FV Are You Hungry?

What originally started out as a small, simple idea became a big reality, where it was much more than just spurring innovation into the minds of teenagers. It was about putting ourselves out there in world, changing the world, and creating the deeper bond between one another. To do this, we decided to use food as our method. So why did we choose food for our small-scale project while others are doing much bigger things, like volunteering and fundraising? Well, we believe that food is a common language that we all share and love to embrace. 

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!!!

For the past few weeks in English, our class had a B.R.A.W.L. as a way to connect to the global conversation. What is a B.R.A.W.L. you ask? Well, a B.R.A.W.L., found here on Mr. Theriault’s blog, stands for Battle Royal All Will Learn where students learn how to develop their own discussion questions and then prepare and answer those questions in front of the class in hopes of beating the other team. This is similar to a socratic seminar, but not quite. It is far more intense like a debate, but more laid back and less refined as there’s no right or wrong answer.

From the Heart

If you were to ask me nine months ago if I would ever have a blog, I’d laugh at your comment and simply walk away. Little did I know that blogging would be so fun and different from what I had expected it to be. Sure, coming up with an idea and writing it down in one sitting isn’t exactly my cup of tea, but I’ve learned to adjust to it and actually enjoy it more than shopping and drawing combined. In a span of nine months, or an entire school year, I have learned so much from blogging than I ever could have in a thousand-paged textbook.

Patience, My Dear

Patience truly IS the best virtue. As Aristotle once said, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” It defines a person, patience is the ultimate test of life. This virtue is timeless, and is dependent on oneself. It is universal, it is boundless. What limits patience is how one sees it as, as a good virtue or a bad one. One can choose to wait to enjoy life’s rewards, or choose to waste precious rewards. Sure waiting forever isn’t exactly the best way to waste precious time, but in the end, the rewards are better and totally worth it. After all, good things come to those that wait.

A Cluster of Ideas

For most of our short lives on this beautiful earth, we are waiting for something. Waiting in line for movie tickets, AP test scores, that one cute person from second period to reply, etc. You’d think after knowing that waiting is such an important element of life, people would be more patient. That’s not true at all.

View original post 332 more words

The Importance of Imagination

As a child, I never really considered how important imagination was until now. It’s a childhood profession, it comes naturally. I remembered playing for hours with nothing but myself, the surrounding area, and my growing imagination. I was the young heroine who saved the world countless times, a princess of the secret kingdom of fairies, the astronaut who explored the vast universe, even the crazy inventor who made the first hovercraft. Whatever we wanted to be or do, we did it. We had complete control of the world within our heads.

Living with Regrets

Regret hurts.

Regret burns.

Regret aches.

I regret binge watching Netflix hours before a Chemistry test. I regret studying two chapters worth of AP European HIstory content for an exam at three in the morning. I regret eating the entire tiramisu myself. I regret not telling my feelings to my crush before it was too late, and I most certainly regret writing this post a week late—I regret everything. Years-old decisions, things I have said and shouldn’t have said, things I don’t ever say, opportunities I purposefully missed, opportunities I took, recent purchases at the mall, non-purchases, and especially returns.

To be Immortal

“Immortality. We all want to be remembered: We want to do things that will make people say, ‘Isn’t he wonderful?'”

The Fountain of Youth. Just one sip of the precious liquid will grant the drinker eternal mortality, immortality. The ability to be young and pretty forever, to never have to worry about premature aging, to always have tons of time to do whatever; it is the epitome of one’s existence. Many eons ago, man has been trying to achieve this mystical phenomenon and has miserably failed. The “Fountain of Youth” does exist, just not in the typical “deep in the subtropical rainforests of South America” corner of the world, and believe it or not, it’s right under our noses.

“People are more intrigued by the story of looking and not finding than they are by the idea that the fountain might be somewhere”

Explorers and scientists alike have been searching for the Fountain of Youth for generations and have not found it with any success. Some have given the grueling search with little to no progression and claim that the magical spring was just another child’s tale that never existed, said that it was lost forever due to human industrialization and expansion. The thing is, however, is that they have the wrong mindset of what the Fountain of Youth truly is, and look for it in the wrong places. Beyond the perception that it’s merely a tiny little spring out in the middle of uninhabited wilderness, the Fountain of Youth is your legacy―your life’s hard work paid off. In the highly competitive world today, we all strive to make a name for ourselves, whether it’s to be the best, the most hard-working, the generous, or the worst. Thus, the moment you make a name for yourself in the world, you will live forever. Yes, you will still age and die sooner or later, but after your death, all your accolades and blunders will live on and be remembered the moment your name is brought up. You had left a huge impact in the world and possibly rewrote history, and hence, you had taken a well-deserved sip from the Fountain of Youth. From that moment on, you’ll be remembered long after.

We all want to be remembered for something, whether it’s discovering cures for deadly diseases, winning a Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the most wealthy and successful person to ever exist, or simply beating the world record for eating the most burritos in a day. By the end of the day, we want our names to be engraved in everyone else’s mind, to have it on the tip of their tongue, and to hear it being passed around from gossiping lips to the keen and restless ears.  To be remembered for a long time is pretty much fulfilling the meaning of life. The Fountain of Youth has no specific location as it’s an object you cannot actually grasp between your hands, you have find it on your own. And when you do, you and your legacy will live on forever.

Yours Truly,
Joanna

The Curse of Being Adorably Petite

Photo Credit: Huffington Post

I’m a sophomore in high school (shh, don’t tell), and with my short stature and baby face, you could probably assume that I was a freshman or younger. Maybe you would even think I’m much younger, like the younger sibling of another high school student or something. Yeah, that would totally work, if I HAD any siblings to begin with at all–which I don’t, so moving on. A few months ago, I had accidentally bumped into a junior during passing period while I was going to Chemistry. I mumbled a quick apology as a way to be polite, and guess what he said: “Move it, you little freshman! You look like an eighth-grader!” Well, that extremely pissed me off. First off, I do NOT look like fresh meat, and second, I ABSOLUTELY do not look like a MIDDLE SCHOOLER. Why would a middle schooler be here of all places, take hard classes like chemistry and AP European History, and have an amazing teacher who loves food as much as English? Honestly, I was fuming and wanted to kick him really hard in the gut, but then, it wasn’t really worth it. Besides, he would just probably offend me again with another comment about my height, and that would make me want to hurt him even more.

Photo Credit: Tumblr

He wasn’t the only person who made fun of me because of my petitness. He never was, nor will he be the last. I still remember always being “it” when playing tag on the playground. I hated it—being too slow. I could never catch any of the other kids, constantly pumping my short legs against the ground just to try to catch up to the taller kids and then face-planting in the soddy ground. Whenever I was “it”, the game officially ended. Even today, I have to walk twice as fast just to keep up with the slow, long strides of my friends and constantly have to look up and strain my neck while talking to taller people.

Photo Credit: Pinterest

Being short, life was difficult. I could never reach to top shelves, my feet still dangles above the ground like a child when I sit, and I ridiculously get lost and separated easily in a mass of moving people. People rarely ever take me seriously—my friends never do, and think I’m adorable in everything I do, even when I’m mad and screaming at them while standing on a chair. Genuinely, sometimes, I want to be viewed as confident and beautiful, maybe even mysterious. Not cute, adorable, or child-like.

Photo Credit: Imgur

One might say that the easiest solutions are to either wear heels, wear more makeup, or to simply embrace the shortness and “cuteness”, and I’d laugh at them. Sure, I know know you’re trying to help but do you think that wearing heels solves everything? My back hurts, my ankles swell, my hips ache, and sometimes, I lose circulation to the rest of my body. I know, I sound like one of those pregnant women who constantly complain to their spouses about the effects of pregnancy, how they constantly have to go to the bathroom and what not. But really, wearing heels is no fun at all. Ask anyone you know, ask them if they enjoy wearing heels, if they ever hurt themselves while wearing heels at all, and if they are extremely relieved to throw their heels on the floor when they get home, taking them off is the first thing they do before locking the front door. Ask them, I’m pretty sure they all have the same answer to all of that. For makeup, putting on more or less doesn’t make you look younger nor older. In fact, putting on layers of makeup and having a cake face only makes you look younger as you seem “inexperienced” in applying makeup. Makeup only enhances natural beauty not creates it. Makeup is the art of illusion, not color-blocking. Sure, I have tried embracing my height and child-like features, building a wall of confidence and self-esteem, only to have others quickly tear it down like tissue paper the moment we share eye contact and start talking.

Telling someone something is easy, but making them do that “something”, however, is a different story. Change is hard, it’s supposed to be hard. If change was too easy and we followed everyone’s opinions, life would be way too easy, and where’s the excitement to that? Change is hard, so we could prove ourselves worthy and overcome the obstacles between us and our goals. Sure, embracing my height isn’t going to be easy, but I could still enjoy the perks that come with being short along while looking innocent to everyone else. Like getting free food at Denny’s and having tons of legroom in airplanes.

Yours Truly,

Joanna

Once Upon a Dark, Dark Dream

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream.

The Scientific Tale of Two Dresses

The original image is in the middle. At left, white-balanced as if the dress is white and gold. At right, white-balanced to blue and black. (Photo Credit: Tumblr)

Is it black and blue? Or is it white and gold?  Unless you live under a rock, chances are you know all about “The Dress” and its apparent magical color-changing abilities.  Celebrities are tweeting about it, couples are breaking up over it as color perception totally determines one’s compatibility with one another, and normal people are strangling their best friends, and this man got the dress tattooed on his leg in the midst of this apparently important debate of the year.