Unfinshed, drawn in MS Paint, with the laptop touch pad during English class.

It’s Sora from Kingdom Hearts II

“Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings”.

                            –William Shakespeare

The most valuable part of English this year… was that we learned about the stuctures of poetry, and how sonnets and epics work. We learned about the writer John Milton and his epic of Paradise Lost, and we copied poems from writers such as Maya Angelou and Shakespeare.

The most memoriable thing in English this year… was our opera trip to see Madame Butterfly. I not only had a great time with my friends, but we had a wonderful experience of watching opera singers sang in Italian, which also gave us some language experience.

The lesson that made me think was… the poetry lessons, where we wrote our own poems, such as those preformed in the Poetry Smash.

A short story, written in place of a school assignment. It’s a shorter version of a long novel I’ve plotted out.

Clockwork.

Humming over the large bridge, a small old car drives slowly through the crammed in traffic. Inside sits a woman and a snoozing teenager. Suddenly, the boy thrusts up and hits his head on the small ceiling of the car. Whining, he lies back down and tries to doze off once again. » Continue Reading

Motherly Symphony

With frail, scarred-tattered hands.
Feeding, cleaning, the feathery creatures.
Seeds drizzle on the cemented ground.
Long hair, cascading on to her shoulders.
Then pulled back into a simple bun.
Held together with a painted chopstick.
Simple pattern outfits, dusted with age.
Tells about the times when she glided on the runway.
Fractured English, falls from her mouth.
Never fails to muster a smile.
From her children, she holds dear.
Especially the era, of young kids.
Scattered on the beach.
Collecting seashells, preparing.
To be made into simple jewelry. 

— Bí

Everyone has a person they look up to and whether that person is a celebrity or a close relative, someone admires someone for certain qualities. I myself admire my close friend, Kate, whom’s successful enough to be graduating this year. Although she lives in Massachusetts, we still talk enough for me to notice the admirable qualities she has.

Kate is a very talented artist. I look up to her wishing I had nearly the skills she has. I learn some drawing techniques from her which help me improve. Kate had been talented enough to become a state finalist for the Doodle 4 Google contest which thousands of people across the country had entered. Out of the hundreds of people in Massachusetts, she was picked as one of the two state finalists.

She also has an admirable personality. Kate’s kind and sweet, yet willing to speak her mind when someone ticks her off. She’s funny and generous, and just an overall nice person. She attracts the nicest people and has a lovely aura about her.

The person I admire is one of my best friends. Kate’s a positive person that is certainly inspiring, and defiantly someone to look up too. I told you some qualities of the person I admire, who do you admire and why?

My personal accomplishment hasn’t quite been achieved yet. It’s a simple goal I have in life, and I don’t think it would ever be achieved. My goal is to improve in art; but you can’t stop improving your drawing skills. Though I am truly proud of how much my art has progressed during my middle school years, but I’m also sad because, I could be better, and I haven’t reached a point yet. I don’t think I would ever be completely satisfied with my skills.

Art is really important to me because it’s a skill I have, that other people may not. Just as some people are great at sports, and some people are exceptional singers, I will say I have talent in my artistic abilities. Other people compliment me, but I’m not modest. I tell them when something doesn’t look that great, and they complain about how good it looks to them. I say my works don’t look nice, because they could be better! I strive to improve!

I started taking drawing seriously when I was in fifth grade. Why? I was inspired by my friend, Fallon. She had drawn me a picture, and I had based myself off that. Ever since I’ve been improving more and more on things such as basic body anatomy, coloring, shading, and using different techniques. Even though I have improved this much to make pretty decent pieces, I can really learn more; the possibilities are endless when it comes to art.

Because of that, I’m satisfied with myself to call it an accomplishment, but not satisfied enough. To keep improving on my artistic talent is my greatest personal goal. I really hope I can become something great with this.

In our English class, we were given an assignment that lets you choose what type writing you’d like to do. I picked to write a short story. It’s been a plot that’s been stuck in my head for a while, and I finally figured out how to start this story. It’s of a teenaged boy, moving to a quiet town. Located in the town was a clock shop, no one knows how long the clock shop’s been there, nor do they know much about man working their. Apparently the store was ran by his family for as long as anyone can remember, but a strange legend rumours the town.

 ”Have you ever heard of the man with a clockwork heart?”

Spirited Away is an animated movie by Hayao Miyazaki, dubbed by English voice actors to tell a fantasy of a girl getting lost in the spirit world. This movie is a full-length animated film that sets you into a mystical spirit world, that’s settled by witches, spirits, or just plan creepy creatures, such as No Face.

Chihiro, a young girl whom is drawn to life by Miyazaki, is moving to a new city, but misses her friends dearly. While attempting to take a shortcut, her dad drives into a dead end that seem to leads into an abandoned temple. After passing through the cave, they find themselves on a grassy hill that a Chinatown-like development sits atop. The area seems abandoned but the scent of food fills the air. While Chihiro’s parents gorge themselves, she wonders around the town. When she finds her parents again, they both had turned into pigs.

Chihiro finds that she’s stuck in this spiritual world, and cannot get back for the once grassy fields turned into a large mass of water. To get her parents back to normal, Chihiro gets a job at the local bathhouse for the spirits, suggested by the mysterious Haku, ran by the witch Yubaba. She meets new people, and befriends them while trying to save her parents. Chihiro finds that saving her parents are far on the trail of adventures she faced. From helping a powerful spirit, to saving her new love, Spirited Away is a beautifully animated tale that whisks you away to the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.

Paint by Magic

Kathryn Reiss

 Paint by Magic is a time traveling tale of a family and a dead artist. Connor is an eleven year old boy whose family never sees each other. Both his parents are constantly working, his sister is off talking to friends and doing her after school activities, while Connor does his own activities, and it taken care of by babysitter, Ashleigh.
One day, Connor finds his mom at home and sitting in a trance like state. She was just sitting there, posing. When she snaps back to life, she offers Connor homemade snacks? Connor’s mom doesn’t cook. What’s with this? When Connor goes up into his room, all his electronics are missing. The computer was gone, the TV was gone, even his stereo system has disappeared! All the TVs in the house were gone!

When he goes to tell his mother about this problem—she’s in the kitchen, cooking again. She explains that she had took out the television sets herself, because the family needs time to get away from such an addiction. Connor’s mom never acted like this before, what’s wrong with her? Connor and his family, including Ashleigh, are surprised by his mother’s actions, and why does she keep going into a trance? Connor finds this mysterious art book that has paintings with women that look exactly like his mother. But the painter died before his mom was even born. What’s this connection? Connor is taken back in time to find the answer, finding himself in the 1920s and with a mysterious painter. Can he find out why and what’s been happening? Before something dangerous happens?

Paint by Magic is an interesting book, with descriptive details that lets you know exactly how this family lives and why it’s so strange for their mother to act in such a way. The story catches your attention from the beginning and keeps you reading.

I think that our school district focuses too much on sports. Not everyone in the school is an athlete, so what would we do with a puddle of water and an extra field? The new high school, or the district itself, could use the extra tax money for something else, instead of wasting its money on things the school doesn’t need. There are other clubs or programs run by the district besides sports teams, you know. The extra money doesn’t have to be just for the new high school, but the whole district. It’s easy to divide the money amongst the schools and give it to them for things such as textbooks, technology, or even things for like Art and Drama. 

I’m not an athlete myself, along with the other sixty-something percent of people in a school. So why would people with athletic talent get all the attention—and money. There are many students the district that don’t play sports; or even like sports. Instead they express themselves artistically, visual or performing, skills with technology, or even woodshop. Those students don’t see much attention, do they? 

I know for a fact I myself have a talent for something not relating to sports. I’m an artist, and if I say so myself, I’m a decent artist. But, I’ve seen the art room in this school. Instead of nice Prisma, Treas, or Copic markers, the school supplies us with Crayolas. Cheap Crayolas, that dries out before you’re even done with a decent picture.  

Stage talent is one more thing that’s slightly unappreciated in this district. For one, quiet a few schools in this district don’t even have an auditorium. They stick a stage in the Gymnasium or Cafeteria and call it an auditorium, which is a horrible excuse. I’ve been in hallways that have better acoustics than the “auditorium”. With the horrible acoustics, you can’t hear the band, choir, or even actors on stage voicing what they do best. Our school barely funds the drama club, which can only host two productions a year. I’ve heard that a janitor themselves had donated needed money to the club. Every year, the Drama club goes to New York City, and each student needs to throw out a whopping $100, not including food, to see this Broadway production. With extra funding from the school you can do something, like reduce the enormous amount for field trips. 

Really, even an elementary school in this district has a football field. Do we really need another field? They’re alternatives to a pool—think of the other things you can do with the money. Pools cost a good amount of money to keep and maintain. With the amount of money you could buy plenty of textbooks, art supplies, things for a drama performance, or even just to expand the school’s library. The possibilities are endless—spend wisely, Cape.