The Power of Sight

Walking down the street

Hearing the sounds of laughter

Wondering how much the smile brings out their beautiful faces more

People flirting with each other and girls giggling but not being able to see the love flow between

It’s crazy how much we can see as humans and not even think twice about

The exchanging of eye contact would be lost

The protection of looking where you are going is gone

All you wish for is to see the stunning colors as the sun sets or rises

The trees beautiful red, orange, and brown color as fall sets upon the land

Snow covering the ground in a soothing color of white

Watching the flowers slowly lose their petals as they are soon going to die

Getting older and not knowing how you look or what it is like to see your reflection

Watching others be happy and seeing how they react when you are around.

On the bright side, you would feel love on a deeper level

You would be more personal with people and not judge based on appearance

You could get to know people differently

You couldn’t judge anyone for what they look like but how they act

You would never truly know the color of your eyes

Brown, blue, green, grey

Those are just words that you know

Things such as fall, summer, spring, and winter

Those are just seasons that mean nothing but weather to you

You never know when you walk into a room if it is the right room

Or if people are staring at you

Judging with their judgemental eyes because they can see you

Wondering why you are there and what you want

You can’t see them but you know they are there

When you walk in a room everything goes silent as if you were not a human but an animal

You are unlike others and for that most label you an outcast

You will never get to see your loved ones’ faces

Or feel the freedom of driving a car on an open road with the music up loud singing

Or see what everyone else sees

Your perspective on life will always be different

You are always in danger because you don’t know where you are

Love will be hard because people you may love may not love you

Because they can see

The only thing you see is darkness

And you aren’t sure if it is truly darkness because you have never seen the “light”

                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                  -A

The Titanic Band

     Horror, that's what it was. As I played my violin, I watched as families were ripped apart. I watched as the men struggled to be strong enough to keep it together until the boat that held their wife and children sank below the edge of the ship, soon to be swallowed by the sea. They wanted, needed, to keep their tears in so as not to scare their loved ones any more then they already were. As I played, I saw the looks of despair on the faces of the women and the looks of ignorance on those of the children. I played on. As that ship went down, I continued to play so that maybe the last sound those folks would hear would not be screams of fear or sobs of sadness. I played so, hopefully, the last note they heard would be of peace, or at the very least, acceptance. Acceptance of their fate. 

~ S. Rae

Fall Heartaches

September 22, 2006, the date that will forever change my life. I mean the day I was made should be a celebration of life and it should have been a great day, But the reason I was made was not for a joyful occasion. Sure I had seen life through Robert Zoucha, I mean he wore me almost everyday, but I just saw life in a different way after September 22, 2006. I would be a reminder of a great man for his grandchildren, for the nights they would stay awake wondering why. Why someone's life had to end when he had so much to live for. Why God always takes the greatest ones before their family thinks that it is time. But we have all had to adapt, for his children they had to adapt to life without him, and for me, well I had to adapt from being a pair of jeans to a stuffed bear.

I am positive that I am a great thing for these kids, for some, they barely knew him, and others, they had spent most of their life with him and then just like that, he was gone. I know that they didn't understand why but I want them to know that it had to be for the best. It has been hard at times, I’ve seen my share of tears and the hardest times are over. I know that in a couple of weeks, it is going to dawn on them that he has now been gone for 10 years, I also know that I am going to need to be here for his kids. Ten years is so long, but it seems like yesterday that I would see his smile and how much he enjoyed each and every one of his kin. That was the highlight of his life, and I have to believe that he is still up there looking out for them, and for me. I miss him just like they do, but I am glad that since Bob couldn’t be here to comfort them in their time of need, that I can be that shoulder to lean on. Ten years is too long, I miss you.  

-Oliver, the cat

Today's Main Focus

Today’s main focus: stayin’ alive

7:00 Take meds

Take care of Llama and Jasmine before school

Have a great day

Maggie has FCCLA on Tuesday

1:00 Take meds again

Put AAA batteries in calculator

Call Jenna

Make it through the day

7:00 Take meds one more time

Don’t feel well, gonna go home

Love you all, Mom

-Tricia

“A ring passed down too soon”

I put the golden band on my fourth finger, connected to my heart.

The same ring my grandmother wore on her wedding day,

Passed on to her first born daughter,

But she never got the chance to wear it on her wedding day.

A life taken too soon, she was full of life and it got ripped right out of her hands.

July 1973 was the last time she’d ever wear that ring.

After saying her last goodbyes, the ring became my mother’s when she was 11.

2014 it made its way into my hands, I wear it with pride in memory of my mom’s family.

Her sister who died when my mom was 10, her father who died when she was 14, her mother who died when she was 36.

All of who left this world too soon, too sudden, too bitter.  

Debbie, I wear this ring for you, the aunt that I never got to meet, while you dance in the constellations the way you did that summer at Juilliard.

Warren, I wear this ring for you. An aspiring pilot, and also a grandfather of 9, none of which you ever got to meet.

Gladys, I wear this ring for you. I may not remember you, but from looking at pictures with you up until I was 2, it’s obvious that I loved you.

This ring was passed on to me too soon, but I wear it happily for all of you.

-m.e.d.

My dad

I miss you so much.

Words cannot describe the relationship between a father and his daughter.

I miss your humor, your smile, and the way you talk.

It hurts me everyday when I know that you’re not with me.

I wish everything didn’t have to be this way.

I miss this last summer, when we sat out on the porch and talked about anything that would come to mind. We would camp almost every weekend in the mountains and have a blast. My favorite part of summer is when we would go on a drive in the mountains, and you would turn on your old classic rock, and sing to me. I wish those days could last forever.

I learned almost everything from you, from my sense of humor, to my taste in music, my ability to shoot rifles and go fishing, and much more.

Your love warms the heart of your children.

My love for you is never-ending and unconditional.

You’re my person, my hero, and my everything.


H.G.

Notes From Mom

At the grocery store,

Put the dishes away and take out the trash,

Or else you don’t get food.

Put the laundry in the dryer

And fold the clothes in the dryer

Don’t forget to take out to take this check to school.

And don’t forget your school supplies.

FEED THE CATS

They will eat you if you don’t.

-Sheryl Swoopes

An American Horror Story: The Trumpening

Devin Knust

Sometimes life is like an election.

No matter who wins, you lose.

All it takes is one person to mess everything up, and OMG, the world ends.

I’ll see Y’all on the other side.

Although, it takes one person to save it.

That person is not Donald Trump of the United States.

Oh, sweet flying poptarts! Please don’t make him president.

However it does seem likely that he will become our next President.

“Maybe he can make America great again” is what I would say when I lost my mind.

I can imagine the headlines of the newspapers “The Great Wall of Trump.”

This wall that pushes away foreign travelers.

A wall that stretches as far as a blind man can see.

Taller than ten giraffes, smells worse than skunks, leaves nothing but silence in the air, tastes like insanity and regret, and as impenetrable as paper.

All those who would disobey him will suffer the consequences.

Just one blast from his laser-shooting eyes and...

Adios!

Not even the Narrator who is typing this story can save them.

If you are voting this year, ask yourself this. Do you want this to be your future?

Name Poem

April was my name today.

My Spanish name was Abril, and my nickname is Apester.  

April means opening the buds of spring.

April showers bring May flowers.

April is not always sunshine.

April is clouds and rain, but with rain comes rainbows.

I’d like to be referred to as Lord April, Queen of All.

But for today, my name is April.

Regular old April.

-April J.

My Next Best Friend

Anxiously waiting...

Counting down...

For the moment I got to meet you

What was really going on, I had know idea

The only thing that mattered was that I was getting to meet the thing that made mom's tummy so big

My next best friend...

You were loud...and annoying

How surprising is it that you still are?

Crying, crying, crying

I think I grew to hate you

Your little white bassinet sat in the living room

Did I get that when I was like you?

Or are you the only one that got spoiled?

Now you’ve grown up and turned out okay

You’re still loud…and annoying,

But you're my best friend.
J.K.

I Hope You Remember Me…

The day I was given to you, you were so small! I was the same size as you but you didn't seem to mind. I figured out by eavesdropping on your parents that you were only two days old. I watched you wiggle around, since you were such a happy baby. You would hug me tight and slobber all over me. I would get put into a whirlpool of suds and bubbles  almost every evening. You loved me and could never take a nap or sleep a full night without me…

When you were about seven or eight months I noticed you weren’t making any noise that evening. You looked very pale and you were very hot. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I knew it was wrong. Your mother came in soon after I realized you were very sick. She picked you up and noticed that you were hot and your lips were chapped. She wouldn't let you go to sleep. I heard her call your grandmother who loved you with all her heart, she reached the house before your mom could get a call back from the doctor. You were very dehydrated and getting worse as the night went on. I stayed by your side as your mom put cool water on your lips and moved limbs to keep you awake. Once, you were happy and loud again your mother let you sleep. You didn't sleep without me…

Five years later, we are sitting on the swing set. You are pushing me high in the air, you laugh as I land in the mud. You decided to run after me and also jump into the mud. You laugh your lovable laugh and your mother calls after you. She laughs as you run in but you can tell she isn't very happy about cleaning the mud out of the carpet. She forces you to take a bath as she threw me in the washer. You sat in the wash room and fell asleep while I was in the dryer, You wouldn't leave without me…

In 2007, you moved to a new town called Albion. You were so scared that you wouldn’t make friends that you almost didn't leave me at home. The night before you went to your first day at school you sobbed into my tummy and I wished i was able to hug you. You met some friends on the first day but little did you know that they would be with you for your whole life. The first friend you had was named Patricia. You would never replace me…

Seventh grade, was not a good year for you.You were failing classes and you weren’t very good at sports. I was shoved in the back of your closet, you only ever found me when you had nightmares or you needed or cry for a while. You started to develop depression and anxiety, but you refused to tell anyone. I could feel your pain as you felt as though the world was crumbling around you but i wanted to tell you that everything will get better. You never cried without me…

Three years later, we are at the current date, you might be stressed and busy all the time but you are happy and that's all the matters. You brought me to a classroom the other day. I could tell that every time you talked about me you wanted to cry. I am the holder of all of your words that you don't want anyone to hear. You have made it through high school and you are gonna do amazing things with your life. I hope you never stop fighting, never stop caring about people who think that everyone hates them! I hope you go along in life and realize you are worth more than you think, people want to hear what you have to say… but you might have to do all theses great things…. Without Me.

Love, Teddy <3

~ Vive el Momento

It´s Hard to Explain

Old roses are reminders telling us life always ends at some point,

Horrendously and delicately as an unappealing garden gnome´s life.

Droopy leaves yearn for the touch of the heat of the sun

Whereas the Little Prince yearns for a loving flower.

But the flower was too bossy and too rude for his liking.

I beg to differ, Moe. Roses teach us that new beginnings can come from dying.

Therefore, spicy foods won't taste so fierce to those who are used to it.

They say, it isn't hot! It is just so cold it seems hot.

Hankeryabble is known as the words and phrases that are foreign to non-native speakers.

Yelling at the innocent greens will make them scared and shrivel up.

¨Go for a walk,¨ he said. ¨ Where?¨ She asked. ¨In the air.¨

The tilted sphere of reality is a jumble of mess.

Godly humans will never exist.

They will forever taste bittersweet

And smell like well-used sleeping pillows.

Even though, someday, airplanes will be able to soar through the sea.

¨행운을 빈다!¨ (haeng un eul bin da) Good luck!

Says the withering willow tree as it waves its branches in goodbye.

Finally, the petals of the beautiful ones will fall away, one by one.

8/30/16

-MTO

Don´t Forget

I don't remember when I got those old, worn books. They´ve just been there ever since I could remember. Tucked away in the cabinets downstairs, waiting for someone to open them up and explore inside. Mom always told pleasant stories that were hidden behind the pictures of my sister and me. As I grew up, I started wondering about the foreign pictures and what they meant. I decided to invest all my concentration on a specific photograph to start out with. A thin, grinning man is squatting low to the ground next to my sister; it looked like they were the same height. To the right of them is a skinny middle-aged lady who is smiling as she's holding a little person- me. I notice my sister and I looked unsure. Were we unsure of what was happening? That would be my guess. She was only three at the time, and I was one. You don't know much at such a young age. All we knew was that something big was happening.

There are groups of joyous-looking figures all around me in the photographs. I flipped the page; there are more. Each turn of a page just showed more and more people and places I didn't know about. Where was I? There´s small, green, see-through tents in one picture. Mom and Dad are riding a huge stroller in another. Lots of the photos are filled with people scattered around share similar features as me. Their hair is a sea of blackness- just like mine. Their eyes are deep shades of brown- just like mine. Their skin is a beautiful mix of white, gold, and brown… Just. Like. Mine.

I turn my attention away from the books, a little rattled. Now, when I look up, all I see are people who are different from me. They don't look like me. Questions began to zip through my brain as fast as darts. Why do these people not look like me? Is this not where I belong? Would I fit in more there because the people are more like me? Would they not comment on my shortness because they too would be short? I stared back again at the old pages that are full of memories of my past… Then it clicked.

This is not where my ancestors once lived. I was millions of miles away from my original home. As I began to live my life here in America, playing volleyball and learning how to write my name in English, my birth family stayed on the other side of the world, sleeping soundly in their small homes. The only actual glimpse I could get of the short life I lived over there was through these small, unfamiliar photos. I remember asking Mom about my baby books. Who are these people? I would ask. These are the people from the orphanage that took care of you. And that is your birth family. We adopted you two. She would say.

After I asked what an orphanage was and what adoption meant, I understood. My life was altered before I even knew it. Things still feel weird, as if this isn't where I should be, but at the same time, it feels like home. America is the only home I ever knew. For better or for worse, I am here. My birth parents gave me up so I could have a better opportunity of a greater life. So I am as sure as butter on bread that I am not going to waste the gift they gave me. I gently lifted the books into my hands and walked over to my bookshelf. It was time I left the past in the past and focus on the future. Carefully and daringly, I slip the hard covers into the open slots. I stood to leave my room, but paused to look back. I won't let you down, I think to my birth family. And don't worry. I won't forget.

8/26/16 -MTO

These I Have Loved

These I have loved:

Gleaming rocks on a gravel road, reflecting the sun’s rays

My family in the living room, laughing at “Whose Line is it Anyway?”

The soft ears of an old horse

The tales of many, many novels

Brand new shoes on my feet

Hands slapping five in a line on a field

Bouncing diving boards on a scorching summer day

My grandma’s monster cookies

The wagging tale of a golden retriever

Rain water running down a newly made stream

The first scissor cut into a fresh piece of construction paper

Meat on the grill

Soft hands and softer lips

My life

B. Kennedy

Home

Here I built a fort in the tree line and spent hours inside

Here I ran the four-wheeler into a ravine and thought Dad would kill me

Here I watched a flock of turkeys walk across my lawn

Here I hunted rabbits with my loyal companion, Alex

Here I got my foot stuck in the snow for fifteen minutes and cried for ten of them

Here I threw a baseball at an old TV satellite, and it always bounced back perfectly

Here a slippery sandal caused me to fall off of the back of a tractor, busting my knee open

Here I fantasized about being a star football player

Here I worked thousands of head of cattle in the hot summer sun, with the awful smell of

the branding iron bombarding my nostrils

Here I perfected my 3-pointer, and learned how to soar above the rim

Here I let go of the past, and started to figure out who I was going to be, and realized that 

nothing matters more than being happy

Here I asked my parents to forgive me for getting home too late, after a few crazy nights

Here I contemplated where to go to college, and thought I would never come to a decision

Here I realized where I belong, and signed my name on the dotted line

Here I started a new, exciting chapter in my life that is still being written

B. Kennedy

From Here to There

Here is where my cousins and I climbed onto the hay bails and jumped

from bail to bail

Here is where I would go fishing with the boy scouts during the yearly

family scout camp

Here is where people in my class were tricked into believing the sixth

grade girls’ locker room was haunted

Here is where I got my first job as a projectionist at the Gateway Theatre

Here is where I got my liver transplant during the second semester of my

eighth grade year

Here is where I got my first car--a ‘92 Oldsmobile Cutless Ciera S

Here is where I started my freshman year of high school

Here is where I made a lot of new friends--some of the weirdest people

I’ve met

Here is where I backed up into my chorus teacher’s car during my

brother’s graduation reception

Here is where I started my final semester of my high school life

Here is where I will finish my high school life, when I walk across the

stage

Here is where I will say goodbye to all of the friends I’ve made

throughout elementary, middle, and high school

Here is where I will start college to major in culinary

Here is where the start of the rest of my life will begin.

-Lily