers used back then. It centers around the main character named Plumbo. Characters are on a quest to visit all of the locations of his home planet. The game is around 17 levels spread around five worlds and five boss battles. You need to run, jump, hide and climb to beat the game. It is a platform like Mario Bros.
George walked down the untidy, partly sunken Chicago sidewalks. There was a bit of snow on the edge of the pavement, up against the building walls. December was fast approaching. He was walking around the Loop, as he had just recently ended his shift. He was thinking about quitting his accounting job soon. Although he was extremely good at it, George hated it, and people thought he was boring. But he had created the incredible security software that encrypted his company’s data.
His phone rang. He dipped one of his oversized hands in his right pocket and pulled it out of the dark gray coat resting on his shoulders. He answered.
“Hi Julian! I’m just getting a taxi, I’ll see you in like 20 minutes,” he said into the phone speaker.
“Ok, but hurry up dude, the DJ just arrived and his music is sick!”
“Ok, see you soon.” Why did I agree to this? George thought regretfully. I don’t like parties.
He hung up and stroked his rugged brown hair. It was short hair that paired well with the stubble beard on his face.
The 23-year-old man had broad shoulders and a symmetrical face. Most would call him handsome, but no one cared about him enough to do so. George only really knew Julian, his college friend, who desperately tried to get him to talk to people. His brown, worried eyes, matching his hair, followed a bright yellow car that drove around the corner. George swiftly raised his right arm and yelled, “Taxi, over here!”
He walked over to where the vehicle stopped, illuminated by the shining street lamps in the dark sky.
“Hello,” the driver said, “where would you like to go tonight?”
The driver accelerated as soon as he was given the party’s address. George hunched. The driver is wearing a face mask, is he one of those germaphobes? He thought, frowning. His mother had told him to be careful of weird people like that. She had also told him not to hunch.
After about five minutes, the yellow 2013 Skoda Octavia made a left turn. Julian’s friend’s house was to the right. “Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I think you made a wrong turn,” George said, trying to hide his annoyance.
“I know,” the driver said. He was a thin man, taller than George, about 5’8 by his estimations, although it was hard to tell while they sat. George was only 5 feet and 3 inches. George was nervous.
“Excuse me?” he said, failing to hide his anxiety. “Where are we going? I would like to get off here, thank you.” George began to sweat.
“I can’t let you do that,” the driver calmly responded. He had brown hair, similar to Georges, but a bit darker. He hadn’t gotten a good look at his face yet.
“I demand to get out of this car right now!” George yelled. He was panicking.
“Can you just shut up? You’re gonna help me with something, I’ll fill you in later.”
George had seen documentaries of kidnappings, and he did not want to be a part of one. A phone rang. The driver cursed under his breath and answered his phone.
“Hi B. Yeah, he’s here. Right now? Shouldn’t we do some recon first? I guess you’re right: I did work at that warehouse for a while.”
The car stopped at a red light. I can leave. Did this maniac lock the doors? I’m done for if he did. What if he hurts me? George was considering his options. He wasn’t sure if the driver had a weapon, but he was too afraid to find out. It’s now or never. Okay. I got this. He took a deep breath and prepared to make his move.
The light outside turned green and the car accelerated. George missed his opportunity. Annoyed at himself, he decided to pay attention to his captor’s call.
“Fine, I’ll go back to the apartment after the data is revealed. We got this, besides, I already know exactly what to do with the computer.” The driver hung up, awkwardly cleared his throat, and accelerated. Data? Computer? Maybe he wants to rob the Apple Store, but that would be too difficult, and it’s not even in this direction. Why me? What does he want with me? Does he even know who I am? Did he pick me up specifically? How would he even know where I was? And who’s this “B” person? So many questions, so much to think about. But suddenly, it all clicked. Worblee, the online technology company, had a warehouse a couple blocks from the taxi. It would be the perfect heist; the warehouse isn’t too populated since it’s just used for shipping out products. They have some incredibly advanced computers. George was
quite sharp, although not many people knew that about him. Well, it mostly all clicked. He still didn’t know why he was needed. He lost his train of thought as the car drove through a conveniently broken fence into a large parking lot. The driver had also turned off the headlights.
“Stay here,” he said as he stepped out and made a call on his phone.
George complied and peered out the window. He was parked on the edge of a big parking lot with another smaller area filled with cargo crates and shipping containers to the side of a building, sectioned off by an open gate. He could not see how far it went. Said main building was a wide, two story concrete box with the Worblee logo carved into the side. George was right, but he wasn’t too content about it. The driver ended his phone call about a minute later and pulled George out of the car just before taking a small hiking backpack out of the glovebox.
“Stay quiet or we’ll have trouble,” his captor said in a low, stern voice.
The pair crouch walked into the area with the containers and boxes where they had more cover. The driver lifted a small box and picked up a key from under it, then promptly kept moving. George was somewhat intrigued, and oddly trusting, though his fear hadn’t changed much. Everything is already prepared. This must be big, George thought. The broken fence, the key under that box, I’ve never seen anything like this before. They stopped at a door that, when opened by the key, let them into a large room with all sorts of boxes and products with a hallway to the right. The lights were off. George didn’t have much time to study his surroundings before the other man pushed him down behind a large wooden box that covered him from the flashlight shining in their direction. The person with the flashlight, probably a security guard, continued his route and kept walking. George had barely registered what was going on before they went into a room labeled “Display Room” down the hallway.
The driver breathed heavily and let out a sigh of relief as he took a flashlight out of his backpack. When George’s dark eyes adjusted to the light he saw a smaller room with different TV and PC models on standing desks made of elm gray wood and stainless steel supports.
“Alright, listen up,” the supposed taxi driver said. “This big computer here is powerful enough to-”
“Hold on!” George rightfully interrupted, “Who are you?
Why do you want me for your robbery? I’m tired of being in the dark!” His face was red.
The driver gave no thought to George’s sudden outbreak and began talking quickly. “I can’t tell you much, they could be listening. If I’m correct, you gave an accounting firm the ability to hide anything they did thanks to your software.”
“Yeah, so?”
“They have been using it to embezzle a small percentage of money for hospital saving funds through this company every time someone puts in money. They’ve stolen 196 million dollars.” George’s eyes widened. “I can’t tell you who I work for, but we don’t have the budget to buy the hardware needed to hack them and reveal it to the public. You made it, so you should know how to do that. You have about 30 minutes before a guard comes by here and takes us to jail.”
As George worked he reminded himself that this was the right thing to do. They took his work and used it for evil, which did make him mad. He told himself it was the best way to go about this, but was it?
A couple days later articles and newspapers all over the country came out with shocking headlines: Large Accounting Firm Lies about Everything and Stole 200 million from Hospitals or George Anderson’s Market-Breaking Security Software Exploited for 200 Million Dollars in Embezzled Money. George told all the news outlets he was relieved to hear that an anonymous vigilante organization hacked the company and revealed their secrets, but the authorities were still looking for someone.
About a week went by before George and Julian were hanging out at the park. “You got so lucky dude. If it went any other way the company would have blamed you or something, but it worked out and now you’re famous!”
“Yeah,” George responded, “Thank goodness.” He sighed. Such a crazy thing it was, that night. Helping out a mysterious vigilante, destroying his own work, evading security! Hey, maybe he’d be popular now. His phone rang.
“Hello?” George said into the microphone.
“Hi,” the familiar yet distorted voice responded. “I hear a big medicine manufacturer is spreading some fake miracle pill. You in?”
George smiled.
Cuando estaba en el camión, vi la razón.
Del niño que quería sentarse con su amigo, él era un ardido.
Y sin sentido, él hacía mucho ruido. No obedecia. Él niño solo sonría.
Malcolm Gordon
Isabella de la Macorra
Seeking after the warm sun was the sunflower Sitting on the kitchen counter as it spun It changed to be slower with the seasons The flower grinned toward the sun winning its heat
Ah, the sunflower!
Who counts the steps of the sun
The same cycle is done, showing no glow Looks away with desire, for where it wishes to go And her cycle is done when the snow has come
Renee Ochoa
The dog is pretty, cute, and deep, But he has promises to keep, After cake and lots of sleep. Sweet dreams come to him cheap.
He rises from his gentle bed, With thoughts of kittens in his head, He eats his jam with lots of bread. Ready for the day ahead.
We’ve laughed at terrible jokes, ‘til we cried And sometimes our laughter could not be denied Our bond has grown stronger with every passing day And now we must face the challenge of being far away
I remember that time when we danced in the rain We were at camp and so we ran to a tent We laughed so hard and wished to do it again “Best Friends Forever” we said what we meant
I wish to go back to those days at the beach
So many wonderful memories, some I wish to repeat We ate ice cream out of the pint
And we’d rock out to Taylor Swift
As we lay down in the sand, feeling the tan on our skin
I love the days when we tell our friends we’ve already made plans
Little do they know it’s just watching Outer Banks
We’ll binge watch as we eat snacks
And dance ‘til the morning light
We’ve laughed so hard for hours on end Sharing secrets with our best friend Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months Our bond grows stronger with each passing month.
Julia Mendez
The sun disappeared
Like the keys on a stressful day
The snow was falling from the sky
When I fell into the snow, It felt like the clouds were under me
It was as light as the sand and as cold as ice
It was ice melting in my hands, burning
It burned like lava in an active volcano
At the same time, A cold knocked on my door
Like an angry dad after the Formula One
It was as strong as the Rock
And as cold as Antarctica
After a while, the cold left
He went out of my house as a cloud
The clouds looked like snow
And the snow as clouds
Everything was black and white
I stood up
No more white, only light
Everything gray and green
I found my keys.
Carlos Martinez
When I am in English class, Time goes fast And I don’t notice how it passed, English class is the best, Because I don’t get stressed.
It’s not like any class, My teacher is the best teacher Because she lets us have a blast, I don’t know what I prefer English or being a bear.
When I look at old pictures from my old place in Germany
I feel all the air plummet out of my body like a waterfall dropping into a lake.
I think about the good and bad in the place My mouth goes dry as a desert and when I think back I remember the birds talking and chatting and the grass rippling through the landscape. The smell of wild berries, apples and cherries drifts into my nose I can almost taste the fruit in my mouth right now.
I hear the laughter and shouting of the children that went to my old school
I feel like a stone was thrown at my heart and it shatters when I think about these things.
My face is as wet as an ocean right now never drying up. Every time I wake up I feel dismal when I think about missing Germany
I feel a ray of hope, like sunlight, when I think that I will go back next summer I hope I can return so I can stop feeling dismal and so I can stop feeling like a ocean that has been dried up and doesn’t have water anymore.
Aileen Garcia
Alan Kracer
Alejandro Murat
Alexandra Ugalde
Anabelle Cortinas
Andrea Lopez
Carlos Martinez
Constanza Villela
Catalina Perez Unda
Diego Flores de Nova
Diego Martinez
Isabella de la Macorra
Joannay Narvaez
Juan Francisco Macedo
Julia Mendez
Lucia Martinez
Malcolm Gordon
Manuela Bustamante
Nicolas Cajiga
Renee Ochoa
Sebastian Crosswell
Seoyeon Lee
Sofia Krallis
Sofia Marquez
Valentina Taboada
Valeria Lopez
Victoria Jimenez-Alfaro
Aileen Garcia
Andres Garcia Via Catalina Perez
Diego Flores de Nova
Santiago Woodworth
Victoria Jimenez-Alfaro
Zoe Wright
Ms. Jenifer Sosa
Ms. Jessica Evers
Middle School Administration
The Copy Center
Ms. Ana Gamez
Ms. Betsy Been
