Is it that time already?!

It began as simply an idea, then festered into an idea, and now becomes more and more like reality every day. As we pick ourselves up and brush the dirt off our shoulders after just being hit by a truck, we think: Where has the time gone? Believe it or not, graduation is upon us, the light is beginning to appear at the end of this tunnel. Seems like just a minute ago (literally, not figuratively, or even metaphorically), it was the first day of high school, and I was terrified of the unknown and endless possibilities. The first day of senior year, we knew it would come, I just had no idea it would come this fast, even when warned. It wasn’t until I was sitting in Mr. Burge’s on a Friday morning, trying to stay awake, that I realized the time is now. Now, I have spent the week writing and rewriting a speech, confounded every step of the way. It seems almost impossible to talk about a place that has given you everything, and the future, and condense into a less than two minute speech. This speech has most likely gotten us all thinking about the future, that unknown, whether we are ready for. Different answers are given of whether or not we are ready, but everyone is terrified of the future, if they say they’re not then they’re probably crazy or lying. How could you not be though? When you go to a place that has had such a huge influence on who we have become as people, it’s only natural. But because of the nature of our personalities, as AACT and our own virtue, we will strive on and succeed nonetheless.

Graduation speech working draft

     “Hello, I’m Mr. Rossi and I am from the Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology.” 15 simple words that were meaningless to nearly all, but to us, these words started a journey, to applying, the interview and finally being accepted into the academy. Four years ago, we began a journey in an unproven system, and look, we proved it. Through four years, we all formed our own little cliques and made unforgettable memories, but we still remained close nonetheless, through the culture of our school. Everyone knows that nobody cares about my opinion Mrs. Mahr, but please, let me finish. Life happens, hits us all at the most unexpected times, but academics and striving to achieve stood together as the priority. Through this, a unique tradition and culture was established at AACT; class of 2013 worked their tails off, handed the reins to us, and once again we are one of the only five star schools in the district, pretty impressive for the terrified group of kids that walked through those doors nearly four years ago. That’s the thing with this group though, not only do we go above general expectations, we have done so with consistency, whether it be in Moonbuggy, CTSO’s, or being a National Merit Scholar semi-finalist, this group really has done it all.

     Four years ago, we walked through those front doors and made a commitment to graduate, and now our commitment comes to light. Through all the tough times, the late nights spent wishing that we didn’t wait until the last minute to start Mr. Burge’s assignment (just kidding), loss of sleep, cursing ourselves for taking so many AP classes,  all of our work the past four years has led up to this moment, our moment. That moment we’ve heard about, dreaded, thought would never come, that time, that moment, is now. I don’t think any senior realized this until that day, sitting in Mr. Burge’s class, as he told us that next year, AACT is no longer for us, which made many break down on the spot. It is true, about four years ago we made this school our home, even helped build the foundation and credibility for future generations, but now we are graduating; now, we all have our own paths that we plan to go down, and eventually we will all go our separate ways. How do we know how it’s going to turn out though? We don’t, but success is guaranteed in all our futures; simply because we have already proven it. Unlike most high school students, we took a leap of faith, just as we will in all our life choices, and have broken the standard and continue to set a new one each day. This is your moment Class of 2014, go prove it is.

Poetry. Oh Poetry.

For about three out of the six months we’ve been in school, it seems, I have sat in English and listened to Mr. Burge plead that he in no way wants us to hates poetry. And nearly each of these days I have gone home, looked at the homework, and thought about it something along the lines of hate, but it’s not. It’s kind of like that crazy uncle everyone has, who always shows up to dinner, nobody is quite sure how he is family, and yet there is still a glimmer of hope, even if it comes very seldom. So there I am, around eleven o’ clock, half way done with the assignment, when I come across “Because I could not stop for death” by Emily Dickinson. I remember what my teacher said about how it is almost impossible to understand Emily unless you have a PHD in Emily, so I prepare to struggle through it just enough to write some answers down that are close to right. I reach the end, ready for the black hole that usually hits my brain when I read one of these things, then I have to reread 100 times, but it doesn’t come. Could this be; could I actually understand this? I actually do, and I’m sure you all can the elation that filled my person. I guess it really does work with everything: if you work on something for long enough, eventually it will make sense. Yes, even Emily Dickinson.

words of wisdom

I heard this the other day, and I'd like to share it with all of you, because it is kind of inspiring.

"Pleasure turns to the pain, / Of the lessons learned from the strain, / Of the questions burned in my brain, / About whether to love is humane / In its touch. / These thoughts are like salmon / Swimming upstream / In the tears of your deceit, / Fighting the current hurt / That kills more than is created / By the chaos of our intertwined emotions: / Chaotic because the anchor / Of Eros' arrow has been plucked from the vessel / Of my undying infatuation. / Separation not as simple as the distance between us, / My mind no longer possessed / By the demons / That had been the overseers / Of my enslavement to your lies. / The seeds of these lies, / Rooted so deeply / They have cracked the foundation / Of what we once shared, / Allowing the faith in us I had sealed inside / To gush out like a river, / Ripping the image of our future together / From my thoughts / As violently and as brutally / As if it were a child being taken / From his mother's arms. / I'm left surrounded in darkness, / But I refuse to be swallowed by it, / My loneliness like the night air. / Invisible to the eye, oblivious to the touch, / In its cold uncomfortableness. / Yet if I could do it all over again, / I'd do it in the same skin I'm in. / To lay down and let love die, / Just stay down and let love lie: / No, no, not I. / I'll stay 'round and let love fly, / Even though I have seen its darkest form, deceit. / Nothing else could taste this warm / Or feel this sweet."

Frankenstein: Target of human vices

Unfortunately, we are nearing the conclusion of novel Frankenstein we have been reading in AP English. It is true that every novel has its own life lesson to offer to its readers, and Frankenstein is no different. Mary Shelley’s original intent in composing Frankenstein was to create a modern horror story that highlights the romantic period. But it also targets the greatness as well as the vices that reside within every human being.

The basic instinct of every human, of living organism in fact, is to find a mate and reproduce. But in society, this simple fact of living must be backed with compassion. And if one cannot come to possess this compassion from another organism, it would seem that one would begin to crave it more than anything. This is exemplified when the beast exclaims that food and rest will no longer be required in pursuit of revenge on his creator, upon witnessing Victor rip his unborn companion to pieces. The beast craved this compassion so ardently, that it festered into an obsession. It can be argued that once a person/beast becomes obsessed with attaining a certain thing, unmentionable deeds can be committed in blind pursuit of this often unattainable goal, which is another human vice Mary Shelley intends to target. Examples of obsession are seen twice, both in Victor and in his creation. Victor worked feverishly, while his health suffered, to reach his goal of creation, only to look upon it with horror once it had been achieved. The beast then goes on to live his life being despised by the human race, even though his first thought of the species was compassion. But he becomes so lonely and obsessed with acquiring a companion that he would destroy all that his creator loves just to be able to have it. This is the basic idea of obsession that has the potential to bore itself inside all people if given the opportunity.

my start equals my future

The great Chinese philosopher Confucius once said that “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life”. In order for this to be possible, career must align perfectly with personality.

I come from a hard-working family; my father is a mechanic/fabricator, which is where my complete and utter exuberance for the field came to be. I had watched him with great admiration since I was very young, which had a great influence on my personality. Watching attentively to every little thing he did, I developed a fascination to learn. This world is so big and has so many different things to learn, how could you not look upon it with reverence? Specifically, I loved to do anything in which I could work with my hands, and it seems that through the course of my young years it has rooted into somewhat of an obsession, which has benefitted me greatly in obtaining the skills of the trade. Finally, I developed a keen vision of how things are put together, how they move, and so on and so forth.

In choosing my career it was essential that all of my personality and skills be satisfied. That is why I decided to become a Mechanical Engineer: a field of work that will allow me to work with my hands on a daily basis, develop new ideas, and challenge my mind in such a way that will guarantee continuous opportunities for learning. The high school classes I have taken that have to do with this field (i.e. Calculus, welding technology) have confirmed this decision and allow me to wake up every day, excited about my future.

But it's November?!

This is ridiculous, I never thought I could endure a period of commercials that were worse than political ads during an election year, but it seems even those have been bested. Okay maybe that’s a little extreme, nothing is worse than political ads, but this year’s round of holiday advertisements is absolutely out of control. If TV controls the voice of the population of this entire country, than we all have forgotten about Thanksgiving. Oh yeah, Thanksgiving, it is still a holiday! Since its establishment, it has been considered one of the more important holidays in our society. Because for one day we take a step back from all our busy lives and for just one day we are thankful, for our family which we are blessed to spend time with (for some, not so lucky), all that we have achieved, and all that has been given to us since there are many in this world who are not as lucky as we are. But this selfless holiday has been overlapped by a spectacle that is absolutely selfish: shopping and black Friday. Don’t get me wrong, Christmas is probably the greatest holiday for its central meaning as well, but the shopping has ruined it, since it is all about gifts now, and not about the spirit. But now they have started it way early, and now it is starting to affect the spirit of Thanksgiving. I saw a commercial today for some store that was probably advertising for black Friday, but it said that is was the night before Christmas, it’s not even the night before thanksgiving yet!!!!!!! I understand that Black Friday is a big day for business as well as for people to get good deals on gifts for loved ones, but the spectacle they make out of this one holiday, and now since they have started advertising irrationally to early, it seems that it could ruin the spirit of two holidays.