Audrey - Week 14

My idea for a short story - I was really inspired by the slivers of my mom's life that my mom would share with me, and particularly how different her life is from before. I want to write a story like that, that is inspiring and interesting.

Audrey - Week 15

My poem was read. First thing on a Tuesday morning back from the long weekend. I had a million doubts and a million anxieties and a million overthought thoughts. In the end, I have to realize, it’s okay. Also, it helps to tell myself that I’m preparing for the future - there is a purpose, even if at the moment it’s hard to focus on that.

Audrey Week 12

I like the idea of exploring how people cope with changing times. I can tie in futuristic elements - and an ideal but slightly lost world.

Audrey - Week 13

I sometimes lose focus really easily, and blankly stare at something around me for minutes on end, without realizing it. I think it would be interesting to explore this idea? As in, if I had a character suddenly dissociate and it’s physically captured through missing words in sentences or large spaces of no text.

Alicia-15

Children have such short attention spans. A girl I babysit, Olivia, is sweet, vibrant, and organized, but she can't focus on one thing for more than a couple of minutes. I've experienced this with other young children too. They'll get bored halfway through and game or a show or dinner. I have to assume part of it normal for their developmental stage, but if it is partly caused by the constant stimulus provided by kids toys and shows, then that concerns me. Not that I think children shouldn't have access to computers and the internet, but the negative side effects are apparent, and not just in children. These are problems that will have to be addressed and worked through.

Alicia-14

Like Willy said, anyone can be tired. Even if you don't work 80 hours a week or take care or your younger siblings by yourself. Even if you aren't an only parent struggling financially, you can still be tired. I'm tired already, and I'm only 16. Preparing for the SATs and looking at colleges is stressful, and I feel guilty for my frustration because it seems so trivial in comparison to what other people have to deal with. My frustration is real, though. All emotions and feeling are relative, and all I have to go on is my own experiences. I've read countless books about World War II and poverty, but, as close as it comes, the words can't make those experiences real to me. It's not the same when I'm reading those books on my futon, never having to worry about my safety or having food to eat.

Alicia-13

For a biology project, I'm researching Zmapp, which is a drug that was created to fight Ebola. It annoys me that the two Americans that contracted Ebola were given the experimental treatment but not the thousands of people in West Africa begging for it. The whole concept of changing an organism's genome, which allowed for this drug to be created, is still a relatively new and expensive process that is done in labs with high tech equipment, but it freaks me out. It creates so many amazing yet terrifying possibilities, and thinking that it might evolve to become more common and even a way to cure disease-while amazing-absolutely petrifies me!