The Battle For Magic Excerpt (Part 2 -- Still Fairly Old) - William Theilacker

When I woke up I was no longer in the grassy fields of my village but in a vast desert. The sand was all over me and I felt itchy . How had I gotten to this desert and how long had I been here? Then I found the answer curled up in a feathery ball next to me. “Fal why in the name of merlin’s beard did you bring me here? I’m going to entomb you in lava and let it harden you unforgivable beast!” I screamed at Fal. Then I remembered the events of yesterday and how sad Fal had been. The loss of his son had severely damaged his spirit. My thoughts were rudely interrupted when Fal’s strong claws grabbed the back of my shirt. He took off suddenly and the ground rushed by beneath me. I began to feel nausea after a little while because I wasn’t used to riding with Fal this way. After what I think was ten minutes Fal jerked to the side and I looked up to see what was wrong. It was a Burlick, they were very territorial and we must have crossed into it’s territory. It slammed into us again and I felt Fal’s grip loosen. A ram that came from behind surprised Fal and he let go of the back of my shirt. I felt my life flash before my eyes as I was falling. Then the reassuring grip of Fal’s talons on my shirt stopped my descent. As the Burlick  charged again Fal swung his free talon and snapped it’s left wing. The sound of the sickening crunch as it’s wing snapped echoed through my mind as I watched the creature spiral down to the sandy ground. Fal took no notice in the dying creature and just kept flying. It was then when I began to wonder where Fal was taking me. As the air numbed my face I began to ponder my question.

After what felt like an hour I had my answer. Fal was taking me to his son’s birthplace to see if I could use his son’s magic eggshell to locate him. Since I finally knew where I was going I relaxed and watched the mounds of sand pass under me. Fal circled three times over the top of a mountain that touched the clouds and then landed as soft as a feather would. I hopped off his immense back  already knowing what I had to do. My pulse was thrumming in my head as loud as thunder. As soon as I touched Fal’s son’s eggshell warmth flooded through me starting in my hand that was touching the eggshell. I suddenly felt very happy and let out a little laugh. Fal took this as an insult and charged at me. In defense I held up his son’s eggshell and he stopped in his tracks. He knew that the eggshell was his only chance to find his son. Then  he realized that I was the only one who could use it and started to back away. “Dershin” I whispered to the eggshell. The egg shell suddenly  flashed a violent purple color and an image of Fal’s son appeared on the flat side of the eggshell. He was in the same cell that I had saw in my dream where I was Fal’s son. I saw the same man that I had seen whip Fal’s son repeatedly with some sort of laser whip. After three slashes to his back Fal’s son said something in bird. The strange man cried out, “I don’t care if your name is Daf, tell me where the stone of magic is. Daf got whipped twenty more times but didn’t say another word. The image flickered and then vanished with a pop. The name of the city that Daf was trapped in was called Rinso. One of the least important towns in our region. I turned around and told Fal where his son was. Right after the words left my mouth he lower his majestic back so that I could climb onto it. As we flew through the chilly air I wondered who was that man and what was the stone of magic?

Why Everyone Should Donate Blood by Billy Stoddard

On Friday, I participated in the blood drive at SHS with many other people. I had a needle in my arm for close to forty minutes, gave two and a half pints of my red blood cells, almost passed out, and felt sick for two days. Walking into the gym before I donated, I hadn't expected any of this. After participating in the drive and knowing full well it's affects, I would still do it again in a heartbeat. Here's why. 

In Somalia this past week, an American Navy SEAL was killed in action while fighting terrorism. Chief Petty Officer Kyle Milliken sacrificed his life to help keep America safe. Two of his teammates were also wounded in the fierce gunfight that took place. One of them required a full blood transfusion to keep him alive. 

Today, a charter bus carrying school children on their way to Washington DC on a field trip flipped over and crashed. Many children were injured, some critically. Two were taken to the hospital by Medevac helicopters. As these children lay in hospital beds, it is likely they are receiving blood transfusions.

Every 57 seconds, someone in the United States is diagnosed with cancer. One in four American deaths are caused by cancer. Many of these patients will go on to require blood transfusions to survive the deadly disease. 1500 people each day are diagnosed with cancer. That's 1500 new Americans who will need blood in the near future. 

At basketball practice today, I was a little winded. This weekend, I was a little lightheaded. On Friday, I felt a little sick. However, I wasn't hit by a terrorist bullet in Somalia. I wasn't in a bus that flipped over and critically injured me. I wasn't diagnosed with cancer today. All these people and examples mentioned are a fraction of those who need blood. Chances are, they need it more than you. So make the small sacrifice and help somebody out. 

Chill Out, Guys -- an observation by Kasey Senatore

Small note, for context: I'm currently taking a public speaking class, and the last assignment that we did was motivational speaking, part of our "special occasions" unit. I decided, after our discussion on Thursday(? I believe) to write about the messed up way we in America view time. This is meant to be spoken, but I like the way it came out written, as well. My hope is that the humor still translates through the words. Enjoy!

    A couple of days ago, in my English class, we had a discussion about how the language we speak influences our perceptions of the world...it sounds riveting, I know. And I could give you the whole TEDTalk edition, just spout statistics at you for twenty minutes, but that would be not only mind-numbingly boring, but also plagiarism. So I’m going to give you the short version.

    English-speakers tend to use certain metaphors to talk about activities or abstract concepts. We talk about arguments and sports like warfare -- “I crushed them,” “Our offense was devastating,” “We killed it,” “They couldn't handle our defense.” In class, we said this makes us more competitive. We were also shown a study about English versus Spanish speakers. It showed clips of people accidentally breaking things, and people were told to describe what happened; English speakers said, “Jenny broke the vase.” Spanish speakers said, “The vase broke.” From this we concluded that English speakers are more prone to blaming and finger-pointing than Spanish speakers, and other languages where sentences are less performative. Up until this point, I had agreed with the majority of the class. Then we read about the metaphors we use to talk about time.
    Consider the way you talk about time. “I spent an hour on that project.” “How will you spend your summer vacation?” “Stop wasting my time.” And of course, most simply, “Time is money.” How does that affect us? If you’re like most of the students in my class, you’d say, well, that makes us more frugal with our time. It makes us do more and value our lives more. It makes us more productive and focused. But the first thought I had upon confronting this link was, wow, that’s kind of messed up.

    See, yeah, viewing time like a commodity makes us more thankful for the time we have. If you view it as a limited thing, you’ll try and cram every second of your life full of activity. On the flip side, though…people these days are so stressed, y’know? As technology and education advance, students are expected to learn more, know more, do more, plan more. Getting into a good college is years of preparation, months of stressing over exams and volunteering time at random community service projects. I mean, I’m 16 years old, and people are already asking me what I want to do when I’m older. If I want to pursue art as a career. What colleges I’m going to apply to. It’s like, I’m 16. I’m barely a quarter of the way into my life and I’m already expected to be planning for decisions that will impact me years and years down the road. I’m not even good at picking what to eat for breakfast every morning.

    Our generation will benefit from the most diverse catalogue of medicine and biology, lengthening our lifespans and making us healthier humans. What I mean is, we are expected to live longer than anyone else has ever lived. So why are we so stressed about what we do when we’re in our teenage years? If I’m 16 right now, and the average life expectancy in America is 78, why is everyone acting like this is the time that will either set me up for a happy life or condemn me to a life of sadness? Why is everyone expecting me to know what I want to do for the next 60 years of my life within the first 18?

    The older I get, the more I realize how harmful this outlook is. I’m doing my best to break free from it. I mean, yeah, the future is important, and you should prepare yourself for it, but that doesn’t mean you have to think about college or your career or your life goals every second, 365, 24/7. You should consider what you want to do with your life but you should also know what you’re doing with your life. I guess what I mean is, do things now, too; don’t kill yourself with stress and regimented anxiety just for society’s alluring promise of “eventual happiness.”

Get some cheap art supplies and paint something stupid. Write music you’ll never, EVER want to listen to. Sing songs off-key and twerk in your kitchen like you’re in a club. Let yourself have fun now, and don’t let anybody convince you that you’re screwing yourself over by doing so. Don’t let someone convince you that you’ve got a pool of happiness and someday if you used too much of it now, it’ll dry up in your old age. I promise you that won’t happen.

Relax. Try something new. Try something and don’t think of it as something that will impact your future. Stop counting calories on indulgent activities and start relishing the taste. Take a nap. Take a selfie. Watch a cute animal video.

None of this stuff is as big of a waste of time as worrying that you’re wasting your time.

Artwork by Amanda Sangalli

You are art. You are a fiery red sunset lighting up the sky. You are the twinkling stars giving the empty night sky a meaning. You are art. You always have been. You were art before he ever told you. Before he hung you up on the wall to show off your beauty to the world. And when he replaced your picture frame with a brighter view, you were still art. You continued to be art no matter how many times you were switched out. And you will always remain to be captivating. No matter who shows you off or who shoves you in the back of the closet. You are art.

A letter to my Allergies

by Nuriel Rozenberg

You sneak up on me in class and 
arrive at the most inconvenient times
Puffy eyes, 
runny noses, 
random bursts of coughing
I deal with a lot of people 
mistaking me for being sick
The tears in my eyes that form 
at the start of the day 
and continue through the evening
The constant sneezing
the lack of tissue boxes the school has--
it leaves me to scavenge through classrooms.
I would prefer to wake up 
breath, 
energized, 
ready for the day 
like people in commercials.
I did not sign up for the congestion, 
itchy eyes, 
throat irritation
I didn't choose the allergy life
The allergy life 
chose me

Gaurdian Angels- Brianna Falco

The Angels never leave my side
May they guard the path on which I walk
May they keep my family safe from harm
And embrace my family into their loving arms
May they watch over us from dusk to dawn
And when my children are grown and gone
May they never leave my children's homes
To simply guard the path which they roam

                                                                       

High School Halftime by Cameron Riley

The end of the 2016-2017 school is near, just about 30 days to be exact. Kids are starting AP testing and finals are quickly creeping up on students. In our English class, we are sophomores heading into our Junior year of High School. In my sports mind, I am thinking of each year of High School as a quarter in a game. Freshman year is the 1st quarter, where you just get started into the game and start to learn quickly about your opponent and what the game will be like. Sophomore year is the 2nd quarter. The game/school year gets a little more difficult with fatigue of waking up early each morning and our work load has increased in our Honors classes and we are working hard to get to halftime. Junior year would be the 3rd quarter and Senior year as the 4th quarter. At this moment we as a class are very close to halftime in our High School career. Now that we are at this point in our lives, it may be beneficial to look back on what we have learned in the past to make a new game plan for the future. Just like in a game, at halftime the team goes into a locker room and talks about what they did right, or what they did wrong and correct it for the next half of the game. This year in our English class, we have talked about old writers and how they write their stories. Learning how to read old English and to develop our skills in understanding this type of writing. As a class we studied myth and culture back in Ancient times and, read the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley as well as the noble savage and relating the two to other stories. And finally, our class went through stories written by Shakespeare and Chaucer and learned about how their writing is crucial to learn about. Our class, myself included, has learned and developed many skills through this year. And now as a class when we get to halftime or the end of our sophomore year, we should look over our year and see how beneficial it was to help us get ready for the second half. School is just like a game. When your team is leading at the half or getting beat, you have a chance to review the game plan. While leading at the half is important, winning the game is the objective.
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