Huntley HS Voice Feb 22 2019

FEBRUARY2019|VOLUME22|I SSUE5

This is what it feels like.

WHAT IT FEELS LIKE...

TO SHARE OUR STORIES a letter from the editors:

This month The Voice presents something different. With thousands of people who contribute to the community and culture of Huntley High School, there are thousands of stories for us to tell. Though our unique experiences have shaped who we are today, we want to recognize that they don’t define us. Whether we live the life of a high school video game streamer or a father recovering from an alcohol addiction- we’re all pieces of the community. We’ve all walked the halls of Huntley High School and there is value in all of our stories.

Inspired by Esquire Magazine, this is the “What it feels like” issue.

TO BE A STREAMER

Jaryd Dixon

to stream from about 4 to 8 p.m. of course I tried my best. When I or so each time I go live. And then ended up winning that next game, Interviewed by Kyle Abruzzo I try to stream around five hours he sent in a $50 donation to me.

I have played video games for over the weekends which ends up This was really big at the time the majority of my life now, and as being mostly on Saturdays. because I just started to get popI grew up, I started to gain interest Sometimes my schedules flucular and it really helped my grow in YouTube. People I would watch tuate for the weekends, so I might bigger. started streaming and that led me switch up the day if I have too. I Streaming has meant so much to want to entertain people with personally love being a streamer to me these past two years, it’s my gameplay. because I have regular always like my own I mainly stream Fortnite, which viewers that come in “Streaming little escape. No is a battle royale game and I on a daily basis and has meant so matter how stressed choose this game to stream bewe kind of developed I am from school, much to me cause it’s very popular and I am a friendship where we or how down I’m just very good at it. these past know each other wel feeling, I know I can Watching a stream is more These viewers just go to my computer two years, interesting and a lot more fun come in and then it and get on any game it’s always if you are watching somebody gives me a goal to try and stream it with who is good at the like my own friends. to make “I don’t know their day gameplay instead of I just have a really little eswatching someone better, no fun time talking what I would cape.” who is bad. It could matter the with my chat and do without be boring and less reason interacting with streaming, it JARYD DIXON entertaining. they came everybody. I don’t I started streamknow what I would has brought so to watch ing about two do without streaming, it has many amazing me stream. years ago, but I just They know they brought so many amazing people people and recently started can come to my and memories into my life. streaming on a conmemories into stream and I will If you are interested in streamsistent schedule. entertain them and ing or have any questions, feel free my life.”

I do plan to conwe can all get a good to ask me whenever you see me! tinue to go on with laugh. One time, I stream on twitch and the url is JARYD DIXON this for as long as I there was a guy who twitch.tv. My username is Jelpossibly can. I try to came into my stream lyRZN so you can find me at www. stream every other and he challenged twitch.tv/JellyRZN weekday, starting on Monday, then me to win the next game. He said Wednesday, and lastly Friday. I try he would donate some money, so 4 THE VOICE FEBURARY 2019

Z. Isenegger HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 5

TO COMPETE IN PAGEANTS

Liv Lorenzo

wanted to as well. If I didn’t win Huntley, I think I still would have competed in county just for the experience.

Interviewed by Madison Barr At state, I was the youngest contestant, so that was very intimidating, walkI had a really close friend named Wiing into a room of 71 beautiful girls and nona, and she competed in pageants and knowing I’m the baby. But in all, I mean, was my youth group leader at my church. it was so stressful.

She thought it would be fun if we could I’m not a morning person and you had do one together. So I tried it out and I to be up at 4 a.m. every day, but you are ended up placing top five; I got third runexpected to do all these things, and you’re ner-up my first try, so it kind of hooked held to a timeline, so it’s stressful, but beme and then I came back and I ended up tween all the stress, it was the best week winning Miss Teen McHenry County. of my life. I mean, I cannot stress enough Competing for the first time was a lot how much these girls are role models to of nerves. My mom was a former Miss me, just being the youngest one and how Wisconsin, so she had kind of been living much I look up to them. We help each through me through [my] first pageant other grow; it’s definitely not one-sided. and showing me the ropes. Honestly, it Every pageant has been different was a lot of learning what pageantry is that I’ve done so far. Every one kind of and you can’t really learn that without has their own way of doing things, but being thrown into it. And once I was, I for the main part, it’s a lot of bonding. was hooked.

Honestly, like my best friends have really It’s not as much of learning how to come from these pageants and I’ve gotten walk, and learning how to do all that. It’s really close with girls of a wide range of trying to find out who you are and trying ages, like all the way to 24 at state, and to find the best version of yourself that it helped me network and connect and you want to show and who you want to grow. So it’s definitely opened a lot of truly be. And setting that goal in pagdoors for me that I would not have had eantry, like what kind of queen you want without a title. to be and your platform, it helps you While you don’t necessarily don’t have become the woman who you want to be to have a platform for a Miss Huntley so fast and it helps you mature; it’s really and county level, but I did do my speech great. on distracted driving for Miss McHenry When I had gotten third runner-up at County. My younger sister, she was hit Miss Teen McHenry County my first by a car and so I told my perspec-tive, time, I just thought it was so much fun, my family’s perspective, on what that and I heard that Miss Huntley applicants does and how fortunate we are to have were coming up. And I was like, ‘oh, I her, but how unfortunate it is for people had so much fun last time, I might as who don’t survive things like that. I am well.’ So I ended up winning and when considering going to Miss Illinois again you win a Huntley title or Lake in the in June for the Miss America system Hills, you have to go to county, so I went and my platform then, I was thinking of to county and I ended up winning, and doing more environmental issues. then I got thrown into state. So it was My reaction photos from winning are almost like you had to keep going, but I 6 THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2019

the funniest thing in the world. I mean, it was just complete shock because you work so hard towards something and the honor that’s felt in that moment is surreal. The fact that you are standing next to all these beautiful women who have such great things to offer, but the judges thought that you would represent your town and your county the best, and they thought that everything you have to say and do is what this title needs and should be.

I just felt so honored and so respected. You really have time to reflect on yourself and it’s more like, ‘okay, what can I do now for everybody? I have this, the pressure’s on.’ You have to be held to the standards that the judges have set for you now.

It’s not a beauty pageant. It’s not about who looks the part, it’s not about that at all. It’s truly about embracing yourself and what you’re passionate about and how you want to help, and how you want to make your mark and your impact.

If you are, like I was, granted the opportunity to have a title, the things you can do with it are endless. It gives you a stepping stool to do things. It gives you the opportunity to bring the things you feel are important for people to know and for people to act upon, to, in my case, my county’s attention and make people make a change.

When I tell people I compete in pageants and they call them beauty pageants, I correct them and I say, ‘it’s not a beauty pageant, it’s a scholarship pageant,’ you have to be smart, you have to be all these things that a woman, or a person in general, should hold to be successful, and it holds you to that and it holds you to standards that you have to meet, and it teaches you how to live in the real world and be successful.

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TO EXPECT ANOTHER SIBLING

Samantha Martell Interviewed by Mady Borst

She told me in September. It was mother-daughter weekend and we were at Biaggi’s together. My mom casually took out her phone and said ‘I have to show you something.’

I thought she was just going to show me another Facebook video.

She pulls up her camera roll and then she shows me a picture of a pregnancy test.

I was like ‘I don’t know what this means.’

She said that she was pregnant.

I kind of just stared at her. I said ‘what do you mean?’ I literally thought it was a joke.

I was just waiting for her to tell me that it was a joke.

Then, I started crying. I was really stressed out. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I don’t think I ever cried that much before. My mom asked ‘are you upset with me?’ I told her I didn’t know how to feel.

I remember the waitress came up to me and she obviously saw that I was crying really hard. She grabbed my face and said ‘I don’t know what you’re going through right now, but it’s going to be okay.’ The next few weeks were awkward because I still didn’t really believe her. I was still in shock.

There was a lot of tension. I guess I was just pushing her away because I felt like she was almost replacing me, since I’m going to college soon. I am the oldest child. I have a younger brother. He is 14.

The best thing about being a big sister is when my brother will just come to me about the most random things. He looks up to me and I enjoy that a lot.

My parents are divorced. My mom has not remarried but she’s been dating her boyfriend for four or five years. His name is 8 THE VOICE FEBURARY 2019

Eddie. They met because my mom’s car was broken and he was the mechanic. They’re so cute together. He’s very nice. He’ll do anything for me.

When my mom told me, she said that I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone. That was really hard on me because I have a big mouth.

The first person I told was my cousin. I just remember being in the parking lot and texting my cousin ‘you’re never going to believe this-my mom is pregnant.’

I called her and I was ranting to her because I didn’t even understand how it happened.

Then I told my grandma. I also told my counselor. I told my friends. Then, I just kept telling everyone when I wasn’t supposed to.

I felt really bad because I knew it wasn’t my place, but I couldn’t not tell anyone. I wasn’t going to just keep it in.

I was so mad at my mom for making me keep this secret. I just didn’t really understand why she didn’t want anyone to know.

It was rough because I should’ve been there for her more. I didn’t react in the way that I should’ve, but now I am okay with it.

My mom and Eddie had a baby shower in December. Seeing them open presents together almost made me cry because my mom seemed so happy.

After seeing that, I kind of realized that I needed to focus more on her. She’s happy that she’s having a baby. I needed to stop being upset about it because there’s really no reason to be upset.

I got over it because it should be more of a happy thing than something stressful. My mom got taken out of work because she has gestational diabetes.

She has these insulin shots that she has to take and I remember the first time she started them. I came home from school and

she was just sitting and there was all this medicine on the table. She had the needle next to her leg but she was so scared to put the needle in.

I was getting something out of the fridge and I shut one of the fridge doors and I saw her putting the shot in. Ever since that first shot, she’s gotten so much better at it. She doesn’t even think twice about it. I’m just so proud of her that she was able to overcome that.

It’s weird because my mom is always home now. My mom worked so much when I was growing up. She’s always been a hard worker.

Now when I come home after school and she’s just sitting on the couch relaxing, I’m just happy for her and that she’s finally taking a break from work to take care of herself and her health. We’re closer now like we were before.

Being 17 years older than my sibling is going to be crazy. I feel like it’s going to be a long time before I really get to make a connection with the baby.

I’m obviously going to be there for their first year of life, but then I’m going off to college.

I feel like after that first year it’s going to be hard to bond with the baby because I’m not going to be there. It’s scary to me because I’m going to be at school for so many more years, especially since I want to be a surgeon.

I’m scared that they will forget about me.

One thing I remember from my childhood is having this stuffed cow-I still have it. I want to get the baby something like that so they can always remember me.

Even though they won’t always be with me, they’ll have the stuffed animal to think of me.

Z. Isenegger HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 9

TO OWN AN ART BUSINESS

Molly McCafferty Interviewed by Jordyn Grist

I am an artist. I’ve actually taken classes and other courses for art since middle school. I’m going to college to become a graphic designer. I work with all kinds of media, I’m not really confined to just digital or 2D art. I do prefer working digitally, but I like experimenting with different kinds of media.

I had always done my drawings in my notebook, but I never posted it anywhere until I got involved in some of the art communities on Tumblr and Twitter, where I was able to both look at other people’s art and see what they were doing, as well as post my own and receive feedback.

One nice thing about having such a nice, big art community on Tumblr was that you have lots of different people and lots of different kinds of art. You get to see what other styles and materials they were working with, which is pretty cool.

Social media did influence my style.

It developed from--and part of being an artist, especially one who draws characters or animals, is developing your style--taking bits and pieces of what I saw and what others are drawing, and recreating it.

Over the years I’ve tried to draw more frequently than I used to. I try to sketch something a couple times a week. I try to do a full, completed digital piece once every week, or two weeks.

I personally find every time that I sketch something, or sketch a character, there is always a slight difference than the last piece.

I have been a member of the Art Club at Huntley for all four years I’ve been in 10 THE VOICE FEBURARY 2019

high school. But during--I believe it was my sophomore year--one of the activities that we worked with was alcohol ink tiles.

I was intrigued and inspired by how easy it was to make the tiles, and how beautiful they turned out to be. I was like, ‘oh wow, I would like to do more with this outside of Art Club.’ So that’s when I decided to go out and actually buy my own materials and start making them for myself. It was so easy, it was relatively cheap to do, and it was really fun.

At the time when I started thinking about actually selling my alcohol tiles, I didn’t have a “Portfolio” website, I do now, but at the time, I didn’t have any sort of website, so I ended up creating a sort of order catalogue in my Google Docs.

Because I was involved, at the time, in both the art community on Tumblr and on Twitter, I would see people put up their commission pages for art they would be paid to create. I modeled it after what I had seen on their commission pages. I ended up creating an order catalogue that I’d be able to print and hand out to people who could turn it back into me.

I worked on the catalogue for probably a couple of weeks over the summer. It was one thing to just put down a bunch of random sizes of tiles and different colors--it’s kind of random to figure out prices and figure out net gain and everything after all of the materials have been purchased. So it took a couple of weeks for the product to be completed.

The Google catalogue was mainly made by me experimenting with exactly how much I would be able to do with the

alcohol inks. A part of that was investigating online--what have other people done with their alcohol tiles? Like ‘oh, they used tape to block off certain shapes on the tile,’ or ‘they painted the back and sides of the tile and sprayed it with a sealant so it’s not so rough.’

Just recently, I decided that instead of using a paper form, I would transform it into a digital Google form. So now, they are now available to the public to order online through my “Portfolio” website.

Payment method will be digital as well, through PayPal. My mom thought it was a cool idea.

My dad was a little bit more hesitant because he didn’t really understand it at first--about how I would be giving these forms out, and whom I would be giving them to. It just ended up with me giving it to my friends. After a couple people within my friend group commissioned a tile from me, my dad was completely on board with it.

I did end up making a little bit of money from the tiles. That was the money that I had earned, and I was able to put that away into savings. So in that aspect, this experience has taught me some responsibility with my money.

Going through the process of figuring out what my profit would be with the cost of my materials taught me some important things about not underselling yourself, or overselling yourself to people. It taught me time management skills as well.

Creating tiles allows me to really go a lot deeper into a media that’s not necessarily widely known about and find something that I am very passionate about and like to do.

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TO BE A WRESTLER

David Ferrante

I have a poster in my bedroom of a quo- extent of natural ability, but natural ability only takes you so far. I think my attitude, tation from wrestling legend Dan Gable mindset, and work ethic have pushed me which states, ‘once you have wrestled, Interviewed by Jarrod Khoo to be better than I would have been with everything else in life is easy,’ and I find I first started wrestling when I was 8 natural ability only. that quotation to ring true every day. years old. I was coming off of my first I would like to thank my family, espeThis season I believe my hardest chalfootball season with the Lake in the Hills lenge was finding the right weight class cially my mom, for always being a huge Eagles and I was told I should wrestle to support and literally doing everything in for me. In the beginning of the season, I make me a better football player, so I was dropping a lot of weight to make 160 their power to help me succeed, I love all tried it out. Also, my older brothers had of you guys. I would also like to thank all pounds and it got to a point of me being started wrestling and playing football a my current coaches and previous youth unhealthy. couple years before, so I was intrigued coaches for dedicating so much of their I remember sitting down with my because I was always around physical, time to help better me as a wrestler and coaches and parents, and we made the contact sports from a young age. executive decision that I would wrestle in person.

From a young age I fell in love with the the 170-pound weight class instead of 160 I would also like to thank all my teachsport of wrestling, and I am blessed and pounds. This was the best decision I have ers in school who have all been phenomfortunate enough to continue to particienal to help me grow in the classroom. I made all year because I am stronger and pate in a sport I am so passionate about at happier at this natural weight, and it would like to thank all my friends, teamthe high school and college level. mates, and girlfriend for constantly being allows me to focus on becoming a better I am surprisingly accident-prone. I there for me and supporting my goals. I wrestler instead of losing weight. have had 10 broken bones, two torn would also like to thank God for blessing Competition is always solid in class ligaments, a concussion, and even staples 3A wrestling no matter what the weight, me with the opportunities the sport of in my head from a combination of youth but I am confident I can outwrestle other wrestling has given me. football, dumb accidents, and wrestling.

Focusing on improving your technique ranked opponents I have previously beatThe worst wrestling-specific injury I have en and others who are every practice and sustained was during my sophomore match when you are aiming for me come wrestling season when I had torn a younger and not fixatstate. I am extremely ligament in my elbow and thumb on my ing on winning is imhungry for a state title right arm, but I still wrestled through portant. Instead fixate this year as I have not state with those injuries even though it on the growth you have yet earned one in high was a challenge. made as a wrestler and school. It is important Wrestling has made me grow as a perperson from the sport, for me at this point son in a multitude of ways. The biggest and focus on learning in the year to stay life lesson wrestling has taught me is to things from every win healthy and keep my stay resilient in life and persevere through conditioning high and loss.

DAVID FERRANTE ad-versity while continually striving The beautiful thing and my technique and towards your goals no matter what life about wrestling is that positioning crisp. throws at you. anybody no matter what shape you are, My favorite moment so far this season Wrestling has taught me to continue to individually was winning Dvorak for the boy or girl, can be a wrestler and be sucgrow and get better every day. Which can first time. However, my favorite team cessful through hard work and the right be applied to life as well as helping you attitude, so I encourage everyone to try moment was winning our third consecbecome a better person or learn a new wrestling. I can guarantee you will grow utive regional title. It was special for me skill in life. No matter what happens in into an even stronger person once you to see how far this team has come and to my life, I am confident I will be able to see how our tough in season schedule is wrestle. Wrestling translates well to every succeed no matter what adversity I face paying off in the postseason. other sport, whether it be the physical or because wrestling has taught me these I think I have been blessed with an mental aspect. priceless, intangible values.

“Wrestling has taught me to continue to grow and get better every day.”

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B. Bertelsman HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 13

TO BE A PHOTOGRAPHER

Bianca Kreusel

Interviewed by Jordyn Grist When I’m creating art it makes me feel like I have the freedom to do whatever I want, and the freedom to express myself however I want. Whether I’m just painting on a canvas for fun, or taking a photograph, it gives me a sense of freedom and calm that I don’t really get in everyday life.

I first started taking photos my freshman year and I really liked taking photos of Chicago. I’ve been doing that before I even got to my first photography class.

I took Photography I on a fluke because my mom told me that during my junior year I should take some class where I can relax and do some kind of art. I always wanted to try out photography, so I did. I didn’t know that I would completely fall in love with it, find my place, and what I’m good at; I’ve never really been good at anything until I discovered photography.

Photography class is all about experimenting. I just finished a project where I made my friend levitate out of thin air.

Without that project I would have never thought to try to do that.

My favorite part of photography is creating something out of nothing. You have this imagination, this idea in your head, that you want to come out in a way that makes people look at it and go ‘wow, we need to talk about that.’ That’s what I really love to see. I create photographs because I want people to look at them, and I want people to go “wow.”

It can be a good or bad ‘wow.’ As long as someone has a reaction, that is enough.

I’ve climbed up trees before to get that perfect photograph, and I have gotten my entire side wet taking a photograph in the water trying not to get my camera to touch the water. Seeing everything come to life right before I take a photo is amazing.

I have had multiple people tell me to pursue photography. I think the person who I look up to the most is my teacher, Mrs. 14 THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2019

Isaacson. I think she’s definitely my biggest inspiration when it comes to wanting to succeed and wanting to become better. She’s always challenging me to do something different with my photographs, and it really helps me expand my viewpoints. Where I can look at something and I would have never thought of taking a photo like this.

Another person who inspired me was a K-pop star named Jonghyun; he died back in Dec. 2017. I really liked his artistic viewpoints and style. Seeing him grow and then seeing everything suddenly stop made me feel like I needed to pursue something that makes me happy. Listening to his music and seeing his artwork inspired me to create more and keep doing what I’m doing to make myself happy.

At first, I wasn’t too sure about what my family members thought about photography because I originally wanted to get my PhD in archaeology. But over the summer, going into senior year, I had an existential crisis when I was thinking what I wanted to do in the future. I didn’t really want to do archaeology any more. I was so much happier taking photos and creating art.

Right now, art is a very competitive field to be in and you don’t get paid a lot of money unless you make it really big, so I didn’t really know how my parents would feel. My family has been more supportive than I originally anticipated for them to be. I think I’ve been pretty lucky to have them embrace my future career.

Last year, I entered my first photograph into the Rockford Young Artist’s Show; and while I didn’t win anything, I did have my photo in one of the columns on the pamphlet, and it was the only photo that had its own column; I thought that was the coolest thing. I got to see my artwork printed and hung up on the modern art wall and in the HHS theater hallway.

Whenever I see my photograph, I’m like ‘wow I didn’t take that, I didn’t do that, that’s not me up there.’ It’s a self photograph, so I took it, I edited it, and it’s of myself. And

having it hung up there for all of Huntley to see makes me feel accomplished. It makes me feel like I’m doing something right; and I’m finally doing something that I’m good at.

It makes me feel just so much more proud of myself and accomplished than I have ever felt. I feel like I’ve found something, something that people want to see, and that I’m good at, and I’ve never felt that way before.

The second show that I went to, I actually did win something, I went to the Fox Valley Art Show, which was in McHenry, and I got an honorable mention, and got to see my photo hung up.

When I’m taking landscapes, it’s more for the aesthetics; there’s no higher meaning.

When I take portraits, that’s where it gets very deep. I take portraits specifically about current politics and how teenagers view the world. I think that taking a photograph without any words and just symbols speaks a message that is very deep and that you really have to think about.

I want the entire world to see my photographs. I want people to look at my photographs and think, ‘we need to talk about this.’ I don’t care if I get credited, I just want my photographs to be seen by everyone in the world because I want people to talk about certain issues that are going on that they would normally refuse to talk about.

Art is whatever you want it to be. Art is the creation of something out of nothing in order to provoke a reaction. Art is all around us, and it’s beautiful, and I think a lot of people don’t really realize how much around them is art and how often they see it every day.

Photography makes me so happy. I have never felt as passionate and as driven as I am when I’m taking a photo and when I am editing it. Photography has given me something to look forward to doing every day. It gives me something that I can do for the rest of my life. It gives me value. It’s something that I never want to let go. And it makes me feel free in a way I’ve never really felt before.

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TO LIVE WITH PKU

Grace Burke

meat, produce, dairy, gluten, and soy.

Basically, you’re limited to a certain number of phenylalanine a day, PHE for short, Interviewed by Elizabeth Kim so I’m only allowed to have 250 milligrams When I was born, they forgot to test me of PHE rounds to three grams of protein for PKU. PKU stands for phenylketonuria, a day, which is very low considering most which is a genetic condition that limits meals at restaurants have seven or 12 grams my PHE (phenylalanine) level. So for two of protein. weeks I was having protein, which was Kids with PKU who have gone off their dangerous and it built up in my brain. diet can’t speak and swallow, or read and Unfortunately, from the PHE buildup write. If you go over, your hormonal level and forgetting to get tested for PKU, I have can go off and you can start getting tired an actual brain disorder that I’m treating and cranky. Over time, more issues come every day. If I didn’t have the test at all, then up.

I would have grown up to have more brain A lot of kids with PKU have issues with damage and not be able to do anything. learning. I have a learning disorder with When I had to go to the hospital to get math, ADHD, and a few other things. I tested, they did the heel prick test and it have a really hard time with math, which is said I had PKU. It was a very emotional really common, and with fine motor skills, time for my parents. They were confused like riding a bike. and my mom had to learn everything and I use an app called “How much PHE” to caring for me pretty much went from ‘I measure my protein. For example, accordhave a normal kid,’ to ‘oh my God, my ing to the app, I could only eat two chicken kid has a very restrictive diet.’ My dad, I nuggets a day and nothing else because of remember, was very angry when he found how high in protein they are. If I go over, out; he was trying his best to help. then that that’s when it starts to become There was a lot of experimenting since dangerous for my brain; over time, if I go it’s a genetic thing. My mom and dad are over my diet and off my formula, I can both carriers of the mutated gene; it’s in become mentally retarded. our family history, but they both don’t have The difference in the diet of someone PKU, which is pretty rare. who has PKU compared to someone who I have had to go to a children’s hospital has a normal diet is crazy. A lot of my diet pretty much my whole life. I have to see adds up to fat to get the nutrients I need. almost every single doctor: a dietitian, a There’s a great number of vitamins in the geneticist, a counselor, etc. They’re all little formula, so I don’t need to take additional meetings. I have to get blood work, which ones; the formula has all the essentials. is not fun. I have a terrible fear of blood, At the end of every two weeks, I need to doctors, and everything medical because I check my blood level, which is done by a was really traumatized by all that I had to little prick test on my finger. This gives me go through when I was little. an update of the level of my PHE level and The reason I can’t have protein is because where I am at. my liver doesn’t work. PKU is a metabolI have had to do this test forever; when ic disorder that prevents my liver from I was a kid, I had to do the test on my toe breaking down protein and sends it up to and when I got older, it moved to my finger. my brain instead. The kick from that is that It’s tested at the lab and then I get back I can become mentally retarded because of my results. The doctors can see your diet the protein going to my brain. So I can’t eat records and how much PHE you have had 16 THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2019

too.

Birthday parties as a kid were always a big deal. Everyone had their big Pump It Up parties and there would always be pizza and cake. It was awkward to go to parties when you’re the only one not eating something.

The PKU Organization of Illinois meets in Chicago and there’s little meetings where I’ve met some of my PKU friends.

My friend Gabby and I met when we were in sixth grade and have been friends ever since.

There’s also the National PKU Alliance and they have a conference every year; I really want to go one day.

I feel like everyone, especially if someone is struggling with something, you need to have three things you are genuinely interested in.

My first thing is music. Whether it’s listening to my favorite songs or singing in choir, music has always been my passion.

I struggle with anxiety and the only thing that calms me down is music. The power of music really takes you on a journey.

The second thing is traveling. I like learning the languages of different cultures and people. I really feel like it’s very important to appreciate culture from an outside point of view.

Lastly is makeup and skincare. I have a great appreciation for taking care of your skin and I love doing Korean skincare routines too. A big passion of mine is makeup; I always do my makeup. When I have a full face of makeup on, I feel more confident. I definitely feel like having passion is helpful for the days I need to escape.

In my childhood, there was a lot of confusion and questions and it was hard to explain my condition. As I’ve gotten older, having to explain PKU so many times gave me a sense of confidence. I don’t have a hard time talking to people or presenting myself because I’ve always had to. Becoming an advocate for myself is something I celebrate.

E. Kim HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 17

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TO HAVE AN EATING DISORDER

Jessica Ziolowski

My heart was irregular. Physically eating was hard. That school year was down. I didn’t feel supported, I couldn’t tell anymore. People told Interviewed by Emma Kubelka me I was doing it for attention so I stopped telling people. It will never be for attention; I It all started in fifth grade. I was getting don’t want to look this way. Someone told me, I bullied. In today’s society we use the term bullying differently; it’s thrown around. I didn’t looked bigger than all the others and I believed them. It was burned in my mind. Those words recognize it was bullying until later. hit.

One day in eighth grade, a girl came up to I knew I had to so I started trying to make me and recognized me and said ‘Hey you’re friends. I went on the Travel Club trips. Those Jessica? You do cheer and musical theater trips were so interesting. People got to know right? Personally, I think if that’s something me for me because I didn’t talk about my eating you want to be successful in you have to lose disorder. I was in a new place I already didn’t weight.’ It was so random but I take things to know what I was eating. I was enjoying myself heart. This spiralled. for the time being. Those people cared.

Fast forward to later that year, I started to Junior year came and it was okay, Feb. 20 of miss school. I lost a lot of people. I was already 2018, I was told that I restored weight, I was underweight, that’s just my body type, but I told that for my age and height the weight I started eating less and I started thinking ‘ I’ll just cut this out of my diet, or this’ but it turned was at was okay. I was doing cheer again, I was eating a healthy amount. I was recovering from into something more than that. being away from school for so long. But the In February of 2015 I was admitted to the week I came back from a cheer trip, something hospital and diagnosed with anorexia. I was hit me. I wasn’t dressing like myself, I was in the hospital from late February to July 22, pushing away people I shouldn’t have pushed 2015. I did online school, I had no contact with the world. I had feeding tubes, an oxygen away. I soon relapsed with my depression and mask, IVs, group therapy, personal therapy, art I knew I had to get help at the school, there wasn’t another choice. therapy, music therapy.

I didn’t know how to get the words out of my Because of the isolation in the hospital I mouth because I was scared I didn’t want to say transitioned into freshman year alone. I didn’t that I was sick again. I was scared. I thought know what to do. I decided I wanted to do theatre as long as I can so I focused on that and how could it be happening again? I thought I could be a normal student. I thought I could focused on school, but it was rough. handle it but I couldn’t do it alone.

The summer from freshman to sophomore Senior year started, I said to myself ‘suck it year it was back. My mom owns a business up.’ I went through the motions with anxiand I used to go with and she got a call one day at work. It was one of her doctors. She was ety. My motivation was my parents. I started diagnosed with cancer. At that point I thought developing deeper relationships with teachers, they helped so much. I spent time with them. if I can’t control my mom’s health, if I can’t do I gained trust for them. I talked to them, I anything, I have to control my own or at least went to see them in my free time. They were a try. My dad was trying to work as much as he rock; it helped me get through it. When school could; our medical bills were just unreal. He was doing everything he could. God bless him. ended, I passed every class and that’s all that He was under the possibility of losing his love, mattered.

Right after I was done, my family and I went and his child was disappearing in front of him. to Florida. Everything was fine and one day I I was back in and out of the hospital, then was working out on the beach and someone diagnosed with anxiety and depression again.

20 THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2019

mentioned to my parents that I looked sick.

My parents asked me if I had lost weight and I still don’t look at scales so I didn’t know. What I didn’t realize was the only way my body knew how to subconsciously deal with the stress from school was to lose weight. I wasn’t doing it intentionally to punish myself and that’s what hurt the most. I wasn’t pushing myself too hard during my workouts, I thought I was healthy. I broke down in tears when they told me.

Once we got back from vacation I was evaluated and I was borderline. The doctors told me I had two or three weeks to gain __ amount of weight back and here we are.

I am a work in progress, I want to be healthy.

I am in therapy and I want to be okay. It’s not just you’re suicidal or not anymore, there’s layers, to everyone. It’s mental health problems, it’s social anxiety, or it’s depression, or it’s an eating disorder, it’s PTSD. There are layers to everyone’s story. Day to day I say it’s my fault.

I say to myself I could’ve stopped this and it sucks. It’s hard for me to mentally process that but it’s not my fault. I wasn’t getting punched at school, nobody was taking my lunch money.

It’s a little comment here to a developing mind.

It’s the way we talk and I want people to realize that, the impact. I’ve been bullied and that isn’t okay. It’s not getting tripped in the hallway anymore, it’s the comment on the Instagram post. I lose confidence and that shouldn’t be the case; it’s not a little thing.

If there was someone out there going through something, all I have to say is get help.

Truly everyone needs to get help.

I have this tattoo on my arm, ‘you are enough.’ I shouldn’t have to get it tattooed on my skin to be reminded of that; we need to tell each other every day. Our culture has created therapy to be something for crazy people. That’s not what it is; everyone needs a therapist whether it’s a professional, a teacher, a best friend, or parent: find someone to listen because someone cares.

We aren’t meant to do this alone. There is someone in this community that will listen, that wants to listen.

R. Murphy HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 21

TO HAVE VITILIGO

Tanpreet Bhathal Inteviewed by Olivia Mack

It was Feb. 2 of 2017, and my first spot was on my face, right next to my eye. I went to the doctor in March, a month later. That is when I was diagnosed with vitiligo. Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease. We have melanin cells, and those are the cells that give your skin and your hair color and pigmentation.

What is happening to my melanin cells is that they are dying, and killing each other. Because of that, I have white spots. The spots where they are dying off is where I will get a new white spot. I get [them] on my neck, face, eyebrows, eyelashes, and in my hairline.

They do not know where it comes from, and they do not know how it is caused.

I went into my pediatrician first, and she tried breaking down all of these ideas, and we finally went to the dermatologist, and that is when they could classify it and figure it out. I remember just freaking out and being confused. In my freshman year I am figuring out life, and then all of a sudden something else hits me.

When I first got vitiligo I remember for a solid three or four months I did not wear my hair up to school. I did not want people seeing it. I was so insecure with myself, and before I never wore makeup and sometime starting then we went to the makeup store right away to get foundation and some concealer. I tried everything I could, and my mom did too.

My freshman year was just such a struggle. I was so insecure with myself. Even within my sophomore year I was so insecure. I would always see people talking to me, and not looking at me, but looking at my vitiligo.

I could see it in their eyes. They would be just staring off somewhere else. Until this day, I still am insecure.

No doubt in my mind. But I am a lot better than how I used to be. I wear makeup every single day to school, ever since I had gotten it. I have not had one day where I show up without makeup. But now I am okay with leaving my hair up, and having that side of my face being shown.

One thing that I have realized is that I always used to judge people by how they look, which I hate myself

22 THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2019

for. I would judge them by their appearance, and now that I have it, people probably think that there is something wrong with me. There is so much more to a person past the looks. People are so nice, and they have great personalities, but sometimes with their appearance something else can be wrong. That is for me, like my vitiligo. But, if people, they care, and they want to know more about me, they will. And that is all that matters to me. I want people to know about my story and know about other people who are going through this condition.

I do not care what people think about me. I am the kind of person that is just about positivity. I have had an incident where someone said behind my back ‘did someone dump bleach on Tanpreet?’, and that one really hit me. People might say it as a joke, but you do not understand what someone might be going through. It is only two years of me having it. I am still learning how to cope with it and everything, and just think about what you say, before you say it. If you had this, and someone said that to you, how would you feel?

I did not think that it was going to progress anymore, and it has. So much. Just within two years, it is crazy. Even within a few weeks, it can progress so much. I have gotten so many white eyelashes. That is the frustrating part to this disease.

Nobody ever in my family has had vitiligo. It was very shocking. I did get lucky, and one of my best friends has vitiligo. She has had it since she was 6.

I had someone who could understand me, and of course I had my family that was super-supportive, and everyone has always been here for me.

My first year or two I struggled with it the most.

But now, I have definitely gotten more confident in myself, and I have learned a lot. I am the most confident I have ever been in my life right now.

My vitiligo is going to be a part of my life forev-er now. Everything happens for a reason, and I am a strong believer in that. My having vitiligo has allowed me to be so much more confident in myself.

It teaches you so much about yourself, and that it will get better. Things are hard and if you try to keep making yourself get better, and learn how to accept it, and have amazing people supporting you, you can do it.

R. Murphy K. Troy HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 23

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TO WORK IN FAST FOOD

Liyah Montoya

Interviewed by Austin Stadie I never expected my first job to be Kentucky Fried Chicken. I always hoped to be working in retail, something designed to talk to people, but unfortunately I got stuck working here. It really freaking sucks. People are paying us with the money they earned and want the highest quality they can get, but they don’t understand that it’s difficult working behind the counter under pressure, at KFC of all places. A lot of things are out of my control, sometimes things are my fault, but a lot of times they aren’t too.

We only have 50 seconds to pack and take orders, and that shouldn’t be put all on me by the customer, but sometimes it is.

My specialty is making mistakes, and as much as I wish I was good under pressure, I realized that I’m not. I generally do not work to my best ability at a fast pace, and ironically I’m working fast food. It sucks being new, sometimes I feel like I can help more than I do, but not making mistakes in this field comes with time, at least I hope so.

I’ve learned a lot with new experiences, like the time I did the dishes, which was absolutely terrible.

I did it once and vowed to never do it again, even though it’s designed for new workers like me. I’m too short to dig into the big sinks, and the one time I did do the dishes I felt like I took more of a bath than the dishes did. Somehow I was the one that ended up covered in soap, water, and grease.

This comes before the fact that I have other things to worry about, like school. At first, I found it really hard to handle school and work, especially in my first week. At that point, my parents pretty much wanted me to quit. I would get out of work at 10:30, then have to shower and do homework, which means I wouldn’t end up going to sleep until around 3:00. Sometimes I would just fall asleep at my desk, wake up later, and finish my homework.

Thankfully, I was able to develop my time management skills, and it helped a lot. I thought I had these skills before I started, but working made me realize that just getting my work done on time was not good 26 THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2019

time management.

I’ve learned to get ahead on stuff when I know I’m going to have a busy week. For example, I work on the weekends, so I’ll start my homework Friday nights instead of Saturday nights like I used to. It seems really simple, but it relieves so much stress. It felt like I had no free time at the beginning, but I’ve made space to still have Sundays as my free days to study a bit more or chill before I work.

As time has went on, I noticed that my schedule hasn’t really changed that much, I’ve just had to be wiser with my time. My social life has been pretty much the same, I’d just say that I don’t really get to do as much as I’d like to do on the weekends.

Sometimes I wish I could go out with my friends early Saturday and have a fun, long, and busy day, but I usually end up doing homework until I go to work.

It sucks not being able to sleep in when I really need to. I feel like I have no time to waste, so I guess I’ve come to value my time a little more and realize that every minute counts at work, school, or life in general.

Enjoyment is something I was kind of forced into finding in the little things when working at KFC. I like taking orders because I get to talk to people, and I love it. As corny as it sounds, finding a nice person to talk to makes working there a little more enjoyable. It doesn’t have to be a deep conversation, but if someone just gets to tell me about their day, I’m instantly in a better mood. Other than that, when I’m not busy or it gets slow I try talking to as many people as I can, try some new food, clean, or just go on my phone. It’s super boring when things get slow because if you are just sitting there time drags, but there’s only so much you can do.

I’m grateful in a lot of ways though, like the fact that I value money, school, and my time a lot more than I used to. It also really opened my eyes when I realized that there are people that settle for less, like working at KFC or fast food in general. I have nothing but respect for people that do it, because I know it’s not easy, my grandma has been a manager at a restaurant for over 20 years, but it’s sad to know that everyone starts out with big hopes and dreams for their future and some end up with life-long jobs at KFC.

E. K.Kim Troy HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 27

TO RECOVER FROM ALCOHOLISM

Michael Mahon

That never happened, my actions still continued. I knew it was out of control, I knew drinking wasn’t good but at that point I Interviewed by Faith Losbanes that continued to do it because I didn’t realize that it was an addiction and I wasn’t trying to do I was 16 when I picked up my first drink; it anything to stop it. was an orange juice and vodka, a screwdriver It affected everything. Family relationships and I was with some friends who were quite a were deteriorating, dating relationships didn’t few years older than I was. When I took that last long. My dad died when I was around 22 first drink it was good. I felt comfortable. I felt years old so he wasn’t around but my mother like I fit in. would try to get me to stop. My brother, my In high school I didn’t feel that it was a prob- sisters, and my friends would try. lem. The group I was with was a couple years Between the ages 21 and 26 I was miseraolder than me; it was easy to get alcohol and ble. The night of my last drink I was blacking we were just kind of in a different place. out. I ended up in a local lockup with a DUI When I think back, it’s kind of like that and some other charges. That was the 13th of invisible line that I crossed and I didn’t even December 1991: I was 26. That was the worst know it. I thought it was okay, that everybody night of my life. People told me about things was doing it, but I was having a few more than that had happened that I had no idea had I should without realizing it. happened.

I had a lot of issues in high school because After the incident that night I knew that I of the alcohol but I graduated, then went to do couldn’t go on with the drinking. I just kind a trade school for automotives. of opened my eyes and said this is it, I’m not I was drinking quite a bit more in trade going to end up like that. I reached out to my school. I wasn’t showing up on time, I was boss and told him I wasn’t coming back to smelling like alcohol, I wasn’t performing like work and he was concerned. I explained it to I should have been and they weren’t going to him. I had a weapon, I was working on the have that so they threw me out. street- I was going to end up killing myself or That is where I definitely knew that somesomebody else. thing wasn’t right, but at the time I was young.

I was tired and full of fear, contemplating I didn’t realize that it was a problem. I don’t suicide and didn’t want to fight anymore so know if I just didn’t care or if I was just being I just listened to what he told me. I never lisa teenager and didn’t want to hear the advice tened to anybody in my life. He brought me to from my parents or from people around me. a hospital, walked me up to the front desk and . I started working on the trading floor in told me that I was in a treatment center and Chicago. That’s where I’m sure I became fullleft. That’s when my recovery started. blown alcoholic. I didn’t realize it because I I was in detox for 3 or 4 days. I thought it didn’t even know what the word meant. would be the most miserable time of my life My father was in law enforcement so I albecause I was going to be there during Christways kind of wanted to follow his foot steps so mas and New Years Eve and miss out on all I applied for another job and started out at the the fun. It ended up being the best Christmas jail in Cook County.

I ever had. It was phenomenal to know that I I knew that being on the trading floor was a was able to let this go and start a new life. disaster so I was thinking that maybe if I did After the detox I go to know who I really this it would give me a living and I would get was because I didn’t after all of those years and away from that atmosphere. blacking out. I started to feel again. I started 28 THE VOICE OCTOBER 2018

to feel that maybe I did disappoint people that maybe, I was embarrassed. The counselors taught us how to live life on life’s terms. You learned how to cope with those feelings and how to cope with life.

There was a struggle of wanting to go back because you really wanted that drink again and you wanted to be around those people that you were drinking with again. There was a lot of anger and mixed feelings going on because you didn’t want to go back out there and mess up.

Because of that recovery, I have what I have today. I wouldn’t change anything in my life.

All of that bad stuff is what put me where I am today. It put me into recovery. I couldn’t imagine having what I have today especially back when I was in addiction. When I look back today I think, I probably should be dead.

I probably shouldn’t have what I have today and what I have today, I don’t want to lose.

I have four children now- one son who is in his second year of college at Western Kentucky- another son and two daughters. My boys are best friends, so are my daughters. I have all of these great gifts but they have to be maintained. My sobriety needs to be maintained or all of this goes away.

There’s always fear and there is still fear but that’s why you have to maintain your sobriety.

My recovery is more important than anything in the world because if I don’t have that recovery I’m not going to have the things that matter to me most.

It’s truly a million-dollar gift, everything is great today. There’s hard times, things happen but I think of life today as a journey, these are all obstacles that I just need to get around.

Loneliness is a big part of addiction, whether it’s alcohol or drugs or basically anything in life, a lot of things happen and you feel alonebut you’re not.

Recovery has to be something that you have to want. It’s not something that anybody can tell you that you need because if you’re not willing to accept it, it’s not gonna work. You have to be ready for this to work.

E. Kim HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 29

TO BE PALESTINIAN

Sameer Anber

Interviewed by Ayman Mirkhan I would say I’m a pretty upbeat person and I have a lot of moral standards that I like to follow. As a Muslim, I feel like that expressing your faith shows who you are. So, if I had to explain myself, I would say I am an upbeat Muslim basically as I feel religion is the foundation in what a person’s personality might be. I have two younger sisters: an 11 year old named June and a 7 year old named Sareen. And I have both my parents, Alhamdulillah. My parents were born in Kuwait, but their parents were born in Palestine.

My parents have always asked me ‘what got you so interested in Palestine?’ They’ve never tried to enforce that culture on to me. One day I was just like ‘I’m from Palestine, I’m 100 percent Palestinian, that’s awesome,’ and I just stuck with that.

I don’t really know when I started to express my Palestinian culture to be honest. I wanna say I’ve always loved Palestine, but I probably connected with the culture the most when I actually went there.

I went overseas a lot when I was younger, but the first time I vividly remember everything is when I was turning 11 and my family and I went to Jordan and then Palestine. It’s funny you know, you just feel at home. You go there, and everyone is just like ‘come in, come in’ and they’re all just so hospitable.

Then I went out with my cousins, which I just met that day, and they were just chill and we just became best friends at that point. I went to my grandpa’s house there and you can see the house is all stone and the big door is just locked shut. So, one of my cousins would jump the wall and then unlock it from the inside.

It was really cool and I loved the overall experience in general, I just wanted to go back.

I feel like it was pretty easy to fully see the IsraeliPalestinian conflict over there in Palestine. When we visited there, we didn’t take a plane. We took a taxi from Jordan to the Israeli border, and then we took a big bus from the border of Israel to the border of Palestine. The conflict we had was kind of upsetting because I don’t know what started it, but it may have

30 THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2019

been something to do with my mom wearing a Hijab.

We were crossing the border and we were at the point where they check the gate and see if they will let you go through. And just to be clear, this is all after security, so we should have been good. My mom was taking pictures of the scenery because of how beautiful it was. The border guard then takes his mini machine gun or whatever, and he slams it against the bus and tells the other guards to shut the gate because my mom was taking pictures of the mountains.

He ordered my mom to get out of the car and demanded to see her photos in her phone. She has some pictures of her not wearing her Hijab in there, so she didn’t want him to see that. So, they called my dad off the bus which made my sisters start to cry because they didn’t know what was happening; they were young.

They the guards threatened to have me and my sisters off the bus so the rest of the residents could leave and they could send all of us back. My mom then said to the guard that ‘if you take my kids off, they are going to go back to America and they are going to spread all of this,’ and how it’s not a good idea to do this or else everyone will know what’s really going on.

The fact that they just put all of us back on the bus just because my mom said that made me feel that they’re hiding something.

There are some people today that just want to hide their culture/identity. I myself have definitely experienced some racism in my early stages of school like elementary and middle school. But once people started to get to know me and they started to think ‘that’s not a bad thing, it their faith is just something they follow,’ most of those people really became accepting of me and my religion.

In today’s society, especially in different high schools, you can see so many bad things, like it’s not even funny all the amount of things you see. I feel like religion helped me see that those bad things are not okay and it helps me stay on the right path.

I could easily be some trash person on the side of the road who is just doing whatever they want in life.

But, since I have these set rules in my life, it helps me build path for myself and let me see how I will be living in the future.

S. Laput HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 31

TO BE GLUTEN FREE

Kloe Roberts

Interviewed by Dani Rhody My brother first got diagnosed with celiacs, an autoimmune disease. He got sick when he was in third grade. The first doctor we went to said it was nothing important that we needed to keep check on.

But eventually he kept getting more sick and missed a lot of days at school.

My family found out in seventh grade what it actually was. We took him to a different doctor at Lurie’s. They tested him and found out it was celiacs.

Before I was diagnosed, my parents were constantly thinking about where we could eat, or if this was gluten free. My brother had to use different utensils and everything, so that was hard to not confuse his stuff with our stuff.

The doctors then wanted to get my whole family tested, which is when we found out that I had it. It was surprising because I had no reaction or anything that would show that I was gluten free.

My parents didn’t know how to take it, but since they already had one kid that was gluten free, so hav-ing another one was easier because they knew now to handle it. My sister just got diagnosed with Ce-liacs, so now she is going to start going gluten free. Now there are three of us in one house.

When I found out I actually cried, because I didn’t know how it was going to affect my life. I have to go to the hospital every six months to get my blood tested to see if it is changing, or something else needs to change because of it. If it changes, then they need to figure out what the next step is, and why it changed. But it hasn’t changed yet, which is good.

I had heard of gluten free, but I didn’t know what it was or anything about it before my brother was diagnosed with it. Then it really hit me, what it was.

When I was diagnosed, it really hit me.

During the transition, it was hard to watch what to eat and what not to eat, and having to check everything to make sure I can eat it or use it, so I don’t get sick. It was kind of scary at first, because I didn’t know if I could do it or not, and what it would be 32 THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2019

like making that change. You have to change everything, because it’s not just in food. It’s in shampoo, and other things that you wouldn’t think about.

I would say the difference between being gluten free and not is making sure that what you are eating is actually gluten free, compared to regular people being able to eat anything. If I have something with gluten I will get very sick, possibly have to go to the hospital, or just be in a lot of stomach pain. If you were to use shampoo with gluten, you would break into a rash.

One time at Starbucks where it said it was gluten free, and I drank it and was in a lot of pain.

During dinner, if my parents make gluten-free noodles, then we will all eat. My parents can’t go gluten free, because if you don’t have celiacs, you shouldn’t be going gluten free because you’ll get sick from it.

One effect being gluten free on my family is the grocery bill definitely went up. Gluten-free food is more money than regular food. Some stores don’t even sell it. But it is becoming more and more common because people are going gluten free. So there are more things coming out that we can eat.

There was one restaurant that we went to that didn’t have anything gluten free, so we had to leave.

Dairy Mart also doesn’t have gluten free, so we can’t go there anymore. The school says that they have gluten-free options, but I haven’t really looked into it because I just bring my own lunch.

A day when I wasn’t gluten free, it was just doing whatever you wanted, and not having to check everything. Now, it’s harder because I have to make sure I’m doing everything that I need to so I stay healthy and don’t get sick.

I don’t know anyone else that is gluten free. It isn’t something that a lot of people talk about. I want to know if there is anyone else.

Being gluten free made me want to become a nutritionist, to help other people who don’t know much about it. To help make it easier for them.

Even though it was hard to get through, it’s still hard sometimes, I can get through it and be okay. It’s my new normal.

S. Laput HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 33

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HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 35

TO FIND YOUR PASSION IN ART

Bridget Regan

Interviewed by Riley Murphy I’m from Wisconsin, I’m from Green Bay Wisconsin.

I’m the 10th of 11 kids and my parents were both very, very into education. My dad was teacher, principal, and a superintendent. In the summers he ran an outdoor professional theatre. My mom was a nurse but she also went and got her masters in writing so writing was a real big part of our entire childhood growing up.

In high school I never took art. I always did art on the side by myself, but I couldn’t fit it in because I was the band geek; I played the French horn for 11 years.

I was in all of the theatre shows and then my junior year and senior year I was on the newspaper and I also was in, at the times it was called forensics which sounds like a science, but it was a speech group so I was on a speech team. So I had a lot of performance just growing up in the theatre with my dad as well as doing that.

Back in the ‘80s you could play around with your career, you can’t do that now a days because you’re paying off so many student loans. Back in the ‘80s you could try on the world, you could try on all these different careers and see where you fit. You could let it unfold; rent was cheap.

And so I have this hair-brained idea and I decide I’m going to go get my masters in art education. So I go to NIU and I look at the program in art education and I decide ‘yeah I like art, I’m good at art, I’m comfortable with art’ so I apply for this three-year masters program which includes my teaching credentials and I fall in love with art so much! And that’s why I’m here today!

Oh my God it was the best thing in the longest time! I was a mom with young kids so my life, my identity, was all about who I was as a mom. You slowly kind of give up pieces of yourself.

Well when I went back to school in my 30s, I got back to Bridget! I got back to who I was. I got pieces of myself back. So going back to school every day and being with young people, I was in pig heaven I loved it! It was everything and more than I expected.

Art is my passion now and I knew within a month of taking art classes that I found my niche.

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[Art] is truly everything. And I don’t know how to distinctly say it because art is a part of every single thing you do at every minute of your day. From waking up in the morning and picking out the outfit you’re putting on and matching colors, to how you’re going to style your hair, to the design of the car you’re going to get into, to the things you listen to on the radio as you’re driving to school, it is so embedded into every single nuance of every minute if your day that it’s all encompassing.

It’s everywhere around you! Art is a career. Art is every single second of every social media you open up. It’s a part of every single thing you do because art starts with looking and it starts with feeling and touching and our world is a visual and tactile place. Everything has the potential to be art.

Art fills the empty spaces of my day. It allows me to teach students ways in which to express themselves emotionally and visually; it allows me a different way of connecting with students. It beautifies my world, sometimes it complicates my world with the different messages I see in art. What does it do for me? Oh my God we could be here all day for that answer!

The base answer is that it gives them something to look at. Sometimes nice and sometimes challenging. It gives them stuff to decorate their houses with. But I think the big answer is that it beautifies the world. It provides an escape and another way to look at being in the world than what we have in our own little heads. And it brings joy.

And not just visual arts, music and theatre. And you can ask the same questions of a music teacher and they’ll give you the same relative answer.

Who gets to effing go to work and make things all day and teach people how to make things all day? I DO! That’s what I get to do. I get to connect with people through art making. Who gets to do that?

The other day I’m sitting there making platters with students and I’m teaching kids how to make bowls with students, things that they can use in their real life and things that make them feel good. I have the most fricken amazing job in the world!

I feel like I am the most luckiest person in the world with my job. There’s not a day yet, that I can recall, what i woke up and said ‘ugh I have to go to work today.’

R. Murphy HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 37

TO HAVE CROHN’S DISEASE

Karly Melendy

disease in 2013. Since I was I wouldn’t I took the steroids for seven months, say severe, but I was definitely not mod- then I had to wean off of them for about five months. After I finished my steroids Interviewed by Ashley Reilly erate.

He started me on heavy doses on ste- I started methotrexate which is a form roids, and as he told me the side effects of chemotherapy. That’s where I started I have Crohn’s disease. It’s a little con- which were weight gain, swelling, nauwith the injections and that was once a fusing because I have a different type; sea, a whole list of things I could never week. it’s super rare. Out of all the people with have imagined it would be as bad as it It was super hard on my body even Crohn’s only 3 percent have this type. was. I was on the steroids for a while, moreso than the steroids because it has I don’t know what it’s specifically called and I gained 40 pounds and almost half radiation in it. I was severely nauseous, but usually Crohn’s is in your colon and went to my face.

I slept too much, I was unable to do my your large intestine and mostly your It was all water weight and there was a school work. It affected everything that digestive system and causes you to go time where I didn’t want to drink water I had to do. My whole life was ruined to the bathroom uncontrollably. Mine’s because I knew it was all going to absorb by it. different because mine is more from my and I was going to get bigger. I got bulChron’s will not show up on any blood stomach to my upper esophagus, up by lied a lot. People would call me chiptest. It’s all based on my pain. I have to your chest area. munk, or saying I’m doing the chubby really rely on myself to write it down Instead of my having to go to the bunny challenge, or say I had a Facetune that I had a little episode because in bathroom, I was getting pain every time app effect. I didn’t want to go out and I order for the medicine to work I have to I had to swallow solid food. It’s a genetic didn’t want anyone to see me. be able to tell my doctor. disease but we don’t know anyone in my After I weaned off of it my face went It’s scary because I don’t want it to family who has it. That’s my type, they down and ever get back to the point haven’t specified what it’s going to be I lost the that I am on steroids. My “I got bullied a lot. called and [the rarity] was why it was so weight. I texfamily and my doctor know hard to diagnose and why it was so hard ted everyone People would call that. He knows I will do to treat. Normal Crohn’s is treated a lot to delete every anything to not go back on differently than I was treated. me chipmunk.” single picthose steroids.

It was like a heartburn kind of pain. ture they had You have to always be Every time I would swallow food and of me with thinking is this a Crohn’s KARLY MELENDY it would pass through and follow the my face like feeling or is this a little stomtrack. I would have to stop eating and that, you will ach ache. You have to think just sit there and let it go through. It not find a photo of me like that on my about your body a lot more then you would last like 30 seconds. phone. The reason that the steroids were should. I feel pressured.

At first we thought it was heartburn so necessary and the cause of the pain I stopped the methotrexate and that’s and it was no big deal and it would go is because my upper endoscopy showed really when I had to be on top of my away or that I didn’t chew it enough and more than 200 bleeding ulcers from my game. I had to notice when I would get we would go through months where I esophagus to the small intestine and the an episode or felt something weird. He would chew every single piece 50 times upper lining of my stomach. said we would do another scope in three and I counted. We were just confused That’s why I was feeling it because months and if that comes clear I would because we never heard anything about every time I would swallow my food technically be in remission. it and so we finally went to the doctor it would hit all of them and they were I got one in January and he found like months later. bleeding and very acidic. The steroids four tiny ulcers. He’s letting me stay off We started with my pediatrician and cleared up a lot of them but not all of my medication, but in the summer if she referred us to a gastroenterologist at them. It was kind of a fast and aggressive I go up I have to start a new medicine Children’s in Chicago. We drove down treatment, super harsh on my body and Humera. It’s also an injection but with there and he diagnosed me with Crohn’s mind. less symptoms.

38 THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2019

Z. Isenegger HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 39

TO RUN AN AP PROGRAM

Brian Scott

Interviewed by Braden Turk I was looking to leave Lake Zurich when I saw Huntley had posted a position. I had been there for 12 years, but Huntley had specifically asked for an AP teacher, which is pretty rare.

I had taken a summer class a couple years before at McHenry County College and met Brian Thornley and Laura Jenkins in that class. We talked, and as it turned out, AP Spanish teacher Julie Swartzloff wanted to step down; it was too much work for her, so they were searching for someone else.

All of the paths just opened up to Huntley then.

For 9 years, I went to Cincinnati as an AP reader, and that’s where we scored the exams the students take.

The first two years, I served as a reader, and then I got promoted to a table leader. I would sit at the end of a table with eight other AP leaders and guide them.

During the summer I attended four-day workshops and teach the AP teachers the best practices; there’s only about 40 or 45 people in the country who do that.

Being the only AP Spanish teacher has definitely impacted the way the course is taught. I have the freedom to do what I think is best, but if you have someone else who teaches AP who is just as good as you, you’re feeding off each other.

That being said, I still try to make the curriculum as interesting and relevant as the kids want. That’s the cool thing about being a foreign language teacher: there’s just so much culture to discuss.

Students tend to remember culture the most. There’s a story from Paraguay called Landfill Harmonic. This town is the garbage dump of the capital… the village kids don’t have an outlet or escape, so a teacher along with a conductor started creating instruments out of garbage and recycled materials. Now they have this huge program and the kids are traveling the world.

When I ask students what they remember, they always talk about that story.

40 THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2019

Any time the class size is smaller, you always get to know students better. If I have had them prior, that really helps, because then I usually know their strengths and weaknesses when they come into the class.

There was one student who had some fear of speaking in front of the class. This is 14, 15 years ago; it’s a Spanish II class. We used to make the kids do their dialogues in front of the class.

That was a big thing, back in the day, making the students perform. But by the end of the year, you could notice that she didn’t get as nerBRIAN SCOTT vous any more. I remember saying, “I, as well as everyone in the room, have noticed what a long way you’ve come this year.”

That’s one of the most memorable stories off of the top of my head.

I think the big difference with any language AP exam is that you have to demonstrate so many skills. With other tests, you do your multiple choice and write your essay. In language exams, you have to speak, listen to audios, you have to do your writing. You’re writing a persuasive essay, you’re learning how to write a professional email.

If you interview most teachers out there and ask them what their most useful point is, they’ll just want their students to be able to hold a conversation with a native speaker. For many years, all we did was grammar and vocabulary, and while you have to learn those, we just didn’t spend as much time with conversing. But we’re moving in that direction.

“During the summer I attended four-day workshops and teach the AP teachers the best practices”

Z. Isenegger HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 41

Eric Moore

TO BE A FATHER

Interviewed by Skylar Sharkey I think I’ve always known I wanted to have children. It wasn’t ever anything that I questioned whether I would or not. It was more so of when that was going to happen.

I met my wife at work, which for both of us at the time was Walmart, and we officially started dating in 2009. I think we just both made each other aware that we were both looking to have kids.

My wife and I were actually on a flight back after vacation in 2015 and we started to have the conversation of could a baby be a possibility? Then we went to the doctor and got checked out and found out that we were having a kid. It was a very surreal moment.

My son’s name is Eli Jackson Moore. We went through a top 100 names book, and Elijah was the one name in that entire list that we instantly liked. We didn’t fully like Elijah so we shortened it up to Eli. My wife and I were at a regular doc-tor’s appointment and there was some-thing going on with his heart rate when we checked. They sent us to the hospital for an ultrasound and we ultimately never ended up leaving. We had this growing concern because basically every time she had a contraction his heart rate was dropping.

My wife had to have a C-section. We were both together behind a blue cloth while the doctors were operating on her.

We heard a cry and we both just instantly looked at each other. That was the moment that my wife and I were able to share. From then on she was being operated on. I got to be with him for about an hour, me just holding him and rocking him. It’s tough to describe exactly how you’re feel-ing; it’s just kind of this range of emotions 42 THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2019

where you’re looking at this little creature and there’s this instant ownership you have, you think ‘I’m responsible for you, I need to do everything I can to be the best I can be for you’ and you start to feel overwhelming joy.

Overall parenting is a learning process.

My wife and I did not have much of a background with kids. I had never even changed a diaper prior to having him.

There was a lot we had to learn about what he needed. We just tried to do the best we could. Ultimately the first couple of months were tough, but we got in a rhythm pretty quickly.

One of my absolute favorite moments with Eli was a picture that we have. I remember he was really young. I was getting him ready and getting myself ready, and all that I can remember about him is that he was on the bed and I was running around probably picking up clothes or putting on shoes or something in the bedroom and then I just stopped and looked at him and it’s what you saw in that picture. I was hit by that in the moment.

I think that being a father really means to be the best you can be for another person. It’s about trying to bring out the best person in yourself so that you can start to set a great example for your children.

Being around, taking time. That’s one thing that becomes pretty challenging as a parent is finding time to be with your child. Being a father is being the best you can be so you can help someone else be the best that they can be.

With parenting in any profession or any walk of life finding time is the hardest thing to do. So much of your time is consumed with watching over your child or your children. I usually I will hit his needs first, taking care of him is my top priority.

Eli likes dinosaurs. He likes animals. He likes books. He likes balls. He is adorable, cute, he’s smart, he’s organized, he’s

happy, he is curious, he asks questions, and he’s imaginative.

My wife and I want him to be well-rounded with things. He’s so young right now but we’re trying to cater to different interests that he might have. Just appreciating family time. That’s a challenge right now. As he’s getting older we want to build in more traditional things. We want to start to build in some family routines that allow us to appreciate each other’s time.

As he gets older we want him to understand that being good to other people is a top priority and that you want to treat others the way you want to be treated. We want him to be the best that he can be.

I don’t feel like there’s a whole lot that I envision for him in terms of what I want as he gets older. Whatever his interests might be as he gets older, we want him to try things.

I think what I learned from my dad are the elements of his personality. His personality is the biggest thing I’m taking away from him. It is just that being good to other people and being cheerful and walking into a room and having a smile.

Things like that I got from my dad and that’s what I would like to pass on to Eli. I hope he can see that in me.

The best parts of being a father are the moments that you are hit just by love.

When I pick him up from daycare he’s running around and when I walk into the room everything just stops for him and he says ‘daddy’ and he runs over and gives me a big hug. Things that he says that hit you in the right spot, that’s what makes it all worth it. Because there are challenging times for sure. Where you get stressed out, and he’s acting out, and you’re trying to get whatever else done. There are challenging times but the moments when you are just hit by the love of a child is the greatest thing about being a parent.

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TO GET INTO YOUR DREAM SCHOOL

Sophia Pfeifer

I knew I wanted to go to Michigan because it was so beautiful, but then I fell in love with Western Michigan. I initially was looking into Central Michigan but Interviewed by Riy Walker that was just okay. But when I went to visit Western, it reminded me of home. There’s a small town on one side My initial reaction to being accepted into my dream of the campus and the city was on the other side, it’s college was joy and excitement. For the longest time, I was nervous that I wouldn’t be accepted. It was the only truly like a dream come true. The one thing that made me love this school the most was the home away from place I applied to and the only place I fell in love with. home feel.

The acceptance letter came almost four months after I You never know where you’ll find a place that will applied. The first thing I did after I opened the accepmake you feel like home. As a freshman, I definitely tance letter was call my parents and tell them the big did not think that Huntley High School would make news. The amount of love and supme feel like home. From making port the have for me is indescribable connections to keeping four-yearand amazing. long friendships, this place has They were so proud of me and I taught me so much more than I can knew that I had chosen the right ever imagine. It’s not always about place for me. I loved their art dewhere you’re going, it’s more about partment and it was truly everything the path you take to get there. Every I wanted to be around. It was the little memory, every little moment, place for me. is all resurfacing in my memories.

Growing up I was never the girl The past four years have flown by who was good at everything. School SOPHIA PFEIFER almost instantaneously, now in just a never really came easy to me, but few months, it’s all over. one thing I was always good at was It’s just crazy to think, adulthood is right around the art. I was always the kid playing with clay and making corner.

Being a kid lasted so long; high school went by tiny people and figures and creating my own type of art way too fast.

I just hope I’m ready for what’s to come. It with many different materials. That’s what I always loved seems like I’ve been waiting for this new life and a new to do. I never thought that little girl would be living her beginning.

Now it’s really here, there’s only three months dreams out so soon. left of high school and then the rest of the world awaits.

You know that feeling of excitement you get when The thought of leaving home and starting sort of a your second grade teacher asks you what you wanted new life, and making new connections all within the to be when you grow up and you say, ‘An astronaut, A next year is very very scary.

There are so many things teacher or A Police Officer?’ Well for me that wasn’t the I will be leaving behind. I know I say I’m ready for case. change, but I don’t know if I will ever be able to find a It was not until my sophomore year of high school place as warm as Huntley High School. when I met Mrs. Regan, the art teacher, and she really From walking through the halls where everyone brought my love for art to life. Mrs. Regan was truly my inspiration when it came down to learning what I want- knows you and you know everyone, to not knowing ed to be, and who I wanted to be as an adult. I’ve grown anyone at all is an extravagant difference. This was my an unexplainable love for art, sculptures, figures and all home for the past four years, I’ll never find anything else type of cool stuff. Now I can truly say, when I grow up I like it. But for now I’ll enjoy it. August 2019… let the journey begin. want to be a ceramic artist.

“You never know where you’ll find a place that will make you feel like home.”

44 THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2019

S. Laput HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 45

TO WORK IN A VET OFFICE

Zella Haase

payments.

Emergency patients work the same way depending on the urgency of the situation, but a tech usually Interviewed by Trevor Wolinsky sees the emergency as soon as it gets there.

I got the job mostly because my mom is a vetI also spend a lot of time on the phone, get refill erinarian there and I used to help out and hang out requests for prescriptions, and scheduling appointthere as a kid. All the staff knew me really well. ments/answering client questions. If I’m helping in When I turned 15, my mom suggested I work there, back that day, I take the dogs in the runs out once since I had already been volunteering there all the every two hours and clean any runs of dogs that time. I talked to the office manager, and that’s how I leave. I’ll also help hold dogs when they get shots or got set up with the job. nail trims.

The job is at an animal There was one time that a “ I took their dog hospital in Schaumburg dog came in choking. It was straight back because one of my mom’s really good called Golf Rose Animal Hospital. It’s a 24-hour pet they said she seemed to clients and I recognized clinic. It’s something I’ve althem right away. I took their be choking, and one of dog straight back because ways wanted to do because I spent so much time there they said she seemed to be the techs went to look as a kid that I grew up to choking, and one of the down the dog's throat to techs went to look down be super familiar with how everything worked. the dog’s throat to see if she see if she could get I technically work as a could get whatever it was whatever it was out. receptionist, scheduling out. The dog coughed and a appointments, cleaning of rawhide flew clear The dog coughed and a piece rooms, and talking with across the exam room. It was piece of rawhide flew clients. I am super comfortpretty crazy. able there and usually work We also see a lot of abuse clear across the exam late into the evening. cases with stray dogs, where room. It was pretty When we’re on emergency they’ll have skin deformities hours, I spend quite a bit of and other issues. It’s really crazy.” time helping the technicians cool to treat them, see them in the back with holding get adopted by shelters, and ZELLA HAASE dogs and walking dogs and then by their forever owners. all of that sort of stuff as We even occasionally see well. breached dogs (which is when a dog is delivering I typically work eight-hour shifts on the weekend. puppies and one of them gets stuck) and its this huge Our normal appointment hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., procedure. It’s super interesting to watch them delivbut we still always have emergencies coming in. It’s er all the puppies through a C-section. usually relatively busy.

I would say my favorite part about working there I spend time checking people in, weighing the is the people I work with. I’m the youngest person dogs when they come in, and putting people into working there so it’s really cool to have people to exam rooms. I also check people out, so I bring in look up to. any medication they might be getting and collect

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S. Laput HUNTLEYVOICE.COM 47

This is that story.