Category: Junior Literary

have you ever seen a rock you just had to have?

whether it be on a sidewalk or in the forest somewhere, in the sand or in the snow – something about that rock just stood out to you. so you picked it up, stuffed it in your pocket, and went along with your day with the weight of the rock in your pocket as a reminder of the miniscule, but beautiful, thing that made your day.

i love to use this analogy as a way to think of something i learned at msa. over the span of the school year here ive learned a lot about myself, life, and other people, but there is one thing i learned that i constantly keep in the back of my mind when interacting with people. just like a pretty little rock i put in my pocket, there is one thing i picked up from msa and apply to all aspects of my life.

i figured that now was the perfect time to try to articulate this knowledge into a blog, especially to pass down to incoming juniors. the rock you may ask?

Conversations over Conclusions

the piece of knowledge i picked up from msa that is the most important (in my opinion) is an analogy as old as time

don’t judge a book by its cover. simple as it seems, its the truth. whether it be by a persons outward appearance, demeanor, or just the emotion they seemingly are wearing on their face at the time, don’t be quick to judge.

there were so many instances throughout this year where i was quick to judge. mostly out of my own self consciousness. i would look at all the people at msa and think ‘they are so much cooler than me, there is no way i could talk to them.’ but by doing that, i ended up isolating myself and missing out on so many amazing friendships.

it wasn’t until halfway through the school year that i started to have conversations that broke down my preconceived ideas of what people would be like. and by having these conversations, i realized that we all felt the same way. that we all were thrown into a new situation with new people. that i wasnt the only one afraid of jumping into the deep end of new friendships.

all of this is basically to just tell incoming juniors – we understand. i know it may be intimidating coming into this new situation, and i know that you’ll most likely feel intimidated or scared at one moment or another throughout the year. but dont be afraid to reach out! to your fellow juniors and your seniors. dont make assumptions about people or how they act based off of what they look like, because i promise, you’ll most likely be surprised when you get to know them!

anyways, seeing as this is my last blog of junior year, i figured there was no better time to dump a bunch of msa pictures from my downloads below it. lol enjoy!

(can’t wait to meet you new students!)

 

 

 

CTRL

Need I say more?

Love Yourself: ‘Tear’

This album is so meaningful and the music is just top-tier.

The Low End Theory

Best album I have ever listened to.

Amor Prohibido

Iconic.

ANTI

I said what I said and I’ll say it again.

Being Human in Public

More specifically, Sola. Truly underrated.

Boy.

I will always advocate for OffonOff supremacy.

Revenge of the Dreamers III

Best collaboration album of the century, no one can ever convince me otherwise. LOOK AT THE FEATURES!

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 

No one is touching Lauryn with this album. Please look more into her process and the meaning behind this album. Also, be respectful to the queen!

greetings, blog! this week, i’m going to be talking about one of my favorite shows of all time– “friday night lights”! this is a show that i always heard about growing up, as it was one of my family’s favorites, but i never gave it the time of day because i assumed that it would just be another cheesy 00s drama with no substance. that seems to be what many people think about this show–until they give it a chance. if you subscribe to that belief, as i once did, it is an honor to tell you that you are spectacularly wrong. while i expected to find a stereotypical sports drama, what i ultimately found was a masterpiece of media that tells genuine stories about family, heartache, and life in the south. without further ado, here are some reasons why you should check it out!

the cast

this show has some of my favorite actors of all time in some of their absolute best roles! connie britton is so amazing, and don’t even get me started on kyle chandler. one of my favorite things about fnl is how well-done the accents are. they don’t sound overdone or too dramatic, but they’re realistic texas drawls that only add to the show’s beauty and relatability.

the relationships

one of my favorite things about this show is how realistically it portrays relationships, whether romantic, platonic, or familial. the show does an excellent job with the mother-daughter dynamic, especially with my personal favorite character, tami. she’s excellent with her own daughter and also serves as a counselor for many young people in the town. also, the relationship between tami and coach taylor is often (and correctly) credited as one of the best, healthiest, and most realistic fictional marriages.  the show is honestly worth watching for their dynamic alone.

the music

the soundtrack for fnl is often highly regarded amongst fans of the show. it uses a blend of genres to create the perfect atmosphere for the show. whether it’s rap from texas artists, folk music, or classic rock, it all serves to create a feeling that matches the show’s vibe and emotion beautifully. i’ve found some of my favorite songs ever through this show, and of course, i’ll do a mini playlist to showcase some of those. ’til next week–clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose <3

 

friday night lights mini playlist:

devil town- bright eyes

the prairie song- gene loves jezebel

jesus christ- brand new

hometown glory- adele

to build a home- the cinematic orchestra

 

So, as it does every year, graduation has descended upon us. With showcase season behind them and the cap and gowns in front, the seniors now make their final preparations to leave MSA. I, as a junior, make my preparations to watch them go. 

As someone who’s roomed with a senior all year, this day has remained on my radar since move in. I never expected, however, for it to hit quite so hard. I knew it was inevitable that I would befriend seniors; I always had a tendency of making friends in age groups above my own and seniors made up half the school population. But I never expected my friendships with the seniors to matter so much to me. 

For the purpose of audience, I’ll keep this blog brief and just mention the senior literaries. I cannot explain how incredibly grateful I am for all of you and the lessons that you’ve taught me. Learning under you all this year has resulted in some of the most rapid and meaningful artistic growth I’ve ever undergone, and I just wanted to dedicate this blog to the literary seniors. 

Thank you to Lauren, Madison, Diego, Sydney, Taylor, Kit, and Lillian for all the things that you’ve taught me, all the memories you’ve made with me, and all of the wonderful pieces of yourself you’ve left with the junior class. I quite literally wouldn’t be who I am without you, and I couldn’t have asked for a more talented, amazing group of writers to have as my seniors. 

I’m proud of you all! And I look forward to watching all the wonderful things you’ll do. Keep in touch 🙂 

Sincerely, a soon-to-be senior. 

(p.s. I’ve never read anything by any of you I didn’t love.)

Everyone is familiar with nonsense. Each person you meet has their own example of what nonsense is. There’s plenty of nonsense for everyone! There are people who, despite being lactose intolerant, gorge themselves on cheese and other dairy products. There’s poets who can’t rhyme for the life of them, and musicians who can’t read sheet music. Even you have something in mind that, if you were asked “what is nonsense?”, you would answer with immediately.

There exists an extremely common misconception that nonsense is impossible to understand. I am here to say, first off, that anything can be understood if one simply chooses to understand it, and second off, stop eating dairy products if you’re lactose intolerant. Seriously, it’s horrible for you. There’s a complicated thing there for some people. How do you understand nonsense? How do you “just understand something”?

Well, the first issue is that you’re thinking about it so hard. No wonder you’re having such a hard time. If you take nonsense at face value, without a second of deeper thought, you’ll understand it quite well. A reliance on logic will get you nowhere with things that have abandoned all logic. To do that is simply, well, nonsense!

Now, there are, in short, two types of nonsense. There’s sensible nonsense, and nonsensible nonsense. Likewise, there’s nonsensible sense, which I will also be discussing. 

Sensible nonsense is nonsense that makes sense. When partaking in a form of media that involves this nonsense, it will not feel as though there is anything wrong with the fact that any of it is occurring. Of course, if you oversaturate your nonsense with explanations, all you’ll have left is sense. It might not be common sense, but it will most certainly not be nonsense.

Nonsensible nonsense is inherently, the worse type of nonsense. It is nonsense with no semblance of order to it. It is often used as a tool to skip any deep thinking for writers, or to disguise plotholes. In these cases, it is acceptable. However, if one becomes reliant on it, they may find themselves without any grounding for their writing. You’ll end up like a clown car on a raft in the center of the Bermuda triangle. To put it simply, lost beyond saving.

Now, there’s nonsensible sense. It is something that should by no means make any sense. However, it is completely sensible no matter how deeply it is considered. It goes by a different name, of course. Most people refer to nonsensible sense as science. This isn’t a dig at science, I swear. It is simply the fact that science, by no means, should make any sense whatsoever. Yet it is the most reliable answer to the things around us we have.

Now that we’ve got the basics covered, how about we go over the ways to understand nonsense?

First and foremost, as I have stated previously, you mustn’t think too hard about it. If you are reading nonsense, no amount of thinking is going to change how it is written. It is best not to ask questions, because you won’t get answers that way. If you trust the nonsense, it’ll eventually become sense. Well, sense to you. To anyone else you may stop making sense yourself.

Second now, you have to put some thought into it. You have to, at least, identify what kind of nonsense it is. That way, you can figure out how you’re supposed to be reading it. Nonsensical nonsense is best left unread. Sensical nonsense is the king of the first rule. Nonsensical sense, now, must be pondered. The more you think about it, the more of it you’ll find. After all, the discovery of fire led to the exploration of the cosmos. That makes, if you look at it summarized like that, no sense at all! Yet it’s the sense of our world! The way our bodies function, or the way anything functions for that matter, makes absolutely no sense. Yet here we are functioning.

Easy, right?

Don’t hold on so tightly to your sense that you crush it in your palm 🙂

Now, how about a quick exercise? I’ll write some nonsense, and you have to identify it! We’ll do it once so it’s both easier and harder to guess. Now, don’t be fooled. Nonsense is difficult to identify unless there’s sense close by. 

“A person is exactly who the person they want to be wished they had been before, and likewise, the person they wanted to be when they were the person they were before. So, naturally, a person is already who they want to be. In turn, nobody is themselves, since they can’t possibly be the person they want to be. If they were the person they wanted to be, they wouldn’t want to be anyone else. So, maybe it’s best if they just avoided being a person at all”

Thank you for reading. Enjoy the nonsense!

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! We are doing a whole 180 and going from movies to music! This week is rock music. Now, rock music is a wideeeee genre from Queen to Metallica to Nirvana to Slipknot <3. They’re all rock and I love them. They fall under many different subgenres like heavy metal, nu-metal, punk rock, hard rock, and so on. Anyways, special thanks to my Mom for my music taste (because it’s way more than just rock). Anyways, let’s talk about some of my favorite rock bands from the 70s and up because if I were to add 50’s and 60’s this list would be way too long! To make it easier and more organized we’re gonna go by the decade the bands DEBUTED in.

 

70s: There’s nothing wrong with the classics

• The Eagles: Hotel California
• Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody
• Pink Floyd (formed in 1965 but its one of my moms favs so here they are): Another Brick In the Wall
• AC/DC: Thunderstruck
• Aerosmith: Dream On/ Walk This Way
• KISS: Crazy Crazy Nights
• Iron Maiden: The Number of the Beast
• Journey: Open Arms
• Def Leppard: Pour some sugar on me
• Twisted Sister: I Wanna Rock
• Ozzy Osbourne: Crazy Train
• Blondie: Call me!
• Ramones: Blitzkrieg Bop
• Bryan Adams: Heaven
• Sister: Would You Love A Creature
• Cheap Tricks: Surrender

80s: The hair of all hair

• Pretty Boy Floyd: I Wanna Be With You
• Tears for Fears: Everybody Wants To Rule the World
• Metallica: Enter Sandman
• The Replacements: Androgynous
• Nirvana: Heart-Shaped Box
• Bon Jovi: You Give Love A Bad Name
• Guns N’ Roses: Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
• Cinderella: Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)
• Red Hot Chilli Peppers: Otherside
• Europe: The Final Countdown
• Pat Benatar: We Belong
• Sublime: Santeria
• Quireboys: I Don’t Love You Anymore
• Radiohead: Creep

90s: Mentally here even though I was born in 05′

• Deftones: My Own Summer (Shove it)
• Blur: Song 2
• Insane Clown Posse: Hokus Pokus
• Foo Fighters: Best of You
• Korn: Freak On A Leash
• System Of A Down: Sugar
• Nine Inch Nails: The Hand That Feeds
• Semisonic: Closing Time 
• SlipKnot: Psychosocial
• The Cranberries: Zombie
• Pearl Jam: Even Flow
• Stone Sour: Through Glass
• Creed: With Arms Wide Open
• Papa Roach: Getting Away With Murder
• Linkin Park: Crawling
• Limp Bizkit: Rollin’
• Staind: It’s Been A While
• Trapt: Headstrong
• Evanescence: Bring Me to Life (my mom loves when I sing this lol)
• Three Days Grace: Animal I Have Become
• Finger Eleven: Paralyzer
• Skillet: Comatose

00s: Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’ and Rollin’

• The Killers: Somebody Told Me
• My Chemical Romance: Helena
• Seether: Careless Whisper (cover)
• Audioslave: hypnotize
• Sleeping With Sirens: If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn
• Motionless In White: Masterpiece
• Bring me the Horizon: Doomed 
• Pierce the Veil: Caraphernilia
• Kissin’ Dynamite: Six Feet Under
• Asking Alexandria: They Don’t Want What We Want
• Fall Out Boy: Sugar We’re Going Down
• Imagine Dragons: Bleeding Out
• Architects: Animals
• Daughtery: Over You

10s: Rise of the pop-punk rock… and others that I have not really listened to much 😀

• Issues: The Worst of Them
• Waterparks: Turbulent

 

Thank you all for reading this week and let me know how many bands we have in common! See you next week for my very last blog of the year!

bonjour, y’all. this week, i’ll be writing about three of my favorite movies, and they all happen to be based on stories of true crime. i decided that since, like me, many people are fascinated by the psychology behind crimes, and there are lots of movies that showcase it masterfully, i’d do a list on it! for this list, it’ll be strictly fictionalized versions of the events– no documentaries. that would be a whole other can of worms, which i am not yet ready to open : )

heavenly creatures

oh, great heavens. if you’ve been around me at all for the past week or so, you’ve definitely heard me talking about this movie (or, at least, doing a horrendous new zealand accent). like i mentioned, i only discovered this movie a few days ago, and it’s one of my favorite recent discoveries! it’s based on an incredibly interesting case from the 1950s, in which two young girls became obsessed with each other, and when threatened with separation, chose to commit matricide. i was already vaguely aware of the case and had the movie on my watchlist, but i won’t lie–the thing that really got me to watch this movie was its cast. i was having a talk with someone about our favorite kate winslet roles (as one does), and he mentioned heavenly creatures, and said it was worth a watch. he was definitely right. kate, as always, is wonderful in her role, and melanie lynskey, as always, is a powerhouse of emotion. i am literally never not thinking about this film, and i would be more than happy to talk about it to literally anyone who will listen. please, if you enjoy true crime, or if you’re just sick of hearing me quote it without context– check this movie out!

boys don’t cry

this movie made me absolutely sob. it’s so gut-wrenching and beautifully made. it’s based on the life and tragic death of brandon teena, a young transgender man who was assaulted and killed at a young age. i’ve known about brandon’s case for a long time and have watched several documentaries and interviews regarding it, but this movie gave me such a new, necessary insight into it. i love this film because it doesn’t only show the tragedy of how brandon lost his life, but it also shows the kind, generous, adventurous person that he was. hilary swank most definitely deserved the oscar for this role. she plays him with such truth, and chloe sevigny is a perfect addition. if you are interested in true crime, look into brandon’s case, please. he should never, ever be forgotten, and awareness about his death and the issues surrounding it should be spread always.

i, tonya

this has been one of my favorites since i first watched it! i recently rewatched it with my family and was reminded of just how brilliant this film truly is. as someone who is fascinated by 90s culture and true crime, this movie was the perfect watch for me. it gives really interesting insight into the incident and paints tonya harding as an actual person rather than the villain she’s often made out to be. as always, margot robbie and sebastian stan are wonderful, and allison janney is always the perfect addition to pretty much anything. this movie is so complex and emotional, making you laugh one minute, cringe the next, and cry for the all-around terror of the incident. also, the soundtrack for this movie–10/10!

 

 

 

 

Now, I know it may come as a shock to all of you, and rightfully so. I am far from an athletic person, as anyone who was present for the events discussed can attest to. In fact, this came as a surprise to me, too. 

But I really love playing volleyball at MSA. It’s one of the more fun experiences I’ve had since arriving here, and that’s saying something. Before coming here, I detested any sport in any form, and the idea of partaking was the furthest thing from my mind at all times. I was convinced that, due to my lack of tact or ability, anyone that I played with would judge me. Full transparency, that fear still pops up every know and then. 

However, thanks to the people at MSA, it’s manageable. Everyone who plays is a genuinely kind person, and I’ve never felt judged, even when I messed up. In fact, certain people have even been kind enough to start teaching me how to play correctly, which is a surreal experience, to say the least. 

Speaking of, the entire event of volleyball games will, I am confident, go with me into the rest of my life. They just have that air about them of nights I like to remember, and I vividly recall stopping several times to appreciate the fact that I was there, actually experiencing that moment. And that is a feeling almost better than scoring a point for your team 🙂 

I look forward to many more volleyball games, and a thank you to everyone who plays with me! 

Sincerely, someone who still needs to serve a little softer.