the bird on fire

The Palm Valley School Student Blog

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Far Away Under the Sea–20,000 Leagues to be Precise

by Leave a Comment

By Critic-of-Far-Away-Things James Zheng

When Editor Doreen ordered the Blog Staff to WRITE ABOUT FAR-AWAY THINGS, James responded with a book he read long ago that took place far, far away . . . .

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is the most profound book I have read. I still remember the time I was studying in middle school that we were required to read tons of literary works, and I was completely not interested in reading. One day, we were told to grab a book in the school library. I randomly grabbed this blue-covered book and flicked through the pages. Then I looked at the title. It caught my interest and made me read this science-fiction novel. I still can’t believe that I finished this 1,000-page book for an extra-curriculum reading assignment.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) was published serially in 1869-1870. It was written by French writer Jules Verne and belongs to the second series of the Verne Trilogy (the other two are In Search of the Castaways and Mysterious Island).

From my perspective, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is one of Verne’s best works. Verne’s rich imaginative and meticulously delicate writing characteristics have made it into a masterpiece. Jules Verne creates a thrilling underwater adventure. His protagonists travel through ocean regions. During the process, whether it’s frustration or joy they experience, they learn about nature and humanity. The elements in the novel are strange; the language mainly focuses on vividly depicting an underwater world full of mystery. The description of everything is detailed and interesting, both artistic and scientific language make the image appear in front of you. Verne writes confidently of human beings recognizing and conquering the ocean, and shows the tenacity and courage of human will. The overall story includes technical knowledge of the underwater world associated with biology, geography, etc. 

Let’s take a look at the reviews given by other bloggers. (Note: This is translated from the original Chinese.)

  • “I was amazed at the author’s comprehensive and extraordinary knowledge and understanding about everything of the ocean. In many places, things, customs and culture can be counted as a treasure. In reading this book, we feel like we are back in the 1800s and actually have an image of everything that belongs to that era. . . . . I saw a little bit of the historical background [of] that time and [was] astonished by the extensiveness of the author’s thoughts. To create a series of interlinked, closely related and non-existent things . . . requires a strong imagination and knowledge . . . . I saw the sadness of the protagonist . . . . He holds his own hatred towards the world and isolates himself from society.”–Blogger Siwangqishidetongchu. https://www.zhihu.com/question/285823396/answer/498167494 

I truly feel the loneliness of actually going under the sea for twenty-thousand miles. Maybe sometimes we choose to isolate ourselves from human civilization and try to be more in tune with the natural world. I cannot think of more reasons to recommend this book but for its undiscovered “depth.” 

  Far Away Editor: Doreen Yuan

How to Draw an Alien

by Leave a Comment

By Chelsea Xu PROFESSIONAL AP ART STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE

Editor Doreen says, “Blog something Far Away!” So, Chelsea instructs us in drawing our “far-away” neighbors.

Hello, everyone!! Today I’m going to teach you guys how to draw my version of an alien. Everybody has their own alien in their imagination, so feel free to add your own features on your alien if you like.

Let’s get it started!!

Step #1 Draw a circle on the upper hand of the paper.

Step #2 Draw two lines alongside the circle.

Step #3

Now, since I am drawing the face a bit sideways, the centerline of the face should be a little left or right to the side. As well as the jaw, if your line is on the left, extend the right jawline a little further, and if your line is on the right, then do the exact opposite.

Step #4

Add the eyes!! Note that the eyes are not totally symmetrical to each other because the head is tilting to the side. 

Step #5 

Add shadow in the eyes!

Step #6

It’s time to add the nose! This is a unique pointy nose, but honestly, you can draw the nose however you like! They are aliens after all.

Step #7

Even though you cannot see the mouth clearly, I did draw the mouth. It is below the nose of course, and, again, you can do any shape of the mouth you like.

Step #8

Horns!! I added some pretty unique horns to my fellow alien; adding some extra features on your aliens will make them extra special!!

Step #9

It’s neck time! Since the head turned to the right for a little bit, the neck needs to be in a different direction as well. The left line connects the edge of the jawline while the right line connects to the left jaw.

Step #10

Add the beginning of the shoulder blades at the endpoint of the neck. Note that is a downward slope, not a straight line.

Step #12

Erase the helping lines gently, and add a bit of shadow under the neck.

And ta-da!! You are finished!! Here is the result of our lesson!

Awesome job, everyone! I hope you guys like and learned something in this tutorial. I ́ll see you all next time!!

                                                                                                  “Far Away” Editor: Doreen Yuan

Let’s See Them Aliens

by 1 Comment


Editor Doreen tasked the Blog Team with addressing the theme of “Far Away.” This is Luke’s response.


By Luke Langlois, Buzz Lightyear’s friend

We are all-too-often defined by our differences in life, but, at the end of the day, we have many universal similarities. We all (hopefully) speak the universal language of laughter and smiles. I also have a side theory that dogs are constantly trying to replicate our smiles, but that’s not the point of this post. I am here to discuss the one universal quandary that everyone has considered at one point or another in their lives–where are the aliens?

Unless you’ve been living under a metaphorical rock, you heard about the Area 51 Raid that took place on September 20th, 2019. The “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” event started out as a Facebook event. As the event gained internet fame, people began to think that this was a great idea! The military isn’t just going to take down millions of citizens. Although, the Air Force did say that they would do whatever needed to defend the United States and its assets. Anyway, two million people on Facebook alone marked themselves as “attending,” and an additional one million said they were “interested.” This doesn’t even take into account the additional millions of people who don’t have Facebook that heard about it through other sources of media like Twitter, Instagram, or the mainstream news networks. We may seem globally divided all the time, but that hasn’t stopped us from putting millions of heads together for a “joke.” Doesn’t that give you some faith in humanity? 

The actual impact of the raid breached the physical world as well as the digital world. Lincoln County, a county neighboring Area 51, drafted an emergency declaration to prepare for a (predicted) 40,000 raiders. The town of Rachel, Nevada, had similar fears. They hypothesized that raiders and their cars from more temperate climates would not be able to handle the heat, causing emergency services and general stores to be overwhelmed. Luckily, their worries did not materialize. Only 150 people actually showed up around Area 51, and only two people were arrested. To my disappointment, nobody tried to raid Area 51. 

We were not able to rescue the extraterrestrials from Area 51, so our alien brethren will remain a mystery. Everyone has a different opinion on extraterrestrial life, but if I had to generalize, people tend to believe that aliens are far, far away. I don’t think so. We’re not quite sure just how expansive the universe is, but we do know that Earth is a tiny dot in the grand context of space. I also subscribe to the multiverse theory. According to my limited understanding of this concept, there’s a universe where Palm Valley’s primary uniform color is teal. Yes, teal. Given this, are we expected to believe that nothing else in our universe, let alone any parallel universe, has stumbled upon Earth? The chances of that are slim, especially when you also consider our Earth’s long history. I’ll leave you with this thought: there already are extraterrestrial species on this planet. They landed long before humans could understand matters like these. Armadillos are weird. Cats have bumps on their tongues. That’s not normal. Trust me, near or far, our intergalactic neighbors are watching. 

Editor: Doreen Yuan