Class of 2016 Core 1

Thank you Mr. Loucks for making

Insert Title Here Discovery Core 1

it a great year!!!!!

2011-2012 (Up in here!!!)

T

This magazine is dedicated to Mr. Loucks, who has taught us everything we needed to learn, in order to become a better writer, and a more aware reader.

Dear Young Writer, August seems like a far-off time and place. I wanted you to share, with confidence, your writing with peers, teachers, and parents and feel a sense of pride at your accomplishments.

I asked you to make writing an integral part of your life. Some of you have filled notebooks, 3 ring-binders, and flash drives with your writing. This anthology is the celebration of you as a writer. Yes, I can say with confidence, that you, the class of 2016, have discovered the writer within. It has not been easy, but anything worth doing takes persistence and dedication.

Learning is an important aspect of this class. Although some of you “disliked” the grammar and punctation, I hope that you have found rhetorical uses for both in your writing.

Along with learning punctuation and grammar, I hope you have learned the positive change writing creates within and within others. Please continue to grow and change in your life and your words. Don’t ever be discouraged or “give up” as a writer. Continue to practice and imagine.

These pieces reveal the sophistication, imagination, and dedication of the class of 2016.

Change is part of life, and through your writing, I have discovered that many of you have gone through some significant life changes. Your writing also shows a concern about important societal issues. You and your classmates care about the well-being of others. And that makes me proud!

Three words greet you when you walk into the 8-3 pod area—competence, significance, and power. Please know that you have an enormous amount of power in your writing. You have the power to make someone feel significant. That is what you have done for me as a teacher.

This class has given me faith in my teaching because, at times, I wonder if giving you choice of topics and genres is the best way to teach writing. But, when I read your words, listen to your conversations, and learn with you, I know I am doing the right thing. Thank you.

Have a wonderful summer, and know that you will always have a place in my heart!

Sincerely, Mr. Loucks

KIRA AMELS About the Author...

On December 15th 1997 Jeanette Amels was rushed to the hospital as she began labor. Being as stubborn then as I am now the birth was not easy and a cesarean section was necessary. On December 15th at 10pm I was born. That was 14 year ago and since that day I have embraced my personality through reading and writing. Since a young age I have been in over-achiever in school. In first grade when we had to choose books at our level and I boasted about the 5th grade level book I choose. Then in fourth grade when we had to write about our family and I gave each member their own three-sentence paragraph, I had the longest essay in the class. Then this year I earned a 12th grade level on a reading test. And every achievement came with a victory dance, plenty of boasting, and of course a boost of confidence.

Because of my strong will to achieve I have been able to develop strong writing skills and a high reading comprehension, but that is just the technical part of reading and writing. My life has always been very easy. I’ve never had to worry about being able to get three meals a day or even have a home. Till March 15th 2011. On that day my life was flipped upside down and fell into a spiraling down fall leaving both my mom and I homeless. During this time I turned to writing as a way to release my thoughts and communicate my ideas. I wrote three narratives about my experience and countless letters explaining my situation. Writing allowed me to let my ideas flow, it was one of the few ways i was able to explain and vent my ideas, but writing was not the only only thing that impacted my life, reading has also played a large role and shaping me. Writing allowed me to release my ideas, but reading gave me ideas and inspiration. have read countless books since that day in 1997, but few I actually remember. Then one book I read this year changed my view on the world. Words transformed me.

This year i was assigned to read a book called Tuesdays with Morrie

by Mitch Album. Like any book you are forced to read in school your first thoughts are how horrible this is going to be, how long it is, and how you wish you could just read something fun! But this book shocked me. Instead of resenting of word I began to enjoy the simple story. A story of an old man on the road to death sounds like the most awful and boring book you could ever pick up, but Tuesdays with Morrie had nice twist. Morrie, the old man, was stricken with a terminal illness taught his young friend/student about a new lesson. The lessons of life. The book gave me insight that changed my view on society, and during the hardships I was enduring the book gave me

insight and tips with mourning a loss.

Morrie who was dying did not mourn in bed and waste away, but rather made the few days he had left the most fun he had ever had. Morrie left with a bang leaving his mark on the world with is knowledge. His attitude and ideas inspired me to stop mourning over the loss of my old life and began to make something out of my new one. I’ve heard from many teachers and parents say that language arts is by far the most important subject and through my experiences this year I now believe that to be true. I always looked down at assignments as a forced task that i had to complete, but the truth of it is, language arts is an outlet for

emotions, philosophy, and learning.

With the knowledge, maturity, and insight i have gained from writing and reading I can use those skills to pursue my dream. I want to be a doctor. Not only do i want to become a doctor, but I want to get my education through the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. With the education I will gain I want to make a difference, i want to go out with bang just like Morrie. Writing brings people together, and with writing change is made.

Writing has changed my life personally and now i want to capture my ideas and change others lives too.

Writing changed me, will it change you too?

In the next three pages you will journey through my mind via my writing. You will experience everything from humorous poems to an emotional narrative.

Expression through art.

Six word stories

Poetry

The irony of a white crayon.

Mini tacos bring joy to me.

Giant babies dance like fierce tigers.

What would happen if Pinocchio said, my nose will grow?

Long lies bring about rotting flies.

Your Slave Haiku

I honestly hate writing haikus be cause they leave no room fo r fun

In seventeen clicks a story is written in words beauty is told

Every day I am dragged around in a small dark cave. I am nearly a slave forced to work everyday without any food or appreciation. And god forbid I break a leg, and if I do I am thrown out like a useless piece of trash. And that is just the beginning, I am also tortured. Several times a day my owner will shove my head into a small opening as knives cut into me. I've had more than one owner, once my owner just left me on the ground to die, then another one picked me up. I was so happy! Till the owner began carving at my skin with a knife, he was even worse than the previous owner. Oh, and I forgot to tell you my name. My name is pencil.

Just the Beginning...

Kira Amels ••• What is more frightening than entering a new school? Many things, but my point is entering a new school is terrifying. You are placed in a building filled with people who all know each other, and you know absolutely no one. Not only that, but you have to complete the work that comes with school, even on the first day. Entering a new school is completely mortifying, and mortified I was walking through my new school as new peer of mine talked quietly as she walked beside me.

“And this will be your science room, and this is where you go for English,” she explained. The walls were covered with bad examples of students work, poorly written essays, carelessly drawn posters; it was all a perfectionists’ nightmare. “And this is the art room, and here is the library, “I tried desperately to pay attention, but was too distracted by all the new sights. Behind each door there was something new, something strange, something….. intimidating. “Also Spanish is in here, and the line for lunch begins here,” The air smelled different, not to mention it was thinner.

The difference from sea level to the mile high city was extreme. I could barely catch my breath jogging up the stairs to keep up with my guide as she led me throughout the school. “This is your pod, and here is where you go for P.E,” The building felt like a maze. I am a stranger in a strange land, put into an environment where I feel completely out of place. And how did I get here? Well… It all began this time last year in February 2011.

It was a Tuesday in February everyone was preparing for Valentine’s Day, writing cards, buying candies, and planning parties. It was all too mushy for me. e. I did what I do every day, wake up slowly, crawl out of bed reluctantly, eat whatever I can find in the fridge spending minutes decided exactly what I want, spend the day at school half-asleep of course, and finally come home to my couch sweet couch to nap. But today was different. When I came home, the couch was not my first destination; it was a hard cold chair. It felt colder than usual. “Sit down honey we need to talk,” mom warned, “it’s about your father.” I instantly tensed up. Fear paralyzed me as an icy shiver chilled my spine. “He wanted to tell you himself,” she went on. I grew more scared and my eyes began to well up with tears. What could she possibly

say? Then one word finally appears on her lips that explains it all. “Divorce.” and I lose all the tension and fright and fall into a sobbing mess. And the worst part about it is I never saw it coming.

Today was the first day I’ve ever seen mom and dad fight, and today was the day that entire course of my life was completely changed.

I don't see my father for a long time, but we do text him occasionally. Not that our conversations make it past “hi” or “how are you?” and not like I respond. I may have treated him better if I did not grow up barely knowing him. I’ve always been shy, and I’m my younger days I was even too shy to talk to my own father. He felt like a stranger to me. He was never home he rather spend his free time at work than with me. We have never been close. Also, I may have treated him better if the entire divorce wasn’t his fault. Yes it was him, not only did he destroy the marriage by being unfaithful, but he also left her. Good old workaholic dad.

Less than a month after the heart-wrenching news of the divorce came I visit my dad. His apartment was empty, except for scattered clothes, a folding chair, and a plastic table covered with Doritos. “Uhm, so, where do you want to sleep?” He asked.

The entire visit was awkward and uncomfortable, not much was said.

There was a lot to talk about, but neither of us knew how to bring it up.

My dad has never been good with emotions or drama of any kind, having them or helping with them. His was to deal with things is to avoid them.

Luckily for him I didn’t want to talk either, not with him. Our already loose father and daughter relationship is falling apart. Finally, it was time for me to leave. Mission not accomplished.

The next day I come back home to mom, but nothing has changed. Mom stays in her room too broken apart by the whole event to even speak, which only makes the pain even harder to bear. I felt alone.

Occasionally I would open her door and peek inside only to either see her in tears or asleep. Life carried on slowly, mom spending days at a time in her room, dad awkward and unknowing, and me trying to carry on school. The world seemed quieter. Each minute seemed to drag on, “Tic-toc tic-toc tictoc.” Was it all a dream? I began to think life would go on like this forever, slow, dull, and depressing, but then another life changing event was thrown at me. I Kira Amels am moving

to Colorado Springs, Colorado. I am leaving the home I have lived my entire life in, leaving the people I grew up with, and the environment that is so familiar to me. I was stunned, speechless even. Would this move bring the fun into my life I’ve desperately been waiting for? Little did I know...

My mom and I begin to prepare for a drive down to Colorado Springs less than a month after summer begins. We work fast and hard to dispose or sell most of our unneeded possessions shedding off trash bags filled with things we’ve accumulated.

The whole event had a strange sense of freedom along with all the loss. “Do you really need this stuffed bear?” Mom would ask, “Or this shirt?” Hours of labor from my mom and I, and some recruited neighbors, we are ready to leave Washington for the final time with a small car loaded with everything we own. “Goodbye,” I whispered to my house. Goodbye.

I’ve always been extremely materialistic. I have always felt a strong need to have the newest, the best, and the most expensive.

Considering this, I instantly clash with my new house mate, Gillian. My mom and I are forced to live with a short, British, clean freak activist named Gillian. Her home was always very tidy, everything has its place. Mom having no income was not able to afford a house, or even a small apartment, or even food for that matter. But, luckily for us mom has a close friend in Colorado Springs. And on the not so lucky side, she is my perfect opposite.

Opposites do not attract.

But the funny thing is, opposites teach each other. I taught Gillian the wonders of processed hostess products, and she taught me everything. Gillian taught me the importance of recycling, she taught me kindness and compassion, she taught me how to live without any technology, and she made me who I am today. In a few short weeks I became a different person, a stronger person. I can tell you the whole process was not easy, living with Gillian was one of the most challenging thing I’ve ever done, but also the most rewarding. I finally felt at home.

I’ve always been extremely materialistic. I have always felt a strong need to have the newest, the best, and the most expensive.

Considering this, I instantly clash with my new house mate, Gillian.

My mom and I are forced to live with a short, British, clean freak activist named Gillian. Her home was always very tidy, everything has its place. Mom having no income was not able to afford a house, or even a small apartment, or even food for that matter. But, luckily for us mom has a close friend in Colorado Springs. And on the not so lucky side, she is my perfect opposite. Opposites do not attract.

But the funny thing is, opposites teach each other. I taught Gillian the wonders of processed hostess products, and she taught me everything. Gillian taught me the importance of recycling, she taught me kindness and compassion, she taught me how to live without any technology, and she made me who I am today. In a few short weeks I became a different person, a stronger person.

I can tell you the whole process was not easy, living with Gillian was one of the most challenging thing I’ve

ever done, but also the most rewarding. I finally felt at home.

Lack of money brought me to Gillian, and lack of money is now bringing me to dad’s home. Dad moved from his small apartment to a decent sized home in highlands ranch with his girlfriend Samantha.

Unlike mom, dad has a paying job, and also unlike mom, dad could support me… money wise that is.

Mom being completely dried out in the money department, I was forced to move in with dad. I’ve always been extremely close to my mom, and she has always been there for me. Without her, I wouldn’t have made it through this move. And I did it easily without dad.

It was a long drive to dad’s house, but after two awkward silent hours, I was there. I walked in the door hoping no one would be home except my dad, the tears wouldn’t stop. But luck was not on my side today. The entire family was there.

Samantha was there. Christian was there. Aunt Ronnie and Uncle Joe was there. And my mom wasn’t.

Dad and Samantha helped me get all my things upstairs and left me with my things to socialize with the others. I looked around my new room, eyes still wet. It was empty and cold. The walls were yellow, not

a sunny yellow, but a sickly yellow. I felt sick. I began to unpack, putting things in random cabinets; I used tacks to hang pictures and posters, and laid my blankets out on my bed.

Even with all the material possessions in their place, it still didn’t feel like home.

I’ve lived my entire life in the same place, with the same people.

I’ve lived with daily rain in the sea level Washington climate. I’ve lived with the same kids I met in preschool. And I’ve lived with the same mom, who was always there for me, who I trust more than anyone, and the only person I feel completely comfortable with. Also, the same dad who is never home, who I don’t know well, as he doesn’t know me well, and who I am totally and completely uncomfortable with.

In the last six months I’ve lost all my friends I’ve known my entire life, the climate I’m so used to, the thick breathable air, the tall evergreens always surrounding me, my home. But now, I’ve lost the final and most important aspect in my life: My mom. Now I sit here in my yellow room typing on my laptop. In the last year I’ve become a completely different person, a better person, but the journey has just begun. It is just the beginning…

Murder?

Kira Amels ••• Allie is only 11 and has lived her whole life in a poverty stricken family. Allie’s family struggles to raise Allie and her 7 year old sister Sarah.

She is lucky to have three meals a day. Allie works hard in school dreaming of a bigger future where she can be successful an be able to support a family of her own. “Someday,” Allie exclaims, “I will live where you can go out for walks everyday on green grass instead of dirt, and be able to sit on your porch at night without any fear!” She lives in a poverty stricken town where gun shots go off like fireworks in the night. But, Allies’ hope for a better future may have just been crushed.

Why? Well, Allie is pregnant, Allie was raped, and there is no way She can give this baby without damaging her own mental and physical health. For nine long months Allie must watch her diet, stay away from the regular playground time, and go through weeks of sickening pain. Also, how does a family living off of $5 a day support a newborn? They can’t.

There is one solution to Allie’s problem, and it is called abortion.

Abortion was a way out for Allie from having to go through the pain of a pregnancy, and even risk her own health. Abortion is a way for any rape victim, or unprepared parents to assure

their own safety and financial health. Women and children alike are raped everyday and are left with unwanted pregnancies. Should they be expected to live 9-months with a baby they do not want? So why is abortion found as such a horrible event?

Abortion is legal in all 50 states and should stay that way. Today the majority of people protest against abortion with the argument, “abortion is murder.” Well, what is murder?

According to the U.S. special statutory murder is, “the killing of another human being committed with malice aforethought.” So, is abortion really murder? Women definitely do not end their surgery with malice aforethought, and an unborn fetus is definitely not a human being. A fetus in its early stages cannot survive without its mother and is defined as an, “a developing mammal.” A fetus does develop into a human being, but should not be mistaken as one. Since a fetus is not technically or legally a human being abortion is not murder.

Still for many people, including myself, this is not enough. Another ethical issue about abortion is the suffering of the fetus. There are two types of suffering: emotional and physical.

Since a fetus has yet to develop a brain and has no thought there is no chance for any

emotional trauma. Also, a fetus has not yet developed a nervous system and therefore is not capable of registering any physical pain.

What about adoption? Well, our world is overpopulated. Over 1.2 million women get abortions each year, that is million of new humans every decade adding fuel to the already raging fire. Nature did not intend for humans to stack up by the thousands into apartment buildings or use skyscrapers to expand our cities. Why add to the problem?

Also, Every year thousands of kids are put in foster home after foster home after being put up for adoption by unprepared parents. Every year thousands of kids are hit, sexually abused, and foulmouthed. And every year many of those kids commit suicide in abusing foster homes and unstable lives. Why put that fetus in a possibly miserable life? Is there a way out? Yes. It is called abortion.

If women menstruate lost eggs every month is that women killing all those potential babies by refusing to produce? These are eggs that could have humans. Eggs that have the same potential to become a human as a fetus. It is unfair to expect a woman to save all those eggs, as it is unfair to expect Allie to rent out her womb for 9-months to a baby she does not want.

ELIZABETH CHENGRIAN Elizabeth Chengrian was born in Littleton, Colorado in 1997. She does everything a normal 14 year old would do. One of her very favorite things is music. She loves to play her flute, and play the piano. Music is like sports to her. Where many other kids her age may play sports and have their world revolve around sports, Elizabeth’s life more or less revolves around Music. She likes to hang out with friends, climb trees, cook and do crafts. Elizabeth is unique in one way more than the others, where most people love dogs, Elizabeth isn’t a huge fan. She is more of a cat person. She hopes that people will accept her for who she is, and not try to change her.

Elizabeth fears many things such as cancer, loosing someone, snakes, spiders, ovens and many other things. She doesn’t fear death though, she fears time, and not having enough of it to do what she wants. Elizabeth lives in a safe neighborhood. She hasn’t really experienced the world, and she takes some things for granted. Reading Hiroshima by John Hershy and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak have changed some of that. It made her realize that people and countries in our world can be crueler than we may want to admit.

People in the world are and used to be cruel, and we may not want to admit it, but all of us have some of that mean, cruelness in us. It also showed her that many people are less fortunate than her. She has 3 meals a day everyday, but many people don’t and many people are working hard just to get enough money to support a family 10 years from now, these lessons from the book Hiroshima by John Hershy and The

Book Thief by Markus Zusak will remain in her memory, and she will continue to learn from them.

Elizabeth started out not liking writing so much. Actually, it was her least favorite subject. Slowly however, she began to grow, become more creative, and slowly liking the subject of writting more. She gradually learned that to be a writer you have to make the writing interesting, and make sense. She learned new sentence types, how to spell and how to enjoy writing. She hopes that in the future, she will continue to grow as a writer, and begin to enjoy it even more.

Elizabeth is optimistic about her future. She hopes that she will continue to read books, both that do and don’t show her the hardships of others. She says that she hasn’t yet decided what she wants to do about writing; however she does know that she wants to continue with playing the piano and flute. Elizabeth hopes that she can impact many lives both by showing others how fortunate they are and getting them to help, and by showing others the joy of reading.

Elizabeth hopes that in the future she can show society the advantages of being aware of your country, and your world.

Coming up next!

• 6 word stories • DIfferent • Cancer My cat Kali in the dryer!

Me!!!

• Our Greed • Smoking

SIX WORD STORIES!

Poetry and Short Works!!!

• LEFT, RIGHT, INHALE, EXHALE, REPEAT ENDLESSLY • THINGS HAVE CHANGED, SO HAVE I • OUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED, HURRY UP • SHE FELL IN LOVE, BROKEN HEART • CHANGE YOURSELF, CHANGE OTHERS, CHANGE THE WORLD

CANCER

• I DREAMT BIG, AND FELL HARD.

Different I see how it is you get made fun of if

you are different but why are you diffe rent, is it because of you ha ir your eyes your size Why do people make fun of different people, Everybody is differe nt.

Everybody is unique in their own way, unique and different to themselves.

It tears you apart, It brings you together, It kills, It harms, It is curable, So they say, But there is never any guarantee, You just have to keep fighting, You'll live through it.

You have to, There are people who need you, People who can't grow up with out you, People to young to know the pain of loosing you You just have to keep fighting, You can't give up...

I need you, we all need you.

Our Greed

by Elizabeth Chengrian If you asked a kid what Christmas is about, many would say that it is about getting presents, or Santa. This shows what our world has become.

Adults and children alike don’t realize anymore what holidays are really about. Christmas has become about presents and Santa, Memorial Day is just another day off of school or work. What has our nation become that we have become so greedy and ignorant?

Every year on December 25th, Christian families around the nation celebrate Christmas.

Many kids wake up early, jump out of bed and run down the stairs to see if Santa has visited. They run down to see what presents they have under the tree. Parents spend tons of money on presents to celebrate what? Being greedy.

Christmas has become a time of receiving and wanting. However, Christmas wasn’t and isn’t meant to be about receiving. Christmas was originally celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ and thank god for the birth of his son Jesus. Christmas is about giving, and being thankful for what you have, not about wanting, or receiving but giving and being thankful. Our culture and world has changed that, we have made it about receiving with our figure Santa Claus, and presents.

Through that, we have lost the meaning, not only in Christmas, but in other holidays.

Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday of May. Many citizens see this holiday as just

another day off school or work.

Some don’t even know what it is about. Others see it as a the start of summer, or an opportunity to shop. However, Memorial Day is meant to remember what it cost us to have American Freedom. American Freedom cost us thousands of lives through the fight to get freedom. Memorial Day is also in remembrance of all the men and women who died while serving the United States in the Armed Forces. People who have lost loved ones while serving their country will visit graves. Others just go out and act as if it is any other day. This goes to show that some American citizens are greedy, they don’t care that it cost men and women their lives to get what they take for granted today, to keep the country safe and to get freedom. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, not just any other day off of school or work, an unknown day, or a day to shop. It is a day about remembrance.

Car Deals, Sales, Shopping, another day off of school or work, this is what many Americans now think about Presidents Day. President’s day is celebrated annually on the third Monday in February. It is intended to honor all of the past (and current) American Presidents, but mostly George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Both of these presidents helped shape our country.

Abraham Lincoln helped reshape or country, and deserves recognition. George Washington

was the first United States President, and created the country, and many systems and things we still use today, and most certainly deserves more than being studied in a social studies class. All of the presidents have made our country what it is today, a free nation and we need to thank them. Thanking them is not done threw a “Presidents day sale” or a car deal. It is done through thanking them, and not using their achievements as an excuse to put something on sale or buy something because it is on sale. Our country has lost the true meaning of president’s day under sales and shopping. We have become greedy, taking a day meant for remembrance, and making it about us. Today, Presidents day goes relatively unnoticed!

Our world has lost the true meaning of holidays. No longer is Christmas about giving or the birth of Jesus, it is about presents, and Santa. Memorial Day is not about remembering the costs of American freedom, or honoring those who died in our nation’s service. It is about a day off of school or a sale. We no longer honor our presidents; we shop on the day dedicated to them. This is not what holidays are about. We as a country, as a world need to go back and find out what our holidays are about.

We need to honor those holidays, not make them about us. We are greedy and we need to change.

Smoking

by Elizabeth Chengrian

getting more cancer causing air/ Smoking cigarettes is harmful to

smoke per breath than the smoker

the smokers body, and has

themselves. Each year, 53,800

One in every five Americans

permanent effects. Therefore,

people die from second hand

smokes cigarettes. This is about

they shouldn’t be offered. About

smoke it is the government’s job

20% of the population. This habit

350,000 deaths per year are due

and duty to protect these innocent

is not healthy. Smokers are not

to smoking. When smoke from a

people from the harmful effects

only hurting themselves, but

cigarette is inhaled, tar is

of secondhand smoke. This can be

people who are around them. Also,

transferred to the lungs, and

done with one thing… the

they are addicted to the cigarette

builds up. One pack of cigarettes

elimination of cigarettes in the

itself. I believe that it is the

puts about 1 cup of tar into one’s

United States. Citizens have the

United States Government’s Job

lungs. Also, smokers are at risk of

right to be free of second hand

to protect the people of the

getting smokers cough, a disease

smoke; children who have no choice

United States by banning

that infects the throat and many

in the matter deserve to be free

cigarettes

other harmful diseases. These

of secondhand smoke. It is the

diseases can all be eliminated from

government’s job to protect the

It is the government's job to

future generations by simply

children and everyone who has no

protect the Americans ,so smoking

eliminating cigarettes. There for,

choice in the inhaling of

should be illegal. Smoking

the United States government

secondhand smoke.

cigarettes is a habit that many

should outlaw the use, distribution,

Americans and people around the

and creation of cigarettes to

It is the United States

world acquire. Cigarettes are

protect the people. It is all

government’s job to protect its

made up of many things, among

smokers right to live a life free of

citizens; therefore, cigarettes

them, Nicotine, and many

disease caused by cigarettes.

should be outlawed. Cigarettes

Dear Senator:

are addictive, harmful to the user,

tobaccos. Nicotine makes cigarettes addictive; people can

Secondhand smoke effects

and harmful to anyone and

get “hooked” on cigarettes after

innocent people who make the

everyone around the user.

just 3 to 5 cigarettes. Many

choice not to smoke, but must still

Cigarettes should be outlawed

people also have a hard time

face some of the consequences.

from the United States of

quitting because, over time, the

40% of nonsmoking adults and 54%

America.

body becomes used to or

of children show evidence of

dependent on the nicotine received tobacco in them through secondhand smoke. Also 98% of thorough smoking. It is the United States Government’s job to

children who live with smokers

protect its citizens. Cigarettes

have exposure to toxic chemicals.

are hurting USA citizens, and

Secondhand Smoke is the smoke

should be outlawed. When

that comes out of the cigarette

cigarettes are allowed to be used,

when it is lit this smoke has a

the USA government is not doing

higher concentration of cancer

its job; they are not protecting

causing agents. Therefore, people

the citizens against disease.

who aren’t smoking are actually

Sincerely, Elizabeth Chengrian

REAGAN FITZKE

About the Author...

My name is Reagan Fitzke. Overall, I’d have to say that I am a pretty unique person. I’m not afraid to be myself and look forward to the future. I was born right here in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and have lived here for practically my entire life. I absolutely love the arts. Drawing and photography are actually my main interests, but I do love to paint and work with 3D pieces in art class. I am also very passionate about music, even though I really can’t sing or play instruments; I do hope to learn how to play guitar one day, though. Some of the other things I do with my free time are surfing the web and thinking about what I could do that’d be productive. I also like hanging out with my friends and doing a wide range of other things.

Books have impacted my life in numerous ways, even if I’m not the most occupied when it comes to reading. I’d have to say that The Hunger Games series and the Harry Potter series are some of my favorites and I will not forget the engrossing story lines. But some of the books I have read have changed my outlook on how life is for me. I’ve read numerous novels such as The Cay, or Captive about the struggles and hardships of some people in this world and it makes me truthfully thankful that I have the privilege to live like I do. The Hunger Games has really impacted the person I am, and not by just turning me into a huge fangirl. Katniss Everdeen’s character has inspired me to really be brave and strong in every instance I am put in, no matter what the circumstance.

I’ve had a very interesting journey as a writer throughout the years. I’d have to say that these last two years in Discovery Language Arts class have helped me improve my skills the most. I’ve learned many new techniques in writing and how to effectively use different words and intricate sentence patterns to leave the reader intrigued. My vocabulary has improved as well, which does make me much more advanced than most people my age. Knowing vocabulary has helped me understand difficult pieces of text and articles as well. In the past my old styles were very boring and repetitive, and my overall attitude about writing wasn’t exactly positive. But I have learned to be more passionate about what I write and really

engage the audience; I believe I can perk their interest in what I have to say. I have surely grown and hope to become much better in high school, too.

I’m a little skeptical about what I am going to do with my future, but I am looking forward to being as successful as I can be. I hope to pursue a great career as I get older, and maybe even express my creativity and write a novel. I’ve tried many times to write one, in fact, but scrapped my work. I hope to help people out when I get older, whether it be as a career or a simple act of kindness. I can’t wait to see what I am truthfully capable of and find myself as I grow older.

SIX WORD

Poetry and Short Work Page

STORIES It’s all okay until night falls.

Live life. Love. Lose.

Move on.

In the end, we die anyways.

Let’s Live Out Loud Let’s start a movement.

Hope for the best, Fight for our rights, Believe in change.

Let’s go sing a song.

More Six Word Stories

Get down to the beat,

Love without any worries or doubts.

Let those feelings go.

Speak wild and free,

Let’s make a story.

Imagine what it could be,

I tried, but it didn’t matter.

One thing on my mind- You.

Create a different world, Or tell about what was, Let’s live the moment.

Cherish this, here, now, Love everyone near, And together we’ll be.

A Young Nightmare: Fiction Short Story blue eyes. She began screaming and hollering and started to rip all of her artwork ••• A YOUNG GIRL DEALING WITH THE off the mucky brown walls. Her HARDSHIPS OF BEING ALONE... mother, if that’s what you can even call her, began pounding on the door furiously. The girl A teenage girl was in a dreary didn’t open up, no matter how classroom. The walls around much her mother shrieked. She her were filled with insecurity About 45 minutes later, she flopped on her bed and and desire. She desperately began to bawl. Life was so wanted to leave, but she knew proceeded through the front door only to endure that unfair for her. She wasn’t she was trapped in this prison “thing” (that she was accepted for anything, and of a workspace. supposedly related to) spitting she had a slight feeling she orders that were to be satisfied never would be.

The time dragged on slowly.

The instructor’s words became immediately. After she had completed the grueling tasks A few hours had progressed, a jumble of nothingness. She her mother had assigned, she and the girl was laying on her broke out her notebook and began to prepare herself some bed, sleeping the night away. began to draw. Art was dinner. It’s not like her mom A drawing of hers then slowly truthfully her only escape. It would feed her anything. She fell down the walls, and was like a safe haven when felt her mother really didn’t landed on her chest. It was she felt as if she was going to care at all and didn’t want most likely one of the most lose her mind. Who wouldn’t anything to do with her only amazing pieces of artwork lose their minds if they had to anyone could ever see. The put up with all of the issues she daughter. colors of the paint blended did on a regular basis? She In the midst of preparing a perfectly into a lovely beach became so absorbed in her meal for herself, which was a scene at sunset. This was the drawing she had lost all sense place the girl had always of consciousness in the rapidly bowl of instant noodles (the only thing her mom would buy dreamed of: an escape, full of paced world around her. beauty and peace. Maybe, WHACK! She jerked up to meet for her), the somewhat ogrelike natured mother of hers just one day, she would finally the gaze of her fairly intimidating teacher, holding a walked in. She became furious be at the place of her dreams. at her daughter for apparently yardstick against her desk. He “invading” the kitchen. She A smile formed on her ordered her to put the screamed and yelled at the innocent face as she thought notebook away at once, and girl and sent fear rushing of the liberation of her painting so she did. through her veins. The mother, in her sleep. She then hoped Snickers filled the dull air of the then banished her daughter to one day she would finally be set free. classroom. She was an outcast. her room. The young girl stormed down the hallway, That fact hadn’t been any tears streaming out of her light different since the dawn of

by Reagan Fitzke

time. The bell dismissing school for the day then rang, and a flood of relief overcame her.

The unease settled back in not far after though, as she realized she had another demon to deal with back at home- her mother.

Commentary: Gay Marriage?

by Reagan Fitzke •••

SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGALIZED?

I remember how my sister’s friend Meg once lived around here. She’s bisexual. Had a girlfriend. They’d been together for about 6 years, and Meg thought that it would be a good idea to finally get married and start a family of their own. Seems reasonable, right? Well, they had one issue: they lived in Colorado. Gay marriage is currently not seen as “acceptable” here yet, so it still remains illegal. Her girlfriend refused to move with her to one of the six states that gay marriage was accepted.

She couldn’t leave her family behind, with her sick mother and little brother she had to take care of. So they stayed.

Unfortunately, Meg wasn’t able to take the despair of not being able to settle down and be happy. One morning shortly thereafter, she moved away to where she could have the freedom to marry whoever she wanted. Her now ex-girlfriend hasn’t seen her since. I don’t think that this kind of thing should happen, you know, being ripped away from the one you love and have envisioned a future with because of laws and regulations prohibiting it.

People today seem to have an issue with “gay marriage.”

It’s a forbidden phrase.

Wrong. Unjustified. Or is it?

When you really start to think about it, I do not find anything particularly horrifying about letting people who love each other marrying. Some see it differently, though. Studies show that 47% of Americans oppose same-sex marriage, while 43% support the issue and 10% remain unsure. So, that means that the majority of people are prepared to not treat others equally because of who they happen to be in a relationship with. Think about it: how would you feel if you couldn’t marry the love of your life, your soul-mate, and start a future with them?

And to all of you who oppose gay marriage, I’m not saying you should change your point of view. I completely understand that there are religious beliefs regarding whom should be marrying whom. But keep in mind there are non-religious people, just like you, who could only be different than you in the fact that they’re not attracted to the same types of people you are. That’s okay. But just because this person may be gay or lesbian doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve the same rights to marriage that you have.

Some arguments people hold against gay marriage are that it could possibly damage the already worsening rates of divorcing couples. My question is, how does gay marriage “weaken the institution of marriage”? In fact, studies show that

Massachusetts, which was the first state to legalize gay marriage in the country, has the lowest divorce rates in the country. Since the law passed allowing same-sex marriage, divorce rates have dropped 21%. So maybe could it possibly boost the marriage rates in the nation?

Others argue that it’s important to keep “traditional” marriage between men and womenthe only true option suitable for society. But is there actually any real definition of “traditional” marriage? Is it even real? I don’t believe so. I view marriage as the opportunity to formally settle down with someone you love and want to have a future with. It’s not strictly between man and woman. It’s just a popular belief people have that marriage must be between man and woman.

There is nothing that could change the fact that there are at least 500 thousand gay couples in the U.S. But everything about their marriage rights falls on society’s shoulders. So, is it right? Should we give homosexuals the chance to settle down like other couples? You be the judge, but just keep in mind, how would you feel if you were prohibited a future with the one you love the most?

WILL FLYNN Will Flynn I was born in Uzbekistan to the name of Duacaan. After being adopted by Ethiopian immigrants, I made the long, hard journey to the United States. I’m lying...

I was really born in Highlands Ranch, Colorado to the name of Will. Sports rule my world. I love watching them, playing them, and being just being around them. I play football and rugby. I am also passionate about skiing and hunting. I strongly dislike sushi, the Baltimore Ravens, and math. On the other hand, I get great enjoyment out of Kooshball, and Tim Tebow. I hope that one day deep in the future, I will be able to ski on my own private mountain.

So far in my 14 years, a few books have had a real impact on my life.

The first book was, Along Way Gone...

Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. It is the story of a boy soldier fighting a horrific war. This book touched me in many ways, and was the purest story of human redemption. The second book was, The Things They Carried. This Vietnam War story took me into the minds of those in a war-zone. This novel exposed me to new ideas about what it truly means to fight a war.Ten years from now I am positive that these two books will still remain in my mind. Also I remember reading Island On Bird Street back in fifth grade. The touching story of the boy in hiding first changed my views on the world.

This was the first book that showed to me that the world was not such a place of innocence.

I still remember the day in Mrs. Hibb’s second grade class when she began to explain nouns to us. I recall thinking, “A person, place, and thing? How is this possible?” I have come a long way from that day. I am now trying to get my writing published in the local paper! I used to spend hours writing a descriptive paragraph about candy. Now I can write an five paragraph essay about education in about two. I remember the days of topic sentences and supporting details, and in a way those things never changed. What they taught us in second grade just needed a little bit of nursing along. Those simple ideas have flowered into a complex world of literature.

As I continue on in my life I hope that I can make a difference in the world to come. I truly hope that my children can come into a world free from prejudice and violence. When I begin my high school career next year, I want to use my reading, writing, and thinking skills to make my life the way I want it to be. Hopefully with a little luck, down the road I will be an accomplished general, a star rugby winger, a successful sports broadcaster, and most likely a world traveler. I may not get to everything on my list right now, but the world is a big place and maybe along the way I’ll add a few more!

“Hungry is a word that I’ve been analyzing here of late. It’s not hunger that drives me, it’s not hunger that needs to drive our football team. Hunger and thirst are things that can be quenched.

We have to be a driven group, we have to seek greatness.”

- Mike Tomlin

Poetry and Short Work Page

SIX WORD STORIES? I ENJOY WRITING SIX WORD STORIES. I WISH I HAD ANOTHER WORD. VAMSI ATE CURRY. HIS MOUTH BURNED. MR. KELLY IS CHRISTIAN’S BEST MAN. I WISH MY NAME WAS FA’NAY NAY.

The Socks of my drawer are mixed together like the people of the world.

Haiku

They are old and new, White and black, But still mixed together in one center.

As I peer down into the dark box that is my sock drawer,

Hard work beats talent When talent does not work hard Best work is hard work

I see a sock that has no other.

The sock looks like a lonely outcast, It is as if the sock is like a bike without a wheel, Peanut butter without jelly, or a lonely person without a friend.

The Yankees buy wins Derek Jeter is too old The Rockies are boss

Go Green... With a Gun?

by WIll Flynn

ecosystems. Most of the apex predators in North America are I WROTE THIS PIECE IN MARCH AND nearly gone due to loss of ENDED UP SUBMITTING IT TO YOUR habitat, so hunters provide a way to keep the population in check.

HUB! Take elk for example, this majestic creature was hunted by Since the dawn of time man has wolves for thousands of years. In recent times though with the loss been hunting. Early human of wolves, elk have quickly beings illustrated their adventures on the walls of caves populated in mass amounts.

They have begun damaging the and stones. Native Americans delicate ecosystems that they call depended on the herds of bison roaming the west for hundreds of home. There just isn’t enough food to sustain all the increasing years. Now in this new population and the limited technologically-advanced age, resources have caused great people are raising questions suffering for the animals involved. about the morality of hunting.

Many suggest that hunting is inhumane because It’s not crucial The future of hunting lies in the hands of the young people of the to survival’ but it seems to me sport. Children in urban or that the goods of hunting are suburban often grow up with little often overlooked. or no exposure to the outdoors.

Many kids just sit around all day Animal activists groups such as PETA claim that hunting is cruel, and text or facebook. Hunting offers a way to get outside and and damaging to the be exposed to something that our environment. The groups claim that they love animals, but really ancestors were doing million of years ago. For me I feel in touch do little to help them in terms of funding. Over 70% of the annual with nature doing what humans have always done to survive. I funding for wildlife conservation remember the first time my dad comes from hunters and took me duck hunting. We set out outdoorsmen. The money from decoys and drank hot cocoa. I every hunting licence sold goes remember playing with the dogs directly to promote wildlife conservation. The average state and just having a blast. I don’t remember even getting anything, wildlife agency gets over half of their 40 million dollar budget from but it was the experience that meant the world to me. licence sales. Also conservation groups such as Ducks Unlimited, I’d like to clear up another rumor Pheasants Forever, and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation receive about the ethics of hunting. This sport is carefully regulated by the nearly all of their money from government. Only a certain hunters. These non-profit number of tags are released for organizations pour time and every species, and there are only money to ensure that future generations can enjoy the wildlife certain times that you are allowed to hunt. Numerous studies are we get to see every day. conducted to decide a healthy number of a species to be Contrary to popular belief, harvested. You can’t hunt at night hunters actually help the •••

or shoot out of your vehicle.

There are different limits for every species and often restrictions based on the sex of the animal. All of these rules ensure that the playing field is level. It is simply you versus the animal, and on many occasions the odds are against you.

The world has definitely been changing over the last generation, and its okay if some people think that hunting is wrong. The truth is though, hunting can be great for the environment in so many ways. All I can ask is that next time you see a story about how ‘cruel’ hunting is, think of the other side.

You may have some thoughts worth considering.

The Last Stand: Part 1

by Will Flynn

wasn't uncommon for suicide bombers to attach explosives I ENDED UP NOT WRITING A PART to their car, and drive into a 2 TO THIS STORY, BUT I STILL group of Coalition Forces. If THOUGHT THIS WAS GOOD! the occasional car drifted to close to us, we simply fired a few shots towards it, which The back of the usually did the trick. We finally Humvee was scorching, and reached command beads of sweat rolled down my forehead as I breathed the headquarters late in the afternoon. The MP’s directed dry dusty air. The ride to us into the green zone and Fallujah from the Baghdad instructed us on where we Airport seemed to be never needed to go. I had an idea ending. We kept our heads that I would be going to a low behind the light armor in case of RPG fire. As we drove water treatment plant to the past the burned out tanks and Northwest of Fallujah, so I was mangled trucks, the land was hardly surprised when I got eerily quiet. It was scarred and the papers confirming. We were headed to the plant to marked from the epic battle reinforce the soldiers there that had taken place here protecting it from insurgent almost a year and a half ago, attacks. It was imperative that Operation Iraqi Freedom.

I was Private John Myers. It the insurgents didn't take control of it because, if the was October, 2004 and I was plant were to be an infantry man entering Iraq decommissioned dozens of for my second tour of duty. I had been gone from this place Iraqi towns would be without fresh drinking water. Holding for almost a year now, but everything seemed the same. the plant would be crucial.

I was directed to the rest of Driving the road from Baghdad the men heading for the plant brought all of the memories and we were instructed to a back: the firefights, the group of armored vehicles that sleepless nights, and most of would take us. We pulled all the men. The bonds that away from the green zone, formed with the men of my and prepared ourselves for the company were matched only stressful half hour drive on the by my family. In fact, while I treacherous Iraqi roads. As I was in Iraq these men were my family. Everyone had each looked over the men around others’ back, and would have me, the ones that I would be dependent on for the next 12 taken a bullet for another. months, most looked like As we entered Fallujah we hardened veterans. Their stayed clear of all cars. It faces were cracked from the •••

brutal Iraqi sun and there eyes looked weary. Without even knowing them I could tell that they would be there for me, as I for them.

Twenty minutes into the ride we pulled off of the main highway onto a small dusty road. I began to relax.

We were on the home stretch, and only had a few more minutes on this hellish road.

As if mind was read, the truck was rattled by an explosion.

Everything went white and my ears rang louder than ever before. I heard the yells of my comrades and gunfire.

JORDAN FRERICHS MOUNTAIN RIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL 2011-2012

About the Author Fourteen years ago and 1400 miles away, I was born in Atlanta, Georgia.

Being the youngest in the family, I have been able to grow up with a path forged for me. I have and will face challenges in my life, I know that I don’t get a free ride. Having an older sibling and older cousins I have been taught what they have learned, I can learn from their experiences as well as gain knowledge from my own.

I consider myself to be highly intelligent, and talented. My quirky sense of humor adds a spark of happiness to each day, my unusual height makes me a great contender for sports like volleyball and basketball. My wide variety of interests lets me indulge in many activities from theatre to musical instruments, and drawing as well as astronomy, girl scouts, and traveling.

My love for reading and writing lets me dwell within stories for hours everyday. I read books like I consume ice cream, very often, my willingness to try new things makes me an adventurer.

Being an adventurer of sorts I like to have a plan, I have to know where I am headed and what my goal is. I hope for great success in my life, I want to reach new heights in high school, get into a good college, and get a good job after graduation. I hope for advance, I hope for the best, I hope for above and beyond.

There are many outstanding books that I have come across in my brief 14 years. One of them being the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, her interpretation of a post apocalyptic North America was completely unexpected, her ability to weave the english language made her book seem very formal and sophisticated while maintaining the pull of an action adventure fiction novel. I will definitely remember the Maze Runner series, Harry Potter series, Maximum Ride series, Across the Universe series, and the Starcrossed series. These books have entertained me and pulled emotions from deep within, they left me wanting more, and wishing I

could dive into the pages and live there for the rest of my life.

In the future I hope to have a great impact, I fear for making the right choices. With my long standing love for space exploration and astronomy but my new found love for marine biology I am conflicted with what to choose. I want to have a big impact on the world and society, I wish to be famous for a scientific discovery or a great leap in technology.

I honestly have no idea what to expect from the future, or if I will make the right choices, but I hope for the best and I will try for even better.

This WORDLE contains the names of all my favorite books. All of these books have been outstanding in my point of view. They are very memorable, wether it was from plot or from the genre I loved all of these books and I will remember them forever.

POEMS & SHORT WRITINGS Six Word Stories I live. You age. We die.

Time runs out, it always does.

Long story short, I am gone.

The journey to paradise leads backwards.

BOOKS Pages and pages Words woven to please A black leather binding Holds pages with ease Careful small stitching Secures in threes A world of unknown Seems to tease Pages and pages blow in the breeze I find another world In books like these

My Last- A scene from a book in progress ...........................................

The colors melt together, red into orange, into yellow. As the sun disappears below the horizon, an explosion of color erupts across the sky. Thousands of times have I seen this very sunset, almost everyday since I could remember. This almost seems like the prettiest, the most serene, yet there is an eerie darkness that follows the beauty. My life is a paradox. It is odd that you find more serenity in simple things when you are dying, this was my last sunset. I gritted my teeth and dug my feet further into the sand. I press my hand to my side will the bleeding to stop. As the final light leaves this world, I don’t know if the sun is gone, or I am.

Up and Away I wish to walk, among the stars, I dream to fly, under the waves, 2012 will be the year, that I begin,

It’s strange to think, how long we have left, together we may not last, but I do give thanks you, are always here right by, my side, i never ask where you are, because I always know, you’re right here, with me, together we’ll always be, Today, tomorrow, and the day after, we’ll never separate, morning, noon, evening, night, I know just where to find you, if you are ever out of sight, I know you’re still here, with me, my shadow you’ll always be

my journey up, and away into my fut

Together We’ll Always Be

ure

Long Writing What do we Know?

titles to call attention, to dare call them those things. Animals have Commentary personal space as humans do, we ............................. often refer to it as “my bubble”.

We all heard about the Ashlee When someone crosses your Pfaff who in 2010 was killed by “bubble” you feel uncomfortable, the leopard at the Denver Zoo, or especially if that someone is a the more recent animal problem, stranger, an alien to you, you feel Kyle Dyer of 9 news and the dog nervous, scared, even territorial. bite that occurred on live Holding the power we do, we can television. We can never know walk away and restore our feeling what was running through the of security, however animals animals minds when they harmed cannot especially is someone is these people, but that is no reason gripping the folds of the skin on to assume what their intentions your scalp, shaking your head, were and to end their lives early. and getting so up in your face you Take into consideration that are practically cross eyed looking animals have no other way of at them. Or when you have been communicating their in feelings, as different captivity species we are attuned to “humans can speak, your our own ways of expressing entire throw punches, or emotion our senses do not life, shut recognize a minor change even pull guns,” out in in animal behavior. We small cannot assume that things enclosures, taking turns with the are taken care of for us and since other big cats to roam outside in we are the so called dominant the “big” playpen. Then one day, species that all animals will obey minding your own business, some us and we cannot be touched. We foreign person, one of the are merely human, mortal, and hundreds that watches you vulnerable, but even more so are everyday, intrudes in your the animals we keep in captivity, we have the power to control their territory. Natural instinct takes over and you protect your land, fates, when they eat, and how what little space you have, you they live, they live at our mercy, but sometimes we make mistakes protect it. With no way to say “Hey! This is my land, get off!” that can cost them their lives. you show them the only way you can.

Many times I have seen the headlines call out “Leopard Because of your actions, you are shot, shot dead. Or the more “we amp up the political term euthanized.

Whichever you choose, animals titles to call have still been killed for defending their property, their territory. As attention,” I recall, I have never read about a man being “euthanized” for Attacks Innocent Zoo Keeper” or defending his space, humans can “Vicious Dog Attacks News speak, throw punches or even pull Reporter,” when we all know that guns to show they mean business we are dramatic we amp up the about their property. The only

weapons animals have are their claws, teeth, and instincts. We have no way to tell why these things happened we can only assume, unfortunately we assume the worst, the animal did this on purpose to harm. Of course this was on purpose, but for the reason, not always was it to harm, to hurt, or to kill, if you think about it they were protecting, warning, or defending. Just as a human would.

As we all are aware, humans cannot communicate with animals. The majority of attacks are from wild animals, that is exactly what they are, wild, we are not careful and we do not take the proper safety precautions when engaging these animals.

Even if they have grown up in captivity their roots lie in the wild, as do their

“we have no means of communication,”

instincts. Many times the attacks are our fault for simply not double checking the enclosure or stressing out animals even more than they were. Especially in cases where humans are to blame we should not take the lives of animals who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. So let me ask you this, if we cannot speak with them, we have no means of communication, no way to see into their minds, how do we know? What do we know?

Long Writing The Negative Novel Excerpt

........................

I run faster and faster until I can’t feel my legs, but that doesn’t stop me I still run. I have a vague clue where I am going but I don’t really care where I end up, this is the only way I can escape my own thoughts. I have to keep running, no matter how my lungs burn and my feet ache, suddenly I come to a stop and in front of me is a wall of trees. I have never gone farther than this before, never have I dared to step foot in this forest. When we are young we are taught that the forest is home to the most deadly and strange creatures, so we never go in there. This time it’s different I can feel something draw me towards the edge of the forest I can’t resist its power so I let it take me in. My eyes take a little while to adjust then I can barley make out a trail, it is overgrown with moss and underbrush, but it is all I need I am free to run again, to clear my mind.

The branches from fallen trees strike my face and the undergrowth is constantly fighting my feet, I can hear someone or something following me so I speed up. I am running as fast as I can and I come to a clearing I am in a valley, a massive one too green grass as tall as my knees and wildflowers everywhere you look, the smell is intoxicating, as the sun beats down on me I check my watch and see that it is almost 4:30, I left around 10:00, so I need to start heading home, then I remember, I can’t go home they won’t accept me anymore. So I decide to follow the trail a different way to see what else I could find. As I begin to make my way out of the valley I feel a sharp pain in my thigh and think its just a bug bite, I get them all the time but the world starts spinning and then everything goes black.

“You never know how your life will end, unfortunately I do” I stated in a shaky voice.

“You don’t have to...” I cut him off before he could finish.

“Yes I do!” I had to hold off the tears by screaming at him.

It was the perfect summer day, you were standing a few feet away from me the sun was beating down on us.

As the metal in my hand warmed I registered the sirens ringing out in the distance, I didn’t look because I knew the bullet would hit home so I pulled the trigger and then I ran.

The scene from this morning played out in my head, I couldn’t believe

I had done that, could I have really killed my own brother this morning?

Chapter 1 When I woke up after enduring the horrid scene from that morning yet again, my head hurt and I was sweating. I finally was able to gather myself to sit up to look at my surroundings, the sky was light enough to make out trees but still too dark to really understand where I was plus it was fairly chilly, I made the decision that it was early morning. Thoughts began to cross my mind, I was unable to elaborate on just one because they were buzzing around my head like angry hornets. The forest around me got lighter and I realized I was still in the meadow, in the same spot that I had fallen. I eased myself up on my feet, the sun was just now starting to rise so I stumbled back into the middle of the meadow and sat down to wait for the sun to rise a little more. While I was waiting I looked over my arms and legs to make sure I wasn’t hurt, when I got to my right leg I noticed my ankle was a little swollen, I must have sprained it when I fell. On my left ankle there was a thick, black, metal anklet, a little red light was glowing I made the assumption that it was a tracker. Now I want to know who put it on me and why they did, the second I stood up and started to run the light started flashing, so it is a tracker. I took a right at the next fork in the trail and the light blinked faster, as I got further down this part of the trail he light flashed faster and faster, at the next turn I went right and the light got slower. So I jogged back and went left the light got so fast you couldn’t even tell it was flashing anymore. I slowed to a stop and in the distance I saw another meadow but it had some odd shapes in it, I couldn’t quite tell what they were after catching my breath I ran up to the clearing and saw at least thirty-five tents. I glanced down at the tracker and saw it was going ballistic, I took one more step and it stopped. I was in so much shock from finding people out in this forest I hardly noticed the crowd that had gathered in front of me. A rather large guy stepped in front and tried to calm everyone down, he said something to me but I couldn't really hear him.

“Hey! can you hear me?!” this guy yelled.

“Yeah, I can now.” I replied “What is your name?”

“I... I don’t know.” I said, just now realizing that I didn’t.

“What? How do you not know who you are? By the way my name is Albert.” he said.

“Nice to meet you, and I don’t know. All I remember is that... well all I remember is why I kinda... well ran away, and where from.” I said reluctantly.

“Where are you from? And why did run away?” Albert asked.

“Can I tell you later? I’m kinda hungry, and really thirsty.” I asked, hoping for a positive response.

“Sure, hey Jones go grab the girl a bottle of water and an apple. But the second you finish,” he pointed at me, “ come talk to me in the biggest tent. Got it?” said Albert.

“Yeah, meet ya there.” I answered. Jones returned with the apple and water tossed them to me and then told the crowd to get back to work. They all dispersed but one remained, a little girl probably around 7 or 8. She was just looking at me then I heard a voice but I didn’t see her mouth move.

“Hi, can I help you?” I asked.

“You can hear me right?” she said in such a small voice I could hardly hear her.

“Yes, I can how did you do that?”

“I don’t know I was able to after I had been banished from Highsland. Before then I always heard someone talking to me in my mind, and sometimes it showed me pictures.” This little girl said.

“What is your name?”

“Ramora, and yours?”

“Meira, I think...”

“Pretty, well you better eat, Albert gets impatient.”

“Thanks, and nice to meet you.”

I quickly ate my apple and drank some water then I set off to talk to Albert.

When I got there I poked my head into the tent and he motioned for me to come in. I expected a very primitive set up but he had a cot and a handmade desk, it looked nice.

“So,” Albert said, “who are you, where did you come from and how did you find us?”

“My name is Meira, I think, and I was born in Highsland. And I found you because of this flashing light on this tracker on my left ankle.” I showed him and he looked confused.

“What tracker?” Albert asked.

“This one...” and it was gone.

GIGI GARRAMONE

My real name is Gillian Rose Garramone, but everyone calls me Gigi.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR My name is Gigi and I am 14 years old.

I was born in Standford Hospital, California on March 7th, 1998. I have an older brother, an older sister, and a little brother. I am really close with all of my siblings, but I have nothing in common with any of them, especially my sister.. I play volleyball and does does acting. I have long, blonde hair and she has short, choppy brown locks.

Although we have differences, we all get along great and I love them all.

it comes to music: I can hear a beat of just a few words and I automatically know the song. I memorize lyrics fairly easily, and I love to hum them like a bird who whistles a melody.

Everyone always asks me why my nickname is Gigi if my real name is Gillian. People always say that I am named Gigi because those are my inital’s (Gillian Garramone = GG). But that is untrue. When I was born, my mother had a favorite movie, and that My dreams for the future is to become a movie was called Gigi. It was an old photographer. I always thought about movie and I have never seen it, but all I how interesting traveling around the know is that the movie Gigi is where I world and taking pictures of random got my name. objects. When I look at a photo, I always wonder what it would be like to One of my favorite books of all time is be that person who took it. I love the the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. way the photographer uses the different When I started to read it, I was unable lightings and objects to pull a “reader” in to put it down until I finished. The book so they want to look at the photo. just made my imagination run wild and I When I see a photograph, I always enjoyed every second of it. I have interpret the picture as I would, not as taken some “writing notes” from how anyone else would. That’s the Suzanne by the way she writes. She is beauty of photography. You can think always able to leave the reader on the for yourself and no one can judge your edge of their seat, always wondering opinion. what will happen next in the novel. That is one thing I hate: when you HAVE to I am absolutely obsessed with music. keep reading or else it will drive you Music is just something that I feel I can crazy. always relate to. I only listen to two types though, country music and rap music. I love country music because it has so many different styles. Artists like Taylor Swift have a rock and roll feel to the beat. Artists like zac Brown Band use the classic country to play slower songs. I have an amazing ability when

POEMS

I wrote this poem because I was listening to a song and it inspired me to write about heartbreak.

If I fall...

If I fall...

Will you catch me.

If not, will you let me down easy.

If I leave my heart with you tonight, will you promise me that you will treat it right.

I’m barely hanging on.

And I’m afraid that the cliff is to tall.

I’m afraid that you won’t answer my call.

I’m afraid that if I’m not with you, I won’t be able to make it through.

If you don’t love me, set me free.

If I fall will you let me down easy.

My Forever Green Forest It’s safe to say that memories of your childhood stick with you forever. Whether it is a trip to California or a simple drive down to the forest that lies on the edge of a lawn. Perfect spot for fishing, down by the river, but an imagination of a child can grow as rapidly as the grass that lay beneath its feet. When right above that river, is my Forever Green Forrest.

I watched the butterflies as they swayed with the wind, landing on a close by flower. “What a beautiful day!” He whispered to me. My ear tickled by the sensation of the thought.

I couldn’t help but giggle with the feeling and flop on my side. I kicked my feet up behind me and cross them like a pretzel. With a winning grin, I took a deep breath in of the fragrances surrounding me. The appealing scent dragged me over to a near pond, where I see the salmon swimming. They were inviting me to come in and join, but alas I couldn’t leave my comforting bed of grass and dirt. For that moment, everything was perfect. Then, of course, my brothers came inn stomping my moment and ruining it. As if purposely scaring off all my fish friends, they brought in their football, screaming and hollering.

‘The little devils,’ I thought.

Just as I was about to rain on their disruptive parade, my sister strolled over and dried me off with a towel she brought as a gift. She was such an angel, until my idiot brothers splash back in the rippling pond. Just as the fish began to regroup, they scattered once again and my brothers got her all wet. Seeing my sister yell at them and chase them away relieved me, for I was left to ponder in my own thoughts again. I began to relax again, however I knew that it wouldn’t last long. And boy was I right. I was having the longest stare off with a blade of grass that was going on for 2 minutes straight, when it was stomped on by

my dogs that were soon in the pond, retrieving a ball. They ran back out, making sure to give me a few muddy paw prints on my back. Of course, I couldn’t wear the shirt anymore, so I stripped down to my swimsuit and headed into the pond. It was a little deeper than it looked at first glance, and a lot cooler. Next thing I knew, my dogs were back and join me in what’s left of the pond, now more like a puddle, permanently scaring off all the fish. My dogs splashed around, making it impossible to see anything through the mini waterfalls seeping their way into my eyes and skin. I had to admit, it felt good, but after a while it got annoying, so I got up. I grabbed my towel and galloped off to the trees.

In the lush scenery, I was welcomed by a few rabbits who quickly scatter in fear that I was a predator, when really I am nothing but an unfamiliar friend. I hop across the different types of shrubs and bushes, when soon I was in a race with evil bugs trying to bite me. It was as if I was in my own special world, without any worries. Except when my sister comes to join me on my adventure, which made it twice as good. We felt like mini Tarzans as we sprinted threw the jungle like wild beasts chasing after a kill, only our kill is that gracious butterfly I spoke with earlier that day.

We bounded over rocks and fallen trees, till we heard our parents call as our signal to return home. We turn our heads, and like our dogs, go bounding for our parents as if they were tennis balls. We make it back, and get a lecture for not wearing the appropriate clothing for such mobile activity.

“Why were you even over there? Blah Blah Blah...” But my mind was in another place, because all I craved for at that moment was to go back to my Forever Green Forrest.

“You know better! You could have hurt yourself! Blah Blah

Blah...” Those words zipped by my mind as I was not paying attention.

“Your father and I were worried sick! We didn’t know where you two had gone! Blah Blah Blah Blah...” Somehow their words always end up in the phrase ‘Blah Blah Blah’ as if my ears understand how unimportant this topic is as much as my brain does. But I stood there gracefully and fought the urge to fidget. Suddenly, my dogs stumbled up as if to say it’s time to go, saving me from the lesson, but taking me away from my forrest home. Of course I was not willing, but they pulled my reluctant body into the car and pile the labs next to my side. The same side I was lying on that morning in the soft, summer grass. How I longed to go back in that pond and be surrounded by my fish friends, or go sprinting through my forest, knowing I would never again.

Our car pulled out and I said goodbye to the great woods, the pond, and the grass bed I am desiring to go back to that lay behind me. It’s true what they say, that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. My treasure was getting smaller and smaller as my car zoomed down the dirt road and into the distance. Those kinds of memories won’t escape me. Of course, I still have my dreams about my Forever Green Forrest, and I still desire to return. But the flash-backs suit me just fine, and I know in my heart I won’t forget that one summer I spent in my treasure.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS Life is unfair to the female, I believe it’s time we stand up.

To many minds, feminism is a radical movement that promotes abortion, homosexuality and hatred of men. Most women today do not identify themselves as feminists in national polls. May I ask you why? Probably because their votes won’t count just because they are women and less important than a man’s vote. Why don’t women have the rights as men do? Please answer me this, which you can’t. I am highly upset that women do not have equal rights and there are bucket loads of evidence proving my point.

It has been brought to my attention that there are several rights that aren’t occurring in certain parts of the glorious land that you live in. First of all, women deserve a lot more credit and rights than you give them. Woman all across the globe, including the dear Africa you live in, continue to face other dire conditions. Many African women have their clitorises and labia removed in what feminists call female genital mutilation. This is highly painful and cause woman to not have the next generation of children. This gives up hope of women and cause them to have depression, which is something that no women should go through. It is a living torture.

Another unfair action is that in some countries, men practice “honor killing,” which is murdering female family members who have had sex outside of marriage, even if they were raped. In case you haven’t noticed, woman cannot help if a man rapes them and the man should be blamed for such irrational treatment.

If someone came up to your wife and raped her, would you kill her? If you would, I have one word for you…sick. Women are just like men, just with different figures, that means they deserve the same right.

Education isn’t exactly fair either, not only in into prostitution and sold into sexual slave your country, but international. Women are trade. Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright 20% to 44% less likely than men to receive have sought to bring greater attention to and education in Pakistan, Nepal, sex trafficking. Clinton stated that Turkey, Iraq, Yemen, the Republic each year, about one million of Congo, and other countries, woman and girls are sold into I wrote including Chad. Worldwide, sex slavery, with about this story 24% of girls between the ages 50,000 ending up in the of 6 and 11, and 48% of girls United States. Desperately because I felt very between the ages of 12 and 17 poor woman are often strong about how were not attending school in promised jobs in other 1995. That rate in education is countries, and then forced men treat women completely and utterly uncalled into prostitution against their unfairly for because as a globe we could will. But because women fix this. The thing is, you just don’t are considered “less want to give females the education important” than men, they must they rightfully deserve. This is so men can hide in the shadows and get pushed around stay in control.

by the gentlemen. However, they aren’t very gentle when it comes to this.

Women aren’t allowed to dress as they please in some countries including yours. Women have reported being beaten for allowing their ankles to show beneath their burqa, which is a dress/ robe that goes from the base to the summit of a person. That’s the same as a man showing his neck and other people would have the right to whip you with weapons or physically harm you using fists or kicking. That would not be very pleasant for a man to enjoy, so what makes you think that a woman would. Because of their religious beliefs, Muslim women usually dress modestly in head-to-toe robes, although government regulations do not require them to do so. So if the government says that it is okay to not dress that way, why do the men beat their wives when they show skin. I believe you should make some type of law that doesn’t allow such things to happen.

Some woman are abducted from their homes and made toys for peoples’ own enjoyment.

Millions of women and girls have been forced

It is my sincere hope that you take into consideration the horrible events that seem to arise in your state and country. You may not realize the awful things that innocent women have to go through because no one will pass a law of equivalent treatment between genders.

Now that you know the cold hard facts, realize the mistakes that are taken place and try to fix them. If you don’t, women will suffer more than they have to and they will forever be in pain.

NICK GUNNARE About the Author...

My name is Nick Gunnare. I was born in Pheonix, Arizona. I have a dog, a cat, and a sister, all of which are the same gender. I like to play games whether they are video games or board games. Sports are less of an interest, but I enjoy them all the same. Some of my favorites to play or watch are baseball and football. I like chocolate labs, a good steak, rock music and drawing. I dislike chihuahuas, chocolate, rap music, and people who trace their art.

Some books that had a great effect on my life are books like the hunger games that make you thankful that you don’t have to go through what the characters do. One book however, changed my viewpoint on the world. This book was the one that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about the Cottingley Fairies. Don’t worry, I don’t believe in fairies, but the pictures in the book were so obviously fake, it taught me that a little imagination can go a LONG way.

I am a writer in and out of school and I have started several novels.

However i have never finished one. I do have a book in progress which I am determined to finish. When I set

my mind to things like this, they will get done. I hope to be finished by the start of my freshmen year.

My plan is a trilogy, although I have several endings in mind and I have decided to cross that bridge when I come to it.

I hope to be successful in most everything that i set my mind to, and not be too disappointed, but flexible instead in the instance of failure. I am not worried about finishing the things that i start and love. I have a lot of willpower.

I am scared however, that highschool will eat my schedule alive and not leave me any personal time besides breaks. I hope to become an author or a musician

someday, and it is every artist’s dream to hit the big time. Out of college, you should expect me to be making my way to the top with my writing, music, or both!

Featured Writing...

Chocolate Labs will always be better than chocolate... ~Unknown

Technology The Adventure An excerpt from my novel in the making

Poetry and Short Work Page

SIX WORD STORIES Creativity balances pure idiocy. Apply Generously.

This is a public service announcement.

Curiosity doesn’t just kill our cats.

Technology

Nowadays, it seems that your phone is glued to your hand You hear your Ipod more than your family...

Reality T.V. has only Sometimes it is good to just get away from it all gotten worse.

Go somewhere secluded, the mountains, the forest And leave all of your Technology ~Favorite Books~ behind The Lightning Thief Harry Potter The Darwin Awards Fablehaven

Trust me, you will be astounded at how quiet everything seems, When your phone doesn’t ring, Your Ipod isn’t playing, You will begin to appreciate what the creator had in mind when he sculpted the planet You will wonder, why we ever sought to destroy, This peace, tranquility You will see every leaf, rock, bush, In a different way So do as I say, But only if you have an open mind...

It will be a waste, trust me,

Favorite Bands (Not in order)

Pink Floyd Green Day The Ramones The Clash AC/DC Bon Jovi The Scorpions Judas Priest Nirvana

***Comedy*** A humorous short story, filled with cat puns The Adventure By: Nick Gunnare

I’ll always remember the day when my master brought home the cat book. Normally, I couldn’t be bothered with his petty human affairs, but when he does something as audacious as bring home a book about a species of animal he owns, and should know lots about, I would choose to get involved.

Forgive me for my earlier senseless rant... I am the cat of the household, though some prefer to call me the queen. You can too! I have a beautiful black shiny coat that glistens with the rays of sunlight that flow through the open windows and bathe me in warmth as I sleep...

But back to the aforementioned issue. A CAT BOOK! So I investigated. When the human went to soccer practice, I artfully toppled the book from its perch, the kitchen table. It landed on its spine and opened. I gracefully leaped from the table and batted the pages until i found the first page. I was surprised at what i read. Instead of an informational book, it was a story about fierce warrior cats, who climbed the ranks in their clans, and protected their territories. I read about glorious battles, and the saddening deaths of the cats in the clans.

I was to page eight when the human opened the door again. I quickly closed the book and batted it around in the most adorable way, but I couldn’t wait for the human to leave again so I could continue the story of my heroic brethren...

Later that night, I was taking a small nap, when I had a dream. I was in one of the clans in the book and we were preparing for battle! The camp was alive with cats talking about battle strategy, and

stretching for the upcoming action.

I learned from another cat that we weren’t going to fight another clan, we were fighting our own clan! As i talked to her, I learned that the clan was split in opinion of the change of leadership. Each candidate and his followers had declared war for the throne... The dream ended there, but planted itself in my heart.

The next day, my human went to school, and his parents to work. I decided to have a little talk with the cat next door. I headed out the cat door and into the outside cage. I batted my home made door out of the way and made my way through the bush and into the backyard. Luckily, Max was there, sunning on the fence. He looked up and squinted at me.

“Long time no see.” he purred

“Ah shut it Max.”

He mewed in protest and flicked his tail at a passing butterfly. I hopped up on the fence with him and stretched out.

“Max, have you ever wanted to get out of this suburban prison and go on an adventure? You know, see the world?”

“No.”

“Oh come on, we could get some other cats and make a group.

I of course could be the leader, I’m the queen of my house anyway...”

“And why on earth would I want to go out in the foodless, harsh, cold, foodless, windy, hostile, foodless world?”

“Maybe, you wanted more than just to be fat and lazy. I mean come on all you do is sit on this fence...” I had struck a nerve!

I. AM. NOT. FAT!” he hissed, “17 pounds is NOTHING to be ashamed of!”

“Max, I’m barely 6!”

“Your anorexic!”

“Alright, tell you what, if you go adventuring, I’ll bet you’ll be down to at least 10 pounds after a few weeks.”

“I’m listening...”“And, there’s that new cat down the street you always watch...”

“Alright maybe your right, if I lost a few pounds, I could be a real female magnet!”

“Well, it’s settled then!”

“Alright I’ll have all the neighborhood cats down here tomorrow and we’ll make our journey!”

“Deal!”

The local news heading the next day...

Highlands Ranch cats gone mysteriously missing!

Earlier this morning we received multiple requests for missing cat reports in our paper. On the tail (no pun intended) of a good new story, one of our reporters went hunting for the tale... She received the same exact story from all of the owners who reported their tragic losses. They had been there the night before, and when they got home the next day? Gone! We will have more on this, as soon as we find out what happened!

Two days later on a popular newscast...

“Back to you with the weather Sue!” “Well John it looks like a bit of rain is headed our way, temperatures are expected to drop down into the lower 50’s. In northern Colorado, we might even see snow!”

“Thanks Sue, now onto the neighborhood cat phenomena...”

The next day’s paper...

Highlands Ranch cats turn up again!

Earlier this week, we informed you that multiple felines had escaped from their homes all at the same time! Today, they all turned up in some way shape or form dripping wet, hungry, and angry! A happy ending for our feline friends... Its funny how such an odd thing can give the whole state paws....

and it shone less with the sunlight, but still visibly. I couldn’t wait to tell Hayley; she would be extremely AN EXCERPT FROM MY excited. I wondered if her wand had done anything.

NOVEL IN PROGRESS I was snapped out of my train of thought by a rhythmic Son of the Seventh Dawn tapping on my window. I looked over and saw the same By: Nick Gunnare exact bird that had been on my At close to four in the window sill yesterday. Its feathers shimmered and it had morning an idea struck me. taken on a sort of mysterious What if the pages of the book aura. It seemed to want to tell had some sort of secret ink? me something. I new this was Like in the spy movies where no normal bird. you need a black light to see I slid the window up and it? Maybe the wand would it fluttered inside. It seemed to reveal something in the other be on a mission. The bird two items. flapped up onto my desk where Excited, I seized the the ring was. It started to book from the bed and laid it nudge the ring toward the open to the first page. I sat down on the floor and gripped wand. It was then that I noticed a new detail had the wand waving the tip of it formed in the handle of the over the old pages. To my wand. It was in the hilt-looking complete disappointment, area at the top just above nothing mysteriously appeared inked onto the pages. where I put my hand. It was a deep groove all the way I leafed through the book around. The ring would fit repeating this process over perfectly. and over but to no avail.

I moved quickly to the I sighed and concluded desk and nudged the bird that I needed sleep and more aside. It seemed to pat my time with this to figure it all hand with its beak. I slid the out. I put the three items on ring down the wand all the my desk and climbed in bed way to the groove. Suddenly as once more. I slept terribly, if it was magnetized the ring though I jumped out of bed as flew out of my hand and sort of if my sheets were on fire as melted itself into the groove. It soon as I saw daylight seep fit just as I had suspected. The through the window. I picked up the wand and half expected wand looked to be complete once more. I picked it up and it not to do anything. Had I felt the same warmth at my been dreaming? It was much touch. warmer than it should have “You learn quickly.” been, but nothing else I jumped and looked happened. I cupped the tip in my hand and looked at it in the suspiciously at the bird. The shade. I willed it to shine, and, voice had been in my head yet it had not been there on my it did! The tip lit up bright terms I hadn’t thought of a green. I took my hand away

***Fantasy***

voice saying anything in my head. It had just been there.

“Who’s there?” I said aloud.

“No need to say anything out loud Alex, I can hear you just fine in here.”

“Any chance we can both get out of my head?” I said in my mind.

“Not until you have fully bonded with your wand. And then you must make me part of you.”

“Okay wait, I’ve got to admit this is kind of cool and all but just to be clear, you’re the bird talking right?”

“Yes, I am the bird.”

“Alright, that clears that up. So, what is with all of this stuff, I mean everyone tells me to forget magic and grow up, but now, it’s like my life is a Harry Potter book.”

“Forgive me for not explaining this in the beginning for you but it is mandatory that two wizards must form a bond. You see, we chose you and Hayley, because you could play so well off of each others strengths and weaknesses. Without a genuine connection, which you formed yesterday, you cannot work together as wizards.”

“So wizards must be pairs?” I asked, confused.

“Yes, there is the greater wizard, which is you, and a lesser wizard, Hayley, aids the greater wizard. But Hayley’s job will be just as important as yours will. Without a lesser wizard, a greater wizard is nothing.”

CHRISTIAN HOLTON About the Author...

My name is Christian Holton. I was born on April 7, 1998 and have lived in Colorado my whole life. I really like sports, food, and xbox. I would describe myself as competitive, athletic, hard working, and easy going. Last year I played AAA hockey for the Colorado thunderbirds and was the captain of the team. We went to 6 out of state tournaments and finished 7th in the nation. We traveled to St.louis twice, Chicago, Toronto, Dallas, and Boston. I also play baseball. I don’t play as high a level baseball as I do hockey but I still play at a competitive level. I pitch and play shortstop. Some things I don’t like are cats, spinning rides at amusement parks, and asparagus.

One book that I will remember 10 years from now is “The Book Thief.” I really enjoyed this book and I thought it was unique that it was narrated by death. I enjoy reading about World War 2 so this book really interested me. Another piece of writing that I will remember 10 years from now is the short story “Harrison Bergeron.”

This book changed how I look at the world.

Before I read this short story, I thought it would be cool if everyone was equal and had the same abilities but this story made me realize how this would destroy society.

As a writer I often struggle with finding a topic that I can write about and feel good about my writing. I sometimes find myself writing about things that I am not particularly passionate about. Although this

helps me grow as a writer I obviously write best when I feel passionate about my topic of writing. I usually have an easy time writing about sports. I think another one of my stronger areas is writing about books and what the author’s message was in the book.

Something that I have done recently to improve my writing is to include more voice in my writing pieces. I think this not only makes it more enjoyable to read but it also makes my writing stronger. I have also try to add the “so what” factor to my writing. This is when you tell the reader why your writing matters to them. This is a useful tip in order to become a better writer. By adding this to your writing the

reader will find your piece more interesting and useful to them. I have grown a tremendous amount as a reader, writer, and thinker this year.

My goal as a writer is to be able to write pieces that make people feel something.

This is what all great writers are able to accomplish and once I have accomplished this I too will be a great writer. I think by using voice, facts, and maybe even a little humor I will be able to accomplish this task.

Six word stories make me happy Matt’s glasses, hotter than the sun

"The pitcher has got only a ball. I've got a bat. So the percentage of weapons is in my favor and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting." ~Hank Aaron~ "Pain is simply Weakness leaving the body"

Unknown Coach Chance don’t love, Chance make mistake "Show me an athlete who is afraid to look bad, and I'll show you an athlete you can I like sports, they are beat every time." fun Unknown Six words is not enough words too....

School It starts too early The lunch is really late I’d rather stay home Haiku It’s 5 7 5 They are pretty easy to write Haikus are so boss Sandwich 2 pieces of bread Some good stuff in the middle It is a good snack

Building More Than Just Muscles My heart raced as my first shift approached. Bryan, my team mate, hustled to the bench exhausted from the overwhelming feeling that a shift can create. As he got closer I jumped the bench. I was on the ice. I followed the puck as it moved forward, but then we lost it.

After a quick transition, from forward to backwards I was prepared to stop any scoring threat. The forward carried the puck along the boards, oblivious to my presence. I drooled at the sight of his hanging head which meant he wouldn’t be prepared for a hit. I take two steps to my left and throw my hip into his chest. The air rushed out of his chest as he makes a distinct “UGH!” He falls to the ice like a sack of bricks as I take back the puck and start the breakout.

Some people don’t get it. They say that sports are just there so we can stay in shape or the relationships that teams build are no different than those formed at school. I know that being a part of a team is something more. It’s working hard for the guy next to you because you know that he will return the favor. It’s doing more because you now there is someone out there who wants your spot on the team. For me being involved in sports has built more than just muscles. It’s built character. Sports teaches valuable life lessons that are hard to find anywhere else. They teach things like perseverance through hardship and that hard work will beat talent. They teach you that anything can be accomplished if you set your mind to it.

I’ve learned just about everything I know about character from hockey. I’ve learned about my character as well as others, but character is the only thing that hockey has taught me.

Nothing teaches perseverance like a good old conditioning skate. Conditioning skate are never fun and always extremely hard. In order to get through them one must persevere.

This is a very valuable life lesson to learn because quitters won’t get anywhere in life. In order to be successful in life you must persevere when times get tough. Hockey has also taught me that you can never take a day off because there is always someone who wants your spot. This is a very important lesson in the real world. If you don’t do your best everyday than someone is going to take your spot. I have grown a tremendous amount as a person from playing hockey. I have also experienced a loss of innocence from playing this rough sport. Trying to juggle school, sports, and family has made me realize that life isn’t all fun and games, its hard work, and one can not get by just going through the motions. In order to be successful you must work hard everyday and persevere through tough times. These lessons can not only be taught in hockey but in every sport there is.

Hockey has benefited me a tremendous amount in life and I know that it will give me a head start when the real world begins. Sports make boys into men by giving them a small hint of what the real world will be like and preparing them for it. Whether its teaching them how to work hard, or teaching how to work as a team sports are a very necessary activity in a growing child’s life. Sports teach more than just how to score a goal, They teach one how to be successful in life.

Tom Brady?

Say what you want about him.

Just another spoiled, overpaid professional athlete who thinks that the world revolves around himself. Fair enough. But before winning 3 super bowls Tom Brady was the skinny, 4th year junior, quarterback for Michigan that no one pictured ever advancing past the college level. In fact most Michigan fans thought that Brady shouldn’t even be the starting quarterback. I know, it’s very hard to picture Brady, a quarterback who is arguably considered the best of his generation, riding the pine but the possibility was what formed and molded the Brady we know today.

“Without a question, he’s the most talented quarterback that I’ve been around.” This coming from the mouth of Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr. He wasn’t talking about Brady either. Drew Henson: the 6’4’’ 210 pound freshman who gave Brady a run for his money, the quarterback that Carr was referring too. He was supposed to be the next great quarterback, not Brady.

When the freshman started practicing with Michigan, the thought of Brady being the starting quarterback started to disappear. While at Brighton High Henson set national records with 50 home runs, 10 grand slams, and 290 RBI’s, not to mention his 52 touchdown passes. He was even named the First team all-American by the USA today. “ Drew Henson was special,” said Michigan offensive coordinator Scott Loeffler, “He was a freak of nature in my opinion. He had remarkable talent.” Greg Harden, who counsels Michigan players said

that Henson was like superman, and Brady like batman, Batman doesn’t have any powers but “batman believes he can whip superman’s ass.”

“People of mediocre ability

sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to."

George E. Allen. Brady’s success Brady knew he lacked the Skill of was due to the fact that he didn’t Henson at the time. His solution? know when to quit. Brady’s dad Beat him with hard work and said “He always believes there is heart. Brady spent extra time someone behind him that is studying film and studying going to take his job. He is 34 Michigan’s Offense up to the years old and plays as if he was point where after the game he just drafted out of the 6th round.” could go over every incomplete And it’s that belief that got Tom pass and recall what went wrong Brady to where he is now. Like I (without film). The Brady we said before, judge him all you know today began to emerge. want, just remember his Brady completed his junior determination, hard work, and not season leading the Wolverines to knowing when to quit is the only an 8-3 record, but his career at reason he is where he is now.

Michigan wasn’t over. His senior year was approaching.

During the summer Henson played class A baseball in Tampa but his raw talent was so superior that he competed evenly with

Brady the next season. The first game was approaching.

Carr made the decision that Brady would start and Henson would play at halftime. Then the coaches would decide who would finish the game. Brady finished four of the next 5 games and Michigan won all 5. Brady was starting to turn skeptics into believers. He lead Michigan to a dramatic fourth quarter come back against Michigan State and that was all Carr needed to make his decision. Brady would be the starting quarterback for the season.

SEAN INGRAM About the Author...

March 30, 1998. I was born on a snowy, dull, gloomy day. It was on the kind of day that nobody really does anything except stay inside. Colorado doesn’t have many of those days, but March 30,1998 was one of those days. Ever since I was really little I’ve always been extremely interested in music.

When I was four years old, I got a mini electric guitar that I didn’t put down for about a year straight. I knew the Beatles before I knew radio disney, I knew how to play a C chord before I could write the letter C. Music has always been a huge part of my life, and it makes me who I am. One day I hope that I can make music into a career, so I can make a living from doing something I love.The first book that really got me into reading was probably The Witches by Roald Dahl. For some reason I really connected with that book and it made me want to pick up others and feel that same feeling. That opened up a door into reading books that changed the way I think about books and even the ways that i view the world. This year, I’ve been growing as a writer very much. I know how to write with good vocabulary and voice while I also write with pretty good structure now. I still need to work on structure though. I look at articles and see writing that I’ve been learning this

year. I see universal truths and I see me writing in these points of view. I write with more passion now and I prove my point better now.I hope that by taking Honors English I will learn better how to write and read even more than this year’s class. My hopes for the future are to be able to do really well in High School so I can hopefully get into a good college, although my dream college is Berkeley School of music in Boston. I also love to play Basketball, and it helps that I’ve grown so much over the past

year and I’m much taller. Over the summer I’m planning on going to the rec center a lot to train for high school Basketball.

I love this quote because I believe that you should live your life to the fullest, you only live once and you should make the most of it, no regrets.

Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of my personal heros, he was innovative and unique in his playing and styles, as well as his composing. It also seemed like he never missed a note.

SIX WORD

Poetry and Short Work Page

STORIES SOMETIMES, THE BEST MEDICINE IS ADVIL THE DOOR CLOSED, NEVER ONCE OPENED. MUSIC IS SIMPLY POETRY THAT’S FUN GUITAR’S A WINDOW TO THE HEART SOMETIMES I SING, SOMETIMES I SPEAK

HAIKUS

AS THE WORLD TURNS, I STAND

Haiku’s about friends Matt is a ginger That means that he ha s red hair Go Matt. You go Matt Vamsi is good and He likes to eat denim pants Joking he eats food Sometimes I think that I should maybe cut my hair But then I’m like, Nah

Comical Haiku's Nascar left turn left Turn left turn left now pit stop Right turn uh oh boom This is a Haiku About a Haiku but now My Haiku is done I am going to Write some serious Haiku’s I will begin now Serious Haiku’s A little bird sits Staring at the passerby Feeling the wind flow

Haiku’s about sports I’m not a fan who Stops liking his team often I’m no bandwagon Nobody messes With a guy like Ray Lewis I know I wouldn’t

The War of the Ages

by Sean Ingram

a regular basis. But there was a new mission that would test all of A QUICK WRITE THAT WAS us to our breaking point.

CREATED ON A LATE NIGHT It was 2028, and the world was facing the biggest war since It was over. Vamsi was gone.

World War Two. Nazi Germany Christian was in tears, Matt and had been reborn. Yeah, intense Jessica Alba were frolicking stuff. Turned out Hitler had a son, through a meadow, and WIll, who had a son, and that son’s Trevis, I, and Brooklyn Decker were sitting around the fire. All of name was Rudolph. Anyways, Rudolph Hitler was in power, and a sudden a piercing battle cry the same horrific things were echoed through the valley. A happening to the Jewish shadow appeared above our heads, I looked up to see a Nazi population that had happened in the past. The difference this time hurdling from the smokedarkened sky. Will’s reaction was was that Germany was teaming up to make a global superpower, swift, pulling his Glock from his Germany, China, Vietnam, from his oversized sock and Russia, Japan, Iraq, Saudi pulling the trigger on the last Arabia, and Australia were all on surviving member’s face of the the same team, along with other army we had just fought off, smaller countries. Overall, it shouting “Like a Boss!” into the seemed that the other team was air, but not before the nazi had in fact “screwed”. But the United pulled the trigger too. Brooklyn States had one last hope, and was shot in the foot, we would that was us. They sent us on have to make it back while missions through ice covered carrying her. She fell onto Wills leg, which snapped. We had two Russian landscapes, and German suburban crippled people and a body to neighborhoods, but our toughest take back. Our slogan from that one was through the jungles of moment on became “Like a Boss.” But before we go into that, Vietnam.

January, the world was pretty you need to know the rest of the much taken over, and we had to story.

Christian, Trevis, Vamsi, Matt, have a last stand. It was Will and I were an elite black ops Vietnam, pretty much the hardest team trained to be the best of the terrain to navigate in the world, but we were trained for this stuff. best. Nobody came close to the skill level that our combined team We had encountered several Nazi patrols in the area as well had. We were all specialists in a as several fully fledged platoons, certain field of military. Vamsi was the brains, Matt was the con and easily gotten rid of all of artist, Christian had the weapons, them. The team faced our biggest challenge yet. We had Trevis was an amazing driver of made a camp spot on the side of anything with wheels, I could the cliff overlooking the largest shoot a grain of rice from a mile enemy base in Vietnam, but what away, and Will was our leader. we had seen was horrific.

You didn’t mess with us. It just Prisoners were being held in didn’t happen. We went on disgusting cages, and were missions to places all over the world, saving lives and doing the viciously beaten, there were two general godlike things we did on POW still alive, Brooklyn Decker •••

and Jessica Alba. We planned a rescue mission.

It was the perfect plan. We went in in the dark of night when the security would be lacking the most. As we descended the cliff and waded through the water, we noticed a spotlight that hadn’t been there the night before. The team decided to wade on anyways, but soon learned that was the wrong decision. We invaded the base through the least guarded back wall, but after that it was chaos. Somewhere overhead an alarm sounded, almost simultaneously we heard gunshot. But we were so close to the Prisoners we had to help. We shot through the metal cages and carried the weakened jailbirds to the wall, and told them to hop over. But just then an army the size of about 100 men approached us. We had no choice, we fought. Somewhere in the hectic battle, Vamsi fell to the ground from a gunshot wound in the head. We went on a rage.

Beating the pants of everyone.

That’s where we left off. Turns out Christian accidentally shot Vamsi in an attempt to save his life. So after killing the Nazi we decided to head back to our camp, and carried the Vamsi’s body with us. It was a grueling journey, but we made it. That was not the last battle we ever fought, so I have a feeling there will be more stories to come.

A Day In the Life

by Sean Ingram

It’s funny, people talk about how the road to growing up is a long one, but that isn’t the A NARRATIVE ON LIFE I believe that personalities experience I had at all. I had to grow up rather quickly. Literally a week and characters are formed from the things that happen to someone, and after I was told my grandma was going to die, something else they choices they make. A person happened. I remember the day isn’t born, a person is created. perfectly, I was off of school at the Created bit by bit: choice by choice, time, and I had invited my friend event by event, until it all comes Scotty over. We had been having a together and creates something blast playing with Legos in the entirely unique and special, something that almost writes a story. basement, and my mom came down and said it was time for Scotty to I look around and see seemingly leave. Normally that would have infinite stories. Stories of hardships been okay, except something didn’t and sadness, but also joy and seem right with my Mom, and it was celebration. These stories explain only 1 in the afternoon. So i pestered why someone is who they are, why my mom, over and over again I they act the way they do, and asked her what was wrong, why she everyone has one. My story begins seemed sad. She told me it could March 30th, 1998. wait, I would find out later. But again, It was a snowy and being the second grader that I was, i gloomy March. Most of Colorado’s blizzards occur during March. It’s not didn’t give up. We hopped in the car to go pickup my sister from swim a great time for a birthday party practice. The sky outside was dark, either. On this particular day in the streetlights providing a gloomy March, it was snowing lightly. It was lighting on the streets. I kept asking one of those grey days, one where her. She broke down crying. My the clouds just block the sun, and the slush on the ground gets in your mom didn’t cry. She didn’t. That’s when she told me what was wrong. shoes. One where you can’t shake “Your father and I are the feeling that everybody is moving getting a divorce.”

She said matterjust a little bit slower, a little bit of-factly.

Of course I asked why, and sadder. Yep, it was on one of those she told me he loved somebody days that I was born.

The first really significant else, and had an affair. I asked who and she wouldn’t tell me. events that happened to me were So there we were, both my grandma’s development of cancer and my parent’s divorce, both sitting in the car crying when my sister came in, and we told her the happened around the same exact news. She also began crying. When time. Skip ahead about eight years we got home my dad was packing on the timeline, and picture a his things. That was the worst smiling, skinny, and Blonde second moment of the whole night. He saw grader. That was me. But as far as lives go, the first eight years of mine us and gave us big bear hugs (well me and my sister at least, not my went by pretty well. Nothing really mom) and told us he loved us. I think happened that was bad or sad or anything, until about halfway through that’s where he finally realized what my second grade year. My mom had all of this meant; that he wasn’t seeing us everyday anymore, that he recently told me that her mom (my wasn’t ever coming back to that grandmother) had gotten lung house ever again, that everything he cancer, and we weren’t sure how knew was flying out the window. And long she had to live. Me being an that’s when he did something that innocent small boy, I didn’t realize shocked me. He started to cry. But the severity of that statement for a not the sad cry when something sad fair amount of time. happens, that nervous cry. That •••

nervous cry where everything seems to be falling apart, and you want it to be fixed, where you just fall down to the ground and beg for it to stop; that’s exactly what he did. He begged my mom to let him stay, to let them work out the problems and try to fix the marriage “for the kids.”

At that moment is when the true rage and anger kicked in.

How dare you ask her for you to stay? How dare you ask my poor mother, who’s heart had been broken, to work things out? For the kids daddy? Bull. If you had “the kids” in mind, none of this would have ever happened. We could still have been a perfect family, where everything made sense. But now?

Now its all gone. And you have the audacity to ask for another shot?

That’s just pathetic Dad. And it was with pain and satisfaction I watched my mom kick him out of the house.

We didn’t need him, we were fine by ourselves. Me and my sister have fended for ourselves, and the only support we have had is each other.

It was like we were in a dream, that whole day. I still remember it. Some things just never leave you, no matter what you try to do. But remembering isn’t always bad, all these things that have happened in my life, they make up who I am as a person and that’s a reward to me, because I am stronger and better prepared for things to come. I grew up too fast, but in a way, I’m glad it happened to me, because I have changed for the better.

DIVYA JAIN About the Author...

Hi there! I’m Divya Jain and I was born in Colorado. I am a crazy, eccentric 8th grader who has two oddly conflicting personalities where one is loud, bold and confident while the other is timid, quiet but independent. I love chocolate, my friends, tennis and nature. I hate annoying people, unruly hair and bitter chocolate. I hope for a phone, a little more freedom and a little more sleep before I have to get up for school in the morning.

The Maximum Ride Series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Alex Rider, and The Secrets of the Immortals have all opened my eyes to numerous things like global warming is real to maybe natural disasters aren’t so natural. One thing they all have taught me is that the world can be an ugly place and the future and the past weren’t and aren’t going to get better. I don’t know what books I will remember ten years from now,but I hope I remember every single one. A few of the books above like the Maximum Ride series and the Alex Rider series have made me more aware of the world and how our current actions are affecting it and the impacts it may have.

I have learned a lot as a writer like how to engage my reader and influence their emotions using powerful words and creating moving images with words. This had led me to go from “wild” writing where I just let the story pour out of me without any drive or meaning to a more controlled writing where I can step back, look at my writing and say that is powerful. I can control my writing and still make it true and original but communicative

and composed. I used to believe that all writing is is just writing down random ideas and going from there but now I realize it’s about passion and what you want your readers to know. It can change a lot. I think I show a lot of potential when I write and hopefully one day I can reach the tantalizing goal of being heard by others and my writing changing things, big things.

However, there’s always the fear that I won’t ever be good enough and I’ll be crushed down and if not silenced, then ignored. But I always hope that everything is going to be okay because I know have the power to control my reader

and influence how they think. I know that with this tool I can change how people all over the world think and I can change the fact that they don’t believe in global warming. Even on smaller terms I can change how the United States., Colorado,Douglas County, Highlands Ranch, or even just the school feels about love, life, the Hunger Games, school budgets ... anything! I am Divya Jain, native Coloradan, a crazy eccentric girl who lives in a world she can change through writing.

Coming Up Next: My Published Poems

This is me and my sisters at the Botanical Gardens in Denver enjoying a day in the sun.

My older sister looks kinda weird because her eye are closed but me and my younger sister look fine.

My Awesome Six Word Stories

SIX WORD

Poetry and Short Work Page

STORIES? 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

You came back, you shouldn’t have.

Stand up, Stand tall, Stand strong Fight the world, but not yourself.

I am invisible. I hate it.

What doesn’t kill you...leaves scars.

Forget to love, Forget to live.

By: Divya Jain (Me)

My Published Poems I Am I am a man of brown In a world of white I am a man of happiness In a world of sadness.

My Favorite Quotes !!

Be who you are, say what you feel. Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind-Dr. Suess “I was called fat the other day and I said, ‘Ya well, you’re ugly and I can diet.’” ~Caption Insano “Love is magic. But magic can be an illusion.”-Javan

I am a man of right In a world of wrong.

I am God In a world of humans.

By: Divya Jain (me) Apollo’s Chariot The sun galloping across the sky, In Apollo’s chariot.

The sky silent as a stone, Burdening Atlas’s shoulders.

Whoever said nothing was impossible never tried slamming a revolving door.

The forest is firm and solid, Hiding Artemis and her followers.

Sometimes you need to run away just to see who will come after you.

The sea is calm, Awaiting Poseidon’s command.

What do you mean, my birt h certificate expired?

The flowers and plants burst from the ground, Praising Demeter’s rule.

By: Divya Jain (me)

My Favorite Quotes!!

Life is like gummy worms.

Some are sour, some are sweet. Sometimes it’s hard to finish but in the end it’s delicious and worth it.

In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must till dare to comfort. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.Michael Jackson The road to success is always under construction.

Never go to bed angry, stay awake and plot your revenge.

Commentary About Global Warming 4.

Ever since our carbon dioxide level I WROTE THIS PAPER FOR THOSE WHO has gone up, so has the earth’s DON’T BELIEVE IN GLOBAL WARMING OR temperature.

ARE UNSURE ON IT’S EXISTENCE. I 5.

In the ten hottest year ever, STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT GLOBAL temperature wise, 8 of them happened in the years 2000-2009.

WARMING EXISTS AND SINCE THE Well, scientists have come up with FACTS ARE ALL THERE, YOU SHOULD three reasons for the very sudden temperature TOO. I HOPE YOU LIKE MY PAPER AND change and one of them, is the sun. Obviously if the sun heats up, the planets and the Earth are THANKS FOR READING IT. No More Ice,Ice Baby!

By: Divya Jain “When things start happening that we can’t explain, shouldn’t we be at least a little bit worried, you guys, at least a little bit?” -John McKinney John McKinney, during a conversation about the recent “blizzicane” in Alaska, said this. A “blizzicane” is actually a blizzard with hurricane force winds that can hit 100 miles per hour. This is a pretty new word that scientists have recently created because something like this has never happened before and the most shocking thing of all is that, scientists have absolutely no idea how it happened. We really have advanced greatly in science: from finding out how wind is created, to discovering what lightning is. On thing we have definitely come to understand is weather. We know what blizzards and hurricanes are made of, but a blizzicane? Scientists aren’t even sure if that’s possible. So, if things are happening in our atmosphere that scientists are baffled by, then shouldn’t we start looking for a reason behind this disastrous weather?

Apparently, we’ve been looking since 1896, when the idea of global warming was first introduced. Global warming is the air temperature of the earth going up due to the carbon dioxide that humans are releasing by burning fossil fuels.

That is big time dangerous.The effects of such dramatic climate change will be catastrophic, and it’s completely us humans fault, but what if it isn’t?

Now, some people think that global warming isn’t real and it is just another one of Earth’s warming periods, and a cooling period will come, like the Ice Age. Others believe that it is a very real threat that will wipe out tons of animals and environments. When scientists actually sat down to take a look at global warming, they found out that the temperature is actually rising. Make your own decision, but here are the facts.

1.

The temperature of the Earth is rising really fast.

2.

Never before in history have there been so many destructive storms.

3.

We are taking fuel that has been in the earth for around 400 million years and dumping it into the environment in around 200 years.

going to heat up, like an oven. However, scientists have been monitoring solar winds, and particle reactions and they have found that the sun’s activity has changed in such a way that it should actually be cooling down the environment, not heating it up. So, that reason can’t be right. The Earth’s reflectivity, is another reason. Around 30% of all the energy that reaches the Earth is reflected right back into space. And what’s left over is used here on Earth. But, for some reason, us cutting down forests, have caused the reflectivity to cause cooling down here, but yet the temperature keeps rising. Here comes the final reason- global warming caused by greenhouse affects. Greenhouse affects are where the carbon dioxide is trapped by the atmosphere so it can’t empty out into space. That causes the temperature to rise. Global warming is real and it is caused by humans,but why is this so important?

It’s extremely dangerous and incredibly important because it affects every person on this planet. This concerns me because so many things will be impacted out there and, frankly, I don’t want this to come around and destroy my life as I know it. Warmer air means that things get destroyed like the arctic, the polar bears, the Ganges river because it is fed from a iceberg that melting really fast now! Some things that might just happen are: 1. Spread of disease- the animals in the south are going to react to the environment change by migrating north to temperatures they are more comfortable with and with them they will bring disease.

2. More storms- Warm water will increase the risk of hurricanes and warm air will increase the risk of tornadoes.

3. More droughts, more heat waves- more heat means that water gets evaporated quicker resulting in less water so more disaster.

4. Economic Failure- The more money we use cleaning up natural disasters, the less we have for our economy.

5. Ice cape melting- This effect probably has the most and scariest effects which will lead to many other things. One thing it will do

is raise sea levels which will cause a whole lot of floods and way more dangerous tsunamis.

Another things is that fresh water icebergs will make the ocean less salty which will totally screw with the ocean currents. Ocean currents help regulate our temperature, so there’s yet another twist in temperature.The third thing that it will do is kill off a lot of animal that won’t be able to survive the sudden temperature change, very few would survive. The fourth things that they will do is with the ice caps gone, there will be nothing huge and white to reflect harmful sun’s energy back into space. All that will be left will be the dark oceans and since dark colors absorb heat, what do you think is going to happen to the temperature?

So, do you see why global warming is such a big, real threat? It does not affect only the environment because economy, religion and peace could all come crashing down.This worries me because global warming could destroy my life. I am Hindu and if the Ganges River dries up, what will happen to the many traditions surrounding the river. Such a big sacred religious river can not just disappear just because some money greedy, uncaring, stone hearted people are too involved with their insignificant lives to look ahead at the future and at the whole picture. Earth crazy freaks aren’t the only ones who should be worried about what is happening in the environment right now. Global warming is the only plausible reason for such a huge temperature bump and truthfully, humans as a whole need to do everything within their power to bring the temperature back to normal. I completely believe that global warming is real.

There is not much to disprove my opinion and the facts are right in front of our eyes, the temperature is rising and the world, might just end as we know it.

Narrative About the Tooth Fairy I wrote this paper for people to empathize with children and how when childhood fantasies come to an end, Life changes and it’s important to realize that it’s a big deal.

The Tooth Truth By:Divya Jain Childhood fantasies are not held in high esteem, especially by grown up, “mature” adults. However, when I was young I truly believed in the magical land where the Tooth Fairy lived and the story of Santa Claus. I was seven years old when the truth finally managed to turn from a small nagging voice to a blow of reality. A big blow. It was a terrible weekend.

As I was saying, it was a weekend when I found out the ugly tooth truth.

I had lost one of many teeth and was lying in bed imagining the tooth fairy in all her glamour and shiny white Tooth Palace. (Yes, I thought that she lived in a palace made out of the teeth she took from us.) However, my day dreaming was abruptly interrupted as all of a sudden a scene popped into my mind. It was back when my tooth fell out in school.

Flashback: I returned to class from the nurse’s office, proudly showing off the treasure chest that my tooth was enclosed in. My friends smiled to see my choice of color, pink, and asked which tooth I lost and all sorts of intelligent questions like if I would talk like a hillbilly. Then a girl named Madison strutted up to me like a chicken and interrupted my incredibly interesting story of how I would spend the money the tooth fairy gave me.

She stuck her snooty face into my face and said “The tooth fairy

does not exist. Your parents are the ones that sneak that money under your pillow and you don’t remember it because you are asleep, you know. I mean, like, has anyone ever actually seen the thing? She paused for a second. I didn’t think so.” Then she strutted off in all her chickeny glory. I glared after her and my friends comforted me by saying she was wrong and mean, but that didn’t squash the seed of doubt that had been planted in my brain. The inevitable idea had been planted.

So there I lay, fretting over her words. Finally, I resolved to prove my doubt wrong by not catching my parents red-handed. It was late and I fell asleep even though I tried not to.

However since I slept late, I did not sleep well and I woke up early and heard someone coming up the stairs.

I got up and went outside. It was my mother. She saw me and looked surprised and even a bit guilty.

Hmmm, that’s odd. I shook off the thought and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. When she thought I was distracted, she went into my room. She then came out and joined me in the bathroom with her hand in her pocket. That was the mistake. I couldn’t control the suspense anymore and I “casually” asked what was in her coat pockets. Her hand immediately came out of the pocket and she nervously said nothing and tried to flee. However, I grabbed a hold of her and searched her pockets and in the left one...out came my tooth.

I was shocked. Madison’s snooty face flashed in front of my eyes. A series of thoughts ran through my head. The tooth fairy did

not exist. The Tooth Palace did not exist. There was no delicate fairy in a sparkly white dress flying around somewhere collecting teeth and dropping off money. I ran to my room and sure enough there was money under my pillow. I stood there staring at the coin until my mother came to me and put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder.

She then said, rather practically, “Honey, does it really matter where the money is coming from? You are still going to get money from us when you lose future teeth. This is all about the money, right?” I reflected on her wise words and decided that she was correct. I mean like I was seven years old and already people my age were beginning to think she didn’t exist. So maybe it’s time I move on. So I shrugged, thanked her for the money and went downstairs for breakfast.

However I still think back to those days and thought, wow, if that stuckup girl hadn’t gone and gotten all up in my grill, I probably wouldn’t have found out. Then again, the tooth truth was bound to come up sooner or later and deliver it’s merciless blow, so perhaps it was for the best that I learned this when I was young. That weekend was the day that my perspective changed on the world of fantasy; I lost some of my childhood innocence in the process, but I guess that’s growing up and the sooner I do that, the sooner I get a car.

KYLEE KISER About the Author...

My name is Kylee and I am a dancer, a singer, and a future- author; not to mention I love NUTELA. Those are my greatest passions. I was born in the Littleton Hospital in 1998 in Colorado. I am a very unique person and that shows through my style of dance and singing and of course, acting.

The arts in general is definitely my specialty.

I hope to become a famous actress/ singer or a famous author and I will never stop dancing. I also hope to go through high school and college with the best grades possible.

A book that has impacted my life would be Walk Two Moons. That book had great meaning and it really put life into perspective. Books that I will remember 10 years from now would probably be the Hunger Games series, the Twilight series, all of the Nicholas Sparks’ books that I have read (I love to read love stories). A book that changed my view on the world would be The Giver. I read it a billion times and I love it every time. The utopian society makes me glad that I have what I have and it really makes me think.

learned to take a step back, and be descriptive most of all. Once I get writing, I get writing. There is no time for details if I want to get all my ideas down on paper. I have learned over the years to go back and add some really good All throughout elementary school, I was told detail into my piece and it makes it so I was a great writer. I would basically barf all much better. I also used to use very simple words and, as I said before, rush over my paper and I would be told it was through the paper. Now I slow down, genius. I felt like I wasn’t doing my best. and really work through and read my However, in middle school, I was pounded hard with all the other amazing writers and I piece to make it better and better. worked very hard to come up with the I fear that in the future I will not make it papers I wrote. I feel like there was not in the big world and I will end up in a really very much growth throughout dead-end job. I want my name to be elementary, but the big jump as a writer happened last year in seventh grade. I have known whether I am on the big screen

I just randomly searched paint for the love of nature on Google and this came up. I loved it so I had to put it here.

I love to paint nature and I love to paint for the love of nature so this is perfect.

This is a wordle that I created using one of my longer pieces, the Lake. A fun fact about this piece is that I wrote it in 6th grade in order to get into discovery language arts in 7th grade.

or on everyone’s bookshelves. With my new reading, writing, and thinking skills I hope to get through school and be the best that I can possibly be. I hope to use these skills in my novel-writing. I hope to have a big impact on the world.

I hope to entertain. I hope to have fans.

Lots of fans. I hope to have my name out there. I hope to have bi-lengual movies and books so the whole world will know me. Society will be entertained; they will laugh, cry, and feel for the character of which I will be portraying on TV or the character of which I am writing about.

SIX WORD

Poetry and Short Work Page Follow Your Dreams Follow your dreams no matter what comes your way Follow your dreams weather it’s work or play Jump high in the air

STORIES?

like you just don’t care Make mistakes

Six words to create

and learn from them

something amazing

Bake a cake!

There is no rule book or step-by-step

I don’t need popularity to

guide

survive

to life Follow your dreams

I ran. I jumped. I flew.

To be, or not to be?

What does it mean to love?

Have fun

When a Girl

because you only get one life Why not live it right?

When a girl is quiet there are millions of things running through her head When a girl says, “Never mind,” she needs you to be there for her

POEM (:

Time Time is my worst enemy, yet my best friend It can speed by me, as fast as a race car or simply stroll by like a turtle with no car e at all.

It swirls and twirls and I hate it, yet I love it in so many ways.

It helps me to rush by the school day, but can’t wake me up in the morning no matter how hard I try.

Time speeds by me when

When a girl cries over a guy it doesn’t mean she is weak When a girl flirts it’s not just for fin When a girl cries it’s not for attention and it’s not over just one thing When a girl tells you to “Have fun,” she’d rather have you there with her She doesn’t want to let you go Don’t take girls for granted We are far more complicated yet far more simple Than you will ever imagine

I need it the most, but gives me too much when I wish it would just go away.

Time is my worst enemy, yet my best friend.

We hate each other with a fiery passion.

Time kills me when I wish I didn’t have to go to bed.

Time kills me when I need his company, and stabs me in the back in my time of need.

Time is my worst enemy, yet my best friend.

The End of the Street

by Kylee Kiser ••• THIS PIECE IS A HALLOWEEN THRILLER... SORT OF I had been watching them for months now.

They would never know, though. At least not un<l this Halloween. I’ve planned for this for a long <me. Both girls will have never seen it coming. I’ll let you in on my plan. Distract them. Take their bags. Figure out where they live. Scare them. Always be a part of their memory...

I turned around; he was watching me. He must have seen the fear in my eyes because for a second I saw a faint smile paint across his face. At that same second it was gone. I walked faster. I couldn’t turn my head to look. People seemed to engulf me as I jogged through the street. Weaving through people, I had to look. To some relief, he was back a ways, but s<ll following. I could feel him right behind me as I neared the turn to my house. I walked as far as I could as fast as I could before taking a sharp turn and sprin<ng towards my house. Wasn’t Kaylie there? Where had she gone? He ran aJer me. I was just about to open the door when he reached his hand out... *** 9 hours earlier: the day of Halloween, 1985 *** I slept in this Saturday. Well, I slept in to a point. It was about 10 o’clock when I finally got out of my bed to shower. When I got out I heard my phone ring on my desk. It was my best friend, Kaylie. We talked about mee<ng at the mall to do some shopping and then go trick-­‐or-­‐trea<ng later that night. I asked my parents and they soon accepted. At 11, I met her at the mall. We shopped for about two hours, and then stopped at the make-­‐ up store to mess around when I saw him. I figured it was just a common glance that everyone makes with the occasional stranger. LiPle did I know that the one glance would lead me to be the most terrified I had ever been and ever will be.

He was standing across the room, staring at me. I es<mated he could be in his mid-­‐ for<es, shown by the wrinkles on his face and the bags under his dark brown eyes. His eyes stared straight into my soul, telling me to beware. The whole eye seemed to be black. His hands remained in his pockets. His

hair looked as if it hadn’t been washed in weeks. He was definitely a sight, and a creepy one at that. His shoulders were hunched over, and he seemed like any average person shopping on any average day; however my senses told me otherwise.

Our eyes met: I ins<nc<vely turned away. I told Kaylie, but when she turned around he was gone. Make-­‐up covered faces and all, we ran out as soon as we could and we were on our way to the car when we realized we leJ our bags inside. We ran inside and back up to the make-­‐up store, but the bags weren’t there. We checked the lost and found but they weren’t there either. AJer hours of searching, we decided to head over to my house for some trick-­‐or-­‐trea<ng to see if that would make us feel bePer. *** Some Background Informa@on I’m a psycho The police and the government will never find me They think I’m in Iraq Stupid And I hate liHle girls Can’t tell you why, but maybe you’ll find out later Maybe. *** At about the fiJh house we went to, I saw a grown man carrying a bunch of bags. I nudged Kaylie and we went closer to him to see if they could possibly be ours. They were definitely ours; he carried a bag from every store we bought things from. Kaylie headed towards my house because she had to go to the bathroom. I stormed over to this guy.

Who did he think he was? It was all girl stuff, not even things he would ever want or need.

I decided to keep my distance. Why would a grown man have our bags? It seemed extremely unlikely.

I walked down the street to collect more candy. I turned around; he was watching me.

That’s a liPle strange, I thought to myself. I made my way halfway down the street. Kaylie was taking a really long <me in the bathroom. By that point I was scared. I turned; he was s<ll there,

staring at me. Terrified, I ran to the end of the street. *** Step 1: Distract them-­‐ check Step 2: Take their bags-­‐ check Step 3-­‐ Figure out where they live-­‐ check Step 4: Strike eternal fear into their hearts: not quite finished... *** He must have seen the fear in my eyes because for a second I saw a faint smile paint across his face. At that same second it was gone. I walked faster. I couldn’t turn my head to look. People seemed to engulf me as I jogged through the street. Weaving through people, I had to look. To some relief, he was back a ways, but s<ll following. I could feel him right behind me as I neared the turn to my house. I walked as far as I could as fast as I could before taking a sharp turn and sprin<ng towards my house at the end of the street. Wasn’t Kaylie there? Where had she gone? He ran aJer me. I saw Kaylie out front I was just about to enter my house when he reached his hand out... Terrified of this strange man, I screamed as he tapped me on the shoulder.

“Hello, I saw you leave the mall without your bags so I searched through them to find some info on you. I came to this address hoping you young ladies would be here to take them back. I apologize if I frightened you.” Relieved, we took our bags and went inside to drop them off.

Just as soon as we got inside and set the bags on the floor, I turned around to look at the window by the front door, with a strange feeling that I was being watched.

Face pressed against the glass, he was staring straight at me. His eyes were wide, and his lips pressed together. I jumped and screamed at the sight. Kaylie turned and to her and my astonishment, he was gone.

Something had to be up with this guy. By this <me both me and Kaylie were shaking all over from this creepy day. I picked up one of the bags and something fell to the floor.

It was a note. It read, “Now it’s my turn.” The lePers were obviously cut out of magazines and newspapers... *** To be Continued ***

The Lake

by Kylee Kiser •••

THIS PIECE IS ABOUT ME GOING ON AN ADVENTURE TO THE GREAT BEYOND...AND MY RETURN This morning I woke to something very opposite of the usual, boring schedule of my life. I opened my eyes to see I was off of the ground. I was in a forest, intertwined with the branches of a massive tree. I checked the time. It was six-thirty in the morning but I was wideawake. “Oh well,” I thought as I rolled over. I rolled until I fell out of the tree and found there was a lake off in the distance. The early morning sun danced across the lake’s sparkly, glistening waters. I sprinted towards the lake for some reason I cannot explain.

Excitement pulsed through my veins as I raced my heart out. I reached the lake and dove in; I couldn’t believe what my eyes told me.

What would seem like a regular dark lake to most, looked like a mass of wonder and magnificence to me. A rainbow of fish and plants engulfed me.

A sea turtle had a shell that looked as if it had been polished professionally by a starfish. It danced gracefully by me, as if it knew just how beautiful it was and had absolutely no care whatsoever about anything. Close behind followed miniature replicas, just learning the grace and beauty of life. I swam deeper into the water. My lungs never tired; I was invincible. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what I was doing here in a lake in the forest, but my thoughts went nowhere so I reopened my eyes to the delight of seeing everything again. It felt like I was back home, even though I had only closed my eyes for a split second. I

noticed right in front of me floated a blue door. Shells of all different colors, shapes and designs outlined the door. I could tell it had grown mold and cracked over time.

It had something engraved at the top; I went to investigate. The door read, “Open me.” Curiosity took over me so I opened it.

I swam inside and fell down, further than I had ever fallen in my lifetime. I had a strong feeling I would die. This would be the end. I tried to think quickly and wish of something to save me, and as I almost reached the ground a trampoline popped up below me. I bounced off of it and then I was back in the air, the feeling of freeness overpowering my senses. I flipped back around so I could bounce on my feet and stop myself.

I refocused, hopped off the trampoline, and looked around. The room was all white and it looked endless. I ran. I ran as fast as I could for as long as I could in the opposite direction from which I came. It was endless. I was starving. Was there anything to eat here? I cold go for a bagel. A toasted bagel abruptly appeared in front of me just in time for me to reach my hand out and catch it. An idea zapped into my head as I studied my bagel; there was no cream cheese. I started thinking about cream cheese and the act of spreading it on a bagel in my hand. My warm, toasty bagel was automatically spread elegantly and perfectly with cream cheese.

An escape.

I need to get out of here. I focused on escaping while eating my bagel. Why let it go to waste? The bagel was perfectly toasted, with the best tasting cream cheese I have ever found myself eating. I thought of an eagle the size of a small helicopter to get a view from up high. Of course, it came, and I hopped on top of it and we flew up high. High enough to see miles and miles in every direction back

home. We then flew around and I studied my surroundings. That did nothing, being that the room was an endless, bright white space. But then I thought of something more creative and realistic.

Bring me the door that brought me here, and have it take me back, I thought. Just then, the door came again. I told the eagle to fly me to the door. This time, the door had something else engraved on it. It said, “You have chosen your words well and thought only of what you needed, not what you wanted; open me proudly,” and so I did. I felt good, but then a sudden wave of guilt and sadness fell over me. I couldn’t leave this poor creature here all alone. That was it! I could give the bird a lady friend to accompany him! I am so brilliant. I thought of a girl eagle about his size and told the never-ending room to give them what they needed to thrive here.

I hoped they would be happy as I held my breath and walked through the door. I was back in the familiar lake, as expected. I swam to the top, being careful not to bump any precious, delicate thing that lived in the lake. I got to the top and ran back to the monstrous tree where I started.

I climbed to the top and realized if I had stayed in the tree I could have opened a small flap under me. I opened it now and looked inside. There was a neighborhood, much like mine, with a school at the end of the street. A sign was out front and it read, “Copper Mesa”. Yes! This was my neighborhood! I jumped into the door and fell in the grass of my backyard. I ran inside to tell my family that I was okay.

Nobody seemed to be home so I checked the time. It was seven o’clock in the morning and everyone was still in bed. I had only been gone for thirty minutes. I didn’t care, I just ran up to my room and wrote in my journal exactly what happened. It started like this: This morning I woke to something very opposite of the usual, boring schedule of my life…

Clare Liu

About the Author...

Throughout my life, I’ve been many things. A traveler. A dreamer. A thinker. A wisher. But most of all, I’ve been Clare. From being born in the state of Colorado in the US, I was brought up with many opportunities. Among the years of my life, I was able to learn how to swim, play tennis, play the piano, and dance. I also enjoy writing, reading, and running in my free time. But my most favorite hobby is drawing. Nothing feels better than staring at a fresh sheet of paper, bursting with ideas wanting to be shown. As a person, I’ve been told I’m introverted, loyal, and hardworking. If I were a color, it would be a light, pastel hue. Something unique in its own little way, but nothing too flashy or bold.

Every book holds an important story. It may be complete rubbish to someone while to another, it may touch their heart. When I browse through the library for a new book to read, I usually look for one involving a journey of some sort. Reading about the journey of characters, and

experiencing their moments of pain and happiness as they strive for their goal quickens my heart. But I find that the books that I will remember in the next decade aren’t the fantasy ones.

One of them is The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak. This book touched my heart. The instant I started reading about young Lisle, whose family was split apart at beginning of the war, I was sucked into her life. When the book ended, I was surprised to find tears at the corners of my eyes and down my cheeks.

Zusak inspired me greatly to do something more in my life.

Maybe not something big, like becoming a high official or join the army, but maybe something just as important, such as changing other people’s lives with words, or art.

on a novel over the course of a month, and I decided to give it try as well. It was then, did I discover the magic of spinning letters, words, sentences, and then paragraphs in a piece of work. Although I admit that I’m not that great of a writer, I no longer dislike it. I was interested in studying sentence structure, word choice, and styles. Tiny details like those can polish the writing.

In my future, I wish to change some people’s lives, for the better. I don’t have the ability--or guts--to do something public, such as giving speeches at conventions or becoming the CEO of a company. But I would be happy if I could help someone through my writing or artwork. “A picture is worth a thousand words”, but in my opinion, words My journey as a writer is one that are just as powerful. They can started rather late. Up until a evoke deep emotions, just like sudden strike of the lightbulb in when Zusak’s The Book Thief 5th grade, I despised writing. caused me to weep for his Whenever the teacher told us to characters. They can cause cries write an essay, or even a simple of happiness as the reader paragraph about our weekend, I cheers with the characters. They would groan inwardly. I struggled can make a reader’s imagination to put words down on the paper. soar and ponder. I have been a While others seemed to be traveler, a dreamer, a thinker, having sentences flow out of the and a wisher. I hope that soon, I tips of the pencil, my mind was will be able to be a person who left blank. And then 5th grade has the capability to affect came. My younger sister was others. assigned the homework to work

Coming Up: •Two Poems •Response to Literature •A Short Story Always read! Books are there for you.

They have so many experiences and knowledge to give.

Always write! Writing is a great way to express your feelings and ideas.

Poetry and Short Work Page

BUMBLEBEE BUNDLE Flashes of gold and black, Weaving between threads of green, Pausing on trembling velvet petals, Wings beating hundreds of times every second.

Small, unseen, underestimated, One does not see their careful work.

Only a minuscule bit, But nevertheless important.

Part of a busy community, Dutiful and optimistic, performing its job.

Ready to defend home at the cost of life, Tiny but strong and dangerous.

RAGE A dark emotion A horrible wave Threatening to pull us in To drown.

A snake Ready to wrap around us And squeeze us until we choke.

But we must not give in to this dark emotion , This wave, this snake.

We must stand tall We must stand strong.

Losing first. Then trying. Finally winning.

Literature Response: The Power to Change POWER CAN BE USED TO BUILD, OR TO DESTROY. HOW WILL THESE CHARACTERS CHANGE TO IT? Everyone has the choice to pick their own decisions, their own fate, their own destiny. But sometimes, that choice can often be smothered or manipulated by the influence of others. It is under those circumstances when power is used for an ill-mannered purpose, although it may not seem that way at first. In the books, Ender’s Game, Nothing but the Truth, and The Book Thief, the use, or misuse, of power to change others is demonstrated throughout the story. At times, it is subtle, where no one really notices until the end, while other times, everyone can see the change.

class, when he is told to listen silently. He holds a grudge against his teacher, Ms. Narwin, and when she sends him to the Principal's office after being disrespectful multiple times, he accuses her for suspending him for being “patriotic”.

Although his story is ran in a local newspaper, it is one-sided on Philip’s part. This story spreads to the other states, with many of people furious at Ms. Narwin. However, Philip used the his power to influence others to blame Ms. Narwin when it was in fact him who started the whole issue.

In Ender’s Game, the manipulation of power is more apparent through the definite actions of the government, rather than the usage of it in more, real-life scenarios, such as Nothing But the Truth.

But situations that take place in the real life could have an impacting and lasting influence. Such as the during the Holocaust in World War II, when Hitler began to preach his ways of the German race being superior while the Jews were an inferior race. Although this event happened in the past, many of us are still feeling the long-lasting effects from it. The novel written by Markus Zusak, The Book Thief, is not a hardcore non-fiction book, but a realistic story about Liesel Meminger and her life in Germany during the war. From the very start of her book, Liesel’s family is already in ruins from Hitler. Liesel’s parents were Communists, and at that time, Hitler lead a party that was against Communism. Because of no longer having a father, Liesel was given away to a foster family. Even before reading to the heart of the book, Hitler’s influence was already impacting the events. From being the dictator of Germany, Hitler abused his high-ranking status to harm others just to get his own way.

This theme is displayed in Nothing He is similar to the government in But the Truth by Avi, although it is Ender’s Game, as he is willing to not as apparent as Ender’s Game. corrupt others and make them feel Philip Malloy abuses the power he as if they have no choice but to has of freedom of speech when he comply with what he wants. sings the National Anthem during Ender’s Game is a novel written

by Orson Scott Card that tells the story of a boy being trained by the government to save the world of an alien enemy called buggers. Despite being at a young age, Ender was specifically conditioned to be selfsufficient and rely on no one. He was not allowed to have the normal life of a child, as the government forced him to join Battle School. Throughout the school, the officials corrupted other students into hating Ender just by appearing to favor him. This one action repeatedly continues to change the way the other students see Ender, ruining his short-lived friendships, but thriving his ability to plan efficiently and effectively. Ender was pushed to his extreme, although he could have decided not to partake in the difficult pressure laid on him. Finally, at the end of the book, Ender killed off the entire population of buggers. Although he was seen as a hero by the people on earth, he felt that he was a murderer.

The decision and influence of others can change the way one thinks. Even though, inside of each person is the ability to be able to make decisions, the opinion can be changed easily by those who are often more powerful. The three books, Ender’s Game, Nothing But the Truth, and The Book Thief, each model in their own way how someone can use their power to influence the lives of the people around them. The change power holds can happen in the past with Germany, the present right before our eyes in the United States, or even in the distant, imagined future.

No matter what happens, power will always change people.

A Short Tale of Two Twins: Sacrifice IS THERE SOMEONE YOU LOVE SO MUCH THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO DO ANYTHING FOR THEM?

“Today’s snack shall be brioche,” he’d announce, flicking his wrist for emphasis. The princess would giggle, her innocent smile lighting up her face. The boy loved his sister’s smile. He would do anything to see it.

This is the story of two twins.

One was Rin, the princess of the country.

The other was Len, her Finally, it came the time for the brother and loyal servant. cruel country to end.

Their fate: One of them was “Len!” Rin bound to die by the hand of “Today’s suddenly shrieked. She their village. But which one? stood by the window, snack shall watching the citizens The land they reigned gather in front of the be over was tense with anger from palace. “The filthy unfair rule. A rebellion was masses are ruining my brioche!” brewing under the cover of the castle!” thatched houses. The two “Rin, you need to siblings’ lives were in danger, escape. You need to even the boy, who did whatever the run away. Now.” Her twin princess told him to do. Stupid boy. approached her, his voice clenched.

When the two were younger, She hesitated. “Run? Where not yet tainted with greed and evil, to?” their futures were ripped in half.

Len sighed, his gaze aching They were twins, but one was to with sadness. “Somewhere far away. rule, the other to serve.

Perhaps another country.”

“Even if everything in the “Why? I am the princess! This world becomes your enemy,” the country is mine! It is nothing more crying boy had whispered, “I promise than a riot. Go and suppress the I will protect you, so you’ll always be people!” smiling and laughing.”

“Rin, it is not a riot.” Len’s I watched him promise that. I expression turned harsh and wanted to take him by the shoulders, determined. “It is a revolution.” to tell him that the promise would “Go and suppress the people. end him and his sister. But no, I Riot or revolution, I don’t care.” could not move. I could only watch.

The room grew terribly silent as it waited.

Throughout the years, the boy Then, Len exploded. “You never broke his promise. He never should care! The whole country is said anything when the princess after you!” He gripped her thin taxed the citizens, or made them shoulders, and although his voice overwork. When the princess coldly softened, it did not lose its intensity. saw citizens suffer from hunger while “Here, let us switch clothing. Wear the castle was filled with good food mine, and start escaping. Nobody to eat, he only watched. Because of will be able to tell the difference— the princesses’ jealousy, the boy was we’re twins.” forced to slay the girl he loved. His Now donning his sister’s tears, like shining crystals, had slid luxurious garments, the boy raced down his face, but he still didn’t out to the front of the castle, readily argue. waiting to be imprisoned by the But the princess wasn’t all rebellion. His sister, only in a cloak, bad. The boy knew the good side of headed in the opposite direction, her. He remembered those lazy days hidding from prying eyes and where they laid in the garden, vengeful hands. watching the clouds inch across the blue expanse of the sky.

Of course, the boy was captured. The next day, he was scheduled for execution.

end.

The time had come.

The bell’s ring signaled the

In one swift moment, he met his fate, smiling triumphantly. But was the one destined to die him? Or was it to be his sister, whose fate he changed?

Somewhere, among the watching crowd, a hooded figure stood.

Although the figure did not protest when the princess was called forward to the guillotine, it did not cheer along with everyone else. With shining eyes, it did not break it’s line of sight from the execution. The face held no emotion. But when the blade came rushing down towards the victim...

The figure started crying. Warm tears slid down the sallow cheeks, and the face crumbled in loss. It started to cry as though its heart was wrenched out. And maybe it was.

I was by the boy when he died.

Before the shining, razor-sharp edge hit his neck, he promised one more thing. The promise was a wisp that hung in the air, until I captured it in my hands. It felt warm and heavy, full of hope and grief.

If we could be reborn in our next life, then please, let me be with her again.

TREVIS LOVATO About the Author...

My name is Trevis Lovato. I was born on January 22nd, 1998. Some of my favorite things to do are play baseball and skateboard. I don't really like to do much else. I have been playing baseball for as long as I remember, it started with Tigers tee ball, and i'm hoping it will end with a professional team in the MLB. As of right now I am playing on Slammers Royal. I am one of the best players on the team in my opinion, but I am nothing compared to some of the other kids we face, and that are in the other Slammers teams. Now to skateboarding, I skated back when I was in grade school, like 4th grade to 6th grade.

But I took a break during all of 6th grade summer and 7th grade year. Back then I was considered one of the best skaters in my school, but now I am nowhere close to the top. I am slowly climbing my way up, and my long term goal is be sponsored by a large company, or even just a small local skateshop. Right now the best trick I can do on a vert ramp is either drop in on the 6 foot ramp, or do an axel stall. For street the best trick I can do is either a double kickflip, or ollieing the 4 stair at Redstone Skatepark.

Now for my school grades and work habits.

I am a student that gets a lot of B’s, with the occasional C or A. My favorite classes are science and french. Those are the classes that I get my best grades in. Back in elementary school, I was a straight A student, but now the work is more difficult.

The class I struggle in the most is math. I really don't like math. One class that I enjoy is language arts. I enjoy this class because it is filled with some of my closest friends: Sean, Christian, Matt, Will, and Vamsi. Also,

our teacher Mr. Loucks is great. He likes to have fun, but at the same time teaches us important things when it comes to the real world and language arts. My favorite teacher is definitely Mr. Kelly. Or as me and Christian refer to him, “Coach K.” He teaches health and P.E. He seems to always be having fun, and makes us work hard, which isnt a bad thing. Thats about it for school, now back to the fun stuff. My favorite sports teams are: Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, Boston Celtics, Colorado Rockies, Denver Broncos, and Denver Nuggets. I love all these teams because for one I live in Colorado, so I have to love all the Denver based

Make Your Own Luck -Rob Dyrdek

teams. And two, because I grew up in a household where both my parents were from a New England state. My favorite skaters are Chris Cole, and Paul Rodriguez. I like these skaters because they are insane when it comes to street tricks. So yeah, thats pretty much my life so far.

Haikus When I Hit The Ball And I Can See It Go Far I Feel Like A Beast

Short Stories and Poetry

Sometimes When I Hit I Do Really Good Or Bad But I Don’t Strike Out Ofec Is A Beast He Moved Out Of The Country We All Miss Ofec Old Spice Is For Beasts I’m Riding A Horse Back Wards Smell Like A Man, Man When The Yankees Win I Want To Punch The T.V. The Sox Are The Best

This is my commentary paper about steriods. Enjoy!

by Trevis Lovato

I'm sure your asking your self, what are the side effects of these harmless drugs? Well there are Here’s a question. Who doesn't three main side effects: acne, like watching the ball fly out of roid rage, and atrophy of the the yard, or a player throw 102 mile per hour heat? Who doesn't testicles. None of these side effects are “bad”, per say. Acne like seeing a game with the final and atrophy of the testicle: I score 12-10? Answer: no one. mean, your job is to hit a Everyone likes seeing a good baseball game where players are baseball, not look pretty. Roid rage: take your anger out on the at there top performance, and everyone player just seems to be ball. So none of these side effects really mess with your on there game. Imagine this, players like Albert Pujoles, Prince body to much. So unless your a total pretty boy, steroids are the Fielder, Jose Bautista, and way to go.

Carlos Gonzalez all twice as good as they are now. With HGH, or human growth hormones, this Steroids are a harmless drug that will make everything in sports is all possible. People who say statements like, “Steroids ruin the better. The only reason baseball is not allowing these game game,” are wrong. Steroids enhancers is because they are enhance the game for not only trying to keep the game old the players, but the fans too. fashioned. But baseball is Like I said before everyone likes already taken steps towards watching the ball leave the park. making the game more modern, What helps the ball get out of the like reviewing home runs, and using advanced technology park? Strength. What helps players build strength? Steroids. towards training. So why havent Nothing gets your blood flowing, we moved towards making the game much better? Only Bud and your adrenalin pumping like Selig knows. But im sure in time, watching the ball soar 400 feet across the diamond. Think of the baseball will make the right moves by allowing roids in the teams that hit the most home game. runs: LA Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Miami Marlins. All of those teams have the largest fan base. If every team his as many long bombs as these teams, more fans would pay attention to the game. Also, the players that have used the juice in the past have given fans the most excitement.

Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez, Ivan Rodriguez, and of course, Roger Clemens. All of these players have brought so much hype around the game its ridiculous.

This is my narritive piece about Thornton and Highlands Ranch. Enjoy!

by Trevis Lovato

There I was, the stench of alcohol and smoke filled my nose, everyone was a little â&#x20AC;&#x153;buzzedâ&#x20AC;? that night. This was no place for a Highlands Ranch kid like me. We know the dangers of this party. We knew that something big was going to happen, but we never expected something this big.

There was a crowd forming around one area, there was shouting coming form the center.

Nothing big, just another one of the many street fights between two Thornton neighbors.

But what happened next no one

expected. A loud bang hit our eardrums. We had knew something bad had happened.

And in that moment of chaos, I realized that someone had fired a gun. We all ran back to my grandmas house for safety. As I looked out the window I saw only one man outside, and that man was a cold lifeless body lying on the pavement. I didn't know what to do, so I just stared.

Stared and hoped that it was all a dream, a terrifying dream. But what had happened was all to real. While looking at the corpse, it felt as if I was staring at him for hours. But in fact

I was only looking at the lifeless body for only a few short seconds. In that moment, I released how lucky I was, and how blessed I was to come out alive. That man that was shot could have easily been me. I will never forget that feeling. The feeling that you have when you are only a few short feet away from death.

RACHEL LOWTHER Acting

About the Author...

out the

My name is Rachel Lowther. I was born in Colorado on October 24, 1997. I have lived here my whole life. I focus on a couple things in my life and they are family, school, and volleyball. I play volleyball almost everyday and travel a lot for tournaments. My school life is great, I have great friends throughout the school who will stand by me not matter what. I try my hardest with the school work whenever I have time too. My life is very crazy and hectic and I also just picked up modeling, we’ll see how that goes! My life is crazy, hectic, and sometimes hard, but thats what makes it MY life. My family doesn’t only mean my genetic family, but also my closest friends. I consider them as my brothers and sisters. We know everything about each other and we’re always together. I trust them with everything and they know they can trust me too.

A book that has really made an impact on me was called Searching For David’s Heart. I read it a while ago but its still always is in my mind. It’s a heartwarming book to show how you need to cherish the time you have together with the ones you love, rather than letting anger get the best of you. When Darcy (main character) ran off because of a fight between her brother and her because he got a girlfriend, her brother chased after her and ended up getting hit by a car and dying on impact. You never know what can happen to the ones you love. I will remember this book in ten years or longer because it taught me a lesson, never take something for granted. You never know

Titanic!

Best Friends For Life!! <3 Were cute!! how long it will be until you don’t have that person anymore so by saying something you don’t mean is a waste of time. You should always treasure what you have and never use it for anything because you know the saying, you never know what you got until it’s gone.

As a writer, I have learned the different ways I’m capable of writing. I can do all different kinds of genres, but poetry is definitely my favorite to write. I like writing this because it’s the easiest way for me to express myself. I can show emotions through words which when I was little, most of the pieces were about ice cream or our favorite

My team!

Love you all!

pets. Being able to write something with meaning and voice is a whole lot better than writing about your pet dog, Fluffy.

As I grow up, my writing, reading, and thinking skills will continue to grow. I can make a huge impact on society by being able to speak my mind and saying things that others are afraid to say. I have strong opinions on many different things and being able to show them with having people understand where I’m coming from and where I stand with what I believe, will only grow my thinking even more.

Illusion of Perfection

Fooling around in Atlanta! About to go hang with the girls!

Living the perfect life, great friends, good grades, participates in sports, you’d think nothing is wrong. “She’s so lucky,” “She’s so pretty!” She hears them say it and it’s all over her Facebook wall. What they’re looking at isn’t a perfect life though, it’s an illusion of perfection.

Walking through the halls, she feels alone even though she is surrounded by people. There are people in her life that are real friends, but they never to be around to comfort her when she is calling out for help. She walks in and out of classes with a fake smile painted across her face.

No one suspects it; she’s hurting. She’s been hurt, and got back up again. She’s been talked down to, but acts like it doesn’t effect her. “You’re a perfect little princess, you have everyone wrapped around your finger, and you’re just going to hurt all of the people who try to be your friend.”

They say to her when they don’t know. They don’t know about her life or who she is. She would never purposely hurt someone, she is a trustworthy friend. The people that think bad about her don’t understand what else is going on. They say things like “She’s stuck up!” and “Who does she think she is?” She’s not living a perfect world, she is a human too and has her issues. She makes decisions about things no one her age should even have to think about.

How can she feel unhappy with this perfect life she leads? The walls she had built up seem to be getting bigger. She doesn’t put them up to block out people, but to see who will knock them down. All people see of her is a pretty girl who has it all. Always gets the guys, and has all the friends. She only wishes that at least one of the people she laid her heart on the line for, would stay. But still she fakes the smiles, and the laughs, and the kindness. She doesn’t know how else to handle this, she’s too scared to talk about it. Instead, she writes it down. If people could look at the bigger picture, and make the connection, they would see her illusion of perfection.

Price Of Beauty

by Rachel Lowther

15% below the healthy weight.

Many models are under pressure Vogue, Elle, Glamour, from agents and designers to be what do all these magazines thin. In the recent past, several have in common? They all have models have died as a fashion models in a size 2 or consequence of eating disorders smaller. When will you finally be and a need to be thin. This skinny enough for the public eye happened to a famous European to approve? Being skinny is model, Isabella Caro. She died natural for most people, but at the young age of 28. Her having anorexia or bulimia to agent thought it would be good to please yourself and others can do an anti-anorexic billboard and do serious harm. she agreed to help others, even Being in the modeling though it was too late to help industry myself, I understand the herself. Her mother also pressure to be perfect, thin, committed suicide because of her accepted, and beautiful. The daughters death. She felt so industry does not have a weight guilty over putting her into an restriction for being to small, but industry with so much pressure if your curvier, you are and she couldn’t take the harsh considered a plus size model. I things said to her anymore. have been told I wouldn’t fit into Having anorexia doesn’t just their clothes because i have too effect the person who has it, but big of a waste or thighs. Now I their loved ones as well. Other thought I was skinny for my age models turn to drugs in order to and I was fine so I didn’t think fight their body's natural craving much about it. Some other girls for food. Diet pills and laxatives take the criticism too harsh and are used to get rid of food, or to heart, and that is what leads stop the craving for food. When them to hurting themselves with this happens, it not only causes not eating. I’ve been around an eating disorder, but a drug women who are only in their very addiction as well. early twenties who have anorexia Today's models weigh and just say they were made that 23% less than the average way so they won’t be judged. But woman, to which i point out that the real judging is by the photos, the average woman has gotten and when you don’t think you significantly larger: While the look perfect, you get this idea you average weight for women the have to look perfect and same age increased from 140.2 suddenly choose to stop eating. pounds in 1960 to 164.3 pounds It’s rough being model, in the in 2002. Some models these public eye, and some girls can days are really harmed by eating handle it, but others break. disorders. One type of disorder is Extremely thin models Bulimia. People suffering from have a dangerous influence on Bulimia are people who eat a lot, young girls and women to be mostly sweet and high calorie their small size, and can lead to foods. They then compensate for eating disorders such as this by self induced vomiting or anorexia. Anorexia is an eating by using laxatives. Unlike disorder when you refuse to eat anorexics, they are aware of their or keep a healthy weight for your behavior but don’t want to do age and height. This is usually anything about it.

•••

The Madrid fashion week of 2006 isn’t a particularly recent event, but it is significant because it was the first time that an actual weight restricting law against models being too thin, or in their words “underweight.”

30% of models who were wanting to be in this fashion week were rejected due to the new law that they were too thin for their height and age. Disorders reported that 5–10% of anorexics die within 10 years after contracting the disease; 18–20% of anorexics will be dead after 20 years and only 30–40% ever fully recover.

There needs to be more weight restricting laws in the fashion industry. Not only to protect the models, but to protect their followers. The idea of being perfect will never actually become reality. So judging someone on their weight and shape should not have a part in this world today. Unfortunately, it is. If we can start by one little thing, to put a weight restriction on modeling jobs, there could be less of a stress to look perfect for society.

Women’s Rights...Are you sure they’re right?

by Rachel Lowther

and the various rights such as the right to inheritance, the Women’s rights in the right to vote, the right to work, U.S are exactly the same as and even choose their own men’s rights. In foreign partners in marriage. For countries, women are treated centuries now in Afghanistan, as if they don’t matter and are women have been denied there to do cooking and these rights either by official cleaning for their husbands. government decree or by their Women are actually forced own husbands, fathers, and into marriage. Love is brothers. Today women are something found not forced. not allowed to choose who Women should have the same they marry, or to have an rights to express themselves, education. Seventy-eighty act like real women, and not percent of women are forced get pushed around by men into marriages. and the government of One in three women Afghanistan. in Afghanistan are abused I understand that the either physically, people of Afghanistan have psychologically, or sexually. different beliefs than those in This is your country, how can other countries, but women someone who the people are still people and deserve trust, allow this degree of equal rights to men. Even in abuse? Women are still their own homes, women are people who have feelings, not safe. Women are not who hurt, laugh, and feel allowed to leave the house emotions. Just like men, they without a male relative. Their deserve every bit of respect homes have the windows from everyone at all times. painted over so the women For an example of women may not be tempted to leave. cruelty, in Africa, women have Not only are their houses their clitorises and labia covered, so are the women. removed in what is called They must wear a burqa and female genital mutilation. may not show any part of their Also, in Middle Eastern bodies except their eyes.

Countries, men practice Women have been reported to something called “honor be beaten because they killings.” This is when men kill showed their ankles their wives because they had underneath their burqa. sexual relations with another Women should have the same man, even if it was a rape, rights as men in all countries. which is very common in those The religion of Islam countries, they still are killed. demanded that men and Women don’t deserve this. women be equal before God, They are still people, who •••

have no one to protect them, and need someone to take a stand and fight for what is right.

Unfortunately, the women of Afghanistan are not the only ones facing adverse conditions like beatings.

Women are also 20% to 44% less likely than men to receive an education, in Pakistan, Nepal, Turkey, Iraq, Yemen, Chad, and the Republic of Congo, among other countries. This is just an unfortunate event in the path of becoming a world that is fair to all genders, races, and views on relationships and religions. Women’s rights should be the same as men’s rights. Women didn’t do anything wrong to deserve such cruelty and unfairness.

To prevent this unfairness, I believe you need to take action with leaders of other countries and fight against this discrimination.

Being a leader consists of being a leader to all. Not only for those who are of the same gender. Please consider taking this up with a committee and help the women who can’t fight for themselves. They need someone to stick up for them, not to encourage the men who are causing their deaths and beatings.

AMELIA MORRIS About the Author...

My name is Amelia Morris, I am 13 years old, and I was born on July 15, 1998. I have brown hair and I love to dance. I also enjoy singing, playing piano, and spending time with my friends. So far in middle school I have learned a lot, and I only have 500 words, so I’m not going to list everything, but I am going to list a few things. I have learned how to put up a strong debate, I have learned about natural disasters and how they occur, and I have learned how much math can make your brain hurt.

I love spending time with my friends, and we always have the most... interesting... lunch periods together.

My best friend on the whole entire planet is Allie Wilson, and my two other best friends are Sean Eisterer and Lauren Bigner.

I have been dancing since I was four, and although I don’t dance as much as some people, it’s something I really love to do and wouldn’t give up for anything. I also love singing. I didn’t really get into that until Allie convinced me to join jazz choir this year, but since I have, it’s something I really love doing. I play piano, and it’s a lot of fun because it’s a challenge to learn new music, and I am always up for a challenge.

This is me and My friend Sean. We are pretty weird people...

I’m very competitive, especially amongst my friends, but I don’t let it ruin my friendships either. I really love to spend time with my friends because they are just the most amazing people on the planet. We normally go to the pool or the park, and just chill out and be weird together. I also love spending time with my family because they’re pretty... special. We always have a party, and they are always there for me when I need them.

I am a pretty energetic person, and once you get to know me it’s like the energizer bunny put red bull in his coffee. Sometimes I just like to run around for no apparent reason. One

This is me and my best friend Allie! We have known each other since the first grade, but became really good friends during The Nutcracker in 2008.

thing about me that I’ve noticed about me is that people like to talk to me about their problems and feelings, even if I just met them.

Sometimes it’s frustrating because I have problems of my own, but most of the time I feel good that I made someone feel better, or just listened to someone when they needed someone to listen to them.

I like to go on “adventures” which is my way of saying randomly going somewhere and seeing where I end up. My favorite movie is The Lion King, followed by The Exorcist.

That’s my life and it’s pretty darn good.

This is Allie, Cheyenne, and me drinking juice boxes together at lunch.

Insert Title Here But she lifted her chin And she held on, one last day And just kept praying Praying that the pain would go away Tired of plastering on the fake smile She fooled everyone she knew Even her best friends couldn’t see the tears The tears she’d held back And never knew the only way she slept, was by the tears that forced her too Yet she never told.

Though the pain got worse She held her tongue Held it for one last day And she knew, by the time she got home, The pain would be gone, Because even when the smile got bigger The pain got worse She had to end it She knew there was no other way out.

Poetry and Short Works By Me!

A small bit from my NaNoWriMo Novel:

“How could you do that to me?!”

“I couldn’t just sit here and watch you die!”

“Why?! You don’t care... No one does.”

His voice got quiet.

“I had to get away. She was going to kill me.”

Once upon yesterday, “So killing yourself was better?” in a place right next door, there wa “Why are you here?” s a cat named Milton. He wa “You’re my best friend. I couldn’t let you do s beautiful!

Just look at him! Every that to yourself.” one wanted him!

“Ha. Yeah right. Why should I believe you?”

One day, Milton got hit “Well, I can’t make you believe, but would I by After that, the author co a bus. be here if I didn’t care? Honestly, why would uldn’t write a story about him I be sitting here stopping you from murdering .

The end. yourself if I didn’t care.?”

He sat down next to me and started to cry. I held him and cried with him. I knew this wasn’t going to be a one time thing, but I Once upon a time, the couldn’t let him know that. re wasn’t a princess because she “What’s wrong with me?” was by a talking purple alliga eaten “Nothing. Your mom is the one with tor named sparkles who wa problems.

She’s using you to solve them. You s hungry for a princess. are the most amazing person I’ve ever known.

The end.

I mean, I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for you. Do you remember what you told me?”

“You are beautiful, next time, just remember that.”

Hi, my name is Amelia.

Amelia is an awesome name. Name is a weird word. Word is a thing on my computer. Computer time is right now. Now I am typing. Typing is boring. Boring is a cool word. Word is a weird word. Word is not going to be said anymore. Anymore is a bad word to start a sentence with. With is another bad word for sentence starting. Starting is a good word for starting a sentence. Sentence is hard to spell. Spell is what Harry Potter does. Does is an awkward word. Word is the word I said I wasn’t going to use, but I lied.

Lied is not a good thing to have done. Done is what I am with this, I am done with it. It is no longer fun.

Fun is a good thing to have. Have a watermelon.

Watermelon is delicious.

The Girl Behind the Smile

by Amelia Morris

I’m all alone. No matter what they say I am on my own. They say I’m their best friend; I can’t stand them any longer. They say they know me, which proves they don’t know me at all. They say I’m so upbeat and talk about how amazing I am. But guess what, I’m depressed and lost, alone and hurt, and I’m the most worthless person I know. They say I’m myself, but it’s all an act. They call me different, but who are they to judge? They say I’m not normal, but what is normal anyway? They say all of these things about me, but they’re wrong. If they really knew me, they would know all of this. If they were really my friends, they would see right through the smiles. They would know something was wrong and pressure me into telling what it was. But they don’t, they won’t, and nothing will ever change. They can’t solve my problems, and they can’t help. Because if they could, they would have already. And I can’t tell them why its happening, because they’ll tell everyone else. I don’t want people treating me like I have some creepy disease they don’t want to catch. But what am I supposed to do about it? I

can’t tell my family. If I do they’ll freak out. They’ll send me to a mental hospital! I can’t keep it hidden any longer, but I can’t tell anyone!

Right now I just have to put on a brave face and pretend that it’s not happening. . . .

But it is. They all act like nothing’s wrong, but I guess to them, nothing is. But the one person who knows, the one person I tell everything to, she thinks I need to tell them. She thinks it will help me. That it could save me.

That it could end my pain to speak up. But she doesn’t see that I can’t. I can’t stand to admit it. . . My weakness. . . The thing that’s hurting me so badly. I can’t even think about it without tears coming to my eyes, I mean if you were me you’d feel the same way. But do I tell them? Can I trust them?

Or will they turn against me?

I feel like I’m losing them, like I’m on my own with no one to go to. I feel lost and alone like I’m stranded on an island.

But that’s just it, I might as well be. If I was at least I could cry without anyone judging. They get mad when I cry. They say I have no right to. That my life is perfect and that they don’t deserve to be told about this. Because, as always it’s about them. It’s their problem. This is happening to them, not me,

but them. And does it matter? No. If I tell them they will say that its an excuse and that its not my problem and I need to get over myself. But that’s just it! It is my problem, it’s not an excuse, and I can’t get over myself because that’s not what the problem is.

The problem is that this is killing me on the inside, and they’re ripping me apart on the outside. Because I’m all alone, and I’m the only person I can trust.

Love, Freedom, and Gays

by Amelia Morris

I’m sure that most of you have

heard of the gay marriage laws around the U.S. Well, let’s face facts; if you love someone you deserve to share that love with the world. I understand the dictionary definition of a marriage, but I also understand that the constitution never says anything about gays and how they shouldn’t be married.

the modern lifestyle, then so can a definition of a marriage. I hope that in the future the definition will be known as “The social institution under which two people establish their decision to live together and share an eternally bonding love.”

A definition can change, but the way you are made can’t. You can’t go to the plastic surgeon and say “Hi, I’d like to not be gay anymore.”

It doesn’t work like that, and these people are just as incredible as everyone else, if not more.

“outcasts”. He wasn’t one to turn on people because they were different, he helped them to embrace their diversity. So to those of you who use your faith as an excuse I have one question: Are you really as Catholic as you claim?

Like I said before I have a cousin who is a lesbian, but she is one of the greatest people I know. I feel honored to know someone as great I’ve been hearing a lot of people as her, I love her and truly look up saying, “It’s unconstitutional to to her for her bravery to go out into allow gay marriages.” However, the world as an outcast, and come that is not true, mostly because the These gays are born this way. I back as a hero to gays everywhere constitution never mentions gays in have a cousin, and she has a for standing up for herself. If girlfriend; she is perfectly happy the everyone did that, and everyone the first place. But it does state that all men must be treated equal. way she is. She is an incredible accepted each other, maybe there woman, and I love her. I also have wouldn’t be so much war, maybe If that’s so, then why do we try to known many male dancers who are 9/11 never would have happened. deprive gays of these rights; that’s gay, and some of them have tried unconstitutional. If you were in If people would just stop being to change it and date women, but it judgmental long enough to realize love, but were told that it was unconstitutional for you to celebrate didn’t work. They just weren’t that, then maybe everyone would happy. It was like a piece of them that love through marriage, you stop pointing fingers and people was missing, because they couldn’t could go into the world feeling good wouldn’t be too happy. That’s all be them. Telling a gay not to be that a marriage is: a celebration. about themselves. gay is like telling a girl with long Anyone who wants to celebrate legs not to have long legs, they their love should be allowed to can’t control it. I am honestly without being told that they’re So go ahead and say what you extremely impressed when I see wrong. When you see a gay want about gays, but they are couple, the fact that they’re married gays, because if I had as much living, breathing, human beings just doesn’t change how you see them. courage as they do to go into a world being shunned by society, my like you and me, and we don’t have You will see them the same way the right to judge them. For God life would be completely different. you saw them before, the same makes no mistakes, therefore, they They know that people don’t amount of commitment is there, are perfect. Just the way they are. and the same amount of love. You approve, but they don’t care.

They’re happy the way they are, accept them when they’re dating, so why can’t you accept them when and who are we to take that away *NOTE*: I am not trying to refer to from them? they are married? A lot of people homosexuals as another species are overreacting on something that however, to get my point across to won’t change their lives at all. those who believe gay marriage is You may try to claim, “It’s against wrong, referring to gays as “them” my faith.” However, I’m Catholic, and I know that the Catholic church is the only way the readers will I know that the dictionary states frowns on gay marriage. But that is accept my paper. that a marriage is, “the social very odd because they say that’s institution under which a man and what the Christians believed during woman establish their decision to the time of Jesus, but Christians live as husband and weren’t a religion at that time. wife.” (definition from Dictionary.com) but I believe that if Besides that, the church claims to want everyone to be like Jesus, but you love someone, nothing should by not accepting gay marriage, stop you from getting to share that love with the world. I’m proud of all they are being very un-Jesus like.

Jesus didn’t just shun people gays because they had the because they were different. He courage to do what most people healed lepers, ate with tax wouldn’t: Stand up for something collectors, hung out with society thinks of as “abnormal.” If prostitutes, and befriended social the constitution can change to fit

HANNAH MURPHY Hannah’s Biography I decided today to talk about an acquaintance and friend of mine. Her name is Hannah Murphy. She was born into the 20th century, but as she grows up in the 21st one, she feels out of place and useless. Mostly, she does anything else the typical thirteen year old would do. But every once and awhile, she gets a sudden burst of self-confidence and decides to do something special with her life, she writes. This is unique and compelling because she can describe her emotions without unveiling the real person hiding inside. She also loves playing the amazingly exhilarating yet pointless game of tennis. She isn’t afraid to be proud of herself when she wins, unlike in other aspects of her life. Other likes of her’s include the smell of rain, baking, animals and babysitting. As for dislikes, there’s a long, long list of those.

Marshmallows, Cancer, crybabies, tennis-ball fuzz, 90s style clothing, P.E. She now views the world with class and sad movies are included. She understanding, not innocence. hopes for a wonderful life for herself and those around her and redemption from I have also traveled with her through a it when the time comes. fantastic journey through the world of writing. She has left the world of Because she lives in the bubble of “straight-forward introductions” and Highlands Ranch, Colorado, she is “orderly transitions” behind to travel protected from the real world. A couple to the wonderful land of “freestyle months ago, she decided to break out of writings” and “short stories” She has that bubble and read about what she learned that she can make change by was missing. Amazement and horror writing and let out all those feelings came with this decision. She considers bottled up inside of her. Because she is herself generally lucky for living when too critical about her own writing, she and where she does. Books including, “The Book Thief”, “The Downsiders”, is forced to write a story then let it be.

“Worth”, “Hiroshima”, and “The Girl Who Owned a City” are just some of the books that have changed her life forever.

In the future she hopes to make some kind of impact on the world, preferably good. She also dreams of becoming a teacher, pastry chef, and a friend. She hopes and dreams for everyone to like her and not to judge. She will hopefully accomplish the writing of this paper with her new reading, writing and thinking skills. She also wants to finish college and display her skills in a job.

Overall, I think that Hannah Murphy is an... interesting person that you may or may not want to take the time to meet.

SIX WORD STORIES?

Poetry and Short Work Page

• SHE’S HERE BUT THEN SHE ISN’T • HE WILL NEVER LET ME FORGET • THE THORN FELL, SHE FINALLY BELIEVED • THE MARK, THE BLOOD, THE ROSE • DO YOU KNOW, IS THIS NORMAL? • I AM AN IMPOSSIBLE CASE • IT BROKE, SHE STILL LAUGHS

A Friend I wish you would listen . You don’t have to understand, you do n’t even have to respond. I just wish you would take some time to learn. I want you to know the extreme happine ss and freedom that comes from belie ving. Knowing that a star should sh ine from the top of a Christmas tree, no t just a big bow.

That December 25th isn’t just about presents and cookies, it’s the whole reason we’re here. An d that there is a reason to fast and rep ent Heck, to even know wh during Lent. at Lent is! I want you to underst and that church isn’t just a boring inc onvenience. So, please help me help you.” But as tears are starting to build up in my eyes, she turns away to check her “ever important” vibrating phone.

Cheated Worry fills the room: Anxious, stuffy air is breathed in by waiting players. They fear that they are unready, unprepared for the upcoming demonstration of their talents. They try to bring the strength back to their legs, which are weak with nervousness. The room is silent except for the whispers from awaiting players..

They talk in a quiet, secretive tone, you could never make out what they were saying. Suddenly, clapping erupts from the inside courts as two boys walk out from behind the tarp. Five hours they had been playing, no wonder people were clapping. Names are called and they stand up, along with two others who go to a different court. They make their way through the mobs of parents and players and onto the court to where their opponents already stood. The girls were waiting without a single speck of concern, for they knew they would and could dominate above these girls. Practice begins, the teams seem equally talented.

The ending score does not reflect what was predicted in the beginning, 6-1, 6-1. They come off the court with a uncommon silence and tear-filled eyes. They didn’t know it yet, but they will later find out that this was the plan all along. They talked in the same manner as before, secretive and quietly, about the recent match.

They both agreed that both of them could have played better and walked out and into the hotel with their families. Both girls were too naive to realize it, but the fact that they lost was neither of their faults. It never feels good to be cheated on, but it feels even worse when you realize it after there’s nothing you can do about it.

The Scariest Part was the Stairs.

Adrenaline. People would do anything for it. For me, this thrill happened in one split-second that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

My legs were cramped from kicking so hard, trying to get through this much too lazy river. The splashes from the rambunctious teenagers covered my hair like little raindrops as I watched them in awe. The boys took turns climbing the wooden “stairs” up the cliff and disappearing into the various plants and trees at the top. Shouting would erupt as the boy would run and leap into the air and eventually landing with a slap on the water’s surface.

I silently wished to myself that I would one day have enough courage to fly off that stone edge into the salty ocean below. Little did I know, that day was today. My cousins suddenly got up and started to climb up the cliff because apparently we “couldn’t let an opportunity like this pass us by.” My uncle did tell us that our mission for today was to conquer our fears and try something crazy.

I finally allowed them to persuade me into climbing onto the first plank of wood. I started to climb higher and I found myself gripping the rope so tight that I got splinters in my hands. It took me way longer than it should have because I was super paranoid. What if one of the planks falls? Will I get hurt? What if it’s one at the top? Will the lifeguard be able to save me? These were only my fears of climbing the stairs, I couldn’t imagine what fears I might have as I stood at the top. I finally made it to the ledge and almost fell on my knees in relief. The green moss squashed underneath my toes as I walked into the forest in front of me. I then saw my cousin, Lyndsie fly off the edge with an ear-piercing scream that made other families stare. The water covered her head and I had more insecurities. I pushed them away as she suddenly popped out from under the dark ocean blanket. She gave me the thumbs up, though it didn’t make the feeling in my stomach go away. She swam over to the lifeguard, who helped her out of the water. She paid him no attention for he was nothing compared to the one she was crushing on back and the hotel.

Okay now it was my turn. At first I hesitated. I felt safe with the lifeguard and knowing that this cliff was meant for vacationers doing this sort of thing, but I couldn’t push away the feeling that this was clearly risky. I tried to step forward but my shaky legs wouldn’t move an inch. Abbie gave me the tiniest push and a wink for moral support. I knew it was time. I took a flying jump off the rock and for that split-second I regretted the feeling in my stomach. It climbed up into my chest and slid back down again. I fought against the wind pushing down on then plugged my nose and closed my eyes tight, even though I had the protection of my goggles. I landed on the surface with a slap on the ocean’s surface that made my thighs sting. My toes felt the slimy scales of unaware fish as they carefully swam under me. Water seeped up around me and patted my hair down onto my face. When I finally stopped falling, I pushed the hair out of the way with my one free hand and opened my eyes. The water was murky, but I could barely make out the little schools of fish and other marine animals as I sat there under the water. My lungs yelled at me to get out of the water and I rushed back up to the surface. The water on my face seemed to dry immediately as the bright Mexico sun shone down on my face.

My mom sighed of relief as the lifeguard helped me out of the water. The stranger talked to me as if he’d known me his whole life, “Hey how was it?” It was weird but I answered him without hesitation, “Ya I loved it, but I’m surprised I didn’t start crying!” He laughed at me and lifted me up onto the first plank again. I watched from the step as Abbie jumped and fell off the cliff. Her jaw shivered and her whole body was covered in goosebumps as she was lifted out of the water. I carefully climbed up to the top again just in time to see Lyndsie take her second jump. She landed a perfect cannonball and soaked the rest of our family, who watched from the lazy river tube. Soon afterwards, my uncle made his way up the creaky, loose steps to the ledge where we were standing. After looking down the side of the mountain anxiously, he backed away and started to descend the steps. We shouted and pleaded for him to jump, after all he was the one who told us to try something crazy. And if this didn’t qualify as crazy, I don’t know what else at Xel-Ha would. We stayed for over an hour, taking turns flying off the rock. “You guys jump soooo boring!” One of the taller boys yelled from the back of the line. “C’mon, try a flip!” Various “ya’s” and “c’mon’s” came from the line behind me. Eventually, I couldn’t resist but to allow the boys to persuade me into doing a front flip. I knew I could never pull it off, but I decided to try anyway. I got halfway through the treacherous flip but chickened out and ended doing an excruciatingly painful belly flop. That was my last jump...

I learned three things that day in Mexico. One, face your fears because what you feared may end up being super fun.

Two, never trust your uncle to try something new, he just chickens out and runs back to safety. And three, when ledge diving in Xel-Ha, climbing the stairs is the scariest part.

The house glows

Inside and out

the warmth shows. ❊ ❊ ❊ HERE IS A FACT ❊ ❊ ❊ This moment does not last.

All people are joyful at this time of year. Smiles and laughter surround you with gentle hugs and warmth. This is their time of year. But mine...it’s long gone. ❊ ❊ ❊ REACTION TO THE ❊ ❊ ❊ AFOREMENTIONED FACT Does this alarm you?

I urge you- do not be afraid.

This is fine with me.

-Of course, an introduction.

A beginning.

Where are my manners?

I could introduce myself properly, but that’s not really necessary. You’ve met me before. Every living being on this planet has met me before, or will meet me in the near future. It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you. Watching you suffer, trapped in a fiery agony with no way out. Kicking, screaming, pleading, and yet, it does no difference. The worst part is the weeping. The cold, salty tears that stream down your face. It’s worst with the little ones. Then dead quiet. It leaps through the air and grabs you by the shoulders. Violent. No escape. That’s when I get permanent company. Only a few escape before then. She was one of them. ❊ ❊ ❊ A SHORT INTRODUCTION ❊ ❊ Her name was Arabella, a name meaning “answered prayer.” God will soon answer a prayer, and everything will get better. But, things always get worse before they get better. Arabella lived in a strong, small house with her mother, Giuseppina, her father, Abramo, her older sister, Marietta, and her twin sisters, Nicoletta and Noemi, and Raffaello, her brother on the way.

It was so bitter cold that even the icicles shivered. So cold you cold actually feel the wind paint your cheeks bright red. The sky was bright white, almost frozen in this bitter cold state. Arabella walked home from school with her green scarf thrown carelessly over her shoulder, she was immune to the cold. Her worn old snow boots gathered the wet cold from outside. It wrapped her tiny feet in the biting fluid, making them numb and painful.

The girl opened the creaky door and shuffled inside. She curled in the warm corner of the abandoned barn and sobbed, quietly of course. She sobbed for her family, left under the rubble, especially her brother, the one who wasn’t even born. She sobbed for her best friend, Calvina, who ignored the Cancer and always seemed to smile. But they were all gone now. They all watched over her, for they loved her very much and all had made it to Heaven. She sobbed for herself, even though she was not usually selfish. She wiped the tears, remembering her mother’s last words, “Dio presto rispondere alle vostre preghiere e tutto andrà di nuovo bene.” (God will soon answer your prayer and all will be well again.) But just how soon was she talking?

9:38 p.m. April 5th, 2009 “Good night mama.” The girl said solemnly as she rubbed her eyes. “Good night, I love you.” her mother responded as the girl climbed the tall, skinny staircase up to her room. Arabella creeped in slowly, so she didn’t awake her already content sisters.

The bed groaned as she climbed in. The hair on her legs stood up automatically, due to the cold that had gathered under the sheets during the day. A checklist played in her head. “Good, I remembered all my homework.” she thought as she drifted in to a peaceful sleep....

3:32 a.m. April 6th, 2009 The screams, ear-splitting screams of bloody murder. These were the sounds that awoke the girl. I visited her then, I stayed for a while. The ground shook, enough to make her dizzy. She searched the dark bedroom for her sisters, hoping this wouldn’t last. Dust, it flew against her face, getting in her eyes and nose. The wall collapsed where the girls bed was. And then, dead silence. No screams, no rumbles. Silence. The world went black.

The next time I saw the girl, she was sobbing, yet again. She was alone, who else would she have been with? No one was left.

The 8-year-old was alone in a destroyed, dark world.

Don’t be afraid, the girl was soon reacquainted with her family and friends after she couldn’t take the loneliness anymore.

ANDREW MUTTON About the Author...

Hi, my name is Andrew Mutton. I was born right here in Highlands Ranch on March 5, 1998. I have lived in CO my entire life and have enjoyed it throughout.

I went through K-6th grade with the same group of kids (It gets quite old). I went to Elementary School at Summit View and will go to Mountain Vista High School as of next year. I enjoy many sports such as basketball, baseball, football, and skiing.

I also enjoy playing PC games. My favorite PC game is Minecraft. Minecraft is a sandbox, first person shooter game that achieved v1 status on 11/11/11. I also enjoy the popular titles: Team Fortress 2, Half Life 2, & Portal (2).

My family consists of me, my parents, and my little (annoying, obnoxious, hyperactive) sister. I love them very much even if they annoy me sometimes. They are very supportive and always help me in my time of need. I also have a very active imagination.

I own way to many electronic devices. Heres my official list: Ipods: 3 Shuffles, 2 Classics, 1 Nano, 1 Touch. 3 Ipads. 1 laptop, 3 PCs, 4 TVs, 1 Wii, 1 PS2, DS, DSi. My favorite 5 books are: Peak, Harry Potter, Note from a Teenage Vampire, Lord Of The Rings, My Mom Is A French Fry, & Enders

Game. Many of these books I have reread because I have enjoyed them so much.

My experience in LA this year was an interesting one. Mr Loucks always knows how to keep us wondering whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next. He may rant on for hours but he does make class interesting. The assignments have been ok but confusing at times.

Anyway, tats pretty much it for me. Enjoy everything else in the document!

-Andrew

Up Next...

-Minecraft -Narrative -Commentary This quote really emphasizes how well I enjoy life to its fullest extent. I really like to live life to the fullest.

Poetry and Short Work Page

SIX WORD

STORIES? LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS? REFUSE EM! WHY DOES ANYTHING MATTER ANYMORE? THINKING, THINKING... SHUT UP IM THINKING!!

IS THE ANSWER 42?

MAYBE 43?

THIS IS GETTING BORING. THE END MINECRAFT Minecraft Block after Block, World after World,

My Favorite Things Wonderful...

To Say.

Holy Crap!

You Like That Don’t You? Hey!!

Good For You...

Infinite Possibility, Creativity Unleashed, Ideas Flowing Through The Mind Like Water Nothing Holding You Back Whether You Play Alone Or With Friends,

MINECRAFT IS FOR YOU!!!

Narrative

by Andrew Mutton

Finally, Christmas Eve arrived.

We had our annual Christmas MY NARRATIVE: ONE OF MY BEST Eve party at our house that night PIECES OF WRITING. ENJOY! as has been the tradition ever since we moved. We had a great steak dinner and opened Growing Up: The presents from our close relatives. everyone else was having Painful Train Wreck While a great time I was planning over That Every Human Being and over again the scheme that take place in a hour or two.

Endures In The Course would Over and over again...

Finally, everyone went Of Their LifeDme home and my parents sent me to bed. I had planned to wait at I remember when I found out least 15 minutes before trying to the truth about Santa Claus, the make a move of any kind. I Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy, eventually got it in me to get up and all the fairytale characters and attempt to sneak into the that surrounded my childhood guest room. The first time I went life. I wasn’t as big of a blow for out my dad was standing right in me as it was for some of my the hall. I made the excuse that I friends. All I know is that is was was thirsty and needed some one step closer toward maturity. water. After drinking the water, I I was 8 years old, 3rd went back to my room and waited grade. I was enjoying my life as a another 10 minutes. The second child; trick-or-treating on time when I snuck out, both my Halloween, opening presents on parents were downstairs Christmas, hunting for eggs on discussing something. I decided Easter. I had suspected that to make a move. I quickly armySanta and the Easter Bunny and crawled across the “bridge” that even the Tooth Fairy weren’t real goes above the main hallway into since I was 7 but never got the the guest room. My parents guts to ask my parents. One cold hadn’t noticed, I was safe. I night in December, a few days turned on the TV and began to before Christmas, I finally watch. I was able to watch until managed to ask my mom. She about 10:00 or so. At around looked at me with this stare of 10:00 my curiosity got the best of sadness and sorrow but then me. I heard a lot of noise replied, “Of course he’s real downstairs and I wanted to know honey!” I then began to get what it was. I peeped my head suspicious. Over the days out the door way and was leading up Christmas Eve, I horrified by what I saw. I saw my thought up a scheme to “catch” mom putting the pinball machine Santa Claus in the act. My plan that I had asked for from Santa was to basically sneak into the on the floor in the family room guest room when no-one was downstairs. I snuck back to my looking and watch TV until 11:50 room without being noticed and or so. Then I would sneak out went to bed. I was sad and and wait for Santa to arrive. As disappointed about my discovery. the day approached I began to I had a nightmare that night in get more and more anxious. which I saw Santa walk up to me •••

and then blow up into a million pieces. He then was replaced by an evil version of my parents. I still remember that horrid nightmare to this day.

I awoke on Christmas morning and acted like I was surprised that I had got the pinball machine. I didn’t dare tell mom or dad about what I saw. I would ruin the Christmas spirit. I told them the next day. “Mom, Dad. I know that Santa isn’t real,” I said. They sat me down and explained the whole truth. Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy; all at once. It didn’t catch me by surprise that the other two didn’t exist considering I found out that Santa wasn’t real.

As of now, my 9 yearold sister is getting to the age in which she’ll be asking about Santa, The Easter Bunny, and The Tooth Fairy and whether or not they’re real. I hope that she doesn’t stop believing though.

For if you believe, they truly does exist...

Commentary

by Andrew Mutton MY COMMENTARY ENJOY! :)

with it. In high school Please DCSD, make the however, there is no right choice! Get rid of Work Habits longer a work habits the work habits grade!

Grades Hurting More grade so they flunk out Than Helping DCSD of school. The year after Middle School the work habits grade Students was added, 5% more freshmen began to flunk Douglas County a few out of high school. years ago created an Today, nearly 10% more extra grade for middle freshmen flunk than school students that monitored their in-class they did before the work habits grade was added. behavior and their The district had the right homework on-time idea but used it in the percentage. The “work habits” grade adds on to wrong way. They should have made a your final grade as a spreadsheet or separate grade at the something that showed end of each quarter. how well middle school Students however, students were paying cannot flunk due to a bad work habits grade. attention in class and how often they were Therefore, if a student knows the content well turning homework in on time. The grades on the enough to get an spreadsheet would still acceptable grade but count towards ONE final doesn’t turn in a single grade not two individual homework assignment ones. I believe that if the on time they can still work habits is revised so pass the class and the it worked like stated grade. This is horrible for eighth graders going above then less middle school students would into high school because they think they flunk out of high school.

Our students need to can not turn any homework and get away learn that turning in your homework does matter.

MATT NARANJO

About the Author...

My name is Matt Naranjo. I was born in Houston, Texas and in my 14 years of life I have moved around quite a bit since then. Although at times I may seem daft and shallow, I have the capabilities to be very profound and thoughtful. I really love music and football. I also enjoy short work writing and all kinds of art. I don’t like people who are disrespectful or bullies. I hope that I’ll end up in a place without those people, because they suck and I don’t like them. This would be ideal, because those kind of people are very rude and judgemental, and make people afraid to be themselves. That’s a bummer, so my hope is that one day all those people will go extinct and everyone will be nice, or that I find myself far from them.

One book that has impacted my life is The Giver by Lois Lowry. I had never actually connected and felt for a character, until the baby was killed. This book gave me a new perspective of literature, and allowed me to connect with the mood and feel of books I would read later. It also helped me understand other people’s perspective in an abstract way. Seeing how the characters lived through a Utopia showed me that my way of life was not the only one, and that there was no “regular” way to live.

As a writer, I have definitely changed since my elementary years. I have always been very creative and full of ideas, but I mostly used that for creating goofy or unbelievable stories. Once I reached middle school, I realized that I could use that creativity to craft all kinds of stories. I also discovered I could write a powerful, inspiring paper, or a piece that could nearly bring the reader to tears. With an understanding of my ability to write, I began to try other things out, and I now like to write poems, and short, fiction stories from all different perspectives.

I hope that in the future, the world as a whole will develop an appreciation of literature, and understand the potential power it can have. Along with that, I hope that the world will find itself returning back to simplicity and the wonder of nature. A step down from technology almost. If humans can learn to rely on themselves and not computer whizmos and what not, I think we will unify. On the dollar it says something along the lines of one together as many. This saying holds so much truth. If we can stop being so mindful of others, and judge ourselves and the decisions we make, we can stop being cruel and rude to each other and live in peace. I hope to impact the world by using my skills and abilities for good, and to inspire people to value their own opinions.

Matt Naranjo is a Florida Gators fan.

Nothing can withstand the power of the human will if it is willing to stake its very existence to the extent of its purpose.

SIX WORD

Poetry and Short Work Page

STORIES? I see you now, let’s go I would wish for more wishes If I had a million dollars Logic says yes. Peculiar. I disagree It’s cold? Funny you say that I checked my calendar. We’ll go Broken Frame, I lay here dead

THIS IS THE CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH OF A PIECE I WROTE

Now as he waited and waited for his target to appear into sight, he began to look back. Had it gone too far? He had started off as a talented young man, desperate for Alive in a body, dead spirit money. But now, his name was feared, almost a household title. Not quite a remarkable name either, Jack Smith. He enjoyed that, though.

A poem, “Haikus”

by Matt Plain and simple, in a way, just like himself.

Naranjo... (: His train of thought was interrupted.

Footsteps? Yes, he prepared himself as the the thumping of the man’s shoes grew louder. This was important, he thought as calculated each and every outcome that could possibly happen.

Ah, the poor man would have no clue that in a few short moments he would be taking his last footsteps. Jack took a deep breath, once again readied himself, and started inching toward the corner. He took the man by suprise.

Haikus are real fun But sometimes they are real hard They require thinking

I look at your face I want to feel your embrace the sun sets, hold me I like to go fast When I am fast I like it I’m faster than you

ISOLATED

by Your Name Here •••

I BEGAN THIS PIECE AS A HORROR STORY Isolated Today was his big day. His tight grip on the steering wheel gave the illusion of his long, skinny fingers being bone. He couldn’t decide just how he felt. He was ready for a new adventure, ready to leave his previous life behind and start over.

Yet, at the same time, he was unprepared for what was to come.

He settled on anxiety, as he approached the airport. Steven Anthony had not said a word to his mother until this moment, giving a small, “Bye mom, I’ll keep in touch,” as he popped the trunk got out of the car. His mom, was still and silent, like a living portrait frozen in the passenger seat.

“Mom? Hello?” Steven had anticipated a much more lively reaction, as his mother was an energetic person.

As Steven retrieved his luggage and began heading into the airport, he took a deep breath. The air was sharp. Merciless. He lost his breath. He struggled for air, groping with one hand, as the other embraced his throat. Finally, he was saved by a ghostly warm breeze. He began again to head toward the airport doors, and from then on, the process was smooth.

The sweat of his hands was dampening his ticket as he walked toward his gate. For a Saturday, the airport was suprisingly empty. He took account of who was waiting for their flight to England, and realized there was maybe 15 people. All reading newspapers. He took a seat by himself and closed his eyes. He realized how fortunate he was. Out of all the intelligent, brilliant people, he had won the Rhodes Scholarship.

He was going to Oxford University. * * * Fifteen Minutes Later * * * After a short wait that felt like forever to Steven, the Frontier plane had landed. His heart rose a little

when he noticed that they would be flying with a red fox today, his favorite animal. Little things pleased him. This flight would be a breeze, he told himself.

And yes, the flight was indeed a breeze. Long, yet relaxing.

It gave Steven time to think, time to collect himself. He was pleased.

Everything was going correctly. Then he flashed back, to his mother, the icy air. He was never one to believe in conspiracy, but something was strange. Abnormal.

I put this picture because when Steven arrives, the airport is nearly empty.

Literature Response

by Your Name Here •••

HOW I CONNECT WITH ENDER, FROM ENDER’S GAME. In my life, I find that the skill of thinking outside of the box can be very helpful in football. Every player on the field has choices to make, and if it takes too long, their team will suffer. As a running back, there are times where I have to decide between trying to get outside or making a cut. Sometimes, cutting up the field and changing directions can lead to a score, or it could have zero or negative effect. Other times, taking the run to the outside can result in the same. I don’t have time to debate and choose. I pick the hole and go, no hesitation. “Ender’s game,” proves a point of how improvisation and quick wit is essential in decision making when Ender has a rebellious choice to make.

Ender’s top qualities are innovation and quick thinking. Ender is pitted against the odds when he is placed in Salamander Army, and Bonzo, the commander, shows disgust towards him. He orders Ender to sit back and stay out of the battle. When Salamander is losing by a large margin and Ender is the only one who can do something. He must decide to break orders and fire, which he has a clear shot, or follow orders and let his team lose. He takes a bold risk and opens fire. This choice pays off, as he freezes five out of nine enemies, and he turns defeat into a draw. His commander is furious, but speechless, as Ender’s being dareless pays off.

I connect with Ender because I too have the gift of being able to improvise quickly. Playing football, I have very little time to think, and very big decisions to make. Also like Ender, making bold risks can pay off, but they also have their downfall. Ender and I both have the ability to use our resources to set up an attack also.

Naturally, they are in their own ways.

Ender has his squadron to make formations and strategically destroy his opponents, much like chess. In football, I have blockers to run behind, and I can slow down or change direction to set up a block and create a big play. In both cases, however, sometimes it backfires.

Ender might take a risk and lose a game, I might take a risk and lose some yards.

Although a lot of people dislike “Ender’s Game,” I thoroughly enjoyed it because I really connected with the main character. I wanted to keep reading cause it was like reading about myself in a completly different world. I loved reading how Ender kept thinking of new ways to win, and how he never lost, never gave up. Imagine if Ender wasn’t the one, and the world would have been annihilated. Those are skills anyone could benefit from.

FILIP PAHS About the Author...

I am half European (specifically, Serbian) and have dark brown hair and eyes as seen in the picture next to this. I’m a native Coloradan, love to ski, and play viola. I lived in Europe for about a year and have always made frequent trips there. I was born in September of 1997 at Rose Medical Center, Denver, Colorado, USA. As a toddler, I didn’t start talking until after most children were talking. I would say this is because my parents and grandparents both spoke different languages. My dad, English, and my mom, Serbian. People have said this is because I was figuring it all out; who spoke which language and what words belonged to each language. I still tend to be somewhat quiet as well as anti-social, although I do appreciate others’ company. I also have an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that isn’t worth mentioning, but I do have a very interesting pet peeve; I absolutely and assuredly despise, with passion, to speak/write about myself and tell others about me. That might explain why I’ve checked the word count over twenty times since I started on this mandatory opportunity to write around 500 words about myself. If this paper was a conversation, I would have diverted to another topic around four sentences into it. I’m not actually sure why I don’t like to talk about myself, but it makes me quite uncomfortable and in the mindset of how to get to another topic.

Maybe it’s that I feel if you want to know who I really am, you should have to come talk to me and get to know me. It might have to do with my old fashioned way of going about things as well. I like to almost relive my life in my parents’ day, by listening to music from the 60-80’s (Rush, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith). I also sometimes slick back my hair and use old

slang (groovy, nifty, sweet). I am almost anti-technology as well. People don’t interact as much anymore, as there is someone elsewhere that needs to be communicated with and is more important than the person in front of you (myself on texting and online communication). Can’t anyone enjoy an evening to themselves? This can relate back to my pet peeve of how I think people need to interact with me to get to know me. Which in turn gets back to my point of how this paper is going to {annoy, make me frustrated?}. My works that I make in literature are usually driven by my interesting views on life. I have a piece I wrote about the view of a

creator of man; it’s not specific as to what religion it expresses, but it shows how you feel about bad works of art or things you’ve made. I took a flawed person’s view and that, I believe is what makes my writing interesting.

Skiing

English

Skiing is the best Skiing is fun like music Skiing clears your mind

English is superb It is my favorite class, eh To me it makes sense

Tips For Life From Filip 1.Enjoy the Little Things in Life 2.Don’t try to win everything; let others win some battles 3.Don’t stress all the time, so go have fun and don’t worry about it 4.Spend more time outside with nature 5.Learn how to cook and don’t be afraid to mess up 6.Join an art club and express yourself 7.Read more classic novels by famous authors, it makes your life seem a lot better

Poetry and Short Work Page (A Modern Fable) I have a short fable here. It is called the Kids and English Discovery Core 1. Once upon a time, when kids were wrongly and unjustly enslaved in the program called school, there lived a boy and the girl. They were both in 8th grade. As being wonderful people, they try to please. They do their class work, they do their homework, they speak three languages and play two instruments. They were all around good kids. They had a language arts teacher named Mr. Louques for their first class every day.

He liked them and they liked him. Then Mr. Loucks (I mean Louques) started assigning homework assignment after assignment. After the first three weeks, they, the boy and the girl I mean, were getting overloaded with homework. They never had time to do anything but homework. They had to stay up later and later every night. 10 o’clock. 10:30, 11:00, 12:00, 1:00, and just maybe even 2:00 in the morning on occasion. They hated it.

Despicable. It was, work before school, schoolwork, homework and bedtime. They didn’t have time to do anything they wanted to; no time for chilling. It was just school. The girl dropped out of softball and volleyball, and the boy out of lacrosse and baseball. They grew fat and ugly, never being active and then lost muscle and coordination.They stopped practicing speaking three languages, Italian, Serbian and Klingon. They forgot most of Italian, Serbian and Klingon; no longer fluent were they.

Last of all,they never had time to practice their instruments: viola, alto sax, piano, and bass guitar. They lost the ability to play concertos and minuets with their instruments they were reduced to Hot Cross Buns and Happy Birthday. Their church lost countless hours of help and organization, communion was no longer the greatest event of the year. The community lost service projects and library dedication. The neighbors had to mow their lawns and find new sitters, not being able to get any help from the boys and girls. School was their life now. Their dedication and duty. The community suffered. But they got straight A’s. “The end justifies the means.”* *Any similarities to real life occurrences is purely coincidental

Zest

The soap of the Gods Zest really is the most best Zest is amazing

Music

Music Flows through you It takes your troubles away It lets you enjoy

The Power of Hope: A Story of how Hope Can Shake the World

by Filip Pahs ••• I am flawed. I admit it to it. My biggest accomplishment is also a failure. Defective. Too violent.

Irrational. Can’t destroy for the greater good. Ironically, close to being a mini one of me. I should have started over and over from dust until perfect. But I want to create, not destroy. I tried, many times, to fix the flaws. They were weak fixes. Like sealing a tire that has a hole- with plastic wrap.

It doesn’t work. The tire still leaks. I’ve almost given up on them (but I don’t tell them that or the plastic wrap will go away too).

Right now all that stops me from total dust rebuilding is all the love.

Everywhere.

In the midst of the killing the most undying love I’ve even seen. That is what stops me from obliterating humans in as the call this the 1930’s 40’s.

I followed this story with great interest. It doesn’t mimic the usual human nature I see. Every here and there (I counted - its every 1/74,567 th person) someone is an oddball.

They have as if an angel fell to earth. These people; Thomas Mihail and Heidi Schmidt. They were angels but not as interesting as Ralph. But excuse me - I’ll use your manners. I’ll start at beginning. It was Nazi Germany. Jews were being persecuted everywhere. Now let me tell you about these not too terribly important people. Thomas

and Heidi. By now, you should be wondering which one (or both) is a Jew. I’ll tell you. It’s Thomas.

There was a Hanukkah / “Christmas” (cover story) festivity. The entire family was there. The parents Thomas and Heidi, the daughter Sue and well now Ralph was here. He finished taking off his coat. He greeted his parents with his piercing blue eyes and a firm handshake. Only Sue got a warm smile and hug. She tousled his blond hair, as she always did.

They enjoyed their last moments together. Halfway through their last glorious meal together Ralph made an announcement: “Father,

It was Spring now. Sue was sick. Pneumonia. They finally submit. The pressure had broken them. The Mihails’ now had a Nazi flag on their house.

They heil Hitlered everywhere.

They hated everything to do with the anti-semitism (Figures- they were Jews). Someone, maybe Larry Steinbeck would bring Thomas’ Judaism. Persecuted.

Another word is unjustly. Poor Mihails. Poor, poor Mihails. Some rumors were starting up. It was Larry. He started rumors and muttering. “Aren’t the Mihails Jewish?” he would contemplate to a crowd. “Didn’t they want to build a synagogue not too long ago?”

Everyone spit at their feet nowadays.

No one looked them in the eye.

Disgraced they were.

They are stray dogs.

Nothing to hold on to but each other.

What a life: Abandoned by your only son, excluded from society, and most likely soon to die. Going to die in a blink of an eye, by my standard.

Poland has fallen. The Mihails are slowly being trapped in by the Catholic Germans and with them on the brink of persecution, Sue not well, there was not much a chance for a silent escape. The hope is dying in their open, sad hearts. They still hold onto a fragment though, and oh my, what they do with only fragments, that’s something to be shared.

It was Nazi Germany. Jews were being persecuted everywhere.

I have tried to get you to give up on the old ways and join the Nazi Party. I can’t protect you any more. Some record will say you are a Jew. Accept our way. You are being a fool!” His voice rose in a condescending tone as his father, Thomas, pitied. The littlest things upset humans these days.

I should really start over from dust They believe in science too much, as well. Not enough faith.

So sad. They used to be way better. Oops....in my monologue you missed parts. Well, anyway, Ralph was gone. The rest of that night died. Shriveled up in a corner and died. I saw it.

Letter to The State

by Filip Pahs ••• I WROTE THIS PIECE TO A COLORADO AGRICULTURE REPRESENTATIVE ABOUT PROTECTING THE CONSUMER Jerry Sonnenberg 200 East Colfax Denver, CO 80203 Dear Representative Sonnenberg: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” You should recognize the First Amendment from the Bill Of Rights.This amendment is saying that Americans can say whatever they want until they infringe on the rights of others. Similarly related to this right, the libel veggie laws basically say that food producers can sue you with less evidence and severe of a claim. This also makes it easier for them to win the “case.” Other states including Colorado have passed this law.

Luckily, Governor Roamer vetoed this law. The Colorado Consumer Protection Act, as it is now, protects the consumer instead of the food company. I believe Colorado should never allow this law to return, because if it rears its head and returns, havoc will break loose. These laws would limit how people express their opinion on food and more importantly, limit what Colorado students could become educated over. I would not be able to talk about the health detriments of fast food or have watched the movies Supersize Me and Food, Inc. As an eight grader in public school, if the veggie laws were in place I would not have the right to talk

about what foods do to you in my cyclospora outbreak the large cooking class or with teachers. companies can blame people and sue them for their losses if they’re Our founding fathers of this wrong about where the outbreak country have given us certain came from. This would needlessly rights that they fought hard to gain create a waiting period before from Great Britain so many years officials will inform the public ago. Now again, our rights have about these cases and outbreaks. been challenged, but this time by T h i s w o u l d u n n e c e s s a r i l y large, rich food companies. As hospitalize, cause the death of, or American citizens, we cannot make people sick. Officials could forgo our rights this easily. Much early on warn the public but are conflict has occurred over the afraid to possibly get the source rights we consider normal now. wrong and be sued. Free speech The first amendment in the Bill Of at the cost of others lives seem Rights, about no laws ever being completely stupid to me. People made to prohibit our freedom of before profits. The veggie laws particularly speech, tells us that would only cause catastrophic we can say whatever we want, damage to the consumers. The until we infringe on the rights of government is supposed to others. An example of infringing protect the people from things like on the rights of others with this. It is very important that we do freedom of speech is rather like not restrict the rights of citizens in yelling “Fire!” in a crowded movie the name of profit. theater as a joke. That person is then responsible for the injury and On behalf of all the young soon to possible death of others. This is be voting people, I encourage you b e c a u s e t h a t b e i n g i s to not to ever accept the libel endangering the life of others veggie laws as not to infringe on needlessly. As U.S. citizens, our our rights as U.S. citizens. I rights should always be just as realize that the libel veggie laws valid and undeniable. have some merit for the large corporations, but the protection of The veggie laws, if they were in the consumer, who supports the place in Colorado would lead to big corporation, is much more a n m a s s i v e a m o u n t s o f valuable and sensible in the long controversy and debate. The very run. The big corporations have mention of having them seems much more money and resources preposterous and a denying of our to protect themselves from legal rights. The first amendment states attacks than the consumer. I hope we can say what we wish until we that no one will ever try to pass deny with someone else's rights. such a foolish law is Colorado T h e v e g g i e l a w s w o u l d b e ever again. The law as it is now denying everyone who is in benefits the consumer by allowing Colorado, their rights. Now, the them to be knowledgeable about big food companies want to have the food they eat as well as all the facts in before officials or upholds our constitutional rights. anyone blames the company for Thank you for taking the time to anything. They want a libel law in read this. which the “damaged” party could sue the one accused of libel in Sincerely, court as to recuperate monetary losses. Equal speech by these Filip Pahs companies sounds fair until you look into it. If there is a salmonella, hepatitis A, or

AMANDA RIST About the Author...

I’m Amanda Rist. I am thirteen years old and I was born on June sixth 1998. I was born in Nebraska and moved to Colorado when I was just three years old.

I have one younger sister and three older step-sisters. I love to play softball with my friends, paint, sing, and hang out with my sister in my free time. In middle school I have learned that people are going to judge you for who you are but not everyone is perfect, so the sooner you stop caring what other people think, the sooner you can enjoy life. Life may be chaotic at times with school, sports, extra activities, and parents always hanging on your back, but it will always get better. All through elementary school people ask “What do you want to be when you grow up?” my response was usually “a princess” but now is the time to really decide what you want to be. All of this pressure is just part of life and it will go away soon enough. I have also learned that when you set your mind to something you can always achieve it by working harder.

Over the past few years I have read many books that impacted the way that I viewed the world and the way I think about things. Some of these books include Crispin, Number the Stars, Wish you Well, and The Book Thief. All of these books let me see life from someone else’s point of view. In ten years I believe I will remember all of these books. All of these books have let me see how certain people view the world and how one big or small event can change your life.

As a writer I believe I have made a long journey. I have learned how to write many different styles of writing and that you can always make your writing better. Before 8th grade I was only comfortable writing in certain genres. Now I can write in any style with confidence. I also didn’t like the thought of being told which style I should write, but now I realize that if I hadn’t learned to write in different genres I would be writing the same thing over and over again.

I really love this picture because I like how the artist used such simple colors to make such a big statement.

In the future I hope that I can improve my writing skills even more and expand on the writing techniques I have learned in the past. I believe that I will accomplish many things with my new reading, writing, and thinking skills such as seeing the world from different perspectives and different viewpoints. I think that I can impact the world and society by teaching people to try to look at things with different perspectives instead of just one. Changing the perspective of something can change the way you look at it and change the thoughts you have about it.

I will...

I will love and I will hate.

I will be liked and I will be deceived.

I will hurt and I will cry.

I will be furious and I will forgive.

I will refuse and I will accept.

I will learn and I will succeed.

I will be complimented and I will be offended.

I will be joyful and I will be hateful.

I will live and I will die...

Picture Description

My brother Adam

I used to think I was the most unlucky girl in the world.

Then a light bulb lit above my head. I realized I was living in a miracle. I had almost lost everything. Almost. I am truly blessed to still have my older brother Adam. I was too young to remember this horrible tragedy but this is the story I heard.

It was November sixteenth. The sky was navy blue with only a few clouds that stretched out along horizon. I had just turned two years old; as a celebration my mother, grandmother, and sister decided to go to Disney Princesses on Ice. My father was sick, so my brother stayed home to give him some company. My brother was only six years old at the time. On the way to Princesses on ice, a tire of our car hit a patch of black ice and spun out of control. The car flipped over the side of a hill; rolled five times, then landed upside down. The ambulance was on its way but could never reach our car in time to save my whole family. Apparently, a car stopped to try to help us get out of the car when we crashed. The first person the lady tried to rescue was me. She managed to get me out of the car right as the ambulance arrived. My mother, grandmother, and sister were all rushed to the hospital. The hospital staff worked on them all for what seemed like hours maybe even days. There was no hope; they were gone. So there I was. Alone. My mother, grandmother, and sister were all dead. Now it was me (a two year old), my brother Adam (a six year old), and my sick father.

Times were really tough. My father went into surgery all the

time, even as I grew older. We were very poor. My father found a night job so he could be with me and Adam during the day.

This job did not pay much but it was something. We could afford food, clothes, and the rent for our apartment. Nothing else. No extra clothes, toys, or anything for that matter. My father was still sick. He would not tell me or my brother or me what was wrong with him. We spent most of our time worrying about him and wondering if he was going to be okay. Winter’s were the hardest times to get through. It cost a lot of money to keep the heat running and buy new winter clothes. Luckily we had a very nice neighbor. Her name was Brooklyn Newman. She was about 50 years old and had two older kids. She helped out our family a lot. She would babysit me and Adam occasionally,make us dinner when our dad didn't have time to make it, or even give us some old clothes that her kids used to wear. Without her, I don’t know how we would have done.

I was now thirteen an Adam was seventeen. And my father? He was at his worst condition yet. I didn’t know what to do. One dreary night in MidDecember there was a huge blizzard. The sky was black, and all you could see when you look out the window is the wind, blowing the snow back and forth.

Unfortunately, that night death was about to strike for the second time in my family. My father told me all of his muscles hurt and he could barely deal with the pain. Adam and I called over Brooklyn Newman. She told us she would do as much as possible to help but odds are, he would die. That night at around

eleven o’clock at night my father took his final breath and passed on to heaven. Now he only exists in my memory.

Now it was just me and Adam. That night I could not sleep. I tossed and turned with salty tears running down my face.

I finally drifted off to sleep when a crisp chill, coming from my open window, ran up my back shaking me until I woke up. I opened my eyes to pitch blackness as I took in a gasp of air. It felt cold in my lungs making it hard to breath. I sat up as I touched the tear streaks running down my face. I pulled my hair back then looked at the clock. 2:37am it read in bright red numbers. Then I rested my head on my pillow and closed my eyes only to see more darkness crawl in and surround me. After that I couldn’t sleep another second. I stayed awake all night staring at the blank ceiling. Imagining pictures of what my mother may have looked like. What my family was supposed to look like. I couldn’t stop thinking about the story I heard about my family’s car accident, my fathers death, and my brother. I thought about how much my brother and I have suffered for as long as I can remember. How much my brother did for me. He drove me anywhere I needed to go, came to my parent teacher meetings at school, and he even came and comforted me when I awoke from nightmares during the night. I just thought of how much Adam did for me and how truly blessed I am to have him support me through out the hard times of my life. I don’t know how we are going to live life from this point on, but I do know how lucky I am to have him.

Don’t children have rights too? Child labor is a huge violation of every person’s rights. It clearly states in the thirteenth amendment that slavery is to be outlawed. All over the world, children are taken from their homes and deported to another town or even a different country to work as a slave. Every person is born with certain rights and it is horrible that people would take these rights away from other people, especially children. Slavery is completely going against peoples rights and the thirteenth amendment.

Today, there is a new kind of slavery, it is called human trafficking. Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for forced labor. Trafficking in humans is the fastest growing way to collect people for free labor. A study done in 2000 showed the between 700,000 and two million women and children are trafficked across borders each year. There are more human slaves today than ever before in history.

Even when slavery was legal! In the United States the most human trafficking occurs in New York, California, and Florida. Belgium, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey, and the U.S. are ranked very high as destination countries of trafficked victims. Of course not all children who are slaves got abducted by a trafficker. In some cases if a family is very poor and can not afford food, clothes, etc. they will sell one of their own children for money. The younger the victim, the more money the family will receive from the trafficker. For example, a 10-year-old named Gita, was sold into a brothel by her aunt.

Most traffickers will come into a child’s home during the night and take the child out of their bed. Some traffickers take children who are alone on the street or anywhere there is access to a child without being caught. The trafficker usually deports the child to another town or even another country. The child is then forced to work as a slave for someone doing hard labor jobs. Some children are taken from their homes when they are as young as four years old. Unfortunately, some children are forced to work in extremely uncomfortable conditions for as long as fourteen to eighteen hours a day.In some

Child Slaves cases of child labor, the owner sends the child to sell something on the street. If the child comes back with little or no money for their owner, either because they were robbed or had a bad sales day, the owner might beat them. All children are scared of this and don’t want to be beaten. So, they make offers to other people on the street to be their slave for a while and that person will pay the children the money they need. Every child that is trafficked has a great fear of their owner because he or she knows that if they do something that displeases their owner they can be punished or even killed. Some ways the trafficker uses to make the victims to cooperate include subjecting them to starvation, rape, gang rape, physical abuse, beating, confinement, threats of violence toward the victim and victim’s family, forced drug use, and shame.

You may not realize it but human trafficking is all around us. On the news human trafficking stories appear often, either to talk about a missing person or someone that escaped the hands of a trafficker. Human trafficking has been reported in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and in some U.S. territories.

Currently there is a huge issue with human trafficking that all started with a man named Joseph Kony from Uganda.

Joseph Kony is known to be the world’s biggest war criminal. In 1987 he took over leadership of an existing rebel group and renamed it the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). When Joseph Kony found himself running out of fighters, he started abducting children to fight with him. The children committed to this because Kony would threaten to kill the child then and there and in some cases, he would make the child kill the rest of his/her family. Today the United States is sending in armies to try to stop Kony. If he is not in the United States hands by the end of 2012 then the United States will make the troops come back to the U.S and leave other countries to deal with this problem. This Kony issue is posted everywhere. On posters, T-shirts, stickers, T.V and especially the Internet. Human trafficking is truly everywhere.

To show how acknowledged the issue of human trafficking is, allegedly the song “Bad Romance” by Lady GaGa is about Human slavery. In the music video she

is abducted by a stranger and forced to work for him.

Owning a slave is in complete violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There are 30 articles in this Declaration and all of them state in one way or another that all people are born free and slavery is against each person's rights that they are born with. For example, Article one says, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Article four states “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” Finally, Article 23 says “(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.”

These are only three out of thirty articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that state that all people have the rights they are born with.

Every person is born with certain rights that should never be taken away from them, and child slavery is completely against the thirteenth amendment and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These two documents clearly state that slavery is to be outlawed and every person, no matter how rich or poor, is to remain with the rights given to them as a person. Just because children have a smaller voice doesn’t mean that they can be taken advantage of and can be used as slaves. Children have rights too.

MAYA RODGERS!!!

This is who I am.

Who are you?

One thing that my parents have showed me is art. Every kind of art. Music, theater, writing, painting, drawing, sculpting, and My name is Maya Rodgers and I was the endless possibility that it born June 28th, 1998 in Denver holds. I love the freedom and the Colorado. I have lived here all my life power I hold with a blank sheet of but my parents have not. My parents paper. It can be turned into are a funny story. They are a very anything. My parents got me into a good example of how opposites great school system where my attract. My mom was born the middle skills are increasing year to year, child into a wealthy family who spent month to month, even day to day. I their summers at country clubs. My dad was born the baby of seven into a feel invincible with all the knowledge I have gathered and not so wealthy family. He spent his summers on a farm taking care of his even more powerful when I think about how much more is still to two goats; Snarfy and April. My mom come. All the possibilities I hold in went to college and had her whole my hand. It is so cool to think that future planned out. My dad was I can make anyone feel the way I struggling through school not really caring what life held in store for him. feel or think the way I think just Growing up with my parents has been by writing. interesting and a blessing in so many ways. They disagree on different things My parents have done so much but so I get to make my own decisions. You they are not the only ones to thank. I have learned more from know how some kids are forced into beliefs because of their parents? It is reading than any of my teachers. a little different in my house. They are The way I feel like I am in the book inspires me. I have read all both religious and I follow that but things like politics I get to make up my sorts of books that I will forever remember because of the writing own mind. I wasn’t raised a Democrat or a Republican and I enjoy that. I get technique, the story itself, and the to hear both sides of every story and hidden meaning behind the words.

The first one that comes to mind is it has made me observant. They have taught me so much and I will never be The Book Theif. I loved the way it was written. I loved the way it able to repay them for that. made me think and feel. The way it talked about Death as if it were

alive confused me. It put questions in my head and confusion and inspiration! I loved the way I felt about it. It was mind boggling. This is my favorite book and I am not sure I really remember what it was about. This shows a lot because I have read it twice now. The words are clearly not what stuck to me.

It was the hidden meaning in between the lines. It was as if I was on the paper and knew how the words themselves felt. It was magnificent and I will never forget it.

I hope to one day be able to write like that. To be able to write a story or even just an article where the reader has no idea what I was talking about. They don’t really care what I had to say but what the words had to say. I want the words to be the inspiration and not the story. I hope to inspire someone, even if it is just one person, to want to write and to dream like I do. To dream of the impossible and then go and find it.

Let Life Take Where You Need To Go

- To My

Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, So, love the people who treat you right and forget the ones who don’t, And believe that everything happens for a reason, If you get a chance, take it If it changes your life, let it Nobody said it would be easy, Grandma, They just said it would be worth it.

Keep Fighting

SIX WORD STORIES One, Two, Three, Four, and Twelve.

Sharp pencil equals a sharp mind!

You said you’d stay, you lied.

She walked, she fell, it broke.

I am not a normal person.

MAYA REINE RODGERS

If Not For Long By: Maya Rodgers The silence was uncomfortable.

Silence always is though. In this instance it was so uncomfortable that you wanted to scream just to break it. No one screamed. Only watched. We watched the poor old lady tucked into bed. At that moment someone could mistake her for peaceful. If you looked closer though, you could tell she was not.

Her hair normally looked like a soft white cloud had formed perfectly around her head. Today her hair was straight and soaked from sweat. Her eyes were motionless and she did not dream. Her mouth showed no emotion. It was straight. So straight that it looked like someone had used a ruler and drawn it on her face. The bed she was sleeping on looked old and uncomfortable. The word uncomfortable implies that it was stiff and cold. In this story that word will come up a lot. The nurse came in then. She was a young girl who didn't seem to notice the silence like I did. She was whistling a tune. I didn't know the song. The nurse had opened the curtains revealing the sun. I could not stand the sun. It made me want to cry.

This was a sad, depressing day for me, yet outside everyone else in the world was having a good, sunshiny day. In that moment I felt alone in the world. The nurse went to the side of the bed. She replaced an empty bag with a new, full one. The nurse had straight thin hair that looked artificial. I noticed this as she flipped it out of her face. I did not like her. She showed no respect for me or the patient in the bed. The liquid in the bag was white like milk and clear like water all at the same time. The liquid was so strange that it was a

little scary. The nurse was careless and bumped the bed on her way out of the room. This woke the old lady that had been sleeping. It was easy to see she was uncomfortable when she found us leaning over her watching her every move. She didn't say anything though. She just lay there watching us. Her eyes went down the line of people.

She started with me. I did not know her that well. She was my great grandmother and I referred to her as Nana. I have only two memories of her today. One was this one of me at the hospital. The other was of us playing hide and seek. I was very young and I am surprised I still remember it. It was my first time meeting her aside from when I was born. I enjoyed her company. It was very comfortable and natural. Like I didn't have to try to make her like me. Then her eyes went to my mom who was standing next to me. My mom knew her as her grandma.

They had been very close. Then her eyes went to my Grandma, the last person in the room. My grandma knew this lady as Mom. I knew it would be hard for her to see her go. Yes. I knew she was not going to make it much longer. It was hard for me because I was only six at this time and that is a lot to take in. I was thinking about this when I saw her eyes change. Her eyes moved back towards my direction.

She was not looking at me though.

She was looking through me at someone else. She had a look of amazement in her eyes. Then. Ever so slightly. She smiled. It was as if someone she had not seen in a while asked her, “Would you join me?” Her smile answered, “Why of course.” Then she laid her head

down and closed her eyes. The machine hooked up to her changed in that moment. It went from a steady beep beep beep. To a “beeeeee....” Then time slowed almost to a stop. I remember being pushed out of the way as a doctor came running in with others following him. People started shouting orders but all I could do was stand and watch her. Her face.

She finally looked comfortable. It was the first time for almost a week that she looked happy. I knew her heart had stopped. I was young but I wasn't stupid. I knew she wasn't coming back. When I went back to the real world, I felt happy for her. She had fulfilled her life and I was happy I had a chance to meet her even if not for long.

A Place Of Freedom?

By: Maya Rodgers Do you know what the official language of the United States is? If you answered English, guess again.

Most people think that English is the national language because it is the most widely spoken, but America doesn’t have a national language. Twenty seven of the U.S states have made English their official state language but America as a whole has not yet committed.

In 1780, John Adams proposed to congress that English should be declared the national language. He was turned down and his proposal was deemed “undemocratic and a threat to individual liberty.” People including presidents, senators, and other representatives from the government have been trying to make English the official language for centuries. Each time they are turned down because the same argument used against John Adams is used against them.

Since 1776, the United States has been known as a multilingual nation. The English Inc., an advocacy group that supports declaring English as the national language, says that 322 different languages are spoken in the U.S each day. America is a nation of immigrants and this number proves it. Declaring a national language would abridge the rights of people with limited English. The same citizens who are paying taxes and who are entitled to rights just like native English speakers are. In order to make sure these rights are being followed there is a program set up called Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Although twenty seven states have English as their official language, in

order to receive federal financial assistance, they still have to comply with Title VI. Title VI requires that vital materials be available to those who need it in whichever language needed.

Many citizens feel that if we were to make English the national language of the United States then we could cut back the illegal immigration. This is untrue and although such legislation might have an impact of immigrants, it does not belong in the debate of the U.S national language. There is a claim that the idea of declaring English as the national language is anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic.

The goal is to help boost immigrants and non-English speaking Hispanics to same status of native English speakers by encouraging them to learn English.

Learning English leads to a better life and possibly higher-paying jobs. Removing the crutch of government translations further encourages them to do so, but that is not what everyone wants. The government has been arguing for centuries about this but has anyone cared to ask the immigrants what they want. Most would like to learn English but would feel more comfortable with their native language and they are fine where they are.

Making English the national language has been a debate since John Adams was president, and it is not getting any closer to being solved. America has always been known as multilingual nation and it is important we keep it that way.

America is looked up to by other nations and people come here so

that they can have the freedom. By declaring English the national language we would be getting rid of citizens freedom to speak their native language. America will no longer be seen as a place of freedom and opportunity.

VAMSI SENTHILVEL About the Author...

8th grade Language Arts has been a journey of a lifetime for me. I have learned so many things to not only apply to this class but other classes and in the real world. I am here to share this experience with everyone. My name is Vamsi Senthilvel, I was born in Littleton, Colorado, and I love to play tennis. My best subjects are math and science. One thing unique about myself is that I always put my best effort forth, and I’ll never give up. My hopes are to continue to learn about myself, my writing, and to see the world in ways I never have before. This journey is something I would love to share to everyone, and this little bit about myself will hopefully help you as I share my stories.

If there’s one thing I can take from 8th grade language arts, it’s that books can impact a life. I never realized it, but I have had several books impact me. The book that impacted me the most was actually a non-fiction piece. My mom had gotten me the book, thinking that I would read it. I reluctantly agreed in the summer of 4th grade. It’s name: The Inconvenient Truth: Kids Version. This made me see the world in a way I had never seen before. It scared me a little, but at the same time it thrilled me. I perceived the earth through an adults mind, and learned the crises we have been facing my whole childhood. This book has stuck with me ever since, and I have learned to generate my own opinions and thoughts. I will not only never forget this book, but I will always remember how it impacted my life, and that books like these don’t come around very often.

Me playing tennis.

Language Arts has been a One thing that has changed dramatically since elementary school is my writing, and I have 8th grade Language Arts to thank for most of that. I have learned how to use different organizational patterns in different topics. I have also learned how to make words and sentence structures act differently. Besides grammatical improvements, I have expanded my vocabulary knowledge. I now have many other choice of words to make what I am trying to describe more specific and comprehensible. My style of writing has also changed. I have learned that you must write in certain ways based on your purpose and audience. For example, right now I am writing to family and friends, so I can write more casually, but if I’m writing to someone like the President of the United States then I must write more formally, and use a different structure. I also believe I have more experience in different genres now.

I have written fictional, non-fictional, explanations, narratives, literary responses, poems, and even persuasive pieces this year. This has given me a newfound confidence and respect for writing.

roller coaster. There have been ups.

There have been downs, but I can come out of this classroom knowing that I have learned something everyday I have stepped in this classroom. I can also say I have learned from mistakes, and have learned how to act more mature, confident, and experienced in the classroom. Language Arts has not only taught me a lot, but I have had a lot of fun doing it as well. It may be one of the many language arts classes that I’ve had, but I consider this my first real language arts class, and that’s something I’ll never forget.

SIX WORD

Poetry and Short Work Page

STORIES? TENNIS COURTS. RACKETS. I LOVE IT. LEGS GIVING OUT. JUST DO IT. SCORCHING DAY. SWEAT DRIPPING DOWN. SUMMER. LIFE IS BETTER IN 3D. USUALLY. ONE MONTH. SUMMER HERE I COME.

MY HAIKUS My family You guys give me pride I can always count on you You guys are my life Gummy Bears Gummy bears are plu sh Gummy bears make me smile Gummy bears are sof t Tennis Tennis is my art Tennis is more than a sport It is my passion

My Letter to the President “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” I’m sure you’ve recognized that this is the first amendment. There’s probably a really deep meaning to this statement that you’ve discussed with your colleagues. But to me, this says that all humans deserve the right to express their own religion, be able to speak their minds freely, and have the right to protest. I believe these three things have bounded us as a very successful nation, and I am proud of that. Unlike our country, many other “leaders” of other countries, such as Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir, have broken all three of these guidelines. This current president of Sudan has tortured and harmed countless people. He has not only taken away their rights, but he has taken away their lives. I am writing this letter to you, because I believe the government should put an end to the constant fighting in countries, such as Sudan, where people don’t get rights. It’s the U.S’s obligation to help these people to get their rights.

The number one reason why you should help people from Sudan get their rights, is because Bashir has stripped the rights of all of his people to practice their own religions. Bashir performed this by placing the fundamentalist Islamic law. This law demands that this religion must be enforced upon its people. This means: people have to dress like a muslim, pray like a muslim, and celebrate holidays in the Islamic culture. But many people in the north were non-Muslims. This means they still must follow those rules, and punishments.This led to countless riots and fights, and all of these people lost their rights to practice their own religion.

Another reason why you should help the people of Sudan gain their rights, is because they have lost their rights to protest. Many of the laws placed in Sudan were unfair, and the riots got worse and worse. In 2003 several groups in Darfur (located in the northwestern part of Sudan) began to protest saying that the Sudanese government was in favor of Arabs. The Sudanese government responded by supplying a group, known as Janjaweed, money and military support. They basically wanted to start a war. About 300,000 people died in this war!

And 2.7 million people are believed to have been displaced from their homes. I don’t believe any leader has the right to do that, and he has committed crimes against humanity, and has been charged of genocide. He has not only stripped their rights to practice their own religions, he has taken away their right to protest and their freedom of speech.

If the U.S. government could stop this man, and people who run countries like him, then our world would be a safer place for everyone. We could unite, just like we did 200 years ago in the American Revolution, and give rights to every single human being. Everyone deserves a chance, and because everyone in our country has opportunities, we should try and spread our knowledge, and help the rest of the human race gain these rights and opportunities. Together, the human race could achieve more than imaginable.

Tracking Cookies

by Vamsi Senthilvel •••

I THOUGHT OF THIS IDEA WHEN I WAS BROWSING THROUGH FACEBOOK AND REALIZED ALL OF THE CONTROVERSY BEHIND THIS SITE. THIS REALLY GOT ME GOING ON THIS SUBJECT AND MADE ME DIG DEEPER ON THE REAL ISSUES AND DISPUTES ABOUT THIS SITE.

Facebook Inc’s situation.

Considering that 80% of their money comes from advertisements, this has become a fairly big dilemma for Facebook and its users.

This means as long as Facebook is able to entertain its users, the advertising companies will have to come to Facebook.

In turn, I am very pleased with the way our government and Many people are not fully aware Europe dealt with this situation. of what Facebook inc. is really After two whole years of doing though. This company has investigation Europe been able to make a log of all the commissioners have proposed I used to love going on Facebook web pages that its approximately that we have a new online policy and seeing my personalized 800 million users go to. They can where users of online sites like account. I even thought the also track millions of other nonFacebook can ask these advertisements were cool, members who have been on a companies to pull all their because they were based off of Facebook page for any reason. personal data from the internet. I my interests. I knew they used People deserve more privacy believe this is a big step to some system to see what kinds than this. Not only this, the rise in people getting privacy. There’s of things I liked. But one day I critics could really hurt Facebook. also this new system known as saw an ad for a tennis racket I About 71% of their users are Control Personal that allows recently liked and was interested from the USA, and if people stop individuals to possibly make a on their system. I did some going there for privacy problems, profit off of their personal data. research and was shocked with then Facebook could lose the This allows users to be in control how little privacy Facebook Inc. money they had worked so hard of what people see of them, and gives its users, and how to earn. how much information of them is dangerous it could be to the know on the Internet. users.

Facebook has and I believe that Facebook hasn’t always will have its critics. made any drastic changes You see, Facebook is using this Sometimes their right to criticise because it has two contradicting software called “cookies” which them, and sometimes they do it conflicts. You see, Facebook has allows them to track our online out of spite.

I believe that in this a lot of pressure from big movements, even if we’re not case that the company just made companies who have financially logged on. They do this to see an honest mistake.

This is invested millions of dollars in what people’s interests are so understandable, because of all Facebook, and need to see the expectations and pressure they can find personalized ads results. And the better targeting they have to deal with. Facebook for them. Although this is the of ads, the better the income is, case, and it is used for a good and Facebook needs to increase probably is going to be a very purpose, someone else could get its revenue to meet expectations. successful company, but a hold of this data and really do hopefully it’s days of “tracking If I were in Mark Zuckerberg’s some damage. This could really cookies” are over. position, I would find a less hurt the credibility of Facebook, controversial way to find out if and harm its users. Also, many people are okay with this and if people believe that this is doing they’re not, just don’t track them. the exact opposite of pleasing its I understand that it has rising users. Its angering them, and expectations, but they must making people like me feel that respect their users privacy. It’s my privacy is in jeopardy. I can’t not like people go on Facebook speak for other people, but I find to see the advertisements as myself spending less time on much as they do for the Facebook, because I feel like my socialism, and the unique ability every move is being tracked. It’s to please a wide rang of people. not that I don’t understand

Are You Grateful?

by Vamsi Senthilvel •••

I AM VERY LUCKY TO COME FROM SUCH A UNIQUE BACKGROUND. I DON’T GET VERY MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO TALK ABOUT THIS PART OF MY LIFE, AND THAT IS WHY I LIKED THIS PIECE SO MUCH AND WANTED TO SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE ELSE. POP! My ears had popped for the last time as the brutal flight was coming to an end. My legs were numb. When I had gotten up after two flights that lasted a total of 20 hours, I felt like collapsing. I didn’t. Instead my six-year-old body trudged though the crowd. I hadn’t seen my grandparents in three years, and I hadn’t even remembered how India looked like. I wouldn’t let my numb legs stop me from seeing them. Then finally I opened my way through the mob and we all saw them waving at us. My smile was huge. “Hi thatha, hi grandma!” I said excitedly (thatha means grandpa in our language). I ran and hugged my grandparents, and I could tell this was going to be a great trip. Little did I know, I was going to see, learn, hear, and taste things that I will never forget for the rest of my life.

HONK!!!! I was wrong; my ears hadn’t popped for the last time. As soon as we stepped outside, I heard of rush of insane honking from the cars. It was crowded; even more than a football game. Everyone was yelling, and the smell of gas and trash immediately rushed into my nose. I held my dad and mom’s hand as we dodged passed the cars to our cab. I got to sit on my thatha’s lap in the front as we rode home. Why is the wheel on the right side? I wondered in curiosity. I didn’t want to bother anyone, so I decided to look outside, and to my amazement, I saw several street vendors selling things from corn to decorations. All of them were yelling in a language I couldn’t understand, trying to make a profit. I was confused. Then we finally made it home to some peace and quiet. I went to my grandparents backyard, and saw a great garden. It had flourished with plants that my grandmother fed with her homemade fertilizer. It was teeming with frogs, and one humongous tree! It was amazing. I still remember playing in that garden to this very day.

After playing, I slept because I had jet lag. I woke up at 4:30 the next morning. I couldn’t go back to sleep.

Then, a half hour later, I heard my grandfather’s footsteps. I followed.

“Good morning Vamsi!” he said with a warm smile.

“Hey thatha, whatcha doing?”

“Just making some coffee. Why don’t you get me the milk from the front.”

“Ok.” I said.

“Thank you,” he said, and gave me a piece of chocolate. I took a bite of the cadbury chocolate, and my mouth exploded with flavor! It was just the right amount of sweetness, and tasted way better that any other chocolate I had ever had.

“Whoa! Where’d you get this from?” I asked excitedly.

“From the store, you don’t have this kind of chocolate in America.”

“Oh,” I said disappointed.

“Good morning everyone!” my mom said happily. Our talk was over. This was one of the first mornings, me and my thatha shared together, but it wasn’t the last.

This has come to be one of the things I look forward to doing every time I go to India now.

Then, about a half hour later, everyone else had awaken. We decided to go to the beach in a couple of hours.

This is where I saw something that I can never forget for as long as I live. I was walking down the beach with some ice cream that had been made fresh from the milk from cows that were raised locally. I was enjoying its tingling flavors, and the warm sand on my feet. The air was heavy and humid; the crash of the waves vibrated my eardrums. The sound of the other kids playing in the background was relaxing. Then I looked to my right. This is wear it happened. An old man wearing just a single piece of cloth slowly walked up to me. He had no hair, no teeth, and he looked sickly thin. I was scared. I knew he was asking for money. I asked my dad to give him a lot.

He gave me 20 rupees to hand to him. I thought 20 was a big number but I later realized it was only worth 50 cents. I handed it to him and he looked shocked.

He began to praise me and he knelt down and bowed to me like I was some sort of king. He was so thrilled for 50 cents. Why? I mean it was just 50 cents.

Then I looked down at my shirt. I wondered how much it was worth. 20 dollars. This whole trip must have cost a fortune, I thought to myself in shock. I couldn’t stop thinking about it for the rest

of the vacation. I was confused. What should I do? I kept asking myself. Then the night before we left, at around 3 AM, I had let everything soak into me like a sponge. I knew what I had to do.

“Dad,” I said.

“Huh,” he said half asleep.

“Thanks,” I said quietly. Nothing else was said. I wasn’t sure if he heard me, but I didn’t say anything else. I Instead laid back down and thought about how lucky I was: my school, my clothes, food.

Anything I took for granted. From that day forward, I tried my hardest to be thankful for what I have, and to be grateful to my parents for working so hard to help me.

On the car ride to the airport, I thought about all the new things I had experienced. It was confusing, but I knew that this would always stick with me. I would never forget this trip, and I would never forget what I had learned.

Then the car stopped and I knew we were at the airport. I hopped out and hugged my grandma and thatha. By this time, I was used to the honking and the smell of the airport.

“Bye guys.” I said sadly.

“Goodbye,” they said in a shaky voice. I looked up and my grandma was crying. I didn’t want to go, but I had to. I practically had to be pulled away from them as I walked backwards waving.

That was it. That experience was over. It was time to go back home and experience other adventures. But I never forgot this one. And by the time you read this sentence, I just have one more question for you... Are you grateful?

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of another (one of my favorite quotes).”

Charles Dickens

GIB SMITH About the Author...

I’m Gib. Just that. Gib. I don’t bother myself with much at all, and I think I’d forget my own name if I wasn’t so familiar with it, so don’t be offended if i forget your name.

I’m a little over five foot eleven, 260 pounds, long hair. I’m sarcastic and caustic to a fault, but a joke is never far from my lips. I find humor in much even I don’t laugh. I don’t really understand highly emotional people and choose people who are just as detached as I am for friends.

I’m a giant who plays football and wrestling, and prefer quiet solitude to a party, but I am quite the bookworm and have an I don’t take elements of fantasy inexhaustable vocabulary when I get going. I don’t speak eloquently characters and apply them to but my writing flows like silk once I myself. I enjoy the book, then I wait a few years and then read it put effort into it. I’m not out to please anyone but myself and God, again. Other than that, they stay in though I don’t consider myself to be their world, and I watch them from afar. overly pious. I’m loud, I use foul I don’t plan for my future language, and I go the extra mile to

past a few months. I wake up in be perfectly honest and blunt with the morning, I go to school, I go people. But I try not to judge others about my life.

I hope my life will be until I can know them past their normal, that I won’t struggle too faces and snatches of conversation. much, and that if something And that’s me. Nothing fancy, just extraordinary happens, then it an oversized bookworm who doesn’t give a damn about people’s happens. I fear I’ll struggle. I don’t opinions, and I’m happy. Tired, but like challenges, but I’d like to think I meet them head on. I don’t fear happy. adversity, but it’s hard, and no one

enjoys things that are hard.

I’m not very influenced by the books I read, but I love them all

I feel like an ancient master the same. I read like an alcoholic compared to my third grade self. drinks beer, so I can’t name the ones I’ve read in the last ten years, When I was that young I couldn’t but I know I will always remember think like a writer, only a reader. my favorites, if not their authors. I Even then I couldn’t abide restriction to my writing, but I still won’t forget my adventures in flourished. My creative juices flow Alagaesia, or my visit to The like molasses until I put fingers to Restuarant at the End of the keyboard or pen to paper, but still Universe. I would forget my own name before I forgot the Riders of they’d only give me a few minutes Rohan or The Dragonriders of Pern.

and a specific idea to try and put ideas down. It wasn’t until I was given creative release that anything started to make sense to me. I hated writing, just like I hated any art until I was given freedom. I didn’t want to write or create, nor do I really want to now, but it’s become something that, while forced at first, becomes a beautiful thing once I’m done, and no matter how long it’s been since I’ve written the piece, I want to refine and play with the language.

Poetry and Short Work READING

Reading is like another mind in your head.

Act out his actions, all in your head, Think what he’s thinking, all in your head, Feel what he’s feeling, all in your head, And then close up his actions, Close up his thoughts, Close up his feelings, And go out to play.

Blood in the Snow Like many stories, this one begins with a setting. This setting, in particular, strikes that deeply buried morbid curiosity that draws a crowd to a body. And you would be right to say it was exactly that. A crowd drawn to a body. Though to the crowd this particular body carried weight, much more so than a random, hapless stranger.

This particular crowd was barely that. Only three, considered a crowd only because as everyone knows, “three’s a crowd.”

The three men stood knee deep in the icy snow that continued to float listlessly to the ground around them, though the sun shone brightly upon their frost bitten faces. And what mournful faces they were, their eyes inexorably drawn to the bloody mound in front of them. All around were similar grotesque mounds, though this one seemed still regal, its face not twisted into one of pain or slow, agonizing suffering, but of one of quiet acceptance.

None of these three men would ever forget the horrific images seared permanently into the middle distance of their thoughts, never far away, able to surface and cause emotional pain at the slightest provocation.

But it was not even the twisted mounds around them, nor the regal mound, nor even the scarring memories that truly grieved the three survivors. It was the bright splashes of crimson, of maroon and every color of deep red imaginable that laid all around them, on their faces, their clothes, their hearts. It spilled, pooled and froze across all these blank canvasses, as if some careless painter’s assistant had splashed the paint around, leaving drips, lines, pools, dots, and splashes of the vile paint upon the virgin canvas.

And each face of the men, blood stained and smeared as they were, carried little emotion, simply an overpowering sadness and grief at their loss and failure. One of them had had the forethought to close the beautiful eyes of the regal mound’s face before the crushing grief set in. The whole world around them waited for one of them to break the oppressive unmoving silence. And, in time, one began to raise a simple animal’s hollowed out horn to his lips, blowing out a mournful keen of solitary respect, like the loud droll of a tolling bell. And finally the apparent leader reached down to the regal mound’s head and plucked the crown off it’s head like a jewel from the rubbish, turned, and began marching away, soon joined by his fellow compatriots.

And for those who were there that day to see his expression as he marched, it was not one of dejected sadness, not one of defeat, or even of true anger. It was one of silent, furious, revenge.

Growing Sideways

By Gib Smith •••

I WROTE THIS PIECE TO TEST THE LIMITS OF THE PROMPT I WAS GIVEN.

No one consciously recognizes growing up. They think, “Hey, this show is really cool!” Two weeks later they’re thinking, “Why did I ever think this was entertaining? It’s juvenile and stupid.” You never see the crossover yourself. Your friends might, your parents might, but you will never see it coming, and it won’t occur to you until later in life. This paper is supposed to be about personal experience. But I can honestly say, I think my experience growing up has made me think of this paper as juvenile already, and I haven’t even become remotely familiar with it. It’s made me cynical and a little jaded, and I’m only fourteen. My loss of innocence, growing up whatever you call it, can’t be put down to a few paragraphs. It can’t really be quantified. Nor, I doubt, can yours. You don’t feel it. You don’t wake up one day; look at a stuffed animal and think, “I guess now I’m too mature for this. I better get some new stuff, perhaps some books or gory video games.” It’s not some big momentous occasion that you remember and cherish for the rest of your life. It just happens, usually pretty gradually. So no, I can’t pick out a moment of

transition between childhood and maturity. I can’t find some story of when I emerged from the bowels of my childhood, ready to take on life as an adult. No one does. It’s an imperceptibly slow process, which never manifests itself until it has run its course.

And that’s the beauty of it. It’s completely imperceptible until it’s happened, and we often don’t realize it. We see it in others all the time. You could probably chart their growth in a heartbeat.

I can’t share with you a five-page story about how I was forced into maturity by something horrible, or that I learned something that made me act more somber in my life. All I can share is the realization. So I was really just sitting there, musing like I often do about the ideas of life (no joke, I actually have some pretty philosophical thoughts on occasion), actually my own in particular, when realized, still somewhat surprised, that I had become something entirely different from myself even a few years ago. It hit me like a sack full of feathers. Soft, safe, but still surprising. I had responsibilities to my friends, family, and my school career. Not some childish idea of doing whatever I wanted with no restrictions once I reached my twenties. I still wanted to do what I wanted, having fun and relaxing, but I realized that I couldn’t do it all day every day. I

was more seriously concerned about what my possible career interests were, what it would take to get a project finished, or how much studying I needed to pass the test. I was no longer entrapped by childish ideas of what sugary cereal I wanted for breakfast or how cool an animated show was. I wanted to remain a kid, but I didn’t want to stay within the normal parameters of being one. I wanted books and movies, but I wasn’t opposed to playing with my dart guns with my dad from time to time.

So no, I can’t give you some big story about a life changing experience that forced me to grow up ahead of time. I’ve lived a normal, some might say boring, childhood that contains no truly innocence stealing events. Nor have I had a time where I felt like I was questing or journeying towards something important. I’ve never felt like I was a stranger in a strange place.

I’ve never fallen from grace and had to redeem myself. My life doesn’t mimic any remotely famous literature patterns that I can write about. No one has ever written about a slightly above averagely intelligent giant who enjoys reading and doesn’t get out much. It doesn’t make for very good reading.

My Commentary Of Certain Romance Novels

by Gib Smith •••

I WROTE THIS TO EXPLAIN AND SOMEWHAT JUSTIFY TO MYSELF WHY I WAS READING THIS SERIES.

mortified by what to any other

people into an extreme level of

boy my age would have been a

difficulty. And for those who

colossal mistake, and therefore

have been betrayed by a father or

when it became available at the

other close male relation, she

Before I write this, I would like it library, I picked up a copy of the first book. to be said that in no way am I a

includes that as well with the

fan the typical romance novel. I

character’s father is the main

Two chapters in and I knew

development that the main antagonist of the first three books,

find the whole; “star crossed

why he enjoyed it without regret.

lovers destined to be together”

Clare’s deft balance of the

idea a tired old motif repeated in

romantic and the action packed

too many horrible settings and

remains one of my favorite

bad chick flicks to be in anyway

series’ ever. Her idea of a race of

entertaining. I think the closest

half angel warriors born to fight

thing to a romance novel I’ve

demon spawn and keep the

ever read is a sci-fi book about

fairytale races (werewolves,

ruin the story. Let’s just leave it at

Han Solo and Princess Leia from

vampires, fairies, and warlocks,

an undercurrent of betrayal, for a

Star Wars, and only five percent

all originating from demons), or

theme otherwise about personal

of that was in any way romantic.

“downworlders” in line, created

and familial discovery and high

But the Mortal Instruments

an exciting and thrilling plot, and

adventure, makes this book one

the plight of the main character

of the most surprising and

surprisingly enjoyable read. It

(Clary, a name I now to be a

fantastical books I’ve ever read,

was first recommended to me by

show of the author’s narcissism)

remaining at the edge of my mind

series by Cassandra Clare was a

one the more homophobic friends having her mother plunged into a of mine, and to be honest I was a magically induced coma with bit surprised. He seemed for all

almost no hope of revival gave

intents and purposes the typical

her a sense of empathy with the

6th grade boy who never acted

reader, as for many people their

above his age, but here he was admitting he had accidentally read a book that was half

mothers are the most reliable and trustworthy people in their lives, an anchor in an otherwise stormy

romance and half action fantasy.

sea of life’s crazy battles to pound

Curious as to why he hadn’t been

other wise happily ignorant

having performed insane experiments on Clary and her supposed brother (the boy she loves) and her long lost older brother.

But I don’t want to completely

whenever I read similar novels of old world fantasy and the battle of the demonic versus the angelic.

SARAH SOLNET About the Author...

I was born in Colorado on October 26th 1997. I love art and music. A book that I read that really impacted my thinking was The Giver. When I read this book, it was the first time the idea of a utopian society was introduced to me. It changed my view on the world. It made me think about how the world would be if the government made us all the same and tried to control us. This changed my view of the world because it made me think more about governments and society, and how they affect our everyday lives in significant way. Without the rules and the society we, as humans, wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves.

There has always been some sort of government with humans. There has to be a balanced government in order for it not to destroy itself or be destroyed. Other books that have impacted my life are The Book Thief, Ender’s Game and Elsewhere.

My writing style in the past was very basic and predictable. I am currently growing to have more of my own personal style in my writing. I have grown as a writer by learning different sentence structures to make my writing more interesting to read. I have learned to play with punctuation, and use higher vocabulary to enhance my sentences. I am working on not being as structured with my writing to make it more interesting. I am still growing as a writer and always will be growing. No matter how good you are, there's always room for improvement. I like to write about things that I am passionate about and persuasive pieces. I like to have the power to change

the minds of my reader and get my opinion across.

I hope to be a leader with my writing and persuade people with my writing. I fear that my writing will get negative attention, but I do hope that it changes people’s opinions on things. I know not everybody will agree with the opinion I voice but I hope that I will write it in such a way that I don’t offend readers. I hope to impact the society by leading them to decisions and opinions. I hope to change the minds of people in a positive way. Writing can be powerful if you want it to be; I hope I can and will make my

writing have the power to do something important that I believe in.

When I hear music There is nothing in the world that can harm me It calms me down, relieves stress and puts me in a good mood Music is everywhere You can see fingers gliding across keyboards, and guitar picks strumming the strings You can hear music all around and find it everywhere When people sing music, they taste the words they are singing When I hear music, The whole world is put on pause One Heart One Beat

Music is amazing. Music speaks to people. So why are there so many songs with bad messages? Yeah they are good songs with catchy tunes, but if you really listen to the lyrics they could influence you in a bad way. It’s not wrong to listen to them but just because you hear about something in a popular song doesn’t mean it’s right.

Music is like poetry to a tune. The famous poetry I know is written from the heart not just about them partying all night. People can really be influenced by music, so why aren’t their more songs that are about making a difference in the world in a positive way? If there were more songs that were making positive influences and the artists were setting examples maybe people would care more about others and helping people. An example of a song with a bad message is the song “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha. All it’s about is partying all night, like when the lyrics say, “Don’t got a care in the world but got plenty of beer.” If people see Ke$ha as one of their role models like a lot of people do with celebrities, she isn’t setting a good example for them. Songs with good messages don’t have to be boring songs, take the song “One Tribe” by The Black Eyed Peas. It has a catchy tune, a good beat and a good message. For example the lyrics state that we are one people and we shouldn’t care about where you are from or what you believe, we should just work together to make the world a better place. Music can make an influence in people’s lives.

“Music can change the world because it can change people.”

By: Sarah Solnet •••

The Beginning

Ring! Ring! Ring--there is always a bittersweet feeling when I walk through the doors on the first day of school. I’m excited because it is the start of a new beginning, a new year, yet I feel nervous that I will get lost, or I won’t know anybody in my classes. But most of all, I am excited to start again the thing that consumes most of my life from August to May. These feelings are normal for me on the first day of school, yet they are so foreign.

I walk in and everyone around me seems so happy, but maybe inside they are feeling the same way. Could it be that everyone else has the same feelings as me?

That they also are having this bittersweet feeling inside of them?

Ring! Ring! Ring!-- I was deep in thought when I heard it. I quickly realized what it was. It was the bell for first period. I head to my first class through the stampede of students. I find my class and step into the room and I’m pleasantly surprised to see a few of my friends in the class. Everyone is walking around with a “deer in the headlights” look as they try to find a spot to sit. A typical first day class goes on; the teacher introduces themselves, tells us about them, tells us class rules, what the year is going to be about, etc. The class is over.

During passing period I see a few friends in the hall and I greet them with a big hug, since I haven’t seen them all summer.

“I haven't seen you in forever!” one of us will say. Then we talk quickly about our summers and about what class we have next, sadly none of them are in my next class. My schedule says that I have two more classes until lunch and that my next class is social studies. I find the social studies room and walk in.

The same basic routine happens as before and then again.

Finally it’s lunch time. I walk down the stairs into the hectic area where we eat. A line of rowdy

people waiting to order lunch is wrapped around the commons.

There are so many people walking around trying to find a table to sit at with their friends. My friends and I choose a table to sit at. We crowd a bunch of people at the table and begin eating our lunches and talking about the day so far.

“In Mr. Smith’s class we did the craziest game!” “Did you have Math today?” “Do you know Cheyenne? She is in my science class!” These are some of the things you hear throughout the many conversations in the lunch room. We all start discussing what classes we have next. I’m nervous that no one will be in any of my elective classes.

I guess I will have the chance to make new friends but it’s nice having at least one of your friends in your class.

“I have art and french!” my friend said. A sigh of relief came across me. I had the same classes and I was so relieved to be in a class with one of my friends.

Suddenly I hear a a loud voice coming from a microphone on the stage.

“Welcome! I hope you are having a wonderful first day! It is now time to go to you next class.” The loud voice says into the speaker. Her voice rang in my ear for the longest time. I quickly find my friends that have the same class as me and we head off. We soon realize that we have no idea where we are going. I start to panic inside. What if we are late?

“It’s in room number 216.”

My friend says as she looks at her schedule, but what does that help?

The halls were so crowded with people trying to find their classes.

We looked for the signs that say which room number were where but with all of the people we couldn’t see them. My nightmare was becoming real! I felt lost in the swarm of people.

“Maybe we should ask someone.” I said to my friend.

“That’s a good idea but do you see anyone to ask?” She

says looking around for someone who could help. Then, I see a teacher we could ask.

“Where is room number 216?” I ask quietly. She points to a room upstairs.

“Thank you!” I say as I hurry to class. I reach the door to the class room, take a deep breath then walk in. Silence. Everyone stares at us. I am so embarrassed my face turns bright red.

“Welcome! Just come in and take a seat!” The teacher said. I was so relieved. After class was over we easily found our way to the French classroom following other people that knew where it was.

Again a normal first day class goes on. I was packing up my stuff when I heard It again, Ring! Ring! Ring!-another first day of school- done and over with. There is always a first time for everything, first day of work, first day of playing a sport, first day in a new house. The feeling is always the same, yet it feels so new. I think that I am ready for this day to come next year, but inside I know I truly am not.

Saving The Arts

Schools spend tons of money on sports every year. Why not put some of that money towards the By: Sarah Solnet arts? Just like kids and sports, the arts make kids unique. Not Music has always been an everybody is good at the same important part in my life. I have thing. Some are better at football taken piano lessons since I was than soccer just like some are five, enjoy taking Performing arts better singers then they are and other art classes. Piano is something that challenges me and dancers. If you take away programs like choir, art, and makes me work hard for theater students won’t get the something. It has taught me so opportunity to show and find how much. I want others to have this special they are in their own way. opportunity because I know how Where would people like The Fray important it has been to me. be without performing arts programs in schools? Without the Kids are passionate about the arts. classes in the school they They like to draw, sing, act, and attended they wouldn’t have been dance. If you take the arts classes introduced to music and they and programs out of schools, kids might not have even met. won’t have a good and safe way to express themselves. If kids can’t experience the arts when they are For some kids the arts programs younger, then we won’t have new are what keep them from ditching school, and keeps them from exhibits in art museums, or making bad choices. Classes like amazing shows, plays, and art and drama give kids that aren’t movies. Middle school and high school should be about trying new into math and science something things and finding your passion. If to look forward to. It allows them to have a break from all the stressful you take away the arts in schools work and let them have fun. It also students won’t be able to. is a safe and affective way to express themselves. If districts get It is a proven fact that being rid of the arts in schools they are involved with music can make you really hurting themselves. smarter. A ten-year research done

by Dr. James Cattera at the U.S. The arts make kids unique. Kids Department of Education shows are passionate about them, and that students involved with music they keep them from making bad generally get higher test scores decisions. Districts should not get than those with no music rid of the arts programs in schools. involvement. If music helps The arts programs in schools have students get higher test scores then shouldn’t schools want to add allowed me to meet many of my friends, have fun, and express even more music instead of myself. If schools cut these getting rid of it? Music is the only programs other kids won’t have thing that uses both parts of your these opportunities that I benefited brain. When musicians play an so much from. instrument they are doing things with both hands while reading musical symbols. They use their creativity by integrating their own musical interpretation of the piece.

This uses all the parts of your brain simultaneously.

RYDER STRAUSS I am a boy, fourteen years of age, nearing the end of the eighth grade. I’m not insanely popular, but I do have a few friends. I play the alto sax, tenor sax, bari sax, and bass clarinet. I have a love for music. Especially jazz. Jazz is my drug of choice. It makes me happy when i am sad. It is my life, my passion. Making it, listening to it, feeling it flow through me. I am also a self described nerd. Star trek, lord of the rings, doctor who, star wars, you name it. My love for sci-fi almost equals my love for music. I know more useless trivia about the production of Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn Than the entire population of my school combined. I have the script of Star Wars memorized.

I was born in boulder, colorado. I spent the first two years of my life living in a geodesic dome (how cool is that?).

After my sister was born, we moved to a brown wooden house in rollinsville.

My best friend was a big golden retriever, Sammy. He and i were incredibly close. but, when my sister was born, we gave him to a new home.

I still miss that dog.

Then, after three more houses, it was time to start second grade. we moved to Highlands ranch, where i reside today, and i started going to trailblazer elementary. It soon became clear that their curriculum was too easy for me, and in third grade i started attending

Northridge elementary, as part of the discovery program. There i completed elementary school. Then, (finally) It was time to leave sixth grade. I was finally in middle school.

It was a nice change, because in discovery I had the same teachers for four years. but no more. I was ready for the change.

In middle school, i became known as the nerd, the smart kid, the science geek. I love science. It is my favorite class of the day. (except for maybe band). That is how i am to

this day. I am the nerdiest, geekiest kid in our school, and i am proud.

The embodiment of awesome, of intellect, of total epicness is in one word. A dangerous word. A word of power. A word that could tear apart the universe if was in the wrong hands. A word of supreme awesomeness.

“Ryder”

Coming up...

That root beer Jonathan: a narrative

This picture brings to mind a sunny autumn day. The colors are reminiscent of the changing of the leaves. The gray of the bare branches covered in splashes of orange and yellow, the color of autumn leaves.

Rocks Don’t Talk: by Hayley Swedal

A Modern Drug: a commentary

SIX WORD

Poetry and Short Work Page

STORIES? PROCRASTINATING, PROCRASTINATING, PROCRASTINATING. CRAP!!! TOO LATE...

CHAPTER ONE: COUGHIN. CHAPTER TWO: COFFIN. LOOK BOTH WAYS. CROSS THE STREET. I CAME, I SAW, I LEFT. DAT ROOT BEER Dat can of root beer Sits on de counter mocking me.

Below The Waves

So tempting, all alone,

As I dive below the waves I leave behind the chaos of the surface.

I enter a world so serene, with beauty unmatched.

Time seems to slow.

It is a completely different world, below the waves.

unprotected.

Calling me, begging me to take a sip, a gulp or just chug de whole can.

But i know I cant.

It belongs to my sister, who I fear more than fear itself.

If I take a sip, it will be de end of me.

So, root beer, sitting on de counter, it was nice knowing you. perhaps, someday, our paths might cross again.

Jonathan

by Ryder Strauss •••

A narrative, written by a boy who lives in a house on a cul de sac at the end of a street by a school in a neighborhood on the edge of a town smack dab in the middle of a state that is part of a larger union, which just happens to be on a large continent resting in a particular hemisphere of the globe that i call home...

highlands ranch, and the next thing I knew we were looking for a new house. We chose a gray house directly across the street from an elementary school. We packed up all of our stuff, piled into the jeep, and headed south.

So now I am starting second grade. All of my friends still live in boulder. I am completely unfamiliar with the area. In boulder, I knew every turn, every street. I knew all of the best places to get a sandwich. Here, I As I walk through the front doors, am completely lost. It is as if I a feeling of dread takes control of have traveled through a strange me. All of my friends are out of new land without a map or a reach. I am surrounded by guide. people I don't know, joking amongst themselves, talking I choose a corner of the room to about what they did over the sit down in. The classwork is summer. All I can think about is easy enough. We start with how much I want to go home. A literacy, then math, then science. huge chunk of myself remains in I get a hundred percent on our the grey house at the end of Jay spelling pretest. I breeze right Street. through the lesson on revision.

My teacher, Mrs. Anderson, ends up creating a new spelling list for This area is very different from me. home. Boulder is a mish-mash of barbershops, delis, and grocery After math, we go to lunch. I stores. Here, everything is so choose a table, sit down, and uniform. Every house is the start eating. For lunch today: a same, with perfectly groomed peanut butter and jelly sandwich. trees and mowed lawns. The I am a bit of a peanut worshiper. shops and businesses are Peanut butter sandwiches, located in several different peanut butter, peanut butter shopping centers scattered candy, peanut brittle, salted throughout the town. The peanuts, unsalted peanuts, neighborhood streets are full of roasted peanuts, raw peanuts, twists and turns, dead ends and and just about every other loops, forming a suburban variation of peanut. labyrinth from which you have no “Is anybody sitting chance of escaping. here?” The voice came from a We were living a perfectly good life in boulder. We had a nice house, good schools, and awesome friends. My dad had a great job as a lawyer. But, he saw a better job opportunity in

boy who sits near me in class.

“No,” I reply. He sits down next to me and pulls out his lunch.

“My name is Jonathan. What’s yours?” I tell him my name.

“Whoa”, he says, ”That's a cool name.”

“Thanks,” I say Then the bell rings. It is time to go to class. I throw away the remnants of what was once a carrot, and head to the classroom. When I get there, it is time for science. The teacher doesn't teach anything I don't already know. I have grown up in a family of chemists. I had a fascination with everything science since I was very small. I could operate a coulometer before I could ride a bike.

After school, on my way home, I cannot help but think about my experience at lunch. That boy,

Jonathan, had been so friendly to me. And for the first time since I moved, I feel as though I could survive here.

A Modern Drug

by Ryder Strauss •••

A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE PIECE AND THEN, GO!

I feel that the human dependence on technology has gone almost too far. We seem to have become addicted to it, like a drug.

And, like a drug, we cannot function without it.

In this day and age, we are a civilization run by technology. iPods, iPads, computers, cell phones, etc. Let’s face it. We can’t function without it.

Every day, millions upon millions of people text their girlfriends, update their status on Facebook, send out tweets, check their email.

We use the Internet for communication, education, research, entertainment, etc.

Every day I go to school and see more people than i can count listening to music on their iPods, texting each other about who is dating who, playing games and messing around on stupid apps. There is only one explanation. The modern human is addicted to technology.

It hasn't always been this way. Once upon a time, people talked to each other face to face. They wrote letters. They read actual books, with actual paper.

They played actual sports, in actual fresh air, actually outside. People interacted with one another in the real world. We didn't always have mobile devices, or the Internet. We had to communicate the old fashioned way, exchanging pleasantries, shaking hands, and engaging each other in friendly conversation. Then, as the population got bigger, efficiency became more and more of an issue. We developed smarter and more efficient technology, and the people began to get dumber and less competent.

Now, I'm not trying to imply that I am against the use of technology. It is incredibly useful to have resources such as the Internet at our fingertips. More advanced computers can make more calculations and work much faster than they have in the past. We have made huge leaps in science and mathematics as a result of these more powerful, more efficient machines. Better communication systems have even saved lives.

People can instantly be informed of any imminent dangers or disasters. More advanced satellites can track severe weather and alert people of any potential threats. Technological advances have made life easier, and safer than before.

However, have we taken it too far? Have we lost touch with the real world, with nature? People don't even interact face to face anymore. Instead they spend hours on end texting each other across the same room. people spend more time on social networking websites than at an actual hangout.

Technology has become fundamental in our society. It is taken for granted. Most people of the new generation can,t imagine life without it. It is, in essence, a drug.

Americans are addicted to it.

We require it to function.

When it is taken away, we can no longer operate. We are a drug addict, and technology is the modern drug.

ABBY SUNTKEN About the Author " My name is Abby Suntken. I was born in Wheaton, Illinois and I lived there until I was two years old. I grew up with a furry friend named Kedzie, a sister named Jamie, and two loving parents. When I turned 3 we moved into Highlands Ranch and I think that is one of the best things ever.

There I met my best friend Maeve. We have been friends since we were 2. I grew up, in my opinion, the best neighborhood ever. It consisted of 16 kids and about 12 parents altogether. It was like the dream neighborhood, and that’s one of the things I’m most grateful for. I’m one of the most compassionate people I know. My parents always tell me I’m very sympathetic, and I’m starting to believe it. It’s good and bad in the same way. I feel the hurt and the pain of everyone and everything. In other ways I’m grateful that I can be there for others and that I’m not just selfish. I’m in love with moose. They are probably the most adorable things ever. I love to run cross country, play soccer, and hangout with friends. My friends and family are the most important things in my life. " When it comes to futures to be honest I have not a clue in the world of where I want to go, live, or do in this world.

I have some thoughts but I figure I have four years to really decide. I hope to become a physical therapist, but I would never want to be a doctor. The whole blood thing and cutting people open isn’t exactly high on my list. However, I do love learning about how the body works and the anatomy and functions of the human body. The other thing I have been interested in is Interior design, and anyone who knows me knows I love watching all of the HGTV shows and whatnot. "

" It’s hard to find a good book these days. Some of the books that have impacted my life are The Hunger Games, Bud, not Buddy, and Tuck Everlasting. Out of those books in ten years I will definitely remember The Hunger Games because it was such a crazy storyline that it’s unforgettable. It’s not everyday that you read a book about 24 teenagers fighting to the death. A book that has impacted the way I see the world is the book Tuck Everlasting. This is kind of weird because this book is fiction, but it taught me a lot of different lessons. " As a writer I have learned many things. I’ve learned mostly to apply my writing to life, the real world, or anything. I’ve also realized that your writing will be as impactful as you make it. The harder you try and more work you

put into it the better it will turn out. I’ve learned that every little detail can make a difference in your writing and that it can be the turning point. Another thing about being a writer is that it can help you in any situation. When your mad it helps you organize your thoughts and it’s a very nice way to express yourself without doing any bad damage to anyone or anything. " In the future, I hope to make some kind of an impact on the world.

Whether it be participating in a food drive or discovering a new cure to a disease I want to do something important on the world I’ve been in. I think the reading, writing, and thinking skills I’ve learned will help me, and could lead to me doing something impactful. "

Featured Writing...

A Commentary about technology affecting our social lives. and...

A Narrative about how things are meant to be My Dog Chazzy:)

SIX

Poetry and Short Work

WORD STORIES HAD A BEAR, SOLD HIS FUR.

A MAN WALKED INTO A BAR. OUCH.

BLIND CAT WENT SKYDIVING. BYE FLUFFY

Dear Creature, What am I? My home is in a big shiny metal box. Above me I see a clear, glass spinning plate. Our weather climate is quite bipolar most of the time. Some minutes are insane heat other minutes are just right. As for myself. I’m very small compared to where I live. I only have a few friends who live very far away from me. My color started out white and every time this metal box heats up my color gets darker and darker (not to mention I’ve been creating a shell). Can you guess what I am yet? Would you like another hint? OK. A ton of new people come into my village everyday and leave within 10 seconds to a minute or two. I’m not sure why they come, but it’s almost like our village is being used for something the creatures need. Oh, and another thing these creatures seem to come around every time the new people come into our village. Are you any closer to guessing what I am? If not I still have a lot of tricks and hints up my sleeve. Here’s a few more. Every time right before the new person is taken out of our village by the creatures, a really loud alarm goes off and echos inside and even outside of our village. Did I mention that we are not allowed to leave our village whenever for 2 reasons? 1. Our physical state doesn’t exactly support the movements we desire. 2. The gate is always shut. Our president doesn’t exactly encourage it either. That reminds me our president controls the heated days, and the open and close of the gate. You still can’t guess?! That’s OK I guess I still have lots of hints. This one is about my friends. They live very short lives and also are not allowed to leave their spot like the rest of us. The reason they live short lives and I don’t is because every Thursday afternoon a giant wet white cloth comes in and wipes out the village taking all of my friends with it. Some of them go quick in one swipe, others are not so lucky. They get swiped many times barely clinging to life and eventually have to be sprayed with disgusting smelling chemicals. However, I am safe, none of the wet white cloths have ever found me, so I will just sit in this crevice as long as I live greeting and saying goodbye to many of my new friends. If you haven’t figured out what I am take a good look in a heating source that heats many objects similar to the ones I’ve described. Look really close all around this shiny metal box and I bet you that you will find someone of my kind. When you find my village report back immediately.

Sincerely, Griffin the Great P.S. Go easy on the heat sometimes it’s unbearable. Thank You! P.S.S If you have still not figured out what I am I guess I can tell you. Wait!!! Oh no the it’s the giant wet white clo....

My Poetr y for the Poetree I had a moose How brown was he Watch Out! He just peed on your Po etree

Meant to Be •• Narrative: This is my piece about how I believe things are meant to be. I also relate that to the things that have happened in my life, and how if just one thing changed your whole life might.

“We should play Cops n’ Robbers!” “Okay! I’ll get Mat, Riley, Joe, and Sydney.” Maeve shouts from her window.” “I’ll get the other half!” I shout in reply.

“See you in 5.” My neighborhood is really close with each other. The type where the parents are best friends therefore the kids are too.

I practically live at my best friend Maeve’s house, and if I’m not there she’s at my house. As kids we’d run around and hangout outside everyday with our neighborhood gang, but the best part was it didn’t matter what age you were. The ages our neighborhood today ranges from 7th grade to Seniors. But before I used to live in Wheaton, Illinois. In 2000 my dad got a job offer in Colorado and he took it. Had he not taken the job I would have never met Maeve, my best friend,and she would have had a different “best friend.” I would have never have gone to these schools, or met anyone in Colorado. My life here would be non-existent. It’s weird for me to think about this. I think about how that one little decision could change everyone I knows life. I wonder if this was what was supposed to happen. My life now is amazing and sometimes I do think it was because we moved to Colorado. On the other hand, sometimes I wonder if I’m just saying that because I technically never knew what my life would’ve been like in

By: Abby Suntken

Wheaton. We visited Wheaton last year, and we drove by our old house. The owner was outside and came to talk. After a couple minutes of chit chat we ended up inside our old house.

Then it hit me. I want to move back. I was mad, mad at the people who lived there. How dare they live in our house... it’s not theirs! I thought back to all the stories about that house and how my mom took both the small closets so my dad had to build his own in the side of the wall. These were great memories. Now if we wouldn’t have moved to Colorado, those memories would not matter quite as much as they do now. That’s why I think we moved to Colorado. We got the chance to remember old memories, meet new strangers, and make new memories with our journey’s to come. Now reflecting back on that trip, I couldn’t imagine not living here.

My friends and I wouldn’t be playing Cops n’ Robbers every weekend. I wouldn’t have done all the fun things I did in Colorado. Erased. 11 years from my memory erased. That’s what would be done if we hadn’t moved to Colorado. It was a few months ago that I was talking to my mom. I was sitting in the kitchen with the sun shining brightly through the windows.

Maeve was coming over so I was just sitting waiting.

“Your dad got a job offer in Chicago for a company a man is trying to start.” my mom said as if it were no big deal.

“Seriously!” I said. The words hit me like a pile of bricks. I didn’t know what to think I needed to slow down and think about what I was going to say. I sat there and thought for a moment and then I said it. It was

somewhat of an impulse. “I’m only going to Chicago on two conditions. One if we can move into our old house, and two if we can bring the whole neighborhood with us.” By saying this, I think my mom knew what I thought about the offer. Any day I would love to move into my old house and I always tell my parents when it goes on the market we should buy it as a “Vacation Home”, but there is no way I could ever give up the life I have here for a house even though it means the world to me.

I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe things are meant to be. Why we choose to see a movie instead of going to Jumpstreet, or why you left that place at that time. There are the little things, and then things that could change your life. I even think that bad things happen for a reason. If they didn’t, we would never learn any valuable life lessons. Maybe life just happens and there is no real influence and things come and go, but sometimes it seems like this was meant to happen.

Are you even listening to me?

By: Abby Suntken ••• THIS IS MY COMMENTARY ABOUT HOW TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN AFFECTING OUR SOCIAL LIVES GREATLY. IT GIVES FACTS AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCES TO BACK UP MY POINT. Technology. That word hadn’t really even been introduced 30 years ago, and now a girl I babysit who is 4 knows how to work an iPad, and her brother who’s 8 has his own iPad. It’s hard to know at these times if this technology is really helping or hurting our world. In 1995 the number of users on the internet was 16 million.

That was 4% of our population.

Today the number of users on line is 2,267 million. This is 32.7% of our population.

Is this recent invention going to make a good impact or a bad one? In the past few years, it’s hard to carry a real conversation with someone if there is an electronic device within 5 feet. I may have just told my friend a whole story and when they finally look up from their phone all they say is... “What?” It’s frustrating to try to talk to someone when they haven’t even made eye contact the whole time, and then all they say is “Yeah”, “Okay”, or “Uh-Huh”, and you know their not paying attention to you one single bit.

People need to realize this technology is affecting our social life and skills greatly. That friend who loves to talk after school has just been blown off because we can’t unglue our mind from the world inside that screen. Our nightly dinners full of talking turn into one word responses because of the TV that “has” to be on.

“Hanging out” has taken on a new meaning. Some people feel like they can’t have fun if they don’t have an iTouch, or a laptop, or a gaming system. This is why I feel lucky. I was born in a generation

where kids still played outside all day summer, winter, spring, and fall. We would spend our time hanging out with friends and not through Facebook, Skype, or Facetime.

Sometimes I think that kids these days think there is no way to have fun without electronics.

Some people may argue that this isn’t bad for them, which in my opinion is hard to believe....

According to Scholastic News “The average teenager spends more than 53 hours a week in front of a screennearly eight hours every day. This is probably more time than we spend at school and more time we spend sleeping. If the average human is awake 15 hours about 7 of them are spent in school and 8 are spent watching a screen. This leaves no time for friends or really a social life at all.

One time, one of my friends sent 6,000 texts in one month. We calculated this and we found out that that would be 200 texts in 24 hours. Not to mention were asleep for 8 hours of that day and in school for 7. This all is affecting childhood relationships, but childhood relationships can’t go away. It’s where you learn that people may steal your crayons, but you’ll have another friend who will share with you. We have to learn social skills and how to deal with things that may make us mad or sad. “These good, close relationships — we can’t allow them to wilt away. They are essential to allowing kids to develop poise and allowing kids to play with their emotions, express emotions, all the functions of support that go with adult relationships,” said Professor Parker, who researches child development. When I found this I really realized that your whole childhood experience shapes your life. We can’t live our lives addicted to technology. The only physical or emotional muscles we’d have would be in our fingers from typing, gaming, or tapping a screen. Kids need to be strong because in the real world

someone beating you in a video game is the very least of their problems, and kids need to realize people can be mean and they need to know how to deal with that.

However, I think it would be hard to learn these social skills where they’re going to be born into a world where they aren’t taught anymore because of all the technology that has just only begun to dent our world.

The device addiction can be deadly, also. Studies have shown that half of our waking hours are spent on the phone, online, or watching TV. There are so many ways these devices can distract us. Over ⅓ of teen drivers have sent or received text messages while driving. Even worse there are about 6,000 deaths and half a million people have been injured due to distracted drivers. Is that little device that can surf the web, play music, and use GPS as important as a life?

It’s not only distraction these cause, they affect everyones daily social life.

It’s so tempting to check our Facebook or Twitter every second because it’s right at our fingertips and so easy to access. However, every time we open that app or text that friend back, we have just shut ourselves off from the rest of our world.

Slowly, but surely our social life is slipping away, but we don’t notice... there are new tweets to check.

CHEYENNE WALKER Born in Colorado. Grown in Colorado. Still in Colorado. Nothing wrong with that right? I mean except for those who have goals.

Unless your goal is to be an extreme winter sports pro, which I know for sure isn’t mine, Colorado isn’t exactly the place to be. I love it, don’t get me wrong. It’s beautiful, and safe, and home. But sometimes comfort zones and doing something worthwhile with your life don’t always coincide. I’ve never wanted to just grow up, get married, have kids, and be normal. I always hoped for a little more than just living. Living is easy.

Pushing limits and yourself is not.

10 years from now I’ll be 24. Man, that seems so old. How could I remember something from so long ago. But I would remember reading The Book Thief. I’ll remember that sweet-as-candy feeling during childhood that is so accurately portrayed. I will also remember those thick, suffocating tears that rose up inside of me during a crushing goodbye lingering on bomb-hit lips. All my life I’d heard of World War II. How horrible it was. How many people died. Suddenly, reading that book the numbers weren’t numbers. They rose up out of my head and formed shapes.

These shapes formed people that weren’t a statistic. People that lived and breathed and moved just as I move now. These people had hopes too, whether they were like mine or not.

that were forbidden to be thought outside of. All this has a name. It’s education. As students, we are told it’s our job to break out of that comfort zone.

Because it’s so easy. All you have to do is challenge yourself, they say. If only our comfort zone was a definite thing, like a big glass bubble just waiting to be shattered. Creative writing is creative but you stand in the way of you no matter what. I used to sometimes try to figure Writing was always strict as the ruler in a out what boundaries I needed to push. I teacher’s hand. It was unbending. started to realize that sticking to what Structured as a finely tailored suit. An you’re good at isn’t bad at all as long as immovable being that somehow needed to be conquered during standardized tests and you make sure you get better. essay due dates. Pen and paper meant black and white. No exceptions. Only lines

Future. What a horrible, beautiful word.

In only six letters the English language managed to encompass everything I fear and hope for the most. The fear of missing moments that could have been perfect. The hope of saying the right thing at the right time. The fear of breathing my last breath unfulfilled and unsatisfied. The hope of making a difference. Future. I could be all cheesy and say I’m gonna go out there and make some huge difference in the world but I’d be kidding myself. It’s not that easy. It’s never been that easy.

Featured Writing...

Type to enter text

A commentary on body image in the U.S. A Short Narrative A poem A reflection on the art of dance

SIX WORD STORIES?

Poetry and Short Work Page Pointe.

The holy grail of dance.

The ultimate goal.

A symbol of accomplishment.

The epitome of elegance and grace.

Mine in less than a year.

Pre- pointe.

My objective.

My hard work.

The halfway mark.

Pre- pointe will soon be mine.

KATNISS HAS BAD AIM. BYE PEETA. TOOK OFF MAKE-UP. REACHED GOAL WEIGHT. WE’RE YOUNG. WE’RE OLD. TIME FLIES.

Ballet I. Piece of cake.

Accomplished.

Completed with ease and confidence.

Ballet II. In the workings.

Ready to be conquered.

Anxious to be crushed under my ballet shoe clad feet.

Ankles.

Strong.

Ready.

Prepared for the physical labor and pain that accompanies toe shoes.

SMILED ALL DAY. CRIED ALL NIGHT.

Feet.

Accomplished.

Arches like the waning moon.

DANCED LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW. SORE.

Me. Fierce and Prepared to make a name from myself.

Eagerly anticipating the moment when I grow two inches and execute a perfect triple turn.

Pointe.

Mine for the taking.

Start Talking Dance is all talk. The word dance means movement, doesn’t it?

I walk in to a studio and all I hear is girls talking about how gre at they are. Not how gre at we are. We. Dancers .

People who train to be able to speak without speaking. People wh o go to hell and back to be able to do things our bodies were not meant to do. The cla ss is a class and the studio is a studio bu t dance is a million thi ngs in one. We. We try so hard to be perfect. We try so hard to be the best and beat the competition so why can’t we try so hard to be united? So what if yo u can’t do an illusion?

Or a perfect turned out extension? You are a dancer. And you have a song inside your so ul that you need to sing with your body. So ho w do we do that? We be gin with ordinary peop le who wish to become extraordinary. Start talking.

Role Model?

“I’m so fat!” Ever heard that one before? I know I have. As a fourteen year old girl I hear those words at least twice a day. And normally, they come out of the mouth of a skinny, self-conscious girl who watches too much TV and spends a lot of time on the Internet. Models, celebrities and even athletes are creating negative views of beauty in today’s society.

“One sugar plum too many” is how New York Times critic Alastair Macaulay described Jenifer Ringer in her performance as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the New York City Ballet. The dance community responded in huge waves attacking Macaulay for his insensitivity and harsh words toward the talented Miss Ringer. I have to say after viewing the dancer I was shocked and even checked to see if I was watching the same girl Macaulay wrote about. Her body is extremely fit and looks as if she weighs no more than 120 lbs.

The Internet uproar brought an important question to the table: Does the strict and exacting ballet industry pose negative effects for women?

Being a member of this industry for several years I have experienced firsthand the challenges that accompany the art of ballet.

There are many young women in my acquaintance who have found eating to be a challenging topic. The desire for a 100 pound or below figure runs very strong in the ballet and dance world. The dangerous cycle of calorie counting and dancing on an empty stomach has harmful side effects not only on a dancer’s body, but also on her mind.

So what can we do? We can’t simply change the ballet community that has been striving for perfection since it began. Many peers in my ballet class have difficulty focusing because they are too busy comparing their body to another or wishing that they have a slimmer waist. People will always want to have something they can’t have. We can never change that. But we can encourage women to be healthy. If I attempted to dance without proper nutrition I am sure I would not perform to my best ability. Dance is all about working with what you have to create something beautiful. So let’s work with what our bodies give us to create healthy and active people.

Ballet dancer Drew Jacoby said, “When I stopped trying to fit in, and began being myself and exploiting my difference, my

This piece is a commentary on how different medias and industries affect the ways women perceive themselves and their bodies.

career took off.” Many directors agree that too-skinny body types can be unattractive and sickly looking. No one wants to watch a performer who looks as if she is about to blow away by the wind. Because ballet is performed through the body it is hard to ignore characteristics that dancers are required to have. But by starving themselves, they run the risk of being hospitalized and hurting their career before it even begins. Ballet instructors can prevent this by educating students on the importance of maintaining a healthy body weight as well as eating right and performing to the best of their abilities.

Dancing is supposed to be a joy and a privilege. Let’s not abuse it.

But it’s not just ballet.

Women everywhere are being harmed by the terrifyingly skinny models and actresses that parade around our TV screens. Many young girls are beginning to have the impression that being skinny and not eating is the only way to be beautiful.

But this distorted image of beauty is far from reality and becomes an obsession among many young teens.

The fact is this: studies done by National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) have shown that anorexia can cause the victim to have difficulty thinking properly or performing any type of physical activity without running the risk of fainting. In addition, diseases such as diabetes and gallbladder disease have been shown to occur in under nourished women.

These supposed “beautiful” women strutting down the runway may be on the verge of fainting from the effects of starving oneself. Ana Carolina Reston, a young fashion model high up in the industry who was told she was “too fat,” weighed in at a mere 88 pounds when she died from anorexia nervosa in 2006. Furthermore, model Luisel Ramos, just 22 years old, died after eating only lettuce and Diet Coke for several months. These are only a few that have suffered and added to the rising death toll that has resulted from society’s anorexic and bulimic life-style.

As a young teenager, I notice that girls often compare themselves to actresses or models and make remarks such as “oh she’s so skinny!” and “I wish I had her legs.” Many girls believe that is what is normal and their natural weight is abnormal. Even small children who are growing up in this culture are receiving the

impression that too skinny is healthy. "90 percent of [American women] think they weigh too much. On any day 25 percent of women are on diets, with 50 percent finishing, breaking, or starting one," said Naomi Wolf.

“So,” you may ask, “What is the Fashion Industry doing about it?” In 2006 Milan Fashion week made a bold decision to stop any models under the healthy BMI from participating in the shows. This caused outrage and many American modeling agencies were shocked. Currently, many are speaking against the image of beauty in media, but not much is being done.

Models who are obviously far from healthy are still being allowed to walk on runways and harm young people.

Cocaine and ecstasy largely plague the fashion industry. In order to fight the hunger, models as young as thirteen years old will become addicted to drugs that help them shed pounds. “Often girls take pain relievers to keep from getting hungry,” says McPatrick McMullan, a member of a successful modeling agency. Many young teens look up to models such as Karlie Kloss and Chanel Iman. This isn’t how really women look. Or act, for that matter.

Girls long to be tall and skinny but drugs, medication, and starving one-self are risky ways to achieve a goal.

Websites such as “Pretty Thin” and “ProAna Tips and Tricks” (Pro-Ana is short fro Pro- Anorexia.) tell visitors that eating disorders are a positive fixation. These websites encourage girls to fight hunger and become as thin as possible. Garnished with attractive bright colors and flowers, the websites draw the reader in with peppy tips on how to starve yourself. One website suggested wetting a rubber band around one’s wrist and snapping it every time there is a desire for food. Another had recently posted the “Thin Commandments” which include sayings such as “being thin is more important than being healthy” and “ If you aren’t thin, you aren’t attractive.” Anyone else disturbed?

Rather be Living Packing. Constant packing and unpacking. Never looking back; never slowing down. Leaving a trail of unwanted keepsakes on her way back to what she now calls “home.” She’s a guest now. A visitor. I guess that’s just her way.

She never took pictures because she’d rather be living. She wasn’t sad. I never saw a tear show. She was ready to take on leaving home head first. Going away was not a concern. It was never a concern for her.

Savanna left home last fall. It was such a change. Here one day; gone the next. 1,022 miles away. I used to sit in her room while she packed and bombard her with questions. “Are you excited?” I would say. “ Yes,” She would reply in a tired voice, as if she’d been asked that question a million times. Probably because she had.

“Will you miss us?” Or maybe I didn’t want to hear the answer to that.

“I guess, but I’ll be ok.”

I’ll be ok.

Mom was a wreck.

Halfway through a conversation she would burst into tears at the thought of her daughter who was gone. It was so surreal for me. I never imagined she would actually leave. She was my best friend, my partner-in-crime, my sister. She left with Mom and Dad in August. Just like that, she had disappeared. We promised to

This piece is a narrative about when my sister and best-friend, Savanna, went to college in Tennessee.

email and Skype. It helped but things just got so busy. I always imagined it would be difficult to have your sister away, but it was flat out weird. I always thought she would just walk right through the door like she used to. I kept reminding myself that she’s still living and breathing. She’d be back soon.

About a month after she left, things were back to normal. I went to school, had friends over, and never noticed my sister wasn’t there. We talked every once and a while on the phone but I was fine. I didn’t miss her that much. The only time I felt sad was when I was setting the table. I would always set a place for her without thinking. Once I realized she was gone I had to put everything back in the cabinet. I knew she would come home for Thanksgiving, though, and when she did, I was ecstatic. She brought her friend Dexy from South Africa! We spent a whole week having fun. She left again and, this time, I was ok. No tears, no worries because I knew she was in the right place.

She was going back home.

She came back for Christmas, of course. For about a month she was here. It was great.

There was always a friend over or something fun to do that day. It had to end sometime, though. She left again just about a week ago.

I’m getting used to this coming and going. This unpacking and then packing again. This “she’s here and oh, she’s not here.” I’ll be ok and I know she will. “Just keep living” is what I imagine her saying to me.

It’s weird to have someone so close away from home, but it’s even weirder when they stay away. Imagine someone you love simply leaving.

Suddenly, they’re not there anymore and you have to figure out a way to cope with that. I sometimes wonder what it will be like when my other sister Anyssa leaves and I’m left completely alone for two whole years. I’ll adapt. I guess. Savanna leaving taught me to embrace little things when it comes to being with your family because, someday, they won’t be there twenty-four/seven.

She taught me to enjoy life no matter where you are or who your with, and in a way, I’m glad she went to college. It was always her dream to be a writer and now she’s going to make it happen.

RACHEL!!!!

Going on and Growing up Middle School. Those two short years that prepare you for high-school and the rest of your life. I came into Mountain Ridge as a new student. Lost, scared, confused; a newbie. I felt like a tiny ant about to be stepped on by an unsuspecting passerby. My first two weeks of middle school were spent wandering around in circles, down winding hallways and asking the eighth graders where my next class was. I would arrive at class late and embarrassed that I was the last one to sit in my seat. The teacher would see my distress and walked over to assure me that it was okay.

Then the teacher would turn on their heels and walk back to their desks and stare into the screen of the macbook computer that was sitting patiently in front of them.

I’ve learned many life skills that will carry on into high-school and the rest of my life. For example, I have

peers and friends. This life skill

shows that you want to

will help me develop close

understand.

relationships and friendships that will last a lifetime. I have also learned how to keep up with my school work, and to not be afraid to ask for help. I have been shy in the previous years, and asking for help was traumatizing for me; But I learned that asking for help doesn’t make you look stupid, but it

I am looking forward to the future, and cannot wait to embark a new life in high-school. It’s scary and nervous thought, but I am excited about the new opportunities and accomplishments that will wait for me in high-school.

learned how to communicate with my

When the heart Stops beating Home Tornado A wordle Of my up and coming story, When the heart stops beating.

Soon to come: Leaving

MY SIX WORD STORIES!!

Poetry and Short Work Page

First steps; Only one million left.

Farewells, tears exchanged, little girl gone.

Sun rises, sun sets, new day.

Boom. Crash. Bang.

Rumble.

Thunderstorm over.

One Life. Two feet.

One mouth.

Tiny feet. Tiny hands.

New life.

Teddy bear. Ragged, worn. Memories remembered.

An intro to my next piece of writing:

Drip Drop Drip drop. Drip drop. Pitter patter sound on the rooftop.

Tick tock. Tick tock. The ticking of the grandfather

A little more Abou t me I am !4 years old.

clock.

Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop. Now the rain has finally stopped.

I am about t o b e a freshman over at MVHS The wind I have 6 member family, Including s in my me.

The wind waves hello, I moved to Colora Te xa s ab ou t tw do from o ye ar s ago.

As the flowers dance and sing.

I love to write, an d enjoy every time I g e t the chance to write something new.

I am on the MVHS team, and I also JV pom LOVE to dance.

I ADORE drawing.

Thunderstorm Trees groan and bend in agony.

The thunder and lightning laugh like a bully to a child.

“Creak”. A little three year-old girl toddles down the hallway to her parents’ room. She carefully opens the door, and walks over to where her mom is peacefully sleeping. The little girl tugs at the hem of her mom’s sleeve pleading,” Mommy, mommy, wake up”.

Her mom stifles a yawn, and opens her eyes to her daughter, Charlotte.

She sees Charlottes rosy red cheeks and bloodshot eyes and realizes that she’s been crying.

Home By: Rachel Williams I lay down, letting out a heavy sigh as the warmth of the sun caresses my face. The cool, crisp grass contorts to my body, creating a grassy bed. The songbirds sing a lullaby sweet as honey. Everything is perfect; all nature working together as one.

I start to fall into a daydream when my Nana calls out for me to come inside. I force myself to go, promising to return.

When I return, I hear the trees, the old wood swing, and the woods beckoning me to come and play. I humbly accept their invitation and run out to greet them. The wind plays with my hair, tossing it this way and that, forming a wreath around my laughing face. The leaves tease me, calling out,” you can’t catch me”! I ignore them and continue to walk through the woods. I always enjoy my time here, savoring every last drop till it’s all gone. Over in the distance, I hear a cow, who is calling to her baby calf. I smile and giggle as the clumsy little calf stumbles out of the woods to it’s mother. I walk over to the little pond in the pasture, glance down into the water, and see my youthful, joyful face. A fish, curious to see what I am, leaps out of the water and dissipates my reflection. I walk on, and I end up at a small creek. The soft trickling of the water instantly puts me at ease.

As a heave another heavy sigh, the sun seems to shine brighter than before. I find

a small tree to lay down under and fall into a daydream. I feel at one with nature and I slowly start to close my eyes. “Just for a minute,” I say aloud. But this “nap” of mine would not last a minute, it ended up lasting much longer than that. When I started to regain consciousness, the sun was shining bright into my eyes, and awoke me from my slumber.

Once my eyes started to adjust, I noticed the tender blues, pinks, and oranges tinting the sky; it was late afternoon. I sprinted back, anxious to see if my grandparents were looking for me. I arrive back at their house, heaving and gasping for air to reach my deflated lungs. I walk inside the house and find them lost in a world of conversation.

When they finally turn to face me, they simply ask,” Where were you”? I was surprised to see how calm they were, after all, I fell asleep in the woods for an hour. My mom and dad asked what I was doing in the woods. I Take a deep breath and describe to them my day. They nod amongst each-other and smile when I tell about the calf. I finish, breathless. My Nana and Pop then loudly announce that it is time for supper. All the family rushes to the kitchen like a ravenous pack of wild dogs.

Everyone washes up and joins our family at the table. We say grace, and dig in like a flock of vultures.

During supper, we laugh,smile, and enjoy eachother's company with the occasional giggle of my little brother, Evan. I smile and think,”Wow what a great family I

have”. My family of laughing hyenas finish supper in no time at all, and for me, it’s time to go back outside. Once I step foot onto the pavement, the trees call out,”We missed you, come play”!

I have to resign, because the stars have invited me to a party up in the sky. I go to join them, and lay my head on a soft green pillow. The stars flicker and shine as if saying”Hello, glad you’re here”. I smile back, and wait for the show to start. I watch in amazement as the stars put on the most spectacular show. I “Ooh and Ah” at the glowing spheres of light unfolding before me. The finale is a Shooting star, dancing it’s way across the sky. I applaud, and the stars shine brighter, as if they were bowing. As I stand up, my eyes start to flutter and close, signaling me that I’m tired. I groggily stumble inside, say,”Goodnight” to my loved ones, and collapse onto the bed.

As I pull the sheets up to my neck, I think to myself,”What a great day”. And I fall into a deep sleep, imagining another sunrise, another sunset, and another day filled with adventures, waiting to be discovered.

Survivor Aquarium. But these fun little trips could not My heart is thumping keep me from worrying with anticipation. A about my little sister. silent tear rolls down my About after a week of cheek. This is too much being in Houston, the for a five year old girl to day of surgery came go through, and that girl knocking at our door. All is my little sister, Annie. of our family drove to It all started when she the hospital, with Annie was born with a heart in tow. defect. Her valve to her Now, being the nineheart was not working year-old that I was, I right, but she acted like freaked out and thought a normal little girl, that Annie was going to laughing, playing, die. Tears flowed out of getting into things. But my eyes like a rushing she would constantly get river. But, my Mom and cold, even though it was Dad assured me and extremely hot out. When said that the doctor was this started getting experienced and that worse, we had to take she would be fine. But I her to a doctor, who was would not believe them in Houston, Texas. We till I saw her with my lived in Dallas at the own eyes. That night I time, so our family had tossed and turned, to drive an excruciating sweat stuck to my face. five-and-a-half hours to The next morning, I get there. asked my Grandmother My Grandmother lived if Annie was okay. She in Houston, she still does replied,“ The surgery today, so when we were went well, she is doing there we’d stay at her just fine.”When she said house. But for the first those words, it was like a couple of days, my Mom, huge burden was lifted Dad, my younger brother off of me. My heart Evan, and Annie stayed yearned to see my little in a hotel in Downtown sister. About three days Houston. On the other days later, I went to the hand, me and my older Hospital to see her. I was brother, Hayden, stayed thrilled to see Annie, and at her house. During our so was she. stay in Houston, our During my visit, me family did all sorts of and Annie played with fun activities. We went to puzzles, watched T.V., the Children’s museum, and played with the the Natural science buttons that controlled museum, and the the bed. When it was By: Rachel Williams

time for me to leave, Annie did not want me to go. She pleaded and begged, but either way I had to go. But thankfully, three days later, Annie was released from the Hospital. We were all so excited, we decided to throw a Welcome home party. We decorated the house with balloons and streamers, and made cupcakes and all sorts of goodies. When she arrived, we were all in hiding, but when she opened the door we all yelled,“SURPRISE!!!!” .

When I saw her smile, my face lit up with joy. I hadn’t seen that smile in a long time. We danced, laughed, and just celebrated that Annie was well and back home. This experience showed me to appreciate my little sister. Even though she can be annoying, I couldn’t live life without her.

KENZIE WINSLOW About the Author...

I’m simple to understand... if you are patient enough to listen to my story. I was born on September 17th, 1997 at Swedish Hospital in Denver, Colorado. I like to read, write, hangout with my friends, and play volleyball. I don’t like soccer, iguanas, and chickens.

School is easy for me, it always has and I’m assuming it will be forever. I’m writing a book with one of my best friends, Akanksha. I bake a lot with my other best friend, Cheyenne. My two favorite books are The Hunger Games series and I Have Lived a Thousand Years. The Hunger Games allows you to imagine a society outside of America. I Have Lived a Thousand Years tells readers what happened in our past. I think that it’s important to learn from the past and become aware of what has gone on in the world. “Those you don’t learn from the past, tend to repeat it.” This is what my mom told me when I found out that I was going to be listening to a Holocaust survivor speak in Germany. Imagine that, someone who cried their eyes out over a non-fiction book now has to listen to the stories again to ease the pain. But no amount of medicine could ease the pain of the way I Almost two years from now I was rushed to was treated in 7th grade: I got stared at for the ER. The doctors didn’t seem to the thing in my mouth and no one even understand why I was screaming bloody murder when there was nothing visibly wrong bothered to ask why I had this MAGO on my teeth. But, what can you do? It’s over with me. So, they did what all confused and I have people who care about me and doctors do: they stuck in IV and tried to get me to eat. The doctors looked and looked, but they understand that I have the most couldn’t not find anything for the life of them. painful disease in world right in the nerves of my jaw.

So, naturally the X-Rays went to a neurologist. He finally called us into his room I don’t expect you to understand me yet, because there is so much more to learn. I and told us the news: “Well, I’ve never seen this in someone so young but to the best of my love volleyball. No, I won’t play in college.

I want focus mainly on school at my knowledge she has Trigeminal Neuralgia.” college of choice, Stanford, because twelve Trigeminal what? Yes, trigeminal neuralgia. years of college await me. Yes, twelve So, I got this piece of plastic stuck in my mouth and a whole lot of Vicodin and steroids years. I want to be a pediatric neurologist

(I bet you can guess why). My hope for the future is Stanford. And my dream is to help some other child who is going through what I’m going through. I want to help people. True, everyone says this, but I truly want to change the lives of people who go through so much pain because no one deserves to go through pain.

Poetry and Short Work Page

SOMETIMES WHEN I WRITE I GET LOST IN MY THOUGHTS AND THE PENCIL JUST WRITES ON ITS OWN. THEN WHEN I GO BACK AND READ IT I GET REALLY CONFUSED...

The bright happy day turned dark; in a matter of minutes. The waving grass was blanketed by white powder. The streets remained clear, but the sidewalks stayed busy. Neighbors rushing to and fro. Preparing for a late night Waiting, Watching, Where is he?

Looking, Listening, One hour.

party. We knew that school was going to be canceled because the yards were piled high with little pieces of art. Each one different from the next.

Sold! Children bundle up, ready to buy and collect as many art pieces as possible so that they can become

Standing,

victorious! The art is mashed together

Pacing,

to create a larger portrait; fit to belong

Two hours.

in the Louvre. Then quickly destroyed

Sitting, Stood up.

as it contacts the black of childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jacket.

Teaching Religion in Public Schools: Should it be Monitored?

My Commentary Piece

by Kenzie Winslow •••

“Americans are being denied the right to express their religious speech in the public square.”

-Ralph Reed (Christian Coalition) My 7th grade year wasn’t all that great. But, that was the first year that I got the opportunity to learn about other religions, besides Christianity, and it was the most I have ever learned in one year. I learned all about Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. I’ve never learned so much in a Social Studies class. And it wasn’t just the history of the religion and the present day beliefs; and we also learned about the geography of the area where that religion was prominent. We learned about the history of India, the U.S., Jerusalem, Africa and so many other countries around the world...

When our four month unit was over we completed it by heading to the different temples, churches and sanctuaries. We spent the day traveling around Denver and experiencing how other people viewed things. During each stop we asked questions of the pastor or worship leader and got to look around at the shrines or at the paintings.

All of the places were so beautiful and full of history. You could look anywhere in the Buddhist Temple and see that each gold covered artifact had a history and place in those peoples’ hearts. Each painting on the Greek Orthodox church’s wall showed a different scene in the Bible. The flowers placed along the walkway had meaning to the Jewish sanctuary. Suddenly, plants or chairs weren’t just things they were artifacts in the worshipers minds and I will always remember that.

When we went into the Islamic mosque we were told to put the scarves all of the girls were required to bring on. Its not that our teachers were saying “You now need to believe in the Islamic beliefs.” They were teaching us respect of other religions.

Nobody complained or was rude they just did it because they understood that you need to be respectful or you were not going to be able to share in this experience. It was amazing: there were no pictures on the walls or paint. They girls were put on one side of the room and the boys on the other. Yes, I may not agree with how they see the genders

but I was there to learn and nobody was going to stop me from doing that. At 1:30 PM the worshipers were brought in and we watched as the women and female children were brought upstairs to a balcony and the men and male children stayed in the main service area.

Just because we stood and watched 10 minutes of the Islamic prayers the field trip was banned for future classes. It was the greatest learning experience of my life and to think that future students would not be able to experience that left me with a sickening feeling. I remember how I felt when I read the email that had been sent to the parents of my 7th grade team: I felt awful and sad.

That was my teachers’ favorite field trip and it was being taken away because it was deemed ‘inappropriate.’

Would teaching about religion create tolerance? Less violence? In Indonesia tension between Christians and Muslims has sparked violent acts. Recently, a member of the church was stabbed because of their religious beliefs. Also, in Indonesia a bomber disguised as a church-goer bombed a church in Central Java right after the Sunday service was over. Indonesia is mainly a Muslim country, but there are churches that have courageously started their Sunday services. The group Jemaah Islamiah is the culprit of this “terrorist” attack. Many people believe that this act of “inhuman” viloence is indeed an act of terrorism.

Jemaah Islamiah has known ties with the terrorist group al-Qaeda. These acts bring up a question: what has religious controversy brought us too?

People have a lot to learn in life. We, as kids of the United States, have the right to learn.

On a country-wide survey citizens were asked 32 questions about religion. 3,412 people took this survey. The nation as a whole flunked: respondents answered 16 out 32 questions correct, a D in the grade book.

This is all the evidence you need to see that people need to learn more about religions around the world.

If people want to survive in the real world they are going to have to be able to handle controversy and the only way they are going to be able to do that is if they learn about all parts of the world. ACLU states that, “Schools are afraid to teach religion because

they are afraid of the controversy.” We should not just learn about the geography and language but the unspoken rule of no stereotyping. Some people do stereotype but that’s because they are unwilling to learn about the different religion or race or culture.

We only stereotype because we are scared and if we give our children the opportunity to learn and not be afraid, they might make that decision to not form unfair opinions but, to be a good addition to their community.

As Americans we pride ourselves on “...the land of the free...” but, how much do we actually do to show this? In our Constitution that our Founding Fathers put in place it clearly states that we have freedom of religion. So why when the word God comes up or the Four Noble Truths gets brought up do we pull away? Kids all over the U.S. say things that would get themselves slapped or spanked when our grandparents were kids.

They say “cuss” words and repeat what they hear in movies that some adults would consider inappropriate for their grown child.

But, they say it and adults don’t even skip a beat; its as if they never heard it. When kids get the impression that religion is meant to be believed but never voiced they get shy when its brought up. We can avoid this mess by allowing students to learn about the basic religions in their Social Studies classes.

Who’s to say that religious beliefs aren’t to be shared? The School Board? Because last time I checked I had freedom of speech and they can’t take that away from me. They can try: they can take away teaching religion and they can take away the most amazing field trip but they can’t take away my opinions or my memories. And if they could they would have a hard time trying because I am not ever letting go of what religion has taught my community and country.

Happy?

My Narrative Piece

by Kenzie Winslow

upstairs freestanding walkway, her cat usually sat on that ledge and Happy? How am I supposed to be when called she would jump down happy when I feel as though a piece onto the cushions below. Their of me is gone? How can they just kitchen was small, but a lot of our expect that I’m going to be okay? memories were made there... her two How could she just say goodbye older sisters, Haley and Chelsey, when I was her best friend? How would help Kendal, Claire, and I could that innocent, blond haired create new recipes with whatever we girl just leave me behind without a could find for our catering company. second thought? I guess I’ll never We burnt a ton of afternoon snacks know because it doesn’t annoy me in there: like cheese crisps and anymore... Well, it does; I just push it bagels. Her backyard was our oasis: to the back of my mind. If I forget, the jumbo tramp was so many maybe one day I’ll finally be okay things: an ocean home for mermaids, again... the stage where rock-stars Her house was traditional on the preformed, the white sand beach outside: brown, stucco, three-door where sisters vacationed after a garage, little patio by the front door, horseback riding tournament. Her but, on the inside you were taken home was my home and her sisters aback. It was like each room were mine. They moved and my showed each member of the home and family was taken away. households’ personality. When you Some people think 5th walked in, you practically ran into graders are too young to grow up carpeted stairs, but if you turned but, Kendal and I had to. Well, we right, you would go into a classic had no choice to grow up because sitting area- complete with a piano, when she left we were confused and leather seats, and a lace table cover. sad. We were lost, I mean how can We taught ourselves how to play something so important just be taken ‘Hot Cross Buns’ on that piano... it’s away? How can adults just uproot such a simple song but it took us their families and leave? When she hours to learn. If you walked to the left we had so many things we left you would go into the dining wanted to do, start a catering room where the furniture was made company for our families and make of dark brown wood. And the seat a sequel to our movie (which she has cushions were always covered with never given back by the way...). So cat hair. If you walked to the right, when she left and we said goodbye, and then turned left, you would go she promised it would be a ‘see you down a a short hallway and meet a soon.’ fork in the road... if you took a right Nothing could be further you entered the “cave.” This was her from the truth. dad’s office: there were so many She’s come back, to Colorado I pictures that depicted their lives. mean, four times without so much as Some of them were of her dad, some a text or a Facebook message. That of her mom, her sisters, and even her hurts, especially because she came and I. If you took a left at the fork, back to see people she hardly knew you went into the living room where and never once told her two best the furniture was modern. The couch friends. Sometimes, I try to figure was white and the pillows tan. The out why she never told us and when colors were worn from endless I do I’m at a loss of words and movie nights and Halloween parties. sometimes I think so hard about it Right above their coach was the that I start to cry (and I’m not quite •••

sure why because I know it shouldn’t get to me). And now, three years later, I try not to think about it. It really only hurts me more. I know it shouldn’t bug me because of that saying, “if you love something let it go and it will come back.” But something deep inside me says otherwise.

At first I was sad she left and when I found out she came back the first time I blew it off. Maybe it was an emergency? But on the second time I became suspicious, she doesn’t have any family in Colorado anymore. And on the third or fourth time I became mad, very mad. The pain that was once controlling my life shifted purpose. And because of that my life is changed, quite a lot actually. My anger made more mature and confident, yet guarded.

Sometimes I thank her for moving and betraying me because without it I wouldn’t be the same person I am today. Yeah, maybe my trust might not be as strong because I’m afraid it might happen again. But I have amazing friends and that is something you can’t forget. Plus, I have one thing that can’t be taken away, my true best friends... who will always be there and will never leave. So, thanks you’ve given me the opportunity to grow. Without you moving I might still be that shy girl I was around you... instead of the outgoing girl I am now.

EMMY WORKMAN ABOUT THE AUTHOR (BABE) First and foremost I am a Christian.

Jesus is my Lord and Savior and He has gotten me through everything that I have been through. My story isn’t the saddest, nor the happiest but it was a life that revolved around music, bullying, and Jesus.

For starters, I began playing piano and other assorted instruments when I was 3. I flourished into the player I am today because of Children’s Music Academy and my private teacher Bobby Nelson. Bobby brought me to the cello, where I found passion and expressionism to help me through my life. Which brings us to the next major ingredient of my life. Being the Jesus freak, nerdy, and not the Victoria’s Secret model ready, you could say that I wasn’t generally appreciated by the human race. Well at least my Elementary School. Every friend I ever had either used me or said they’d be my friend to play a joke on me to make me cry. I was abused, mistreated, physically harassed, verbally harassed, and emotionally harassed (they made me cry then made fun of me for it).

It was these kind of things that gave me the inspiration I have today. I stopped trying to suppress all of those emotions inside and then used art, music, and most importantly, writing to express myself. See, my inspiration comes from my past, troubles of the world, and the troubles of those around me; my inspiration comes from pain. I can’t stand to see others in pain, but somehow I feel if I write it all out, it will magically get fixed.

But enough about what I want to say, let’s talk about what YOU want to hear! I was born on April 14, 1998 also the day that Titanic sunk, and when Lincoln got shot. I have lived in the same house for over 14 years, yet I have never called any person my friend for over 5 years. I am an artist, a musician, actor, and a die-hard poet. I have been acting ever since my 7th grade year, and I continue to love and find fulfillment through acting. I also have a flourishing jewelry company that pays for my funds on Mission Trips, School Trips, and Youth camps and events.

I love chocolate, Assassins Creed, Chapstick, hammers, American Sign Language, scissors, and my family. I hate oranges, bras that hook in the front, Twilight, small hairless animals, Kristin Stewart, sporks, the word ‘moist’, Cilantro, Milk, green soup, the Sun, giggling, the word ‘panties’, wet doorknobs,

tweeting, seeds..... especially in watermelons, bibs, bananas, how long it takes to think about spelling the word bananas, glitter, reality TV, Victoria’s Secret, sparkly gay vampires, people who call bandanas “doo-rag’s”, how close the spelling of bandanas is to bananas, and Pina Colada flavored Chapstick.

Yes, I am a Hunger Games fangirl, I am also a Doctor Who fangirl, and it is because of these books and movies that I find my fiction short story and novel inspiration. The Hunger Games changed my life because it really made me look at the kind of world we live in and how sheltered we are from the facts. My plan for the future is to graduate high school, go to Washington for college, and live happily in Washington for the rest of my life after graduating college as a Musical Therapist and a part time jeweler.

SIX WORD STORIES

Poetry Pizzazz and other Shenanigans

PUSHING THE LIMITS, ENDS IN MINI-VANS.

FALLING IN LOVE, REMEMBERING YOUR TOUCH.

Lies You are like a jaguar A sneaky, frightening beast that goes around, hunting the bird's hearts and leaving the scraps for others to take.

TAKING THE FALL, LOVING THE WORLD.

1+1... Us

You revolt me.

How can you do this to him?

Lies, lies that's all anyone has to tell him nowadays I just want to scream it out at him "You are being monstrously deceived!

Run, run away! Don't let them hold you any longer!"

But he would be destroyed.

I'm just sitting here, supposed to be listening to my boring, dull teacher, but my mind is elsewhere.

My mind is thinking of you.

And I love him to much to let that happen.

I hope you scream at yourself at night for what you think is "okay" Because that is what I get to do every day.

That's what you have left all of us to deal with To hold your lies and secrecy against all of them until we can't stand to look at our disgusting faces in silver, pristine panes of glass Please stop, your killing us all with your ensnaring glare and hypnotic words no one stood a chance but you can stop this please

The Meadow

By Emily Workman ******* A FUTURISTIC UTOPIA... BUT NOT REALLY The quiet meadow. The days of laying on soft grass and singing a tune to the birds. Then there were the mermaids, whom everyday would try to convince me to become one of them. Eternal life, and swimming for lifetimes. Who could ask for more? But yet, I still denied them. Somehow, it just didn’t feel right. I now wish I would have taken their offer. I was taken by the Snatchers. They come for you at any hour of the day, taking those who know of the magic world, and torturing them till their breath stops.

Why do they do it? I still have yet to find out, but all I know is that everyday, I get closer to finding the answers, to escaping this hell.

I knew this room by heart there. Each pebble, stone crack, and chain were always right where I expected them to be, even in the dark. But it was always dark down there. There only time there was light was when the men came for me.

First day, they discovered I was a tough one and I wasn’t planning on giving in. Oh how they tried to break me! All of their failed attempts to make me go through the most excruciating pain were almost amusing to me now. Life in my cell seemed normal, as if everyone felt like this all of the time. The only time I could escape was in my dreams.

That is when I dreamed of the mermaids. I think they knew about it too, because sometimes I would feel as if they were trying to help me out, or get themselves in. For some reason, they found me so valuable.

Ever since they watched me get taken away, from underneath that still water, they have been trying so hard to help me.

I still have some regrets about not taking up their offer. I guess they were just trying to protect me from what they knew was coming. For ages they must have seen innocent people being torn from near existence by the Snatchers.

Those damn Snatchers. So quick, agile, and silent. Never would have known they were coming if it weren’t for the mermaids- but by then it was already too late for me.

Woken from my daydream, I heard the men coming. The one that was always there was named Arein.

He had a face that told you that he was kind, but his job showed otherwise. Then there was Viktor, and all you could tell about him was that he was here to kill you. Finally, there is Kurnt, who is hardly ever there to take me, but when he is I knew the torture activities of the day would bring more pain than any other day before. Kurnt was here today, as well as Viktor and Arein.

“Filth! Get up, you have someone you need to meet.” Kurnt confused me most of the time, and I couldn’t help but get my hopes up for who I might be meeting. I scurried to a standing position, and let them do their job so they could “securely” take me wherever I was to go. I counted each step at we began our trek upwards.

486, just like always. Then they blindfolded me. I was used to this kind of stuff by now. They knew that I was stronger than the others, they have known that for 7 years, almost exactly. Today was my birthday, and I was turning 19. Hey maybe as a gift they would just kill me already and get over with it.

I heard Kurnt and Victor say something to Arein, and then the sound of footsteps. Arein and I were alone. Suddenly, I was being tugged in a direction I had never been before. Just the air felt different down this corridor, and I could barely handle it anymore. “Arein! Stop!” I fell to the ground and wouldn’t budge. “Where are you taking me?”

There was a great pause before he answered. “I’m taking you away from here. They think I am taking you to put you through more torture, but I can’t stand another day. I... I had to save you.”

I got up and went where ever he took me, because all I knew was that I had a chance of escaping. I didn’t ask questions, and they weren’t needed. Then suddenly, there was a great force that hit my head, and before I blacked out there was only the whispering of Arein, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” ***A Bit Of Information*** I wasn’t dead.

I woke in the meadow. My meadow. But I also woke to the sounds of gasping breaths. I peeled my eyes open and looked for the source of that un-human sound. I found it. “Arein! What happened? Oh my god, who did this?” There were bullet holes and blood all over his strong, bare back.

“The Snatchers. They discovered me, but I took care of them in the same way they took care of me.”

“What can I do?”

“Nothing. My life is complete knowing that I saved you, because honestly, I.. I lo...” He couldn’t talk anymore. He was dying right in front of me in the most peaceful place I had ever known. I did all I could think of and rushed toward the water.

“Isadora! Please I ask for your help!” The gorgeous mermaid surfaced at the water.

“My lady, have you come to be one of us?”

“Yes, but I need your help.

My friend, he is dying, and quickly.”

“But he is one of the men who took you, why would you want to save him now?”

“Because he also saved me, now please, is there any way!?”

“Yes, but he must also give his will to become one of us.”

I ran to his body and tried to gently move him to the water. “Arein, hey come on don’t give up on me now.

You have to tell them you want to be one of them, please do it.”

There was no response for long, until it came,“I will.” The next thing I knew was Isadora was bringing us both into the water.

“I’m sorry, my love. For everything.” It was Arein. I woke to the sounds of his voice, and the water swirling around me.

I was a tortured soul. I am now a mermaid, and my name is Seraphina.

Freeing My Soul Music is expression, and expression is needed for life. When I am acting, I am only focused on what I am doing and what every single purpose of every single move means. When I A COMMENTARY ON SCHOOL BUDGET sing, I am free and no one can change me because I am just me, CUTS,THE ARTS, AND LIFE. and it is beautiful. When I play cello, it is just me. As I perched that lovely Most people, when they think of slab or wood in front of me, and used Middle School, will think of the my bow to tug at it’s silver typical foolish pre-teen who thinks tightropes to procure the notes that dating is cool and drama is from, it was JUST ME. The Arts are something that will just happen. But so much more than just people doing they’re wrong. When I think of abstract things. The Arts are Middle School, I will forever expression and love, and help people remember the amazing times I had get out all their emotions in the in Choir, Orchestra, and Theater. But most secure and wonderful way. unfortunately, these kinds of memories are being taken from Acting has helped me get through so students because of Budget Cuts in much stress and anger, and the schools. In fact, for most school other billions of emotions that run districts, Music or Art were the first through me everyday. During electives to go since they cost “so “Improv”, I can do anything I want, much money.” Yet every year we be anyone I want to be, and no one will buy new iPads and gym can judge me about that. That is why equipment and other unnecessary it’s so beautiful; because it is free “essentials.” This has led to the and pure ecstasy. Music is so overall percentage of students that beautiful, and that’s why I use my have access to the Arts to decline more sympathetic emotions to 50% in the past five years and this express through it. Every heartache has become the most irresponsible and suppressing emotion that has thing we have done in a decade, ever ran through me, is pushed out bringing us from the model district, and away through my music. Music into the country to be frowned upon. numbs my pain and makes life easier for me, and if anyone ever At my school, the Arts are involved took that away from me, I have no in almost every student’s life. Two idea what I would do. thirds of the population at Mountain Ridge have been involved in Drama, The Arts are so important to my life or a play, or musical, two thirds and so many other’s lives, so why have been involved in Choir, Band, would the School Board want to take and Orchestra, and another two that away? The Arts is our freedom, thirds have been involved in Art. So and I think it lets us all remember many people have been changed by our childhoods where everything the Arts in our school and I even was simpler and perfect and there know of people who feel that the arts were meadows that we would run have saved their lives. In fact I know through everyday without losing for sure that I wouldn’t be in the our breath. So by losing the Arts, we place I am now without the Arts. I are symbolically losing our was really lost when I came to childhoods.

Middle School, but my receiving a small part in the school musical These budget cuts are just ruining “Mulan” I found myself making another thing for Americans. No friends with so many people that matter what we do, they will always helped me through my experience in have something around the corner that show. In fact, Mrs. Sheapard, to destroy for us. I do not want the principal of Mountain Ridge Middle Arts to be taken away from schools, School says that (the arts) “are because that would make my heart critical to our kid’s lives. They are bleed longing and sadness for the not on the table for cutting. expression and therapy that I have Anyways, cutting the Arts wouldn’t found in the Arts for as long as I can save us any money.” remember. Tell them to STOP; to look at what they are actually doing and think about what this will do to

By Emily Workman *******

America and its’ people. Tell them that there are still thousands of kids just like me, who hold The Arts very dear to their hearts and would feel cheated if they were to get rid of them. Let them know that we still care. I’ve done my part, now come join me in trying to save our students and our schools.

“Earth without “art” is Eh...”

AMY ZHOU About the Author...

My name is Amy Zhou, and I was born in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. I am a friendly, hard-working 8th grader, who loves to play the piano, practice tennis, debate, draw, read/write, and hang out with my friends. Playing the piano has been my passion ever since I started studying it, at the age of 8 and a half. Since then, I have won 1st place numerous times in piano competitions, and have received opportunities to play with orchestras, up in Breckenridge. I also share my love for music at nursing homes, and at fundraiser events.

advanced words, that I’ve seen popping up

readers. Using my new reading, writing,

Books are one of my main sources of entertainment when I have nothing else going

in their novels. By doing so, I obtained a broader range of different writing skills,

and thinking skills, I hope that in the future, my writing will get published, and

on. They have opened my mind to a vast land of imagination, and a wide range of facts. The

and elevated my knowledge of vocabulary.

I’ve also learned that fragments could be

inspire kids around the globe to help trigger positive change in the world. I

Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and The Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang are two of many

used in one’s essay, in order to make it more powerful, or to clearly state a point. I

can’t wait to see how my future turns out!

My journey in life has yet to begin.

books, that unveiled to me the cruelty and injustice in the world. The dramatic

used to believe that my writing had to be 100% grammatically correct. However,

descriptions of the characters’ pain and anger, trapped me in their traumatic society. These

now I know that it is ok to include a fragment, if I am trying to emphasize my

books have made me more aware, and more grateful for the safe and peaceful environment

statement, or to suspend the audience.

that we have, and the freedom that we possess.

My future is something that I look forward to, yet fear at the same time. I hope that I

After reading so many novels throughout the years, books have also helped improve my

will contribute a positive impact on society, by becoming a lawyer, and bringing justice

writing. I’ve tried to mimic certain authors’ writing techniques, and have used new

to the people, or by writing a book, and help open a gate of new possibilities to the

My drawing for the 18th Judicial District Calendar Contest.

(Won the grand prize)

Coming up next....

I.

Winter’s Arrival

II. The Last Goodbye III. Six Word Stories IV. The Man In Purple

SIX WORD

Poetry and Short Works

STORIES You left. I’ll join you soon.

Lost in the bustling crowd. Forever.

Winter’s Arrival

One way in.

No way out.

Live contently.

Laugh joyously. Love eternally.

Winters come and go, never stopping to say “Hello.”

Snowflakes somersault down from the sky, saying to the world, their last “goodbye.”

Now there they are, embedded in the fluffy carpet of snow.

A wind swishes by, and off they go.

Icicles hang down from every tree, glistening in light, like crystal beads.

A layer of frost creeps up from behind, covering everything it can find.

Forest animals frolic here and there, leaving behind footprints in the cold winter air.

The gentle moon looks down from above, watching our Earth, full of love.

The animals now retreat back to their dens, waiting for spring to come by again.

Winters come and go, never stopping to say “Hello.”

The Last Goodbye The girl stood frozen.

A lonely tear trickled down her delicate face.

Never blinking.

Never moving.

Her long hair whips across her rosy cheeks.

Silently, the sun sank down, And the moon snuck up.

She walked away.

Away from her sweetest memories.

Away from her hopes and dreams.

Away from the only place she called home.

She vows to come back.

They have taken away

The Man In Purple Could it really be who I think it is? How did he find me, after all The cold bites my nose, as a those years? harsh wind whips across my face.The As I rack my brain for any idea weather outside reveals yet another cloudy " of how he found me, the guy just stares at day, as the gray blanket above, dominates me with an evil glare in his eyes, and a the sky. The cold frosty air brings icy slight smirk on his face. He mutters in his fingers, crawling up from behind. Just gruff scratchy voice: “So we meet another typical winter day at the park. The again....” birds are burrowed in their nests, and the “Y-y-yes, we do. So, why are you snow remains untouched, except for my " here?”

I inquired, trying not to stutter. footprints which are embedded in the snow. " “You’ve never changed, have you?

All is quiet. As I sit on the bench to enjoy You were always the one to go right to the the winter scenery, delicate flurries of point.”

He answered, avoiding the question snow flakes descend from the sky. completely.

Seeing that I have no interest Getting up to leave, I hear muffled in continuing this conversation, he added footsteps behind me. I turn around, and no “Well, if you are this eager to know, then I one is there. As I continue walking, I hear will tell you.

I will even be kind enough to the anonymous sound, again and again. offer to stop stalking you.---” And every time, they seem closer and “So, you admit, you have been closer. When I look behind, I only see a " stalking me.” I accused. blur of snow and trees behind me. Frantic, " “Ah, you’re worse than before. I I quicken my steps, and sneak one last always thought that after “that incident”, peek behind me. This time, I caught a you would learn to become less stubborn, quick glimpse of the mysterious person and more patient.”

He said, while a grin before he/she ducked behind a tree. “It” was appeared on his rough, unshaven face. wearing a soaking wet purple t-shirt, with “Anyways, I was going to say that I will neon orange tennis shoes. Breathless, with stop--under one condition.” my heart pounding fast against my “Well, the answer is no. The last chest, and perspiration drenching my " time I agreed, I nearly got killed!” I sweater, I finally make my way home. interrupted, as the painful memories After I lock the door, I check outside to see washed upon me like a steady flow of if the person has followed me home. No steaming lava. sign. Whew. I’m safe....for now.

He let out an exasperated sigh. “Are you " After yesterday’s intimidating going to let me finish, or not?” He asked, day at the park, I decided to go to a nearby raising his voice a tad bit. His eyes glowed cafe, and bought a cup of steaming hot brighter, and his tightly woven eyebrows, chocolate. This will definitely help calm knit closer together. Not a good sign. down my nerves. After I sat down with my Instincts told me to agree now, and d r i n k , I t o o k o u t m y m a g a z i n e . possibly suffer the consequences later. by: Amy Zhou •••

Shrugging off all other thoughts, I clear my mind, and try to relax. But, I still couldn’t ignore that hair-raising feeling that someone, or something, was after me.

About less than half of the way through the first article, I felt a pair of menacing eyes staring at me, from the front of the cafe. Slowly, I lower my magazine, and find myself face to face with a guy in a purple shirt, with a pair of orange shoes.

So was this the person that was stalking me yesterday?

" However, after the event 5 years ago, I told myself to never trust him ever again. After a while, I replied, choosing my words carefully. “Well, are you going to let me relax in peace, or not?” He only stared at me with his unwavering, pitch black eyes. " “My drink is getting cold.” I added, indicating, that this conversation, was over. Getting up to leave, he threw back one last glance. I could see all that he was

thinking, in those pair of threatening eyes.

Pain.

Hatred.

Anger.

Revenge.

Desperation.

Loneliness.

The last one, caught me off guard. I didn’t expect that he would ever feel “loneliness.” I mean, based on his attitude, I can see why, but I never thought that it would ever bother him. I haven’t changed much, but maybe he has....

The Incidence (5 years ago) Weak rays of sunlight, filtered in through the murky foliage.

Sinewy, gnarly trees, dripping with vines and moss, cast a soft morning glow, on the thick undergrowth beneath. As a tread through the stray leaves and bulky bushes, I ask myself, the hundredth time “Why did I agree to come on this mission again?” But, every time, I come up with the same answer: “My boss made me do it. He promised that I will finally be free, after this.” Every so often, I have to remind myself of the reward that follows. Truth be told, I can never say “no” to my boss. One look into his villainous face, and I completely lose my train of thought. Now, I’m here. All because of him. I wish that I’ve never signed up for this job. But, I was young, and I was desperate for a job and money. However, once I accepted the job offer, I couldn’t back out. Lost in my thoughts, I almost walk past my designation--a white, derelict cottage.

Concealed within the forest, it is barely visible. Easy to miss. Hard to find. The perfect place to hide a .

To be continued....

The Battle Over Rights by : Amy Zhou •••

where he looked after and cared for others.

Then, in May 2007, after his 33rd visit in nearly 18 months, he was taken prisoner by the police, and faced charges.

There was no hard evidence that he “carried messages” to other jailers. The only thing they found, was an unsigned letter from one of the people, thanking him for helping them. It didn’t prove anything, but it was enough for a local judge, who later deemed him guilty. It seems all too easy for the government leaders, to enact punishments for the protesters.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was established in 1948, to serve as the fundamental document that would protect and cultivate human rights around the world. It was created by the United Nations, who vowed to never let disasters like the Second World War ever happen again. Sadly, in today’s modern society, human rights abuses strike around the world and show no sign of decreasing. We can see evidence of this distress in places like Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and other Middle Eastern Defying the Universal Declaration of countries.

Human Rights, the governments are Relentless corruption of social rights seizing the rights of their citizens, and encouraged dejected citizens to rise up tossing them aside, without any respect, against the government, in order to or regard of them. Careless and powerspread their words of anger and overthrow hungry, the leaders of these enraged authority. A few dictators have receded, countries are turning their backs to the but human rights abuses pursue. voices of their people, and they are Country leaders reply to the havoc with causing chaos throughout the nation. The various tools of abuse and torture. For preamble to the UDHR states “Whereas instance, many leaders use the method of recognition of the inherent dignity and making opponents “disappear.” No one of the equal and inalienable rights of all knows exactly how or when it happens, members of the human family is the but they do know that the government is foundation of freedom, justice and peace usually behind it. Rumors say that in the world.” I believe that this means security guards sneak into the victim’s that peace is built up upon respect and home in the middle of the night to abduct freedom. Without it, the general human them. Others believe that the protesters population will never be satisfied. Places like Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, are not first get poisoned, and then kidnapped. creating justice or peace. Nor are they In Bahrain, professionals in the medical giving people freedom of speech, religion, field (like doctors and nurses) have or assembly. vanished, after they were found treating protesters who were severely injured by the government’s security squads. Later, in Tunisia, when recent protests broke out, the police used venomous gas and live ammunition. Also, the journalists that were on scene, were assaulted, and stripped of their equipments.

What has this world turn into, if we show no respect to one another? Was everything we strove for, in vain? The world has spent years, trying to erase all racism, create equality among everyone, and strive for an impartial and honest government.

What use is the UDHR, if some people don’t even heed the regulations? As Protesters have also been jailed, for Hillary Rodham Clinton once said, accusations that they never committed-- “Societies flourish when they address and have never even got to defend human rights problems instead of themselves. Take India, for instance. suppressing them.” We need to think of Binayak San, a 61-year-old doctor and the future generations, and for their rights activist, paid many visits to a jail, education, and lives. They need a good

learning environment--without the disruptions of protests--in which to learn, and succeed. They should live in a society free of fear, and free to speak their thoughts, without getting penalized. Mrs. Clinton also stated, “Freedom from fear makes economies grow as citizens invest, innovate, and participate. Where human rights matter, children grow up with the precious belief that they matter, too, that they should be able to live in dignity and shape their own destinies.”

I believe that this is what will make the nations flourish--citizens all over the world, regardless of nationality, gender, or age, free to exercise his or her humanrights. Abusing human rights only makes the nation more vulnerable, and unstable. It destroys the universal truth that everything has been based upon--the fact that everyone is equal, and should have his or her own freedoms, that are to be protected by the government, not violated. However, these countries just don’t get it. They will continue to wash away people’s human rights, until they no longer exist. These autocratic leaders will execute endless rounds of torture and abuse, in order to remain in their position. It’s horrifying, to see how quickly the world can change, from peace, to terror, in such a short amount of time. However, for now, we can only cling to the hope that the leaders will either take responsibility and step down, or come to the realization that violence is not the answer. Until then, the nations will be in an endless cycle of destruction.

AMY ZHONG About the Author...

People who see and know me may think of me in different ways. Some may see me as timid. Others look at me as a girl with a hyped personality and positive atmosphere. But, they all know me as Amy. I’m a girl who appears shy and quiet on the outside.

I don’t interact with other people very much rather than my friends. However, within the wall I set up between myself and the society, there is a girl bursting with the many colors of creativity. I am currently a resident of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, but I was born in the small suburb of Aurora. With the exception of writing, other things I like to do on my own time is read, play tennis and run. Reading is an absolute passion of mine; I just grab as many as I can and start playing the episode of words on the endless pages in my head as I read. Other than spending my time being active in literature or athletics, I keep myself busy browsing around on my laptop, looking for anything else that may engage me.

Books have been a big influence on me throughout my life. From my childhood to now, I have explored a wide variety of books to entertain myself. I usually venture around for fantasy, but I enjoy other genres as well. I love to explore the author’s imaginations printed in their books. It’s amazing how you feel you are part of the story as you read, experiencing the glory and agony the characters feel.

Being someone who doesn’t get sad quite easily, I was surprised to find my heart breaking during emotional moments, like the death of Rue in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and the shocking moment of finding her loved ones dead as Liesel cried in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief. Throughout my journey of reading, literature has changed my

perspective on the world. It has shown me the complex yet fragile nature of humans. It has helped me better understand real-life events.

And, it still has more to show me as I continue to live the virtual or realistic worlds of books.

I never expected writing to become such a big aspect in my life. Writing--for me--is a way to express my inner creativity to society. Through my journey of writing, my progress was obvious--to me at least. In the beginning of my quest, I used simple words. No transitioning sentence patterns, styles, or big vocabulary to keep any audience engaged.

Now, at my current position, I can incorporate various

personalities and compelling details to engage my readers.

And, with these skills, I feel I can connect better with my audience.

To be honest, I’m not quite sure what my future holds.

However, I hope to improve myself as a writer through the inspiration of literature. And, with that growth, I hope to influence society with my writing. It doesn’t have to be great impact, like Martin Luther King Jr. had on America, but perhaps enough to make a difference for others. Whether it’s through writing and words, or some career I pursue, I hope I will have the competence to influence people.

In the Next Three Pages: ✓ Poetry ✓ Excerpt from my novel ✓ Short Story Pencil, paper, technology: all the tools to express and spread your originality through words and writing.

“Books are humanity in print.” - Barbara W. Tuchman

✓ Commentary

POETRY

Novel Excerpt: An Inside Look of My Creation “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have

CREATIVITY: SEED TO TREE

already become.”

- C.S. Lewis

Ava sat at her dress table, humming happily as she brushed her hair. What a wonderful day it had been, celebrating her fifteenth birthday with her friends and family.

Someone knocked on her door.

“Who is it?” Ava asked.

CONFINED INTO A SMALL Her mother, Queen Elise, opened the door. “I have a final gift for you, my beautiful SEED, FERTILIZED AND IRRIGATED princess.”

Ava raised a brow in curiosity. “Another gift? But, you and Father already gave me WITH INSPIRATION. so many presents. I especially love that blue dress and new sword you two gave me. I think A GREEN TENDRIL POKES I’ve been showered with enough gifts.”

OUT, Her mother laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous, Ava. Here you go.”

BATHED IN THE WARM RAYS Ava gasped as her mother’s fingers uncurled, revealing a golden locket. It was OF IMAGINATION. attached to a gold chain, which Elise placed around Ava’s neck. The princess turned towards IT GROWS BIGGER, the mirror, smiling. The locket looked gorgeous around her neck. It cast a million dancing BRANCHING OUT INTO A golden lights as the sunlight reflected off the surface. The queen’s face appeared in the mirror; HUNDRED ARMS. with their similar brunette hair and smiles, they almost looked like identical twins.

EACH COVERED WITH A “This is...beautiful,” Ava breathed.

HUNDRED Elise’s grin widened. “See that little knob on the side? Click it.”

IDEAS, Ava’s face was of amazement as the front side popped ajar. Cushioned in a white DETAILS, layer of satin was a small azure stone. Ava picked it up delicately between her fingers, THOUGHTS, evaluating the tiny gem. It gleamed faintly as her fingers swept over it.

CREATIONS. “What is this?” Ava wondered, her gaze filled with awe.

IT CONTINUES TO GROW, “It’s a moonstone,” Elise explained. “Quite a beautiful gem it is. I picked it out for A MASTERPIECE IMPOSSIBLE you especially. Do you love it?”

TO IGNORE, Ava flung her arms around her mother’s neck. “Thank you so much, Mother! I love INTERTWINING ITSELF WITH this gift! I can’t wait to show Tara. She will be so amazed.”

THE WORLD. The queen grabbed Ava’s arm as her daughter headed towards the door. “Ava, you must not show this to anyone. Only you and I know about it, and it must remain that way.”

“Wh-What do you mean?” Ava stammered.

Queen Elise’s eyes hardened into ice. “This stone is very precious. It could save mankind or destroy it. It obtains great power, even though it just looks like a simple stone. Do not underestimate its potential. Keep this in your possession and use it when Wr iti ng is lik e ar t. necessary. Destruction can come if it is in the wrong hands.”

Rather than painting the The young maiden gaped at her mother, appalled. “I don’t understand...” colors of your creati vity “You will one day,” she promised, her tone grave and sympathetic at the same time. and imagination, you Before Ava could object, the queen turned away and quickly walked towards the ex pr ess yo ur or igi na lit y door. Ava frowned and rushed after her. “Where are you going? We usually talk and through words. look at the stars together. Remember?”

Elise hesitated. “I have some...issues to go over. There’s a lot of things on my mind, so I’m taking an evening walk in the gardens. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, dear. Good night.”

The door shut behind the queen. Ava plopped onto her bed, studying the moonstone.

A ray of silver moonlight flowed in her room, touching the gem. It began to glow, illuminating her room in a faint blue light. Ava frowned and turned to look outside. A dark cloud floated in front of the moon. Ava looked back down. The stone was back to its original plain form.

Shrugging, the girl placed the moonstone back in her locket. She heard something rustle outside. Her mother was slowly strolling through the gardens, gazing at the moon.

Little did she know the queen wouldn’t be there the next morning...

Short Story: Death is Tranquility By: Amy Zhong ...

Leaves fell.

Pebbles quaked.

Footsteps sounded in the distance as a young girl appeared, her bare feet pounding the dusty ground.

Leaves crunched under her feet as she sprinted through the forest, her running breaking the serenity of the forest. A root poked out of the ground. The girl tripped and stumbled, falling to the ground. She didn’t get up.

Tears formed.

Sobbing echoed among the trees. ***MARGARET: A SHADOW OF DESPAIR*** Margaret stopped sobbing.

She lifted her face, covered in dust and scraps of dead leaves. Wiping away her tears with her bony hands, Margaret stood up and rested her back against the trunk of an oak tree, its golden leaves drifting around her, framing her pastel face.

“Why does everyone hate me?” Margaret murmured in a hoarse whisper. “I don’t understand.”

Margaret looked around, skimming the environment. Something shone in the distance. Margaret staggered towards it. She stopped in front of a puddle.

Margaret took a step forward so she stood at the edge of the small pool. She slowly peered into the transparent water, staring at a reflection that stared back.

There, stood a pale, scrawny girl with thin mud-brown hair and murky olive-green eyes. Her thin pink lips were drawn in a straight line and her cheeks were puffy with various shades of pink and red, popping out against her insipid skin.

Bony hands clenched at her waist. The reflection frowned as a small tear rolled down her cheek.

Margaret turned away, more tears rolling down from her big eyes like sparkling crystals. Slithering

to the ground, she began to sob once more.

Looking the sky, Margaret cried out, “I thought everyone had beauty. Yet, I‘m set apart from everyone else. Am I so ugly that people can’t stand to look at me?”

Silence answered her.

Standing up with her fists clamped, Margaret shouted, “Don’t tell me I’m ugly! I’m beautiful...right?”

Not waiting, or expecting, for the sky to answer back, the melancholy girl dropped her head into her pale hands, crying out her sadness.

As her cries echoed among the trees, a wind formed and glided through the orange-golden forest. It billowed past the dying trees, creating a sad whisper that seemed to cry along with the depressed girl.

The girl wept.

The forest wept with her.

Dark set upon the cold forest. The moon was full tonight. It glowed brightly above, its rays of pale moonlight washing over the firecolored trees. Leaves floated to the ground, almost dead. Just like Margaret. She finally cried out all her tears.

Eyes puffy.

Nose red.

She slowly got up, her limbs stiff. The full moon shed its cold light over the skinny girl’s face, revealing the stony look on it.

There was no feeling or emotion in the dark pits of her stony eyes. Although a noisy wind blew through the forest, rustling the leafy canopies, her icy behavior created a

cold silence, creating tension in the air.

Margaret slowly got up.

Her eyes were blank as she walked away from the puddle. Absently, she travelled among the trees, her legs following an invisible path. It was as if she was being controlled by an unknown force, leading her to the dark pits of the forest.

A cave loomed before Margaret. Its gaping mouth was pitch black.

Margaret stepped forward and walked into the cave. As the young girl entered the dark hollow, she looked around, as if she was searching for something specific.

Finally, her eyes rested on a shard of flint.

A bony hand reached for the gray rock. Skinny fingers of moonlight peeked into the dark cave, casting their light just over the girl and the pointed end of the flint.

The rock glinted in the moonlight.

Margaret stared at it.

A mouth opened. Lips spoke final thoughts.

“I’m friendly, kind, joyful.

But, who cares about that?” She let out a harsh laugh. “Either you’re beautiful or ugly.”

Margaret paused and turned her flinty stare toward the moon, just visible through the threshold of the cave. A cold tear rolled down her cheek. She smiled coldly, three icy words hovering from her lips. “I am beautiful.”

Suddenly, as quick as lightning, Margaret plunged the sharp rock deep into her chest. There was a moment of frozen silence. Margaret fell to the ground with a thud.

Eyes empty.

Body limp.

The girl was dead. No one would ever find her. Her body would rest in this cave, never to be discovered. Margaret’s spirit now roamed the forest, savoring the freedom from pain. Her despairing cries echo with the whisper of the wind. No one there to hear. To wonder. To question.

Commentary: A Descriptive Account Between Diverse Opinions and Viewpoints Is America losing war to the fast food industry?

Amy Zhong

. . .

Stacey Irvine, the 17 year-old who has eaten nothing but chicken nuggets since she was a toddler collapsed from breathing problems on the twentyseventh of January. After being rushed to the hospital, doctors determined that her struggle to breathe was due to her 15 year-long diet of McDonald’s McNuggets. Her addiction to McDonald’s chicken nuggets has left her with inflamed veins on her tongue and diagnosed with anaemia. Let us ask ourselves, how has the fast food industry impacted the American society?

Not at all good. The outcome of eating Wendy’s and Burger King has resulted in obesity, serious diseases and health problems, and downfall in our youth’s education as well as the economy financially. We Americans are either too busy working or too lazy to cook our own meals and instead buy fast food as the solution to our hunger.

The fast food industry has financially grown so much due to the ample consumption of fast food by Americans.

With the growing fast food industry, nearly three quarters of our nation is overweight or obese and in risk of dying from fatal diseases. The nation should ask itself whether the burgers and french fries are worth it. Now, some would say it’s the individual’s fault for choosing to eat at McDonald’s. More say that the fast food industry is the dominant reason for causing obesity. Who can reject their cheap meals when you’re too busy working and making money? With the repressing economy, Americans are spending the majority of their time making income and can’t find the time to buy fresh, healthy foods from the grocery store.Therefore, they look to the delicious and cheap junk food to eat.

Just as Stacey Irvine’s fast food addiction had been addressed, the

increasing rate of fast food consumption has resulted in serious health problems. Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease have been the dominant diseases overweight people are diagnosed with. About 80 percent of Type 2 diabetics are overweight or obese. And, the alarming rate of calories and cholesterol in fast food has diagnosed several junk food consumers with heart disease. Heart disease puts obese people in risk of heart attack, abrupt cardiac death, irregular heart rhythm, etc. This is already enough to worry about when you are concerned about the health problems caused by obesity. You may as well add hypertension and high cholesterol to this endless list. We must remember our lives aren’t infinite. I’d think Americans would want to preserve their lives to its limit.

Education--one of the leading issues of America today. Our society wants to promote academics for our children, yet with the disturbing issue of fast food consumption, the rate of students who score below average is increasing.

With the growing development of the fast food industry, more children are tempted by the fatty and fried crispy burgers and nuggets. Scientists determined that students’ poor academic ability was linked to an unhealthy diet with little nutrition. It was found that students who ate fast food four to six times a week scored almost seven points below average.

Students who ate fast food once a day scored 16 points below average and for those who consumed fast food three times a day scored 19 points below. Dropping that much below average doesn’t benefit these students’ academics very much.

It’s obvious our nation is aware of the growing problem of obesity and health care problems. So, what are we doing about it? Pretty much nothing. As the problem grows, we do little to prevent it. Well, I say put higher taxes on the food. Don’t be hesitant to make the food more expensive. The government should have the fast food restaurants

sell their food at the price of a regular meal you can get from the grocery store.This way, the people will see the prices are the same, yet the food from the market contains more nutrition than junk food. And, how about sharing the nutritional value of fast food to the public? Perhaps seeing that Burger King’s Whopper has 40g of fat and 670 calories or the 20-piece portion of McNuggets has 58g of fat and 926 calories will make the public consider if they want to continue expanding their waistline and destroying their internal system. Now, we must argue, who is to blame for these issues? Everyone should be pointing their fingers at the fast food industry. People enjoy healthy and nutritional foods as well such as salads, pasta, and the classic sandwich. We enjoy these foods as much as we enjoy fast food. So, why can’t the fast food industry see that and sell that type of food instead?

Change the type of products they sell to the public? They can still sell their food cheap, just with more nutrition, quality, and value. However, they aren’t. I say the people reject the fast food industry and destroy its ascending development. Let the nation show them that the people want more nutritional food if they want our money. If the public damages the fast food industry financially, it could force them to change their view of food and make profits from selling healthier, yet still tasty meals.

Whenever you turn around the corner, you should expect to see Wendy’s or Burger King. The fast food industry rises as they continue building fast food restaurants across the country.

This junk food fest must be stopped.

There should be no McDonald’s in that empty space when you drive past the next morning. The nation must change the perspective of the fast food industry and force them to sell food that will benefit the economy and society rather than harm us and subtract from our incomes. When the fast food industry is put under control, America’s future will be one of a healthier society and stabler economy.