2015-2016 Grade Ten
Colin Character Short
A mile a minute. That is what comes to mind when I think of him: a mile a minute. It would probably be much simpler to think of sixty miles per hour, but a mile a minute sounds faster. It seems to more accurately convey the speed at which words can fly.
Right now he is short. I know this because he is shorter than me. He’s a late bloomer they say, but he grows taller everyday. He’ll be taller than me soon. Why is the younger brother going to be taller?
Where your eyes will get drawn first will have to be the head. The head is where the words fly from. Starting at the top is dusty brown hair. His hair has always had a reddish tint to it that burns when the sun shins. I’ve frequently thought that the reddish tint offers a nice complement to his freckles. It brings out the dots on his nose and cheeks, just under his eyes. I like to think that his eyes are the opposite of mine. They are the only thing that shows that we are related. They are a greenish blue, like water that is perfect for snorkeling. My eyes are a bluish green, like lake water. Saltwater and freshwater we are. He’s the more mischievous one, though. His features show enough proof of that when he shows his crooked teeth.
He used to be scrawny once. That’s changed now. It’s probably because he never stops moving. He can climb the mast by hand up to where the birds sit. It scares me to death, yet he always has a smile on his face. He’s also the fastest ice skater I know. He’s even faster than my friend who has been skating for years. He’s been skating for a few months. She’s extremely annoyed with him, but I’m the only one who can see it. He’s too oblivious. How could he know when to back off?
He’s volunteering on a local fishing boat now, you know? He loves fishing and loves to talk with the crew. They don’t get annoyed when he talks, like I do. He tried to volunteer at the local animal shelter with me. He’s too young, though. I guess I get to work on my own for now. That’s okay because it gives me some time away from my little brother.
2014-2015 Grade Nine
Starting Your Own Jewelry Shop: Truth and Propaganda
Truth:
To start your own shop, you first need to have merchandise. The components commonly used in making good quality jewelry include glass and plastic beads, fishing twine, leather cords, crimp tubes, silver lobster claws, silver wire, and sea glass, sea shells, or anything else that might make a good pendant. You’ll also need a ruler, several different kinds of pliers, and beading trays. These items, if you want the best quality ones, will take a lot of time and money to find. Making the jewelry will also require a large amount of time. It can take a few hours to make one necklace, depending on how many beads you use. After you have jewelry to sell, there are several websites that will let you sell handmade products for a small fee. However, you have to be at least eighteen years old or have an adult sign up for you to create your own shop. When an item is sold, some of your profits will go to the website.
Propaganda:
Are you slowly watching your money disappear? Does it seem that while you get poorer your talented friends get richer? Do you struggle to find a way to earn some cash? Well, you don’t have to struggle anymore! By using nothing more than a computer and nimble fingers, you can watch the money come back in. All you have to do is open your own online jewelry shop. Sound complicated? It’s not!
Before you open the shop, you must acquire some products to sell. They will have to be handmade, but don’t worry, anyone can make jewelry. You need nothing more than a length of string and a bag of beads. With just a few of your dollars and minutes, you can have a whole line of jewelry ready to sell. Guess what? Then the hard part is over! All there is left to do then is to pick one of the millions of websites that allow people to sell products and sign up for free. Anyone can join! After listing your products, there is nothing left to do but wait for all of the money to become yours.
2014-2015 Grade Nine
Ala Wai Boat Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii
The water is the color of beef stew— if beef stew had plastic bags, candy wrappers, soda cans, shoes, and shopping carts in it. The shopping cart probably wonders how it got there and why there are fish living in its ribs. There are all kinds of fish living in the beef stew. There are graceful angel fish, blimp-like puffer fish, stretched out trumpet fish, acrobatic mullet, and fanged miniature barracudas.
How do they survive in water the color of beef stew? How do they calmly go about their business when they have shopping carts and old tires for coral reefs? Why don’t they leave and travel to the sapphire water to be with the dancing whales, ghostly manta rays, and sunbathing turtles? Why don’t they leave?
The coral is dead. There is nowhere else to go.
2014-2015 Grade Nine
A Lot of Alliteration
It starts off slow; soundless before gently picking up to a soft shhhh that sounds as if someone is simply taking a shower. The wind begins to wail near silently with the water, and a drummer sounds out a similar shhhh as she starts to warm-up. Then, all at once, the rain roars to life with each dazzling drop exploding into each note, the wind’s wailing swells to sorrowful singing, and the drummer bursts into a booming beat.
Meanwhile, far away, an open apartment window brings in bedlam’s sounds. Cars honk their horns heatedly and shout instead of sing. The lights transform too slowly for the cars’ liking and spawn more spite. The window closes, bringing into the spotlight the sounds of the room. The crunch of the dry food as the cat eats its dinner is the crunch of coral beneath the boots of a buccaneer as he braves the shores of an isolated island. The clink of a spoon and the slurping of soup are the noises of a fisherman as he sets down his rod after having removed a flapping fish from the hook next to a bubbling brook. Those are the sounds of peaceful places that are not here.
2014-2015 Grade Nine
Salon from an Alien’s Perspective
I came in from Galaxy 7, parked in the air, and saw pale life forms that only have four limbs. The adults walk on the longer two, and the larvae walk on all four. The creatures appeared to be inside-out with hundreds of antennae coming out of their heads. I followed a single life form to one of the big stone boxes they dwell in. She (I think the ones with the longer antennae are female) seemed to go in willingly, so it is my belief that it was a trap. I watched her through the transparent barrier as she communicated with another female at the control center before following a male farther into the box. I think the males have a limited amount of control over the minds of the females—though, from what I’ve seen elsewhere, it also works vice versa. Anyway, he gestured at one of the bizarre things that are supposed to resemble seats, and she sat in it without protest. That’s when the trap was sprung. He tied her to the chair and began to cut off her antennae! The thing he tied her up with must have restricted her in ways I couldn’t see, because she did not scream or try to struggle. It must have really hurt, sitting in that torture chair. The male kept taking out terrible looking devices and using them on the female’s head. Every once in a while, the seat would go up or down or side to side. When it was over, the female must have been brainwashed. She stood up, handed the female in the control center the green leaves that drive some of those creatures crazy, and calmly walked out as if nothing had ever happened. I think that planet needs help. I’m coming back later with reinforcements.
September 21, 2012
A New Jersey Zinnia and an Old Shot Glass
Yesterday, when I was walking through Liberty Park, New Jersey, I picked a little red flower. It was a zinnia. I then brought it home and put in a bowl of water until I could find a better place for it. Later, my mom found a small silver vase and put the zinnia in that. Now the flower and vase sit on the table where I do my school work and brighten up the room. They also add a little bit of a fancy touch to the place. There is a lot to see in a zinnia from New Jersey and an old vase.
There’s a lion in the room. That’s what I think when I look at that flower. The way its petals are arranged gives it the appearance of a lion with a scarlet mane: fierce, but beautiful. The lion’s “ears” are young yellow petals inside the red ones. These yellow petals are the color of a ripe mango’s flesh. Where the yellow petals blend with the red ones are petals that are a clementine-like color. Inside the yellow petals are small, spiky red ones that could be the rest of the lion’s face. When sunlight hits the flower all the petals seem to shine in a happy way. A little, multicolored, sweet smelling, shiny lion… sounds bizarre doesn’t it? Completing the zinnia is a short, slightly broken, green, hollow stem. It’s a little over an inch long from the point where I picked it. Though the flower is pretty it doesn’t brighten up the room much on is own, it has something helping it.
Completing the picture is the vase. Actually it’s not a vase, but a shot glass. I’m just going to call it a vase because that’s what it is being used for. The “vase” is made of silver, but has tarnished to a dull color. It looks like an oddly shaped hourglass, with one end slightly bigger than the other. Or perhaps it could be a tiny wine glass glued to the bottom of a bigger, but still small cup. The shape and tarnished color of the vase gives it a fancy touch, but it still doesn’t look like much on its own.
Both the zinnia and vase aren’t much by themselves, but they when you put them together they make a great picture. The happy flower and fancy “vase” come together to brighten up the room in which I work. It’s amazing the effect of a New Jersey zinnia and an old shot glass.
