the bird on fire

The Bird is the Word: Sophisticated Schoolyard Shenanigans

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Here be Monsters

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By Renée, for “Dream” theme

a monster crawls out of a closet.

a monster crawls out from under the bed.

the door, the shadow, the walls.

a child can feel the death lurking. 

she stays as still as she can.

the sky from outside gets lighter.

she collapses finally into sleep.

When I was little I didn’t believe in monsters or ghosts until bedtime came. I would lie in my bed and fall asleep, but sometime during the night, I would wake up and anything could happen. Monsters, ethereal pitch-black shadows with skeletal hands, haunted me. 

a feeling of falling.

way too real of a feeling.

her legs are unsupported,

air rushes past,

her lungs gasping for breath.

people she loves look on.

they let her fall.

she stays silent.

not asking them for help.

instead, she weeps.

Then during my middle-school years, my monsters became less shadowy. They stopped waiting for me to wake up and infiltrated my deepest fears. They knocked me over and tested me. And I failed.

the monster.

it creeps up.

not as slow as one would like.

she doesn’t fight it tonight.

not tonight.

it confirms her deepest fears.

it embraces her, swallowing her into the darkness,

she emerges only in the morning.

As I got older the monsters didn’t come as often, but when they did, they came with a vengeance. I fought hard some days, others… not so much. Between the medication and worry, some nights I just lay there, yearning for rest, but it waited for me. So I just let it consume me.

a black hole.

darkness, as vast but as absolute as the ones from childhood.

this time it had grown. 

it threatened her but,

it wanted everything.

it was the end.

Dreamer Editor: Doreen Yuan

Luke’s Guide to Becoming The Nightmare. . . of Monopoly

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By Luke Langlois

Dreams are (usually) pleasant experiences. As long as you get enough sleep, you will eventually float away into a new reality where life has a tinge of ethereal magic. One of my dreams has always been to become a world-renowned Monopoly champion, and the key to being a champion, of course, is CRUSHING YOUR OPPONENTS. Some people may think Monopoly is just luck, but only non-Monopoly champions subscribe to this philosophy. Have you ever heard someone win a Monopoly game and then attribute it to luck? I bet you haven’t because winning Monopoly is a display of the purest form of skill. Here is a brief guide on becoming a self-proclaimed “Nightmare of Monopoly.”

  • The House does not always win. In Monopoly, you should never choose to become the banker. When scheming masterminds are formulating their ultimate plan, do you think they are busy worrying about someone else’s business? Playing the role of the banker distracts a player from their craft and may result in a loss of focus. The temptation may be there to refute my tip by saying you can “steal” money from the bank, but world champions do not cheat (looking at you, Astros). 
  • Buy EVERY property you land on. In real life, most people would tell you that it is wise to save money and manage finances intelligently. In essence, you wouldn’t want to spend all of your money on the first thing that comes to mind. However, in Monopoly, owning more properties always has some sort of benefit. Even if you’re not trying to make a monopoly with a certain property color, owning even one property of a color can restrict your opponents from achieving a monopoly of their own, which could make it a useful trading piece down the line. Remember, you can always collect the mortgage on your owned properties if you are running low on dough. 
  • Don’t put too much weight into the utilities, but don’t overlook them either. The Electric Company and Water Works are not going to earn you much money, nor can you create a monopoly with them, but other people don’t know that. Again, buy these properties and use them to your advantage for a trade down the line if someone puts more value in a utility property than they should.
  • How was the west won? Railroads. While the utility properties aren’t great, the railroad properties can be game-changing. If one person owns all four railroads, landing on any of the four railroads will yield the owner $200. Any competent Monopoly player is not going to let you control all four properties, so the best that you can do is make sure that you own at least one to block someone from owning all four. If it comes down to it, you may even consider trading someone the “fourth” railroad for a hefty price. 
  • The orange properties are statistically the best properties that you can own. I’m not going to dive into the numbers, but the “chance” cards often put you one roll away from an orange property, so players often find themselves paying up to the king of the oranges. Also, the orange properties are a $1,500 investment for a max rent of $1,000, while the green properties are a $3,000 investment for a max rent of $1,200. 
  • Houses, houses, houses! Have you looked at the prices of San Francisco housing recently? When you establish a monopoly, you want to get the third house down as soon as possible (because the rent increases greatly from the second to the third house). Houses are going to inflict serious pain on your opponents, but don’t buy hotels! Hotels are a hefty investment for a relatively inconsequential increase in rent. Additionally, it is an official Monopoly rule that if the bag runs out of physical houses for players to place on the board, NO MORE houses can be built.
  • Later in the game, when most properties are owned and maybe even have houses on them, don’t rush to get out of jail. Jail is a cozy place where you can spend three turns NOT giving money to your opponents. While you’re in jail, your opponents will be jumping around the map and bleeding money.  
  • You have to be kind. Look, I love bullying my younger sibling as much as the next guy, but the odds are against you if nobody wants to work or trade with you. If you laugh in someone’s face when they land on your property, they will do everything they can to make sure you don’t win, even if they have no chance of winning the game themselves. Eventually, with your newly found Monopoly genius, people are not going to want to play with you anyways.  

I hope that this has been a supremely educational experience for you all. Now, I wish for you to all go off into the world and ruin family gatherings with your Monopoly skill. Remember, the United States of America is a nation of capitalists, and capitalists are born from Monopoly. So, whether you become a worldwide Monopoly champion, or the next CEO of Apple, learning the intricacies is the best place to begin. 

Dreamer Editor: Doreen Yuan

Dream Analysis

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By Dreamer Chelsea Xu

Hello, everybody!! Editor Doreen has assigned us the theme of dreams. Dreams can have many meanings and can also express how you feel as a person deep inside. These are some interpretations of dreams that you might have dreamed last night!

Just a reminder, these analyses are not definitive. You can totally feel completely different things while experiencing the same phenomenon as the next dreamer. So, with that in mind, let’s get started!!

Falling Dreams

If you dream of falling dreams, it may indicate that you have insecurities, instabilities, or anxieties. You are feeling overwhelmed and out of control in some situation in your waking life. Falling dreams also often reflect a sense of failure or inferiority in some circumstances or situations.

Flying Dreams

Dreams of flying usually mean you feel unhappy in the waking life and that you are totally out of control. Dreaming of flying in the air normally happens when one feels somewhat “out of control” in life.

Dreams of Natural Disasters

If you dream of a natural disaster, you’ll find that different disasters have different meanings. Fires in these dreams can relate to social problems. Water, floods, tsunamis, can also represent spiritual issues. Volcanoes and earthquakes can symbolize the physical body and ailments. And, if you dream with a comet or asteroid falling, it is a sign of a new era in your life.

Dreams of Death

Dreams about death often indicate “the symbolic ending of something, whether that’s a phase, a job or a relationship” (Dreams About Death: Dream Meanings Explained | HuffPost Life”). A dream about death can also indicate attempts to resolve anxiety or anger directed toward the self.

Precognitive Dreams

Precognition is a psychic ability to see events in the future. But, unfortunately, there is no accepted scientific evidence that precognition is a real effect, and it is widely considered to be pseudoscience–whether it’s in dreams or not. Precognitive dreams are usually dreams that appear to predict the future through a sixth sense.

Sources:

dreammoods.com › cgibin › fallingdreams › search=fallingintro.

https://www.huffpost.com › entry › dreams-about-flying_n_891625.

https://www.powerofpositivity.com › dreams-natural-disasters-means.

https://www.huffpost.com › entry › dreams-about-death_n_891555.

https://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com › precognitive-dreams.

Dreamer Editor: Doreen Yuan

One Night Katelin Dreamed of Woods . . .

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For Dream Theme

By Katelin Mei

We start in the woods–my sister, my friend, and I. We wanted to get away from society and technology, so we booked a cabin in the mountains. We wanted to get out of the city, go on a few hikes, live life simply, and take inspiration from the outside. My sister is a writer. She was looking for inspiration. The cabin is nice. There is a stone path that connects the cabin to the gravel road. There are flowers and a tree with a swing in the front yard, and we have a back porch with a few chairs that look out to the forest, which surrounds us on all sides.

There are two cabins in our surrounding area: ours, and an old woman’s. The old woman is always terrified of everything, and never leaves her cabin. We visit her sometimes, but she has strict rules about her house. The house is bright, as the lights are never turned off, and there is no silence. The music discs are always playing, filling the house with noise of some kind. The house smells like herbs.

We can’t deal with this anymore. The music is too loud. The cabin next to us leaks of strong herbal scent, which my friend is quite allergic to. The whole place seems unnatural. When we go on hikes, we never see much wildlife. There is no wind ever, not even a breeze going through the leaves of the trees, and yet the swing can sometimes be seen moving at night. We pack our bags and leave. As we leave, we see the old woman looking out through the window of her cabin. She closes her blinds as we turn the corner, and that is the last we see of her.

Back in the city, we feel safe. Even though the vacation was relaxing, we can’t help but feel haunted by it. My sister had entered a writing contest, and the winners got to talk to the author. When it was announced that my sister was one of the winners, we got the address to the author’s place. It was the same cabin that the old woman was staying in. I prepare myself for visiting the perpetually sunlit cabins, yet, on that day, there were shadows dancing around the trees.

When we arrive, there are many people. We all crowd around the house, but the door is locked. The police emerge from the house, and inform us that the author is missing. The crowd seems disappointed. I take my sister’s hand, and we walk around to the back of the house. We see that the old woman is there, but she is too terrified to leave the safe pen of her backyard. She stands there, shivering, with one trembling hand on the doorknob. My sister and I return to the front.

“What was that?” she asked

“I don’t know,” I responded, “but I have a bad feeling about all of this. Maybe we should go.”

We walk up the path and climb the steps, when I spot a cat. It has beige fur, and dark brown face, ears, and paws. As we pass it, it meows. We stop and look at it, and it meows again. My sister and I slowly back away from it, as it opens its mouth again. It still has the sound of a cat, but we clearly hear it say “Meow.”

I am terrified, and don’t know what to do. I throw something at it. It collides with the so-called “cat,” and the creature shifts to a human shape. It is a short boy, with dark hair and pale skin, wearing light clothes and dark shoes.

He looks at us, with a small smile.

“You have half of your remaining lifetime before I call the beast. Since both of you were destined to die in 8 minutes, you have 4 minutes remaining before I call it.”

Suddenly we hear a meowing from the forest. The boy tells us to follow, and we walk, not very far, into a nearby clearing in the forest. The same cat is sitting there, looking at the beast. I turn to look back at the boy, but he slips into the shadows of the woods, leaving us all alone with the cat and the beast.

The beast takes the form of a 7-foot woman. She has fair skin lined with grey veins, and wears a tattered outfit made of animal skins of all kinds. Her face is angular and sharp, and she has dark red hair–so dark that it is nearly purple. She has antlers protruding from her head, hooves instead of feet, and her eyes are black and soulless. When she looks at us, her eyes form red irises, and she opens her mouth, exposing sharp teeth. Black liquid drips from the corner of her mouth as a form of drool. We slowly back away.

The cat looks at us. “All you have to do is lick your hands and swallow your pride. Go and bow.”

We do so. I hear the grass crunching as the beast steps closer to us. . . .

Dreamer Editor: Doreen Yuan