Author: Katie Spiers

Nature has always been something I’ve always loved and resonated with, and I’ve always wanted to write a piece expressing that. A couple months ago, we had to write a poem to submit to a writing competition and the first thing that came my mind was to write a sonnet about nature. As I started writing, my intention wasn’t to even make it something everyone else would like (which is what I usually aim for), but instead to write my admiration for the beauty I imagined when I wrote my poem, “A Beautiful Circle of Life” :

The wind sways the trees and carries its leaves

To the rushing river that welcomes its gifts. 

The water carries the leaves down the stream

And to the colorful and happy fish. 

Fish smile at the beauty the leaves bring

Spreading admiration far through the stream.

And as other animals come to drink,

They taste the joy touching their tongues with peace.

Spreading that same peace through their home with pride

And as it reaches to the birds, they sing.

They sing pure joy that soothes the ears outside, 

Outside their home, into the world they bring. 

The cycle of nature connects with joy

Spilling to the world for all to enjoy.

I was proud of this poem, not because I thought it would win anything; but because I felt like it came from me and it was different from what I usually write. My mom always told me I should try to write more positive things, but I never seemed to find inspiration to do so. After looking inside myself and finding that I have such a deep appreciation for nature, I decided I should write about that. After completing it, It gave me such a sense of accomplishment to go back and read it because sonnets are kinda hard to write (lol), and I challenged myself to write about something I thought I never could. After a couple months of turning it in to the competition, I completely forgot that I submitted it in the first place until I got an email from my teacher, Mrs Sibley:) To my surprise, my poem placed 3rd in the competition! I was so shocked and exited that I had actually won something in my writing and am still so thankful for the recognition it received. It has really caused me to look at my experience as a student at MSA and see how much I’ve truly grown in my writing.

Thank you guys for all the support you have given me and I hope you all have a great week!

There are many people that I know that are insecure about their music choice, but they have every right to be. One way one of my friends worded the reasoning behind the insecurity of letting others listen to your music was, “You are what you listen to. It can be scary showing your music to someone who doesn’t know you because it’s such a big part of who you are.” She makes a valid point. The music someone listens to plays a big part of defining who that person is.

Me personally, I listen to probably every genre of music besides country and jazz lol. Although, If I’m in New Orleans, then jazz music is my favorite thing to be played in the background, and on some occasions, not all country is horrible. Other than that, a lot of what I listen to has to do with what I was raised around. Even though my music style varies quite a bit, I mostly listen to what is most popular to have something in common with everyone around me. Let me explain this real quick: I don’t just listen to what’s popular so I can have popular interests with those around me, In fact I’m very against doing that. I mean, I genuinely like listening to Roddy Ricch and other music artists of that genre, but It’s not my most preferred option.

What is my most preferred option, you might ask? Easy– rock.  Growing up with my older brother and my closest sister, rock has always been a part of my life. It’s not 100 percent the fact that It’s my favorite genre, but more of the memories that come with listening to that one Blink 182 song that I’ve heard millions of times. There are many different types of rock music as well, and while I love all of them, I have to say that punk rock is my favorite. And then alternative rock. I know this may sound cliche or whatever, but my favorite band is Nirvana. I know that’s such a basic answer, but I could seriously name all their albums and the years they came out and I could tell you what song belongs to which album:) pretty much the same with Blink 182 and Pink Floyd too.  There’s always an immediate comfort I feel from listening to these bands that were so prominent in my childhood and I could never give up listening to them. It’s really sad though, how the modern rock made today could never compare to that which was made in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It’s like becoming extinct and you don’t find very many people who still listen to it.

Thanks for reading about my passion for this genre. I hope you all have a great week and listen to lots of music.

I would like to hear about your favorite music. Comment below please:)

I find it funny how Valentine’s Day went from being like my favorite holiday to a day i’m just like, “can we just not celebrate it this year?” Don’t get me wrong, the small class parties are fun and everything, but I miss the days when it meant handing out chocolate and other candy with a small ridiculous note attached on the back of it. I miss when I associated Valentine’s day with decorating a paper bag to put all my candy and notes in and eating all the candy in it by the end of the day. (actually my mom would never let me do that)

Now a days, Valentine’s is less of a holiday to me and more of a regular day that I wait to pass. Honestly, it is a little sad that I’ve lost all interest in something that I used to enjoy so much, but that’s just a part of life that I’ve realized is inevitable. No matter who you are, you’re bound to lose interest in something as you grow older– especially holidays that seem to lose all meaning without the class parties you so loved to take a part of. Without the small notes and pieces of candy you collected in your poorly decorated brown paper bag, Valentines probably loses all your interest.

Now don’t get me wrong, some people LOVE Valentine’s Day. That is, of course, if they have a significant other to celebrate it with. However, for those of us that are single, it just seems to be another reminder of our loneliness, as if we don’t already have enough. “Okay, we get it. You have a boyfriend/girlfriend. good for you!” Meanwhile, I’m over here just chilling with my food and dog. Is that a complaint? *gasp* Never! Only positive vibes over here:) Although… it isn’t something I’m like super euphoric about. No, I take that back. You can never go wrong with eating food and watching a movie with your dog lol.

Anyways, If you are one of those who looks forward to this “holiday”, I hope this upcoming Valentine’s Day is just the best day ever for you. Not only am I glad that someone finds joy in this day, but I hope you continue to have a positive outlook towards it. Who knows? maybe you won’t be like me and lose all interest in a holiday you used to love– maybe you’ll keep loving it. If so, good job!

I hope you all have a lovely week. Thanks for reading:)

One thing about me: I love thrifting. I don’t always buy something when I go, but if I do then I’m definitely going to use or wear it.  I mean, that’s just everywhere though. Not just while thrifting.

One thing I probably enjoy more than thrifting for clothes is thrifting for books. I love finding books that appear to be older with the pages slightly wrinkled or worn. Every book has their own personality, but I find more personality in the books sitting on the dusty shelves of thrift stores. It may sound like I have been doing this for a while, but honestly, I didn’t even really enjoy reading until a little over a year ago. In fact, the first book I ever thrifted was last summer, and was my book by Mitch Albom, For One More Day.  Although I’m ashamed to say, I only recently finished the book… like a couple weeks ago. I took many breaks in between– partly because I didn’t want to finish the book. You know when you find a TV show you really enjoy watching and you hesitate to finish it because you know that when you finish it, you will never be able to enjoy it the same? Yeah. That’s how I felt about this book. Perhaps it was due to it being the first book I every truly owned (and was determined to read), and I wanted to savor the accomplishment of reading it. It’s a whole new experience reading a book that you and only you own. You have the “write” to do whatever you wish with it: underline your favorite passages, highlight meaningful phrases or words, or even write in it yourself. All things in which can express how you feel while reading it.

As I had mentioned earlier, I started reading this book immediately after I bought it in July, and even though it is only 197 pages long (lol), I very recently finished it. So yeah… I took  a lot of breaks. If you guys know me, you know I really don’t cry. I mean sure, we all have our moments, but me– not so much. But believe me when I tell you, this end had me so emotional. I was crying crying. This book in general was so filled emotion though. The main character, Charlie or “Chick”, was going through it, and it felt like I was right there going through it with him. I could fell his pain, his guilt, his confusion, and his joy. This honestly was the type of book that made me want to become a better person after reading, and those are such important books in life. That’s the type of writing I wish to write one day. Such an inspiration. I’m not going to tell you what it was about because I’m not sure how to do so without giving away the book, but feel free take my word and read it 🙂

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I hope you all have a good day and an even better week <3

“go get learnt” -my brother

From the title of this blog post, it sounds like I’m going to write about something deep and insightful— when in reality, It’s just the title of my one person play. I’ve already written like 3 plays and this one was one of the hardest due to it only containing one character. It’s only one page, but it was still hard lol. I thought it would be cool to share and I hope you enjoy it:)

Character: Dave is a young man in his late 20s, who is naturally irritable, pessimistic, and over dramatic. He comes from a comfortable background and has a problem of spending too much money, which causes him to come off as spoiled, leading everyone to dislike him.

At rise: DAVE, wearing a ripped business suit with his coat tied around his head, is stranded on a desert island. It is mid morning and the sun is shining unbearably bright. There is an open suitcase beside him with clothes in it and spewed across the desert sand.

Lights up: soft sound of waves crashing in the background and bright lighting on stage. DAVE is sitting criss-cross in the middle of the floor, staring into the audience. 

DAVE

Well, this is where I live. (Sighs.) It’s been about a week now of being abandoned… or a couple of months. I really can’t remember, but that’s just what happens with this kind of situation. Time becomes irrelevant and it all blurs together as your brain slowly deteriorates. It seems as though my only friends betrayed me and left me here to die just this morning… but I think it was— How long have I been here? 

HE starts to look around the island.

I mean, surely there’s something that could help me figure out how long I’ve been stranded. That way I can keep track of the days until… (looks into the audience again for dramatic effect.) I die. 

DAVE stands up and begins to pace back and forth. 

Ya know… now that I think about it, I haven’t had anything to eat since I’ve been here and I’m already seeing severe side effects such as a headache… (rests HIS hand on HIS head in pain) Or maybe that’s just where my friends threw my suitcase at me… either way, it’s a side effect. And this sun definitely isn’t helping with my whole dehydration process, that if i’m right, should be happening now seeing as I’ve probably been here for almost a month. It’s only a matter of time before I starve and start dying a slow and painful death without ever getting to say goodbye to my friends. (A beat) wait. Who am I kidding? I don’t have friends. They don’t care about me… Maybe death won’t be the worst thing aftera— No Dave! You won’t let death get the better of you. Look at me! (shakes HIS head.) I’m already losing myself to the high possibility that I’m going to die any second. I have got to get off this island!

HE starts to prepare his suitcase and pick up his clothes spewed across the island dripping with water and immediately drops them. 

Wait… these clothes are still wet from when my suitcase was thrown into the ocean after I was… and it hasn’t rained since I’ve been here… and come to think of it, I really don’t recall ever spending a night here… Dear god… I haven’t even been here a full day! 

thank youuuu for reading. Have a great week:)

I haven’t spent much time on this earth, but from my experience, the decade of the 2010s has impacted this society more than any other decade. There’s many reasons for this well-tested theory, but without further ado, I’m just going to list them.

Music:

The music has evolved from instrumental and typically consisting of the help of more than 2 people producing it, to where you alone could use an app to make something that sounds like the song playing on the radio. Actually, no one really listens to the radio anymore so we wouldn’t know. Don’t get me wrong, the local radio can be a great thing if you don’t have Bluetooth and don’t want to drive in silence, but the music apps are definitely taking over. And it’s a great thing, because who doesn’t want to pay $10 to listen to whatever you want whenever you want.

Social Media:

“You’re always looking at that phone.” Ok boomer. My dad tells this to me all the time and my reason to keep looking at my phone and ignore him is social media. I mean yeah, is it healthy? Nope. Does it cure my temporary boredom, help me become friends with random people I will probably never meet, cause most of my procrastination problems and is the result of the great lack of sleep I always have? Yes. It’s worth it though… or is it? Probably not, but I’m too prideful to delete it. (whoops)

Internet:

This goes along with social media, but also includes YouTube, and with that comes vines (rip). I’ve spent countless hours on YouTube watching all the iconic memes we know as vines. Unfortunately, vine is dead. but its legacy lives on. Through YouTube. Also, we can’t ignore the fact that the most marvelous things in the world were created during this decade which is also dead now: memes.

Memes:

If you’re like me, you’ve had to explain the definition of a meme and provide an example to your mother or grandparents. They may or may not have understood it, but hey. You tried to bless their lives. I think Memes are the main thing that made this discussed decade what it was. It was the first time people of all backgrounds really came together to enjoy a common interest. And with that being said, this was also probably the most peaceful decade of all time as well.

Have a good week:)

I’ve personally never been big on setting goals and resolutions for the New Year until last year, which is really the reason I made it here. My goal for this year hasn’t differentiated much from last year’s, however. Last year, it was to put more time and effort into my grades and work more towards getting into this school.

I had never been very serious about my grades until I heard of this school, and I decided I wanted to try and get all A’s for the first time so I could increase the probability of getting in. Although I did not get all A’s, I brought my grades significantly higher than they were before and ended up making it in, and raising my self esteem based on my founded potential. Since I have been here, I have only had all A’s on my progress and report cards after convincing myself I was capable of doing so.

This year, my goal/ resolution is to get all A’s and bring my ACT score up at least 4 points. Although I have more than just academic goals, I’m mainly focusing on these so I can get into a better college next year. I’m really just trying to work towards making my future really successful.

Before I came here, I had never thought about college or what I wanted to do with my life, much less use my passion for writing as a way to get a job or scholarship. At my old school, I was always really behind in my classes compared to all my friends due to my dyslexia, and it was really frustrating and discouraging. I was put in classes that never really challenged me the way I needed to be challenged. I gained a mentality that I probably wouldn’t be good enough to even get into a local collage. It wasn’t until last year that I started really trying in school and found what I was really capable of.

I had an interview with a war veteran in History class and my teacher asked him, “If this was the last group of students you could ever talk to, what would you say, or what do you think they need to know?” He paused for a little bit and then answered, “I would tell them… never let where you’re from make you feel like you can’t do something.” Living in Mississippi and the education system not being very effective in most parts, we are looked at as being unintelligent and incapable of having a great abundance of knowledge. However, this particular war veteran grew up in Mississippi as well and graduated from Yale and got his higher degree in learning at Harvard. Don’t let where you come from limit what you’re capable of.

Really, you can find yourself accomplishing things you never knew you were capable of until you make an effort to better yourself in any aspect. While I have my academic goals, I’m also working this year to be more outgoing and loving. This is something that is extremely difficult for me to do after losing a lot of people in my life. Believe it or not, I used to be really outgoing and talkative when I was younger, but every year of getting older, I lost more and more of that part of myself after dealing with *life*. It’s a part of myself that I want to get back, and with work, I can.

I hope you all do great with keeping your resolutions this year:)

This will be the last blog posted in 2019, so I would like to dedicate it to this past year. 2019 has been the most emotionally, all over the place year I’ve ever had. It was the year that my friends death hit me the hardest and I lost many things in my life, but it was also the year that I received the most exiting news– me being able to come here. It was filled with so many ups and downs, but I made it out pretty okay I guess. And despite me cutting my bangs, I barely had any mental breakdowns! (lol that’s a joke, my bangs were a very thought out decision.) But overall, I would say this was a pretty good year, and here’s why:

First of all, it was the year that I became close with some really great friends. In the past, I was always in pretty toxic friendships that caused a lot of sadness in my life. But this past year, I cut those people out of my life and found people who treated me like I deserve:) so that was a really big positive in my year.

The second reason would have to be the fact that I found a big part of who I am. I experienced a lot of hard things before, and during this year that led me to do a lot of self reflecting on who I am and my purpose for being here–and to my surprise, I found confidence in doing so. Really, gaining confidence made a big part of this year being what it was.

The third reason… probably going to Boston. Yup, that’s definitely a reason. 10/10 experience (you can read about it in one of my previous blog posts). Also, I went to visit my sister in California which was also amazing– really just all the traveling I did in general with my family helped make really enjoyable memories this past year.

The last but most impactful reason is leaving Oak Grove and coming to MSA. Honestly, leaving Oak Grove was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.  At first, I was so ready to leave and start something new by getting away from the environment I grew up in, but the saying “you don’t realize what you had until it’s gone” is really true haha. That saying applied to my life so, so much this past year, as I lost a lot. But I didn’t just feel sad about leaving the teachers and the very few students there I actually liked, but the halls I walked in and the classrooms I sat in every day. On my last day there, I looked around and realized how much I was going to miss certain aspects of that school. But coming here has helped me grow as a person in ways Oak Grove never could have. It’s pushed me and challenged me in ways nothing every has, and I’m really thankful for that.

In 2019, I’ve made the best friends I’ve ever had, and they’re most likely reading this so I want to say: Thank you guys for being there to help me through this past year. and to my new friends at this school, thank you for inspiring me to be my best self and being a family away from home to me ♥

I love you guys and hope that as your 2019 comes to an end, you find the positive things in it to take with you to 2020. (a new decade. that’s crazyyyy)

oh and, Merry Christmas!

I’m pretty sure that everyone had a go to childhood game that they would play significantly more than others (If you don’t, I’m so sorry). Well for me, that was Mario kart. It was like my best friend and my mom’s worst enemy because what better way to procrastinate your responsibilities than play Mario kart? Exactly. there is no better way. Anyways, my mom got really tired of telling me to “stop playing stupid video games and do my chores/ homework”. It was kind of rude, but I didn’t take it personally because I know she was just upset– and people don’t think very logically when they’re upset, so I would pretend not to hear her and continue playing. she began to hate the game very quickly for that reason though:(

REASON #1: Mario Kart teaches how to be a cautious and skilled driver.

Before driving on real roads, I drove on the professional roads of the game that only the best of the best can survive on. You learn to avoid shells, banana peels, and other characters that don’t know how to drive (you have to avoid those people on the roads in real life too).  There are a lot of obstacles that you have to overcome in the game, and while you most likely won’t be driving on a rainbow road in space, It really prepares you for the hard driving every driver is going to have to face at some point or another.

REASON #2: Mario Kart enforces patience.

Incase you don’t know, this game can be very stressful. You can go from 1st to last place all due to the unlikeliness of falling off the edge of the road and dying. And then right when you’re set back on the track, you get hit with like 4 shells, shrunken, run over, and fall off again. Due to these very unfortunate circumstances, many people lose their tempers with the game and may possibly break their controller and/or tv over it. That’s a bit extreme, but it can, and does happen. (not that I would know…) And that’s where my theory comes in to play: Mario Kart teaches patience, a virtue everyone needs to learn one way or another. Me personally- I think this game is truly the best way to learn it. You have to learn not to get overly mad when a slight inconvenience in the game takes place so you don’t break your controllers. It took me years to master, but I can now stay perfectly calm when someone runs me off the road (in the game of course), or does any other manner of harassment to where I am no longer in 1st place.  Also, I’m just a patient person for the most part, and I really think Mario Kart has contributed to that.

REASON #3: Mario Kart bonds you closer with people.

I understand that this is a blog post that appeals to factual ideations and not emotion; however, this is a very important and positive side effect of playing this game. You can be playing Mario Kart with someone you don’t even know and all of a sudden, you both die together. (Once again- in the game of course.) It’s such a heartbreaking occurrence to fall in the water of that one place, or the dark abyss of another, which can automatically give you something to understand together. One minuet, you didn’t even know the person, the next, you’re crying with each other out of frustration. One of the quickest way to make friends and find empathy for each other.

I would like to thank my 2 main inspirations for this post: Leah (my sister), and Lauren (my cousin.) Thanks for always playing Mario Kart with me even though I always win. I’m sure that’s frustrating.

thanks for reading:)

Society has a lot of unfair expectations. From the way we should look, to the things we should do, and to the way we should dress and act. It’s almost impossible to be confident with everything telling you “you’re doing it all wrong. ” I’m dressing wrong. I’m not acting the way I should. I don’t agree with the things I should agree with. It’s exhausting trying to meet all the expectations people have in order to feel accepted. I used to find it so difficult to find happiness in myself because the constant weight of the worlds idea for ‘wrong’ was holding me back from finding who I wanted to be.  Or how I wanted to dress, look, act, and in general, just live my life.

This past coffee house, I was on program and I wrote a poem for the theme “Metaphysicality.” The way it was described to me was: something somewhere it doesn’t belong.  I chose to write about perfection in reality, because these expectations of being perfect or having a perfect life are so unrealistic and the truth is, perfection will never belong in a world such as this one. And that’s a beautiful thing to me because personally, I don’t find perfection beautiful– I find it delusional. Anyways, here’s my poem:

They live with unconditional happiness everyday. 

Looking around at their life, 

and not one thing is wrong. 

Bright smiles presented all around them-

Even on the ones they love. 

Their family all sleeps in the same caring house,

Saying “goodnight”, and “I love you”,

Before they rest their eyes 

That have never shed a tear.  

And every peaceful morning, they wake up 

To the sun shining

In their room that only holds 

Good memories of better times that 

Keep getting better as they live their perfect life. 

But eventually, their smiles fade

Into sadness that pours out of their eyes. 

And their family stops caring 

And saying “goodnight”

Before they turn off the pointless lights

That can’t keep them out of darkness. 

And as they live their perfect life, 

It becomes less perfect. 

Because perfection doesn’t belong in reality. 

I used to wish that I looked perfect. That I had no flaws. I used to hope to have a perfect life. I used to be so blinded by my hope for something that doesn’t exist, that I never found beauty in what does. Luckily, I stopped looking for perfection in things and started loving things the way they are.

Have a good day:)