3. Sea Nettles

A Comfortably Jolly Lie  Once upon a time, Santa Claus was not a jolly, white-bearded man in a red suit. Once upon a time, Santa Claus was a man known as Saint Nicholas , a Greek bishop who used his inherited wealth to help the poor, where the spirit of giving was focused on assisting those in genuine need. Yet, most people do not remember Santa Claus for who he represented and where his personality came from. Now, most people remember him as a symbol of commerce, joyfully illustrated by department stores that need a face to promote holiday shopping. Dr. Cornel West coined the term “Santa Clausification” for when an important historical figure loses all of their radicalism and becomes a harmless figure that every single person can admire, losing the historical figure’s personality, and eventually their identity. If Santa Claus was reshaped into a Christmas salesman, Martin Luther King Jr. has been reshaped into a harmless dreamer. Today, King is primarily remembered for his “ I Ha...

A couple nights ago, I was in Thailand, taking an open note test in a small, dark classroom, when I finally found the perfect answer for the question I was looking for. Just as I was about to write it down, the room suddenly flooded and the paper slipped out of my hand. I tried grabbing on to it, but the more I tried, the further it got away. While this is obviously insane, the funny part is, when I was asleep, none of it felt strange. Dreams never feel strange when you’re in them, no matter how preposterous the situation may be. Taking a test in a flooded room? Sure. Being in Taiwan during the start of junior year? Why not? It’s like dreams have their own set of rules that collapse as soon as you wake up. How many times have you woken up and thought “Wow, that was such a weird dream,” only to brush it off and continue with your day? I know I have, numerous times. Even better, how many times have you jolted up from a nightmare and been extremely relieved that it was only a dream? For t...

Liminal       Growth is one of the things most interlinked with identity, defined as “the fact of being who or what a person or thing is”. It gets developed through “interactions with people close to us, like our family and friends, our schools and other institutions, the mass media, and our encounters with other individuals. Sometimes we don’t even realize that we have these ideas because we don’t remember learning them” (Facing History). Throughout the process of growth, one may explore their own identity, fight against ideas that are not their own, and weave around just to settle in their own confinement. The beauty of growth is that it is never fixated, as it is never-ending.      When you think about a squiggly line or look at the one above, you may notice how it has so many curves and twists, but still progresses nevertheless. The squiggly line you're seeing above represents a person's life, with numerous curves and twists, yet still progres...

This summer, I went to India to visit my family after an awful long time. Almost 10 years since my last visit. The trip wasn’t planned far in advance, it was pretty much last minute. My mom was feeling home sick and basically just said, “Whatever, let's go this summer.” And a few days later, we were packing for the long awaited summer trip to India.   From the moment we took off to the moment we landed, it didn’t feel real. On the flight, I was either eating, sleeping, or watching Annabelle with my sister like it was any other vacation. Even at the layover at Doha airport, the most gorgeous airport ever, by the way, I still hadn’t fully processed that I was going to see the family that lived miles away from me again. While we were in the lounge eating a few snacks before our final flight, our relatives called checking in about the trip. All I could think was, “You are gonna see us soon; let us enjoy the food for now!” Soon enough, we were boarding the flight to Chennai. I sle...

Dance Moms is a reality TV show that was released in 2011 that featured 6 young, wonderful dancers, their mothers, and their monster of a teacher, Abby Lee Miller . I took an interest in this show because growing up I loved dancing and thought, “Oh a show about dance, I should watch it!” Safe to say dance is not the only thing the show is about. I have rewatched Dance Moms enough times that no matter what scene you play I can tell you the exact season it was released, the competition they were attending, and who had solos that week. I have also had the pleasure of engraving almost every line into my mind. As sad as that sounds there is one line that has just stuck with me.       Season 5 episode 13 , the theme of the group dance was the Spice Girls , and Mackenzie had a solo. Before announcing the solo, Abby questions Mackenzie saying, “Without being Maddie ’s little sister--without being [pop star] MackZ… Who are you?” Mackenzie Ziegler was the youngest dancer on...

Cyril Nadar Mrs.Smith English 11AP  August 25, 2025 The deepest roots Week 1 Language and Identity August 27, 2025 The best way I would describe an “identity” would be that it is the roots of a tree The tree in this case: the bark, the leaves, and the sticky sap all represent the physical person that is seen. The roots, hidden beneath soil and dirt, represent the identity of the person. Like roots, an identity grows in depth through the passing age, growing deeper and thicker. My identity grew thicker and deeper over the years because of my expanding knowledge of the world.  My preferences in literature have not changed for almost 7 years. Ever since I watched the first Lord of the Rings movie with my dad when I was 7 years old, I have been fascinated by the epic fantasy genre. I believed Tolkien was a genius, his innovative ideas on world building made a blueprint for future epic fantasy writers that I enjoy. Tolkien made me appreciate and value creativity and intellect as I...

Tamil is known as the oldest language in the world, one that over 80 million people speak worldwide. I grew up listening and speaking Tamil in many ways. Whenever we traveled by car, whether it was a five minute ride to drop me off to violin class or the six hour rides to Reno, my dad always played Tamil music to accompany us and still does to this day. Tamil was the only way I could communicate with my grandparents and all of the extended family that lived in India, so I had to learn it. I went to Tamil school on Sundays for what felt like forever but was probably only a few hours long. The classes every week would drive my parents crazier than me, trying to teach me the difference between the very similar looking Tamil characters. I did eventually quit since I didn’t like missing soccer games on the weekend and I absolutely hated going.  Funnily enough, as the oldest language in the world, Tamil doesn’t have a translation for the word “good-bye”, just like some other Indian langu...