September Writers!

Our Featured Writers for the month of September are now posted!

Your job:  Get on the Blog and go read.  There are six features this month.  You are to read ALL six submissions and write insightful, helpful, note-worthy comments for each piece.  There are a few personal narratives and the first "How To" submission.

Writers:  Stand by and keep checking the Blog.  As students write their comments, read what they have to say and write back.  As a writer you only comment on two other pieces, your choice.

Enjoy the reads for this month.  Your comments are due by October 17.  Yes, I'm giving you two weeks.  So, please make the effort to complete this online assignment.

Happy Reading!!!!!!

Andrew

Nocturne

            Awake, life a fervent river, flowing throughout the mans body, the day began anew. The resonance of life in the malevolence that came to be quotidian in this realm, was as frigid waves sapping the heat of the flames of darkness. His consciousness, a dim light, in a ambiance of pitch black desperado. His footsteps, booming, cantankerous screeches upon the ancient silence. His breath, a warm exasperation upon the icy air, his heartbeat, a vociferous drum, beating in the death of the dormant world. His eyes opened to this death. Slits of light casting their glow, his mind grasped at the entirety of the world left to him. In lunacy, this sapient dream perplexed him, it enervated him, it brought life to his aching bones. Tears etched a redness across his face, life in miniscule beads showing themselves to the dread of the darkness. His body broken, beaten, tattered, his mind shattered, he looked to the sky, a conflagration of exotic flames, shades of black and blood stained the night sky as the fire burned, this fire raged on, setting the mans psyche ablaze, remnants of his past gripped him, and for that short time, he was human, but as that moment passed, he resumed his veracity in the barren, forsaken world.  He took his first steps in the forgotten land, his bare feet gnashed against the rubble, his face contorted in angst as the burning ash seared against his worn face. Concrete, glass, sheet metal, building blocks of civilization, rested in ruin, cast to oblivion in the flames of chaos, this world, rested upon a new order, one devised in larceny and duplicity, one fraught with the greed that perpetuated the very civilization it had consigned to destruction. The cries of self proclaimed transcendence pained as forgotten echoes, infernal flames of hate. He trudged across the landscape aimlessly, in hopes that he may designate a purpose in his hell.

Dallas

Leading the Way

The cool, crisp mountain air felt foreign to my lungs. I was far from home, standing in the middle of a field just outside of the campus of the Air Force Academy. I had just met the people around me a few days before, but we already had a bond so strong that it was hard to imagine being away from them. My new friends and I, team Alpha, spent a week at the Air Force Academy for an annual engineering camp and it was the most impactful experience of my life.
    The camp itself consisted of about a hundred top-notch students and twenty counselors. The students were split into groups of ten with two counselors for each team. Every day we had a new engineering related competitive event, including catapult building and house designing, and we camped out in military-grade huts. I found out so much more about my limits and myself after attending this camp. The whole experience forced me to be an independent and critical thinker while putting me in a leadership position. Our team gave everyone a chance to lead by electing a new leader for every activity. The activity that I was in charge of was a shed building event. At first the work and responsibility felt like a wave overwhelming me, but I delegated jobs and leadership roles to people who I felt would flourish in their positions the best. I had to supervise the project for two full days – it was the largest event of the camp – which put even more pressure on me to do well. This amazing leadership opportunity made me realize the importance of obtaining respect and trust as a leader. If my team did not respect my decisions or trust my ideas and me, we could never have obtained first place. 
    I realized just how important respect was during the sprinkler system building event. The leader for the event was the sole girl in our group, so she naturally felt left out. Since she already felt a lack of cohesion, she did not act as though she had much authority. This made her a mostly ineffective leader for the event, and everybody else naturally started to try to take over the leadership role. We obviously had the ability to do well because we beat almost every other team in all the other events, but we came in last this event because we did not have a strong leader. After this, I realized how important a strong, respected leader is to every team, group, or organization.
    This experience improved my character drastically. I now have a greater understanding of what it means to be both a leader and a follower, and I was able to express my love and talent for problem solving. Because I expanded both my knowledge in engineering and critical thinking skills, I hope to share what I have learned with others at the Air Force Academy, be a role model for other students, and bring unique solutions to difficult problems.

Delaney

The Day I Almost Died

                        I remember that it was hot. The sun was scorching southern California, shining and radiant just like always. Ten years ago almost to the day, my seven year old self was being slathered in sunscreen from head to toe, in a feeble attempt to protect me from harm. Jumping into the deep blue abyss of our backyard pool, a billion tiny bubbles exploded into existence and ascended up to the surface, tickling my ears as they raced past. My two older brothers were playing pass at the bottom of the deep end with a toypedo, the red and blue pattern blurring as it was briskly launched back and forth. It zoomed right past my face causing me to jerk backwards.  That was close I thought to myself. As I made my way to the shallow end a few legs and arms thrashing around me, kids who still needed floaties bobbing up and down at the mercy of the water. My mum was hosting a few of her friends and their families for a backyard barbeque. The children were playing, the parents were gossiping, and the burgers were cooking. I was practicing my handstands in the shallow end amongst the floaters while a girl one year older than me was throwing toys for the smaller kids to play with. Just as I surfaced, a hulking, hard plastic orange submarine, the kind not meant to be played with in the pool at all, made contact with the center of my face. A resounding thwack echoed about the yard, all other noises silenced.

            I remember that it was painful. At first it was a sharp shooting pain in the center of my face, but spread slowly into a dull ache that radiated throughout my entire head. Dissembling the pain and agony from my face as best I could I dunked my head under the water to try and numb the discomfort somewhat. Opening my eyes and looking down I saw red ripples forming around me, and drops of blood flowing off my face and into the water. I tentatively reached up to my nose and pulled my hand back only to find it drenched in my blood.

            I remember thinking I was going to die. Wholeheartedly believing that this would be my last day on Earth was terrifying. That I had been robbed of the opportunity to graduate fifth grade, see my friends and family again, all by a toy submarine. That something so miniscule and inconsequential could have such a great effect on my life.

            I remember that it was cold. The waiting rooms in hospitals are never as warm and comforting as they should be, especially the emergency room. The air conditioning was on full blast, my wet hair chilling me to the bone, and the bleak walls with empty chairs in endless rows were few filled by only a few coughing occupants. A wet dishrag sat atop the bleeding gash, a sobbing second grader underneath it, questioning her mother as to why the sniffles of others took precedence over the slash on her nose.

Ever since I was a child I’ve always had a flair for the dramatics. No point in denying it now. Feel free to ask my best friend my view on pancakes; according to her, I don’t hate pancakes, I HATE pancakes. So in all actuality, I probably came nowhere close to meeting the grim reaper on this occasion, but in my seven year old mind, the situation was dire. I had never seen so much blood in my life, and was convinced I was going to die. I kept repeating the phrase “I’m going to die” and even called my best friend to tell her she was the sole heir to my barbie doll collection. That day opened my eyes to the reality that life is fragile, precious and fleeting, and that every moment spent without blood gushing from your face is one to be thankful for. Today, between my eyes, atop a few freckles lays a tiny scar from where the wound healed and every time I look in the mirror I smile at the memory.

Katie

Cali Finale

                  It was April 5, 2014 at the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, California. My team was called to go to warm ups. My heart was pounding as my teammates and I held hands walking back stage. Our coach told us to warm up our stunts, jumps, tumbling and dance. Our thirty minutes to warm up was ticking away, after our second full out of our routine we were called to be on deck. We got into our circle, held hands and began our prayers. My coach told us to stay focused, sharp, and fierce. I was shaking, because I was so nervous. As the music from the other cheer team had ended, my heart began racing. It was the second to last time I would be competing with my team and I knew it had to be amazing. When the announcer called out my team’s name, we stepped onto the blue mats. I felt overwhelmed, with all of the flashing lights and the roar of the people. I got to my place and my hands were shaking, our music started and then I blanked out. My mind went completely blank and I forgot the whole routine. Whenever I would remember something, I quickly had to think of what was next. After all of my stunts hit, it was time for jumps, tumbling, pyramid and finally our dance. At the time I thought it was all too much, however I seemed to remember my routine. After I hit my ending pose and the music ended, the crowd screamed for us. My teammates and I rushed off the stage giving each other hugs. Then we got back stage to our coach. By the look of her face I knew we didn’t hit perfectly. My heart dropped as she told us that three stunts didn’t go up, and half of our pyramid fell. When we were doing our routine it was just too much and we didn’t really notice our flaws at the time, but after you see the videos and hear the other teams talking about you it really hits you. Even though all of my stunts hit, I was still disappointed in myself, for not performing my personal best. After re-watching the videos, I kept criticizing the way I had performed. I noticed my toes weren’t pointed and I could have been sharper with my motions. My team and I ended up getting eighth place, and even though we were all upset with ourselves for a while, we managed to keep working hard. However, this particular competition got me over my fear of performing in front of a huge crowd of people. Even though there were a lot of bad memories that came with this, I’m really glad it happened, because now I’m not afraid to perform in rallies, or in front of big crowds in general.

Jackson

My Form of Art

            Origami is an ancient form of folk art, which has been practiced for over 1,000 years.  Without glue or scissors, you can turn a sheet of paper into a complex, beautiful design.  Origami has been my favorite form of art for six years.  One of the first designs I learned to make was the paper frog, which I will show how to make right now. It’s a little tricky at first, but with a little practice, you’ll be folding frogs in no time.

What you will need:

* One sheet of paper

* Two hands

* One pencil or pen (optional)

How to fold the frog:

Step 1: Lay the piece of paper in front of you vertically. Fold the sheet of paper to the left so that both edges of the paper come together.

Step 2: Take the top right corner of the paper and fold it diagonally so that it touches the left side. Crease well and unfold.

Step 3: Take the top left corner of the paper and fold it diagonally so that it touches the right side. Crease well and unfold. When you are done, the top half of your paper should have a creased X shape.

Step 4: Flip over your sheet of paper.

Step 5: Take the top of your sheet of paper and fold it down the middle of the X, then unfold. You should have a creased line that runs through the middle of the X.

Step 6: Flip over the paper and push into the area of the X that is sticking out. Push the two side of the paper together and fold down. When you are done, you should have a triangle shaped fold on the top that has two layers.

Step 7: Fold the bottom of the paper up to the base of the triangular fold on the top. Be sure to crease well.

Step 8: Take the corner of the first layer of the triangle section and fold it up to about 1/3 of the way up to make the frog’s front feet. Do the same for both corners of the triangle fold.

Step 9: Fold both sides of the paper into the middle. You might not be able to get all the way to the middle, but try to get as far as possible.

Step 10: Fold the bottom edge up so that it touches the bottom part of the triangle region. Fold well.

Step 11: Look at the flap you just folded. Find the two corners underneath the flap. Carefully pull the corners so that they extend from the body and form triangles. These will become the bottom feet.

Step 12: Fold the flaps downward so that the edges of the feet touch each other.

Step 13: Fold the bottom corners of the feet out so that they form a triangle shape.

Step 14: Fold the frog in half, up to where the top triangle part of the frog meets the legs.

Step 15: Fold the part you just folded in half again, but this time do it downwards.

Congratulations! If you followed all the steps, you have made a paper frog. If you push down on the edge of its back, you can make it hop. If you want to add eyes, you can take a pencil or pen and draw them on the tip of its head.  It might not be perfect the first time, but all art takes practice!

            How do I know so much about origami, you ask? Well, when I was about eight years old, I wanted to try out art. My sister was great at drawing, so I thought, “How about I give it a try?” So I tried. And I failed. So I got really upset about it. I decided to ask my grandma if she knew any other kinds of art I could try. She told me she knew a different kind of art for me, origami. She showed me how to fold a boat and a hat, and I immediately loved it. But I wanted to make more. I told my mom about how I loved origami, and asked her if there were more figures to make. She told me that she could get a handbook full of different figures, and I quickly said yes. Once I got it, I learned to make many more origami figures, like the snake, the swan, and my all-time favorite, the frog. While I do not fold origami as much as I used to, I still make the occasional frog or boat, and I always enjoy it. Origami is one of my favorite pastimes, and I hope it will be yours too. Happy folding!

Ryan

Time Really Does Go Fast

Most of us, when thinking of this school year, might think it is “only” September – it really is not that far along.  But we recently passed the six week mark, and are already about a third of the way done with the first of two semesters this year.  And for many of us, this is our last year in high school.  For years we have heard of applying for college, and it has seemed so far off.  But now it is that time for us, too – and I still feel that I am much too young to be applying for college. 

The reality is that we – even as teenagers – might be older than we feel.  We all know our age, and it has just become a number that we repeat without thinking when asked how old we are.  Many of us, at the start of senior year are sixteen or seventeen years old.  Three years is not all that long a time, and to think that in only three years many of us that currently attend our school will be twenty years – two decades – old, it just seems that it cannot be right.  I don’t feel that old at all.  In a year many of us seniors will officially be adults, and I just wonder where all the time went. 

I have talked to people who clearly remember what it was like in the United States during World War II – they talk about details of life from seventy years ago – and that seems like yesterday to them.  In sixty years, will our “just yesterday” be now?  “Ten years ago,” when you are seventeen years old, might as well have been a century ago.  But even at this point in time, I can look back at events from ten years ago and think, “I remember that, has it really already been ten years?”  When someone says “ten years,” it seems like such a long time.  But when thinking of what we remember from ten years ago, it really does not seem like it was very long ago.  Older people say that the older you get, the faster time seems to go.  If it already seems to go as fast as it does now, then what will it be like when we are much older? 

I remember thinking when I started high school that senior year would be a few years away, and that going through the next four years would seem to take forever, but that at the end I would wonder where the last four years went – how they went by so fast.  Now, as I figured I would, I wonder what happened to the last few years.  Freshman year, I had friends who were seniors.  They were not there the next year, and I thought nothing of it – they had graduated and gone to college.  Then the same happened sophomore year and junior year.  Now that I am a senior, I am the one who will not be at the same school next year, and it seems like it cannot be right – it does not seem like it has been almost four years.  But it is already almost time to start applying to colleges – and all this is what I realized because of that.  And I realize now that even though we should plan for the future, we should value the time we have while we have it.