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The Bird is the Word: Sophisticated Schoolyard Shenanigans

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Celebrate Valentine’s Day: Dream Plans from Dior and Mom

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By Sixth-Grade Blogger Dior Halum

In this Valentine’s season, Dior Halum spoke with her mom over the last couple of weeks and put together two paragraphs of what she and her mother’s perfect Valentine’s Day would be like: what they wear, what they do, and what they wish for.

Mom’s Perfect Valentine’s Day

Jeanette Halum has her perfect Valentine’s Day planned. She would like to spend her dream Valentine’s Day with her husband, her five children (Dior, Isabella, Enzo, Muna, Celine), and her mother. She would like to enjoy an amazing brunch of her kids’ choice with her children and her mother. To the festivities, she’ll wear a casual fun dress. After brunch, she wants to come home and do fun crafts/activities with her children–such as coloring and playing board games. She would also enjoy baking goodies and spending quality time with her children. After baking, she would decorate the house with flowers and hearts. At night, after all the fun, she would like to go to a romantic dinner followed by gelato, with her husband. To dinner, she would wear something elegant. Jeanette‘s ideal Valentine’s celebration would consist of lots of love, joy, and quality time. 

Dior’s Perfect Valentine’s Day

I’m Dior Halum, and I have always dreamed of the Valentine’s Day I am about to describe to you. I will start with an amazing breakfast at Hotel Paseo in Palm Desert. The people I would love to come with me would be my four siblings, my parents, and my grandma. I would wear flare jeans with a pink shirt and sweater. Then, I would like to go home and decorate the house with festive decorations such as heart streamers, party hats, and more. After that I would want to draw a Valentine’s Day banner to hang up at our house with my siblings. At night I would love to have a Valentine’s Day dinner at my house with all my friends and family. 

In conclusion, my mom and I both have our perfect Valentine’s Day planned out and hope one day our dreams come true. 

A Dream Valentine’s Day!

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A Survey Conducted by Soleil Antle 

Valentine’s Day is a special time once in a year to celebrate yourself, family and friends, no matter how far. On this day the air is filled with the magic of joy and appreciation as people send gifts and sweet messages of affection to their loved ones across the globe. Curious about Valentine’s Day celebrations close to home, seventh-grade blogger Soleil Antle asked the Palm Valley School faculty to describe their perfect Valentine’s Day. 

Ms. Patino from the Upper-School Office has a confident response!

Soleil: What is your perfect Valentine’s Day laid out?

Ms. Patino: Spend a day in Japan, exploring the city, and eating some Japanese food. Ending the day with my favorite donut (mochi donut) from Mr. Donut. 

Soleil: What gift would you want? 

Ms. Patino: Pink roses, and a Nintendo Switch. 

A short and sweet response from PVS Bookkeeper Alice Burkholder!

Soleil: What would you like to do on Valentine’s Day? 

Alice Burkholder: I would like a massage and a nice dinner.

Soleil: What is your dream gift? 

Alice Burkholder: A fully paid expense trip to Italy. 

A thoughtful reply from History teacher Mr. Satterfield. 

Soleil: What is your ideal Valentine’s Day?

Mr. Satterfield: I’d go on a nice walk with my wife and my dog, and we would go to our favorite restaurant, Talay Thai. Then we would go back home and watch a movie.

French teacher Ms. Brady has a great response! 

Soleil: What would you like to do on Valentine’s Day?

Ms. Brady: I’d like to have my nails done and get a facial, then get a new outfit at Bloomingdales (with new shoes). Then I want a candlelit dinner in a really nice restaurant, with crème brûlée  for dessert.

Soleil: What about the perfect gift?

Ms. Brady: An all-expense paid vacation to Paris, first class tickets. Hotel stay at the Georges V!

Ms. Maguire gives a humble response. 

Soleil: What is your perfect Valentine’s Day laid out?

Ms. Maguire: I would come to school in Valentine’s Day clothes and get free ice cream from Handels.

Soleil: What gift would you want?

Ms. Maguire: Somebody else makes my dinner and it tastes delicious and I don’t have to clean dishes. 

Mrs. Fisher answers fiercely!

Soleil: What would be your perfect Valentine’s Day?

Mrs. Fisher: My perfect Valentine’s Day would be a really delicious meal, in a romantic setting after having spent the day with my husband either golfing or having a massage. Then capping it off with a nice meal.

Mr. Killeen gives a lengthy response.

Soleil: How would you spend your Valentine’s Day?

Mr. Killeen: Get up early, and I mean real early before the sun rises. Then get in the car, get out to a trail, not just any trail though–one with a crazy view with either a waterfall-ending or a mountain-view ending. Hike up for an hour in the dark, stop for a cup of coffee, which I make over a small camp stove while watching the sun rise. Continue up the mountain till you reach the end. Have a wonderful picnic dinner there, with a hiking buddy. Camp overnight with companions. Then hike down the next day.

Soleil: The best gift would be? 

Mr. Killeen: The best gift would be to travel to Patagonia/Iceland with friends. 

These are very thorough answers from our Palm Valley School faculty, quite the variety. As I interviewed people, I have learned just how unrealistic these dreamed-of days are, but it’s all about the imagination. Whether you’re on a vacation in Paris or enjoying a massage, you are spending time with those special people. “Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is growing up.” James Baldwin

–Soleil Antle 

What Home Means to Morgan

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By 7th-Grade Poet Blogger Morgan Richardson

Morgan hails from Oregon. She still speaks wistfully of the Pacific Northwest where she spent her early years. So, in our Blog Staff discussion of dream houses, Morgan recalls aspects of her Oregon home.

A house, a home 

A place to build memories

With the people you love.

Alone or together 

In these walls 

We will remember forever.

A marble kitchen counter,

Golden hardware,

Wooden floors,

My sister stepping through the door.

Footprints embedded in the cream-colored carpet.

A dog bed with a mountain of hair around it.

The office with a giant chandelier

All my family I miss so dear.

A big deep blue couch,

A hot fireplace and a kid too close–“Ouch!”

Rodents hosting showdowns in the upstairs attic.

Creaking floors made children panic.

Pink mermaids plastered on bed sheets.

A bunked bed where we spilled all the deets.

A six bedroom palace when I was small,

My past–I still cherish it all.

If you could live anywhere . . . ?

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By 6th-Grade Bloggers on Special Assignment Dior Halum and Sophia Nayfack

Over the past couple of weeks, Sophia and Dior went around campus asking the PVS community: “Given ANYBODY, ANYWHERE, who do you want to live with and in what kind of weather?” Since it is so hot in the desert, Sophia and Dior wanted to see if people would stay given the chance to leave. 

8th-Grader Elizabeth Trevino-Greenwood

“I want to live in cold and snowy weather with my best friend Emmy! ”

8th-Grader Zoey Guess

“I would like to live with my husband and in snowy weather.”

7th-Grader Grace Ghaly

 “I would like to live in a beachy climate with my family.”

8th-Grader Ryder Gardner

 “In a place where there is always sun with my dog.”

Ms. Emma

“With my son Dean in the snow.”

8th-Grader Zoe Groendyke 

 “I want to live alone with my cat in the snow.”

12th-Grader Lily Jones

“I would like to live with my best friends in the sun.”

9th-Grader Sierra James

“I would live with my dogs and friends in the cold.”

6th-Grader Lina Kakoussian

 “I would want to live with Reagan and Greenlee in a 70℉ weather.”

6th-Grader Charlie Joyce

 “In a sunny climate with Mikel and my dog Maurice.”

6th-Grader Cash Brasfield

“Beachy weather with my dog.”

6th-Grader Daniel Bagheri

“In the sun with my friends.”

6th-Grader Mikel Lomsky

“In the sun with my friends.”

6th-Grader Roman Magellanes

“In the snow with my friends.”

7th-Grader Silvanita Garcia

“The rain and snow with many animals.”

Coach Erenberg

 “75℉ with my wife.”

In conclusion, we got a wide variety of answers throughout the different grades, and even staff members! Everyone gave their question a lot of thought and personality! The most common answer throughout the campus was a snow-filled landscape with friends. 

“A true friend knows all of your flaws and chooses to stick around.” — Elizabeth Trevino Greenwood

Senior Spotlight: Alyna Llapitan 

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Alyna Rei is featured as second in our Blog series on Graduating Seniors and Returning Alumni. Penny interviewed fellow blogger Alyna on her longtime PVS Firebird experience.

By Penny Andreas

This week, our blog post theme is focusing on seniors. I chose to have an interview with Alyna Llapitan. Alyna has been here at Palm Valley for six years, or since she was in 6th grade. Here are some of the questions I asked her. 

 How would you describe your overall school experience? 

“I would say pretty eventful; I experienced many opportunities in my life that I’ve never thought of myself doing.”

What opportunities?

“I joined a group called CSF (California Scholarship Federation) in high school and there were events such ice skating and volunteering that helped me break out of my comfort zone.”

What was your favorite part?

“I liked working and hanging out with my friends Christina Lam and Cole Robinson. They are the ones who put me in a better mood everyday. I’ve been friends with them since middle school.”

What was your least favorite part? 

“The stress. When I get stressed, I build anxiety and bad expectations in my head.”

What are some pros and cons of school for you?

Pros:

– “you gain friends that help you even outside of school”

– “there are teachers that are great even outside of class”

– “the lessons you learn that actually help” 

Cons:

– “lots of homework can be stressful”

– “bad days can bring your self esteem down”

– “cramming the night before an important day”

And, finally, is there any advice you would give to other students?

“There are always going to be ups and downs at school, but you just have to accept that it will be fine in the end. :)”

Alyna actually turns out to be graduating a year earlier than her peers. She plans to attend the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, studying pre med coursework. The reason that she graduated early is “I plan on going to medical school which can take a long time and I wanted to start a little earlier.” 

The Dream-Man, A Sonnet 

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By Middle-School Blogger Poet Penny Andreas

As the clock hand reaches for twelve,

And the chimes gong in the silent night, 

When all you hear is the echoes of bells, 

He awakens, by my side. 

He has no body, only hands with string;

He controls your brain when you have no thoughts, 

But he’s the one that awakens them, 

And makes sure they don’t rot. 

The deepest sleep, when he plays with your mind

He makes these scenarios, places them in our head,

Makes people chase you, with nowhere to hide, 

 Then comes that next night, to play them again. 

He creates the nightmares, the dreams too. 

And it’s not only me; He’s also beside you.

How To Do Anything You Want In Your Dreams

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By Oliver Martinez, Middle-Schooler with an Opinion and a Dream

If you don’t live under a rock then you probably have heard the phrase “everything is possible.” This is partially true, as some things like going back in time or reviving the dinosaurs are impossible. But, there is one way to make it possible–in our dreams. Anything is possible in our dreams: we can fly, go back in time, be rich; the list goes on. But how can we do this? It’s called lucid dreaming. You may remember Levi’s post on Astral Projection and Lucid Dreaming in “Has Levi Been to Area 51?” Lucid dreaming is the act in which you become aware of what you’re dreaming and you’re sometimes able to control the dream. 

Oliver and Levi wishfully dreaming.

How can you have a lucid dream? According to healthline.com, there are a couple reliable ways to test if you’re lucid dreaming. Here are a few:

  1. Test reality. Testing reality is the process of asking yourself if you’re dreaming, or if what’s happening is real. Experts suggest doing this every 2-3 hours. Wake up; ask yourself “am I dreaming?”
  2. Get a good sleep routine. Try to sleep a good amount of hours each night. Around 8-10 hours of sleep is ideal. Also, try not to take in caffeine and peer into a computer screen before sleeping as both can affect dreams in a negative way. 
  3. Keep a dream journal. Keeping a journal with all the dreams you’ve had is a good way to force the brain into remembering each dream. This can affect your dreams as it increases the chances of you realizing you’re in a lucid dream.

Sadly, there is a downside to things we find good. According to WebMD, lucid dreams can lower your sleep quality. They can also make it harder to fall back asleep if you’ve woken up. Imagine waking up after having a lucid dream about somebody chasing you, or falling from a cliff. This can seriously make it hard to fall asleep again.

I have personally experienced a lucid dream, and I found it really interesting and crazy how real it felt. In the dream I was running through some mountains, but after going so fast I fell into a river. Right before touching the water I woke up. I was nervous, but around 10 minutes later I fell asleep. In my opinion, you should definitely try these methods to have a lucid dream yourself as they are very exciting and are definitely an experience you would want to live through and share with others.

Has Levi Been to Area 51?

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Ever wonder how it would feel to float above your body and look down on it? Levi Kassinove goes in depth on astral projection. Levi, true to form, goes on to explain his thoughts on the matter. Is it all just a mind trip, or is it time travel? Maybe you would like to try it yourself. – Editor Abigail Horwitt

By Levi Kassinove, Conspiracy Theorist

Astral projection, or an out-of-body experience, is when someone gets the sensation that they’ve detached from their physical body. We’ve seen it on Netflix documentaries like Surviving Death; we’ve heard people say in surgery they watch themselves from above; maybe you’ve traveled outside the confines of your physical self. Oftentimes people feel like they’re dying when their “astral self” floats above their body; this may be where the idea of a soul comes from. When people from thousands of years ago experienced astral projection, they may have explained it by thinking we had souls. This could also be the cause of alien abduction stories. According to an NBC News story, what people believe to be alien abduction might actually just be a lucid dream or out-of-body experience. Michael Raduga, lead researcher at the Out-of-Body Experience Research Center in Los Angeles, designed an experiment to “test his theory that many reports of alien encounters are actually instances of people experiencing a vibrant, lifelike state of dreaming” (amazon.com). He surmised, if he could “coach people to dream of a realistic alien encounter, . . . that could prove that many reports of such encounters . . . are really just products of peoples’ imaginations” (NBC news). Astral projection is indeed a real phenomenon, but its true nature is not entirely understood. What exactly is astral projection?

Many of you have heard of lucid dreaming, which is the event in which sleepers become aware of the fact that they are dreaming. Most astral projectors you talk to (Jesse Denyer) will tell you that lucid dreaming is completely different from astral projection. Countless people on Reddit support this anecdotally, and some even claim that “lucid dreaming is controlled hallucinations while astral projection is a true vision” (Reddit thread). 

A lot of the things people claim to be able to do during astral projection are similar to what’s possible in a lucid dream. You can visit any place you want, eat any food you want, meet any person you want, and pretty much anything else. However, in lucid dreaming, you need some frame of reference. Some people say that you can’t project to forbidden places. For instance, one anonymous internet user said, “since 99.9% of people on earth have never been inside Area 51 and haven’t the slightest idea what it is like inside, it’s a sort of blank area in their minds”(I sincerely apologize for having to crawl to Reddit, but it’s astral projection so what did you expect?). So it may just be a dream after all where your brain could only fill in what you could already visualize. Maybe Lilah, who claims she has aphantasia, should try astral projection. Maybe, astral projection is a form of lucid dreaming. The methods I’ve read about for astral projection all indirectly or directly say that you have to be half-asleep for it to work. You have to either attempt it immediately after you wake up, or relax your body to the point where you’ll fall asleep. 

I don’t believe that lucid dreaming and astral projection are the exact same thing, as lucid dreaming involves awakening in the middle of a deep dream, but they are certainly related. Astral projection seems to be, like lucid dreaming, a weird, in-between state of lucidity and dreaming while the person is awake. Try it. Some people claim to be able to time travel and visit dinosaurs, so why wouldn’t you want to try that? If you’re interested in attempting astral projection, Michael Raduga outlines various ways to do so in his free ebook, titled The Phase. It’s a 400-page mind-labyrinth that crosses theory with reality a bit too much, but it explains ways to hallucinate. If you’ve already had an out-of-body experience, tell me about it in the comments.

Levi projecting what astral projecting looks like.

*The views presented by Blogger Kassinove do not represent the views of thebirdonfire.org.

How does it feel to have prophetic dreams?

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By James Zheng

I never firmly believed in a future-seer theory. I had an ambivalent view on prophetic dreams, dreams that hint at events to happen in the future. The positive effect of such dreams could enable us to be prepared for the upcoming events, but it instigates a dreadfully scary question about the theory of destiny–Is your destiny already decided? Fate never sounded like a thing to me. Therefore, I had no imagination of how it would be like to accurately predict a future event. The existence of such magic could only immensely terrify me.   

Some confuse prophetic dreams with Déjà vu, which is a term for the feeling that one has lived through the present situation before; it is also scientifically explained as a phenomenon of memory delusion. And according to my experience of prophetic dreaming, it is a different feeling. When a specific conversation, place, and any other presence appears before me, the sense would come to me that such an image has already emerged in my past dreams, so I would possess an instant realization, “This happened in my dreams in the exact same way.” Then the scene of that dream would come to my mind again. As I have gone through this countless times, now I can remember several examples.

Once I dreamed about being in Disneyland located in Japan. That was the time before summer as I was a junior in high school. The dream felt so real since I could hear and see everything clearly. So when I woke up, I basically just thought to myself, “There is no possibility that this could happen during summer, cuz I am going to be busy with college stuff and independent pre-AP classes.” But who would know that after four months my younger cousin came to my city and spent his summertime with me, and my father suddenly suggested I should take him to Japan. As I rejected the suggestion, my cousin seemed really unhappy… and more ridiculously, my father told me it was actually a promise he made to his brother one time when he was inebriated on a feast. Okay, so, we went to Tokyo to visit some tourist attractions;  Disneyland was one of them. And the primary thing is that I had already completely forgotten about that dream until the moment I walked into Disneyland. 

My second prophetic dream is even more whimsical. When I was back in the U.S. again, I dreamed about talking to a guy in our school and he made a joke about a video game I liked. But the thing is that I hardly ever play a game with him. And again, who would know that after three months we bought the game and played together. 

“Risk of Rain, more like Risk of Pain~~”

“Could be true.”

After 10 seconds, “Wait… no… this is not possible.” As I muted my mic and started growling. 

So, I was absolutely terrified. All of the cases my dreams predicted so far were merely trivial, but what if I had some “realistic” nightmare that plausibly predicted a happening? And there are no omens to warn me until it truly happens to make me aware of it?

There could be a thousand explanations given, yet none of them match with my experience. And our almighty guide “science” couldn’t even do anything about it. This prophetic dream is quite astonishing, huh? Remember that human beings used to pursue this ability. People used to study the stars and make assumptions about their future based on the movement of star clusters. Now I have this genuinely unstable power, and maybe someday I should learn how to control it–if possible….

My father shares his opinions that youngbloods like me all should have similar experiences. But I feel the concept that I call “prophetic dream” might just be an outcome of mind overload. After all, who knows exactly how it functions? If you have some ideas to share pertaining to the topic or something more intriguing about this, I would be glad to read your comments.

Dreamer Editor: Doreen Yuan

I Dreamed A Dream—My youth

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By Quintus

Who walked away from whose youth, left a smile? Who stayed in whose flower season, flooded with thoughts? Who disappeared from whose rainy season and warmed the mist? When I knock down these words on the road, my youth has quietly slipped away.

When looked back upon, more than a thousand days and nights drift past. Once I tried to seize the past, but it drifted away from me. When I walked from the village to the high-rise buildings, roadside flowers still bloomed, showing the world their elegant demeanor. This began my youth. Then year after year, day after day, spring to autumn, cold to warm spun by. Life steeled me and forced me to grow up.

I don’t remember how many times tears ran. Efforts failed again and again. Whose youth is not in the growth of blood and tears? Despite numerous struggles, I insist–one’s life cannot go on in weakness.

Don’t waste time. It is not only youth that has withered. Infinite scenery can be viewed in the mountains. The road to knowledge is plain. Only those who are not afraid of difficulty can climb to the top, appreciate the beautiful scenery, enjoy that the world is getting smaller. There is no hesitation in youth. In June, looking forward to the arrival of a drizzle, washing my vanity of youth to feel the sky after a storm. If the night is not long, how can the stars be so bright; if there is no suffering, how can youth grow strong in power.

Unconsciously, my youth is drifting away. The time of junior high school has been out of my memory. Times are ruthless; friends are precious. We accompanied each other. As long as you remember each other, it’s beautiful!

Past years were our youth. In the dusty world, our secrets were hidden almost in each corner. What a gorgeous funeral of youth. At some point, someone will silently pray for you. Youth can be wasted at will. But youth cannot come back. Nobody can help you suffer the pain of regret. You can heal yourself. You must admit that because of your waste, your youth was lost. You should hold tight to never give up, learn to be strong. Be not afraid of the future. We are all the same. Keep those fresh memories; youth is never out of date. Youth is not only restless, capricious, lonely, confused, but also childlike, innocent, good, and lovely. Spring has gone; we cry for youth in the drizzle, but it has been like a gust of wind, gone without a trace.

Youth is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions. Even if time is in a hurry, and the troubled world steps into a war, youth cannot be stopped.

Countless days and nights I dreamed to return to the middle-school classroom. Listening to the teacher rubbing chalk on the blackboard. Seeing love letters passed between students. Smelling the fragrance of Osmanthus in full bloom outside the window. Everything is so beautiful. I think I know now more about the charm of youth than I did…. Even at that time, there were many regrets, but I did not feel regret, because I dreamed of dreams…

Dreamer Editor: Doreen Yuan