Just F–k ’em.

It’s funny how someone can completely change your view on something by simply uttering a phrase. It’s funny how you can be hell-bent on doing something that you are blinded to the faults of your plan. You want to runaway from a place that makes you happy just because a few things went wrong, and you close your eyes to the bad things about the place you’re running to.

But there is no such thing as a perfect place. There is nowhere you could possibly go to escape everything bad. There is no running away from mean people and unhappy situations. They follow you forever.

But even though they will follow you, you don’t have to let them make you sad, or angry, or feel like you don’t belong. Even when they try to tear you down at the very seams, try to break every thing that is you, they can’t get to you. Because the people who make others miserable are only doing so so they don’t feel as bad about themselves. Because the people who are cruel and border-line evil don’t deserve your tears, they deserve your pity.

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Smile for the Camera.

Click.
Click.
Click.

He hunches over with his camera in hand, turning at obscure angles to try and get the perfect shot of the two cars.

Click.

He stands on his tip toes, his camera far above his head, trying to see form a view that isn’t his own.

Click

He mounts a jack to his own car before attaching his camera and speeding down the winding roads of a mountain.
I’ll edit out the jack later, he thinks to himself while twisting through the turns.

Click.

He smiles at me as I take a picture of him, a wild horse right out of frame, laughing.
“These things are the spawn of satan,” he says to me.

Click.

He waits on the ridge of a mountain, keeping his camera in front of him and his eyes searching.
My shutter speed has to be perfect, he thinks.
There’s a flash of lighting far away, and a smile stretches across his face.

Click.

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Who are you?

When looked upon, the average person makes a quick judgment; their eyes, their hair, their teeth, the way they walk. In a matter of seconds a person can be perceived as everything that they are, and a person can be perceived as something completely opposite of who they really are. All of the observations made over time create a deep pool in which the person can only skim the surface of, where the strange and memorable rise up.

A single glance, a slight observation, can create the greatest of labels and accusations. It is simply because of human nature that we do this, but is it avoidable?

Recently there have been some strange accusations made by both students and faculty of the school that involve students. I have been aware of the situation since freshman year, as has everyone who has attended this school within those years. Never once has anyone spoken out claiming to feel uncomfortable about it. Why would they?

As adolescents, we don’t know who we are. Throughout high school we all partake in a trial and error style of determining and hardening who we are and who we want to be. Body-type, personality, and sexuality are somethings that don’t even come to a stand-still until further into life, if ever. Who are the faculty and students to determine who we are for us?

It’s not far to say that making judgements isn’t a part of living. In order to survive we need to come to conclusions about people and situations, literally. As a person who has also been a victim in being told who I am because of my behaviors, I know that it really isn’t fair to those who are in that place now.

I really shouldn’t and won’t get into specifics, but I just hope that those who think they are so correct in their accusations second check their facts, because last time I checked there weren’t any. It’s strange to see adults target students, stereotyping them, but here’s an awesome article on what could happen. Link.

The Time Is Coming


The pending graduation, this upcoming, tear evoking, sad-faced, sour event, has been on my mind since day one. No, I’m not talking about my graduation. I am not there yet-it still hasn’t hit me that I am a junior.

I am talking about the graduation that will herald the final, graduating class of 2011, the great, centennial generation of students. I am talking about that day that will mark the conclusion of the school year with a note heavily sodden with grey.  I am talking about that gloomy yet happy moment. That walk down the cobblestone aisle, that luminescent moment, that commencement of a new life for the graduating seniors.


The time is coming, the time is near. All I can say is that on June 4, tears of sadness and tears of joy will be streaming, salty down my cheeks. Already, I have learned to thank God for bringing me to this school, allowing me to meet my friends, friends to have for a lifetime. Already, I have realized that it will be a happy moment, giving my friends and loved ones yet another opportunity to grow. (However, it is hard to grasp any other emotions than the ones evoked by the fact that they will be leaving.) Already, here I am today, past the halfway mark of the year. The time for this year’s seniors is coming, and so will mine.

The Return of the Lin.


Best friends never grow apart, no matter the distance between them.

Wendy Lin has been a part of my life ever since my first year at OVS. Wendy was a prefect in my wing-she lived right across from me. Living in such close proximity, it was just a matter of time before a friendship blossomed. I was new, scared, and excited to come to this new school but Wendy let me feel just at home. She showed me around, and explained boarding school life to me. With her kindness, living away from home was easy and my life at Ojai Valley School began.

I don’t remember really fighting with Wendy. We have gotten mad, annoyed, or overwhelmed with each other at times, but we’ve never raised our voices at each other. Wendy and I generally agree on everything, or settle on things. We have a lot of things in common and a lot of things that make us individual people. I think that is a key factor to our friendship. We both look out for each other’s benefits, we make sure we don’t make stupid mistakes (and tell each other when we are being stupid), and we are sisters.

For the first half of the school year, Wendy decided to take her life in a new direction. She went to Santa Barbara High School for one semester and that was her first public school experience. She loved it, but she realized that this year, her junior year, was an integral part of her high school curriculum and her future college acceptances. Wendy, now, is back and we don’t feel any strange awkwardness or distance between us. I love her, and I am glad to have her back.

Four years strong, our friendship has only grown from the young, naive eighth grade girls that we were. Four years strong, and we can boast that we have never fought before. Four years strong, Wendy Lin has left and grown up in the public school’s eye. Four years strong, and she has returned to the school we had first met and next year, we will be five years strong, graduating on the same stage together, just as we had our 8th grade year.

Roses for You

Who is the most memorable person in your life?

Mine would be Granny Shim.

She was a good friend of my parents and a nanny of my relatives in America. Due to her problematic visa issues, she chained her life in a monetary place of temple in South Korea, an opportunity for her to visit me from time to time.

We do not belong to the same family, but our relationship runs thicker than our blood.

She held my hands when I stepped my first foot forth on earth, taught me right from wrong, and silently stood by my side without faltering. When I chose to be educated in the land of opportunities, America, she gave me her faith for my decision. To sum up her passion for my success, I am destined to appreciate her graceful existence.

Due to her unfortunate smoking habit, she has been residing in heaven for two years.

However, her influence still trembles in my soul. And her teaching helped me to discover several lovely children who also need my hand.

To compensate her faith and compassion for me, I want to give her the most beautiful roses on earth.

Happy Birthday Granny Shim.

And I’m Still Alive

Lesbian.
Gay.
Dyke.
Dyke.
Dyke.

She keeps her head down as people sneer at her, she’s only trying to walk to her next class in peace. Her baggy jacket hides the scars littering her arms and the hood masks the look of utter pain etched onto her face.

“Hey!” Someone calls at her, but she does not know who, “how bout I let you borrow my girlfriend if you return your clothes to the men’s section?”

It was a poor attempt to hurt her, but it did, nonetheless. She moved her feet faster, trying to avoid the people in the cruel jail she knew as high school, but they would never go away. The taunting would never go away.

It wasn’t always so hard, she remembered, back when she wasn’t sure what her hormones were telling her. It wasn’t always so hard when she was in the closet, so far back she thought she was in Narnia. It was when she emerged from the darkness that a spotlight shined down onto her, that people took notice. She was no longer the smiling girl with all the friends, but the lesbian that you had to stay away from. After all, you don’t want to catch their disease, right?

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