Category: Junior Literary

My tiktok feed as of late has been speedpaints with nightcore in the background and comic dubs. I feel like I’ve fallen back into cringe fandom culture of when I was little. Honestly, it’s a fantastic feeling. School has been a little stressful, less this class and more the normal academic classes, so having something to wind down and feel like I’m seven again is so awesome!!

I’ve found that the cause of this is a newer show on Netflix called Haunted Hotel, and for an adult animated series on Netflix, it’s not that bad!! Some of the voice actors of note are Jimmi Simpson, Skyler Gisondo, and Will Forte all in the main cast!! If you don’t recognize those names, Simpson was in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Solar Opposites, and Westworld; Gisondo was in the most recent Superman, My Name is Earl, The Righteous Gemstones, Vacation, and Santa Clarita Diet; Forte was in The Last Man on Earth, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (1 and 2), Good Boys, Sweet Tooth, Gravity Falls, and a ton of other things. If you don’t recognize any of them then I highly recommend checking literally any of those things out. I’d go into the guest stars and the rest of the main cast but I need to zip my lips on that front.

I think the reason I was so easily dragged into staying to watch the whole show was because of the family aspect. They actually like each other for the most part; you don’t really see that as often in shows that let families not hate each other (cough cough family guy cough cough rick and morty(danny I don’t want to hear it)). Don’t want to dog on every show, so I would like to say that I love Bob’s Burgers and it’s another show that I recommend. 

Along with 2016 fandom habits coming back, I’m also seeing a lot of people missing cosplaying and fandom culture of 2020 which I find VERY interesting. It’s only taken 5 years for people to start romanticizing it, but I get it. Simpler memories in a time like this is something nice to lean on.

I’m gonna guess that the thing bringing people back to 2020 is the announcement that Danganronpa 2 is having some kind of remake? Not sure, I wasn’t big into it when I was younger. However, all the cosplays I’m seeing being super colorful and overly decorated just scratches that nostalgic part of my brain along with the maximalist part. I know I dress pretty plain like all of the time, but if I had less shame and didn’t have sensory issues there would definitely be signs (one million beaded bracelets). 

This post started out me talking about how much I miss being in fourth grade and being cringe with no worries, but just went off the rails. I’m not mad about it though, covered a lot that hasn’t really gotten the space to talk about on its own!! Haunted Hotel is goated Will Forte you are such a beautiful man please please last man on earth come back pleaseeeeee. 

Since it’s been a minute since my last blog I thought I would do a little life recap of fall breck and last week.

Over fall break I went to my first concert. I have a list of bands/singers that I want to see live. Well I get to make the number one band off my list-Rainbow Kitten Suprise. They are/were at the top of my list due to how their music feels and is made. Their music is made to be listened to live. When i saw they were doing a show in Hattiesburg I was thrilled. My dad and I went, and it was really a great show, even the opener was amazing.

Jelani Aryeh was the opener for their tour, Thanks for coming, he toured with them and brought some musicians along with him, bennytheghost (a guitarist during the tour but he makes his own music as well), Trevor Zemtseff (a drummer for the tour), and a bass player, Cooper Holzman. They were amazingly talented and did an amazing job. Jelani’s music doesn’t really fit into just one genre but is a mix of indie rock, R&B, hip-hop, po, and sometimes post-punk. His songs are crafted in such a beautiful way, they feel almost ethereal and have a summer or travel feel. I got to meet him and get a picture as well as a signed shirt.

Jelani and his “band” were supper nice when people when meeting them as well. Some people were being really demanding of them and weren’t really in my opinion respecting them, but they were great and handled the crowd well. They have now been added to the very very very long list of musicians I listen too.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise was amazing as well. Their stage presence is so thought out, blocked, and colorful that it adds to the music. You really get to see the story of some of the songs. Their stage lights are mind blowing and were so beautiful; pictures don’t do it justice sadly. They are an alt rock indie band. RKS is made up of Ela Melo (lead vocals and writer), Darrick “Bozzy” Keller (guitar and backup vocals), Ethan Goodpaster (Electric guitar), and the great Jess Haney on drums. They played older and newer songs at this concert. 

I also went to camp this Saturday. I worked at a Christian summer camp this past summer and it was great. I loved it and can’t wait to go back. I made so many friends and was able to have such a great impact on so many kids lives. But anyways this past Saturday I got to go and help with concessions at a soccer tournament and then help with high ropes. High ropes is a tower which reaches about 30ft. up in the air. It is an obstacle course in the air basically. You are harnessed up and were helmets, so you are completely safe and it’s a great experience. It’s one of my favorite things to do at camp. 

My next blog will be back to normal and on topic. Here’s some extra pictures too. Until next blog <3

I can not express myself enough how much I love this book. I want to steal Homers mind and study it but sadly the man was way before our time back in BCE sooo….

What I love about the Odyssey so much is that there are lessons from every encounter Odysseus, the main protagonist of this story, learns and how much he’s willing to sacrifice and go to get back home to his wife Penelope and his son, Telemakus or in todays translation; Telemachus. 

Most of you may be familiar with he Musical adaptation by Jorge Rivera-Herrans and his commission of casts for all the amazing characters that in the Greek times were considered their gods that they worshipped and some of the men that Odysseus sailed with and who he was commissioned by. 

How many of you who are currently Reading this are familiar with the Trojan War? 

Do you remember the giant Horse? The Trojan Horse? 

Odysseus was the one who composed this idea and arranged for a sequence of events and if you’re a fan of the musical, you’ll recognize the horse on the cover of the album named: The Troy Saga. 

The main story follows with Telemachus wanting to know the whereabouts of Odysseus who hasn’t return after the war for some time. Suitors have come from the kingdom of Ithaka(Ithaca) for Penelope’s hand and the old kings spoils. 

The Odyssey is a cautionary tale of pride but many things about the Odyssey and more specifically Odysseus and most of them are towards his misfortunes with the witch goddess Circe and goddess Kalypso (Calypso) 

In order of events, Odysseus is trying to get home and takes pride in himself and disregards his mentors judgement, Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Bestowing upon himself that he didn’t need her and went against her judgment when confronting Polyphemus, the Cyclops and told the Cyclops his true name. (he had blinded the cyclops and told him his name was Nobody,) This caused Athena to leave and Odysseus was then alone without a guide and had only his own wits to guide him and his crew. He meets another god after a storm on the sea. The wind god Aeolus, who gives Odysseus the wind bag with the storm inside to sail home with clear skies, but he only ever told Odysseus. This outcome drives his crew to wonder what was inside the wind bag and greed overcame them, but it was Odysseus who didn’t tell them. If he had, maybe they wouldn’t have opened the wind bag. The wind sails them to the isle of Aeaea, where Circe is. This is where a lot of the hate comes from towards Odysseus. Circe upon their arrival turned his men into pigs, in order to get them back Hermes helps Odysseus with a magic root (moly) to overpower Circe. IN FEAR AND SUGGESTION Circe attempts to SEDUCE Odysseus who refuses to be corecorced. This infatuated her and drove her to have love for him. So to save his men, Odysseus committed to sleeping with her. 

Keep in mind, he’s trying to get home and has no feelings for this woman what so ever and in comfort of what Circe provides his crew afterwards for a year making them stay but not as prisoners, When Odysseus finally asked her to leave she directs him to the Underworld to see the dead prophet Tiresias. 

This is where I will stop for now, but let me explain Circes and Odysseus situation. 

Circle has a love for a man who can suddenly resist her magic, and he is a man trying to save his men and get home to his wife. WIFE. Odysseus is many things but it’s throughout the story of the Odyssey you will see he really only, truy, harbours love for his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. 

Since Odysseus had to engage in a night with Circe to save his men, he didn’t really have a choice to willingly sleep with her and she made them stay for a year to be comforted from war. 

Some key details that INDICATE what happens in the book are in the musical, hidden within lyrics but wont go overboard in full force telling what has happened. Think of Epic more as a pg-13 film where the Odyssey in a WHOLE with all little details included would be rated R. 

I’m going to end it here, but what do you think? Was Odysseus right for wanting to stay and save his men? 

Also, again, please not that Epic the musical is not entirely accurate in action but subtle hints to those who have read the book (And hopefully this blog) will understand in the lyrics. 

I will make a new blog about similar Lyrics and the out comes of the book and how they link. 

Hi everyone, welcome back to my blog. This week I wasn’t sure what to write about, so I’m just going to write whatever comes to mind first. Flowers. My favorite flower changes quite frequently, as does my favorite color, my favorite everything really. As of today, my favorite flower is a red rose, but about a month ago if someone asked me “what’s your favorite flower” I would have said a carnation, or a dahlia. I know my mom’s favorite flower is a hydrangea. For her birthday last year, I went on a manhunt- flower-hunt rather, trying to get her a hydrangea plant. I’m not quite sure if that plant is still with us, probably not. Plants die relatively fast in my household. Anyways, whoever is reading this, tell me what your favorite flower is, I’m curious…I’ve ran out of things to say about flowers.

Next topic! Cups, mugs to be specific. I love mugs, I should really start collecting those, but the problem with me collecting mugs is I’d have no place to put them. I also don’t really use mugs; I don’t drink coffee or anything someone would put in a mug that often. I prefer energy drinks. Okay new-new topic, Energy drinks! My favorite thing on the planet, not really, but one of the top five if I do say so myself… and I do. I mainly drink from three brands, but sometimes I’ll branch out and try something new. My top brand is Red Bull. Always and forever. Their sugar free drinks are the best. I had one this morning, I’ll have one tomorrow morning too. At number two, a very close number two, is Monster. I love a good sugar free monster. They are so delicious and amazing, I love them. Number three, Alani Nu. I used to drink one every single morning, and I do mean every single morning, but as I branched out and tried new things, Alani’s have moved down my favorite’s list. They’re good, just waiting for them to be great. Did you catch the reference? I bet you did.

This brings me to my final topic, Dance Moms! Dance Moms was such a good show, until the Zieglers left. That’s just my opinion! I love all the other girls (sort of…I’m looking at you Kendall, Kalani, mhm…) Early seasons of the show were the best seasons, and the new reboot…it’s not doing it for me. I didn’t even bother watching it, but I’ve seen clips, and from those clips everything looks very staged and just a big no. My favorites on the show are kind of all over the place. I will need a whole post dedicated to Dance Moms to get across my feelings. My feelings on Dance Moms are pretty impassioned.

Anyways, thank you for reading this week’s blog post. As always I hope you enjoyed reading me yap.

Guys, I love the feeling of having a crush. It’s been quite some time since I’ve had a serious crush on someone, but we are SO BACK! 

Theres this boy that I’m so interested in. He likes a lot of the things I like, and he’s so sweet. I don’t have to pretend to be someone else around him, like at all. 

Even if we don’t talk romantically, I’m okay, he’s one of the greatest people I’ve ever met. He’s respectful, and so so so so so so nice, but he’s also funny, and unserious. 

He doesn’t pretend to be someone he’s not and always keeps it real. I know I’m so obvious about liking this boy, but I don’t know if he hasn’t said anything because he messes with it, or because he doesn’t want to hurt my feelings. 

There is ONE thing he does that kind of irritates me, but it’s too specific to state here. Anyways, yes crushing season is afoot. I think at the moment, why I’m not saying anything to him about it is because: 1.) I don’t want to mess anything up, 2.) I’m 99% sure it’s one sided, and 3.) It’s too early to tell. 

I feel like if I was to tell this individual, and he for some reason does feel the same, I would be lost on where to go after that. How do we even progress from there. I just haven’t been in something truly healthy in so long, that it’s like how do I do this? 

But like I said, he’s the sweetest ever, so I don’t have a doubt in my mind that we won’t be able to be friends after whatever happens happens. 

Look, me personally, I’ve learned to let God take control, and I’ve been praying about it. Somehow, without fail, every time I pray about this situation, the next morning something happens that makes me want him even more. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but The Artists Way said not to believe that. 

I just am kind of stuck on where to go. Here’s the possible outcomes I’ve thought of:

1.) I don’t tell him, and he’s not interested in me- Saves our friendship, makes me lead myself on.

2.) I don’t tell him, and he’s interested in me- Throws away my shot, leaves me with “what could have been,” leads us both on. 

3.) I tell him, and he’s not interested in me- Possibly ruins our friendship, hurts my feelings, embarrassing.

4.) I tell him, and he’s interested in me- We get together, get married, and live in a house with a garden holding 1,000 ladybugs. 

5.) He confesses to ME- Same outcome from #4. 

To the normal, untrained eye, this may seem a little… much, but trust me guys…

Either way it’s I get hurt, or I have the best time of my life.  I mean feel free to leave your advice, or opinions in the comments. 

Well, that’s a wrap on today’s blog, I’ll probably be back with an update next week. Thank you, guys, for reading! Bye!

movie overview

moonlight is an amazing coming-of-age story that follows a young man Chiron  through childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. the film explores his journey with his identity, sexuality, abuse and self-discovery as he navigates the challenges of growing up in what’s considered the ghetto Miami neighborhood. “moonlight” is a poetic-type movie with lots of emotional depth, avoiding stereotypical black prejudices and offering an 1st person look into chrions life showing not just his skin but his sin, love, and family. I believe moonlight had a major impact on the black community specifically black boys and men moonlight offers rare and much needed representation of black male vulnerability and emotional complexity. Moonlight challenges traditional stereotypes of black masculinity like the need to be “gangster” or “hood” ad “homophobic”.  I know a lot of people found this movie deeply moving and relatable to their experiences growing up. Hopefully it sparked conversations about how most aren’t taught empathy and acceptance and self love within the black community. now let’s talk about Chiron the main character in the movie Chiron is bullied a lot leading to his self confidence issues and his problems at home are even worse he’s taking care of his addict mother and struggling to keep going. when he gets older, he tries to connect back with his “long lost love”. Their reunion is filled with unspoken words and confused feelings not knowing who they are or what they want. 

my personal thoughts

moonlight was a cool, emotional movie to watch I see why many people recommended it. moonlight is down to earth and an accurate depiction of what life is like for many people. I highly recommend watching it inspired a lot of creativity in my stories also for certain characters. it’s definitely not a childhood memory type of show but it does give a great outlook on certain topics. (I talk about this movie a lot!!)

random questions for your brainnnnnn!!!!!!!!

have you ever experienced a feeling similar to the main characters?  

how does being in love affect you?

if you could ask a past love a question, what would it be?

how do you react when face with pressure?

if you could make a poem based off this movie what would the first line be?

in a world where what seems normal to you is seen as unnormal to other how would you navigate your life? what steps would you take to hide it or show off your “normalness”? how does it relate to the life your currently live?

When you think of witchcraft, what do you think of? Magical, fantastical sorcerers from popular media? Or perhaps evil, animal-sacrificing women who defy the rules of morality? Neither is correct when looking at witches in our real world. So what is a witch? 

Well, despite the sexism that history holds, anyone, regardless of age, religion, or gender identity, can be a witch and practice witchcraft. Witchcraft, or the practice of magick, is at its core, performing rituals to connect with spiritual and unseen energies to achieve a desired outcome. Typically, it is associated with folk magic and can be a part of certain religions, such as Wicca or Paganism. While people often think of rituals as being evil and malicious, many are just everyday things we do for good luck or prosperity. For example, praying to angels, praying for your dead ancestors, and manifesting things through positive words like “I will get this job” are all examples of magick and rituals. They are just listed under different names and religions.  

The reason why the practice of magick is so frowned upon is because of old, misogynistic beliefs and popular media. Due to women questioning Christian teachings and outrage about how women were treated, influential people saw this as a challenge to their authority and thus claimed the Devil had possessed and influenced these feeble-minded women. Media, even today, depicts female casters as evil and powerful. Think of the Wizard of Oz, or witches in Halloween culture. All of it is just a way to put down non-Christian beliefs and women. 

Some ways I like to personally practice are through color magick, tarot readings, and positive affirmations. Black, for example, is a protective color and is most used due to its protection. Yellow attracts positivity and joy, and brown is security, warmth, and a foundational color. Tarot readings help me better communicate with myself and delve deeper into my subconscious. I also love practicing stitch and knot magic, weaving intentions and goals into my work brings me a sense of fulfillment. It’s a self-care way I like to invite positivity into my life. 

So, everybody wants to know why I love blue stuff so much, and why I love stitch so much. so, this blog I’m answering everything!! 

I’ll start with stitch. I feel like I can relate to stitch in some ways. Stitch was made by someone and was supposed to be this bad evil little alien. He started out evil but when he met Lilo he started to change he was becoming good. Lilo was his best friend and a good one. Lilo was helping him change for the best even when stitch was making everything terrible, she still helped. Stitch found a good family and found out what a real family is. And on top of that stitch is so cute like really cuteeee and he blue. I feel just like stitch. I have good friends, and I found out what family means to me. Just like stitch we both try to make it and be happy and even make people happy. But I love him, and he is so cute. I know I said it already but OMG he is just so cute and soft. I can’t forget how soft he is, and he is blue like dang!! Ugh I JUST LOVE HIMMM!!! 

Just look how cute that little blue guy is, just look at him! Just make me smile every time. (BTW I was smiling while I was writing this) 

Okay now about the blue stuff lol. To be honest I used to like blue stuff because of how my tongue would change color, I used to think it was cool but as I grew up, I started to love everything that’s blue. I feel like blue is a really cute color and it can mean a lot. Blue means sad to a lot of people but to me it means trust, loyalty but it really means emotion to me. Blue has its own way of seeing the world.

Even if it is just a color, we can see color as something good, important, or even as just something beautiful and I see anything that’s blue, important and beautiful. Blue is also a mood I’m feeling a lot sometimes.

But yea this is why i love stitch so much and blue things or food, anything that’s blue is really good as well like really good. But that’s it for this blog. I hope this helps y’all understand me better, thanks for reading TTYL!!!