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Part 5 of the story

by 50 Comments

By Doreen Yuan

A Review of the Urban-Legend storytelling rules:

1. The comment section is part of the story. All comments are ordered by the number.

2. Comments that include a >> and a number (ex: >>1) are replies to the comment with that number.

3. Anonymous users in the comment section are part of the story. There are multiple anonymous accounts.

4. The main characters named No Longer Human and Curry are part of the story in the comments.

5. Readers can leave messages in the comment section but should not intentionally destroy or try to confuse the coherence of the story.

6. Readers can respond to any anonymous character interaction in the comment section–that response may change and contribute to the story.

7. Do not use inappropriate language.

8. The roles and anonymity in the comment section are created by the primary story author himself.

9. The time of all messages is based on the time of writing.

10. Have fun, and enjoy it.

*This is a continuing story. The last installment was posted December 5, 2019. The story is told through the “Comments” section. Read them carefully.

Editor: Quintus Ni

Part 4 of the story

by 63 Comments

By Doreen Yuan

A Review of the Urban-Legend storytelling rules:

1. The comment section is part of the story. All comments are ordered by the number.

2. Comments that include a >> and a number (ex: >>1) are replies to the comment with that number.

3. Anonymous users in the comment section are part of the story. There are multiple anonymous accounts.

4. The main characters named No Longer Human and Curry are part of the story in the comments.

5. Readers can leave messages in the comment section but should not intentionally destroy or try to confuse the coherence of the story.

6. Readers can respond to any anonymous character interaction in the comment section–that response may change and contribute to the story.

7. Do not use inappropriate language.

8. The roles and anonymity in the comment section are created by the primary story author himself.

9. The time of all messages is based on the time of writing.

10. Have fun, and enjoy it.


*This is a continuing story. The last installment was posted November 15, 2019. The story is told through the “Comments” section. Read them carefully.

Editor: Katelin Mei

Part 3 of The Story

by 38 Comments

By Doreen Yuan

A Review of the Urban-Legend storytelling rules:

1. The comment section is part of the story. All comments are ordered by the number.

2. Comments that include a >> and a number (ex: >>1) are replies to the comment with that number.

3. Anonymous users in the comment section are part of the story. There are multiple anonymous accounts.

4. The main characters named No Longer Human and Curry are part of the story in the comments.

5. Readers can leave messages in the comment section but should not intentionally destroy or try to confuse the coherence of the story.

6. Readers can respond to any anonymous character interaction in the comment section–that response may change and contribute to the story.

7. Do not use inappropriate language.

8. The roles and anonymity in the comment section are created by the primary story author himself.

9. The time of all messages is based on the time of writing.

10. Have fun, and enjoy.

*This is a continuing story. The last installment was posted November 14, 2019. The story is told through the “Comments” section. Read them carefully.

Art Editor: Chelsea

Part 2 of The Story

by 37 Comments

By Doreen Yuan

A Review of the Urban-Legend storytelling rules:

1. The comment section is part of the story. All comments are ordered by the number.

2. Comments that include a >> and a number (ex: >>1) are replies to the comment with that number.

3. Anonymous users in the comment section are part of the story. There are multiple anonymous accounts.

4. The main characters named No Longer Human and Curry are part of the story in the comments.

5. Readers can leave messages in the comment section but should not intentionally destroy or try to confuse the coherence of the story.

6. Readers can respond to any anonymous character interaction in the comment section–that response may change and contribute to the story.

7. Do not use inappropriate language.

8. The roles and anonymity in the comment section are created by the primary story author himself.

9. The time of all messages is based on the time of writing.

10. Have fun, and enjoy it.

Continued from Part I, posted on October 3 . . . . Note: The story is in the comments. Read them all.

Editor: James Zheng

Part 1 of the Story

by 52 Comments

by Doreen Yuan

A Review of the Urban-Legend storytelling rules:

1. The comment section is part of the story. All comments are ordered by number.

2. Comments that include a >> and a number (ex: >>1) are replies to the comment with that number.

3. Anonymous users in the comment section are part of the story. There are multiple anonymous accounts.

4. The characters named No Longer Human and Curry are part of the story in the comments.

5. Readers can leave messages in the comment section but should not intentionally destroy or try to confuse the coherence of the story.

6. Readers can respond to any anonymous character interaction in the comment section–that response may change and contribute to the story.

7. Do not use inappropriate language.

8. The roles and anonymity in the comment section are created by the primary story author himself.

9. The time of all messages is based on the time of writing.

10. Have fun, and enjoy it.

The story begins . . .

A microblog for help

By No Longer Human 

                   Hey, so if anyone is seeing this right now, I need help~ I am on a train coming back home, and I’m lost. I’m at “Kisaragi station.” Does anyone know where that is???

The story continues in the Comments . . . .

Story Editor: Renée

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

The Monkey’s Plunge

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By Charles Schnell

Charles, no longer a Blogger-on-Staff but a consummate writer, still contributes short stories. “The Monkey’s Plunge” is his latest parable-ish fable submission.

On top of the hill in the middle of the forest the monkey meditated with his master in the master’s temple. The aged master, having two ounces of wisdom for every one wrinkle, imparted perhaps the most profound piece of wisdom he could to the monkey at the end of their meditation session. This was it: “Do not chase after the glitter, the riches, or the fame, my monkey. Those are all gold, but who needs gold when you can have God?”

The monkey replied, “Why can’t I have both?”

“If you allow your heart to fill with gold, there will be no room left for God,” said the master. “But, if you fill your heart with God, you will never need gold. You will still want it on occasion, which means you must be careful, for the second you let gold in, God gets pushed out.”

“So, what are you telling me to do? Run from the gold?”

“Run from the gold, monkey. Run to God.”

“Yes, master,” the monkey said, not completely comprehending his master’s words. With this, the monkey left the temple and returned to the city to continue on with his life.

An hour had not even gone by before the monkey forgot his master’s teachings for the day.

The week that followed had been no ordinary week, for the monkey had finally been discovered. The monkey was getting famous, as he had always wanted. Fans wanted to meet the monkey wherever he went. They asked for autographs on the most random and unexpected of objects. In addition, his earnings skyrocketed. He started buying things he had always wanted.

In fact, the monkey grew so busy that he had to cancel his weekly session with his master. This is the first time he had ever cancelled. When the monkey came to see his master to tell him, the master sighed, shook his head, and only had this to say, “Remember: Be careful, my monkey. Run from the gold. Run to God.”

This final message from his master went into the monkey’s right ear and out of the left. He hurriedly walked through the jungle back to the city; he had a dinner reservation.

Almost a whole year passed without the monkey coming back for his meditation session. He grew so involved and integrated into city society that he had forgotten about his wrinkled master. He even made a few self-righteous and conceited decisions along the way.

It was at this point when the monkey realized that his situation was changing again. The city no longer loved him. In fact, its people started to turn against him. They didn’t like the monkey anymore. They grew jealous of the monkey. They grew to hate the monkey. They wanted the monkey gone. So, as if right out of a cartoon, they grabbed their pitchforks and flaming torches. The monkey was chased from the city.

But that was not enough; they wanted him gone for good. Gone gone. They chased the monkey throughout the jungle. Taking advantage of the vines to swing on and the branches to jump to, the monkey managed to avoid his ex-fans for a fair amount of time. But, eventually, they cornered the monkey at the edge of the waterfall.

The monkey had no choice but to take the leap of faith and dive head first into the lake below the waterfall. The monkey’s plunge caused a huge splash, convincing the people he was gone gone. The people peacefully returned to the city, taking their pitchforks, torches and hatred with them.

Meanwhile, the monkey was still in the lake under the waterfall. He felt relieved. He felt safe. But, his feelings of relief and safety quickly turned into confusion as the current of the lake pushed him into the connecting rapids. The rapids tossed and turned him for many miles. The fearful monkey could not do anything but close his eyes, continue his record of involuntary summersaults, and pray that the pain would end soon.

He eventually stopped moving. He was still underwater, and the rapids were still roaring by him, but he was no longer being carried down the river. Then, he realized why he had stopped moving: he felt a hand grabbing onto his arm. The hand started pulling him out of the river. Trapped underwater, he had no clue as to whom the hand belonged and prepared for the worst.

The master eventually pulled the monkey fully out of the water. The monkey was more relieved than ever to see that it was his master, not his enemy. After taking a minute to catch his breath and shake the water off his fur, the monkey looked his master in the eye, trying to muster the words “I’m sorry” but was not successful in getting them out.

Instead, the monkey said, “Now I know.” His master gave him a look of inquiry, so the monkey clarified: “Run to God?”

The master nodded, took the monkey’s hand, and escorted him back to the temple. “Run to God, monkey.”

Editor: Luke Langlois

Werewolf–One of the Best Modern Party Games

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By James Zheng, Master Game Player & Blogger

What games do you usually play for entertaining a party? Normal answers will come out: Uno, Cards Against Humanity, Mario Kart, Blackjack, etc. We’ve played those games a thousand times. All of them are really popular but common, so common they bore you as you play them over and over again. There is an amazing game which would definitely bring up the atmosphere in a party.

The Werewolf game is really similar to a classic party game called the Mafia (Werewolf is actually generated from the Mafia game). They have the exact same setting on some points; however, the Werewolf game is more fun than the Mafia! Originally, when you look up the Werewolf game online, there is only the American style, which is also the initial version of Werewolf. When it spread to China, this game became truly popular and players added more contents to it. So, please notice that all the things I show you are partially generated from the Chinese-style Werewolf game.

Required factors to play the game include six to fifteen players and role cards. Ten or twelve is the best amount. This game must have a moderator during the whole game to direct the procedure. The role cards are decided by players according to the number of participants.

Gameplay part 1–There are two teams in the Werewolf game; humans and werewolves (which also applies to the innocent and the mafia in The Mafia). The Werewolf team has to kill all the humans while all the humans need to banish the werewolves. To achieve their goal, werewolves have to pretend to be the humans to avoid being banished so that they can eliminate as many humans as they can. In the same way, the humans have to find all the werewolves based on the flaws in their statements or any other factors.

Game setting–Everyone should get a role card before they start, and the moderator must be ready, then the game will begin on the first night. There are two rounds in the game, which refer to the night and the morning. Night is always before morning; it will keep rotating until the game is finished. An essential part of the game, during the night, is that the moderator has to tell everyone to close their eyes and remain absolutely quiet. The Lord card (a card which gives players special skills) and the werewolves’ card holders will be called by the moderator to take their action. Werewolves have to decide to slay a player every night. When it comes to the morning, the player who is killed during the night will be out of the game. Then, each of the players need to speak their thoughts individually. The time limit for speaking (30 seconds, 60 seconds, etc.) should be decided before the game begins. After everyone finishes their statement, they have to vote to eliminate a player. Then the player who gets the most votes will be out of the game as well; this movement is called banish.   

Role cards

  • Villager, belongs to the human team. They do not have special abilities, but they have to listen to everyone’s words, find the werewolves, and be active in voting to banish them in the morning.
  • Werewolf, belongs to the werewolf team. They will be called by the moderator, “Werewolves, please open/close your eyes” before/after they take action. Werewolves usually have 20 seconds to point at their target. During the morning, they need to act like humans and mislead them to banish other players beside themselves.
  • Seer, the Lord card belongs to the human team. When Seer is called by the moderator, he can see one person’s role (he can only identify whether that person is a human or a werewolf, so he does not know if that person is holding a Lord card or not).
  • Witch, this Lord card belongs to the human team. Witch is holding a cure and a poison. When called by moderator, he can only take one action each night. He can use a cure to revive a player who was slain by a werewolf or use poison to kill one player. Witch only has one cure and one poison.
  • Guardian, this Lord card belongs to the human team. When called by the moderator, Guardian can protect a player (including himself) from being killed by a werewolf. But, he cannot protect the same player twice in a row. By the way, the poison used by the Witch can penetrate the Guardian’s shield.
  • Hunter, this Lord card belongs to the human team. The Hunter can eliminate one player after he is dead. The only moment he cannot use his skill is when he is eliminated by poison from the Witch. When called by the moderator, the moderator will tell him if he can use his skill or not–based on whether he was poisoned or not.

Further tips and details

  • The player who is banished or out of the game in the first night will still have a chance to speak.
  • Only the werewolves know who their teammates are. Humans don’t know who their teammates are. And werewolves can say that they are human, and normally mask as villagers (since there are at least two or four villagers, it is hard to know which one is fraud).
  • To find the werewolf or to suspect someone, try to treat this game as a psychological game. If you find someone too nervous or too feeble, they might hold a werewolf card. Or, if you find someone who is speaking too much or too little, they will be questionable. You can always take a guess at everyone’s card according to their statement.
  • The core of this game is the Seer because nobody knows who other players are except the Seer. Only the Seer and werewolves have the ability to lead the teams. And the Seer has to share his or her information on the first day.
  • Each player has to be brave to speak out their opinion and tell others their identity, and be active in voting.

The Werewolf game is my best recommendation ever. It’s a very social game because you have to speak and communicate with each other to collaborate during the whole game. It’s also a really casual game to play with friends!

Editor: Makena Behnke

The Puppet Cuts Free

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A Fable by Guest Blogger Charles Schnell

At the top of a grassy hill almost untouched by humankind, his house stood basking almost too closely to the sun. He was the proud owner of the house on the hill. He was the one who made the dolls. And, he was a puppet.

Everyday, the puppet had to wake up, find himself at the desk in his study with his strings still attached, and get to work again. His life consisted of being hunched over his wooden desk, delicately weaving and stitching dolls together. Eighty dolls a day, to be exact. Six days a week–this would be the puppet’s routine: wake up; make eighty dolls; go to sleep.

Then, on the seventh day, the puppet would have to make his way to the village and deliver the dolls to the market. The strings attached to the hands of the heavens led the puppet’s way.

Walking back to his workshop on the hill, the puppet would have to hear the same comments from the villagers.

“Yeah, the dolls are nice. But what else do you do?”

“Wow, how do you come up with so many new designs? Every week you have something new!”

“Where do you see yourself in four years?”

In the beginning, the puppet tried answering these questions, but he always found himself at a loss for words, and the strings of the heavens do not stop for their puppets. So, he gave up and returned to his house on the hill in silence.

This all continued long enough for millions of dolls to have come spilling out of the puppet’s soul. Until one day, the doll stopped. He dropped his roll of yarn and did not pick it up again. The heavens tugged and pulled on the strings, but the puppet did not concede. In fact, that day, the puppet took his yarn cutting scissors, raised them up while resisting the tugging of the heavens, and cut his strings.

Freed, he could no longer sense the heavens. All contact was cut. And for once, he left his house on a day that was not the seventh day.

At first, he liked the town. He liked being able to roam without the strings. And, for the first time, the villagers saw a smile on the puppet’s face.

Freedom did not come without its drawbacks, however. His newly found freedom caused newly found anxiety. Without his strings, the puppet had nowhere to go.

No, he had too many places to go, too many choices. That led to the puppet’s insecurity and anxiety. Pretty soon, the smile disappeared from his face.

The puppet continued on for a long time like this: anxious and insecure. But, one day he faced what he knew he had to do.

He returned to his old house on the hill, his desk, his workshop, his yarn, his scissors he cut himself free with.

He took a deep breath. He realized what he was about to do was for the best. He took the remnants of his strings to the heavens. He proceed with great care as he slowly and reluctantly stitched and spliced the strings together again. The heavens, seeing they had control once more, worked their magic, and the puppet fell asleep.

The next morning, the puppet awoke to his familiar life. The hill was untouched; the house was close to the sun; and the puppet made eighty more dolls.

Editor: Luke Langlois

The Three Best Villains in Anime

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By James Zheng, Blog Anime Correspondent

Most anime reviewers or watchers hardly ever talk about villains. Speaking of villains, the majority of us are under the impression that they deserve the audience’s hatred all the time. But, we never get to know them deeply or even analyze them from several aspects. You might ask the question, “Why do we need to know these villains?” Well, to make a great heroic figure or a whole anime that earns popularity, a villain actually plays an indispensable role.

No.1 “Akatsuki (Dawn)” from Naruto: The ten dreams of human beings

Akatsuki is not a single character. It’s one of the most powerful organizations in Naruto. Each member in Akatsuki represents a dream of humanity (peace, friendship, love, power, etc.). However, the Akatsuki didn’t start out representing peace, friendship, love, etc. In the beginning of the anime, every single character had a goal to destroy every independent country. There were so many fans that hated them at the beginning because fans bought into the concept that any villain would be the “bad guy” forever. When the Naruto Company dedicated episodes to introducing the Akatsuki background, the Akatsuki gradually gained sympathy and popularity from the audience. However, plenty of fans said that “their Naruto” had finished after the antagonistic Akatsuki was gone. Undoubtedly, those characters had a huge impact on the storyline. Villains are as important as heroes, especially if they’re well “shaped.”


No.2 “Yagami Light” from Death Note: How supremacy could change an ordinary person

Some of the people may not recognize Yagami Light as a villain because he is the hero in the entire story of “Death Note,” but I personally think that he played both hero and villain. In the story, the Death Note gives any kind of person the power to execute anyone; you just need to write down their name to do so. Light, who considers that his life is too boring, accidentally obtains this dreaded notebook. Then he starts to use this notebook to execute the criminals to achieve his “justice.” But, soon, he was obsessed with this power, with the result that he had the ambition to be the God of the world. This path is like an abyss to him; the Death Note entirely changed him. Everything he regards as obstacles he eliminates, including his family and friends and investigative authorities.

No.3 “Aizen Sosuke” from Bleach: The fanatic pursuit of perfection

Aizen is the biggest boss in the world of Bleach ever. His behavior and thoughts interpret the extreme concept of “perfection.” Because he believes that he is too successful as a scientist, there is nearly nothing that could satisfy him except for the innovation that has never been done before, except for creating something that has never been created before. So, he starts to engage in projects which are essentially inhumane.

Editor: Holden Hartle