September 2020 Featured Writers!!!!

 WE ALL HAVE THE STORY TO TELL

Our 2020 blog is up and running.  For the month of September we have 8 original pieces that are featured for the month.  Keep on reading for your assignment.

You are to read ALL 8 submissions.  Once you have done that, choose 3 of which you would like to leave comments and feedback on the piece and for the writer.  When leaving comments be mindful of your CONTENT and TONE.  This blog is a safe space for ALL writers in our class.  Be kind, courteous, helpful and encouraging.  Give reason(s) and explanation as to WHY you have chosen to leave feedback.  Why is this a favorite piece?  What did you find intriguing? Suspenseful?  Silly?  Horrifying?  You get the picture.  Do not merely comment that you like the piece.  Explain WHY.

If you are a writer for the month, you DO NOT have to leave comments and feedback on the pieces, only if you wish to do so.

This assignment--the comments and feedback--is due Tuesday, October 13 by 11:59PM.  Leave your comments here and NOT ON CANVAS.

How to leave comments:

1. Write you comment in the text box provided at the bottom of the submission.  

2. SIGN YOUR NAME

3. Make sure you are logged in with your GAFE account (school account).

4.  If you are not using your GAFE account,  it is IMPERATIVE you sign your name after EACH comment. Choose ANONYMOUS and sign your name.

5. DO NOT LEAVE COMMENTS USING YOUR PHONE.  THEY WILL NOT GO THROUGH.

I hope you enjoy the submissions for this month.  There is a variety from the Menu.

October Writers--get ready!  Your deadline is October 23rd.

I will see you in class!!!

Feed your soul,

Mrs. Solano

How to Swim--Alezza

 

Swimming is a very important skill you need to learn in life. Do you know how to swim in the deep end of a pool? Do you know how to do backstroke? Do you think you can swim more than 25 meters without dying after or during it?

If you answered no to any of the questions above, you should try to start learning how to swim. I started swimming at the age of 5 but you didn’t have to have taken swimming lessons then to be considered a really good swimmer. I know a couple people who started swimming a few years ago and now they are one of the most talented swimmers I know.

All it takes is just time, effort, and some money. You just need 4 things if you’re a guy, and 5 things if you're a girl. Both guys and girls need swimsuits, goggles, kickboards, and a pull buoy. Girls just need a head cap so their hair won’t get in the way when they swim.

I suggest for guys to get the speedo swim briefs. I suggest you don’t use trunks when swimming because the extra material from the trunks can be a drag and weigh you down. If you ever encounter a shark, you will need to swim fast and wearing trunks can make it harder to swim away fast enough.

For girls, I suggest a one piece swimsuit or a bikini when swimming. When wearing a bikini though, you shouldn’t get the one with extra stuff on it. It should be plain and simple or else the extra stuff can drag you down.

As for goggles, if it’s your first time swimming, I suggest the speedo ones because they are cheap, sometimes they come in multiples, and they also have some pretty designs on them. If you do want to become a professional swimmer though, I would recommend the Michael Phelps one because they are good quality, they don’t become loose easily, and they can last for a long time.

For caps, I suggest you get speedo ones because the quality is good, they won’t break so easily, and you can wear them for a long period of time. Try not to stretch out your caps that much when putting them on or else they might break easily.

For kickboards, I suggest that you get one from swimoutlets.com. They have different types of kickboards and different arrays of colors you can choose from.

Last but not least, pull buoys. I also suggest getting your pull buoy from swimoutlets.com. There are different types of brands and colors to choose from there.

STEPS:

1. Try to find the perfect fit for a swimsuit. It is important because if it's too loose, the material can weigh you down. If it’s too tight, you will struggle to breathe underwater. To find your perfect swimsuit, it must be tight enough on you so you can still breathe, but not loose enough where the material can weigh you down.

2. Find a pool that is 25 meters long. This is because in swimming, one lap is 25 meters long. In swim, if you have a coach, they will tell you to swim a 50 or a 100. How you can determine how many laps that is, think of it as a quarter. 1 quarter is 25 cents or 1 lap in swimming. 2 quarters is 50 cents or 2 laps. So when your coach tells you to swim a 50, they are telling you to swim 2 laps. A competitive swimming pool you can look for can look like this:

3. Next is learning how to float. Floating is important because you need to be able to stay up in the     water so you don’t accidentally drown. First, start by trying to float with your head looking at the sky or roof depending on where you are swimming at. You need to have a strong stomach and legs to help keep you afloat. Try not to let your legs start sinking down when you float. Same goes for when you have your head in the water. Just pop your head out to the side when you need to breathe. Here is a visual representation of how you should look like:

4. Next is kicking. When starting out, I suggest you go to the shallow end first and to have a wall in front of you so you could hold onto it. Start out by trying to float up and have your head either sticking out of the water or in the water. Next, start kicking your legs but keep them up the entire time. You should start off with small and slow kicks. Slowly though start kicking faster and faster until your legs hurt. It might take a few minutes or maybe a couple hours for you to finally get the hang of kicking. It all really depends on how determined you are and how fast of a learner you are. Once you are totally confident in it, you should grab your kickboard. You can start holding onto your kickboard and kicking with it. You will slowly start inching towards the other side. You will get to the other side either really fast or slow depending on how fast you decide to kick. There are both pros and cons to kicking slow and fast:

Kicking fast (Pros):

• ●  You get to the other side fast.

• ●  You don’t spend too much time kicking. So you can spend more time on other

  techniques.

• ●  You can help get your stamina fast so you can swim faster in the future.

  Cons:

• ●  You will get tired fast so you might not have enough energy for other things.

• ●  Your legs will be very sore for the other exercises.

  Kicking slow (Pros):

● You will have enough energy for the other exercises.

• ●  You won’t be sore in your legs.

• ●  You can focus on perfecting your kick. Cons:

• ●  You will spend a long time kicking.

• ●  Your stamina won’t be built up so later exercises will tire you out faster.

5. Next is arm stroke. Go back to the wall you were on when you started kicking. Start moving your right arm in circles. Then do the same with your left arm. Try to alternate between the arms as you do them. Then after enough times, float in front of the wall with your head up. Then instead of doing big circles, start bending your arm and slowly start extending your arm and unbending it. Like this:

Start alternating your arms as well. Once you get the hang of it, grab your pull buoy. Put the pull buoy between your legs in the top half of your leg. Like this:

Then start trying to get to the other side with only using the arm strokes. It may be very hard but don’t start kicking!

6. Next is putting it together. It might be hard at first since you learned both things separately but it will be quite easy. Start by trying to kick fast so you can get a little boost. Do it underwater as well so you're not just there kicking and not moving your arms. In swim, we start off doing laps by kicking off the wall and dolphin kicking underwater. If you want to know how to dolphin kick I will teach you how in the next step. Once we get to the top of the water, we start kicking fast and making arm movements. In order to breathe, we take 2 or 3 arm circle movements, and then we breathe to the side. We do it on the side where our arm is out of the water or else it will look weird. Here are some images of what it should look like:

7.  Next step is dolphin kicking. Dolphin kicking simply put it is a kick that allows a swimmer to go far underwater and not have to swim as much in a lap. If you look at the Olympics and see the swimming section, you can see that you barely see Michael Phelps swim at all until the last couple of strokes. He dolphin kicks almost the entire lap until the last few strokes. That is so he doesn’t have to swim as much and lose as much energy. In order to do a dolphin kick, you need to have your two legs right together. And you have to do the wave motion with it. There are videos I recommend watching on YouTube. Just search up “swimming dolphin kick” on YouTube and there is a bunch of good videos to watch on it.

8. There are more strokes that you can do in swimming. I taught you the freestyle stroke in this “How To” guide since it is the easiest out of the 4 strokes and the one you’ll most likely use in a dangerous situation. All the other strokes are pretty complicated to teach through the internet but if you wanted to know about the others, just search it up on YouTube or go get swimming lessons or a private teacher to help you.

Swimming is something that I am passionate about and something that has helped me strengthen myself and my stamina over time. It’s a fun workout to do with friends and family as well as music playing. The swim team I am a part of is a big family and I am happy to be a part of it. It has brought me so many memories and is the reason why I love swim so much. All the fun memories I made over the years from swim will always bring me happiness and I am so glad to be a part of this sport. I hope that if you decide to start swimming, you will find a great team that you will make so many good memories with.

The Monster and his Sun--Sumbal

 The monster only emerged at night while the soft blanket of the moon covered his portion of the globe. When the veil of night lifted, he could be found hiding underneath the oak frame of the bed. Here, from dawn till dusk, resided the monster.

The nature of this monster was rather curious; he was not a troublesome monster, nor a rude boisterous one, but one that quietly ruminated while the sun’s rays seeped into the vacant room, warming the walls with abendrot hues. He would oftentimes ponder over the abilities of the human’s sacred star, why ever they would bathe in this yellow saturation.

Something of it, although perhaps it may have been a pretense, seemed smothering to him. Of the five hundred years he lived on the desolate planet humans called Earth, he desired nothing more than to banish that insidious, gleaming fiend. But alas, he lacked such capabilities and instead sought a substitute to satiate his fleeing endeavors. That is where he came upon the renowned creation of bed frames. Oak, cedar, steel, he did not mind from which material they were crafted. They were the bones in which he lived. Like a cavern or somber cave, he would conceal himself from the external world, often considered himself as the heart in a ribcage, giving vitality to an otherwise mundane structure. And at first unbeknownst to him, he encountered a multitude of friends here as well: trifle insects and little fuzzy bunnies, objectively soundless souls. Although they made him more hyper-aware of his loneliness, he knew he would be free from incessant judgment or prolonged stares, the venom of the deplorable and unpalatable.

But above everything, The bed frame brought forth a consuming shadow, the most venerable force he ever came to witness. Of all the hurricanes and trembles of the earth, the peremptory darkness surmounted them all. Living under the human’s bed gave him stupendous pleasure and quelled his fears. He could blanket himself with the quiet darkness and avoid the abrasive touch of the daytime’s light.

The monster understood that for centuries, the darkness, paradoxically, became a symbol for both the heinous and the hushed fightful souls. During the Romantic movement, a creative period he adored, the artists haphazardly mixed Lamp Black or Charcoal Grey with tints of Cobalt Blue, gently applying it to canvas with authentic fibers to create large foreboding scenes, inciting curiosity and marvel, a cornucopia of safely concealed treasures. It was a depth to which he was unwittingly drawn to, like a moth to a lantern, except it did not blind him. In his favorite, “The Fisherman at Sea” by Jacob Mallord, the darkness and the moonlight intertwining in a graceful dance, captivated him. The gentle boat floating amidst the sorrowful sea spoke in lyrics whenever he laid his eyes on the piece. Darkness sprung forth rivulets of emotions, for the unbridled truth, that sunlight would otherwise conceal. The monster felt true in the darkness, he would not have to hide his facets for the world to see in the lack of light.

He often grew frustrated thinking of man's arrogance regarding their perception of light and darkness’s fatal dance. “Why do they always say light is there to fill in the dark? When the light diminishes, dark is there to take its place,” he justified.

But perhaps there was more to consider. Intrinsically, he feared the light, sunlight in particular. He read in one of human’s dust-ridden encyclopedias, while they were away one night, that the sun, ​Solis​, 1.989 x 103​ 0​ kg, was the result of a process called ​nuclear fusion​, and every second, atoms and their electrons would be torn from one another in a violent reaction, while nuclei would engage in a war that sent solar flares and produced a visual jubilee that extended for light-years, suffocating the planets and other astral bodies with strange hues. Why ever would humans enjoy that?

In contrast, there existed his greatest love: the moon. The moon cries every night as she is scathed by the sun, he reasoned. Her kindness compels her; she transforms the ravenous light into something amiable, pacifying the anger of the sun; when sunlight runs amok, moonlight conciliates it. If light had a metamorphosis then the moon was the final scheme. ​Her​ light deviated from the abhorrent sun’s. ​She​ had brilliance,​ giving a glow that separated her powers from that of the vicious sun’s. The evening stars were similar. They also selflessly relinquished their soft splendor for the humans to gaze upon, respecting the presence of the darkness and coexisting with it, swimming with the revolutions of Earth. The monster rejoiced in knowing that the moon, stars, and the sea of darkness would conceal his insecurities, for he oftentimes felt quite hideous.

But one day, a tormenting revelation came to the monster, harrowing him. That same cursed encyclopedia with the wonderful yet menacing gift of knowledge, told him something not half a millennium alive managed to teach him. the starlight, moonlight, they were all in some way synonymous to ​sunlight​. The moon, in fact, did nothing to abate the violent force other than merely reflect it, the metamorphosis he revered was merely a semblance. And the stars... they were no better than the sun.

He came out one night. draped in the quiet moonlight of the generous full moon, ruminating over what lay beyond in the heavens. The stars that he cherished so dearly, they were also suns. They, despite their elusive perception in the night’s celestial sphere, were not exempt from the destructive behavior of the irate spheres of gas. They held the same violent rage as the morning star he feared. His heart ached from such a realization. Tears traced his cheeks and jagged, protruding teeth. The sword of deception stung him, driving through his tattered body. The air, like lighting, sequestered his breath as he fell to his nadir, and betrayal took refuge in his body, ripping apart his fragile heart and lungs. Why would his love hide the truth from him? His sorrow manifested into anger and in a second he rose, incensed like a wildfire, consumed like a forest. Suddenly, his anger turned towards the sun, the object that incited his agony.

“That sun... it looks so overwhelming. How do humans function in its light, doesn’t it hurt as it has just hurt me?” He threw his fists down in retaliation. “It hurts and it scathes, yet they love it? How can they love it? If love is pain then I can never want it!”

The following days, the monster sought solace underneath the bed. Days, weeks, until three months passed. His anger evidently quelled, like the once expeditious rivers during a dry season, revealing the open wound in his heart. The obscuring clouds of irrationality, guided by precarious gales of agony, moved from his head to elsewhere, freeing him to contemplate with reason. The seedlings of healing sprouted cotyledons embedding the notion of forgiveness. And then, a thought struck him:

What if he touched the sunlight?

The notion, although at first unfathomable, came to him in his period of retrospection. “Perhaps I am wrong to blame the moon... although I was ignorant of the sun and moon’s dynamic, I still don’t understand the nature of their relationship. Perhaps I am wrong to judge the sun. I judged the moon and stars fallaciously for five hundred years, I must have an open mind.”

Then alas, he gathered his courage and emerged from the bed when golden steaks flitted across the room. He never felt so exposed, so vulnerable, so insecure in his body. He looked back, losing his tenacity, but before he could flee or touch the sun, ​the sun ​touched ​him.​

The world stopped revolving.

His coat of silver fur shimmered with the infinitesimal particles of dust floating about, - “ruddy vestiges,” he read somewhere - and accentuated the indigo hues embedded within his long glossy claws he never knew he possessed. He caught his gaze in the mirror and looked at himself, momentarily stupefied from his reflection.

He looked dazzling.​

A torrent of expeditious emotions flooded throughout him, cascading like the golden rain that painted the world in soft amber. If the moon and darkness allowed him to liberate his every facet, then the sun revealed ​more​.

“I’ve been so cruel to myself...” He thought, “my entire life I’ve hidden from the sunlight only to realize how beautiful I feel in it.” A grin crept upon his happy countenance. He danced in jubilee and new esoteric splendor. His feelings of delight transcended any previous feeling he had ever known. His dubiety of the sun lost all significance.

He felt beautiful.

This light was so gentle, so kind, the most generous force he ever came across. In the ineffable warmth he fell in love again, but this time with the truth, he fell in love, one he would never, or ever want to, escape from.

What is the 'human heart'?--David

 We all have one. We all think we know what it means. “They are so heartless!” one might say. “You have a good heart.”

“They have a heart of stone.”

And that’s to speak nothing of the connotation of handing someone a heart-shaped valentine or sending someone a text with a heart.

We all use it! What is the human heart?

We need to start with the physical. What is it? If any of you have three and a half brain cells or more, you will remember that the way we draw a heart is quite different from how it looks anatomically.

What we think ‘the heart’ is may or may not have something to do with what the physical heart. The physical heart is in your chest, centered between two lungs. It’s made of a special kind of muscle, a muscle that beats from 22 days after your conception until your death, and then perhaps a little more, if you donate it. It’s tough, resilient, and moves a lot of blood. If it fails its job for even minutes, it will kill you.

That perhaps explains why the expression we ascribe to the heart the core of our being, the center of our soul, and the source of our sustenance. It represents the deepest part of who we are, supposedly, and that is why it has a connotation with intimacy too.

The origins of the way we draw hearts are unclear, but there certainly is one explanation that rises above the rest. Ancient Romans and Ancient Greeks both use a plant called “silphium” in their day-to-day life. It had great medicinal properties and tasted good too. But above that, the plant’s pod had natural birth-control properties. Take a closer look at how you draw a heart. Disgusted yet? Good. In this theory, it was cultivated and grown to extinction (not shocking considering the promiscuousness of the Romans and Greeks), but the symbol lived on.

Anatomically and in drawings, we all think the heart to be the seat of our emotions. “You’re using your heart, not your head.”

So what is the human heart? What is its nature?

I submit to you it is horrid, beyond our deepest nightmares. I submit to you that it is rancid and happily walking to the steps to Sheol, the Highway to Hades.

How can I say so? The heart is wicked, above all else. A writer 3500 years ago said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

And I agree.

We know we are of one kind, one race, one being. If it were not so, “hybrids” between races like me would result in biological infirmities (of which I have no more than the next person over) and serial killers would have different organs than you or I.

But this isn’t the case. Survey the world, there is no difference we can see between the desperately evil and the not. It is not the shape of the nose, the style of the hair, even the depth of the eyes. The evil we perpetuate seems to infect one person and passes over the next.

You and I are made of the same stuff as Dr. King, and Hitler; Jesus and Stalin; Gandhi and Jack the Ripper. How so? How can it be?

I submit it is the heart. It is the heart! The soul of our being leans towards darkness. You and I are both constantly inundated with temptation after temptation to do something we know to be wrong. And we know what is wrong. Our conscious screams and screeches, and we ignore it all the still. A great evil, or little evil, genocide, or a hatred for a person-they all boil down to this.

Some would like to say it’s education. Lack of money. But we see the “educated” and the “rich” still being wicked themselves. It’s like that Psalm, “For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace;”

Our hearts are not even in our control. For do we even control the evil we do? We blunder about and congratulate ourselves for not hurting this person and then unleash on the next, and then justify it. Oh, we justify it because it's only logical. Our heart slowly quiets the yelling voices in our head and it starts redefining the good for your benefit, and evil for your benefit. It is a leech of a thing. It is a horrid beast. It is a hypocritical, lying, monstrous thing that beats in our chests 65 1⁄2 times a minute.

We need a new one.

Works Cited

Andrews, Evan. “Why Does the Heart Shape Symbolize Love?” ​History.com,​ A&E Television Networks, 8 Feb. 2016, www.history.com/news/what-is-the-origin-of-the-heart-symbol.

ESV Student Bible​. 2011th ed., Crossway, 2011. Psalm 73:4-7

ESV Student Study Bible.​ 2011th ed., Crossway, 2011. Jeremiah 17:9

Marieb, Elaine Nicpon, and Katja Hoehn. ​Human Anatomy & Physiology​. 11th ed., Pearson Education, Inc., 2019.

Powerful Fears--Andrew

Nalani’s eyes were squeezed shut. ​It’ll be okay,​ she thought to herself. After all, Zain and Taj had done so well on their first try. Why should there be any reason the elders would fail her? She took in a deep breath of the salty ocean air and stepped onto the warm, silty sand. There they sat, watching her every step. Each of the 8 elders sat on unique, handcrafted royal seats that came to life. Each seat represented the different cultures and traditions of the 8 tribes of the Midant kingdom that each elder hailed from. When she finally finished the trek from the edge of the sand to the platform before the elders, Ekkon, the chief elder, beckoned for her to step down and approach the council. As she approached them, Nalani noticed the weathered expressions on their faces. Not a word had been spoken, but Nalani was simply overcome with the power they commanded with their mere presence. Nalani now stood less than a meter away from where Ekkon sat. She took a quick, sweeping glance at the elders who sat in a semi circle around her now. Ekkon studied her complexion. He stayed silent for what seemed like ages to Nalani. After his thorough inspection, he stood up and chanted​, “Kama miungu inavyoweka nuru na giza, mvua na moto, wacha wakupe neema na nguvu ya kuonyesha uwezo katika uchawi wa hofu.” ​Dayo, the elder furthest to Nalani’s right, closed her eyes. After muttering a few words, the ​chyrene ​that she wore around her neck began to glow.​ A​ flame had been summoned into her hand. With it, she lit the sacred ​leutika​, whose immense smoke and powerful scent overwhelmed Nalani’s senses. She fought against the weariness, refusing to embrace it. After struggling for about a half minute, Nalani collapsed to the ground and didn’t move.

When she came to her senses, a voice whispered in Nalani’s head, ​“Ibada itaanza sasa.” S​ he sat up and looked around. The council of elders and the ocean had vanished. They’d been replaced with a clearing in the jungle. 5 meters away from her were the ruins of an ancient Midant altar. She approached it, enamored by its rustic and mystified essence. It was nothing more than a vines grown over a stone table with ancient carvings, but Nalani knew exactly the power ​Mtoaji Wa Nguvu​ possessed; the power it both gave and took away. She took off the ​chyrene​ from around her neck and placed it in the similarly-shaped, hexical hole in its side. Nalani noted how different her ​chyrene​ looked from Dayo’s. The elder’s ​chyrene​ was colored with a brilliant and saturated blue complexion. Nalani’s was dull and colorless, but if all went well in the next hour, she knew it would turn green, indicating her status as a ​Mwanzilishi.

After she entered her ​chyrene​ into the rune-like pillar, the ground began to rumble. She whirled around and that’s when she saw the black ​mzuka​ contorting into different objects and sizes. She readied herself for the imminent attack. Suddenly, the ​mzuka​ turned into a humongous wave that began to crash into the jungle clearing. Nalani panicked. She’d heard the stories, but didn’t actually believe that the ​mzuka​ would actually take on the form of her greatest fear. “​Where is all this water coming from?! We’re in the middle of the jungle!”, s​ he thought. That didn’t stop the water from flowing, however. It kept coming and didn’t seem like it would stop any time soon. Oddly, the water only filled the clearing, but did not extend into the actual forest. The trees seemed to act as some sort of barrier, causing the water level to rise within the clearing. Soon enough, Nalani no longer touched the ground and instead was having to tread water to stay above the surface. She tried swimming through the barrier of trees, but to her dismay, her efforts were in vain. Whatever force that had been preventing the water from leaving the clearing was also preventing Nalani from escaping. Nalani’s muscles began to grow weary. Every kick seemed to expend so much energy. The more she panicked, the more she felt like she was getting pulled under. Eventually, she couldn’t kick any longer. Nalani took one last gulp of air and began to sink to the depths of the water. “​Here”, s​ he thought​, “is where I die.”

Nalani kept descending and everything she saw gradually grew darker. However, when she caught a glimpse of her ​chyrene​ at the bottom of the water, she remembered everything she’d learned in training. Nalani closed her eyes. She couldn’t breathe, but that did not scare her. Instead, Nalani embraced the water. It had a flow, an energy, that she began to feel synonymous with. The water did not control her, nor her, it. Rather, Nalani and the water coexisted as one. She no longer felt the despair of drowning. A voice bellowed,​“Inuka.”T​ hewaterdissipatedandNalanibegantofallbacktowardstherune.Shekept accelerating towards the ground but only 10 meters away, she took control and summoned a wave to slow down her descent. When she finally reached the ground, she realized that the altar had transformed. It still held the same supernatural complexion, but rather than look beaten and ancient, the altar flourished with marble and gold. Nalani’s ​chyrene​ was gone. She placed her finger where it once was and suddenly everything was dark again.

When Nalani awoke, she was back in front of the elders. But rather than seeing preparations for a ceremony to celebrate her completion of her test, the elders were arguing in a heated discussion. Behind her, she saw her family amongst the rest of her tribe, horrified and in shock. Confused, Nalani looked down at her ​chyrene​. Rather than turn green, her crystal-like necklace had turned yellow. The blood drained from Nalani’s face. The last time a ​Nabii w​ as declared was thousands of years ago. Everyone knew the prophecy of the four Midant ​Nabiis.​ These individuals were the highest ranking Midants, determined by their capabilities and performance during their Trial of Fear. This power came directly from the gods. ​Nabiis ​didn’t need their ​chyrenes ​to summon energy from their fears. And as everyone knew, the prophecy told that four ​Nabiis​ would permanently alter the course of the Midant kingdom’s future.

Two ​Nabiis h​ ad already passed and two were to come --before Nalani’s trial, at least. The last two ​Nabiis superseded the elders in rank and ruled the Midants for centuries. However, one ​Nabii​ grew hungry for more power and attempted to murder his fellow ​Nabii​ to assume full control of the kingdom. The greedy Nabii​ delivered false promises to the tribes and summoned many followers. The other tribes saw through the greedy ​Nabii’s l​ ies and sided with the innocent ​Nabii.​ The country had fallen into chaos and a civil war broke out. The war was devastating to the Midants and it took them 4 centuries to rebuild, even with the magic powers that each ​Mwanzilishi​ had. And now Nalani stood with a yellow ​chyrene​, the mark of a Nabii.​

Ekkon was the first of the elders to realize that the teenager had returned. He rapidly raised his hand, indicating for the rest of the elders to silence their arguments. He commanded for Nalani to be returned to her family. She would be forced to stay in their hut until the elders had made a decision on the future of the kingdom. After all, she was just a teenager and couldn’t be expected to understand how to fully command a nation. Nalani felt the weight of members of each tribe gazing upon her during her trek towards her family. When she reached him, her father, Roke, gave her a fervent hug and whispered to her that everything was going to be okay. Surrounded by her family, they walked home.

The following morning, the elders gathered to discuss how they should handle the new ​Nabii​. The previous ​Nabii​ had been assigned when they were 30 and 27, respectively. Nalani was simply a child compared to them. They determined that they would break tradition of handing over the reigns of the kingdom to the ​Nabii​ immediately and instead, they’d allow Nalani to sit in on elder discussions until she was of age to take control. When Nalani and her family were informed of the elder’s decision, her parents were elated and approved of their jurisdiction. Nalani, however, was angered and was furious that she wasn’t being given her full rights. She blamed Ekkon for being greedy with his power and as the reason she wasn’t eligible to rule straight away. She sent a message back to the elders, informing them that she would challenge Ekkon in ritual combat. Nalani was eager to eliminate Ekkon as a potential enemy standing in her way to power.

Weeks later, Ekkon and Nalani were set to battle. After hours of ferocious fighting, as a result of his advanced age, Ekkon succumbed to Nalani’s strength and conceded his spot as an elder. Nalani ascended as monarch of the Midant’s and thus began the Dark Ages of the Midant’s history...

Lucid Dreaming--Marissa

 

Adrenaline shot through my veins rushing all throughout my body. My eyes opened only to be met with rays beating through the slits of my fingers as I raised my hand to the sun. The sand was warm and the air carried a crisp, fragrant breeze. A scent that somehow seemed familiar to me, although I had no recollection of anything before that. The scent of an inflorescence of jasmine. Every fiber of my faded jeans and t-shirt were soaked from the waves that lapped up on shore, surprisingly welcoming and warm. I sat for a few moments on this mysterious beach, peering out to where the skyline seemed to touch the ocean. Finally, I stood up and started to walk along into a seemingly endless beach until, it appeared, almost out of no where, stairs leading to an extravagant city. I approached the steps and started to climb, being immersed into a world full of artificial lights that made up for the lack of stars.

...
Instead of the wet clothes from the beach I had on before, a new, black dress took its place, along with some diamond earrings that dangled down. As I looked behind me, nothing was there except the towering urban complexes and a multitude of people that bustled around, each with their own conversations. I tried calling out to them, hoping someone would listen. At last, I caught the attention of a woman who appeared to be in her early forties, making her about twenty years older than myself. She had flowing dark, brown hair and deep, blue eyes that seemed to examine the very content of my soul. “Excuse me,” I said. “Where am I? I mean what city is this?” She seemed puzzled at first but then answered my question. “Well, you see we are in New York.” Her eyes began to dart different places and with each place she set them, sparks of light appeared and quickly faded. She did not acknowledge their existence, or perhaps even know that they were there in the first place. Being stunned from the light show before me, I did not notice at first that she had already begun walking away. Something inside me grew. A feeling of intrigue and connectedness I had felt towards her. “Wait!” I cried. “Please, wait for me.” The lady did not hear me and opened these glass doors into what was a restaurant and took a seat at a table with flickering candle light. The room looked as if it had no ceiling or walls, just continuing black that went on until you stepped outside and finally realized that it was a building in which the restaurant was located. I took a seat at the same table, in the chair straight across from hers. Suddenly she looked up and everything became silent. The soft music playing in the background slowed and finally stopped. Suddenly I blurted,“I am sorry, but I get this weird feeling that I know you in some way, have we met before?” “I believe you asked me a question when I was walking in the streets an hour earlier.” That caught me off guard. If my memory did not fail me, I had been walking the streets only moments ago. I suppose I had been staring too long as she asked,”If you don’t mind me asking, why are you sitting at my table?” A blank expression came over me as I could not form an answer. “Well, I...” a long pause came between us. “If I’m being completely honest I don’t know why I am here, where this place is, or how I got here. Strange things keep happening too, such strange things.” “Like what exactly?” she replied, clearly interested. “Well like the walls and the ceiling of this room, or my new dress, or the light that follows you, everywhere you look!” I shot, without even thinking. Suddenly, the woman got up from the table and looked around. Every single one of the customers glanced at her, then simultaneously corrected their stares at me. I fixed my eyes on the woman’s blue ones that seemed to jump out and scream how scared she had become. I tried to apologize, but at that moment, everything was consumed in darkness.

...

Just then I awoke once again to the tickling feeling of grass against my skin. Long hills rolled, dotted with orange trees and their sweet blossoms. All of the sudden, I had a memory before the beach, upon seeing the trees. I was walking down an orchard with the same exact trees, laughing as a younger girl trailed behind along with a small white dog. I remember feeling content, happy, and above all, safe. As quickly as the memory had appeared, it began to fade into the recesses of my mind. A white house appeared at the end of the orchard and the trees seemed to part ways making a dirt path so I could walk across towards it. On the porch, an older gentleman sat drinking tea, with a complacent look on his face. I ran up and called out,”Excuse me, sir, what place is this?” He looked down at me and laughed. “Why, you don’t know where you are?”

“No sir, I do not.” He put down his tea and pulled out a straw sun hat from a table beside him that I did not see before. As he placed it on he said,”Well your in California. A quiet old orange orchard in California.” I became even more confused. How was I in New York only minutes before, and now after opening my eyes I was all the way across the United States. “No, no that isn’t possible,” I cried. “This all is so unreal.” When I uttered those words the clouds started to almost spill from the sky and then pour out rain droplets till yet again, everything on me and around me became soaked. The way the clouds formed was unnatural, very surreal. The man started to walk back into the house and the orange blossoms began to close. Tears formed at the corner of my eyes. I wanted to have another memory. Just one more so I could figure out just exactly what was going on. It was right then and there, one came. One came of me closing the door to a room in an apartment, turning out the lights, and falling asleep. After that all I recalled was washing up on the beach. Soon I realized what exactly was happening. Although I felt alive, I never felt fully awake. As if my ability to grow tired or weak was disabled. In fact, now upon thinking of it, I had never woken up at all. Repeating after the last dream, the world I was in turned dark.

...

Upon my awakening, I walked through the new dream with newfound confidence. Here I found myself in a dressing room of a certain outlet I could not put my finger on. I walked outside and saw a large complex resembling a mall that did not seem to have any visible exits. As I walked outside, I sat at the base of a water fountain near a boy my age. Unlike many other people I had seen in the different dreams, he seemed to have a lost look on his face. Although, then I remembered that everything was a figment of my imagination. So I decided that I had only been lucid dreaming, destined to wake up at any moment. “Crazy,” I said to the boy. “This is all just a part of a my crazy dreams.” His eyes grew huge as he met my gaze and said,”Your dream? This is mine.”

Child Innocence--Julianna

 Growing up in a life like mine has always been different than a lot of other kids. I would wake up on a saturday morning and get ready to head out on the road. Sometimes we would drive short distances and then other times we would drive long distances. It was always extremely different from the ordinary child. My family and I would always wake up so early for softball tournaments and I just remember waking up with a crisp dewy smell of grass trying to rub the tired out of my eyes. It became so normal for my family to be at some park every weekend as a child I thought this was normal for everyone. Driving became relaxing for me, I still to this day feel happy when I look outside the car windows. The happiness of driving and being outside on the field always made me feel safe, I never thought that the field would become my worst nightmare. It was just a random summer day, school had just got out and I remember heading to the field for my older sister's softball game. Since I was only eleven years old at the time I didn’t understand a lot of what happened. I was watching the game like any other time before and all of a sudden a young player named Dana had fallen to the hard dirty ground. The crowd went silent and sirens started to approach the field fast. She went to the hospital and her teammates and friends followed. I saw her friends, including my sister start to cry in pain and I just sat there curious about what had happened. At the hospital, everyone sat in silence and finally a parent came out to talk to everyone.The man explained how Dana had a brain aneurysm that popped in her head. I remember them trying to describe the aneurysm in the most easiest way possible. He explained that she felt no pain and that gave me a sort of relieved feeling. The day was long, but the night was even longer, my family finally went home and we came back early the next morning. Driving back and forth now became upsetting and I wished for everything to be like normal again. For three days we waited for her to get better, but she never did. I remember on the way to the hospital the third day I figured Dana would wake up and everything would be okay, but my mom told me something else. She prepared me for what she believed was going to happen and told me miracles don’t happen everyday. This was the first time I ever believed she wasn’t going to make it, my innocence was crushed. I looked out the car window and saw a beautiful sunset with pink clouds and I started to silently cry. I will never forget seeing her in the hospital and seeing her head half shaved for the operation. She looked so fragile and weak. The cries of her four year old sister will always haunt me from here on out. The screams of her mom and dad were so surreal, I will never forget the heartbreak her family felt the day they decided to pull the plug. Soon after, I went to my first funeral. Dana’s casket was open and I remember being upset, I was never close to her but I saw all the people she impacted, I saw her beautiful soul being celebrated and she will always have a piece of my heart. The experience crushed my inner child’s soul, I’ve never seen death like this and especially for someone who was only fifteen. I didn’t understand why it was her, why did she have to be the one to get sick, why did no one believe her when she would complain of headaches? I always thought about how if the doctors caught her aneurysm earlier she would still be with us today. I realize now that life doesn’t work that way, but it gives me a sense of relief knowing that there's someone greater up there who had other plans for Dana. Since that horrible day, I’ve learned to not take life for granted. I see people do it all the time, claiming how they hate life and how they rather just die. When I hear that I think of Dana, and I think about how beautiful she thought life was and how happy she made others. She made me want to be a better person even to this day. I know not to take the experiences I have for granted and to live every bit of life to the fullest. There is always light at the end of the tunnel and she will always be forever missed.

An Unlikely Friendship--Leyla

 My name is Vanessa and I am a 5-week old fox. My parents have always been strict with me because they are so scared of the world around us. They think every predator is out to get me and our family but I don’t like to judge other animals before I meet them. All of our predators can’t want to eat us all the time. I just can’t believe that. What if they are just as misunderstood as we are to our prey. I think rabbits are adorable, I don’t want to eat them. I usually just eat berries, fruits, and vegetables. I know that there is a predator that feels the same way about foxes like me. I asked my parents if I could explore in the forest by myself because I’m almost 6 weeks old and about to leave the nest, I just want a little bit of freedom. They said I could go explore but I couldn’t go past the river because that’s where bears are. So I told them I wouldn’t and I went on my way however I need to know if what they are saying about the bears is true. Maybe some don’t want to eat us. I went past the river and I immediately saw a bear. He was scratching his back on a tree and eating berries just like I do. I’m so curious if he will eat more or be friendly to me so I take a chance and I call him over. I say, “Hey, you over there!” He looks over and starts to walk up to me then sits up on his hind legs. He’s very tall and I’m a little scared but I have to know if my parents are

just being overprotective. So I say,” Hi, my name is Vanessa. What’s yours?” Then he says,” Umm...hi, I’m Jordan. You’re not scared of me?” I exclaim,” No! Are you gonna eat me?” He says,” No, I’m not like other bears. I eat berries and plants. I don’t like to kill other animals.” I was so happy to hear that. I knew my parents were just judging a book by its cover. So we talked for hours about our interests and we had a lot in common despite being two different species. I tell him goodbye and we make plans to talk with each other the next day. I get back to the cave and my parents asked where I had been. I knew they wouldn’t be happy that I talked to a predator so I just said,” Sorry I fell asleep by the river and I lost track of time.” My father then said,”It’s okay we’re just glad you are okay.” I smile and go to my side of the den to go to sleep because I’m so excited to see him tomorrow again.

It’s the next morning and my parents wake me up to tell me that they’re going to leave for the day to go find food for us and that I needed to stay in the cave all day. I tell them I won’t leave the cave to ease their minds and they leave. After a couple of hours, I go again to meet up with Jordan. So he asks me where I live in the forest and I point to the mountain and tell him that I live in a cave there. He then says,”I’ve never been to that mountain before my parents won’t let me go over there because they’re scared of the humans.” This made me sad because I understood what it was like to have overprotective parents so I invite him to come to the cave to show him that there is nothing to be afraid of. He agrees then we head over to my cave. I see a bird fly over me but I think nothing

of it. We arrive at my cave and he says,”Wow, my parents were really protecting me from nothing there are no humans over here.” I laughed and said,”I told you!” We both were very tired from our journey so we took a nap.

I wake up from my nap and realize it’s dark outside. I start to freak out because Jordan is still in the cave and my parents could be home any moment. I wake him up and he starts to run home. I’m so happy I got away with seeing my new best friend again. A few hours later, my parents come home and I can tell something is wrong. They sit with me on my side of the cave and they ask me if I had become friends with a bear. I tell them no and they ask me again. I can tell they know. Then I remember the bird that flew over us and I knew we were caught. I tell them yes and they immediately become more angry with me. They repeat what they’ve always said about bears and other predators then I say,” He is different from other bears and actually wants to be friends with me. You can’t judge all bears off of one experience you may have had. I’m going to be leaving the nest in a week. I’m sure I can make good decisions for myself by now.” With an astonished face, they tell me I can no longer be friends with this bear and that he is too dangerous to be friends with. I run out of the cave and I run towards where I think my best friend’s cave is. Luckily, I find him walking by this waterfall. I call him and he looks behind himself. I tell him what happened and told him that we should runaway and let other animals know that not all animals have to be enemies.

He agrees and we start our journey to change the animal world and dynamic one animal at a time.

How to be a Jimmy John's Employee--Jenna

Let's start off by saying, Hello, my name is Jenna Carey and I am a Jimmy John's Employee. Now, I know You must be wondering what is a jimmy johns well let me tell you, it is a sandwich shop... yes I do make sandwiches, A lot of them and I am here to tell you how to be a jimmy John's employee. To start off as an employee of an independently owned jimmy john's franchise we do things a little bit differently, I get my work schedule every tuesday at precisely 5 pm. With that schedule I put in alarms on my phone saying that I have work in 30 minutes to ensure that I'm not late. Once my alarm goes off I put on my work uniform which is a Jimmy johns T-Shirt, Jeans, Shoes, and most importantly my Jimmy Johns visor. When I'm done getting ready I have about 15 minutes to get to work. Now, Jimmy Johns is only an 8 Minute drive to my house but I leave 15 minutes early just in case there is traffic and because I like to be early.

Now that I have arrived at jimmy johns I leave and lock my car and walk into the shop and the first thing I do is go to the computers and I clock in. To do this, I put in my ID number and then put in my employee password after I do that I'm officially clocked in. Once I'm clocked in I wash my Hands for a whole minute because we want to make sure our hands are germ free, especially because of Covid-19. After I'm done washing my hands I put on my apron and gloves and “hop on the line”. Now the phrase “hop on the line” is used a lot at my work and it means to hop in the sandwich line and help make sandwiches. Now to take my explanation into further detail I need to inform you that there are multiple positions on the sandwich line and I will go step by step for each position.

The first position is register, This is where we take the orders for our customers. The customer tells us what sandwich number they want and how they want to customize their sandwich. Now I should make note that we are not like subway, the customer does not walk down the line and tell us in realtime what they want on their sandwich. Instead at Jimmy Johns they tell us what they want at the cashier register and wait for their sandwich to be made according to the receipt. Now once you’ve taken their order and put in their modifications you always, and I mean always ask if they want chips and a drink to make it a combo. The reason why we do this is so then we upsell our items. Once they tell us yes or no we ask them to pay and when the transaction is complete a receipt is printed out and given to the sandwich makers not the customers. This is because the sandwich makers need to know how to modify the customers sandwich. Thus completes the position of register.

The second position is bread start. Now the shop's definition of a bread starter is the person who puts on all the vegetables and assorted spreads. Now i will teach you how to make the most basic of sandwiches that jimmy johns provides for their customers... The turkey tom. The ingredients consist of turkey cheese, mayo, tomato, and lettuce. Once the person at the register hands you the receipt you grab the bread that is desired lay it flat on the cutting board then put in on its side where the bottom of the bread is facing away from you and you cut horizontally across the bread. I know that this is very specific but it is very important because certain vegetables are placed on either the upper or lower part of the bread. Now once you have cut the bread you now must add the ingredients. Mayo should be the very first thing you put on the sandwich and to do so you grab the mini scooper and scoop up mayo from the bin, place it on the sandwich then take a spatula and evenly distribute the mayo. We do this so that way each customer gets a consistent amount of mayo each time. From there on you put 3-4 tomatoes only never more never less. The only time you add more is if the receipt says “extra tomatoes”, this is also to insure a consistent amount throughout all sandwiches. Now when looking over the receipt you see that the customer has decided to add hot peppers free of charge. So I grab between 8-9 slices of our hot peppers and put them on the lower half of the bread. Finally I add a handful of lettuce on top of the hot peppers, (lettuce always goes on top), on the bottom side of the bread. Once I'm done putting on all of the vegetables I check and make sure that I have added in all of the vegetables that the sandwich comes with to insure a high quality sandwich and I slide the sandwich over to the next station along with the receipt.

The next station is meat pull. This is where I bring out the specific meats that come with the sandwich and cheese if desired. So I look at the receipt and it says turkey Tom with cheese so I pull out 1 slice of turkey and 2 slices of cheese and place it on top of the sandwich and I am done and I give it to the last and final station, the wrapper/bagger. Now with this position we take the sandwich, place it diagonally on the corner of the wrapping paper, roll the sandwich, fold in the sides, and roll it again. finally place a sticker to lock the sandwich in place and write the sandwich name on it and put it in a bag along with the receipt and call out the order number.

Now besides from being on the line there are some other jobs that we must do within the shop, and that consist of sweeping, doing the dishes, and stocking chips. Once I finish all of my tasks that I was assigned to do I go back to the computer,put in my ID number and then put in my employee password after I do that I am officially clocked out and I leave.

This is how to be a jimmy john's employee. A step by step guide to show you the meticulous work that we must put into every sandwich.