Category: Junior Literary

I’m assuming everyone here has seen your town, or a neighboring one, lit up. Well, the lights are my favorite thing in the world! I mean no it isn’t anything really special, and after a while they are just there, but to me they are MAGICAL! In my hometown they don’t really go big for Christmas. A parade around the block that’s like 15 minutes long is really all there is, however, at Brookhaven Christmas is so lively. I think this is the most excited I’ve ever been for the Christmas season. Every time I go downtown to see the lights I feel like I’m straight out of Gilmore Girls! I’ve always been big on October-December, since y’know they are all very chilly and festive months, but this year has been great.

In October we had fun things like the Coffee House and Halloween festivities! Honestly this year’s Halloween was SO much fun, even though it was a little messy. For November we had the Thanksgiving Lunch, and I went to go see the lights about once a week for when I was here. Now it’s December, Lord this year’s flying. This month there’s a Christmas parade planned, Christmas movie marathons, and best of all the Christmas lights. These months have just been different this year, it’s hard to explain. 

I’m so grateful that I have amazing friends to share these holidays with, and an amazing family to go home to. I have amazing peers, and amazing teachers here at MSA, and I just have so much sappy gratitude towards it all. Now here’s where I write a paragraphs about my bestest friends ever:

Tristyn: I never knew that I would need a friend like Tristyn as bad as I do, but she is actually Godsent. I am SO grateful to have a girl like her in my life. I feel like if I ever need anyone for anything she’s always there for me, which I hope she feels about me too. She’s the sweetest ever, and I just know she is going to stick by my side. Plus, she goes to see the lights with me!!!

Mccarley: As many of y’all know, me and Mccarley have been friends since 8th grade, and y’all she ALWAYS comes through. She is one of the dearest people in my life, and she’s helped me get through some crazy stuff. She is there for me when I want to cry, party, have fun, pray, rant, anything. She knows me better than anyone, and I’m just so grateful for her, and that we got this amazing opportunity together. 

JUNIOR LITERARY STUDENTS: I love all of you guys SO MUCH! Some of you I know better than others, however, EVERYONE in this class has such a great heart, and I’m so grateful that you guys are the ones I got accepted with. Some honorable mentions: Robin, Nick, Danny, Lily, Ladybug, and Kemarrion. You guys are great, and I love y’all! 

Don’t think I forgot David, Brody, Clare, and the others. You guys will get a blog eventually. Anyways, I just have so much sappiness in my bones during this time of the year, and I WILL be going to see the lights tonight. Bye!!! 

I don’t know about anyone else, but I find myself frustrated quite frequently. lately though I’ve been pondering about what frustration stems from. what makes someone shutdown? sink into their own bodies as if their problems were an iceberg and they the titanic. I made a short poem about my pondering and as you read it think about a time you were frustrated most how did you feel? what made you keep going even after being so frustrated? how do you react to problems you can’t avoid? 

Frustration is a manifestation of one’s most inner self-double bubbling to the surface.  

A cousin to fear and a descendant of truth.  

We revolve like doors around the circumferences of things we are most comfortable in life. 

We often find ourselves a growing tree although sometimes kazoo stalks our roots. 

I find myself experiencing it during silence. When I’m alone at a desk in my room. 

IT manifests itself as a bug. 

Stalking like a spider. Feeding off the blood of my emotions like a mosquito. 

I find myself drowning inside my own head. Thoughts spinning like a washer. 

Cleaning me with doubt about myself.  

Frustration manifests itself in the bumps on my skin. Crawling through my esophagus. 

It silences me and makes it hard to breathe. 

 I find myself playing make believe in the devil house. 

Events of troubled memories whisper to me like the wind during winter. 

It never lies though it forces me to lie in bed with my truths. 

by now you’re probably wondering what that has to do with frustration. well, I think frustration is like a Pokémon it evolves itself by feeding of the very berries we hide our the truths we buried. it’s kind of like when eve bit the fruit from the tree. it exposes our sins to our conciseness and leads to a reaction like over thinking causing you to continue sinking deeper into thoughts you only think about when it’s time to repent.

I believe one of my biggest frustrations stems from my asthma not because of the annoyance it causes it’s the fear it invokes especially when jack frost sends kisses from the moon to the earth, I’m always on my toes tiptoeing around my own body I wrap myself in a mental bubble wrap. it causes me to rethink the smallest of actions even for things my heart always held the dearest attraction for.  maybe moving forward, I learn to release myself from the grapples it holds on to me. I think when we learn to release ourselves from the things we hide deep inside, we avoid the penetration of frustration’s sword into our hearts. 

what makes you frustrated? 

what do you think frustration is?

what are steps you take to release yourselves from things like anxiety and fear?

if you had to write a poem about frustration what would the first line be? 

I found this picture online by $onny gold I think it’s kind accurate it’s like emotions taking over the place where your brains are supposed to be, I guess?  

Man, when I say this cold not it, I’m not lying. It be so cold when I go to sleep, I got to sleep with the heater on, and I hate sleeping in the heat bro like real talk. I am having on just one jacket, I think it’s time to put on two now lol. I don’t want to go out or anything. I want to sit on the second floor or in the gym but ever were I go it be cold like Elsa trying to put us in ice or something and I’m from the Delta and it be colder than this but it’s something about this cold bro!

I can say the only thing I like when it’s cold, I get to chill inside more with my friends. We can make hot coco, sit and watch movies all day after school so that’s a good thing. I can do all the TikTok’s I want to do, play a lot of Roblox, vibe to music in the gym with Madison, and I could do more work as well. So the cold is not that bad, I guess. I’m so ready for some snow. Does it even snow down here? I hope it does. Y’all when I say the snow is the best thing.

The only reason I want it to snow is because it reminds me of back home. So, if I got to be at school most of the winter then I’m really hoping it snows. Back home when it snowed even if it was a little snow me and my sister them would go out and fight and the snow, we would make a big pall of snow in one spot like people do with the leaves and we would just throw my little sister Nesha in the snow. We would be outside trying to make small snow men with a little bit of snow, and it would be so funny.

 I would say I hate that I get sick easily. Sadly, I have asthma, so I really don’t need to be in the snow for real! But I think that the only thing I like about the winter. Oh, and Christmas in the winter so that’s a pulse as well. But I think it’s time for me to get my big jackets, big clothes, hats, gloves and some more stuff because baby this cold got me messed up lol. I’m not trying to get sick at all!

(This posts starts with talking about Stranger Things, but it is used as an example for lack of media literacy. I tried to exclude as many spoilers as possible. Please stay and enjoy!!)

Taking a quick pause to the ghosting(hehehehe get it?) because OHHH MY GOD season five of stranger things. When I tell you this is on track to being one of my favorite seasons I MEAN IT!! All I’ve seen negatively about it are social media posts while the season(or one of the episodes, I can’t remember) has a rating of 9.8 out of 10!! What??? I will not be spoiling much if any of the plot of season five or any of the big events, because if you haven’t seen it yet you definitely should. There are a lot of call backs to season two(the best season) and it’s just found itself back to its more humble roots which is amazing.

As the season has released, there have been a lot of realizations from the GA(General Audience). Such as the fact that Will, “in fairyland with all the other faries, all happy and gay,” Byers is gay. Such as the fact that Will, “survivor of the upside down,” Byers is strong. Such as the fact that the show about losers has losers that act like losers in it. Such as the fact that when people are traumatized their personalities change up a little.

What cannot be pictured at this moment is me looking around for cameras. Because what do you mean you didn’t realize the premise of the show? There is a character brought back from an earlier season that many people didn’t know, even though she was very important to one of the character’s arcs. Someone recently posted that their mom, who had watched the entire series, didn’t know what the Upside Down was. Y’know, the main bad place that the story REVOLVES around. All of this has led me to realize a real issue, people aren’t enjoying shows anymore. They’re just watching them. 

Nick, what do you mean by “just watching them”? Well, have you ever just left a podcast on while doing something? Has a documentary been put on during your class that you didn’t particularly care about, so you just zoned out while it played? Have you watched a show like Big Bang Theory or Rick and Morty so many times that you know what happens so it can be background noise? Well, the GA is treating new shows like those things stated previously even though their new shows linear and have a heavy important plot. They aren’t getting excited about shows and their stories, they’re just consuming them to say they’ve watched them.

There are some shows that you literally can’t watch without absorbing them and fan theories.Creating a fandom or community space where you can make friends is kind of the POINT of some of these shows. My favorite examples are Lost and From, which are two series created by the same people that relied on fans interacting and making theories. Even Stranger Things needs a fandom to survive. I mean, why include A Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy love triangle if the fans aren’t suppose to choose sides? I mean, they did this back in the day with Twilight, those team Jacob and Team Edward shirts weren’t ironic. 

The only way a series will survive is not just by viewer ship, but by fans. The Walking Dead, while not coming from the main series anymore, is still continuing because they have fans talking amongst themselves!  Most members of the GA will stop at the main series and go “Yeah I like the walking dead.” An actual fan will watch the like eight spinoffs and go “Oh I love TWD!” They’ll contribute by following the actors’ other works, going to conventions, buying merch. They’ll make friends because they’re a fan.

But now, people need things spelled out to them. Audiences don’t think, they just observe. I think what’s to blame is AI and the constant usage and assurance needed from things like Chat GPT, but maybe I’m just too woke. I mean, this one person thought a character introduced in season 4 was Will’s dad………… as if we don’t know Lonnie Byers abused him and the rest of their family, like this was stated in the FIRST EPISODE OF STRANGER THINGS. If you’re having AI do EVERYTHING for you, then you WILL lose your media literacy and your writing WILL suffer. 

AI today is used for EVERYTHING, and I really hope that my fellow writers aren’t the type to rely on it. Your average Joe not having basic media literacy is already bad enough, but the people here not having media literacy? That would be HORRIBLE. Please please PLEASE my fellow literaries, do not rely on AI, especially not when it comes to your writing. Read a book, watch a show, watch a movie, listen to some music, then discuss those things with your peers! Get opinions, have conversation, don’t just sit idly while taking in media and actually do something with your brains!!! Don’t fall in with the crowd that can’t enjoy something without the joke being explained. USE YOUR BRAIN SOMETIMES. IT’S OKAY. 

YIKES. I yapped a lot this week. I’m just very passionate about participation and media literacy….. clearly. I’ll get back to my ghosting next week, PLEASE interact with those y’all, even if it’s telling me to shut up (crying emoji). Okay, ByeBye!!!!

It’s almost time for another season. I am so excited for the new and final season of this show. 

Stranger things is a show written by the Duffer Brothers. Stanger Things encapsulates D&D, fantasy, and 80’s in one show. It is highly thought-out, and each detail has a reason and a planned-out storyline and it’s just an incredibly made show. 

The show currently has 4 seasons and each season took about a year to film. The new season took about a year to film, making it the longest to film. The episodes of the new season are rumored to be at least an hour long each. This makes me super excited to see how they end the show. The first season was released in 2016 when most of the main cast was 10 or 11, now they are all roughly in their 20s. This has been a huge production and the new season had a huge budget, roughly $480 million. This makes it one of the most expensive TV series to ever be produced. 

They are releasing the first four episodes of the new season on the 26th and the runtime for those four episodes alone is roughly 4hrs and 30mins. this is an insane start to the finale of the show.   

I have many, many theories and thoughts about how they could end the show and wrap up the whole thing but I won’t go into all of them. One of them though i would like to talk about for a second is my theory about the character Mike Wheeler.

———–Might be spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the show———-

I have been rewatching the series in preparation for the new season and noticed that Mike seems to be the middle of a lot of storylines, action, and conflict. He also seems to be wanted for some reason. Will before he was abducted by Vecna was best friends with mike, what if Vecna saw this and was trying to get closer to mike to get what he wanted. I also noticed that they seem to be setting up a storyline for his mother where maybe she is Vecna’s sister. I also think this theory about mike could be pretty accurate due to how fast him and El clicked. I think maybe he could be wanted due to him being the dungeon master for their party or maybe he is wanted due to him being a sort of power source. Like a regenerator for the powers both Vecna and El have. I haven’t really heard anyone else talk about this theory, so I am curious to see if it is somewhat accurate. 

Anyways this was my mini rant about stranger things due to the new season being released next week. I will be blogging about the new season once I have seen it. Anyways until next time. 

Hey Yall, welcome back! Today we are going to write about a movie I saw recently in theaters! It took me for a roller coaster for sure when watching the way, the actors played their roles was phenomenal. This movie was outstanding and I’m going to take you for a ride through the movie. While many of how familiar this title sounds that’s because it is so familiar it was a book turned into a movie!

Regretting You! A well know title and greatly written movie. Do I personally think the book was better? Well yes, but if you ask me nine times out of ten, I’m going to choose the book over a movie any day of the week. Though the movie has so much emotion, drama, charter devilment, and overall, it was a great movie. A book though you can just get more background knowledge than you get out of a movie. So, if I was you, I would totally recommend reading the book than watching the movie!

Now let’s get to know are charters and what’s going on. It’s very family oriented. Morgan Grant (Mother) Clara Grant (Morgans daughter) Chris Grant (Morgans husband) Jenny Davidson (Morgans sister) Jonah Sullivan (Jennys Husband) and Miller Adams (Claras love interest). Okay now we know are charters and who they are to each other so we can look back on this if we get a little lost through out.     

Getting straight to the movie, Morgans birthday has come by, and her daughter Clara is running late coming home. On her way home she drives by a guy from her school that she knows, Miller. She decides on driving back to give him a ride, but he asks her to help him move a street sign. Very hesitant Clara gets out of the car in her little flip-flops and helps her shoe breaks he said he will pay for them, then he asks for that ride. Dropping him off she calls her Aunt Jenny to rant about this cute boy she dropped off and how he added her on Instagram, but how he had a girlfriend, and she told Clara to not mess with a guy with a girlfriend. 

Claras feelings for him were not going away, texting her aunt her aunt says, “don’t be the other girl.” Texting her aunt then then while she they were texting she was left on sent. Morgan ran to the hospital to find out her husband Chris was in a car accident, but she also ran into Jonah trying to figure out why he was there little did they know Chris and Jenny were in a car accident. 

So, what is going on? Well, I guess you will have to watch and find out I’m going to leave off right there for this blog, so I don’t spoil the next three forth of the movie, but I do highly recommend watching it if you’re looking for some drama, suspense, and romance. That’s all for today! See y’all next time for my next adventure. 

I was looking for advice on how to stay focused on my novelette, and many people said to write small projects about the characters. After hearing this, I’ve decided to write this week’s blog about these two very loved characters. Now as you guys know, I wrote a 10-minute play called MarcyBug, where I introduced Marcilene and Felix as main characters. Many of my peers, including non-literary students, enjoyed the dynamic that they shared so I chose to center my novelette on them as well. 

Marcy is a 17-year-old, school focused, girl who is Felix’s best friend. Felix is an 18-year-old drop out, who loves playing guitar and hanging out. The main conflict between these two is Felixs major crush on Marcy. Since they grew up together, Marcilene views him as a brother rather than a love interest. 

Physical Features:

Marcilene: Long brown hair, skinny, around 5,6. She wears basic 2010’s clothes, nothing special. She has basic black glasses. She has freckles scattered across her face. She always has on some type of jewelry as well. 

Felix: Jet black, layered hair, chubby, 5,7-ish. He wears baggy jeans, layered belts, layered shirts. (Think peak Rodrick Hefley.) He has candy bracelets on obviously, and always Converse! Basic 2010’s guy. He wears dark eyeliner and if he was a teenager in today’s time, he’d probably be performative. 

Character Traits:

Marcilene: She is very on task constantly. She is always worried about everything being perfect. She is very lover girl. She is sweet to everyone she meets and never causes trouble. She has a fair number of friends and is just a very optimistic person. She struggles with social standards, and she always tries to fit in. As she lost her mom when she was young, she still deals with doubt in her family. 

Felix: He is extremely laid back and chill. He is constantly playing guitar, and he doesn’t really care what people think about. He is very devoted to his “friendship” with Marcilene. He is very loyal to her. He is a bit ruder than Marcy, however he doesn’t go out of his way to be rude, unless he believes the person deserves it. He has minimal friends, but he loves to go out to parties and whatnot. 

I’ve found that music helps you get to know a character very well. This is would I imagine their top 5 songs would look like. 

Is love truly a battlefield, or is war a twisted reflection of love? 

We speak of fighting for one’s love, yet the very act of combat tears apart the very tenderness it defends. In this paradox, we find ourselves at a crossroad. 

Love in the brain is walking the end of a sunset 

When the son you grew starts claim a set 

There is no love without turmoil  

No turning the car around to make a U-turn for that very car is out of oil 

Once love reaches its peak it starts to decline  

Leading the heart, we cared for to flatline  

You can try to read in-between the lines 

But it’s just the blind leading the blind in a war already lost  

You can’t save a soul whose sole purpose becomes hate  

Trapped in a place where love doesn’t exist  

I could list a hundred reasons why  

It is better to have loved and lost, than to wage a war and lose us entirely.  

so many people would rather have love than war but what is love without war?

what is love without the conflict between 2 beings in love?

do wars not start when the love between 2 things has been betrayed?

like a one lover cheating on another?

like a father and son betraying each other’s trust? lucifer and Jesus?

love and war often depicted as opposites are connected in so many ways. war, which is conflict and destruction, makes the ideology of love stand out in a crowd. it’s like when things get bad people appreciate the good things way more like love and peace. in Greek stories you see this so much like the trojan war started because of love, and soldiers far from home longed for their families. I think war improves the idea of love and war shows us that love is wrathful also.  

maybe cleopatra and mark Anthony is a better example? their romance was never just a personal affair but a political romance that sparked debate amongst other threatening the stability of the roman empire. their forced combined went ahead to defeat octavin, leading to their tragic deaths and the end of the roman empire 

paradox of passion highlights the importance of balance and self-awareness. it says that while passion could be powerful, it’s important to keep it in check with reason and empathy otherwise, it could lead to unintended consequences and destructiveness