Month: April 2011

Sweet Dreams Please!

Paloma Spencer1 Comment


I really wish I could have those amazing dreams about happy things like love and fairy tales.
You know those dreams where you wake up and you’re like “No! No! No! I want to keep dreaming!”

I want that!

Instead I am left to dream about creepy things like getting weird diseases, being kidnapped by strangers, and even clips from horror movies that I know I should have never watched.
And on the best of nights I find myself running for long periods of time in search of my cellphone or my lost set of keys.

I mean, really?

I just want one good dream. Isn’t that the point? Isn’t it supposed to be the one time of day when you aren’t faced with reality and instead can create images of love and happiness?

And so I researched it.
Apparently it is my stress and anxiety that leads to these undesirable dreams.
But it’s not fair! : (

Doesn’t more stress deserve better dreams?

Ugh, whatever, stupid!

I guess I will just have to relieve my stress in order to have better dreams…mm nevermind that’s not going to happen.

But instead I will stick to the plan of imaging marshmallows and kittens before I go to sleep, and I will be definitely stay away from those scary movies!

God Bless America

sennymcfly1 Comment

Rolling Stone Magazine is the kind of reading that gets me excited about news. I love discovering new types of music and reading all the hilariously uncensored articles. But, recently in the latest issue a new, unsettling story was brought to my attention. I wish it had been censored.

Turns out that fighting for your country and what you believe in is not so glamorous after all. We have all this propaganda out there advertising how special it is to go to Iraq or Afghanistan and defend our precious America. Here’s my problem: while I am proud to live in a country where I am essentially free to do whatever I want and I can be free to be a woman who is not ashamed of my gender, I am ashamed of is this idiotic brain-wash belief that as Americans, we are superior to all races and all nations, meaning that we are allowed to take matters into our own hands and “lay down the law”.

Not okay!

Pictures were just released of a group of American soldiers who decided that the “American way” of fighting a war wasn’t eliminating the enemy and saving innocents, but killing and decimating any and all foreign creatures, even children, who got in their way. They depicted morbid scenes; dead bodies, a severed head, and a smiling platoon-member posing while lifting the lifeless face of an unidentified corpse.

“They were greeted by…destitute Afghan farmers living without electricity or running water; bearded men with poor teeth in tattered traditional clothes; young kids eager for candy and money.” (Mark Boal, Rolling Stone Magazine)

They didn’t care. They mutilated bodies of young men, unarmed and unaware of what they did wrong. Families who wanted liberation instead got bullets. In the article it describes how one of their victims was dragged across the desert from the back of one of their vehicles. There was even talk of how they planned to lure in children with candy and kill them as they ran in to collect it. It’s sickening.

It didn’t matter who the victims were. It didn’t matter how innocent they were or even if they looked to these men for protection. These “soldiers” killed everyone and they liked it.

The worst part about this story is obviously the lives that were taken long before their time, but it is also the fact that the people that took those lives are the very people that this entire country has trusted to take on the responsibility of keeping us safe. These men are not soldiers. They are not heroes. They are not worthy of being labelled as “Americans” because that is not what America stands for. We stand for freedom. These men are murders.

With Piercing Blue Eyes

shredicusmaximus3 Comments

This is the story

Of a pitcher named “Ry”

Armed with a fastball

And Two Piercing Blue Eyes

Last Saturday he

Faced a good Thacher team

Winning that game was a feat

That haunted his dreams

The morning was rough

Lap labor made him protest

“My arm is in pain” he said

“And I need badly to rest”

But when the game started

He felt right at home

He was the king of his palace

The mound was his throne

Who should feel all his malice

From a morning well spent

The baseball Toads of Thacher

Here’s how the game went

After a first inning

In which two runs were allowed

Ry found his cool groove

He had set-tled down

With Min and Cameron

With Barrett and Cole

The OVS Spuds

Put the Toads in a hole

A 5 run third inning

Made them feel they could fly

The Spuds were pumped up

Especially Ry

He threw fastballs and curves

Struck out guy after guy

Toad after Toad and seeing the zone

With his deadly and piercing blue eyes

When the carnage was over

Ojai won 12-5

The next game is on Wednesday

Yours Truly,

RY


Graduation

yourgingerkidLeave a comment

T-minus 61 days. That means we have about two months left of this school year.

jksdhfskdjghsjdklgnkeldmfgnkjdfghueirjhgjkdsfnvksdjfgheiujrhgjrehgjkernfdkjsghuweirth!!
Excuse my improper spelling, grammar, and exclamation, but this is pretty big deal.

I’ve been at this school for five years. Some have been here for thirteen of more. It’s crazy to think that it all has boiled down to these last few weeks. All 27 of us, (hopefully we’ll stay at 27) will be moving in each and every different direction, down our own roads, to new and wonderful lives.

We should all end on a good note, right?

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel as if there is far too much tension between us. Why is that exactly? Can’t we all just look past that and think, “Hey! We’re almost done with this year! We should just relax and finish this year with class and with relaxation!”

We have students going to Wesleyan, UC Berkeley, Chapman, and UW. Shouldn’t we all be proud of our friends? It’s pretty big deal to get into colleges such as these whether we chose to believe it or not. Just because we watch it happen every year doesn’t mean that it happens to the collective population outside of our school?

Can’t we unify as one? We still have enough time to really appreciate these people one last time. All these people we’ve known for years will soon be out of our lives with the blink of an eye. I’m sure you’re thinking “I’m glad! I can’t wait to get out of here!” But once you’re actually gone, you’re going to miss it. I know that I’ll miss it.

Just a Sweet Memory: circa 2001

freedatlastLeave a comment

The basket is full to the brim with the most gorgeous peaches ever. I choose the fattest one and rub my fingers over its fuzzy hide. I feel its weight in my hands as I carry it over to the sink where she’s waiting.

She clasps the paring knife with an unsteady hand and goes to work slowly but surely. You never saw a peach so perfectly peeled. A smooth slice down the middle and I watch as a little river of sticky sweet juice runs down all the way to her elbows. Half for me. Half for her.

We eat standing at the sink in simple silence and just look at each other. Her face round and sweet, lined and creased like a molasses crinkle cookie. Her lips are painted a rosy pink and they curl into a smile as she watches me watching her. I smile back shyly.

“What are you smiling about? Hmm?” she chuckles, “Was your peach yummy?” I nod my head and stand on my tippy toes to get my hands rinsed. She takes my little hands in hers and runs them under the cool water. Her hands are old tree roots, gnarled and knotty; they’re slightly stiff and speckled with sun spots. I wonder about all the things they’ve done. All the hands they’ve shook, all the things they’ve picked up and admired, even all the peaches they’ve sliced. My hands look like plain white paper next to hers. I want hands like that someday, hands with good stories.

She dries her hands with an old green and white gingham towel and takes a step back.

“Let me see you doll,” she says. I stand up a little straighter. “Well gosh;” she says throwing the towel down, “you’re so darn cute I could just eat you all up!” She pulls me to her and covers me in kisses and tickles me until I’m laughing so hard I can hardly breathe.

“I love you grandma,” I say through giggles.

“I sure love you too doll,” she says smiling at me.

Super Blues

smackyjackjack1 Comment

One of the greatest and most influential genres in music is the blues. The blues gave way to rock, pop and even metal. The world will remember many great blues musicians, but there are several that will be held in a higher regard than others. Some of these musicians got together in 1967 and made one of the greatest blues album of all time. That album was called Super Blues.

Super Blues was an album created by some of the Blues best, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Bo Diddley and Otis Spann. Just those names alone should make someone need to have the album.

Muddy Waters is arguably one of the best Blues singer ever. His performance of I’m a Man at the Last Watlz is amazing.

When one thinks of great blues guitar players, BB King and Bo Diddley are at the top. Bo Diddley makes the album with his great playing.

Otis Spann and Little Walter are the soul of the album. Otis Spann manipulates the piano to make it sound like it was made to play the blues. Little Walter can somehow make an album great just by playing his harmonica.

This could easily be in the top ten list of great blues albums. The combined talent of the four greats is very unique, and very amazing.

One year older, four teeth less wise.

dmilesburton1 Comment
Weisheitszahn5
Image via Wikipedia

It’s Sunday night. School begins again tomorrow, and the weekend is done.

This statement both reassures me and makes me a little upset. To tell the truth, it’s not schoolwork or the fact that I have to wake up early, it’s that my wisdom teeth really hurt.

Let me correct myself: the empty spaces in my mouth where my wisdom teeth were really hurt. All four of them.

This past Friday began quite pleasantly for me. I woke up, showered and brushed my teeth, and then got in the car to go to the oral surgeon. I was called back pretty quickly, put in a chair and set up with heart rate monitors and oxygen, and then I felt a needle in my arm.

I was a little nervous, seeing as I don’t really like needles, but I stayed calm, knowing that in a few seconds I would be knocked out. I was sitting there wondering how much longer the sedative would take when I woke up in a different room, lying on a bed.

Apparently I was strapped down, but I don’t really remember much. Just asking my mom if I was still in the surgery room. Turns out I wasn’t.

I stumbled to the car, and then I fell back asleep.

We drove up to an intersection, and I opened my door and leaned my head out of the doorway as I threw up.

Apparently this was normal, seeing as my mom didn’t even flinch, just said that if I kept swallowing blood, it would happen again, and that we’d get some gauze when we got to my aunt’s house.

We did get gauze, and it did help… for a bit. That is until I puked again. And again. And two or three more times after that, I don’t really remember.

Anyway, I spent most of my weekend in bed, throwing up any food I ate and slowly stopping the consistent bleeding in my mouth.

So, to wrap up my story, I’m upset about the week because I can’t just lie down and rest, but I’m excited for the week because it means I made it through the worst.

Also my cheeks are really swollen.

 

Warpaint.

YourcupateaLeave a comment

Warpaint.

Warpaint is a 4-piece girl band from Los Angeles. I’m guessing that when you hear the word girl band you automatically think: poppy, fake, materialized rubbish. This is definitely not the case with Warpaint.

Warpaint are an experimental art, rock group who formed in 2004. Although primarily indie, the girls describe their genre as Ghettotech, Melodramatic Popular Song and Psychedelic.

The girls came together to create a different type of music and sound, they succeeded.

With melodic and peaceful symphonies mixed with rock and guitar leads, Warpaint have conquered a combination that works wonders. Their haunting sounds relax and entice, whilst contrasting beats adding flavor to the  melodic tones and harmonies.

Releasing their first album “The Fool” in October 2010, as well their debut single “Undertow” the band captured the attention of many music lovers.

The group is scheduled to play at several large festivals over the summer months including Coachella and Glastonbury.

Warpaint are an extremely unique band that I admire greatly. I hope they keep producing and playing great music!

Tommy Reilly.

Yourcupatea1 Comment

Tommy Reilly!

Tommy Reilly is a singer, songwriter from Scotland. In 2009 Channel 4 hosted the show Orange Unsigned Act, Tommy was one of many contestants competing to win a recording contract.

The viewers, of the show, took a strong liking to Tommy’s individuality along with the judges. The emotional connection he held with a song often reduced him and his viewers to tears. He was unique because he was true to his heart and sang for his pleasure rather than to impress. With much support Tommy ultimately won the show.

After his triumph his first single “Gimme a call” was instantly released into the U.K charts. The song reached 14 in the single charts but unfortunately for him, his success didn’t last long.
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Wacky World of Football

therightliberalLeave a comment

Although I am still young, I have had the chance to work on all sides of football. I have played, refereed, coached and worked in the management.

For me there is an obvious favorite, playing. Playing football is a great feeling, one that allows me to get out all of my emotions. It is an art form. It is like I am in my element, one in which I am completely comfortable.

But playing is not that far ahead of the others surprisingly.

Refereeing is not what one might consider “fun” but for me there is a sense of duty. I am going out to ref with the idea that I am helping the game (although players may disagree). Being a ref is a very hard job and it has given me insight to the pain I cause refs when I yell and hassle them.

Coaching is very exciting for me. It gives me the feeling that I am opening up a whole new world to kids. I remember the joy that learning football gave me and I try to emulate that. I hope that my coaching gives kids a opportunity to go have fun and learn as much as they can about the game of football.

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