Category: Junior Literary

Now that we are about a month and a half into school, which is crazy. Now this is the time some of us start questing things. “How to manage my time? How to join clubs and stay up to date on work? How to budget my money? How to apply for collage?” How, that’s the question that roams around a lot as we start, to get worried about what is next to come. Life like to throw a lot at us, and we don’t know how to answer these questions or get really overwhelmed trying to balance it all, well, I’m here to help you figure a little bit of those things out as we take a deeper look on how. 

How to? Thats the question that children, teens, young adults, and elderly ask themself throughout the day often. Whether it is, “how to go down the slide, how to solve this equation, or even how to turn the remote on?” Many questions I’m going to help with someone of the one teenager and young adults struggle within today’s world. 

When I asked a few students from all different schools most of them had the same or simar answers to this question that was asked “How do you manage your time?” Almost all these students said their best way to manage time and stay early on their work was to “find an open window during breaks to do work when you get done early with other work.” Another response I got a lot was blocking out a certain hour each day to just do schoolwork and if something comes up at that hour let them know you have plains to get in the habit of blocking it out. 

The question about budging money, I know for teenagers in the world today that is hard question to ask yourself so let’s break it down. Think about all the little things you spend your money on daily, fast food, posters, games, consoles, makeup, and so much more. When shopping look at the prices of what you buy because there might actually be a cheaper item that’s the same. So, we could eat in more and have money put aside for fun. Making a saving account can help out a lot when you get money put a little but in your saving for example if I get 20 dollars a month’s maybe put 5 bucks in it or even more! You will notice over time it will start to increase. The way I do it is when I get my money, I have a partition that automatically goes into my saving. If you use cash put some in a separate spot in your wallet.

Last but not least for today, there so many in this world. We will talk about “How to apply to college.” Appling for college is not as scary as everyone puts it out to be. Yes, it could be nerve racking at first but the prosses is not horrible. Let’s start with the very basics looking up the college’s website. Thats about the easiest, to see what we need to get for this college. A lot of colleges require you to have taken the ACT so check to see about that, if the college you are applying for requires an essay, most do, but again some don’t depend on where you want to go get that done. When completed with that fill out the online application, get recommendations letters, pay the application fee if the school you are applying to has one. Now we have done all this we will send over our transcript to the colleges we are applying for. This is the moreover every school is different, but this is the basic over of “How to apply to college.”

So, it’s been a bit over a month since I moved into MSA. I worked so hard to get here, and here’s my honest opinion about it. 

1.) I love the staff here. The staff feels like family. The teachers make you feel seen, everyone up to the cafeteria ladies. I love them all, and honestly, they push me to be myself. 

2.) Academics are SERIOUS here. At my old school we were a very close environment. Everyone knew everyone, and the teachers were bound to know your family somehow. This seems like a good thing; however, it caused the academics to lack. Skipping was a common activity, sleeping in class was normal. The teachers were sweet about it, causing the students to continue failing classes, and skipping. Since I moved here, I realized my potential, and how far I can get if I take academics seriously, as well as the different color plans.

3.) MSA has truly introduced me to some of the best people I’ve ever met. Tristyn, Nick, Robin, Clare, Ladybug, and David, are just a few examples. I’ve never been around this many peers that truly want to support me in my arts. All of my friends are seriously the sweetest people ever, and they are all very dedicated to their work. If you guys are reading this, I love y’all more than anything. 

4.) Dorms, dorms, dorms. Living in the dorms has its ups and downs. Pros: I’m around my friends all the time, I get to sleep in till 7, I can always come up to my dorm if I forget anything, gets me ready for college. Cons: I hate cleaning, I miss having my own space sometimes (love my roommate and sweet-mates tho,) SO COLD with the brick walls, I can hear EVERYTHING from the boys floor because of the vents. Overall the dorms are such an amazing experience, but there are some things that make me miss my home a little more than usual. Also, I miss my friends and family so much! For reference, I live 4 hours away. 

5.) I love going out here. The walking path gives us so much freedom, while still making sure we are safe, which I love. I walk to different places every day almost, which is so fun. I always have something to do when I’m bored, as well as the many different activities on campus. The pizza here…..!

6.) Clubs! There are so many clubs and extracurricular activities here, as well as many chances for community service hours. The only club related problem I have, is the fact that i cant try out for colorguard till senior year. Man I want to do colorguard. I mean I still do it in my free time, but I wish I could be on a team with actual performances.

Well, in conclusion, Mississippi School of the Arts truly IS the place to be.  It feels so great to be a phoenix, it just comes with extreme concentration and dedication. 

“Nothing was ever the same after Nevermind” 

Nirvana’s second studio album is quite honestly a masterpiece. The Album is one of few to have a near perfect track list where every song could be a single. Bands of the time like Rage Against the Machine, Primus, and Alice in Chains wouldn’t have seen mainstream success if it weren’t for Nevermind.  The Nevermind era (1990-1991) consists of a much more refined lineup. Dave Grohl replaces Chad Channing, Jason Everman is no longer with the Nirvana crew going on to join Soundgarden. Krist and Kurt remain in their original spots as bassist and lead guitarist. A new producer appears in Butch Vig whose musical accolades is as large his talent. He prior to Nirvana produced the Pixies, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Sonic Youth. So Vig, the ever-experienced hit maker, would hit the studio in late 1990 and early 1991 to start production of Nevermind. 

Nirvana at the time had just been bought out of Sub-Pop by Geffen Records who footed the bill on Nevermind. Which came with a much cleaner sound design unlike the noisy harsh tones of bleach. Drummer Dave Grohl delivers a very powerful performance a lot of Nevermind had Chad Channing demos especially for “Lithium”, “In Bloom” and “Breed”. Dave uses his unique strength and ability to stay on time to play some incredible drum parts which will be greatly appreciated throughout this post. More noticeably is the improved playing of Krist and Kurt, their evolution as guitarists as well as writers in only a couple of years from the last major release is really special and shouldn’t go unnoticed.   

The lead off track “Smells Like Teen Spirit’ is the basic Nirvana song everyone has heard and if they haven’t stopped being friends with them.  Also get used to me saying overdub a lot throughout this blog post. Butch Vig was a big fan of making things sound larger almost every single guitar track on this album is dubbed over at least twice with a different amp effect pedal or guitar entirely. This track has no vocal dub, but a fuller guitar tone is heard with a few tracks over the top of the main chord progression. A good use of power chords a F minor progression to be more exact ( F5, B♭5, A♭5, and D♭5). This creates that wall of sound and the guitar solo is tracked a couple of extra times with the main chord progression slightly under it to fill it out.  Vig really wanted to make this track special as the day he heard the original demo he knew it was “A hit”. SLTS has a lot going for it in the studio Dave’s drum track at times is modified and has a element of electronic rock in it. Krists Bass Line is really full and holds its own over the dueling guitar tracks and even peaks out into the main track at times.  

“In Bloom” was the first sound city sessions song originally meant to be a Sub-Pop single and had already been demoed by Chad Channing prior. The re-recording featuring Dave Grohl, the new drummer at the time, was much more powerful drum tone and louder cymbals. Grohl also sang the backing vocals on this song and his voice greatly matched Kurt’s. In the recording Kurt and Daves vocal tracks were doubled to have a fuller sound plus Butch Vig said “Dave and Krist had this great groove going” making the song kind of come together.  

“Come as You Are” one of the more popular guitar songs of all time that makes you almost sing the instrumental. The recording of this song was very quick three vocal takes of which Butch and the crew used the first. Two guitar takes of which the extra was for the guitar solo which was retracked to double it. Vig would also have Kurt double his Vocal for harmonies (which Dave Grohl and eventually Pat Smear would sing live).  An electro harmonix chorus effect pedal was used to give the riff a watery echo sound effect.  That adds to a riff that sounds amazing with a clean tone. The tuning is a full step down from normal (DGFCAD) which creates a dull and eerily haunting sound especially with the slight distortion that the Chorus affect adds to the overall tone. This is a fan favorite song and it kind of encapsulates the true Nevermind sound. 

“Breed” is punk rock notice earlier when I mentioned cleaner less harsh distorted tones well, I lied almost. Some songs feature slight harshness. Nirvana grew with roots of pop and punk, and the poppy punchiness of “Breed” is explained in the in the winding almost screaming of the lyrics. The use of the ride cymbal and crashes at a lot of background groove that pulls you in. The demo of this song (Imodium) featuring Chad Channing has a very similar sound aside from a from winding drum fill that moves the kit.  

“Lithium” is a pop sound that Kurt was really happy about. The song uses a very nice clean tone, steady drumming and a powerful bass line. At points the guitar track and the overdubs stop completely letting the rhythm section own the song. With that the vocal harmony of Kurt with himself is impeccable, he sings almost a pitch down from his natural baritone voice. 

The story of “Polly” is quite disturbing Kurt details a horrifying event. So as the story unfolds “Polly” is kidnapped by Gerald Friend in Tacoma, Washington. As Kurt sings and plays you start to realize that the song isn’t about the Kidnapped but the Kidnapper and his perspective. How Polly craves freedom and that is out of the question as the guitar slowly chugs along and the pair seemingly sing along A vocal harmony tells the story now complete with both individuals, the evil and innocent speaking together one begging another mocking.  

“Territorial Pissings”  IS AWESOME. The entire song is just Kurt and the gng kind of screaming and making alien noise rock. A almost synth like sound pulls through the guitar with the now famous words of “Come on people now smile on your brother.” Kurt keeps the intensity and fun fact almost every live performance of this song ends in a guitar smashing of some sort.  

“Drain you” holds the record for most overdubs on any Nirvana song. This has nearly fourteen tracks of different amps, vocal inflections, guitars, and dubs with an attempt to record Dave Grohl failing. Butch Vig wanted this song to be hauntingly beautiful and, let me tell you it is. Drain you was also Kurts favorite song to play live and really wanted it to be one of the singles to get a music video.  

“Lounge act” is a great song with great rhythm. One part of this album I feel is overlooked is the instrumentation and just how improved the band is. Even down to the bass lines which are simple but effective and are much better than their bleach and even Smart session counter parts.  Dave Grohl replaces Chad Channing in a very special way, as always Kurt gives an impressive performance.   

“Stay away” has some spunk to it as the snare builds up almost like marching percussion with Krist trailing the sound with a decent bass groove. Kurt kicks into full force screaming and playing a impressive power barre chord mix on the song.  

“On a plain” is one of my personal favorite songs why you didn’t ask well first of screw you dude be cool for once, also because the vocals are very nice plus I really enjoy how the overdub is four to five tracks of Kurt singing it almost sounds like the biblical description of a angels voice one covered and swaddled in the voices of overs.  

“Something in the way” the same haunting guitar from Polly reappears here and it does not lose its creepiness. This song is haunting, so much so that it has sent some individuals reeling in tears I’ve almost cried while singing along as despair can really be felt. And as the final track leaves the listener noticeably confused, yet captivated.  

As you can see in the title, I’m going to talk about something, something I think I just need to get off my chest. So, for the past few days I been feeling lost and I don’t know what to do for real. So, I guess in a way I’m helping for some help. I know the blog supposed to be about fun things, but I wanted to do something different if that’s ok.

So basically, like I said I’m feeling lost, I would normally do some of my anxiety exercises, but I don’t think they would help, tried listing to music that didn’t work, I even tried writing that didn’t even help. I tried everything that I know but nothing helping, and I don’t feel like I can open up to people for real, they just use what every I tell them against me. I been so stuck on this one problem that I just think that I’m the problem but at the same time I know I’m not the problem.

I’m good at helping other people out with they problem, like I can give out some good advice when it comes down to me helping out with my friends, but I can’t help myself out, what type of stuff is that? So, it looks like I’m have to listen to what y’all have to say, I’m try I don’t even listen my sister for real lol, but I’m trying to take y’all advice.

I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing by just ignoring the problem or if it’s the wrong thing. I know people say you have to face your problems, but the thing is, I have tried but yet I feel like I’m not being understand and that makes me even more mad. Y’all pls just give me some advice. What should I do?

Takin’ Over the Asylum is one of the best shows that I’ve come back to. While a friend of mine was visiting me in July, I remembered a show I hadn’t visited in around two years. Almost immediately, I grabbed my computer and forced them to watch it with me while I went on a nostalgia trip.

Trigger Warning: This blog covers topics relating to self-harm, mental health issues, and things that commonly take place in/ are associated with mental hospitals. Please read only if you’re comfortable!!

Takin’ Over the Asylum is a Scottish series that ran for 6 episodes on BBC Scotland in 1994. It follows a window glazing salesmen at his second job hosting a radio station. Because of his unpopularity at the station he is first shown working in, the salesman Eddie McKenna is sent to be a radio host for a mental hospital in Glasgow named St. Jude’s. The small station that he’s sent to is dingy, unclean, unorganized, and the equipment there for him is breaking down if not already unrepairable. As the short series progresses, he learns to appreciate his opportunity there at St. Jude’s.

Since the series is sent in a mental hospital, a majority of the characters are patients who reside at St. Jude’s. One of the most familiar faces is Campbell Bain who is portrayed by David Tennant. If you don’t recognize that name, David Tennant played the 10th Doctor in Doctor Who, Crowley in Good Omens, and Bartemius Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire. Campbell is a “Manic Depressive,” or Bipolar in today’s terms, that dreams of being a popular radio host once he gets out of St. Jude’s. Like with any good character, he is met with obstacles along the way including his father attempting to get him discharged from St. Jude’s before he’s ready to leave.

The rest of the main cast includes:

• Francine, a woman who doesn’t really talk about why she’s there or much of her past before St. Judes until closer to the very end of the series run time, but she has a tendency of self-harm clear in the first episode.
• Rosalie, described as compulsive, is a woman with OCD that has her frantically cleaning anything in reach. The way her OCD manifests is very stereotypical with her being a clean freak; however, her compulsions are not cleaning just to be a stereotype. The reason she cleans is not something that has been a habit for years, but a reaction to trauma she experienced that is discussed in the episode that focuses on her.
• Fergus, a very bright man with Schizophrenia, who constantly escaped St. Jude’s. He is allowed to ask to leave for the day, but he prefers to escape in varying levels of complexity. He doesn’t escape to run away; he always comes back.

For a series released in the early 90s, its representation of the characters has aged surprisingly well. Of course, they rely on stereotypes at times, but they never make light of the place these people are in. The viewer sees a character go through a manic episode, one get sedated, another go through a major depressive episode, and someone get denied from a job they’re overqualified for just because they’re a resident at St. Jude’s. There’s a character in the first episode that doctors assume is crazy and speaking in tongues when really, she’s just homeless and speaking a language no one at St. Jude’s recognizes. 

If you haven’t seen Takin’ Over the Asylum, I recommend it!! It’s a very quick watch, and I don’t think you’ll regret it if you enjoy topics focused on mental health. I tried to be as vague and specific as possible, so there aren’t really any spoilers in there. Please watch it! There are so many things I didn’t cover!!

Trigger Warning for Series: All topics included in blog along with topics such as sexual assault, animal abuse, suicide, and death. If you are not comfortable, please don’t watch and make yourself uncomfortable. Stay safe out there!!

Hope you enjoyed this week’s blog!! I’m really glad I remembered that this show existed because it was one of my favorites back in around 2022-2023 and more people should talk about it. FunFact: It was the first series where David Tennant played a main character!! Okay, that’s enough for now. ByeBye!!

I wrote a poem for our persona poem assignment about Jeff Buckley (as most of you should already know). Due to this I found out a lot of you don’t know who Jeff Buckley is, so I am deciding to write a bit more about him in this blog post. 

Jeff Buckley was born in 1966 and died at the age of 30 in 1997. His father was also a musician, but they only met once. Jeffs’ dad, Tim Buckley, died when he was eight. Jeff Buckley resented his dad and wished to have nothing to do with him. He wanted to make his own name, and he did. He was raised by his mother, Mary Guilbert, and stepfather, Ron Moorhead. He went to school and graduated high school as well as attending the Musicians Institute in Hollywood for a one-year course. He often said he found it a waste of time, but he did say that he appreciated studying music theory. 

Jeff Buckleys public career started in the late 90’s. He stared as a session guitarist, but his singing publicly debuted at his father’s tribute concert in 1991. He started out playing guitar for different bands and studios, playing jazz, reggae, and heavy metal. He then, in the early 90s, joined the band Gods and Monsters after moving to New York. Jeff and the founder of the band, Gary Lucus co-wrote Jeffs songs “Grace” and “Mojo pin”, which appear in his first and only studio album “Grace”. 

The album was released in 1994. He left the band in 1991 to peruse a solo career.  At this point in his life, he gained a following by preforming in coffee houses and clubs. His first commercial record was an EP live at the sin-e. Jeff Buckley did many interviews, and you can find a few videos of these on YouTube. 

Jeff Buckley had many diverse inspirations for his work. Buckley drew inspiration from legendary artists like Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, Leonard Cohen, The Smiths, Patti Smith, Billie holiday, Siouxsie Sioux, Bob Dylan, The Cocteau Twins, and the classical Indian singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Jeff was also inspired by a deeper influence. He drew inspiration from emotional artistic concepts like love, anger, joy, dreams, and the power of literary and musical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. Jeff Buckleys music challenged conventional ideas about genres and sound inspiring many people like Tom Yorke of Radiohead and Matt Bellamy from Muse. He broke the barrier between genres and inspired many to think and feel deeply. He inspired a deeper emotional connection to the music and lyrics being made. 

So, what happened to him? Well in 1997 on May 29th he died. His cause of death was an accidental drowning in the Wolf River in Memphis, Tennessee. His body was found six days later, and they did an autopsy report on his body. No drugs were found in his system. He was found fully clothed. 

The story is that he was in Memphis to record his second album and went swimming in the river with his friend Keith Foti. Keith said that Jeff swam into the water singing the chorus of “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zepplin. Keith looked away and Buckly disappeared in wake of a passing boat, which is a “common occurrence” for the river. I however find this story odd. It just doesn’t seem right to me. I honestly couldn’t tell you why, but I just don’t think this is the real story. It’s just an intuition thing. Why would he have all his clothes while swimming, including his shoes? He was carefree and seemed to just go with the flow, but I highly doubt he would just swim fully clothed with jeans, a shirt, and a pair of combat boots, due to how excited he was for his second album and how much common sense he seemed to have.

After his death, his mother now handles his posthumous legacy due to him not having a will. Some support her while others dislike her. Some commend her for her effort to protect his work. I however disagree. I think she has done nothing to protect his work or to abide by his artistic wishes. She published excerpts from his PERSONAL diary in a book to the WHOLE world. She released unfinished work. A year after his death, she released his second album he was working on before he died, “Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk”. This album consists of demos and raw sessions he had scrapped and wished to rerecord in Memphis. He didn’t want any of the raw sessions or demos to be released. She turned down numerous biopics about Jeff due to them being “too personal” or “straying from reality”. Many believe this was her way of preventing an authentic story to be told.  It has also been rumored that she asked for money from Jeff after he signed to Columbia Records, and he didn’t want anything to do with her after that. I however don’t know what my opinion is of her, and it doesn’t really matter, but I definitely think she has commercialized her son’s life for her own gain. 

So why did I decide to write a persona poem about him? Well, I wanted to write about someone who I look up to. I also figured it would be nice to write during the time that I did due to a movie being released in movie theatres. Yes, they finally released a documentary about him after 28 years. I won’t rant about that, but I will say how can we have documentaries about some of the more mainstream people come out the day after their death but for Jeff we had to wait 28 years, it just doesn’t seem right. But I will be watching it when it comes out and I will definitely write a blog about it. 

Anyways thanks for reading my blog. 

I’m feeling a bit under the weather today so I’, going to make this as brief as possible since really there isn’t much to cover with menus and levels. 

MENUS:

What I mean by “Menus” is the necessity navigational outlets that will help you find things quicker. For instance, BESTIARAY is under the menu called Bestiary. While books that you also collect on The Path of a Witcher is under the Books menu OR one of the categories in your equipment menu. You’d have to see that for yourself if you wish to play the game, the tutorial walks you through equipment nav. 

Now when you first load in, you will see different options depending on which game version you have. For instance, the complete edition of The Witcher 3; The Wild Hunt, includes two side stories 

Heart of Stone

Blood and Wine. 

These two stories are an extension for Geralt’s lore, more so Blood and Wine than Hearts of stone. If you have not played the game or if you have, whichever is the case the game itself offers you a chance to play the stories separately from the main story. Jumping you right into the beginning of the DLC I believe. I have not actually started the DLC stories separately myself. 

I cannot say for sure if they put you in the appropriate approximate level but if you don’t want the complete conclusion of the entire Witcher lore to end, I don’t recommend starting Blood and Wine yet. 

You will also find the game difficulty setting based on easiest to hardest and then of course New Game + where you keep all of your equipment, but the game is automatically harder.

LEVELS:

THIS IS IMPORTANT!

Levels exist for a reason in every game, while some try to beat a boss while severely under level and can win, this game WILL NOT let you do that without stress. Remember what I said about equipment and tools? It’s for this exact reason.

There will be bounties or rather known as Contracts you will find all throughout the cities you travel too. You won’t know the level until you navigate to your bounty drop down menu through your quest’s menu.

IF YOU SEE A GIANT RED SKULL ON THE SIDE OF THAT BOUNTY DO NOT ENGAGE THAT BOUNTY YET.

I kid you not guys, The monsters you will fight in this game are as realistic as they can get with modern tech today, or during their time in when the game released. (2020 or 2022 I can’t remember)

They will kill you in one hit or knock you down to a sliver of one health left. Now if you’re brave and willing to live on the edge, sure go for it. If you’re safe and would rather figure out what the enemy is (it more than likely will be a much bigger or avian monster) gather materials, then fight it later, congrats you’ll live to see another day especially if you save your game.

(You also only get three health potions when first starting out before you begin upgrades.)

For the love of God please save your game before a big fight or story cutscene. It won’t be every time but get accustomed to saving, the game does quick save but if you don’t save manually, it can crash your game and cause a Permanant error. (Especially on ps4-5 if on disc or not) 

Saving a game before you talk to your bounty contractor will help you a lot in future, and I’ll explain more in the future as well.

SKILLS:

I mentioned Upgrades earlier and this ties in with levels since Every time you level up you gain an Attribute/Ability point.

(I apologize if its blurry, you may have to squint)

The image above is the level up/attribute menu. All the boxes on the right-hand side, that’s how many you can have equipped. The small outer boxes are for mutagens but those will come later. 

You have five trees to choose from: 

Combat, Magic, DNA, Alchemy, and Travel. 

Combat: pretty plain and simple. Fighting skills, leveling them up etc.

Magic: also, very forward. You remember when I mentioned Witcher Signs? Thats the only magic you have, and you can upgrade and further improve them in the blue menu.

The green menu is the Mutagen menu; you select your mutagens there to help your attributes. Match the corresponding color of the mutagen with the colored attribute you’ll see if the mutagen enhances that skill and even more if there’s multiple of the same color, but it has to be on the same side as the offside box. 

Alchemy: this is where you can improve your stock of potions, bombs, and oils. 

Travel: The furthest on the right. These skills will help you as time passes using in-game time such as regeneration, meditation attributes and buffs, it’s like a natural honing for Geralt and his Witcher senses. (Which is an actual skill.) 

You see why these are so important?

You have to spend your points wisely and you can also acquire skills that can be maxed out in three uses of attribute points. You don’t get these points back and you don’t get to equip everything; sometime dire situation calls for dire needs so you will have to spend some to gain an upper hand. 

Let me know how you feel about The Witcher 3, The Wild hunt. I’ve received comments on interests as to wanting to play the game and I’ll gladly answer to any questions you may have or will let you know if it’s in an upcoming blog.