Category: Junior Literary

Or Naomi, if you would prefer to call me that, I don’t mind. Naomi is my middle name and I’ve gotten comments from people who’ve said they really liked my middle name. So if you want to call me that, I’m okay with it. I’ve had a great and eventful first week (completely aside from me being very sunburned from the waterpark trip). I really enjoyed how welcoming the other students, teachers, and staff members were. Everyone was easy to get along with and I am very grateful for the friends I have made so far. When I first got here, it was a little overwhelming because it felt like I was starting college two years early, but gaining the support I did really helped me adjust to my new normal. I hope that if and when future juniors see this post that they learn that even though it feels like an emotional roller coaster at first, to not be afraid to interact with others and step out of their comfort zone. Trust me, we’re all just as nervous and want to feel like part of a new family. So far, I have and I’m sure you will too. Here’s a little get-to-know-me.

To start, family is very important to me, blood or not. I know as well as anyone that you may not always be able to go to your blood family for as much as you can go to your family that you’ve made. I consider all my closest friends my family and I may pick on them as such. Never intentionally to be mean, just as a playful joke. I do the same to my siblings.

I am Marvel obsessed, so if you’re a Marvel fanatic as well, you and I will be best friends :). I also very much enjoy shows such as Criminal Minds and Supernatural (Penelope Garcia is the best character in Criminal Minds and no one can convince me otherwise). So a lot of my future posts will mostly be about favorite moments in these shows or movies or discussions on upcoming events.

Photo from: Wallpaper Abyss- Alpha Coders

Photo from: WallpaperAccess 

Photo from: GoodFon 

I also love to read as well, but often I’m picky about what I read. I read mostly thriller/mystery or fantasy. My favorite authors include April Henry, Natasha Preston, and Holly Jackson. If you are also a reader, here is some advice: if you hate heartbreaking cliffhangers with no sequel, don’t read Natasha Preston’s books. She’s an amazing writer but her endings are often sad. As much as I love to read this particular genre, my favorite things to write about differ. So you will see me talk about that as well and if you’re also someone whose reading and writing interests differ then hopefully you can relate.

And last but not least for this post, I am a coffee addict and if there is a rehab for that sort of thing, I refuse to go. Whether it’s hot or iced, I don’t care just as long as it’s not room temperature. I will not drink it at room temperature. And I’m not very picky as to if it is Starbucks, Dunkin Doughnuts, just give me coffee and I’ll love you forever. And I use all different flavored creamers, but recently I’ve found that some of my favorites are hazelnut and cinnamon roll.

Photo from: WallpapersCraft

And that’s it for this post, talk to you next week :).

 

How to understand literature

                Personally, I have a tough time understanding literature, novels specifically. I forget everything I read on the last page, or I do not fully soak in what is going on in the story. This is a common thing in most people’s lives. Especially during school or college when you are reading something slightly complex or not complex, but it is just very boring, yet you must learn it. This skill does not pertain to only school either. Let us say you like reading in your free time but have trouble remembering or understanding the material. My goal here is to help anyone who needs it better understand literature, because I know I can struggle sometimes.

Useful materials

• Novel of your choice
• Notebook/paper
• Pencil
• Sticky notes
• A comfortable environment

First, you should read the introduction of any book or article. There will always be an introduction that covers main points. Let that information soak in and make sure you understand before you move on. Documenting this section in your notebook or post it note is not very necessary, but if you feel the need to then go ahead. Reading this will give you a better understanding of the pieces theme. Continue to read your sub-headings and summary. Reading these things can give you an idea of the main points and help you to better see when they come up in the book. It is especially important to reflect on what you have read also. From the introduction, summary, and subheadings really take that information in and reflect to be sure you understood and remembered.

Jotting small bullet lists from these things is not a bad idea either. Just on your little post it notes write down some points you had a challenging time remembering or you felt were significant and place them in your book wherever you would like. I recommend putting them at the beginning or end of the introduction or summary, but that is fully up to you how you want to organize your thoughts. Now you are ready to read!

Get your notebook ready and whatever writing utensil you prefer because this is where it comes in handy. As you read your book chapter by chapter write down the main points. Whether it be in a list or paragraph form. You can also do these on post its, but the notebook gives you more space to work with. As you go along stop at the end of each chapter. Write down the main points in that chapter you remember. Also, doing this throughout the chapter is perfectly fine, so those points are fresh on your mind.

Look for signs of explanation. Where the author starts talking about specific events and how they effected other events and be sure to write those down also. Now do not rush yourself. It is perfectly okay to be reading on a book for months at a time. You do not have to finish in one week. If you come across a word, you do not understand or know the meaning of then look it up and jot it down. Make a page in your notebook for vocabulary specifically if that helps you stay organized. One word in a sentence can set the entire tone, emotion, or plot. It is important to know the meanings to the words in your book.

If you follow these steps and still do not seem to be grasping the material, it is perfectly okay to go back and read over and over. Sometimes you can just keep reading and you will get the hang of things. Once you have reached the end of your piece go back and read your notes. If you feel your missing something just read over them as much as you need. The repetition will help you learn it if it is a boring book for school.

Now I have a few more tips just in case!

• Do not beat yourself up about it. Everyone has different processes and learns differently. Just because your process is harder does not mean anything. You are doing wonderful!
• I would not recommend doing this in a noisy place. Your brain will try and focus on all the words except the ones you are reading.
• Try and find someone who is reading the same novel or someone in your class reading the book as well. Its always nice to have discussions about literature, and they may tell you things you did not notice about the book.
• Lastly, do not give up on yourself. I know that sounds cheesy, but you cannot beat yourself down an give up. The issue will never resolve.

bring your tissues people. we’re diving into the most heart-wrenching lyrics today from the song “king’s crossing” by elliott smith. (mentions themes of addiction and depression)

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if you know me, or even just follow me, you know that i have a special place in my heart for the late singer/songwriter elliott smith. when i tell people this, they ask if i am okay. no. moving on. 

as a music journalist, it’s my job to overanalyze lyrics to the fullest extent. with elliott’s work, it takes longer than usual. there are so many meanings and connotations behind every single word that a single song can have two entirely different meanings at the same time. however, king’s crossing is a song that is one-dimensional in that sense, but not in any other sense. it has a set meaning, and that fact alone makes it hard to listen to as a fan. out of his discography, this has the be the most soul-crushing song he released, especially when you apply it to the context of his life. there are so many lyrics to explain and dissect, but i’ve picked out four of my favorites that i am going to analyze and give some background information about. i have also posted a live performance of this song and the link to the actual song itself, so if these lyrics interest you please do check it out!! now onto the lyric-dissecting.

 

 

“the king’s crossing was the main attraction, dominoes falling in a chain reaction“

this is the first line of the song. i know. off to a great start aren’t we? 

the “king’s crossing” is a place in portland (like the replacements song!!)  where elliott resided most of his life. the king’s crossing is a hotspot for addicts, including him. he had a plight with usage for a while but recovered soon before his tragic death. this first lyric along with the background information immediately lets you know that this song is dealing with a lot of themes of addiction and depression, so if that is something you are not comfortable with, i would stay away from this song and/or some of elliott’s music, as there are many songs with themes like this. “dominoes falling in a chain reaction” actually explains the pipeline leading to the king’s crossing. depression is the leading domino, addiction is the reaction. this first line sets up the starting domino that spirals throughout the entire song.

 

“and i get my check from the trash treasury, because i took my own insides out”

many artists struggle knowing the most vulnerable part of themselves is served on a platter for all to see and critic, including elliott. he despised knowing his own misery was what paid his bills.  “trash treasury” is obviously a snarky remark towards record companies, but there actually is a recording studio in portland called the trash treasury. (established after elliott’s death). “because i took my own insides out” perfectly describes both the mental and physical feeling of being vulnerable. elliott tore out a part of himself in his own misery just to get paid to do it again and again. 

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due to our unfortunate and inconvenient word limit, i must separate this into two parts! so i guess you’ll just have to wait to see the rest. oh well. see you next week:D

link to the song (spotify):

https://open.spotify.com/track/2GsiKnbHHXDpoL7R6cJUTZ?si=7000bff9e908415b

link to live performance (youtube): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D7vRObaTyo

 

 

(I do not own copyrights to this image… Copyright Credits-Facebook)

1. Experience all the emotions whether it be good or bad. Never allow your feelings to build up Inside of you until you explode. That Is not good for you or your health.
2. Learn the lessons from their deception. Never allow anyone to deceive you In that same way ever again. 
3. Reevaluate yourself and your life. Look at everything that happened during your relationship. If you were a part of the problem grow, learn, and focus on you. 
4. Accept your new situation. Do not get caught up in memories. Memories are encapsulated pixels that have been placed Into your mind through your senses. They are Important but they are now the past they are not your future. Do not stay holding out hope that someday they will return. You must come to terms with the fact that there was once a time that you did not know them, and It Is very achievable for It to go back to that. 
5. Once you have reached the acceptance stage then you must release any anger, or ill feelings toward that person for your sake and theirs. This will take a tremendous amount of stress off you. You will feel like a brand-new person. 
6. Do not allow that person to manipulate you into returning to a toxic situation. Toxic or not If there was something about the relationship that you found bad, toxic, draining, or just gave you a headache you should not return. 
7. You must move on with your life. Find a new purpose, a new will to live, and do the things that you love. You must never let someone become your entire life. You must always live for yourself. If you get out of a relationship and feel as though you cannot go on with your life that relationship was bad for you. It may have given you some security and some sort of false sense of “happiness,” but that relationship was dead weight that needed to be let go! 
8. When you find someone new never allow past relationships to shy you away from putting your all into this relationship. Every person is different. No matter what you may think, and what people have told you, everyone has a mind of their own. Whether they let it be manipulated by others or not does not have anything to do with you. The point is that no matter their past or reputation everyone deserves something and that is a fair chance… They may use it horribly and flush it down the drain and you may be sad you even gave them a chance but what you can say is that you tried and there is nothing else you can do. It may be the best one yet! 

Writer’s Note: Heartbreak comes in many forms. No matter what happens you must live through it. These are instructions but acting them out it is harder than writing it. You must be committed, but whatever you do you must never give up. 

The time has finally come. It’s the end of my first year at MSA. It’s been a while ride, a mishmash of triumphs and failures. I’ve grown as a person and an artist.  Through it all, I’ve made friends, I’ve lost friends, I’ve made enemies, I’ve lost enemies (I think?). 

So, what’s the point of it? Is that it? Will any of this matter at all once I graduate next year?

Yes. I’m sure it will. I think that this has been an experience that will impact me for the rest of my life. I’m grateful to all of my teachers, and all of the friends that I’ve made this year. I couldn’t- wouldn’t be here now without all of them. There’s no doubt that this has changed my life tremendously. It  definitely could’ve been a better year, but there’s very little I would have changed about it.

I’m glad that I met everyone that I did, and I’m glad to have been a junior literary this year. I would also like to give special thanks to all of the literary seniors for being such a gift to the literary world. They are truly some of the best role models I could have had.  I hope that they find success and happiness wherever they go.

Thank you all for the phenomenal year. See you next year!

This is not an easy blog to write, for as you all know our beloved Mrs.Sibley will not be returning to MSA next year. I want to commemorate my final blog to wishing her a goodbye. 

Mrs.Sibley, you have been one of the best teachers that I have ever had. I love your positive spirit, and how welcome you’ve always made us feel. I will miss doing workshop with you; you always give amazing suggestions and you allow us to have the creative freedom that an artist deserves! I want to thank you for introducing some incredible mentor texts to us all, and I know they will stick with me forever. I have created my favorite pieces of writing all because of you. Thank you for believing in all of us, and wanting to see us shine at our full potential. All students should get to experience a teacher like you; a teacher that makes school worth going too. Even though our time together was cut short, I am so glad that I got to experience you for at least one year. You are off to do big things with people who need your positive presence in their life, and I know you won’t be physically with us anymore but you will stay in our hearts forever. I won’t call this a goodbye, see you later is a more proper term! Thank you for all that you have done for us, and thank you for the impact that you have made on my life!

See you later Mrs.Sibley! <3

Hello everyone and welcome back to my LAST blog of the year. I’m not one to get all sentimental and stuff but I am truly gonna miss everyone, especially my literary class (worth counts). So I figured I would do a little quote book of all the literary moments to celebrate the ending of this chapter! Keep in mind that none of these are serious and are all in good fun. Enjoy.

• “I will cut off your toes” -me
• “Do you wanna get throat-punched?” – me
• “What would you do if I started yodeling right now?” – adele
• “I have to walk my fish.” -Simone
• “We have Victoria’s Secret, Spencer’s, and Church.” -anonymous
• “I love throwing radiators into the ocean” -Joesph
• “Is that carbonated pee?” -Leo
• “Not my womp womp privlegdges!” -me
• “Ka-chow!” – Leo
• “You can pay me five dollars to find out why I was obsessed with the word Kachow.” -Adele
• “…” -Jordan
• “Can MSA neuter me?” -Leo
• “A long time ago some white guy called the sky daddy and that’s why we have Tuesday. I may be having a stroke.” – Worth
• “Which one of ya’ll got bionic fingers?” -Adele
• “What would you say is the central THEME?!” – Worth
• “Back in my pants, it goes.” -me
• “FAILED WORLD DOMINATION.” -Simone
• “I’ll have mistki in one ear and murder in the other.” -me
• “I want a kid and a kidney.” – Emma
• “It’s the withdrawals!” – me
• “One day you’ll just disappear.” -also me
• “I’ll believe in God if we don’t do anything today.” -Leo
• “Oh no! Our Barbie! he’s melting!” -adele
• “Mentally I am Italian.” -Emma
• “Handing her the divorce papers on Tuesday.” -Simone
• “Tuesday’s at 3:30 my neck gets creaky.” -Emma
• “you were born with the frat flu” -Emma
• “It was direct toe to toe contact!” – Elliot
• “Welcome H-E double hockey sticks!” – Joseph
• “MEEP MOOP BEE BOOP BOP” -Simone

That’s it, guys. I hope everyone has a wonderful summer and has lots of relaxation time because you’ve all worked so hard this year. I love you guys! Goodbye… for now >:) 

Oh- and enjoy this little collage I made.

 

So, it’s no secret to anyone on MSA campus that I’ve done some things this year. Be it my friends, who will readily attest to the unimaginable amount of growth I’ve undergone in this span of roughly ten measly months, or my not so friendly classmates who will remind you of every misdeed I’ve ever committed against them, one thing is for certain: I’ve made my mark on this campus and the people on it. 

And I think that, for better or worse, is a very amazing thing. To think that I’ve made any impression at all on these people I share each day with and the environment we cultivate is a mind boggling things. But isn’t it what we all do every day? 

There are so many people on this campus who have made a mark on me. I’ll never walk into room 308 without expecting to hear an exclamation that surely came from a gremlin and being assaulted with the smell of approximately seven different Bath and Bodyworks fragrances, courtesy of my roommate Nyk. I’ll never enter my dorm bathroom without expecting the door to suddenly burst open and me be met with some obscure, chaotic quote from anything from a movie the world had forgotten to a Tiktok audio the world wished it could forget, courtesy of E. I’ll never not walk down the second floor hall of J.I. without hearing the pacing footsteps and clanging lanyard of a literary listening to what is, undoubtedly, music no one has ever heard of, courtesy of Lauren (said with love). I’ll never sit at the workshop table in the literary lab without the anticipation of a slammed down laptop and an “Okay, so…”, courtesy of Kit.  I’ll never walk (or in my case, duck) under any tree on campus without a thought of how hard it would be to climb it in sandals, courtesy of Madison. I’ll never walk into the Phoenix without expecting to take the seat all the way against the right wall and talk about an anime that’s been on my watch list longer than water has been on the Earth, courtesy of Ciel. And I’ll never enter the SLC stairwell without habitually yelling “LIZ!” in a greeting, courtesy of, well, Liz. 

I say goodbye to all of these people come a few days from now, and quite frankly, I am nowhere near ready. But, I wasn’t ready to meet them, either, and look how that turned out. So, with tears in my eyes and contempt for blank dorm room walls in my heart, I will face as bravely as possible the departure of my seniors, and do my best to give them one last, albeit tearstained, smile before they go. 

And, after they’re gone, I’ll spend the few days we juniors have left here in what feels like liminal space to contemplate the marks left on this campus. Even if you’re just looking at what’s occurred since it was converted to MSA, there are an unimaginable number of memories embedded into the very bricks of this campus. And I can’t help but wonder what they all are, who left them, and how many of them are in the shape of me.

So, I hope you’ll wonder with me, because wondering is no fun alone. 

hey, blog! it’s crazy that this is my last post as a junior. next time i’m here, i’ll be an old woman. mentally, i already am, but i’ll have the senior title to prove it! as a farewell, i wanted to write down my gratitude for the junior literary department, and what better place than here! on the off chance that you’re  reading this as a rising junior, congratulations! we have a strange, chaotic, wonderful class, and we can’t wait to be your seniors : )

to leo,

thank you for being one of the sweetest people i know! you’re always there to help people when they need you, and i can’t tell you how much watching you make stars during workshop has helped my focus <3

to elliot,

where to even begin? you are like a personified sunflower and getting to know you has been a beautiful adventure. thank you for being my spouse and keeping me sane with your alan rickman and squidward impressions <3

to locklyn,

lockerby, lovklyn, locker, locksmith! you’re one of the coolest people i know. i’m so proud to call you my friend. you’re kind, hilarious, and you have impeccable taste in movies and guys. thanks for geeking out with me <3

to joseph,

dude, you’re seriously one of my favorite writers of all time. you always make me laugh during workshop with your honesty and humor. you’re also so talented in visual art! save some coolness for the rest of us, joe. thanks for being the comedian of the literary lab <3

to sage,

you’re such a talented writer! you began one of the most cherished literary traditions–good soup!! without you, there would have been many times where none of us knew what to say during workshop, but you provided us with excellent soup. thanks for always writing things that i find myself concerned that i relate to <3

to jordan,

not only are you an extremely gifted writer and musician, you’re literally one of the funniest people i know! just looking at you from across the room always gets me laughing. thank you for being part of the heart of house band <3

to simone,

ahhhhh!!! simone, your writing inspires me so much. you’re so incredibly creative and kind! we all love you so much, and i know that your juniors will look up to you just like we do. thank you for setting the standard by being a wonderful literary and overall person <3

to adele,

queen, you know how i feel about you. my platonic soulmate. the joel to my clem, the bones to my booth, the fred to my george. i wouldn’t have made it without you, best. thank you for being every literary’s favorite grandma <3

and, finally, to mrs. sibley,

i can say without a doubt that you are the best teacher i’ve ever had. you have genuinely changed my life, and i’ll forever be grateful for you and everything you’ve done for me. you taught me to believe in my writing ability and in myself. because of you, i’ve done and achieved things that i never thought i could, and you believed in me every step of the way. i can never thank you enough for that. because of you, i’m no longer afraid to call myself an artist. because of you, i’m proud of my work, and i’m proud to say that i am a writer. thank you for all this and so much more. this department is going to miss you so much, but we wish you all the very best in your future and know that you will continue to change lives for the better  <3

 

now, i couldn’t leave you guys without one last mini playlist and, of course, a picture that has nothing to do with the content of this post! this is a playlist of a few of the songs that helped me get through my junior year in one piece and a picture that makes me chuckle for some reason. ’til next time!

junior literary mini playlist:

“you don’t have to say you love me”– dusty springfield

“after the glitter fades”- stevie nicks

“guadalupe”- gretchen peters

“maybe this time”- liza minnelli

“hands clean”- alanis morissette