olivia davies week10

 I love shopping. It’s one of the few things that make me happy. There’s something about going home with a brand new outfit, and walking through school or around town with it is an otherworldly feeling. My confidence skyrockets. Clothing is a significant factor in how I feel that day. If I love what I’m wearing, whether it’s super comfortable or stylish, my mood is better. Clothes are a great way to express yourself.

Sakthi C- Week 10

 In one week, school will have let out and we will have our winter break. Christmas is in nine days and the New Year is in 16 days. I cannot wait till Christmas and winter break in general. School has been a bit stressful and a break from school would be greatly appreciated. However, as excited I am for winter break, I am a bit sad that I will most likely not be able to meet with some family and friends for the holidays. Every year, my family has celebrated the holiday with family and friends but this year we are unable to because of covid. Overall, this inspired my day because it reminded me that in a week, I will have a week and a half off from school.

Week 10- Beatriz Ferreira

 I like the concept of giving away what we don't need anymore. Sometimes donating is the best option, and it is good to know that we've contributed to someone's happiness someway. I'll always think that the simplest things are the best ones. A toy that is in the corner of our room could be one's best memory.

ern cragg - week 10

 College is taking up so many of my thoughts recently. There are a lot of things I want to do like redo my room or by certain things but I stop myself because I feel like it's not worth it because I'm just going to be leaving soon. I'm excited to leave nut it's a strange realization. 

Kate Barnes- week 10

Last night, I had a dream that I had jet black hair. Everything else was normal. The only difference was that I had jet black hair. I have dreams like these a lot. They’re very realistic, except for one part of them that didn’t actually happen. So I find myself mistaking my dreams for reality a lot.

Tess Acabbo- Week 10

 I love the holidays, especially Christmas Eve. My whole family comes over and I make a special dessert for everyone. We always have so much fun. It was always good seeing family that I hadn’t seen in a while. Unfortunately, it will not be the same this year, as fewer people will be able to come. Although it will be different, I think I’ve had to learn over this time that we have to make the best out of whatever we can get. 

Melanie Duronio - Week 10

There is always something so beautiful about the first snowfall of the season. Although I’ve never been a huge fan of winter, mostly due to the ice and cold, I’ve always admired how pretty the world looks under a light blanket of snow. Winter has a more subtle type of beauty, one that requires you to really look closely. I love the way that the sunlight reflects off of the snow in the afternoons, and how the evenings paint the entire landscape in a lavender glow. And the Christmas season only adds to the beauty, with twinkling golden lights. The first few inches of snow always remind me how beautiful winter can be.

Jane Edison - Week 10

One of the most underrated hobbies and or activities is coloring. Why did we all stop doing it so often as we grew up? It is so cathartic and relaxing. I still have a couple of mandala books that I color in every once and awhile, but why isn’t it commonplace for teenagers and adults to color frequently? I think we need relaxing activities like that more as we get older than we do as children.

Patrick Zheng - Week 10

I remember learning about a photographer who put flowers underwater and shot ink at them to get really colorful and abstract pictures, which gave me an idea; I think it would be interesting to zoom up really close into a scoop of ice cream and get a extreme close-up all the little granules of ice crystals that make it up.

Paige Stephan - Week 10

I often try to improve my hand-drawing skills by using my own hand as a reference. Sometimes, I will take pictures of it in certain poses and positions, and other times, I will sketch it from life. I have found using my own hand to be more helpful than looking at photos from the Internet because I can actually get a better sense of how certain aspects of it work. However, I am worried that because of this, I will have a more difficult time drawing different types of hands. Lately, I have been trying to vary what I draw more, and this is a difficult obstacle to overcome.

Week 12 - Erin McEwan

 Outside, the world is covered in a layer of white. The snowflakes flutter through the air in the wind, and they never stop coming down. The layers of snow get thicker as time goes by. I wonder when it will ever stop and we will be able to see the ground again.

week 9 valerie wilhelm

 

1. Today I shot my first short film with my friend that was not specifically for any school assignment. I have been getting more and more interested in filmmaking so I decided it would be a good idea to start filming whenever I could. It's something me and my friend are passionate about and we enjoy doing.

Week 9- Sakthi C

 In two years, I will graduate from the school of Westford Academy and hopefully be heading off to college. The thought of losing all my friends that I had made throughout my childhood scared me. Would I ever see my friends again? If I were to stay friends with my closest friends, would they still stay close to me after I visit them from college? This idea of going to college had frightened me greatly. Suddenly, all the memories I had with my friends started to hit me. I started to laugh as I though of some funny ones. After a series of thoughts, I had finally decided that I need to make the most out of my friendships in the next two years because the chance that I will remain close with my friends after going to college is very unlikely. The best I could do in these next two years is create more memories with my friends. Overall, this inspired my day by making me realize the importance of my friendships.

Week 9- Beatriz Ferreira

 There is something beautiful in how peoples' different backgrounds affect their personalities. It is amazing how an experience can shape the way a person sees the world and how a traumatic event can make us stronger. It is also interesting how we learn from experiences and are able to help other people who are going through the same thing we did. It is almost like an endless cycle.

week 9- tess acabbo

 I love pictures, being able to capture a beautiful moment. I like candid photos when people don’t notice the picture being taken. So many photos are taken so professionally where a person is faking their emotions just to make the photograph look well. I love it when I am taking photos of my friends that they don’t notice and I can see the purest smile ever. Pictures can be so beautiful, they capture moments in time. The only true way to grasp the moment is to see the candid photo, that was not a planned photo. 

Kate Barnes- Week 9

 One thing about being isolated like we are because of the virus, is that the things that used to seem so normal are now so special. Like having a conversation with a stranger, making a new friend, or meeting someone that you’ll never speak to again. Being kept away from life really exposes you to the beauty of it.

week 9 erin cragg

 I cleaned and reorganized my room today for the first time in a while. I really like reorganizing things because I feel productive and put together. It's relaxing. I used to dread cleaning my room as a child, it's interesting how much things have changed. 

jane edison - week 9

 With Christmas around the corner, I am definitely stressed over what to get as gifts. The way in which each person I buy gifts for has individual and niche interests never fails to interest me, and I do actually love it. I love the idea of people and their hobbies, their little idiosyncratic interests. I think that’s what makes gift-buying and gift-giving so enjoyable. The individualism and uniqueness of what people like always makes me smile when it comes to shopping for them, because when you get it right, there is no better feeling. Giving is always greater than receiving, in my opinion.

olivia davies week 9

My sister got tarot cards from our neighbor. She offered to give me a reading with excitement. Of course, I allowed her, for I was curious as to what the universe wanted to tell me. But, another part of me wonders if it truly holds meaning, or if it’s all just fun and games. Do we really possess psychic powers as humans? They say we only use a percentage of our brain. What else are we capable of?

Patrick Zheng - Week 9

Learning about drug addiction in psychology reminded me of Brave New World, "soma", and the internet. The internet is a convenient source of instant happiness and is an escape from the burdens of the world around you, but once the crash happens, you’re now worse off than you were before. 

Paige Stephan - Week 9

The more I think about the characters that I create, the more I find bits and pieces of myself and other people I know or have known in them. It is definitely a subconscious thing for me to incorporate these types of details into them, as I am usually not directly thinking about it while I am jotting ideas down, with a few exceptions. I usually do not realize this until it clicks afterward that I had taken a particular trait from a character or a person I like or am familiar with. I find that it is easier to write what I know, and this particular phenomenon really reflects that.

Week 11 - Erin McEwan

 The birds surround the birdhouse, desperately trying to get some seeds. The snow keeps coming down, knocking them off the house, and towards the ground. They continue to look for seeds on the ground instead.

Kate Barnes- week 8

 I was thinking about fashion and how it cycles. My mom says that pretty much every fashion trend comes back around after thirty years or so, placing us currently in the 90’s. Unfortunately for me though, my mother didn’t save any of her clothes from back then for me. This made me think of putting all my clothes in a bag or something so that my daughter can have it. For when “The 10’s” come back.

week 8 - valerie wilhelm

 Christmas this year is gonna be different. Usually I get together with my extended family, but because of corona we can't do that. So this year it's just going to be me, my parents and my sister. It’s kind of sad and I definitely miss my family and hanging around on the holidays.

Week 8 - Sakthi C

 The first day of December had finally arrived. I was extremely excited for the beginning of this month because this is the month of Christmas and the end of the year 2020. This year of 2020 has been horrendous with the pandemic and the restrictions it has put on everyone. I realized that we had only had one day of snow during this winter which is unusual. Usually we would have had a snow storm of at least 3 inches and above, but this year we haven’t had any sort of those storms. This overall brightened up my day as I was excited that the month of December had finally arrived.

Melanie Duronio - Week 8

One thing I’ve always looked forward to at the beginning of each Christmas season is putting up my family’s Christmas tree. We’ve had the same faux tree for years, ever since I was a kid, as well as boxes and boxes of ornaments to decorate it with. I always feel so nostalgic picking out the ornaments and hanging them on the tree, and my sister and I love to compare our homemade ones from when we were kids while arguing good-naturedly over who’s look better. Looking at the tree has always made me feel happy, especially when it’s all lit up. It makes me of all of my past Christmasses and reminds me of why I love the Christmas season so much.

Week 8- tess acabbo

 I love to meet new people and make new friends. There is something so fun about finding what you have in common with someone else. You get to do new fun things together and talk about things that you never talked about with other friends. Meeting new people helps you discover so many things you never even thought about, they give a different perspective on everything. 

week 8 erin cragg

I don't often remember my dreams when I wake up but when I do, they're usually very vivid. Sometimes I can't tell if they were dreams or real life. I've always been fascinated by the meanings of dreams. What is your subconscious trying to tell you? 

Jane Edison - Week 8

 I wish that I was born in a different era. Specifically the romantic era, or victorian. I like to think that I would attend great balls with extravagant dresses and drink champagne until the small hours of the morning still draped with my pearls. I feel like life was so much simpler back then.

Olivia Davies - Week 8

 Fake positivity will always be worse than real sadness. As humans, it is crucial that we feel our emotions the way they are supposed to be felt. We should never dwell, but we should instead allow those negative thoughts to pass. When we suddenly become sad, is it healthy to put on a fake smile and listen to uplifting music? Or should we let ourselves cry and listen to Frank Ocean? I guess it all varies from person to person, but bottling up our emotions will never be beneficial in the long run.

Patrick Zheng - Week 8

I have two lights on my desk. One of them has a yellow-orange tint, and the other has a blue tint, so it always looks like my face looks blue and orange. Orange and blue are opposite colors on the color wheel. Orange is an extroverted color and blue is a more introverted color, so I thought an orange and blue face is sort of symbolic of how everyone has an extroverted side and an introverted side, and these two forces act in different ways in different people, creating different personalities. 

Paige Stephan - Week 8

I am working on creating a new list of names for characters that I like. I feel as if the one that I created last year is outdated, and have decided to sort it in a similar way to the last one, mostly by the character archetype I associate with them and the particular vibe I associate them with. I have definitely noticed my taste in names for characters shifting over the past year. Whereas when I created the first list of names, I tended to prefer more elegant, rare names, now, I tend to steer clear of names I consider to be "more fancy" and mostly stay within the bounds of names that are not very rare but I still consider to be pretty. I am planning to add more categories to this list and hopefully use them in a story sometime this year.

Week 8- Beatriz Ferreira

It always feels great to help others. Just by being kind, we can make people smile. It really gives us a sense of purpose in this life which most of the time is what motivates us to keep going. 

Week 10 - Erin McEwan

I can’t believe it’s already the last month of the year. This whole year has gone by too fast because of the dramatic changes everyone had to deal with. Staying home the majority of the time has literally caused time to fly.

Week 7 Journal- Cam.O

Every year it feels like winter gets pushed back into spring. It snowed the day before Halloween but has barely snowed since and as someone who likes to snowboard it gets frustrating. Hopefully, after time we will get our early winters back.

week 7 - valerie wilhelm

 Thanksgiving’s gonna be different this year for sure. Usually my family goes to visit some relatives in North Carolina. It's really fun, we go to my cousin’s house and have a huge dinner and pretty much just hang out and watch football. This year is different, however, and it's just gonna be my immediate family in our house.

Week 7 - Melanie Duronio

There was one morning where I was in class with a friend virtually, and I had to send her a quick text about the classwork we were working on. As we briefly messaged back and forth, I could see my friend smiling down at her phone as my messages were delivered to her. It made my heart warm to see how happy she was to be talking to me, and think of how important our friendship must be to her. I feel like most people don’t seem to have an expression on their face when looking at their phone, so I was really happy that receiving a message from me was able to make my friend smile.

Week 7- Beatriz Ferreira

I like reading, but sometimes I spend too much time reading school stuff that I don't want to read the books I like at the end of the day. I love that it feels like we enter a new world when we are reading and that it is just an effective way to learn, not only about topics that we find appealing but exploring new worlds. 

Week 7- Sakthi C

For the first time in two months, I picked up my rubik’s cube. For a school project, I was searching for some colored pencils in my drawer and I came across my old rubik’s cube. It was a speed cube that I used to always use in freshman year. I remember solving the cube within five minutes, which I thought was impressive at the time, but it really wasn’t because I had multiple friends who could solve it under two minutes. I had joined a rubik’s cube club and all we would do was practice solving rubik’s cubes in an efficient way. In the summer of freshman year, I had stopped using the cube because I had gotten bored of it. Overall, the finding of this rubik’s cube inspired my day because it brought back multiple memories.

Patrick Zheng - Week 7

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my teachers. I hadn’t fully appreciated what teachers do until this year. Seeing all the work teachers put into their class plans and syllabi and their efforts to give help for students is one thing that really became clear to me through the hybrid learning model.

Kate Barnes- Week 7

 Nov 24, 2020- Recently my sleep schedule has been a little bit out of whack. But I’m still pretty well rested. This is because I’ll sleep for five or so hours at night and then take naps. My parents say that this is unhealthy, but in ancient Rome people slept in two increments during the day as well. The Spanish do it too. I don’t know why it’s not a thing in the United States. Probably because of our hard working culture. But I think I would work a lot harder if I had a little nap everyday.

Olivia Davies - Week 7

 Most of my thinking is subconscious. I am never fully aware of my thoughts. Lately I try to catch myself and look inside my brain, because I’m curious of what is going on in there. Most of the time it’s never anything profound or revolutionary. Most of the time I’m just singing a song in my head, or having an imaginary conversation with someone. That’s why journaling is a great habit. You can stimulate your brain and put your true thoughts onto paper.

Tess Acabbo- Week 7

 I love to make people smile. When you compliment someone's outfit and you get to watch their face light up. Or when someone is having a bad day and you can find a way to brighten it, even just a little bit. It is the best feeling in the world to make people happy. Making others happy keeps me happy. People spend so much time focusing on the bad and negative sides of things when it is so much easier to focus on the positive. 

Paige Stephan - Week 7

Got out and took a walk with my dog for the first time since getting sick, and I think I am starting to get better. I managed to get some fresh air in and even ran for a little while. It helped get some ideas circulating as I got out and got some exercise, since I have found that I tend to come up with the most ideas when I am moving. Observing some of the scenery along the route also gave me some ideas for how the settings of some stories I am working on can look like.

Week 9 - Erin McEwan

November is such a strange month within the seasons. It’s the off period between the ending of fall and the beginning of winter. The leaves are still red and orange, but frost lays on the ground in the mornings.

week 7 - erin cragg

 On Friday night, my friend and I went to the Cape to visit her grandparents. We just stayed for one night, so we left Saturday night. On Saturday, we got take out and ate together at their dining room table, like a family meal. I really like her grandparents, they're really fun. It's nice to feel so apart of her family because they are all very close and I don't have grandparents anymore so it's like a reminder of those good times. 

Week 8 - Erin McEwan

The trees stand tall in the forest, like confident guards with abnormally good posture. They sway from side to side in the wind, rustling the green leaves, and causing them to fall on the ground.

Week 6- Sakthi

 Who would you vote for president? This question hit me when I woke up this morning because I realized I had no school today because of the presidential election. I decided that if I was eighteen and legal to vote, I would probably vote for Joe Biden. This is because I feel that with Trump being president, the United States will go into more debt and the coronavirus pandemic would be extended. With Joe Biden as president, the US will probably get shut down for a couple of months but this would help end the pandemic which is probably the US’s biggest problem right now. Overall, this idea inspired my day by making me realize how important the presidential election is.

Conor Burrell - Week 6

 Playing with my dog in the warm sun gives me a brief but beautiful sense of freedom and relaxation. All the worries and stress bogging me down just disappear for a short period of time. It’s just me and my buddy, no one else, and a warm autumn day. A nice warm breeze, orange and brown leafs everywhere, and a baby blue cloudless sky.

Week 6 - Melanie Duronio

 Biden won the election.  I still can’t believe it, words cannot describe the relief that I feel now, thinking about the next four years. I can still vividly remember when I first found out. My family and I huddled around the tv in the living room, my mom weeping tears of relief, and my sister grinning at the television like an idiot while I sat in a daze staring at the screen showing the electoral results. I felt like I was watching the first few rays of sunlight peek through the clouds after a long and heavy rainstorm. These past few days I’ve seen pictures and videos from all over the country of cities celebrating, with people laughing and waving flags in the streets. In one video I even saw people popping bottles of champagne in the center of a cheering crowd.  I haven’t seen this much joy and unity in years. Our country is still far from perfect, and I know that Biden’s election does not mean the problems we face are even close to being solved, but it’s a step in the right direction for sure, and for the first time in four years I feel hopeful for the future.  

week 6- tess acabbo

 The sunsets have been so beautiful lately. When I look out my window and see the cotton candy looking sunset, I am grateful. Grateful to live in such a beautiful world. The world can be scary and filled with uncertainty, but I always get to see the sunset every day. The sunset is a bittersweet way to end each day, maybe it’s the one beautiful thing to happen in a day filled with sadness. Something so calming and precious that makes one forget about the sorrow even if it’s just for a quick moment.

valerie w - week 6

I have been pretty stressed lately. This weekly journal entry assignment does actually help me relax a bit. Sometimes I have zero motivation to do assignments, other times I work too hard and lose track of time and that causes me to miss google meets and other assignments. I'm glad thanksgiving break is on the way.

Patrick Zheng - Week 6

On Thursday, March 12, school suddenly closed and we never went back to school again after Friday the 13th. This Friday, it is the thirteenth of November. Will it be the last day of school again?

Week 6- Kate Barnes

 November 5, 2020- Lately my best friend and I have been going on weekly trips to random towns around the state. With all that’s going on right now, we’re bored and this is a fun thing to look forward to. Today we drove to Hampton beach. It was dead but it wasn’t very cold today, and since it’s fall we didn’t have to pay for parking. We went to a restaurant and after that, we just walked around and sat on the big stage. It felt like a ghost town.

Week 6 - Jane Edison

 Cooking is easily my favorite form of escape. Eggs in particular. Poached, scrambled, fried, runny, or even in an omelette. They are so versatile. The way each egg cooks differently, each egg curdles or crisps. It's easy to lose time in cooking. Waiting for the ingredients to reach a certain temperature, a desired flavor, a specific shape. There are no worries in cooking. If it burns? Just try again. Doesn’t taste good? Cook something else.

Week 6 - Olivia Davies

 I am growing more aware of my subconscious tendencies. Today, I posted a picture on instagram, and obsessively checked the likes. Refresh, refresh, refresh. I was realizing what I was doing, but simply couldn’t stop. The endorphins would temporarily fill my brain when I saw the comments and likes increasing. I hope that I can detach from this false sense of happiness and accomplishment.

Week 6- Beatriz Ferreira

 Today, I read the first page of "10-minute Feng Shui". This book wasn't mine, but I got it from my aunt after she saw me moving my bed against the window. She said something about bad luck but didn't explain why I couldn't do it. From what I learned, Feng Shui is the ancient art of placement that can transform our life and overall happiness. I was impressed that a single position could influence how we live because it seems too simple when it comes to life. 

Week 7 - Paige Stephan

Remembering old characters from when I first started writing stories can be a massive reminder of how far I’ve come since then. Sure, it can be a little embarrassing at times, with characters with obnoxious traits and designs and stories that take blatantly obvious inspiration from media I enjoyed at the time, but being embarrassed at them is only a sign of progress. At the time, I thought these designs and stories were the most amazing things ever, and looking back, although I may consider them embarrassing now, it was only what I was capable of and inspired by at the time. It is important to let beginners experiment with things, no matter how silly they may be, because the only way to improve is to keep going, and no one is capable of instantly being good at anything.

Week 7 - Erin McEwan

Today is the day that decides our future for the next four years. Who knows, whether either outcome will be good or bad. I fear for what I believe is the worst result, but we shall have to wait for tomorrow. Let’s hope for the best.

Week 5 - Conor Burrell

 The beauty of snow falling cannot be understated. It brings joy and vibes of Christmas and warm fires by the fireplace. Something I believe everyone cherishes to some degree. The only pain is going outside to shovel.

Patrick Zheng - Week 6

It seems like there are three stages of fall and winter; fall with the beautiful colors, winter with white snow, and then the in-between season where everything is brown and gray. A few days ago, we were still in the first stage, with trees loaded with beautiful, bright orange leaves. Today, they were all gone, all washed off by the snow and rain and blown away by the wind. Hopefully the last stage of winter comes soon to get us out of this in-between stage.

week 6 - erin cragg

On Friday, it snowed. I have a love/hate relationship with winter. I don't like the cold but snow is very pretty. I used to love playing in the snow as a child, but now I like to stay inside where it's warm. It's interesting how things change, I've lived in the same place forever and it has always snowed. Even in middle school I was excited when it snowed, but in only a few years, my opinion completely changed. 

Week 6 - Paige Stephan

My friends and I had a discussion about beautiful album covers today. Through seeing what other people picked and trying to find one for myself, it became easy to determine other people's individual aesthetics, and it was also a source of artistic inspiration. As I went through the artworks on the albums, I noticed particular qualities that made them appealing and that made them stand out. Many of the more eye-catching ones for me tended to be more symbolic, intricate, and traditionally artistic as opposed to photographs. They gave me a spark of inspiration for my own art pieces through these particular qualities, and listening to the music in and of itself can help with that process as well.

week 6- Tess Acabbo

Sometimes when my parents ask me to walk my dog I complain right away. As I grab my dog and put her leash on and get outside, I realize it isn’t all that bad. I see the trees and the foliage and think about how lucky I am to see this beautiful view. Fall is a beautiful season and I shouldn’t take for granted how short it is. 

 

Week 6 - Erin McEwan

 I see a little brown bunny in the snow. It curls up on itself, trying to seek warmth from the terrible cold. The wet snow covers its back and goes inside its small ears.

Week 5 - Cam.O

 Me and my mom went to pick out a suit for me and there were basically no colors compared to women's dresses which is upsetting but I want to see a time when men are dressed just as colorfully.

Week 4 - Cam.O

 My brother wanted to start streaming so I built him a computer and I just have a knack for making/fixing things that my brothers do not.

Week 3 - Cam.O

 I was on a run and I decided to take a trail that was in between me and a friends house and it was so desolate that it felt like a beginning to a horror movie.

Week 2 - Cam.O

 It was my brother's birthday And it was the first time in 4 years that they had been home for it.

Week 1 - Cam.O

 I was at a friend’s house that had an orchard nearby and i saw a couple families walk in and it reminded me of the times i would go to an orchard, i had a very imaginative mind as a kid so these memories often were not completely true since i twisted them to make them more entertaining

week 5 - valerie w

 Everyone dyed their hair over quarantine so I decided to hop on the trend and dye mine red. I haven't dyed my hair for years so I was excited to do it again. Turns out I really like red hair. I might even consider the permanent dye soon rather than semi-permanent.

Week 5 - Sakthi

 A walk was much needed after taking a stressful test today. As I walked outside, I saw a two-winged creature flying around in the air of my neighborhood. At first I thought it was a normal bird and I ignored it, but the bird kept coming back and kept circling in the same spot. I took a closer look at the animal and it looked like a bat to me. It was a two-winged creature with a tiny head flying around in circles. It would leave into the woods in my community and come back out every two minutes or so. I was amazed to see a bat because I didn’t know bats existed in this part of Massachusetts. I always thought bats liked to hang out in packs or groups, but today I learned that is not always true. 

Week 5 - Melanie Duronio

 It hit me earlier this week that as a junior I now have less than two years left of high school.  The thought of it is both thrilling and terrifying.  On one hand, I’m looking forward to going to college and seeing more of the world, as well as meeting new people.  However, I also can’t help but think of my life and friends that I have now.  I know that once I enter college all sense of familiarity will be gone, as I’ll have to leave Westford as well as everything I’ve ever known behind.  I also know that inevitably once I’m in college I will begin to grow apart from many of the friends I have now, as we will all go off to different schools across the country, and possibly even some outside of the United States.  It’s a very bittersweet scenario and one that hadn’t been at the front of my mind until very recently.  It’s funny, since when I was a freshman I was told that my high school years would all go by so fast, and back then I had scoffed at the thought.  But now I feel as though I blinked and all of a sudden I’m a junior worrying about college in the middle of a pandemic.  So much has happened in such a short amount of time.

week 5 - erin cragg

 Today I had to go to the boys cross country meet for journalism because I had to add stuff to the ghostwriter instagram story. It was fun because one of my friends went with me but it was scary. I get very self conscious with things like that. It was there for all of the followers to see, and the people who have been in the class longer than me. It's intimidating because people are judgmental but I am learning to be more comfortable and less awkward around others. 

colin schultz-week5

 I went to an abandoned school with a friend of mine who is a photographer in Fitchburg. Theres something hauntingly beautiful about abandoned places. Maybe its the history behind them or the way the paint chips off the walls. Even the random plants growing in the floors, the quietness inside the building and especially the graffiti art on the walls. 

Jane Edison - Week 5

 Today I learned that the coined term “Teddy Bear” originated from the time that former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt spared a bear on a hunting trip. I grew up with a mint green teddy bear that I slept with, but I had never questioned, nor wondered why it was called a teddy bear. It made me think about what else there is that I know as one thing, but might just be a nickname.

Kate Barnes- week 5

 October 25, 2020- Today I hiked Mount Monadnock to it’s summit with some friends of mine. I’m not much of a hiker so I didn’t fall in love with the idea upon first glance, or really upon the first couple of glances. Even when I got to the base of the mountain I couldn’t help but think, “No way am I going up there.”. And the beginning was also not something that I enjoyed. But when we reached the first cliffside, I looked back at how far I’d come, and I started to see the appeal. When we finally reached the summit, the air was thin and freezing cold. But the view was incredible, made even sweeter by the fact that I had climbed up that mountain myself.

Week 5- Beatriz Ferreira

 About two years ago, my aunt rescued a squirrel from a parking lot. Me and my cousin had just got home from school when we saw my aunt on the couch with something in her hands. She told us to be quiet so we wouldn't scare away this harmless animal.When I saw that it was a squirrel I got really excited. I've always been fascinated by squirrels because we don't really see them in Brazil. We nurtured Diggity (that's how we called it) back to health and for months we kept it as a pet, but we knew it wasn't right. When we felt that Diggity was ready to go and live on her/his own, we let it out. Diggity would come back almost every day to get something to eat and I just couldn't believe it! After that, I thought a lot about how there are things in our life we have to let go and believe that it is always for the best. I thought Diggity wouldn't remember us, but she/he did. Diggity also taught me a lesson when I saw that this harmless animal was then able to do things without our help and that all we needed to do was to just let it go.

Patrick Zheng - Week 5

 My binder is still stuck in last year. Flipping through it, I still have a bunch of papers from last year mixed in. Worksheets from classes I don’t take anymore, notes preparing for tests that are long gone, rubrics from projects that don’t matter anymore. After school ended in June or March, I didn’t clean out my old stuff because it just didn’t feel like the year had ended. It's almost like last year was just put on pause indefinitely, and we just ignored it and started this year without fully resolving last year. 

Olivia Davies - Week 5

 I truly cannot express how grateful I am for weekends. I always start the week strong, I see it as a chance for renewal. But, I couldn’t do that without weekends, which help me relax and re-energize. By Wednesday I tend to feel worn out and tired of the repetitive routine regarding school. I couldn’t imagine life without Saturday and Sunday.

Paige Stephan - Week 5

I am starting to take art requests from a few of my friends. I will have them request a certain character for me to draw, and I will draw the character in question for them. I have noticed that people tend to request characters that fit my personal art style or aesthetic. Sometimes, when I’m drawing these characters, some of which I’ve never heard of before, I get inspired and incorporate some of their traits that I find interesting and inspiring into my own art style.

Week 5 - Erin McEwan

 There is a small chipmunk sitting upon the long strands of green grass. It is surrounded by small yellow flowers. The little creature picks one up and holds it in the air like a bowling ball, almost like it is the winner of the world.

colin schultz week 4

i was sitting on the roof of an abandoned factory with some friends from East Bridgewater.  the floors were soggy from the rain but the roof was completely dry, due to the sun beaming down now thankfully. the sky turned pink and the clouds looked very angelic. It was true peace and comfort. 

week 4 - valerie w

 I finally decided to deep clean my room. I donated a lot of stuff such as my old toys and clothes. Hopefully another kid will make memories with the things I donated.

Week 4 - Meghan

 A good hike never fails to clear my mind, especially now in the fall. The changing leaves and the crisp air allow for peak thinking time. My dog Bailey loves it as well, she runs so far ahead I can barely see her and then she runs back jumps on me and then does it again. 

Week 4- Sakthi

 While walking outside, I noticed that the leaves on my tree were all a mixture of red and yellow but mostly red. Last week my tree had patches of green and red and yellowish red leaves, but this time, they were all red and yellowish red. This stuck out to me because it was a beautiful sight to see my colorful tree and at the end of the day, I ended up taking pictures with my tree. My tree inspired me by brightening my day up and making me realize the importance of the season fall.

Week 4 - Melanie Duronio

 Over the weekend I shared a piece of writing with my aunt for feedback, since I had talked about the piece with her in the past and I wanted to share my work with her.  A few hours after pasting the file into an email and sending it my aunt’s way, I received a follow-up email from her filled with praise and encouragement.  Sharing my writing with others is hard for me to do, especially since I often write about feelings and events I am trying to process, so receiving all that love and support from my aunt meant the world to me.  It got me thinking about authors who have published daring or personal pieces of their own, and whether or not they get nervous sharing their work.  Did they have close friends and family to share their work with too?  If so it is so strange to think about.  I feel like whenever I pick up a book in the back of my mind I assume that the author just sent it straight to their publisher without a second thought, but there must have been other people in their lives that they shared their story with even before that, such as close friends and family.  It just goes to show how much work and support goes into writing that we don’t even think about most of the time.

Week 4- Beatriz Ferreira

 I went to Market Basket with my uncle and my cousin to buy ice cream after school when we all had time. When we got home, we decided to make milkshakes and they were just as good as the ice cream alone. We put chocolate candies, syrup, sprinkles, and whipped cream. It was a different kind of Tuesday and our day wasn't special because of the milkshake, but because of how we decided to do something that we would only consider doing during the weekend. It felt nice changing our routine and doing something fun.

Week 4 - Jane Edison

 I absolutely hate spinach. Why does it wilt so much when you cook it? It has no flavor, and the texture is soggy, slimy, and disgusting. I envy people who enjoy its taste because it actually is very healthy and good for you.

Kate Barnes- Week 4

 October 16, 2020- A lot of times, it can be really hard working at home. For me, this is because school used to be fun for me. I used to get excited to go to all of my classes and get to know my classmates, make new friends, and learn things through interactive lessons. But when you take out every single aspect of what I used to enjoy about learning, it makes it extremely hard for me to stay focused and care about school work.

Patrick Zheng - Week 4

It’s almost election day, and a lot of people are starting to put their political lawn signs. Most people have either a MAGA sign or a BLM but not both, naturally. But there is this house I drove by that has both a Black Lives Matter and a We Thank our Law Enforcement sign next to each other on their front lawn. It surprised see this because America is so polarized right now that it’s easy to forget that life is not an either-or situation and a middle ground exists on every issue. 

Olivia Davies - Week 4

 Some say that comparison is deadly. I used to believe that jealousy was a natural emotion with some positive aspects, but now I have realized how awful it can be. While getting the occasional pang of jealousy is completely normal and unavoidable, the second it grows into an obsession is when it becomes harmful. It reveals how you are overly concerned with someone else’s life or habits. You should only be focused on your own. Envy is nasty and hateful. It’s important to be secure in your own achievements and capabilities, and never rely on others to give you motivation. I’ve learned to be self sufficient and find inspiration from within.

week 4 - erin

 On Sunday, my friend and I went to Boston. A lady was driving while holding a negative sign about Trump out of her window. Everyone was clapping and cheering. I’m not political at all, but it was interesting to see everyone come together for just a minute, because of just one person driving down the street. 

Tess Acabbo- Week 4

 Everyone perceives each moment differently. And something I don’t find to be important, someone else could find it to be very effective. People aren’t always mindful of this, that everyone has different thoughts and feelings. Sometimes this is even something I need to work on, to consider my peers thoughts and feelings.

Erin McEwan - Week 4

There is a small bird sitting upon a dark brown tree branch. It’s feathers remind me of bright blue skies in the summertime and the sandy shores at the beach. It looks into the distance, eager for something. Possibly watching a predator in fear.

Paige Stephan - Week 4

My aunt has one of her artworks on display at an exhibit at the Smithsonian, and last night, I watched her virtual presentation on it along with several other artists. The exhibit is themed around the relationship between art and nature, and her piece is a large sculpture of a comet made out of a variety of different materials, such as quartz, obsidian, onyx, and Plexiglas. Her works are incredibly inspiring to me artistically, as she is extremely talented in several different mediums, such as sculptures and ink drawings, along with several installations. I hope to go to college in close proximity to where she and my uncle live.

Valerie W - week 3

This weekend I went to my house in Vermont. I wasn't really excited to go at first because nothing was gonna be open anyway, but my family went on a hike and that was fun. I was pretty happy to be back there since I haven't been there in months.

Tess Acabbo- Week 3

 Fall in New England sometimes feels like it lasts for a split second. I often find myself thinking about how in just a few weeks it will be cold every day and that we won't be having nice weather for so long. These thoughts make me feel so negative because there is still so much good to come. The holiday season is coming shortly. And who doesn't love to wear cozy clothes and sit by the fire and watch movies? Even when it feels like things are changing and getting worse there is always good to come. 

Meghan McGurn - Week 3

 While on a late night drive, I sat in the backseat of my friends Jeep, listening to very loud music and feeling the wind on my face. At one point we came to a red light and I sat there, and as I looked out the window I noticed the way that the wind caught the leaves in the tree and moved them as if the were a toy that the wind had full control of. Until the light turned green and we left the tree behind continuing on into the night. 

Week 3- Beatriz Ferreira

 My cats are indoor cats, but I'll let them go outside once in a while for a bit. While I was playing with them today, I was wondering if they ever want to leave the house, explore, and come back a day later. I feel like that's their nature but wouldn't have the courage to let them go outside unsupervised knowing that there's something out there that could get them. 

Patrick Zheng - Week 3

I was in school in-person this week. On Friday, all my teachers did not have an afternoon session for us Pod B Students. Except for my math teacher, of course. And the class was G Block, the last one before the long weekend. So at 1:30 pm, I completely forgot about the class, and it took me another hour to realize what I did. I feel like I have been so scatterbrained this year. A few weeks ago I did a homework assignment for a class but forgot to submit it on Google Classroom. Twice in a row. Maybe it was being at home with little to do for 7 months or the new hybrid schedule this year? There are many things I want to blame but I sometimes I have a feeling it’s just something with myself. 

Sakthi C- Week 3

 After a somewhat stressful day of school, I left my house and went outside to get some fresh air and took a walk around my neighborhood. One thing I noticed was about the color of the leaves on my tree. I noticed that the leaves on my tree had turned from being all green to a bunch of mixed colors of red, green, and a pinch of yellow.  As I kept passing my house each time I walked around the big culdesac my house was a part of, I noticed something new about my tree. I noticed that my tree had stopped growing taller and wider, it looked like it had been the same size/height for the last year. It felt like the tree had finished its growth spurt and decided to stop growing. Another thing I noticed about the leaves was that there were multiple branches with both green and red leaves next to each other. That stuck out to me because you would normally expect the leaves on a certain branch to be the same color, but that wasn’t the case for my tree.

Olivia Davies Week 3

 One of my favorite “icebreaker” questions is this: Would you rather be blind or deaf? It’s certainly thought-provoking and the answer reveals what you value more. I found myself pondering the first time I was asked this question. Being blind means not being able to see beautiful views, essentially giving traveling no purpose. I would love to travel one day mainly because of the unique and vast sights. Without vision, how could you empathize with people? How can you see the stress lines that form on foreheads, or the tears that stream down faces, or a bright smile? But, losing your hearing must also be excruciating. You can no longer listen to your favorite songs. You could never hear the voice of your mother, whispering “I love you.” It was an incredibly difficult decision, but eventually I concluded that I’d rather lose my hearing. I hope I’m never put in the position to lose such vital things.

Week 3 - Jane Edison

 My friend is related to Ernest Hemingway. I am related to Thomas Edison. Yet our lives are led so differently than the relatives we came from. The new technology, social norms, style, virtually everything is different. What would they think of that?

erin - week 3

On Saturday night, one of my coworkers asked me how I’ve been doing and how my life has been multiple timed. I guess he’s been doing that to everyone. He’s been going through a rough time recently and it’s nice to see him checking in on everybody because you never know what someone is going through. 

Week 3 - Melanie Duronio

 This Saturday evening, I sat in my driveway with my aunt, sister, and dad as we talked about life and enjoyed one another’s company.  As my family talked amongst themselves I found myself admiring how beautiful the evening was.  I noted how the sunset bathed my lawn in a golden light, and how the shadows from the trees stretched over my driveway, shielding my family and me from the sun’s rays.  I could hear the faint calls of chickadees in the distance, as well as the ring of my young neighbor’s laughter across the street as she chased a friend around her yard.  A feeling of nostalgia and peacefulness washed over me then, as the evening had reminded me of warm autumn evenings when I was a kid, when I felt safe and happy and the world seemed to be perfect.  Sitting with those I loved only amplified this feeling, and I felt like the evening transported the four of us back in time to when the world seemed much simpler.

Kate Barnes- week 3

 October 11, 2020- I played basketball with my teammates from WA, today. We played three on three for a while and it was really fun. It got me thinking about Covid and whether or not we were going to have a basketball season. I hope we do. It wouldn’t be fair for all the juniors that want to play basketball in college to be cheated out of a recruitment season, and for all the seniors to be cheated out of their senior nights.

colin schultz week 3

  Today my friend and I thought we'd take a little road trip to Woonsocket, Rhode Island. I have heard of this abandoned bank from other urbex explorers and I was very excited to check it out. This was by far one of the creepier explorations i have done. On our way in there just so happened to be three kids our age leaving and warned us about the homeless man in a tent on the top floor who scared them out. It was a nice heads up but very unnerving to know. Nevertheless we still went in. The way we had to enter was to  go under the fence and climb down this steep rusted old ladder. If you fell it was a good twenty foot drop. After that there was a bulkhead/cellar door you had to enter. Another ladder leads you into the basement. Thankfully this one was sturdy. We had no idea where we were and didn't realise we would be in the ghetto somewhere walking around. Once we got into the basement and walked down the long dark hallway we were greeted with the sight of a dead crow on the ground. I still wonder how it got there. We found the stairs soon after and made it to the main lobby of the bank, It wasn't boarded up much instead the doors/windows were bolted shut and locked. Thankfully this made it nice and bright in the building. This place was incredible. By far one of my favorite spots. The main lobby was huge so we spent most of our time there. There were four more floors to explore though. The realisation we were getting closer to the scary homeless man became more real. Our paranoia made every creek in the bank sound like footsteps. We must've been a floor under him a little ways later when we started hearing noises coming from nowhere. We would enter a room and the light would randomly shake or the old rusted AC unit would randomly make a loud jittery noise. After we heard something drop above us we ran back down the stairs and stayed in the main lobby. About thirty minutes later maybe forty five we left the only way we could leave back down the creepy dark basement and past the dead crow. We decided we are going back with more people next week to explore further into the building. 

Week 3 - Paige Stephan

Day 2 of the burst of productivity! I have completed everything that I needed to get done, and it is a massive relief! I feel like I may return to designing some new characters and writing short paragraphs about them. I’ve had massive sparks of inspiration since last night, brought on by listening to some new albums that friends recommended to me. Not only are they good for motivating me, they also help conjure up some ideas. I’ll probably get into a huge ink drawing this weekend.

Week 3 - Erin McEwan

 Today my mum and I were in the car. We drove around for about 6 hours and we somehow ended up in New Hampshire. It was a very rural part of the state and there was no service available. I was kind of suffering.

Week 2 - Melanie Duronio

 Although for the most part, I don’t consider myself a morning person, there is something about the early morning sunrise that I just love.  Watching the first pale rays of light stretch through the treetops and eventually bathe the landscape around me in a pale glow has always filled me with a sense of tranquility.  There is a certain peacefulness that comes along with the very early mornings, as it feels like the world itself is waking up alongside you.  The hectic energy that follows me throughout the day is missing, and there are no responsibilities that I’m required to attend to.  It’s a sliver of my day where I can truly be free from expectations and instead chose to bask in the world’s beautiful quiet.

Week 2 - Meghan

 Today I went on a walk in the woods, I saw the prettiest flower. The purple had an ombre to it with some yellowish brown in the middle. A bee landed on the flower for a minute before it flew away.  

Meghan - Week 1

 Today was my first day of in school - school. It was incredible to get back and be in WA again. I hadn't realized how much I missed it. Something that stood out to me today was how good the music sounding chorus. We haven't been able to sing together in months so it was great to be able to sing together!

Patrick Zheng - Week 2

I was thinking about the idea of mixing cultures in food while eating takeout Indian food on Sunday. People have often talked about food from different cultures being “Americanized” in America, and it usually has a negative connotation. But Chipotle is "Americanized" Mexican food and fortune cookies aren’t exactly authentic Chinese food, but I still like them. It's always good to preserve authentic foods from different cultures, but what if we saw foods that have been assimilated into American culture as a unique style of food that was inspired from different cultures rather than just "Americanized", just like how American pizza and pasta evolved from Italian pasta to become its own thing?

Valerie W - Week 2

 Online school is so tough and confusing. It feels like it's optional when it's not, so my motivation is very low. The only easy thing about it is getting 1 more hour of sleep.

Valerie W - Week 1

 Ever look really close in a computer, TV, or phone screen and see the tiny pixels? It’s pretty cool how they all work together to complete the screen and show an image. It's like every pixel needs to work, or else the image won't be perfect.

colin schultz week 1

sep.24th, 2020

 Everyday I look out my window when I wake up and notice the leaves outside. It looks as if one more leaf has changed to this orange or purple and red mixture. I am reminded every time that fall is getting closer and summer is ending, which is not a bad thing because fall is my favorite season and something about the fall is very nostalgic. During this season my favorite thing to do is skateboard. Skateboarding in the summer is nice but it just gets way too hot so the fall is the perfect weather for it. Just the other day I was skateboarding in Lowell and ended up at an art gallery and decided to go in and look at some of the art. I was handed a little card at one of the artists doors that said “be with those who help your being”. That quote definitely resonated with me and made me think about all the people I am friends with and surround myself with. 

colin schultz week 2

oct.4th 2020

I was very sore from the 6 hour hike I went on yesterday but instead of resting I met up with some urbex photographers I've met online and hung out with once last year. We went to West borough and explored this abandoned school. They've been here before but this was my first time and it was amazing. It was one of the more interesting schools I have been to, especially because there were secret tunnels that went below the school. We found check deposits from the 1960s and 70s, old greeting cards and so much more. This school was pretty big and we got some nice photos from there. We ended up staying for a couple hours and watched the sunset from the roof. Luckily the clouds opened and the sunset made the sky become orange, purple and pink.

Kate Barnes- Week 2

October 4, 2020 - Today, I went into Boston and met a friend at Fenway. We walked around and went to restaurants. One moment, I looked up and saw the skyscrapers. I remembered a guest speaker that talked to my school in elementary school. He said that he was from Haiti, and the first day that he moved to Boston, he would run into things because he couldn’t stop looking up. This was because he had never seen a skyscraper before. I wished that I could experience something so new and interesting that I couldn’t look away, like that man with the skyscrapers.

Kate Barnes- Week 1

 September 26th, 2020- I was lying in the sun, on my family’s boat on what was probably the last nice day of the year. I felt the sun on my face, which I thought was different than feeling hot. Feeling hot is just temperature, but feeling the sun on your face feels like a hug. Even though the sun was actually burning me, it felt like a hug.

Olivia Davies - Week 2

 There is a colossal difference between being “lonely” and being “alone”. As I grow older, I become more aware of this fact. Being alone is merely a state of physical isolation, but emotional fulfillment. Me being an extrovert with introvert tendencies, I often make the conscious decision to be alone. I consider it an opportunity to socially recharge and further pursue my personal interests. Sometimes, I feel as though I can’t fully be myself with others. When I’m alone, I’m the truest version of myself, and that makes me happiest. Now, being “lonely” is a terrible tragedy and has nothing to do with the number of people you are surrounded by. It is a state of mind; feeling as though you have nobody there, despite being in a room with perhaps seventy-three people. I would much rather be physically void of company than emotionally lonesome.

Week 2- Beatriz Ferreira

 I've been going outside a lot lately because of PE. Before, that would only happen if my aunt "forced" me to walk with her. She would tell me how important it is to exercise but I would still complain the whole time we were walking. Now that I'm being graded for exercising, it feels like a necessity. The only thing I don't like about it is that I put my grades first than my health, but now I'm doing it because I enjoy it.

Sakthi- Week 2

Today was Friday, the day of the week I am always looking forward to because after today, I get the whole weekend to rest after a week of school. During school, I had a trigonometry quiz, which was nice because it was really easy and I know I did well on it. The school day was not too stressful, so after school I headed to the courts to play some basketball with my friends. It was really wet and slippery outside because it had just rained, so I went home at around 5pm instead of my usual 6 or 7 pm. I noticed that after it rains outside, a lot of bugs like to come out which is really annoying when you’re trying to play outside.  

Tess Acabbo- Week 2

It feels so good to get things done. I wish that whenever I procrastinate I would think about how good it feels to get all of my work done. I like to write down a list every day of all of the homework I need to get done and other things I would like to do for the day. It helps me organize my thoughts and priorities. When I am stressed and overwhelmed with work this helps me organize all of my assignments so I can see that it isn't as bad as I think it is. Once it is all written down and organize all my work doesn't seem like that hard of a task. Then once I check everything off my list I feel like I accomplished everything and I can enjoy the rest of my day. 

week 2 - erin

 Friday night I left work at seven pm. It was already dark out. When I wake up for school, it's still dark out. The days are getting shorter and the weather is getting colder. Winter is coming and the year is progressing. 

Erin McEwan - Week 2

 So far, I think I am enjoying school as a “Remote Learning Academy” student. I like having more time in the day to do things I enjoy and to get my work done. Being in this situation is making me realize how much time is spent traveling from place to place. I wonder what life would be like if you could just time travel everywhere. So much time would be saved.

Paige Stephan - Week 2

Yesterday, I did some work in the yard involving trimming and cleaning up dead plants and sticks in my garden. They managed to fill a whopping two whole bags! But instead of throwing them away, I saved them for a future art project. I don’t know exactly what it will involve, but I am hoping to incorporate them into an art project out in the woods once it gets colder outside and no mosquitoes are outside to pester me. The forest in the fall and winter is beautiful, especially in New England, and being cold is a sacrifice I am willing to make for the aesthetic!

Olivia Davies - Week 1

 The weather this time of year has such a conflicting effect on my emotions. Some days it’s warm and sunny, and other days it’s cloudy and windy. Typically people would think that the first weather type is favorable, but nothing beats an autumn-esque day. The temperature tends to be somewhat sporadic in September. Sometimes I wish to hold onto summer days and nights longer, where freedom and relaxation was abundant. Sunniness in September causes me to feel nostalgic, longing for June again. But when the weather replicates fall, it brings me great joy, eager for a new beginning. I think I’m finally ready for pumpkins, beautiful foliage, and the scent of apples and cinnamon everywhere I go.

Jane Edison - Week 1

Today I learnt what the word “sonder” meant. It is a German word meaning “realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own”. It made me think about all the strangers I have seen on the train in Boston, the streets of Westford, the Airport before a departure, the mall during the holiday season, and so many random moments throughout my life. It hurts my brain to try and theorize the idea that everybody has thoughts as intricate and personal as mine, a life as complicated and detailed as mine, and responsibilities as similar or different as possible to mine. I think that the theory is just too infinite and incomprehensible to the human mind to fully grasp. But in writing, when authors create such vivid descriptions and lives for their characters, it really does not seem as daunting or as vast an idea as it would in reality. What a weird juxtaposition.

Patrick Zheng - Week 1

I work on an apple farm, and I went to the farm on Saturday, my job was to stand in the orchard at a turn in the path and tell people walking to the main field to take a right and then a left. Throughout the day, there was a steady stream of apple pickers walking by. But near the end of the day, as less and less people started coming, I found myself standing alone amid the rows and rows of apple trees for long periods of time. I realized I don't spend much time outside, especially not by myself, and I enjoyed how peaceful and calming being outside in nature alone could be.

Sakthi C- Week 1

 I was excited for this day since it was friday- the last day of school before the weekend. I had a somewhat stressful week of school and it felt good to know I would have a two day weekend break. After school, I went to the courts to play some basketball with some friends. At the courts, I noticed how the weather had gotten a lot warmer compared to the last time I went outside. While playing basketball around 6, I noticed that the sun was setting at a much earlier time than it had before. It started to set around 7 instead of around 8pm.

Tess Acabbo- Week 1

 Today the sun will set at about 6:41pm. The days are getting colder and the season is starting to change. I used to wake up warm and see the sunlight until 8pm. Now I wake up cold and the sky darkens during dinnertime. Even though it's just light and temperature, it feels like everything is changing. My skin gets paler, I wear warmer clothes, and I don't swim in my pool anymore. With all of these good things changing, new and different things are ahead. When the summertime leaves, the new season comes in with different and exciting things coming. 

Week 1 - Melanie Duronio

With the fall equinox a few days ago marking the beginning of the change in seasons, this week I’ve found myself reflecting on past memories I’ve made during my favorite season.  Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved watching the foliage slowly turn from green to orange, red, and gold outside my window, while bundling up with cozy sweaters and blankets inside with a book or watching a movie.  During the fall my sister and I also consistently make hot chocolate and smores together, and to this day I’ve always associated those two treats with fall.  Now with October just around the corner, I’ve been mulling on past Halloweens I’ve spent trick or treating with friends, carving pumpkins, and watching movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas with my family. Fall has always been a very special time to me and with the world in an unpredictable state, it’s nice to have one familiar thing to enjoy.  

Week 1- Beatriz Ferreira

This current virus can be very scary, especially when we know that there were past pandemics that devastated the world to unimaginable extents. On the other hand, it comforts me that many people are able to see through it and reinvent their ways by being optimistic. Today I woke up and the first thing I saw was that Brazilians were able able to create a niobium-based gel that protects hands/surfaces against the virus for at least 24 hours. I was really happy because this gel is different from everything that we've been trying and that it might inspire other creations.

Week 1 - Erin McEwan

I love her so much, but she can be so annoying sometimes. It’s the early hours of the morning, and I just want to sleep, but her scratching on the doors makes me basically an insomniac. I trudge to the door, half asleep, and open it up. There she stands, looking up at me with wide green eyes, hesitant to walk in. And when she walks in, she does a quiet scream and jumps on the bed. I lay back in bed, and she bounces on top of me. Her fur has a stinky stench of litter. I know in two hours she will try to make a hole in the door to get out of my bedroom, but for now, I try my best to sleep in peace with a small cat upon me.

week 1 erin

 The first week of online school ended and so far I don't really like it. I keep forgetting when classes start and when I have to be on the google meets. I don't have motivation to do any work at home. 

Paige Stephan - Week 1

9/25/20

Creating different playlists for different genres and moods has been a small source of inspiration for me. Sometimes the music helps me to visualize what art I want to do next, giving a source of inspiration for different moods, places, and characters. Because I have synesthesia, I am able to visualize different colors and textures with different notes, instruments, and songs, and hearing them all come together helps me visualize something unique for every song. If I am stuck with my art or my writing, sometimes I will return to certain bands or songs that fit the mood I had originally planned or am feeling at the moment. Unfortunately, this leads to a lot of cases in which I cannot find songs with the mood or visualization I am looking for, and this feeling often frustrates me.

Week 1 Anthony

 Tony Yacavone

1.

September 21 

While talking to one of my friends I noticed that their eyes were darting around the room as if looking for the answer. It captured that sort of moment where your brain just isn't connecting the information that you know into proper words.

Caitlin- Week 5

School teaches us so many things that we never use in real life. It’s pretty frustrating sometimes. I wish we could learn real life skills and not useless formulas and facts. I also wish school was more about learning and making mistakes, and less about memorization. School feels like it’s just about passing the class and not about learning. I’ve left some classes at the end of the year and thought to myself, what did I even learn? All I remember is figuring out how to get the grade and move on. I wish school was less focused on just the grade, and more about actually learning and taking something away from it. 

Athena - Week 5

So I bought heels for cotillion. The thing is, I’m smart, I know that heels will hurt my feet and I will end up barefoot, but a part of me was just like, I need to have heels. So I bought some, knowing full-well that I am going to regret it. I think I’m crazy.

week five

It's scary how fast high school has gone by. Everyone told me that it would feel like no time at all, but I didn't believe them until senior year. I'm glad I'm almost done with school, but I also have regrets about not spending more time with my friends and giving up all my time to school. I'm trying to make up for it now, but I worry that I don't have enough time.

Week Five

I love Rex Orange County. My favorite song of his 'Never Had the Balls'. All his songs just hit me every time and I feel like I can hear his emotion in them, this is the first celebrity I have ever idolized. I think It’s super strange when people obsess over ‘famous’ people, although, on a much smaller level I can relate just a little bit now. 

Aastha - Week 5

When I was younger, I thought that feeling pain so another wouldn't have to was one of the noblest things a person could do. Bollywood movies taught me that. I imagined the picture-perfect couple brought together by pain. Now the world seems more complicated. I don't want anybody to feel pain. I don't think partners would feel any good at their partner's pain. But now, now I don't understand the meaning of being noble and if putting yourself in harm is noble in all cases. Or if it's just stupid. 

Lea Mezz - Week 5

Everyone knows that college students love to party. Most know that a lot of times adults are not interested in parting anymore. Adults want to have kids and settle down (sometimes). Kids want to have fun and don’t want there to be any consequences for their actions. It amazes me how with age the mind grows and changes over time to want different things. Obviously in some rare cases their is an outlier but for most part within the different periods of our lives we all usually want the same thing. 

Week 5

This weekend I was with the side of my family we rarely see.  It was for my little cousin's birthday party. It was really nice to see everyone that I don't really see. My older cousin just got back from London and I didn't even know she went! Except after seeing everyone me and my cousins made a plan to go visit my other cousin that could not come to the party. It was really nice to see everyone.

Week 5

I was at Market Basket yesterday and my mom told me to try not to touch my face and that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to wash our hands when we got home… just to be safe. I was thinking about the effects of the virus and the high mortality rate for elderly people. Not that the government would do this, but if they did somehow totally accidentally spread corona to reduce the growing elderly population, their plan has been quite successful. With all the medical advancements being made, the life expectancy rate in America is getting higher and higher, so there’s a lot of elderlies that are living much longer than anticipated which is greatly contributing to overpopulation. All I’m saying is it’s quite cOnVeNienT that a virus that doesn’t kill most of the population except for older people popped up out of nowhere. Just an observation. 

Scott Week 5

While playing Dead by Daylight I understood that the game represents our oppressive economy as one big fish is coming to kill the rest of the smaller fish.

The other day in reflection myself, my relationships, and my future, I jotted down three rules I can hope to live by, what I decided was most important for my actions and attitude towards life was, to 1). Never be late, 2). Money is meant to be spent, and is not everything 3). Always be able to laugh at tough times. Although cliche I do value these and I hope I can improve upon many things as a person.

Cole - Week 4

People need to stop expecting the passionate stories they're looking for to come from corporations that only care about making a quick buck and pleasing their shareholders, and instead indulge in and promote the work of their peers.

Week 3

“Just do your best” people say. What exactly is your best? This week has been really rough and I’ve felt so weighed down but I feel like I’ve been doing everything I can. Honestly though, I’m sure I could have done a bit more. What is someone’s best? Everyone can always do a little better, unless they’ve pushed themselves to the edge and are prepared to jump off. Isn’t your best technically your breaking point? Is that what someone wants you to get to when they say to do your best?

Week 2

Something I noticed in France that I’d never really experienced anywhere else was the bluntness of the French. When I told the mom I liked eggs for breakfast she replied with absolutely no filter: What??? Eggs??? Pfff no no no…

Lea Mezz - Week 4

I love learning how I can get away with doing things that others around me never could. I find usually that if you act like you are doing nothing wrong, no one will ever question you. Dress the part, look the part and act the part. Most of the time it works. And just it case it doesn’t, always have an exit strategy. Always be asking yourself, if this doesn’t work out in my favor what am I going to do and are the potential consequences worth the potential reward. Life is a balancing test.

Aastha - Week 4

The brain is a truly amazing and terrifying thing. It makes us who we are yet it is the only one who knows our greatest fear and our greatest weakness. I don’t like horror movies. Not because of the scary things within the movie itself. But the convoluted scenarios my brain creates after watching such things. Jump scares aren’t terrible but the things my brain creates are terrifying. 

Week 4

My mom gave me some really good advice the other day. Never say the words I assume. Apparently, my mom's first boss had given her a long angry lecture after she had used that word choice. It was random advice, but good advice too.

Week Four

When I got back from France, I noticed how different the French dressed from Americans. I didn't see a single pair of sweatpants the entire trip, unless I was looking at the Americans. Seriously. I wonder how American culture evolved into such a relaxed state.

week four

It always makes me sad when I buy a used book and see a message written inside the front cover from a person who gave it away as a gift. I wonder what caused the person to give the book away; if they grew distant from the person who gave it to them or it brought back bad memories for them. Maybe they never liked the gift and accepted it out of obligation only to discard it later.