3. Sea Nettles

  Dungeons and Dragons   (D&D for short) is a table top game where a group of players create and explore a fantasy world while being guided by the Dungeon Master. Last month, me and my friends finally wrapped up a year and a half long D&D campaign. The bi-weekly scheduling of quests fighting demons and demigods has deeply engrained itself in my life.  In 1980’s America, D&D was a decently popular game. Many kids played it with their friends, using premade campaigns and rulebooks. Then came the “ Satanic Panic c” in which people believed that Satanic rituals were done to abuse children. I think you can see where this was going. People accused D&D for encouraging children to do demon worship as it made them interact with demons. People were afraid that this board game would undermine Christian values that were held prominently during that time which caused campaigns to be formed to ban D&D. This “panic” and scapegoating of ideas is resurfacing in the for...

As Thanksgiving is fast approaching the laziness has begun to hit me, unfortunately I still have this blog to write. So I thought, why not turn this laziness into my muse. Thanksgiving is a holiday inspired by the yearly harvest that was shared amongst Native Americans and Pilgrims. The Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians came together and held a grand feast in honor of their first successful harvest. As the holiday began to spread across the country President Abraham Lincoln declared it a national holiday in 1863. Since then thousands of traditions have sprouted from this beloved celebration, such as the Macy’s Day Parade and Thanksgiving Day Football . To many, Thanksgiving is a holiday of reconnecting with family through food and laughter. For me however, it is a time of rampant capitalism and early Christmas. In school we were taught about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, and the violent history concerning the two, but we would also have projects such as hand turkeys a...

The other day in Mrs. Smith’s room, I wasn’t really thinking about anything. I walked in, half awake, kind of annoyed at the day already, and stopped. From the corner of my eye, I could see someone lunging at me with full force. The next thing I knew, he hit me hard and fast as I felt the knife pierce right into the middle of my heart. As I tried to catch my breath, I turned to get a better look at the perpetrator: the Scholastic Book Fair pamphlet sticking out beside the class and homework bin. Before I could even form a solid thought, he grabbed my collar and yanked me back in time. The room around me flickered out, and I felt like I was falling down multiple flights of stairs. One second I was trying to catch my breath, and the next I was standing right in the middle of my elementary school’s library. Boy, oh boy, I could just feel the knife digging in deeper by the second. Everything was exactly how it used to be, down to the perfect multicolored carpet that we used to pluck the ...

On Veterans Day, it is supposed to be a time to celebrate veterans: the people who defend our country and enable our lavish freedoms that we have today. However, on this day, there still remained an ominous, ever-lasting, looming cloud known as the government shutdown.  According to the BBC, the g overnment shutdown of America began when trying to “approve a spending plan” but there was too much division between the Republicans and Democrats. They were unable to approve a spending plan and it led to the government shutting down for the first time in several years.  During this period, government employees who were considered unessential were furloughed - put on unpaid leave - until the government came back. Imagine if you were in these employees’ shoes, practically being fired; but you aren’t even fired! And instead are just forced to wait until politicians are willing to agree to each other. If I were these employees, I would be extremely upset and distrustful of the governm...

A couple of weeks ago, when we were doing Unit 5, my APUSH teacher asked all of us what were some of the positive aspects of America, or the good things. My table group couldn't think of any. This got me thinking, what are the positive aspects of America? While I did find a few, I also found many negative ones. There are many ways one can compare America to other countries. But which is more important, the strength of America or the support it gives to its citizens?  America is one of the strongest nations, both economically and technological in the world. According to Global Firepower, America is ranked #1 in military power, with Russia and China following closely behind. It has the largest GDP (gross domestic product) and is also the most technologically advanced. Its major exports include “computers and electrical machinery, vehicles, chemical products, food, live animals and military equipment” according to US News. Additionally, it also has many natural resources and is the le...

I love books. When I was still adjusting to making the change from private to public school in 4th grade, without many friends, I would spend every day at lunch sitting on the park bench, reading a book that I had gotten at the library. I would read book after book, hour after hour, and day after day, just wanting to absorb all of the knowledge and magic that they held. From A-Z Mysteries , the Magic Tree House series, Harry Potter , and the Six of Crows duology, the different books I have read over time have influenced the way that I think and build my character. Books were a comforting place that was always there for me whenever I needed to escape from the world. That's why it breaks my heart when I read about thousands of books across the country being banned. The current wave of book bans in America started in 2021, as books started to disappear from shelves in schools and libraries. PEN America has recorded over 23,000 book bans in public schools across the country since 20...

       Are cultures and ideas superior to others? Western ideas of liberty, individualism, and democracy have been widespread throughout the globe. Core ideas such as the condemning of racism and slavery have been the cornerstone for the growth of many countries. A few days ago I had a simple thought experiment. What if a country that has existed for about 10,000 years allows racism and slavery. In our eyes who have been the Western philosophies to all our lives would say this country is a horrible place and they need to stop slavery. However the problem is aroused, do we even have the right to say that?      10,000 years they have lived in that culture and they have not changed at all. 10,000 years of culture has been cultivated and yet according to our Western culture(that hasn't existed even 3000 years) we should condemn them to evil. In the 10000 years they have existed, slavery has been justified. There is no universal, objective “good” and “evil”...

Education is a life lasting endeavor. For students to have a clear, consistent environment to achieve their best education, each student needs to have teachers, principals, and parental figures.  In a perfect world, together with equal effort from these three groups, students are able to learn at school.  In practice, often, parental involvement is neglected while teachers and principals are expected to carry the student’s success in the classroom. According to The Annie E. Casey Foundation , an organization created to develop a brighter future for children, explains how parental involvement leads to “higher graduation rates.” By including parents in their child’s academic journey, education becomes a shared responsibility for the teachers and parents, overall better supporting the child’s learning. But because of how parental involvement is neglected; teachers and principals bear unrealistic expectations. Principals cannot meet these students outside of school but are expecte...

SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and it feeds almost 42 million Americans every year. SNAP benefits are a government program that provides low-income families enough funds to buy necessities, especially food. However due to a government shutdown and funding issues SNAP benefits have been reduced by 50%. This has caused national uproar as citizens are struggling to make ends meet. People have turned to social media to voice their concerns and complaints and as a result something beautiful has emerged.  While procrastinating doing this blog I was mindlessly scrolling through my TikTok feed. I came across a video of a person making sandwich bread. I like bread, so I stopped to give it a watch. As the video played the baker began elaborating about the government shutdown and the decrease in SNAP benefits, which is what began to intrigue me. At the end of the video the baker left his audience with one last message. He emphasized the importance of community; in ...

There is absolutely nothing worse than the iPhone alarm . If Dante were alive today, I’m sure he would’ve made a special level of hell specifically for it. Boy, oh boy, do I really hate “Radar.” Now, while I am being a little dramatic, I would venture to say that the iPhone “Radar” is unintentionally one of the most recognizable, stress invoking sounds for millions of people in the United States. The national anthem that is “Radar” has become the voice of all things bad. While I’m sure there is a (minority) group of Americans that don’t care for it, imagine this: You’re an eagle with x-ray vision. At 6:30 a.m., you soar past the streets of San Francisco, or New York, or Miami, or Houston, or even Vineyard, Utah, only to see simultaneously see thousands of people, burst up with panic, hit snooze, and repeat the cycle a couple times. This identical routine of panic is everywhere you fly, in both rural and urban cities. Everywhere. Good ol’ “Radar,” symbolizes the American dream and the c...

In the 19th century, when society saw individuals that acted in a way that they considered abnormal, their first instinct was to throw them into insane or lunatic asylums. They were often viewed as witches if they were women, or simply possessed by the Devil. This started an age of inhumane and abusive treatment. Located in remote areas, asylums were built in America over big stretches of land with the intention of being a community that would house the “insane” and contain them in a manner that would prevent from hurting or “infecting” others. However, these institutions quickly became overcrowded and underfunded; many held thousands over their limit while others were simply neglected as they didn’t receive funding from the government.  What makes these institutions so unbelievable is the inhumane treatments that prisoners were subjected to against their will. With little understanding of mental illness at the time, many doctors performed extremely cruel treatments, either believi...

 Long-term Advantages or Long-term Psychological Pain? “It was just like a kidnapping.” “Eight hours there and back and they don’t give me food or water or anything.”  “Please help me.” “I don’t even think they strap animals like [a WRAP].” “Carrying me like a corpse.” “I don't care, I'm doing my job.” The first 5 quotes are all accounts of those who were tied down, strapped in a WRAP, to be deported. A WRAP was meant to be an alternative instead of typing a person's hands and feet together. It first appeared in the 1990s, and today is used in more than 1,800 facilities, and more than 10,000 have been sold. These aren’t just body bags, they're restraint devices which fully immobilize individuals. According to the manufacturer, it was meant to “safely manage erratic or violent individuals by preventing them from striking officers or harming themselves.” However, it has more been perceived as punishment or torture––which can create long-term psychological issues ––and mul...