Monthly- Archives: July 2024

July 11, 2024


CHLOE ZOU

The most obvious thing that pops into my head upon reflecting on my 180 days of freshman year is the busyness of it all. I quickly learned in January that doing the high school gymnastics team, flute auditions, a job, the musical, and a variety of other extracurricular activities along with the ever present burden of schoolwork wasn’t sustainable. Did it take many nights of flopping onto the couch in despair and pacing the living room when I realized it was already 11 at night and yet I had an entire Friedrich Kuhlau piece to learn and perfect? And then getting a lecture from my mom? Yes. Because I really wished that I could make it work somehow, fit all of those things into one day. Yet for the first time, I realize how 24 hours can be far too little. I realized wouldn’t it be great if I could run at 100% on a few hours of sleep? Unfortunately, I’ve yet to develop that ability. With that, I realized that I wouldn’t be good at any one of those things; I better pick and choose before I stretch myself thinner than the ice over a pond on a slightly warm day. This lesson truly hit home when I saw a friend having the same problem, that when it came to an important day, she was needed at both extracurriculars, both sides would be mad if she wasn’t there, but by then it was too late. She had tried to do everything, and it hadn’t gone over well. 

         Another impactful realization upon reflection is how much all of us can change in one year. When my friends and I got to high school, for most of us, it was as if the mood suddenly changed. We all realized that high school is when it counts, that it has a much larger hand in our future than measly eighth grade did. Along with this came a more serious attitude. Of course we still insulted each other, joked around like crazy people, but we also realized that the next chapter of our life (to use a cliché) would be here soon. Essentially what I’m saying is, though we still made fun with each other of our newest crush,

we had shed a childish layer that some of us still had in middle school. However, not all of us had done this shedding and with that came the natural fork in the road (oops, another cliché) where some of us simply grew apart, where our interests no longer aligned. Slowly, we chose to spend more time with certain people and less time with others, especially in a schedule where all of us were constantly on the grind. I, along with my close friends, realized we couldn’t satisfy everyone, that it was unfortunate we were leaving some girls behind, but that it wasn’t fair to ourselves if we hung out with them for their happiness and our own misery, so freshman year was a period of growth for me which I’m sure will continue.

         Though the ones mentioned above were larger and more meaningful realizations, upon reflection, there were also smaller changes that happened in my freshman year. For one, there seemed to be more drama among people I knew (and keep in mind, I’m not in the friend groups with constant drama). Both in the flute section at school and the one at Norwalk Youth Symphony, it was clear there were tensions and competition between the top flautists as we all wanted the limited spots.

Another small thing that’s changed in me this year is how flute has become more important to me and my practicing has definitely skyrocketed. In the past, my practicing was kept to a minimum but somehow I still squeezed my way into the principal orchestra. However, upon arriving, I quickly had to step up my game to keep up with everyone else. The demands of region and all state auditions further pushed me to practice and improve my technique so that I spent a lot more time with the metal tube (as my friend would call it) in my hands.

I suppose at the end of the day (idiom or cliché?), I’ve learned something very similar to Hannah – that life is full of choices, choices that may be hard, but that you have to make. Of course part of me wished I could make that one friend happy and just hang out with her, but there’s only so much time and we have to choose how we spend it. I had to make the choice that I would prefer not to stay up past midnight finishing work because I had chosen to spend two hours of my day making superficial conversation with someone that I didn’t get along with. Of course, I would love to be able to clone myself and be at two places at once, but until I figure that out, I’ll have to be content with making choices of what activities I truly want to do, which are worth their spot on my plate. Then there are the smaller choices: I can choose not to waste my time getting tangled up in unnecessary drama caused by others. Or I can choose to practice the flute more if I want to achieve the results I’m looking for. To really take this metaphor far, which ones are like the high-protein meats that will benefit my life, while which are the high-sugar desserts that could be decreased from my life’s diet? After finishing freshman year, I’m sure there will be many more choices I’ll make in the next three years and I’m sure that’ll elicit more late-night pacing sessions (after all there’s going to be junior year, Chloe, and it won’t be a pretty sight!), but I’ll keep figuring out how to make those choices.

July 9, 2024


JANIE LEE

The Death of the Moth

by Janie Lee

This piece of writing helped me to imagine all the movements of a moth. Throughout this essay, the specific movement of the moth felt so significant. I couldn’t help but notice how ironic it seemed, considering the fact that a moth was rather a small and insignificant insect. The first paragraph brought out the beauty in a moth by the author’s words of “hay-colored wings.” To a human, a moth doesn’t seem beautiful but the essence of these words seemed to show the beauty in things we often overlook. I felt very engaged in the essay. Although the moth’s movements seemed to be normal, Woolf becomes descriptive to almost mesmerize and captivate the reader. Virginia Woolf finishes the essay with the moth’s death. The reader cannot help but sympathize and feel sorry for the moth. “One’s sympathies, of course, were all on the side of life.” The reader reads this, anticipating for a glimmer of hope in the moth’s life but is left with nothing to hope on as Woolf ends with the moth’s death. The author wrote the essay, such that the moth’s death would leave an impact on the reader. At first, the story starts with a calm and peaceful tone but then grows in tension until the story’s climactic point. Even though the reader’s sadness dwells on the moth’s death, Virginia Woolf displays the impact death has. Something as small as a moth died leaves a big impact on the readers. It shows that even humans cannot fight death and shows that life is fragile and quick. Both insects and humans cannot overcome and conquer death. The reader ponders their own life and compares it with the insect’s life. Virginia Woolf, through the story of “The Death of the Moth”, helps us to understand the reality of death and that no one can escape it.

July 3, 2024


CHRISTOPHER TIAN

In The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt by John Bellairs, there were many many twists and turns throughout the entire story that constantly kept me on my feet wondering what would happen next. The amount of magic in this story really made me wonder how Johnny could overcome. The final chapter was definitely my favorite chapter out of all of the chapters, because I got to learn a lot about the Glomus family and not all of them are bad people.

This novel used lots of dark magic which made me excited and also scared: when I was reading one night, I got so scared I had to lift my eyes from the room and see if there were any monsters, and then I had to immediately jump in mid-air and turn on the lights, breaking into a huge nervous sweat just like the one you get when you take an afternoon nap and wake up at 7 PM and all the lights in the house are out.

In the first book there was an object that would curse Johnny (it’s called The CURSE of the Blue Figurine),

but in the second book, they had magic that would kind of chase Johnny to hurt him. “Mrs. Woodley said a word and it started to glow with a quivering blue light. Strange signs and a picture of a comet with a long flaring tail slowly became visible on the wood.” What could this comet thing possibly be? Could it be the thing that broke the wall above Johnny and the same one that had almost killed Johnny? Or did the Guardian summon something that broke the wall, or, could the guardian possibly be Mrs. Woodley, working with her magic box, sending a little evil part of herself out to roam?

In the second book I learned many new things about Johnny. I learned that when Johnny chose to steal all of his grandparent’s money, just to attempt to save his grandma, that not only does Johnny have a deep love for Gramma, but he is also willing to do anything for Gramma, even if it means he may have to do something illegal. “Then he’d go out to the estate, and somehow, by hook or by crook, he would find the money to get a brain surgeon for Gramma.” I also learned that Johnny is very caring and smart when he leaves a note for his grandparents, so they will at least be reassured that he is at least not kidnapped. “I have to do something very important. It is a life or death matter, and it can’t wait. I’ll be back in a few days, so don’t worry.” 

However, this was a very stupid and immature move on Johnny’s end, because he could have died and could have also caused the death of the professor and Fergie. Another immature part was when he took all of his grandparent’s savings. Johnny’s grandparents could have gone into a deep debt of money and possibly died of hunger and grief, if Johnny never returned.

The type of magic at play in the book is dark magic. I know the magic at play was dangerous and significantly dark, because Mrs. Woodley literally sent a comet to attempt to kill Johnny; also a Guardian spirit is protecting the Glomus will, so that nobody can take it, and this incident also almost killed Johnny.

When Chad died, we see that the Guardian and Mrs. Woodley definitely had something to do with it. Could they have used their dark magic together to kill Chad and make sure nobody could steal the will from them (the Guardian and Mrs. Woodley)?

Overall, the second novel was very interesting and exciting with all the cliffhangers, twists, and the astonishing descriptions of everything. Knowing that the final novel is called The Spell of the Sorcerer’s Skull, I infer that it will be about the owner who summoned the spirits in the second book. She is the “Sorcerer”, and because she is dead it will be about her skull, so I think the third novel will be about her skull, and I also infer that the skull is cursed, and will bring a curse to the Glomus family. Lastly, I infer that the third novel will be more fun than the second novel but less fun than the first.