Give Thanks!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!

I hope you are all somewhat rested and relaxing this week.  We have our November Writers all ready for you.  Please read the submissions.  We have seven this month.  Leave comments on three, your choice.  Remember to write thoughtful feedback.  Consider why you are responding to the post.  What do you like about the piece?  How do you relate or connect?

November comments are due December 3.

See you all Monday,


Mrs. Solano



https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=Awr9CWuEmflbu.4AxHtXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE0MzFpcmRrBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjY1NzRfMQRzZWMDcGl2cw--?p=thanksgiving+quotes&fr2=piv-web&fr=yfp-t#id=2&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fagbeat.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F11%2Fthanksgiving-quote-9.jpg&action=click

A Semi-Short Story--Brandon

            I put my hands behind my head, as no ideas came to me. In my cozy little corner of the world I called my room, I was troubled. I had been tasked with something herculean, something of a greater magnitude than even the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, I had been faced with the task of writing a story, and I had flinched in the face of such an adversary. 

I was fresh out of ideas, not that I had writer’s block, far from it in-fact, but I merely had no truly greatideas with which to write. As such, this meant that I was over due for some good down-time, some alone time in which I could plot my conquest of the world- and maybe pay some peace-of-mind to the writing of the dreaded story.

So, I went on a hike to pass the time. It was supposedto be a standard hike, nothing extreme, nothing exhilarating, nothing exonerating, so why, pray tell…

                                                                                                …was I stuck on an alien ship!?

All I wanted was to go for a hike… was it that some higher power hated me? Was it because I had chosen the path less traveled? Did I trip a death flag somewhere along the way by chance? I certainly didn’t invite Murphy and his laws to the party. At any rate- here I am, onboard a flying saucer of some descript, exhausted in every scene of the word after a battery of rather invasivetests, thathad been held on the behest of a bunch of little Greys. Oh, it’s not all bad, see, I’ve got company here after all. They’re an odd bunch, to be certain, and quite noisy. The bestway I can describe them is… ‘aristocrat-monks’. We all know of those old paintings, and in Shakespeare’s plays, of the kind old monks in their brown robes, and odd haircuts, but these guys, these guys aren’t the kind of monk you’d see Robin-hood with. Their cloaks were of a wine-red, their wide-brimmed hats of a similar shade, and the gold on these guys, it’s enough to make any Royal green with envy…                                                                                                                                                                                                           … and they were all shouting at me!

I don’t know, nor do I particularly care about, how long my sleep lasted, but tired as I am, I cared about being woken up by the shrieking of a strange alien langu- no, that’s Spanish. The cells have been steadily filling up over a painfully long time with random people; some in togas, others in armor of some knightly kind, and more in… indescribabledress of some kind or another. Its been alright so far, the robed men with me seem to have excepted me- or at least tolerate me. The screaming is from my new Inquisitorialfriends, as I’ve figured out what they are. With the rapid-fire Spanish which basically amounted to (in their broken English) “The Bug-Eyed Witches are controlling the Metal Demon’s flames!”.The cause of their screaming, though, is new. The lights, a clinical white, are now flickering and dimming. After an intermittent time of flickering, they give out entirely, being replaced with an eerie silence, before a mighty crash echoed through the halls, the still energized fields zapping all who were thrown into them, and surely frying some of the knights in full metal armor. The tortured screech of metal and roars of jets outside was deafening, before another lull in the noise and violence was had…

                                                … it appeared that Scotty had beamed down the whole ship.

We were free from our otherworldly captors due to one of the ship’s many new holes, but not out of the woods yet, literally. We had trapesed through the woodlands for hours in the night, just me and five of my least favorite friends. Earlier we had happened upon a paved road, and had followed it to civilization, though civilization here being a gas-station, and the attached liquor store. Things had gone less than stellar from then. We walked into a tense atmosphere, a masked man with a large knife was holding up the register.  Shouting had happened in plenty, punches were thrown, and prayers had been invoked, but in the end, with few injuries, and only several declared heretics, we had been victorious, after all…

                                                            … nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

We had been at the store for little more than ten minutes, and the former-robber was carried off into the back of the shop by the Inquisition to be… Inquisitizedfor his offenses, for lack of a better term. In his desperate attempt to get people- all of whom were just as terrified as him- to help him, he had thrown his car keys. They had hit me square in the chest. I am now driving away in my new jeep. In the rear-view mirrors, I can see the lights of a dozen cop cars or more tearing down the tarmac to the store I just left. Glad I’m not any of them, cop, or fanatic. I had vowed to myself, as I drove down that desolate road in what I’m certain is Iowa, that I would never speak of this incident ever again. But then, a crazy thought hit me, what would I do for the story, what would I write about? 

… well, vows are made to be broken, right?

Untitled--Jessica

My brother Cody and I have often been mistaken as twins: we looked fairly similar, we were both know-it-alls, and we were attached at the hip for most of my youth even though he's four years older. He was, for a good chunk of my life, my hero, everything I aspired to be. He excelled in school and had many friends. When I was a sophomore, he was in his second year of college; his failing grades and attitude changes often led to heated exchanges between him and my parents. They seemed to fight more often than not. I was unconcerned; I ignored the fights my brother picked with my parents. Why should I pay attention to his problems? I wish I paid attention.
The penultimate fight between him and my parents occurred on the same night as the academic decathlon awards banquet. I walked home from school as usual, and found that our front door was already open. When I got inside the house, I found that our usually neat cabinet of keys was scattered across the floor. I thought someone had broken in. Pure panic seized me, I called my other brother Zack, no answer. I called my mom, once again no answer. I started getting ready for my banquet, awaiting any kind of information. Then, I heard the door slam and Cody had stormed in. He packed his clothes into his car and took off while ignoring all my questions. Eventually my dad called me. Cody and my mom got into such a heated argument that it triggered some kind of health issue with my mom. Zack rushed her to the hospital and my dad was already on his way there. He told me to just go to my banquet and keep my mind busy. My banquet didn’t matter to me anymore, but I obeyed my dad and put on my dress that my mom picked out, and went on my way.
While waiting for the bus to pick up our Academic Decathlon team, I sat outside the classroom and cried. That was the first time in a while that I felt like a little kid. Except this time there wasn’t Cody wiping my tears or bringing me ice cream, I had no idea where he drove off to. I had no idea if he planned on coming back. I sat through the banquet with my friends like I usually do, laughing and enjoying the great food. But my mom and my brother were still on my mind, worrying me. The anxiety about my family coupled with my anxiety awaiting Etiwanda’s results turned me into a ball of nerves. I was switching between feeling like puking or bursting into tears. The room quieted as results were announced team by team. By the time we got to seventh place, I thought Etiwanda didn’t place at all. Until they called, “Etiwanda High School Red!” We got fifth place. ​We got fifth place. ​Last year we thought cracking top ten was a huge deal. But fifth place felt life changing. I cheered and cried along with everyone else. But I felt guilty. Should I really be celebrating when my mom was unwell and my brother was even worse?
I came home with a smile on my face, clutching my trophy tight to my chest. That would be the only smile I’d have for the next few weeks. A few days after the banquet, we found out from a friend of my brother’s that he had been sleeping in his car parked on his friend’s driveway. My parents changed the locks on all our doors. I thought this was the end of my nuclear family. Cody refused to respond to any of my texts and I eventually gave up on contacting him. The next time I saw him, he came back to the house to grab the last of his things, bought a ticket for Florida, and stayed with my grandparents for the next few months. I asked if I could say bye to him at the airport, he said “No” and left without another word. How did my life change so rapidly? It felt like one second I was just looking forward to a silly banquet and the next I was watching my family fall apart. I wondered for so long what we did wrong. Why did Cody hate us so much? Why was he so angry with our parents? Who was this stranger that I did not know or understand?

Apparently, it had less to do with us and more to do with him. I wish I paid attention to him more. I wish I took the time out of my day to listen to his problems, and maybe things would’ve been different. But now, two years later, he’s back and living with us again. He’s now an EMT and seems much happier. My parents don’t ever fight with him and I no longer feel like he’s a stranger. But not everything is back to normal. He’s no longer my best friend, and certainly not my hero. But he is still my brother; and I’m very thankful that my family is healing the rift that formed in those tumultuous months of my sophomore year. It was a difficult situation to navigate, but learning how to empathize with my brother’s struggles and cope with my own made those difficult times almost worth it.

Fifth Place, a Hospital, and the end of my world.

November of 2012--Nathalie

It was november of 2012, its been 5 months since Mohamed Morsi got elected as the president of Egypt, and half of the population is in a frenzy, well the christian half. Islam has terrorized Christianity in Egypt for a long time, when (Arabs) invaded they enforced high taxes and if you couldn't pay them then (Christians) would either convert to islam or get killed. Christians in Egypt today were really rich because the majority of the public is Muslim. When i introduce myself to people i meet, they always hit me with ‘El salemo alykom” which means Good day to all, but only said in Muslim culture, its an easy mistake to make but i also feel uncomfortable at the ignorance they convey to me when i tell them that i am Coptic Orthodox.
A little background of my life, I lived in Egypt for 11 years and the last 6 months of those 11 years, my life was in flames, my aunt and uncle moved to canada while my other aunt and uncle came to California, America. At 10 years old, my sister and I were given three choices, America, Canada, or stay in Egypt. Later on, I realized that we didn't have a choice it was just my parents way of introducing the idea to us. We got rejected from Canada as we didn't meet their criteria for immigration and staying in Egypt after Morsi was elected as president wasn't an option. Most people do not know or comprehend why it is such a bad thing for him to be elected. He is part of a radical islamic brotherhood that has terrorized Egypt since the 10th century and still does today. They (Islamic Brotherhood) are also related to the same group that transpired the events of 9/11. And Morsi coming into power was the beginning of a new level of bad.
Being Coptic Orthodox and a part of history that was prone to getting repeated we had to flea and seek refuge in the small city of Chino, California. At the age of 10 we don't realize what it meant to be different until the first day of school, when we showed up and everyone was in their pajamas, because they were having a PJs day. My sister and I had to learn English while also maintain fluency in Arabic and French. it was hard especially when we were getting judged by our race. When it was discrimination of religion back in Egypt, it was of race in Newman Elementary School.
Making friends was a hard task, but i feel safe to say that coming to America at a young age allowed me to be able to learn how to make friends easily through trial and error. Having to go through all these hardships I was allowed to experience new and exciting things that were able to balance out the bad. Through these experiences I was allowed to become my potential and present self that wouldn't have blossomed if I was still in Egypt. Every year I learn something new about myself, it's always interesting to see how different I am from what I was the year before. I am also exploring parts of my memories I didn't not think was possible or accessible. In junior year, I found out that I wasn't comfortable with gunshots, cacophonous noises or orange tinted lights. America has allowed me to think for myself and enabled me to answer questions based on my experiences and knowledge rather than from a textbook page. Self exploration was the result of my move to America at a young age, I cannot imagine how hard it was for older people to come after they were brought up in a different culture and have to accomodate to a new one and throw the majority of their beliefs out the window to be considered in the normal age group.
Every year I try t expose myself to unknown things that would further my knowledge and experiences so that i can help others go through the same struggles smoother and have a better life than what was offered in 2012. The good news about Egypt is that Morsi got

impeached in 2013, and now we have a military leader whose improving the quality of life for the working middle class.
One day i aspire to be an influential leader that is able to go back and help her home country improve and get educated on topics like equal rights and women rights, a healthy government and make the country a better place and make an impact on the next generations and bring back the intellect that Egypt had as the smartest and most intelligent and educated people in the whole world. A teacher once told me, ‘be educated so you can offer the best for your country, because if you don't then that means you're willing to let idiots run the country’ I am done letting idiots lead my country, it's time for me to take the lead.

How To: Make ​​BOO​​-BA--Amanda

How To: Make BOO -BA
Since Halloween is right around the corner, I thought it’d be fit to do something related to the theme. For those that don’t know, my name is Amanda Boo, and my family had the greatest idea to create a “BOO-BA Bar.” This is a play on words: my last name and a boba drink. So keep reading to see the proccesthis is the process of us making this happen.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• -  Pot filled with 10 cups of water, crockpot
  
• -  Tapioca pearls that you can find at any asian market
  
• -  Some sort of tea (any flavor you desire)
  
• -  Cups, boba straws, napkins, ladle
  
• -  Sugar, brown sugar, vanilla syrup hazelnut syrup, white sugar, and honey
  STEP 1: BOIL, ADD, WAIT
  When your 10 cups of water come to a boil, add your tapioca pearls in increments to ensure that the temperature of the water doesn’t change too quickly.
  *side note these pearls reminded us of little brains or eyeballs and it fit the theme we were going with perfectly 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  *DISCLAIMER: I thought that my blog post was due in October so I have it Halloween themed
  

  STEP 2: MORE WAITING...
  Once all the tapioca pearls are added, place the lid on for about 20 minutes or until the water comes to a boil, after, turn the heat down to medium and simmer for another 15 minutes to soften the pearls 
  
  

  

  
  
  

  STEP 3: THAT’S THE TEA :)
  You will need to brew, steep, or strain your favorite type of tea, mine happened to be thai tea that I got at the asian market; a type of black tea. I put my tea into a coffee maker, because my coffee maker holds a lot of grounds, or in my case, tea. 
  
   
  

  Step 4: DRAIN THE BRAINS
  When your boba pearls are finished (you can check by either tasting it to see if the “chewiness” is up to your liking, or grabbing one a squishing it to see the elasticity of the pearl. If you can’t squeeze it you need to cook longer) you need to drain the pearls and then immediately rinse them in cold water for about 2 minutes, you can run your fingers through them and make sure that the residue is off of them,
  *I used clear boba instead of the traditional black boba, so it will look different but it’s exactly the same as the original 
  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Step 5: SUGA SUGA
  In this step, you will need a mall saucepan, filled with half a cup of water, A TON OF HONEY, 1/ 2 cup of brown sugar, and 1/ 2 cup of white sugar. This is the sweetener that the earls will be soaked in, and it's the signature flavor of honey boba. This mixture should be in between the flow of water and honey, not to thin not too think. After the sugar is evenly dissolved all the boba and continue to keep over heat.
  *my trick is to put the boba and the syrup in a crockpot because it keeps the boba warm without keeping the store fuel on all night
  

  
  
  

  STEP 6: PUT IT ALLLL TOGETHER
  This is where you rown creativeness comes into play. What we did was set up a table outside, and wrote a sign that says BOO-BA Bar, along with that we put the out the tea along with some ice, so they can have it either hot or cold. Further we put out some boba straws which are just straws wider in diameter so the pearl can’t fit through
  

  *DISCLAIMER: I thought that my blog post was due in October so I have it Halloween themed
  it. Also, we put out some flavored syrups that sweeten the tea if you’re not a strong brew type of person. Lastly you need some type of milk, whether it’s milk, almond milk, condensed milk, or evaporated milk you need something to create your Thai tea boba milk tea.
  

  *DISCLAIMER: I thought that my blog post was due in October so I have it Halloween themed  
  

  

  

   
  

UnExPeCtEd--Curtis

It was a dark cold Michigan summer afternoon, there were three best friends who had grown up with each other. Their bond was unbreakable, they went to school, church, and played little league sports together. The oldest boy was Xavier, he was who the other two boys; Rodney and Jacob looked up to. However, Xavier was not the kid that your mom or dad liked you hanging around because he was always getting into some type of trouble. Rodney and Jacob were around the same age of 14, while Xavier was turning 16 later that summer. All three of the boys had just returned from football practice and had planned to all go straight home and ask their moms if it was okay for them to spend the night at Xavier’s house. Rodney’s mom had no problem with him staying the night at Xavier’s house. It was Jacob’s mom who was skeptical about letting him spend the night. Her words were “Jacob, you already know how I feel about that boy...But I’m going to let you go anyways, YOU BETTER BE ON YOUR BEST BEHAVIOR! You know right from wrong!” Jacob wasn’t really paying attention to what his mom had to say, he was just ecstatic that he was able to spend the night at Xavier’s house with Rodney. Once the boys got the okay from their mothers, Rodney’s mom went to go pick up Jacob to head over to Xavier’s house. Then, the boys were all together it was about 7:00 pm and the boys were starting to get hungry but Xavier’s mom had went to go run errands. Xavier had an older brother that was 18 with a full grown beard and shoulders that looked as if he had football shoulder pads on. The boys told Xavier to go ask his brother if he could take them to go get some food. Xavier’s brother didn’t really want to take the boys to go get food because he had something to do himself but he was heading out anyways to go take care of some “business”. The boys really didn’t know what that meant but they were just glad that they would be getting some food. They ended up having to wait an additional 15 minutes just for Xavier’s brother to get ready to go. Once the boys made it to the car, Jacob leaned forward and asked Xavier’s brother, “Why are you bringing gloves, it is not that cold out?” Xavier’s brother responded “Don’t worry about it youngin, sit back jack.” Rodney had told Jacob before that Xavier’s brother was in a gang, but Jacob did not believe him until now. Xavier’s brother tells the boys that “I gotta go pick up William before I get yall some food.” All three of the boys are sitting in the backseat together, while Xavier’s brother is going pick up William so they could go take care of their “business”. William gets in the front seat, he is very tall and Jacob noticed that he had also brought gloves with him but that wasn’t the only thing William brought. Jacob was able to tell that William had 2 pistols in his pants. Jacob tried to tell Rodney what he had saw but he was so nervous, his heart skipped a beat and he became paranoid but didn’t want to make it seem like he was scared. William made a phone call to some other guys named CJ and David who supposedly were going to be meeting them at “the spot”. The boys are still hungry and just wanted some food and to go back home to play some video games, instead they are stuck with Xavier’s brother and William. When they arrived to

“the spot”, CJ and David were already there parked across the street from this mansion. The boys did not know what was going on or what was about to happen, all they knew was that Xavier’s brother told them “Stay put, we won’t be long... keep the car running.” while he was putting on his gloves. In the meantime, which felt like forever since the boys were hungry, they were just sitting in the back of the car playing rock, paper, scissors trying to wait for Xavier’s brother and William to get back. When all of a sudden a loud BANG went off 2 times and the boys panicked and were frozen. William, CJ, and David came running out of the mansion but Xavier’s brother was nowhere to be found. William got in the driver seat and sped off, Xavier is screaming at William asking him “WHERE IS MY BROTHER? WHERE IS MY BROTHER?...WHAT HAPPENED?” Rodney and Jacob are just sitting there confused and terrified about what had just happened. As William is driving away from the mansion, sirens and flashing lights are flying by going towards the mansion. Xavier is still desperately crying out for answers while Rodney and Jacob remain shook.

Thanksgiving--Zoe

Thanksgiving is a time for family, reflection and appreciation, and how much I looked
forward to my aunt Lauren’s macaroni salad. I woke up to hearing music, knowing that I’m going to have to be cleaning the house most of the day. I get out of bed and slip on my cow slipper and head downstairs. Sure enough, my mom has a list of chores for me to start doing. Around 12 o’clock, I finished all my chores for my mom to tell me that Thanksgiving is at Uncle Taylor’s house. I just hoped for a small get together with my grandma but this is nice to. Just as long as my favorite cousin is there. I put on the same Thanksgiving outfit I put on every year, and sat downstairs waiting for my family to get ready. About, what seemed like 5 hours to me, we finally left and headed towards Hemet. My dad parks the car in his brother’s driveway and I make my way in, with the store bought apple pie in my hand. I was mentally preparing to be welcomed by relatives and my devilish little cousins. As soon as I walked in, I hear at least 6 kids shout “Kelsey!”, which caused all heads to turn towards my family. I see my family members spread out on the couch, all watching football. I smell the ham cooking in the kitchen. My little cousin, Hailey, comes up to me and gives me a bear hug. I’m looking up and down the hallways looking for Lianna, praying she is here. I gesture Hailey away and put the pie down in the kitchen and see my Aunt Bella. She pulls me into a hug and gives me a kiss on my cheek. I awkwardly hug back and ask if Lia’s family has arrived. I walk into the playroom and see Lia sitting on the bed. I walked over and we watched The Office on television, waiting for dinner to be served. About an hour later, dinner was ready and we all gathered into the dining room. Food was spread out throughout the whole house, since there is so much of it. We all grabbed a plate of food and all sat in various places in the house. I sat at the dining room table, next to my grandpa Sam. Everyone chatted while they ate and you can hear sprinkles of laughter throughout the night. We all finished our meals and started digging into the millions of pies that we had. The rest of the night was light. I got to catch up with my uncle and got to laugh at old memories I had with other family members. Then, my grandpa got up to leave and that’s when we know that the night is over. My family and I kissed and hugged everyone goodbye and made our way home. I put my earbuds on in the car and started smiling looking back at how enjoyable my day was. I look forward to this day of the year because it makes me grateful to have such a wonderful family and how we are all able to come together and make memories.

Relationships--Ravi

What does it mean to be in a relationship? Commitment, love, attention, and faithfulness
are all important in a relationship. We all go on Twitter and see people tweeting “men are trash” and other various things. But when you look at how many of those people there are, it’s actually quite tragic. A random person could just find someone who just tweeted about how their significant other cheated on them and take it for granted. That is unacceptable. Relationships are what drive us as humans to better ourselves for the sake of love and affection. Spending the whole day with your lover, cuddling with them, sharing both positive and negative emotions, and being proud of the relationship you two have. Why is it so hard to do those things with our lovers? Embarrassment perhaps? Too much energy consumption on your part? If you can’t even do those things, stop getting into a relationship. I once saw an amazing tweet that went along the lines of “If there isn’t trust in a relationship, then there is toxicity”. However, not everyone can easily trust when they get into a relationship. Such trust was could have been lost in a previous relationship. It is because of the lack of energy and commitment to a relationship that people end up getting hurt and start to lose faith. Who are we to blame them if we can’t even fathom the pain they suffered? I define a relationship as a bond forged on trust because of the shared emotions and commitment to one another. When all that starts to fade, trust starts to fade as well causing the relationship to be toxic. I knew of a person who was controlling in their relationship and ended it because she fell for another

guy. The boy who was dumped started to notice that the girl started hanging out more with the guy she fell for than the person she was together with. The boy later asked her if she wanted to

end it, and she did. To make yourself in charge and control your lover is not what defines a relationship. Both lovers must be willing to show their sensitive side because it is that very thing that brings us closer. Another thing, being in love and desperate for love are two different things. I knew a girl who broke up with her boyfriend because he was cheating on him with another girl. However, the girl started to become desperate for love and found herself wanting her ex. This is a tragic example of what cheating does to someone. Their hearts are broken, and they need someone to fix it. That is why I believe a relationship should always be taken seriously and not for granted. If you believe something is wrong in your own relationship, don’t be afraid to speak up. Talk to your lover and sort out your feelings. If it’s deeper than that, TELL SOMEONE YOU TRUST. Do not allow yourself to be in a toxic relationship because the effects are nearly irremediable. Strive for love, not lust my friends.