The Green Lantern Volume I, Fall 2015

Basehor-Linwood High School

Green lantern Volume One | Fall 2015

About the publication The Green Lantern is the official literary magazine of Basehor-Linwood High School. A literary magazine is a unique way to display students’ work that often goes unappreciated. We focus on displaying works of art and pieces of writing from students. This magazine provides a unique platform for students to publish their work to the public. We have long dreamed of putting one of these together, and thanks to the help of Mr. Lohafer and the English Department Coffee House Night, it has become a reality.

We hope that in the future this publication grows in volume and in quality of content. Please enjoy our first edition of the Basehor-Linwood Literary Magazine.

Sincerely,

Kristen Loney Journalism Teacher

Cover artwork: Siera Bernard, senior

Contributors Siera Bernard, senior Brianna Betzel, sophomore Kale Bowen, sophomore Morgan Buchholz, sophomore Scott Davids, freshman Hanna Dickey, senior Abbey Erickson, sophomore Thomas Garcia, junior Ashley Hicklin, senior Madeline Hoffman, freshman Allison Johnson, senior Zach Kamm, sophomore Sarah Meyer, senior Erin McGowan, junior Derek Pascasio, junior Courtney Robinson, senior Tanner Rohr, sophomore Alyssa Schoenfelder, sophomore Halee Walker, freshman Jaime Weible, senior Marina Wilson, senior Shelby Yazel, sophomore

wheelthrown vase SENIOR Sarah meyer

elephants in the evening

sophomore shelby yazel

Agent Mitchell’s, Oh seven hundred eastern time Junior Erin McGowan In my current residence, one wouldn’t see it wise to be talking about this matter. But, seeing as the entire department has gone crazy over the stuff, I might as well tell a little bit about my experience here.

In this life every day is the same as the last, but not quite. Mornings begin with free form yoga, and a marxist reading. Then we go off to tend the herbal garden. I have been assigned the important task of locating inch worms in the thyme patch. Once they are properly gathered, I am then to humanely transport them to the compost field.

Breakfast is an interesting ordeal.

Porridge is to be eaten in silence, and cucumber water to be gurgled for the activities later to come. I try not to make eye contact with many of my table mates. Their tone when they speak of politics frightens me. Then, if I happen to make eye contact through all the dread locks and incense smoke they will ecstatically talk with their hands, and bodies about the latest social justice issue.

When the meal ends we scream. It so far has been the most frightening thing I have endured. Not only do my tablemates holler, but they make eye contact. Sometimes the whoops and hurrahs start to make sense. The forming of coherence is

what is alarming to me. Every day when the yelling ends I wonder if I have gone in too deep.

Now the Unhinged Communication ritual begins.

Mother Jocosta calls it that anyway.

Some days I use cream cheese instead of shaving cream. Other days it's been a custom to tear apart old couch cushions and put the stuffing inside a fishbowl, while on other days, I may put the stuffing in my hair.

All directions are given from behind the camera. Jocasta gives direction, and I perform.

“Grab the mouse. Hold it as your mother would hold you!”

The mouse is frozen, of course.

“CONSUME IT! LIQUIDATE YOUR ASSETS!” She is pacing now. Her robes are hand stitched and white hemp.

“LEAVE NOTHING IN THE STUDIO! PUT YOUR SOUL OUT TO THE LENS!” At this point in my day I wonder why the FBI labeled the The Celestine Encounter a terrorist threat. Many in my division

would kill for an assignment like this. They would sell their aunt’s urn to shave their eyebrows, but allow their leg hairs to grow free.

To take up eating habits a vegan would call too much. To give up a past life with exemplary marks in all quantico courses including an unheard run through of Hogan’s Alley,all in exchange for a masters in performance art from community college. No longer am I praised for my record breaking side arm disassembly. Here my analyzation of Yoko Ono’s Voice Piece at MoMA is praised.

At first the video went viral as a joke. People thought the bongo drums beating in perfect sequence to a rubber chicken being squeezed by a mime was comical. But, by chance an analyst happened upon a shocking coincidence. Using binary code it was discovered the sounds made by these small time performers matched launch codes for WMDs. My assignment is to find the leak.

Until then blend, assume my role as a performing artist, play into the roles given from behind the camera.

My blank stare at the at the lens reveals nothing, with this my safety is assured.

End transmission.

Golden Freddy’s eyes

sophomore BRIANNA BETZEL

The Big BLUE

senior jaime weible

The Tree Of Life sophomore Zach Kamm

I am a young traveller, very new and spry I travel down the road that all must travel by.

This road gives many winds and turns, Most of which, I have begun to learn.

My journey is longer than I can see yet every year I pass by a familar tree.

After every year I wonder, there it will be.

An odd yet always familiar tree.

I am an old traveller with many wounds to mend.

Soon my journey must come to an end.

I pass the tree one last time, and hear an unfamiliar chyme.

I called to tree, and the tree chymed to me.

I became the tree, and the tree became me.

In the distance I see a young traveller, very new and spry, traveling down the road that all must travel by.

creature

freshman scott davids

It was a warm autumn night as we arrived at the cabin. It was cool and dark when we jumped out of the truck, we all wanted out after the long drive. We went into the little convenience store right next to our cabin to grab the key. We got the key and went up the stairs and started to unload our things.

I was so tired I just wanted to go to bed right there but i needed to help. I leisurely unloaded all of our coolers and drinks into the cabin. I was with my mom, dad, my brother Jordan, his girlfriend, and a family of my mom’s. We all unpacked our things and went to sleep.

I woke up to the sound of my dad getting all of our coolers together for our float trip. He had his shoes on walking back and forth in front of the couch I was sleeping on. I rolled out of bed and went to the pantry to get some breakfast. On my way over, I stepped onto my pocket knife. I mindlessly stuffed it into my swimming trunks pocket.

When I was done I went outside to see my dad sitting on the porch talking with Mike; one of Mom’s

friends. “Good morning, you ready for our trip?”

“Yes” I said, “I’m kind of tired though. I don’t wake up at 7:00 on the weekends.” I walked back in the cabin and got a glass of milk.

My brother sat up right then and looked over at me. “What?” I said.

“Shut up” he replied.

He then got up and grabbed a glass of milk as well. We talked for 5 minutes, then went outside. We each got a lawn chair and sat on the porch in silence for a little while.

When Mike’s son came out, Mikey came over and sat next to us. We all joked about how we normally sleep until noon and talked about the trip and school. I got bored so I went back inside and flipped on the flat screen against the wall. I scrolled to the channels until I got to a show that I enjoyed but hadn’t seen in awhile.

Half an hour later my mom came out of the master bedroom, poured

herself a cup of coffee, and went outside with my dad. I got up and by that time it was time to get on the bus to take us to the water. It was probably around a 15 minute ride but i was too excited to think.

When we finally got to the water, I just wanted to jump in, but I couldn’t. I stood with just my feet in and in 15 seconds they were numb. My brother and I started to walk out, deeper and deeper.

When it was up to our waist, we both decided to dunk ourselves.

We went under for a split second and came up, half laughing and half hyperventilating. We walked back up to the rocky shore.

“Cold?” my dad asked.

“Nah, it’s like a hot tub in there” my brother and I joked.

We situated our rafts - the kids on one, adults on the other. There were a total of six coolers distributed evenly among the two rafts. We talked and rowed for about an hour and then we stopped to swim. It was beautiful; all of the colors of the

leaves slowly falling into the water, everyone laughing and talking about the scenery. There was a little rocky cliff that a few people were climbing up to jump off of.

Everyone on the ‘kids’ raft decided to do the same.There is kind of a makeshift stairway using oddly placed, muddy footholds.

When we got to the top, the feeling of fun was gone. The beauty of the trees vanished as we started slowly for the edge of the cliff. I saw something beneath the water slithering against the undermost part of the river. I didn’t believe what I saw - or i didn’t want to. I just walked away from the edge, contemplating what to do. One girl jumped off and did a backflip in mid air, but when she went under, nothing came up except a red haze in the water.

Everyone was wondering why she didn’t come up. Everyone who was in the water near the shore got out incase there was something in the water. Then it hit me. Earlier in the season there were news about

alligators moving North. It’s not possible for an alligator to live in this river, is it?

Just then a great beast leaped out of the water,snatching one of the children near the edge. Everyone went berserk. Parents grabbed their children, Teenagers got closer, and kids started wailing. At first I thought it was over; I instantly came to the realization that I was going to die.

At first I kind of stood there in shock when it happened. I wanted to warn him, but for some reason I didn’t. All I could do was watch as my brother was swallowed by the miraculous beast. My blood went cold. I couldn’t think straight.

I don’t know what led me to do it, but I jumped into the water, searching for a fight. I noticed a glare; a scale glistened in the sun as it glided across the water. It was still hungry, and I knew it wanted me.

I looked around for a sort of weapon to use when a stick bumped something in my pocket.

My knife! I tried to grab it out of my pocket, put it was stuck on the inner netting of my swim suit.

When I finally managed to get it out, the beast was right in front of me. It tried to bite my leg, but I was too quick. It circled around for another strike. As this was happening I felt a sharp pain in my lungs. Realizing I was running out of air, I went to the top. My mom and dad were too horrified from Jordan’s death that they didn’t see me jump into the water in the first place.

When they saw me come up they started to freak out. Almost everyone had abandoned the shore and were either watching from the side or already gone to get help. I raced to the empty shore waiting for the creature to follow. It took the bait and slowly rose to the surface coming toward me. When it made it to the rocks, I could see it’s entire twenty foot long body. With the only weapons on my side being a knife and my thirst for blood, I was ready.

Jeff admires the moon

sophomore abbey erickson

hedgehog

snoopy

junior thomas garcia

sophomore morgan buchholz

bokeh

freshman halee walker

losing leah freshman madeline hoffman

I slammed the stall door shut and pressed the home button on my phone. “3 o’clock” lit up and I sighed. I had been at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds for ten hours and I was ready to go back to the hotel.

My family, friends, and trainers had been at the Oklahoma horse show for a week and a half, and we were all ready to go back home.

“Are you guys ready to go grab lunch?” My trainer, Ann, said walking down the aisle.

had been known for wandering off and making friends with everyone she met.

“I saw her like 30 minutes ago in the main arena,” Grace said.

“Okay, Maddie come with me to look for her up there,” my mom said grabbing her phone. “Can you guys keep an eye out for her if she comes back to the stalls?”

“Maddie, go to the other side and look,” My mom turned to me and said, “I am going to go to the end of the arena.”

Five minutes passed and we still couldn’t find her.

“Let’s go back to the stall area and maybe she will come back,” my mom said.

“Yes, Grace go with them,” Laura said gently pushing Grace in my direction.

On our way back, we passed another trainer and my mom stopped her.

“Do we have everyone?” asked Laura.

Grace, my mom, and I walked to the main arena. We opened the door to the tunnel and the dirty, musty smell filled the air. We followed the tunnel around to the staircase and climbed up the ten or so stairs. Hundreds of folding chairs around the arena made it almost impossible to spot her out of the big crowd.

“Have you seen a little girl about eleven years old walking around in a black t-shirt?” my mom asked her.

“Actually I have, I saw her walking around with a women in the arena across the street about two minutes ago,” the women said pointing towards the side road.

“Yes, wait, no, where’s Leah?” my mom asked looking around.

Leah was my little sister and she

“Let’s just find her so we can get out of here and eat lunch,” Grace said walking up the rows of chairs.

“Please,” said my friend Grace, as she walked out of her horse’s stall.

My mom and Grace’s mom, Laura, started talking and making reservations at a resturant nearby as everyone was finishing up with what they were doing.

“Thank you so much,” my mom said starting to turn and run away.

My hair was blowing and my heart raced as we ran back to the stalls to find everyone waiting for us.

“We stopped Megan on our way back to the stalls and she said she saw Leah walking around with a women in the arena across the street,” Grace said.

“Well let’s go, this is a shady part of town,” Ann said getting on her bike.

We all biked over to the arena and started calling her name.

“Leah,” I yelled loudly. How could she wonder off like that?

I walked around the outside of the bleachers, frantically looking for her.

into the stall barn. I instantly started following them, sprinting across the road just as they turned the corner in the dark building.

“Leah!” I shouted as soon as I ran through the doors.

Leah and the woman were about 30 feet from me when they both stopped in their tracks and turned around. Leah’s face lit up as she took off toward me. I wrapped my arms around her and asked, “Where were you?”

“I was looking for you guys!” she exclaimed.

“Maddie, go look for her outside,” Laura said turning and walking the other way.

My mom, Ann, Grace, and Laura stepped into the building and my mom ran over to her.

I stepped out the nearest metal doors into the hot air outside. I looked both ways and caught a glimpse of something moving quickly across the road about 50 feet from me. It was Leah and a women I had never seen before!

They were hurridly walking back

“Honey, don’t ever do that again!” my mom said hugging her.

The women who was with Leah walked over to us and I saw my mom stiffen.

“Hello, I’m sorry. Leah befriended

me and we have been watching horses show all day. When she told me it was time to go, we went back to your stalls and you guys weren’t there. So we went over to the arena across the street to look for you and, well, here we are,” The women said while my mom started chuckling.

“Thank you so much!” my mom said turning to Leah, “Please don’t ever go off on your own again.”

“I won’t,” Leah said showing off her childish smile.

We all walked away toward the stalls with Leah and my mom hand in hand, as everyone sighed a breath of relief.

married to my artwork

senior allison johnson

CHARACTERS FROM “FIDDLER ON THE ROOF” SENIOR ASHLEY HICKLIN

THE RACE TO THE PRESIDENCY JUNIOR ERIN MCGOWAN

a dance with faeries senior marina wilson

I didn’t understand why she was so mad. I had walked the path hundreds of times with her, and knew it by heart. I could have walked it in my sleep. So why was she yelling at me?

I was very bored. I had done everything there was to do in the house. I had drawn a picture, watched a movie, and played dress up with Miss Piggy, our fat beagle; I was Ariel, and she was princess Fifi. Mommy was working upstairs in her office, or else we would have probably gone to the playground in town. As bored as I was, though, I decided to take a chance and ask if she would at least go take a walk around the lake with me.

I took the steps two at a time, my little legs not quite reaching the second step, making the stairs a little more interesting to climb.

When I finally got to the top, I got down on my hands and knees and crawled to her office at the end of the hallway, pretending I was Miss Piggy and flopping over every few steps. I stood up when I reached her door; she didn’t like it when I was crawling on the floor. I turned the doorknob and pushed it open, listening to her voice as she talked on the phone; something about some sort of transaction involving some pipes. She heard the door and turned towards me, smiling and holding up her finger to tell me to wait until she was done.

I waited for maybe five minutes.

I wasn’t very good at patience. I began signaling to her to get off

the phone, jumping up and down and waving my arms wildly. She noticed me and held up that finger again. Annoyed and impatient, I continued my jumping and waving, but she began ignoring me. I couldn’t wait any longer.

“Mom,” I whispered loudly. She continued to ignore me, so I got a little louder.

“Mommy. Mom. MoM. MOM!” “I’m sorry, but I need to let you go, my daughter needs something.”

She turned towards me and gave me a stern look.

“What?” I asked, putting on my most innocent face.

“Don’t ‘what’ me. You know you’re not supposed to interrupt when I’m on the phone. That was an especially important call, so this had better be good. Now what is it that you need?”

“Can we go walk around the lake?”

She sighed, and I immediately felt disappointed; she was going to say no. “I’m sorry, sweetie, but I can’t. I have work that I need to finish. But we can go later, okay?”

My shoulders slumped. “Okay,” I said, and walked out of her office.

Walking down the stairs, I started to think. Why shouldn’t I go? I went outside on my own all the time, and I figured I was old enough to walk around the lake by myself. I could bring Miss Piggy with me for protection against the monsters that Mom always told me about.

The ones I should never talk to.

Seemed like a good idea to me.

Mind made up, I went down to the basement, Miss Piggy following, and opened the door to our backyard. I walked to the edge of the treeline and found the path, slightly hidden in the bushes. Two half - dead trees towered over me, crossed slightly, forming a sort of doorway. Mommy and I always pretended it was a magical gateway to faeryland, and the only way to enter was to bow. Bending slightly at the waist, one arm draped over my hips and the other behind my back, I did my finest bow, and walked through the gateway.

After a few minutes of walking, Miss Piggy started barking at something in the bushes. I wasn’t afraid. She barked at almost everything that moved. I pretended it was a shy faery, and crouched down so I wouldn’t seem so large.

“Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you,” I murmured.

A small faery emerged on the path in front of me. She was beautiful, with hair the colors of autumn leaves and skin as dark and rough as the bark of a tree. Her eyes were the color of a clear summer sky, and her teeth glittered when she smiled.

“Would you care to dance with me, sweet child?” she asked me.

“I would love to!”

If anyone was near me, they would have seen a child, alone and twirling like mad. But to me, I wasn’t alone, and I wasn’t a child.

I was a faery princess, dressed in the finest of dresses, and dancing

gracefully with her faery subjects.

I twirled and spun, all eyes looking at me in awe. They thought of me as their most beautiful and amazing queen. I ran along the path, leaping and bounding like a deer, waving to all of my faery friends in the trees and bushes as I passed by. They would wave back and say hello to me in their musical voices. Miss Piggy trotted along behind me, and every once in awhile she would start barking at nothing. I would shush her, telling her the faeries didn’t like loud noises and would be frightened away.

At my pace, it took me an hour to walk the normally thirty minute path, and I was very tired. I knew I needed to get back to the house before mommy got done with work and found me gone. The sun was starting to go down. As pertinent as it was to get home, I took a minute to watch the fading light that was casting a beautiful glow over the trees and flowers, lighting them in a beautiful blaze of color. I wish mommy could see this, I thought.

Finally, I emerged from the forest through the faery gate. I turned around and bowed once again to the entrance, showing my respect to the forest and gratitude to such a fun day with the faeries. I walked back up to the house, utterly exhausted from my walk, and went in through the basement. Upstairs, I heard pounding footsteps.

Mommy was done working. I walked up the stairs and into the living room, and was greeted by her grabbing my shoulders and squeezing them hard, but not painfully, and an angry expression on her face.

“Where were you?! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Her eyes were blazing with anger,

and I began to feel as if I had done something I wasn’t supposed to.

“I took a walk around the lake,” I answered tentatively, unsure as to why she was so mad.

“You don’t go anywhere without telling me, and you especially don’t go walking around the lake alone!”

“But I wasn’t alone. The faeries…”

I broke off, looking at her face. She looked very mad, but there were worry lines, too, and I saw in her eyes that she was scared. I had scared her. I didn’t think she was scared of anything. I felt awful. I decided not to argue with her.

“I’m sorry mommy,” I said softly.

“You could have been hurt,” she went on, as if I hadn’t said anything.

“What if someone had tried to take you? I could never live with myself if something had happened to you. Go to your room, young lady. I want you to think about your actions until I say you may come down.”

I did as I was told, tears in my eyes. I took the steps one at a time; I wasn’t in the mood for taking two anymore. Reaching my bedroom, I ran inside, not bothering to close the door behind me. I threw myself onto my bed, sobbing loudly and crying out for mommy to forgive me. I went on like this for an hour.

Eventually, I fell asleep, dancing faeries and angry mothers in my dreams.

Waking up in the morning, the events from last night were fuzzy at first, and then they came back to me in a rush, and I immediately felt guilty all over again. I didn’t like the feeling, and scurried as quickly as I could out of my room and downstairs. At the bottom of the steps, I could smell pancakes, and heard the scrape of a fork against a glass bowl. This was good. Mommy

wasn’t mad anymore.

I tentatively entered the kitchen, afraid that she would get mad at me again if she saw me. She was pouring pancake batter onto a hot pan, the sizzle and delicious smell making me feel a little bolder. I tried forming the words, but my throat had closed. I cleared it, and tried again.

“I’m sorry, mommy,” I said softly.

She jumped as she turned around, a smile on her face, as if last night were wiped from her memory.

“Goodness, Marie! You scared me! I’m sorry, I didn’t hear what you said. What is it?”

“I’m sorry,” I repeated.

Her expression changed into understanding, and she embraced me in a hug.

“I’m sorry too, sweetie. I know I’ve been working a lot, but you can’t go off into the woods alone.

It’s not safe for you. Do you understand?”

I nodded, relieved. Her face brightened with another smile, and she kissed the top of my head.

“You ready for some pancakes?

There’s a very special ingredient in them; M&Ms!” I began jumping up and down with excitement, and greedily grabbed the plate she offered, stacked high with M&M pancakes.

I sat down in my seat at the counter, and grabbed the syrup she had left, smothering the poor unfortunate pancakes that would go into my very hungry monster of a stomach.

I took a bite, and sighed in pleasure.

“After breakfast I was thinking we could take Miss Piggy to the park.

How’s that sound?” she asked me.

I nodded enthusiastically, mouth full of pancake, last night completely wiped from my mind.

kale bowen, sophomore tanner rohr, portrait studio sophomore JUNIOR derek pascasio lighting

alyssa schoenfelder, bokeh sophomore SOURCE OF LIGHT senior courtney robinson

senior hanna dickey