the bird on fire

The Bird is the Word: Sophisticated Schoolyard Shenanigans

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Analyze My Dream

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By Holden Hartle

Recently, I had a dream, and I thought I would leave it up to the readers of the blog to analyze it and figure out what’s wrong in my life.

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You’re sitting on a hill. You are midway between the base and the top. The hill itself is grassy, but not the typical green, lush grass. It’s dirty and faded. The dirt isn’t soft or cold either. It’s dry and sandy. As you stand up, you have to wipe the dirt off of your shorts. Looking out in front of you, you see a landscape of that same grass and scattered trees.

At the base of the hill, two lions come out of hiding. You inhale sharply. They walk towards you ever so slowly. It feels like an eternity before they reach you. Their fur is golden and shiny, and their eyes are so brown one could mistake them as black. As they approach, you see their white teeth gleaming in the sun. They are ready to kill.

The moment they are at arm’s length, you give a swift smack to each of their noses. That seemed to do the trick. Seemingly in fear, they rush back to the base of the hill. You take a big sigh of relief.

To relax, you lie down on the grass. It’s crunchy and dry, but the sun feels nice on your skin. As you lie, you take a deep breath of fresh air. With your eyes closed, you have to rely on your other senses to feel the world around you. Doing this, the world seems different. You notice that it’s rather warm, and you begin to perspire. Your relaxation keeps being interrupted by an itching sensation caused by the unpleasant grass. As you sit up to itch your leg, you open your eyes to see that this landscape that was once covered in dry grass has been replaced by a hoard of snakes. You inhale sharply.

There is nowhere to run. As far as the eye can see the world is covered with snakes. These snakes are silver with teeth that are ready to kill. Their eyes are black. You turn around to face the top of the hill. At the very top is a school desk. You figure that snakes can’t climb, and so you decide to rush to the desk. The desk is only about fifty feet away, but it’s uphill. You can’t risk falling down into the snakes, so you walk briskly, but carefully, with your arms spread out beside you like a tightrope walker.

Upon reaching the desk, you climb on top of the chair. The snakes seem to realize that they can’t get you, so they slither away.

You slide down in the chair and sigh with relief. You can once again feel your surroundings. The air feels warm again, but the desk is cool and feels pleasant against your skin. You are facing the opposite direction you were facing before. On the other side of the hill, the trees are much more plentiful. The grass gradually turns lush and green as it disappears behind the trees.

A friend walks up behind you. She stares in the same direction you are. Upon noticing her, you ask, “Are you okay? Did you see the lions and the snakes?” She doesn’t respond. Instead, she turns to you and exclaims, “This is what you get!” She reaches into her pockets and grabs handfuls of beetles. You can’t examine them because as soon as she dumps them on you they crawl towards your face. You feel their mouths biting your skin. You close your eyes. Everything turns black.

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At this time, I woke up in a cold sweat shaking profusely. This happened several weeks ago, and I am still trying to pinpoint what the different animals and landscapes could mean.

Editor: Makena Behnke

Liberation

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By Hannah Hall

Some days I need to just lift my spirits and set myself free. The one cliché people say is “go to your happy place” and all will be well. Do you know what I say to that? I say alrighty, and I head on out to my happy place. You may have thought reading that question I was about to bash the whole idea of happy places ‘n such, but actually I just wanted to bring you along to my happy place to experience it…you know, in case it is one of those days.

“The Happy Place”

Imagine yourself waking up to the peaceful aurora and its warm, pink, glow glistening upon your cheeks. You go to open a window; the cool breeze prances upon your body as if you were the sky. You are breathing in the clean, fresh air, letting it fill your lungs, and then you exhale–it leaves your body along with any tension you have hidden within you. You listen to the trees as birds sing and leaves crinkle. Take a step outside and feel the earth beneath you. The ground is not harsh, but comforting and supple. Feel the space between you and everything around you; embrace it and allow yourself to flourish. It is just you and the world, man, you and the world.

Doesn’t that feel nice? Personally, I am not a morning person, but this scenario just makes me want to be woken up by the sun naturally with no uhhhhhh blaring alarm clock. Sorry for making you think of that dreadful device, but at least now you have a happy place to go to! I am interested to hear your happy place and how mine made you feel. Thanks for coming along the journey with me. Peace out, my free birds.

Editor: Luke Langlois

These Songs are Actually Pretty Good

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By James Zheng, a surprise music critic blogger

Music, as a part of our daily life, has always accompanied us whenever we need it. And, according to what I have seen so far about what people usually listen to around me, it’s normally either rap music or pop music. I’ve included plenty of unknown songs worth recommending in this post; you might recognize them; maybe not. Let’s find out.

Overall, I categorized them by genre to give you a brief preview of each.

Rock Music

  • Simple Plan the band. Recommendation for their songs: Holding On and Take My Hand. Simple Plan is from Canada. I would consider them as derived from punk rock. I have listened to each of their albums; I am obsessed with their unique style; this style is second to none. They do not generate the conventional idea of rock that makes a very noisy track. They don’t do much heavy metal sound; instead, they have a very cheerful track style. And, before they put the sound of electric guitar in, they usually have a fantastic melody mixed with piano and bass. All of their songs are amazing.
  • Daughtry the band. Recommendation for their songs: It’s Not Over and Over You. Daughtry is from America, and they are more popular than Simple Plan. Their style is a little bit hard to define because they keep changing it in each album. The unique thing about Daughtry is probably the lead vocalist’s–Chris Daughtry’s–wild singing style. You feel like he is yelling, but in fact he is not. He just puts his emotion fully into the song as few people do.

Instrumental Music

  • String For a Queen by ELYZA/Xan. Speaking of instrumental music, String For a Queen is my favorite ever song. The beat keeps rising and falling, it is really unpredictable. In another words, you don’t know what’s coming next, but you are expecting something more, and eventually the better thing than the expectation comes. The String For a Queen has a really dreamlike beat which more sounds like a fantasy motif. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK075fzsDCM
  • Blue by Xeuphoria. Blue has a very tranquil beat. When you are nervous or restless, try to listen to this song and it could help a lot to calm your mind down and make you fall into the enjoyment of this quiet melody.

Electronic Music

  • Demons (Original Mix) by Paris Blohm.
  • Wolves by Selena Gomez, Marshmello.
  • I am not sure if electronic music is popular in America. I think that it is a huge improvement from traditional instrumental music. Initially electronic music was played without lyrics, but to further innovate and make it more exceptional, a DJ (Disc Jockey) decides to add the singing part in to make it better.

Popular Music

  • What Are Words by Chris Medina. This song has a touching story behind it. The incentive for Chris to write this song is due to an accident that happened to his wife. His wife got severely injured and needed a large amount of money to pay for the therapy bill. Chris decided to participate in the show American Idol and strove to get the reward so that he could pay for his wife’s medical bill. Although he was eliminated, the song left an intense impression. The track consists of piano and violin, which is a simple combination of sounds. But he has a great voice and captivating emotion in the song.
  • Color Blind by Matt B. Matt remixed an instrumental song called River Flows in You, and then made Color Blind. Matt has an unexpectedly unique voice; his singing style is quite natural and casual. And the whole rhythm of the song is really relaxing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BInjDfGMUlM

Anime Theme Music

  • Call of Silence by Gemie. Call of Silence is a interlude song within the anime called Attack On Titan 2nd Season. It is more likely to be a character song. The whole song is in English without a singing accent; you can understand the lyrics clearly.  
  • Red Swan by YOSHIKI/HYDE. Red Swan is the theme song for Attack On Titan 3rd Season, and most of the lyrics are in English. It is a light rock song fused with the sound of piano.

If you listen to music a lot and have not yet known these songs, I strongly suggest you to get know them. You might step into a new musical realm.

Some Social Psychology

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By Luke Langlois, AP Psychology Student & Blogger

At this point in my life, I have already taken the AP Psychology exam. But, that does not mean my knowledge of psychology can just hide off in a crevice forever. Not yet, anyways. Today, I would like to introduce to you some concepts from the last chapter of the AP Psychology textbook: social psychology. Social psychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on interactions between people. First, I will go into the fundamental attribution error. The fundamental attribution error is a simple concept, but it describes an “error” that we make just about every day.

The fundamental attribution error is the social psychology phenomenon that says we tend to explain someone’s behaviors or actions with their internal dispositions, rather than with their external circumstances. This concept is usually applied to a situation in which one person does something another person does not like. The peeved person will usually think something like “Wow, that person probably hates me, tortures puppies, and is generally a terrible person.” The error is believing that the actual “bad” behavior was due to something in the offender’s personality. Why not an example? You get cut off while driving by someone who is going about 80 miles per hour on the city streets. You shout out loud, as many drivers seem to do, “What a ******!” But, that driver has a pregnant lady in the car who is having a BABY! It’s the external factors that usually drive a behavior, not the internal ones. Now, that’s not to say some people aren’t just rude. But, I do not have scientifically backed knowledge on that fact. So, stop making the fundamental attribution error. Catch yourself making this error. Maybe you’ll like people more.

Speaking of liking people, why not have a brief segment on what goes into attraction? That’s another thing that goes into social psychology. The following is a list of the big elements that play into attraction. Be warned: this isn’t an exact science.  

  1. Proximity – Geographic proximity is an important one. Obviously, you can’t fall for someone across the country. That’s obvious. In addition, if you’re around and are interacting with a person over and over, you’ll find yourself liking them. That’s us people falling victim for the “mere exposure effect,” which states that the more we are exposed to something, the more we like it. Again, don’t go for the “ACTUALLY I HATE THIS PERSON AND I’VE KNOWN THEM FOR YEARS.” It’s not an exact science.
  2. Physical Attractiveness – Unfortunately, physical appearance does rank up there as one of the most important features of social attraction. There are a lot of reasons as to why that is, but I’m not going to go into that.
  3. Similarity – Fun fact: opposites do not attract. That is a phrase meant for hopeless romantics. Birds of a feather flock together. The more like-minded you are to someone, the more you’re going to like them.

So, that’s a couple of concepts of social psychology. If you want to know a bit more about social psychology, google it yourself, or DROP A COMMENT!

Editor: Makena Behnke

(N)Ice Post.

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(N)Ice Post

By Luke Langlois

Did you know that officially declaring something makes it true? I am officially declaring war on Holden. The goal? I will prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that my sports predictions were far worse than his. Now, if you have read Holden’s post on the NBA rankings, you would know that a victory for me seems unlikely. Yes, Holden was quite wrong. But I broke rule #1 of playoff hockey; it’s unpredictable. Today, I would like to revisit the post that I wrote “predicting” the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

As a reminder: this is the bracket that I created. This does not reflect the current round of the playoffs (which you should watch). Let’s start with what I got right.

  1. The Dallas Stars did indeed eliminate the Nashville Predators in six games.
  2. I correctly predicted that the St. Louis Blues would eliminate the Winnipeg Jets in six games.
  3. San Jose eliminated the Vegas Golden Knights in seven games. The hockey genius over here called it.
  4. On that note, I did correctly predict the Western Conference Finals matchup!
  5. The New York Islanders eliminated the Pittsburgh Penguins in FOUR games, a perfect sweep. I predicted that this would happen in six games, but I’ll give myself credit for this.
  6. The Boston Bruins eliminated the Maple Leafs in seven games, which matches up with my bracket.

I did get quite a few matchups correct, even down to the game count. Statistically, I got more correct than most people. But I got a couple of matchups glaringly wrong, which devalues just about everything I got right. Here’s what I got wrong:

  1. The Calgary Flames did NOT eliminate the Colorado Avalanche in six games. The Avalanche eliminated the Flames in five games. This was one of the many upsets by a Wild Card team.
  2. The Washington Capitals did take the Carolina Hurricanes to seven games, which matches my bracket. Unfortunately, I figured that the Capitals would be able to take the game seven on home ice. They did not. The Hurricanes won game seven in overtime, 4-3. So, that was not all that bad. I only got it wrong by one goal, right?
  3. If this were not a written post, I would let out an audible sigh here. Remember when I was saying Tampa Bay was just too good to not win it all? As a naive child once said, “. . . it is my FIRM belief that Tampa Bay is just TOO GOOD!” Yeah, that was me. Tampa Bay had one of the best regular seasons in the history of the NHL. Tampa Bay had a goal differential of +103. As a refresher, that means they cumulatively outscored their opponents by 103 goals. But suddenly, hockey started meaning something for them again. They could no longer cruise to win their games. The Tampa Bay Lightning were not receptive to this message. They got swept by the Wild Card Columbus Blue Jackets in what could be seen as the largest upset in the history of the NHL.

If you did not notice a common theme among the teams that got upset in the first round, they were ALL #1 seeded teams. This year marks the first year in NHL history that each division winner was eliminated in the first round. Anyhow, that’s enough of what I got wrong. Allow me now to update you on the current matchups going on.

  1. In a shock to many, the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New York Islanders in four games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. If you went back a bit, you would know that New York just swept Pittsburgh in the first round. Apparently, it was a fluke. This Islanders team was the first since the 1993 Buffalo Sabres to get swept after completing a sweep.
  2. The St. Louis Blues beat the Dallas Stars in double overtime in a seven game series. A win is a win, but it easily could have gone either way. As a reminder, St. Louis was dead last in the NHL in December. Good job, Blues.
  3. Many people expected a LOT from the Columbus Blue Jackets after their bulldozing of the Tampa Bay Lightning, but the Boston Bruins made relatively quick work of Columbus, defeating them in six games. Boston is currently leading Carolina three games to none. The winner of this series will advance to the Stanley Cup Final. Perhaps the city of Boston will be able to end their long-running championship drought.
  4. The San Jose Sharks, pleasing the home crowd, took down the Colorado Avalanche in seven games. They are currently facing the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference Finals.

How many upsets have occurred in the NBA playoffs so far? One. How many upsets occurred in the first round of the NHL playoffs? MANY! Tune in to the NHL playoffs before it’s too late. Trust me. Watch these games.

Editor: AJ Patencio

How to Make the Transition to Adulthood: Using the Catcher in the Rye as an Example of What Not to Do

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By Holden Hartle, who takes his namesake from Holden Caulfield

This spring break, I took a trip to the East Coast in which I traversed Massachusetts and Rhode Island completely by myself. Everything from transportation to food was accounted for by me. It’s scary, needless to say. But I had a friend during this time, Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye.

I had never read the book before, despite it being the book I was named after, and I couldn’t have read it at a better time.

The book follows Holden, a sixteen year old who has just been kicked out of yet another prestigious school because he is unmotivated to complete his schoolwork. The angsty teen only passed one class at Pencey, his English class, and this was because he had read all of the books in previous years. His struggles in school stem from his hatred for adults. All adults with few exception are “phonies.” His teachers are no exception.

Because Holden is the narrator, and a pretty snarky one, you have to take everything he says with a grain of salt. He will state that a certain adult is a phony, but as the reader, you have to ask yourself why he would say something like that. Is a character actually a phony, or is he just a phony through the eyes of Holden? My brief background in AP Psychology tells me that Holden is displacing his fear of adulthood onto all adults, instead of accepting the transition.

The book gets it title from Holden describing his fantasy of being a “catcher in the rye” to his younger sister, Phoebe. He explains the scenario in which he is in a rye field with his back facing a cliff with a sheer drop off. In this field, children are running towards the cliff, and Holden is picking them up, and placing them further away from the edge.

Pretty weird fantasy, right? Not when you understand the consciousness of Holden.

To me, the bottom of the cliff is adulthood, and these children are conforming to what society wants; they are making the jump to become adults. Holden is desperately trying to keep these children in their current state, but he can’t save everyone. The reader learns that Holden has almost a quixotic factor to him. He has the idea that he can save everyone, but obviously this isn’t the case.

Towards the end of the book, Holden is watching Phoebe on a carousel. Holden cries happy tears as he watches Phoebe going round-and-round, stagnant in her childhood. She isn’t headed in a straight line to adulthood, she is stuck in her childhood, and that makes Holden happy.

So what does this have to do with you? Well, don’t be like Holden. The inevitable tide of adulthood is coming, and you can’t stop it, no matter how hard you or Holden try. So adjust. Humans are amazing at adapting to new social environments. Whether you are going to college or getting your first job, you can adjust to that new environment. If you completely immerse yourself, you mold yourself to match that situation. Holden couldn’t adapt; thus he clung to childhood with all of his being. This ultimately was his downfall. Don’t be like Holden.

Editor: AJ Patencio

bahrain in the membrane, bahrain in the brain

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By Makena Behnke

today, i bring you a quick info drop on a country that i find interesting: Bahrain. i came across this country while inspecting different flags and found one that caught my eye: a white and red zig zag flag. i looked it up and found Bahrain. my “not being taught about many Middle Eastern countries” is the main source of my interest in learning about them (something i do in my free time). so, i present to you a summary of things i learned about Bahrain. this is going to be a jumble of a bunch of random information; stay with me.

first, a little bit of background info: Bahrain, or the Kingdom of Bahrain, is a main island off the coast of Saudi Arabia and near Qatar, but thirty of its surrounding islands are also classified as Bahrain. it’s connected to Saudi Arabia and its surrounding islands by the King Fahd Causeway. Bahrain’s name comes from the Arabic term al-bahrayn, which means “two seas.” Bahrain’s capital, Manama, while being littered with impressive skyscrapers and wicked cool architecture, also serves as a major port city. the Bahraini economy is fueled by large amounts of crude oil production. Bahrain was the first emirate where oil was discovered in 1932 and has evolved into one of the most diverse economies in the Middle East. it has a population of 1.493 million, and their currency is the Bahraini dinar.

a majority of their population is made up of well educated and wealthy people; it is categorized as one of the wealthiest Gulf states. Bahrain is ruled by a traditional monarchy with the king as the main leader. Bahrain’s crime rate is low, with petty theft and pickpockets being the dominant crimes. according to safearound.com, it is ranked as the 111th safest country, but some regions of Bahrain are still safer than many places in the U.S or Europe. (safearound.com is actually a great resource in case you’re curious about when the best times to trek through an unknown country are or if you should bring your $75K diamond earrings.)

Arabic is the official language of the nation. Farsi, English, and Urdu are also widely understood throughout the country. now, religion time: 70% of Bahrain is Shi’a Muslim, 15% is Sunni Muslim, and 15% is either Christian or Jewish. Bahrain has an abundance of date palms and has been a major site of resources since Sumerian times. summer in Bahrain is humid and hot, going up to high nineties, not ideal, but winter has its lows in the seventies.

Bahrain’s land is only about 3% arable. it uses its small amount of land for tomatoes, pomegranates, citrus, bananas, and dates. most of its food has to be imported. you’d think because of all the oil production marine life would be damaged, therefore affecting the fishing part of the economy–you’re right. oil leaks and spillages have greatly reduced the number of economically beneficial fish and other marine life. unprocessed petroleum serves as Bahrain’s main export, as well as aluminum goods to the United States and Japan.

medical care there is free, and they have the highest female literacy rate in the Middle East. their legal system stems from Islamic and English law. compared to its surrounding gulf states, Bahrain has a very diverse population, both religiously and ethnically. Bahrain is more Westernized, in terms of clothing and everyday life, compared to its neighboring states. coffee is very important in Bahraini culture and is mixed with saffron and cardamom. Bahraini food often includes fish, meat, and dates. some common dishes: shawarmah, roastiree-ed lamb or beef, and muhammar, sweet brown rice with sugar/dates. soccer (really it’s football) is a popular sport among the young and old. horse racing is also super popular.

there is so much more to this country that i haven’t mentioned. for some reason, i find this particular country incredibly interesting. hopefully, you impress your friends with your extensive knowledge of this country.

sources:

https://www.britannica.com/place/Bahrain


https://www.everyculture.com/A-Bo/Bahrain.htm
https://safearound.com/asia/

Editor: Luke Langlois

Philosophically Speaking . . .

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By Makena “I-Like-Philosophy” Behnke

as everyone knows, philosophy is super cool, but super broad, at least when you’re offered that topic to speak about [as Philosophy Editor James did to Makena]. where do you start? well, here’s some quick philosophical quotes and their philosophers–some little things to give us pause.

Plato- “Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.”

Hippocrates- “Life is short, the art long.”

Isocrates- “It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Do not mistake activity for achievement.”

Lucretius- “So potent was religion in persuading to evil deeds.”

Origen of Alexandria- “You yourself are even another little world and have within you the sun and the moon and also the stars.”

Socrates- “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.”

Ogyū Sorai- “Mathematicians boast of their achievements, but in reality they are absorbed in mental acrobatics and contribute nothing to society.”

Ptolemy- “As material fortune is associated with the properties of the body, so honor belongs to those of the soul.”

Homer- “Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are today. We will never be here again.”

Yang Chu- “Dead people are not concerned whether their bodies are buried in coffins, cremated, dumped in water or in a ditch; nor whether the body is dressed in fine clothes. What matters most is that before death strikes one lives life to the fullest.”


Philosophy Editor: James Zheng

Monster Prom 2!… Well, Almost

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By Dayton Kennard

Hello readers! If you can remember, a while back I did a post on Monster Prom, a dating sim that’s also a competitive multiplayer game entirely about romancing monsters who are probably too old to be in high school but are anyways. The game developer, Beautiful Glitch, made a wonderful and unique take on the classic dating sim and continued to bring more intriguing and outlandish adventures to their fans through seasonal updates, as well as new downloadable content. But just this week, they’ve done something many fans have been eagerly awaiting…

Beautiful Glitch has officially released their KickStarter for Monster Prom 2: Holiday Season!*

Where is KickStarter? Who is KickStarter? Why is KickStarter? Kickstarter.com is a website that allows content creators to raise money for a project through “pledges” of money from interested people in exchange for rewards for their loyalty! Beautiful Glitch used KickStarter to fund their first game (Monster Prom), and are now using it for funding their second game (Monster Prom 2)!

While they only released the KickStarter for Monster Prom 2 this week, they surpassed their funding goal in nearly one hour; they went on to raise over $100,000 in about 12 hours, and now have raised over 400% of their original goal in just about 24 hours! This is likely due to the tempting rewards they have made for their backers, including (but not limited to) dakimakuras, custom characters, polaroids, and even a trip to Barcelona, Spain!

While it’s not even been a week since its launch, the Monster Prom KickStarter is already surpassing expectations rapidly, and seems to continue growing daily!

Editor: Luke Langlois

*https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/corintio/monster-prom-2-holiday-season