Category: Junior Literary

I’ve been waiting for this one! This show has been the only thing on my mind since it came out at the beginning of February. I was planning on watching the first premier on Adult Swim with my dad, but then I realized I would be at school by that time. So I watched it with my friend the next day on Max, and when I say that was the highlight of my week, I mean it. And it was only Monday!

Common Side Effects was created by Joe Bennett and Steve Hely for Adult Swim. Lots of creators behind this show also worked on another show called Scavengers Reign. I heard that it’s really good, so that helped me put faith into Common Side Effects before it came out. I haven’t looked into it much, but it’s definitely next on my list.

Common Side Effects is about a man named Marshall, who discovered a mushroom that can cure pretty much every health problem in the world. He reunites with Frances, a friend from high school, and as Marshall is trying to avoid the government stopping him from having this mushroom, Frances is trying to impress her boss and get a (well deserved) raise.

This blog will contain SPOILERS for the pilot episode. It’s not anything crazy, it’s not like I’m spoiling the entire show because I literally can’t. If you want to watch it, I 100% recommend it, especially if you’re really big on Adult Swim shows (like me).

Episode 1 – Pilot 

We immediately open to a conference for the Reutical pharmaceutical company where the CEO, Rick (my archenemy), reveals their medicine has a side effect of depression and suicidal thoughts. Frances (my GOAT) is introduced as Rick’s employee, and Marshall gets on the Q&A mic to expose Rick’s company of destroying habitats in order to produce their medicine. Frances recognizes him as he’s getting kicked out, and they reunite for the first time since high school. But Frances hides the fact that she works for Reutical, knowing Marshall wouldn’t trust her if he knew. As they catch up, Frances reveals that her mother has dementia and Marshall proposes the idea of a medicine that can cure anything. Frances is intrigued but she isn’t convinced it’s possible, until Marshall literally breaks a pigeon’s neck and immediately heals it with bits of the Blue Angel mushroom. Then, it’s revealed that Marshall is being spied on by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (I think?). We meet Copano and Harrington, two DEA agents tasked with tracking him down.

Then, we get the awesome intro sequence. It’s crazy that there’s all this information within the first few minutes. Of course, it’s a pilot, so I should’ve expected to be shot with so much information at once, but when I was typing out notes for this blog, my fingers couldn’t keep up!

We open to Marshall telling Frances about how he found the Blue Angel mushroom. We learn that it’s an incredibly rare mushroom that only grows in extremely specific conditions. Upon Marshall’s discovery, he gets hunted down and shot at by a helicopter. He (coincidentally) has an escape plane, but the plane gets shot down! So before the plane goes down and Marshall dies, he eats a Blue Angel mushroom and he survives the crash. Back to the present day, Marshall tells Frances about how he’s almost out of mushrooms and Rick’s company is destroying the environment where the mushrooms grow. He tells her this while Rick is literally calling her. As she takes the call, Marshall realizes he’s being watched and flees.

We open to Copano and Harrington getting put on the case. We see their dynamic and personalities a little more here. I really love them, they’re my favorite characters. Also, (like many others) I thought Harrington was a guy when I first saw a snippet of the show without any of her dialogue, but she’s literally so precious.

We move on to Rick’s employees showing him a new commercial for Reutical’s medicine and it’s very clear that he doesn’t care. He is literally playing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Frances comes in, assesses the situation, and I think she would be a much better CEO because Rick doesn’t want people to know about the side effects Reutical’s medicine has. Frances is literally the #1 assistant, I love her so much. When leaving, Frances proposes the idea for a new product and Rick encourages her, saying he would give her a huge raise if she’s able to pull it off.

We cut to Marshall going to his (super cool) house. It’s clear that he’s really paranoid, and he owns a lot of land. In my notes, I wrote, “He hates the city, he loves Frances,” so do with that what you will…

He notices Copano and Harrington watching his house, but they’re just goofing off. They talk about Marshall and the awards he’s won and things he’s discovered. It’s clear he’s a really intelligent guy. But they want to search his house under the suspicion of drugs and they believe he’s creating some sort of monopoly. I’m not good with business or financial talk so I’m not the best person to explain any of that.

They search Marshall’s house, him AND his tortoise are GONE. He escapes with another (convenient) back up plan. He really thinks of everything…

We cut to Frances in her apartment with her awful boyfriend, Nick. I will admit, his first voice line is so funny, and that’s the only thing I like about him. Frances is trying to wipe the fact that she works for Rick off of her social media, knowing Marshall hates that guy and might not trust her if he finds out. Marshall calls her and the difference in her tone when she’s talking to Marshall vs Nick makes it look like she’s literally cheating on him right in front of his face. It’s so funny. The only thing Marshall tells her is that people are following him, and he brought his (stupid) turtle.

That’s the end of Episode 1!

Episode 1 and 2 were released together and episode 3 was released a few days ago, but I don’t want to continue to spoil the show, especially since there’s only 3 episodes out. I also want to encourage my friends to watch it for themselves, and this blog can be like a little nudge to do that.

I really love all of these characters, they’re so entertaining to watch and I’m  really attached to most of them already. It’s easy to make assumptions about some of the characters but they reveal themselves to be so much more than what you think they are. When I first saw Marshall, I thought he was just a funny, hippie guy (mistake #1), but no! He’s a literal genius who’s strange and awkward, but I think he’s really interesting and I want to see what happens to him.

I’m actually a really big fan of the art style. The animation is really nice, and the way the characters look has really grown on me since I first saw this show’s trailer. I’ll be so honest, I thought their faces were really funny looking, but now I think it’s so endearing. The lighting and the backgrounds are so beautifully drawn. It’s clear that so much effort has been put into this show. I love everything about it.

In the next episodes, new characters are introduced and more complications to the plot get revealed, and it makes this show really complicated but clean and colorful! It takes some analyzing and paying attention to connect the dots, which makes it really fun to study (but I might be the only one that needs to take notes because I’m a little stupid). 

I’m really excited for the rest of this show to come out. I’ve been extremely fixated on it all month. I’ve already made a Pinterest board and I refer to this show as “my show” whenever I talk about it. I’m just a really big fan and I’m excited to see what this show turns into!

Wellness Culture is a huge part of our lives. From magazines at the counter of the grocery store, preaching about some nameless woman losing 15 pounds in only two weeks and how you can too, to ads on newspaper articles toting a new and “dietician recommended” weight loss pill with absolutely no side effects (which is untrue). Our society is rife with people claiming if you’re fat you’re ugly, and if you’re skinny you’re at the height of beauty. This has caused many health issues in women. Eating disorders, mainly, but also drug addiction. First it can cause people to take unhealthy or ineffective supplements, which can cause damage to your immune system.

“Wellness” was a term coined by the so-called father of the movement, Dr. Halbert L. Dunn. Dunn defined wellness as the seeking of not just good health, but the personal well-being and betterment. Dunn’s program of “wellness” is not governed by the rules of medicine that we have developed, but some kind of intangible standard that shifts and changes with the individual seeking it. This standard began with the “life reform” fad in nineteenth-century Europe.  One such European, Louis Kuhne, published a book in 1891 (yes it does go back that far) recounting his struggles with chronic pain and illness and spurning the medical establishment for his lack of improvement. In his book, Kuhne prescribed all sorts of phony, natural cures for seemingly every ailment. Hydrotherapy, cutting out salt and sugar, fresh air, and strict vegetarianism were just a few of these “cures.” He went on to open a clinic in his town of Leipzig, Germany and became successful peddling snake oil cures. Kuhne had absolutely no medical basis for any of these claims. He was a freaking carpenter, for Christ’s sake! He had no medical experience, no degree, no nothing, but still, his book became a famous best-seller. Now, Kuhne was not some sort of prodigy. He simply used the cultural zeitgeist of industrialization to manipulate people into buying into his holistic healing. Many Europeans saw the industrial complex as dehumanizing and damaging, and medicine of the time did not help, approaching patients from a strictly technical stance, rather than a personalized one, which many people craved. After 1874, Germany passed a law mandating the smallpox vaccine. Many anti-vaccination activists (I guess history does repeat itself, oh hello, 2020) protested that they were being “poisoned” by vaccines and moved heavily toward alternative medicine, which was readily available thanks to Peddler Kuhne and the ever-expanding health market. This doctrine morphed into something called “life-reform.” Groups of people believing in this new phenomenon – including Kuhne – played around with extreme veganism, nudism, open-air exercise, sunbathing, spas, and raw food diets. They subscribed to health magazines like Vegetarian Lookout and The Natural Doctor, spent time at resorts promising weight loss and better health, and disavowing white bread and other processed foods. “Life-reform” began as an admirable effort to lower inactivity and indulgences, morphed into a program that transformed the meaning of health from a lack of sickness into a lifestyle that paragoned self-restraint and moderation in every aspect of life. Good health became synonymous with self-fulfillment in the form of moderation, and a certain standard of beauty. It changed into something that made people incredibly body-conscious and anxious about how their bodies fit into the strict molds of society. Soon, health became a commodity, rather than a part of survival. Does all this sound familiar? I hope so, because here in the 2000s and beyond, “life-reform” morphed again into something called “wellness culture.” With the uprise of social media and instant connection across vast distances, wellness culture has been in the hands of anyone with the ability to open their phone and look at Instagram or TikTok. Those skinny women wearing beige yoga pants with a matching Stanley cup that has so much stuff strapped to it you can’t even hold it correctly? It’s a facade. Now, including the commodification of health, wellness culture has added more warts onto its ugly face. Overconsumption. See, you may think that the doctrine of moderation peddled to you by influencers is helping you to clear out your home, but it’s really just making way for new things to buy, linked on their Amazon Storefronts. They have propended supplements filled with meaningless leaves, objects for you to pay for that are completely bogus, and fasting yourself to the point of starvation and unhealthy weight loss. History really does repeat itself, from anti-vaxxers to fake supplements, we should all be more mindful of what we are feeding ourselves, brain and body.

This is a post that I think almost everyone from MSA, or any form of selective school can relate to. What’s relatable is that we’ve all grown up labeled “weird” or just different due to our niche interests or style or taste in fashion or even relationships. I know that in some places mostly up north the games I’m into and the people I like, and fashion probably wouldn’t be as ridiculed but here in the bible belt. If I’m my true self I come off as some freak. I’ve gone through so many fazes in life and the one I always come back to is “emo” or “alternative” but it is what makes me most comfortable! I have been forced to dress like a “normal girl” and I have even tried to embrace it myself to trick my brain into saying I like it but that’s just not the case. I love rough tattoos I love the color black, and I love spiky silver jewelry. I love who I love, and I am so ashamed that I now live in a world where for four years or more marrying someone I love may be made illegal. I think I made this blog because this new election has opened my eyes more on what is happening politically. Before and I’m embarrassed to admit it but I didn’t care much for who our president was because it didn’t affect me. Now though it does, and so naturally as selfish humans are I now care, and I care a lot. I’ve been told no and to not like certain things all my life and not even in a mean way in a way of my parents trying to shield me from being bullied. Though I draw the line at someone saying no to who I love. Because that’s not something I can or will change. It’s not something anyone can change it’s not like a clothing article that I can just shrug off and put back in the closet. Trust me I’ve tried and for years from lying and dating men to try and fill the void to lying to my parents and others when they asked what gender I’m dating. Though I say all of this because it ties into the aspect of being “weird” because it is “different” and people characterize weird as anything that is outside of the common mold. So the thing I say is why should we hide? Why should we put on an article of clothing we secretly hate, why should we lie about who we like, why should we not draw or write about things we are interested in. The answer is that we should do all these things. Like so what I may be different but what great inventor or artist or speaker was ever common? None of them fit the mold and that’s what made them great so that’s just my ten cents about being “weird”.

I don’t usually write about games, but Stardew Valley has my heart. It’s a game that can be played on nearly any platform including mobile. I play on either Xbox or Nintendo Switch. This game has very deep lore that I could talk about for days. You inherit a farm from your grandfather in Pelican Town to get started. It is now your job to man the farm throughout the harsh seasons as well as do different tasks for the townsfolk. While doing this, you can form relationships with the NPCs and even get to marry one. While I have not married anyone yet, the idea is fun. On your first day on the farm, the mayor gives you 15 parsnip seeds you must plant and water daily to finish a task. Mayor Lewis is an interesting character who likes to sneak around town at night. He delivers the mail, gives you money for things you sell, and even sneaks around with Ms. Marnie (if you know about his purple shorts, you know). The game is so interesting because it is unique to how you want to set it up. Some characters are at first mean, but you can make them nice by just interacting with them. If you don’t interact with some characters, they will hate you. There is also a community center that must be restored and it becomes your job to fix it up. You must fix it by bringing certain items to the community center and placing them in a box found in each room. When brought to the community center by the mayor, he mentions a corporation called Joja that wants to buy the land that the center is on from the town. The mayor doesn’t want that to happen but he has decided that one more person must buy a Joja membership before he sells the land. That person is you. You can either buy a membership or help out the mayor. Most players help the mayor, or at least that’s what I did. I could talk about the farming aspects or the fishing forever. This game is honestly one of the most fun I’ve played in years. I started on my new farm not too long ago and have already logged over 20 hours. 

ALSO- if anyone knows how to find a missing watering can please help!

Last year in October, I randomly became completely obsessed with ladybugs. This obsession just came out of nowhere and surprised both me and my friends. I mean, I always thought ladybugs were cute. I would search for them on the school playground and I would let them crawl over my hands. They were the only bugs I would ever touch because I was scared of most bugs. Ladybugs were just comforting to me, rather than frightening.

So when Halloween came around and I finally finished my (ladybug) costume, ladybugs were the only thing on my mind. I would draw them, I would research them, and my hands cramped every time I thought about that costume that I hand-stitched.

Then, I made a friend that told me the spot where ladybugs hang out the most: the benches between JI and the Y-Hut. So I checked there almost every day and took pictures of every ladybug I saw. I would show my teachers, my friends, and I even posted them on Instagram.

Now imagine my horror when I realized every single picture I took was of an Asian lady beetle instead.

I was so embarrassed. Every single ladybug that I showed off was an Asian lady beetle. There were no real ladybugs on my phone.

But then I came to the conclusion that I don’t care. Ladybugs and Asian lady beetles are cute. And to me, they’re the same thing… Maybe.

Obviously Asian lady beetles and ladybugs are not the same thing. But they could be if I called everything a ladybug. Obviously I’m a ladybug, you can be too and we’ll all be ladybugs. Even Asian lady beetles.

So I’m going to rate some of the ladybugs I found. Don’t ask me which one is actually an Asian lady beetle because everything is a ladybug now.

This one used to be my favorite. I think the larger black spots are really unique, I swear I had another picture of a ladybug with bigger black spots but I can’t find it. This one’s pretty cool, though. It has a cute heart shape on it. 8/10 ladybug.

This one had a bent shell! I felt so bad for it, but I don’t think I could ever help it. Its spots are kind of fuzzy and tiny. 4/10 ladybug.

This one was just straight yellow. It’s really cute, though. And it’s super tiny. 7/10 ladybug.

I don’t know what happened to this one. I can’t tell if the shell is bent or not, but there is something going on. Its wing is sticking out a little bit. Poor thing. 7/10 ladybug.

This one’s pretty cool. It’s got a heart shape on its back that looks like the white line in between my dog’s eyes. It’s super round and shiny. 8/10 ladybug.

I don’t know what this ugly one is. I don’t even think this is a ladybug or an Asian lady beetle (whatever). Its legs are so freakishly long and it has no spots. And it’s sitting on a water drop. 2/10 … whatever it is.

This one is so cute. Like, yeah it’s got barely any spots, but it’s actually cute unlike the last one and it’s long legs. It’s really shiny, too. 9/10.

This one’s alright. It’s super orange. Like even the face that’s supposed to be white is orange. The spots are cute, and it looks pretty big. 7/10 ladybug.

I think this one might actually be a ladybug. That fleshy background is my hand, don’t mind how pale it is. Wait until summertime and I’ll be a healthy color again. I remember seeing this one on my way to my dorm and it was like destiny that I recognized it 5 feet away getting crushed by a crowd. That was just my ladybug senses. This one crawled around on my hand a little bit, then flew away. We bonded really nicely that day. 10/10 ladybug.

The Great Pyramid of Giza:

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. This pyramid goes back to 2600 BC, and it took over 26 years to build. Back then, it served as a tomb for a ruler during the fourth dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Surprisingly, this landmark has remained in top shape since then, making it the oldest landmark to remain intact. I’ve been wanting to visit this magnificent pyramid since I was a kid.  In fact, I’ve been obsessed with ancient Egypt since 2014. I would watch educational pbs kids specials that talk about landmarks, monuments or history and I would be so hyped to hear them talk about it. Me and my sister loved Egyptian pyramids, so we would build big dirt mounds in our backyard and pretend they were homes to great Egyptian leaders like Ramses and Cleopatra. I would love to visit an amazing place like this!

    Mount Rushmore:

This landmark is probably the most famous in American history. Mount Rushmore was created by an American sculptor named Gutzon Borglum. It’s well known for being an extreme and patriotic monument dedicated to 4 American leaders: Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. Gutzon chose these people because they were the most influential people in American history, and of course they passed helpful laws that shaped the society we are today. Mount Rushmore is really a jarring sight, and I’ve always wanted to see it in person. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to put this together.

The Iconic Hollywood sign:

                I’ve been wanting to visit the Hollywood sign ever since I saw it on tv, in magazines, in newspapers and on flyers. I’ve seen it so much that I shouldn’t want to see it anymore, but I still want to visit it because I feel like it’s my destiny now. But also, I think it’s interesting how the Hollywood sign came about. It started off as an advertisement for housing in an area called “Hollywoodland” but of course this advertisement became known for a certain industry and way of life instead. To me, that development is interesting and iconic.  I love learning about the backstory of this landmark, because no one would think that it started off as something so mundane.

The Colosseum:

                The last landmark I want to visit is the Colosseum. This landmark is in Rome, Italy and it’s known for its large structure and infamous past. This place was used for deadly knight battles, gladiator fights, and executions.  Most of these fights were between men and few of them were between an animal and a man.  It’s the oldest and largest standing amphitheater on earth and I think it’s stunning. There are so many pictures online of people visiting the Colosseum. You can really see the true beauty its blossomed into.

Inspired by the Urban Legend, “Baba Yaga”

Today, I walked past a cabin while I was on my morning walk. Normally, I wouldn’t care, but it wasn’t there yesterday. It looked normal from what I could tell. It had a door in the middle of the face, with two windows on either side, sort of like a face. It had two lawn chairs on the small deck. They practically took up everything but the doorway. A little table was off the side of the deck, sitting on top of a large wooden box so it could be level with the deck. It also had a stone chimney on the side that was being used. Not only did the cabin appear out of nowhere, but it already had residents or at least a cold realtor.

I went on my morning walk this morning. Admittedly, I was kind of looking forward to this walk. The cabin had me extremely curious. The only problem was that it wasn’t there. Just like it had appeared out of thin air, it had disappeared. There were no signs of it even being there. There wasn’t even any space cleaned out for a cabin. It was like it never existed.

It’s been about two months since the last time I saw the cabin. I have looked at every part of the trail. Not once did I see it. But today, it was just sitting there again. But it didn’t look the same. The door was on the right of the face of the cabin. The two windows had merged into one big one. The deck was a lot bigger, and it could fit both chairs and a new coffee table. The chimney was the same, and I was still in use. The cabin looked so different, yet it was the same. This time, I looked up my exact location and saved it. I’ll come back tomorrow to see if it’s still there.

I went to the exact location and it wasn’t there. I don’t know whether I should think I’m crazy or not. I proved that it disappeared, but now I don’t have proof that it ever existed. That’s why I’m writing these down. I want to tell somebody but no one will believe me. This is the next best thing. It’s the same as before. There is no indication of any cabin being here. 

It has been 5 months since I saw it last. This time, I’m looking at it while writing. The deck has been stripped of any furniture. It’s the same size as last time. The door is on the left now. The window is now split back into two and is to the right of the door. It now has a dormer on the roof. The chimney was now made of brick, and it was still smoking. I have been thinking about this mystery for way too long. This time, I’m going to see who lives here. The mailbox says Yaga. I’ve never heard of anyone with that name, but I’ve decided that I’m going to meet this “Yaga.”

^ (Can’t find a pic with everyone, but these are some of my goats. Except Winston, oh my god I dislike him so much, he’s so annoying to play against. Anyone who plays him is my worst enemy. Oh, and also Tracer, she will never be my goat, I will never play her by choice, I will always target her in every game I ever play)

For a little over a year, I’ve been playing Overwatch 2. It came out in 2016 and is on its 14th season. (15th in about a month) I started playing during season 8 and I quickly found myself actually liking this game. I’ve never been a gamer in my life. All I played was Roblox and Minecraft, but those games became boring, so I decided to give this one a try. I played with a friend who didn’t teach me how to play, just simply threw me into a game and told me who to play which led to my first main. D.va!

^This being the skin I have for her. D.va has two lives. She’s a tank and she’ll sit in this big Mech, Tokki, until it breaks, and she has to jump around in what people call her baby D.va form (which is just normal her, but she has 175 health?? I feel like a little roach whenever I get out of mech) and hopefully either get it back or die. (You always respawn it’s fine). One thing I love about Overwatch, though, is the variety of skins. People complain about the game being a cash grab, but if I get to collect these stupid character skins then I will! Anyways, after I realized I was terrible at D.va I stopped playing her. (I play her again now, I just had to actually get good at the game) The friend and me were no longer gaming together so I played with someone else and that’s when I discovered Moira! My second main. (who is level 24 for me, and I have like 27 hours on her)

Moira has become one of my favorite characters. She is a support who requires no aim whatsoever. She uses her purple to do damage and yellow to heal. She just throws around these orbs and does A LOT of damage. (At least she did until they nerfed her</3) but the characters are another thing I love about overwatch. Right now, there are 42(I think?) characters. All of them are diverse and somehow connected to each other. People complain and say they shouldn’t add so many, but like I love seeing new characters even if they suck sometimes (Which no one does except PHARAH.), because making a character is a hit or miss with most things and I feel like the more chacters they add the more lore we get and I would prefer to learn about character lore over the world lore because all I know is omnic war and only like six people fought in it. Anyway.

In overwatch there is a group called overwatch (duh), but not everyone on the cast list is IN overwatch, but they’re related to it in some way. Which is something I may talk about in another blog.

Anyways. Right now, I main Cassidy and Mercy.

These two have managed to become two of my favorite characters to play, and I love these skins so much omgee. They’re like the most fun for me and I find myself winning more when I play them (Send help, I’ve spent so much money on this game.)

Still, there are many things I love about overwatch even if the game makes me want to take a bite out of my controller. What I really enjoy about it is the unique set on abilities the characters have. Not all of them do the same thing. It made it so much easier for me, someone who never plays games, to get good at this game because everyone is so different. You don’t even need aim half the time! (It’s still humbling to have a 15% aim accuracy..)

In the past few weeks, I’ve been teaching my closest friends to play this game and even if they end up not liking it that’s fine because I’m able to share something I really like with them. Right now, I have a group of four people, and we all play together! (Just one more person and we’ll have a full team of friendship!) Still, I have been encouraging friends to try out this game with me or at least let me talk about it, because there’s so much to it and I am still learning many things about overwatch.

As terrible as the game is at times, it brings me peace even if I rage, because if nothing else is here for me I know Overwatch is.