Category: Junior Literary

This week’s blog is going to be about one of my favorite tv shows called vampire diaries. I became interested in this show because of twilight. I grew up watching it with my sisters and ended up falling in love with vampire movies and shows. Since then y’all would always see me watching stuff with vampires, witches, and werewolves.I ended up watching vampire diaries one day because I couldn’t find anything else to watch. I watched the first episode of it and was like umm ok but when I kept watching it, it got more and more interesting. I ended up stopping watching it because I got on the outer show called original. That show is also with vampire dairies, the same character and everything just telling from a different person point of view. Getting more in more into the original, going to school people would be talking about vampire diaries. That is what made me start back watching it. The drama in this show was outstanding. It was love triangles, there were evil twins, there were even originals trying to start stuff, it was so much and I love it.  

Let’s talk about the characters in this show shall we. The Salvatore brothers first. We have the sweet brother who turned evil and then back to good name Stefan. Stefan was the first to find Elena so he thought. Then Damon was the wild self care type. He did stuff that only benefited him, until Elena. Elena helped him see the good in him even though he didn’t deserve it. Well that’s what people think. Damon did what he did because he couldn’t trust anyone and he felt like it was Stefan’s fault he became a vampire and it was. They both fell in love with Elena but in the end she picked Damon. 

Stefan ended up getting with Caroline. At first Caroline was this popular diva who made things about her but when she became a vampire she changed. She became this strong mature loyal friend. She started to see a lot of different things in the world. Then the best friend who put everyone first (Bonnie) got hurt a lot and lost her loved ones. 

The main person would be Elena. She also put everyone before her. She didn’t think when it came to family she just acted on whatever. She loved both of the brothers, she lost all her loved ones as well and even blamed herself for her mom and dad’s death. She became a vampire and lost it for a while but that’s when she realized she loved Damon more.

Still trying to make eye catching titles! I really want to get better at interesting titles, and I hope this one lands well! This isn’t a self deprecating post… I’m talking about the second to last season of Ghosts! I’ll ask this question early on just in case y’all don’t get through it; if you were to be a ghost and could interact with the living in some way, what would be your ghost power?

Season four follows Mike and Allison’s endeavors as they open the gate house to the public as a BnB. The ghosts adapt fairly easily, this time it’s Mike and Allison struggling like crazy. The antics in this season are extra silly, but it evens out pretty well.

I can’t talk about my favorite episode. It’ll spoil a huge plot point, so I’ll talk about my second favorite. “Speak as ye Choose!” It’s a fantastic episode. This season we get to learn more about Mary, especially this episode. She’s actually gotten so far, that the beginning of the episode is all of the ghosts horrified by hearing about her death! The witch trialll yess!!! The whole A plot of the episode is Mary telling Julian how she as a past repressed woman gained her voice. The B plot follows the Captain trying to figure out life without a schedule, and he learns about just getting side-tracked with Kitty. He finds a bit of himself while Mary talks about how she found herself. Genuinely a beautiful episode!

This is another season where I don’t really have a least favorite, but if I had to pick it would be “Poached Guests.” There’s a new ghost that died just outside of the property, so their plot is just them bothering some poor dude. He fakes moving on so they’ll leave him alone. Then Allison and Mike’s neighbor, Barclay Beg-Chetwynde, tries to steal their BnB ghosts. This starts a whole fight between them that ends with Barclay getting reported for planting asbestos in Button House. It’s all a pretty alright episode. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it.

I think I’ll be able to get through this planned series of posts by the end of this year which makes me super happy. You know what else makes me super happy? A GHOSTS MOVIE WAS ANNOUNCED!!! THEY STARTED FILMING ON THE SECOND!!!!! I keep seeing behind the scenes pictures and it makes me so happy. I like to think that I manifested the movie by not shutting up about ghosts to y’all.

My heart is just so so happy y’all. I know that during our senior year I’ll be able to post about alllll the ghosts. If I’m not mistaken I think all of the original actors have been confirmed to be returning. Very exciting! Okay, that’s it for me, season four, and the movie announcement. ByeBye!

I was going to write a blog about the Punk community and continue that discussion, but I want to talk about something a bit different. I feel inspired to talk about the year overall and how I have been feeling recently. 

It feels like summer is almost here and I am so happy for that. I’m really excited for summer and to have a bit more free time to decompress. I am really excited however for senior year. This has made senior year be a big topic of my thoughts as of lately and I have been thinking a lot about what I want my senior year to be. 

I know it’s kind of cliche to want a good senior year and everything, but I do.  I want it to be fun and full of life. I want it to be full of creativity and motivation. I want it to be free of drama, and I want to be content with how my high school career ends if that makes sense. I want to be able to say I did what I wanted to do at the end of the many years of school. I want to be able to say my senior year was fun. 

In my eyes I see senior year as a different thing completely really. Maybe I have put it on a pedestal that it will never live up to, but I think a senior year should be full of activities with friends and it should feel like a weight being lifted because you are finally done with a chapter in your life. 

I am really hoping to have a great senior year and look forward to what it brings. I want to kind of talk a bit about what I want to do senior year almost as a bucket list if you will.

The main thing I am working toward for senior year is to win a few writing awards and submit a few IE’s (individual events) for MTA and Thescon next year (theatre competitions I go to every year). I have always wanted to advance with my IE’s but have never really had the motivation or time. I am going to ensure I have enough time to perfect them I am going to work with them over the summer. 

I also want to have a car senior year. I think that is one thing that is essential for a great senior year anywhere. With a car you can hang out with friends more sporadically and travel a bit more. These are things I think define a senior year.

I also think senior year is the most motivating time in a lot of people’s lives and sometimes the most productive. You are finally at the finish line, and you only have a little way to go so people are able to push through it without so much friction due to the light at the end of the very long tunnel. So that is what I want it to be to me in a way. I want it to be laid back yes, but I also want it to be a time of growth and hard work. I want to work really hard and get what I am working towards. I want to be able to have the balance a lot find senior year as far as fun, school, carefreeness, stability, and just overall contentment. 

I think to0 have these things though there comes a lot of work and preparation. So, I am making a decision to plan over the next few days and then during the summer work really hard during that break period to get where I want to be. I am going to overview my plan here to give you an idea of my plan.

I am planning to get all of my submissions (writing and theatre) prepared or at least roughly planned out as a strong idea or have a good grasp of it over the summer as well as plan a trip for senior year of the summer after senior year. I think a trip would be really fun and would help senior year truly feel like senior year. I am also planning to over the summer really tune into myself and who I am and what I want in life. I think that is a huge part of any year being good really, but I think this is a great opportunity to find myself. I also am going to reorganize my Spotify. My music is very important to me and so this is something that will definitely affect my year. If my playlists aren’t good, then life isn’t good lol. But overall, this summer I plan to really think. I want to think really hard and deeply about my art and why I do it. I want to find my purpose and find what it is that would truly benefit me as an artist whether that be in the writing world, music, theatre, visual art, media art worlds. I want to truly find a median between all of my artistic motivations and desires. 

It is going to be hard, but I think it will be worth it. 

P.S. Next blog will continue the information dumps about the Punk subculture. 

Hi everyone, this week’s blog is going to be a yap session. So, please, enjoy. I think I’m going to talk about Sprite today. I have a lot of love for the drink, yes, I do. Something about it just quenches your thirst but leaves you wanting more of that fresh tang. I know you know what I’m talking about. And the green color of the bottle just draws you in. I have to say, my favorite kind of Sprite is McDonald’s Sprite. It just has Wendy’s, Burger King, and all the rest beat. And before anyone tries to say they all taste the same, no, they don’t. It’s like how different brands of water taste different. Aquafina and Dasani don’t taste the same. McDonald’s Sprite and Wendy’s Sprite don’t taste the same. As I write this, sitting comfortably in bed, I am in fact craving a Sprite. Anyways, next topic of conversation. Do you guys prefer red or blue Takis? I like them both, but for some reason, I tend to gravitate towards red. They’re classic, you know. And we all know how I feel about blue food. Scroll on my page. Find the blog. Blue food is overhyped, and people think it’s special/better just because it’s blue, when in reality, this is not the case. In fact, sometimes I think there’s too much blue being forced upon us. I’m not a blue hater or anything, but whatever happened to yellow? Orange? Purple? Going back to the blue food racism, I think this also might have something to do with sexism as well. No, think about it. Blue is a “boy color”. Blueberries must be boys and strawberries must be girls, but since society is telling us blue food is better, they’re programming us to think boys are better than girls. I am onto something here.  Call me crazy if you want, but it really is that deep. I mean, look around, you cannot escape the color blue. It’s like it’s being forced down our throats. Walmart, Best Buy, etc. I beg you all, please don’t feed into blue. Now, I’m going to go get a Sprite. Watch out for the color Blue, and in case I haven’t already said this, HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH! 

I think I first heard this term in like 5th grade; it was probably during one of small collection of books my library had in stock. two spirited is not as simple as it seems and you really cannot explain the full meaning in words without overly simplifying the meaning of it. I think the meaning means something different to everyone thought but right now were talking about what it meant to the indigenous people and how their cultural and sexual identity was defined by it.

two spirited usually a word you see in media referring to the trans identity in native American culture was not just as simple as that it’s meant to be a unique word referring to native Americans who didn’t occupy normal societal roles. they were known to have both feminine and masculine spirits who identified as two separate identities inside of one body. Their society never crucified them as typical American culture does with people who see themselves this way though they saw them as gifted beings who could do task such meant for men: hunting, fishing, leading and task meant for women: weaving, gathering, teaching. they saw two spirited people as beings with deeper insight and perspectives that they could never think of.  this word was never just meant to be used to refer to sexuality it was for healers, politics, and spiritual advisers. this word is mostly not even used by native Americans who identify as queer it’s mostly occupied by native Americans who identify as “straight”. two spirited is much more than a word it’s an understanding of life in two perspectives, it’s a sign of intelligence mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

 

two spirited was a word used to describe those blessed with the wisdom to deliver guidance maybe to them being two spirited was like being a prophet those who could speak and deliver the word of their gods. those whose thoughts transcend what normal human being is capable of. they who were angels reincarnated. ultimately what I’m trying to establish is that it’s meaningless and potentially offensive to categorize them and force them to conform into one theory or subject two spirited to me seems like the definition of not being made to understand I think in some weird way their like most of my poetry confusing they apply to all categories of life but never fit into  a single one fully , they have the capabilities to make you laugh or cry depending on how you see them, they can give or even heal you. 

 

 

 

I chose two spirited because it kind of relates to a term in African American culture or soulaan culture that I found people in church love to say when a child is extremely talented at something they brand them as having two souls or “having been here before” it kind of gives of the same mental understanding of not understanding something. I find it interesting how different races explore alike ideals even though they had different spiritual, and cultural traditions. 

what does the term “two-spirited” mean to you?

how do you think in your culture people refer to this?

do they act irrationally like European colonizers? do they accept them and the wisdom that come with them?

 

Welcome back to my Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind series! If you haven’t read part one, I highly suggest that you do or this will not make any sense. Also please leave me a few suggestions for what to write my next blog about. Alright I’m going to get straight into it; hopefully this blog won’t be as long as the last one. 🙂

I left off where he wakes up to find his car wrecked, empty spaces all over his apartment, and a feeling of something missing. 

He gets in his car and drives to the train station. This day just so happens to be no other than Valentine’s Day. We see him stand in a crowd, waiting for his train to arrive. While we see this, we hear his thoughts. He is complaining about how Valentines is just a holiday made by mass producers and card companies. As he is standing there, he begins to look around uneasily. In the blink of an eye, he begins running to the train heading for Montauk. Yes, you read right, Montauk. 

He slides through the closing train doors and admits he doesn’t even know why he did it. “I don’t know why. I’m not an impulsive person. I guess I just woke up in a funk this morning. I gotta get my car fixed.” When he arrives to Montauk, he uses a payphone to call his work, claiming he has food poisoning and that’s why he’s not there. 

The screen cuts to him walking the beach. We see in the distance Clemintine doing the same. He then has the thought of “getting back out there.” He says, “If only I could meet someone new. I guess my chances of that happening are somewhat diminished, since I’m incapable of making eye contact with a woman I don’t know. Maybe I should get back together with Naomi. She was nice. Nice is good. She loved me. … Why do I fall in love with every woman I see who shows me the least bit of attention?” 

As soon as he finishes this thought, Clem pops up from the seat Infront of him. They have a small yet awkward conversation about Clem’s hair, and the word nice.  He ends the conversation by asking her to move because he has some writing to do. When they get off the train, it is nighttime.  Clem is walking in the cold, so Joel asks her if she wants a ride home. 

Clemintine invites him in for a drink, and he abides. She mentions how he is kind of quiet to which he responds, “I’m sorry. You know, my life isn’t that interesting. I go to work, I come home. I don’t know what to say. You should read my journal. I mean, it’s just blank.”

At the end of the night, Clementine is fully intrigued by him, even saying “I’m gonna marry you. I know it.” They have another small chat about the Charles (the frozen lake.) Joel tells her he needs to go because it’s getting late. They exchange numbers, and he heads home. They end up going to The Charles on a date, and he takes her home. While she runs into her apartment to grab a toothbrush Patrick (Clems new boyfriend) sees Joel outside and immediately knows what happened. 

She grabs her mail, and heads outside to Joels car. She opens her mail to see a package from the company that erased their minds. She puts in the cassette tape, and it begins playing.  “To all patients of Dr. Howard Mierzwiak. My name is Mary Svevo. We’ve met, but you don’t remember me. I worked for a company you hired to have part of your memory erased. I’ve since decided that this is a horrible… To correct this, I’m sending everyone’s file back to them.” Her voice begins to speak through the radio. “My name is Clementine Kruczynski. I’m here to erase Joel Barish.” They get into an altercation about this, and Clementine rushes out the car and past Patrick. She later decides to go to Joels house. 

When she walks in Joel is playing his version of the tape. He reveals that he found a painting he did of Clementine. She listens to what Joel says about her over the recording and decides to leave. Joel walks out the door and says “Wait.”

 

CLEMENTINE: What?

JOEL: I don’t know.  Just wait. Just wait.

CLEMENTINE: What do you want, Joel?

JOEL: I don’t know. I want you to wait for… just a while.

CLEMENTINE: Okay.

JOEL: Really?

CLEMENTINE: I’m not a concept, Joel. I’m just a f—ed-up girl who’s looking for my own peace of mind. I’m not perfect.

JOEL: I can’t see anything that I don’t like about you.

CLEMENTINE: But you will!

JOEL: Right now I can’t.

CLEMENTINE: But you will! You know, you will think of things, and I’ll get bored with you and feel trapped… because that’s what happens with me.

JOEL: Okay.

CLEMENTINE: [pauses] Okay. Okay.

JOEL: Okay.

Just like that, the screen fades out and “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime” by Beck begins playing. 

Just like that, the movie is over and we are left with MANY questions. Will they work out? Will it be a cycle? Does Patrick ever find out? While yes, this movie is superficial it makes me wonder, if I could forget someone, would I? If we had the option to wipe someone completely from our life, would we? The human brain remembers approximately 5000+ faces over a lifetime. If you could get rid of just one, would you? 

Thanks for reading todays blog; please leave your thoughts on this movie and concept in the comments. Love you guys, goodbye!   

Heyyyy y’all! So ya’ll see how the sun has been out, the trees are growing again, and the bugs coming out sadly. But all this is good, right? Yess, yess it is. Ya’ll wanna know why, gonna tell y’all anyway. The winter is gone (well almost). Spring is almost here thank goodness. I’m so ready for the cold to be gone. When the sun comes out that mean more cute pictures, bathing suits shopping, and clothes shopping. Yea I can say the cold had some good moments but I can’t stand to stay in the house so long. I couldn’t go out like I wanted to since I get sick too easily but now I might not have to worry about that, I hope. 

  but since spring is almost here I can still do some early clothing shopping and  see where I wanna go for spring break. Normally for spring break we go out of town,do a little swimming, go to escape rooms and even go to theme parks.  If I had to pick a favorite session it’ll be spring for sure. All the trees are getting its beautiful colors, the gorgeous flowers, the nice spring dresses they are having at the stores. And the time goes back. It won’t get dark out too early now, so more time outside. 

Omg, I just had a thought. We can do a junior literary picnic on that black stage outside. Would y’all be down for that? We can go buy some snacks, do some work if ya’ll want, we can vibe to music, we can even just chill and talk while eating the snacks lol. I feel like that would be something fun to do since we don’t really do much together. If ya’ll are up to that we should most definitely talk about it.

Spring time will be a good time, well that’s what I’m telling myself. Winter was not the best so we are going to make spring time a time to remember and have fun. I hope y’all had fun with the winter weather because you can say bye bye cold and hello sun and heat. And get ready for the good oh pool time.

Well that’s it for this blog. Thanks for reading until next time.

This blog it going to be a bit different from my usual blogs. I have always had an interest with this subculture but recently I have gotten into it again. 

For those who don’t know Punk is a subculture that is a global movement that emerged in the mid 70’s in the US. UK, and a few other nations. It is a countercultural reaction against mainstream commercialism. 

Punk emphasizes non-conformity, anti-capitalism, and individualism at its core. It is a movement against authority. It stems from political, economic, and social frustrations. It also focuses on raw emotion, passion, politics, and D-I-Y ethics. It is a truly incredible movement that I don’t think gets talked about as much as it should.

Many people when they think of Punk they think of anger and aggression which is partly true but Punk is much more. It is seeing something and doing something about it. Its standing up when no one else will. It’s knowing what is going on it your world. Due to a few individuals the punk scene, to some, has been lumped in with racism and negative and harmful ideologies, but this isn’t the case. Only a very very small, rare percent of Punks have these harmful ideologies. Most are very anti-racism, anti-fascism, anti-authoritarian, anti-white supremacy. Punks have actually significantly benefited many communities. Punk communities often operate in mutual aid, meaning they establish food programs for the poor, and establish support for the homeless and disabled. The Punk scene has also created a very welcoming and inclusive safe space for those who are in marginalized groups like LGBTQ+ and women. Punks have also been a big part in activism. They have fought against racism, sexism, animal cruelty, environmental issues, and even war. They often use bands as a platform to voice their opinions and impact society.  

Most people think that Punk is just a style or music but the ideologies that go with the subculture are so much more important to the punk community. The style and music has a huge role but the ideologies have a much bigger importance. Without these the punk subculture in my opinion wouldn’t exist. Some people say they are punk and do not align with the ideologies and I think that is a problem. A much bigger problem than not looking the part. This happens in a lot of subcultures, Goth for example. I think the mindset, especially in this particular subculture, means the most. 

But music and style plays a role as well. I could go on forever about this subculture and its ideologies, concept, and how relevant it is today but I fear this blog would be too long so I shall move on to talking about style and music for the moment. I may make another blog on this topic in the near future going further in detail. 

The style. THE STYLE! I personally love the punk style. Some may see the style as too dirty or grimy, but I personally love it. Liberty spikes. Handmade pieces. Self-sown patches. Big chunky boots. Safety pins, chains, studs galore. leather in any form. Ripped band tees. It is such an art really. It is a statement. A statement that goes with the anti-establishment and non-conformity ideologies. It rejects consumerism at its core, something I think is very needed in today’s society.

The music is what really introduced this subculture. The music started it all. It is a genre defined by aggressive fast-paced songs. It started in the 1970’s and continued to grow and evolve. It now has spread into many various forms like post-punk, hardcore, Oi!, Pop-punk, etc. (there are way too many to name.) Some punk bands during the Proto-punk era include MC5, the Stooges, Velvet Underground, New York Dolls, Death, the Sonics and the Seeds, the Dictators, the Monks, and Blue Cheer but these are only a few of the bands that fit into this category. Next category is the NYC scene. This was around 1974. This consisted of bands like Television, Blondie, the Ramones, Talking Heads, Dead Boys, Patti Smith, and Lydia Lunch. Many off these bands played at a venue called the CBGB club. It is what made this era the NYC scene era, seeing as it was a small legendary music club in New York that hosted some of the most influential punk bands to this day. Next is the UK scene which took place mainly in 1976. It centered in London- hence the name “UK Scene”. The key bands in this era were the Sex Pistols, The Clash, the Undertones and The Damned. It quickly split into 80’s subgenres like Anarcho-punk, Street punk (UK82), and OI!, to name a few. Many of the key venues for the UK Scene were the 100 club, the Roxy, and the Vortex. In the 90’s Punk grew even more reaching a huge audience. In the 90’s punk became a huge mainstream appeal. It was mainly through Californian pop-punk and skate punk. The bands that were most influential during this time were bands like Green day, the Offspring, Blink-182, Sum 41, Fugazi, Rancid, and NOFX.

This is getting to be a really long blog, so I am going to make a part two with some of my favorite bands, styles, and a talk about a few of the ideologies deeper. 

 

So… If someone ever were to tell me they never spent more than at least five minutes on a character customization file, then I’m calling you a liar.

When it comes to video games, Dungeons and Dragons, characters I own I can get pretty technical down to their every design. I don’t know why but whenever I see a really advanced and technical character customization screen come up (and I mean you’re changing this whole character’s BONE structure) I swear I light up like a Christmas tree. 

A lot of my most well developed characters that I use in my writing activities also get thoroughly detailed descriptions. Their clothes, the way their hair is styled, if they have leather straps on their boots. All the technical designs you normally wouldn’t think about, I do and It’s NON-STOP. When designing my characters I don’t just simply start with a shirt, pants, and a pair of shoes. I go literally loophole diving in multiple different eras. I’ll stick my nose anywhere if there’s so much as a spectacle of good fashion or something I can use and turn it into a character significant stylistic taste. 

I really like taking from real world History designs, because we don’t really have anything else to refer to. I’ll even mix era fashion, [I mean its history, worst case scenario they come alive and smack me over the head.] Some of the older historic fashion designs actually pair really well with some of the newer designs. The French and the Victorian Era and maybe some of the Renaissance and dare I say Greeks and The Romans (Danny-stay seated) have also really well-developed fashion taste. But again, It’s all about the timing of the era. Some of the more royal and noble clothing some higher-class pedestrians would wear just would look silly. It’s more of the fabrics and materials used in the clothes that makes it so high coin, not the design. 

I mean come on… 

 

I don’t want my characters looking like that…. Lord Farquaad got it handled…

The point is, there’s no actual fun for me in just being stuck in one era, and this is why it takes me FOREVER just to design a character on a simple piece of notebook paper. I think of literally everything. Weight, Height, Age, skin types, skin color, moles?, Teeth, smell, accent, dialect, and I’m not even remotely close to what I consider “Halfway” done with character designing.

But when it comes to video game characters, I’m limited, which helps it keeps me from diving down another rabbit hole.

Now I’m not saying you HAVE to spend that much time on a character, I do it by accident mostly I just get locked in too quickly, but it’s good to do, just make sure your notes and paper or clear and eligible.