upfront&unplugged2

2014

Upfront & Unplugged

Upfront & Unplugged Spring 2014 Issue 2

Staff Contributors

2


Meet the Staff!Name: Dayonni PhillipsGrade: 10Quote: A journey of a thousand miles starts with one stepRandom Fact About You: I love dolphins and donutsBest Part About Creative Writing: Freedom of creativity

Name: Ricardo AbrajanGrade: 11Quote: Don’t ever put a fork in a toaster…you could die, bro!Random Fact About You: I love Oreo blizzardsBest Part About Creative Writing: you can express yourself when you write

Name: Olivia BanksGrade: 10

3


Quote: Words are powerfulRandom Fact About You: I’m very ticklish on my big toeBest Part About Creative Writing: the teacher is cool

Name: Zach MinderGrade: 10Quote: take wrong turn, talk to strangers, open unmarked doorsRandom Fact about You: I like looking at myself Best Part About Creative Writing: It’s fun to write about new things

4


FreedomBy Kasha Payne

SPRING 2014

“Rain” and “Freedom”- Kasha Payne

“The Value of Independence”- Brooke Dudzinski

“The Real Glory Days”- Brooke Dudzinski

“Dear Diary”- Roam Davis

“In a Galaxy Far, Far Away”- Olivia Banks

“A Night to Forget”- Ricardo Abrajan

“Space Ship Gone Awry”- Dayonni Phillips

“Nature”- Kasha Payne

5


Freedom is like water. Ever body needs it. It shouldn't be a want it should be given and never taken away. Freedom is like a bird, flying in the sky knowing no one can

stop it from soaring high. Freedom is the power to do as you feel. Freedom expresses you in any way you want. It is love and hate which ever you please.

Freedom is precious never take it for granted. We are lucky to have so much of it. Freedom is power you hold in your hands. It is intended for good use but sometimes

gets out of hand. Freedom is being able to go out with friends but it is also your rights to fight for what you believe in.

Rain By Kasha Payne

The rain is relaxing, making many people want to sleep. The sound of hitting the roof sounds like little moving feet. Rain can be scary when it lightening and

thunders. The loud noises take away from the calm sensations it sends through your body. The rain is sometimes fast, making

the noise seem much louder. Almost imitating a war battle with the loud

crashes of thunder. But rain also sounds like peace … cleansing the ground. The slow, quiet drops wash away all of the

pain and sorrow.

6


Brooke Dudzinski

The Value of Independence

“You should learn to be strong and independent so that you can be with people because you want to, not because you have to.”

Dependence ties people together like a vine.It flourishes in deadly spaces and ties knots in unwelcome places.

I learned this in the matter of years it takes to thirst unconstrained freedom.Divorce is one of life’s toughest teachers.

It taught me to step back and look at the pieces:Not the picture.

I found myself taking my life Piece by piece

And rebuilding myself anew For my children.

Motherhood brought me the simple pleasuresMy other relationships could not.

Their untouched innocence, Ability to value others, and capabilityTo grow into the people they are today

disentangled me from my past.Life doesn’t stop when your heart breaksAnd the pieces don’t pick themselves up.

I had to put forth all of my energyTo gain all that I had lost.

I got my life backAnd most importantly my independence.

Seeking strength in others Only ties uglier weeds,

binding you to their formulated convictions. Your biggest supporter in life is yourself.

Belief in one’s self can set you free.When belief isn’t enough,

Acceptance of a situation is essential,and the relaxation of lying on the beach at the ocean.

“I love the sound, the feel, the wind.”

7


Brooke Dudzinski

“The Real Glory Days”

The library is a graveyard. An eerie silence walked in here a few decades ago and sat down on the echoes of the children’s laughter, squishing them to death, leaving me nothing but memories. I wiggled myself a little ways off the shelf to look through the windows. I wanted to see if the snow that had been falling like bombs had finally ceased. Sprinkles of dust floated around me as I did so. It had been collecting on my spine since this generation of students’ parents had gone here. In fact, I have not been lifted off this shelf and cherished for decades. The snow had in fact stopped; much to the excitement of the students and staff whose comments of disgust had snuck under the door cracks. However, I am not pleased. I have nothing to watch with the snow no longer falling to the ground lazily, and sometimes dangerously.

I used to spend my days standing tall and proud on my spot on the shelf, joyously watching children lingering around the library like it was Disneyland. Excitement flooded their eyes like it was Christmas morning. Their hands roamed the shelves hungrily, searching for the perfect tale, or the best source. Those were my glory days and my pages still ache for them. I can still recall the days when students checked me out with hopes of learning the origins of World War One. I was

a hero to students hoping to ace history class. Nowadays, people prefer using the Internet to answer history essay questions on those fancy Mac computers just a few feet away from me. Books have needs too, okay? Loneliness has been consuming me, making my pages feel frayed and light, completely lifeless. I pray for death, but instead school years continue to start and end before my very cover. Devout readers still come into my home from time to time, grabbing new fictional tales about lovers, and dystopian places. I watch the “new” books revel in their glory days, traveling outside of the library, experiencing new places, and new readers. They are carted back in

bragging about their voyages outside these prison bars that hold me in.

However, there is another force entirely that keeps me stuck here and the library in a constant muted state. That force would the librarian. That woman is as confusing as a Where’s Waldo book. She takes care of my family and me, playing doctor by nursing our tears and breaks, and getting us back to our appointed homes by curfew known as the “ due date.”

Despite my depressing state, I am still thankful for the life I have lived. I am undeniably in love with stories that I not only got to teach, but be taught while

8


experiencing the diverse group of readers this school has brought to me. My glory days are long gone, but not forgotten.

“Dear Diary” by Roam Davis

Dear Diary,

This is my first day doing this kind of thing. I had never done this before. If I had to do this, I should just tell you who I am and what I do. First off, if you are wondering who or what I am, I am a computer, like seriously. If you don’t believe me I will put a picture here for you. Yes, I am a computer with a screen and a motor thingy. This is actually my first time being out of my box when these people from this school ordered me to be in a classroom. It feels weird to be in a classroom and looking at the back of students.

1st hour was nothing but ignorant kids not listening to their teacher. Today in 2nd hour, the classroom was over filled with students of many cultures. This class was called history. They started learning about the holocaust and how Adolf Hitler killed many Jews during the class period.

I’ve learned third hour was separated because of four lunches. My class had D lunch so they had plenty of time to do things in class. The students today had to research for some senior paper because of

9


course they are all seniors in the class, so it was my time to be used for something important. Some girl with blonde girl and nerdy-looking glasses got on me. She looked like the not-so-smart type. She was chewing and popping gum, which inflamed my anger. What she was research about was why are people so against gun regulations in some states. Instead of research for that, she started looking up pictures of tattoos she wants and has on Google Images. I was so mad that I started to steam. When their lunch hour came up, I was so glad that she got off. She wasn’t going to get any grade for a picture of a tattoo.

In 4th hour, it was absolutely empty. I guess the teacher had no class that hour, so I just sat there and looked around the room. The classroom wasn’t that big, but big enough for about 20 students. It had posters and class work covering all four walls. It reminds me of a jail cell where prisoners are the students and the teacher is the ward. Speaking of the teacher, she was a scary-looking woman. Looking like the ogre from Harry Potter. She wasn’t really doing anything so she just faded off to sleep. I was laughing on the inside because of how she slept. Snoring like a grown man.

5th hour came around and this class was barley filled. I think only 8 kids were in this class. The subject was called creative writing or something like that. These kids were of all the grades. This was my favorite class because most of the class they are on the computer typing creative stories, poems, and sayings for anything. There were many computers in this class so there is a 10% chance for me to be used, but my luck came when one student sat in front of me. She looked like she was probably a junior or senior based on her age and I was still shocked that she sat at my seat. By looking at her work in my savings folder, she was pretty good at writing. Her ideas exploded on the paper like a ocean hitting the shore. After reading this, you would probably think I am just a stalker just by reading and watching these kids do this stuff. Well, I’m not.

10


Olivia L. Banks

“In a Galaxy Far, Far Away”

This is not planet earth. Yeah, sorry to tell ya’, but planet Earth blew up about 3 billion years ago. Luckily us humans were able to escape before the big BANG!!! By the time it happened, we were all prepared. We all hopped into a huge spaceship and flew to planet Humpty Dumpty (we named it that because it looks like a giant egg). Unfortunately, there were only three people in the whole of us that could breath the new planet’s air. Obviously, I was one of them. And ironically it was my best friends, Irony and Pub that survived.

They are the perfect people to be stuck on a planet with because they’re

survivors. Together we tried to escape the barren planet with the spaceship that got damaged trying to dodge huge space rocks, while trying to carry all of mankind. But the stupid thing just lay on the ground, uselessly, like a dead beach whale. After a while, we decided to just leave it to go search for another source of transportation. I’m not sure, but I believe that we walked halfway across the whole of this new planet because when we finally stopped, our surroundings were completely different. We were on an island. When we stopped to rest, we all huddled together to decide what exactly we were going to do since there obviously wasn’t any transportation anywhere else on this planet. I became the voice of reason and suggested that we just worry about tonight.

Pub and Irony nodded and suggested we look around for logs in the forest to start a fire with. We ventured into the shadow filled woods, all of us trembling from the cold breeze that suddenly knocked us into each other. None of us had any way of telling how long we were in there searching, except for the huge star that graced the sky where our sun used to be. So, according to that, I guessed we’d been in there for hours. When I nodded my head we all started back to the beach to start our fire. I wasn’t sure if it was just me, but every step I took seemed to have an echo. Whenever I’d jump down from a rock and land in the fallen leaves I’d hear a scurrying of paws trying to keep up. Now I’d be freaked out if I didn’t make up in my mind that it didn’t eat me yet, so it must just want some company. I chuckled as I made my way over a huge log. I stopped, suddenly realizing that my echo had stopped. I looked around for the creature that had been following me, but seeing as the shadows were deepening around us, I wouldn’t be able to see it anyway.

My heart was beating faster now that Pub and Irony had unknowingly, left

me behind I ran to catch up. All of a sudden my echo was back, but it sounded a thousand times heavier. My legs struggled to stay ahead while my arms struggled with the weight of the logs. Out of the blue, my legs gave way to a wayward vine and I tripped, landing on my back. Listening to the footsteps becoming closer, I closed

11


my eyes and waited for my death, praying for an easy one. With each step of the creature, my arms went tighter and tighter around my head. When they stopped next to my neck, all I could do was let out a strangled squeal that squeezed past my cotton filled throat. I became confused after a while, wondering why I haven’t been eaten yet. Slowly, I opened my eyes to come face to face with a black snout. Letting my arms drop from my head I stared into the cutest blue eyes I’d ever seen. I yelped as the creature made an abrupt turn and came around to my other side. He (I’m assuming it’s a he) stared into my other eye. He looked as confused as me. Slowly, he looked me up and down before taking a few steps back. I cautiously peeled myself from off the ground. Fear slowly slipping off me, I studied the creature. In all honesty, it looked like a horse with a huge horn coming from its chin. I looked at it for a while. And then, I smiled. It was so cute. And it was definitely a boy. I walked toward it, and then he rubbed his nose on my hand. And that’s when I knew. But it was impossible, I told myself. He was my long lost brother.

“A Night to Forget”By Ricardo Abrajan

This story is fiction. None of the characters or events ever existed or occurred. Thankfully.

I hadn’t had a drink nearly 10 years, but then I went to my high school reunion to see all of my old friends. Unfortunately, I saw my even older friends: tequila, vodka, and some other nasty spirits I drank when I was thirsty. Once I stopped, I couldn’t stopped, and loved how much I made my friends laugh. Usually I don’t remember what I do when I’m in an intoxicated state, but who cares. YOLO, right? In order to keep the party going, and prove to my friends that I was still the cool and funny guy they used to know, I took off my shirt! Shortly after, someone called the cops and then I drank as much as I could. I threw away all those years of sobriety and therapy to be funny, and it was funny, because I’m funny. Sadly, I was arrested that day for public intoxication. I was really cold in my lonesome cell. Sigh. If only I could remember where I left my pants.

12


“Space Ship Gone Awry”By Dayonni Phillips

Dear Diary, I am stranded on an unknown planet and have been here for two months. My spaceship crashed and landed here on a journey to Saturn. It has been a dream of mine as well as my two best friends, who are also astronauts, to reach Saturn. However, we ran out of fuel and lost all of our food before falling seventy miles per hour onto this planet. This planet is like no other planet I have learned about or one that is known to mankind. There is much fog and humidity; however, there are several trees and plants. During the night, a strange glowing mist comes. It covers the entire planet and so that we are not able to see two inches in front of us. However, it is harmless. Also, the mist has a sweet smell like bananas and vanilla. The mist is a greenish yellowish color and whenever it comes, I am instantly put to sleep. As I mentioned before, all of our food was lost during our crash. We have been feeding on the leaves and plants nearby our ship. However, we have all agreed that we should search for more food deeper into the forest. One will stay by the ship while the other two hunt and find food. Sam and I decide to go while Roger stays. As Sam and I begin to walk, we begin to see a gleam of sunlight about ten yards into the forest. I push the vines with hand as I walk further into the forest. I hear a bird chirp above in a nearby tree. Ribbet. Ribbet. I hear a frog, which gives me hope of finding a river or stream nearby. We walk for about ten minutes and finally reach a river. It is pure and beautiful. The sun gleams onto the turquoise water and I dive into it. I take huge gulps and lay my head back. I grab my canister and fill it up to give Roger while Sam begins to sharpen a stick that is about three feet long. All of a sudden I hear a noise from a bush to my right. I turn quickly around and expect to find Roger, but there was no sign of anyone. “Roger, is that you?” I call out, but no one answers. We headed back after Sam caught eleven fish. As we arrived to our campsite, I heard a twig snap behind me. I turn around, but I don’t see anyone. Back at the campsite, Roger had already made a campfire and began cooking the fish when we arrived. Today was a good day. We were able to add fish to our diet and drink pure water to quench our thirst.

Dear Diary,I continued to hear someone following me as I was searching for more firewood today. I told Sam and Roger about it, but they told me it was the sun getting to me because we have been on this island for an entire month alone. I try to brush it off and accept their reassurance, however, I am still a little skeptical.

Dear Diary,

Today has not been a good day. When we returned to our campsite, all of our food was gone and our clothes were ripped to shreds. Roger found a huge footprint hat

13


was a yard long and six inches deep. That really freaked me out and finally opened Sam and Rogers’s eyes to my theory that we are not alone on this planet. Dear Diary,I am alone. I woke up this morning and Sam and Roger were nowhere in sight. I walked through the forest calling out their names for two hours, but received no replies. I found Roger’s shoe by the river and Sam’s compass by a tree not too far from the campsite. I pray to God for my safety but I can’t sleep and my heartbeat is racing all day.

Dear Diary,

I saw that evil creature. He is about twenty feet tall and has a very small head. His head takes up about three sixteenths of his entire body. His body is long and wide. Each of his shoulders is as wide as a thirty-inch flat screen TV. His body is covered with long dark hair. The color of his hair is like tree bark, which explains why it was so easy for him to blend in with the trees. He has a long narrow nose that resembles a beak of a toucan, but has a darker tint. From his mouth, hang tusks like a mammoth’s and its toenails curl up like a witch’s fingernail. I saw him by a dark cave hidden in the darkness of trees. I was out searching for Sam and Roger when I heard a loud noise. It sounded like a group of people trying to sleep whose throats are sore and noses are clogged. I followed the sound, which led me to a darker part of the forest. The trees were broken and pulled out of their roots were torn out of the ground. Vines drooped down almost touching the ground and it was as if this part of the forest was isolated from all other parts or as if it didn’t belong. The ground became colder and a chill went down my spine. I walked through a bush and there I saw that hideous creature. He looked like the father of Big Foot mixed with species of a bird. He was laying down asleep which explained that horrifying sound. I walked up to him, but he didn’t hear me. I started to walk into the cave when I tripped over a vine and fell onto my knee. I didn’t scream but I saw two inch gash in my knee and blood came running down. At that moment the beast awakened. He looked confused when he saw me but his eyes immediately was filled with hunger and rage. I got up and ran as fast as I could through the forest. He was right behind me. He ran on his arms and legs like a dog. I could feel his hot breath and heavy footsteps shake the ground under me, but I never looked back or slowed down. I ran across the river and slipped on an underground rock. I thought I was done for at that moment. I squeezed my eyes shut waiting for my last seconds of life to be ended by the sharp cuts of the beast’s sharp teeth. However, something weird happened. The beast stopped in his tracks the instant he saw me run into the river. It was as if the river was surrounded by an electric fence that he could cross. I later found out that water carried some type of force that protected anyone from the horrible creature. The mist that arrived during the night came from the river and its smell was nauseating to the beast. I captured this mist in one of my jars and whenever the beast would come around, I would open the jar and the beast would run away. If I didn’t have my jar I would run into the river, which is where I spent most of my days living happily ever after.

14


“Nature”By Kasha Payne

Being outside is one of my great get-aways. Many people find nature as simply trees, dirt, rain, etc. To me, it’s so much more. Being outside frees my mind. The smell of outside is amazing to me. The smell of warm air, fresh cut grass, or even the smell of the lake near by. Whenever I have things on my mind I love to go sit on my roof. Feeling the wind hit my face sends a relieving feeling through my body. As if there were no worries in the world.

Many people don’t take in the beauty of nature. Im different though being outside really makes me see the world in a different way. Being outside makes me feel free, as if I could just sit and listen to the birds chirp and trees creek. Sometimes I feel like I could live outside fighting the forces of nature and living off the land. It wakes your eyes up to how we live each day. We don’t always live the way were supposed to. When im outside I think about life a lot, I think about my life and life in general. I think of how much worse things could be.

Nature is the hidden beauty of life. Why hidden? Not everyone sees the beauty. To me it’s night in front of my face. Nature reminds me of life and just how precious it can be. How could people ever take life for granted? So many questions come to mind when I think about nature. Why do we live the way we do? Why are people forced to live life in a way they may not want to? All these things come to mind. Nature wakes up my mind at times but also relaxes my mind. In times when I have too much going on I listen to the woods. The small noises like the trees swaying, the leaves falling, or the water running. They all free my mind. At times nature can be overwhelming. The questions that run through my head…

15

upfront&unplugged2

Documents

freedom of creativity

unconstrained freedom

creative writing

kasha paynethe rain

powerfulrandom fact

steprandom fact

dependence ties people

value of independenceyou