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The Bird is the Word: Sophisticated Schoolyard Shenanigans

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An Ode to Morgan

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By Middle-School Blogger Soleil Antle

As you might know, seventh graders Morgan Richardson and Soleil Antle are the closest of buddies, and have been since fourth grade. Soleil writes a poem about her dear friend, and all the thoughts and memories that they share. 

Your evil cackle, your grinning smile, 

I can’t help but stare for a while.

Us together a chaotic scene,

Kids running around calling us mean.

Our laughter untamable don’t you agree,

Our souls forever set free.

Teachers putting us together, 

Oh how they must be under the weather. 

The expression of thoughts similar indeed,

Angers one, the other succeeds.

The competitive edge you’ve set in me,

Sparks wisdom, to the third degree. 

You and I don’t make much sense,

But our confidence level is over the fence.

You make me happy; you make me sad, 

A crazy duo I might add. 

Our inside jokes we don’t even understand,

Oh, our actions quite unplanned. 

Sumo wrestling, I always win,

Accept the times, you spin, spin, spin.

Nonsense-filled ideas flood our mind

Connect us like a tight bind. 

Little white lies, we tell for fun,

Concerning numbers more than one. 

Milano’s your day’s sweet treat,

Oh we enjoy that middle-school seat. 

Always an adventure no doubt,

I hope the staff don’t hear us shout.

After all is said and done, Soleil thinks on her friendship with Morgan and concludes, Acknowledge the people that matter to you because at the end of the day they are there for you.

The History of Our History Teachers 

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By Freshman Louisa Richardson

Our History teachers here at Palm Valley are very popular with the students. Whether it is the many students they teach, or the many students they don’t, the PVS History staff is well known. Our Blog theme this week is History, so my big smart brain thought, Why shouldn’t I interview the History teachers? I asked both Ms. Schapiro and Mr. Satterfield a series of questions about their careers and their lives. I learned a lot about Mr. Satterfield (for example, he has a dog named Felix). I also learned that Ms. Schapiro has been teaching for 40 years! History is a funny thing, mostly because it can be so wild. Both of these teachers seem to know a lot and seem to enjoy it!  

Part 1 (Mr. Satterfield)

What is your favorite time period to teach in History?

My favorite time period to teach in History is the period in US History after the Civil War and before the turn of the century because I find that this time period is often overlooked as we just  jump from the Civil War to World War I and the Great Depression. But, really, Reconstruction contains a lot of information about who we are today. This is the time of great tragedy for Native Americans and a good change for technology and politics, and our relationship with the rest of the world.  

Is there a specific person who makes this unit enjoyable?  (In History)

Sitting Bull–because when we study Sitting Bull or Crazy Horse (Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were two leaders of the Lakota Sioux) we are forced to examine our own ideas of what it means to be American, a hero, and changing history, what it means to win and what it means to lose. I also like Seraph Young; she was the first woman to cast a vote. She cast a vote in Utah 50 years before the 19th Amendment was ratified, so when we study her we are forced to think about how our government actually works, and sometimes it is different then the way we think it does. And, we learn about what it means to make progress, and it forces us to examine some of our preconceived notions about certain states or regions. 

What is your favorite grade to teach?

I enjoy teaching a variety of grade levels so I don’t have to stick with a certain level of maturity every day.

Was there a topic you were particularly interested in as a kid?

I liked the development of public lands such as national parks and national forests, and reservations as well. Early on I became interested in who controls what land, and what they decide to do with it. Glacier National Park is my favorite.  

My least favorite time period to learn about that I enjoy teaching is the Civil War. When I was young it seemed very straightforward and boring. As I grew older and read more, I realized how very un-straightforward it was. 

Why is it important to study History?

To understand where we came from and who we are today and because every time I introduce myself to someone and they ask me what I do I always get the same response…

“I hated History in school, and now I am fascinated by it. I wish I would have paid attention in school.”

What is your favorite subject to teach?

World Geography–I taught that a couple years ago in Utah and really enjoyed it.

Where is your favorite place to teach?

I’ve been lucky enough to teach in a lot of different places, and I can’t pick a favorite, though I will say that Thailand, China, Colorado, California, and Utah all present their own opportunities. 

Part Two (Ms. Schapiro)

What is your favorite part about being a teacher?

I get to keep being a learner; I don’t have a single week go by without learning something new from my students, or the material. I love to spend time with kids, and they keep me young.  

What is your favorite time period to teach?

Ancient Egypt, or Medieval West Africa. This is because there are areas of this study that are crucial in the general history of the world. I also never learned these as a kid; their societies are so complex and interesting.  

Is there a specific person who makes teaching this unit enjoyable?  (In History)

My favorite person to teach about is Alexander the Great because he taught us that no matter how much power you have you can still be a good leader. My other favorite is Eleanor of Aquitaine because she was the first person to be queen of both France and England, and she was very admirable and fierce.  

What is your favorite grade to teach?  

It greatly depends on the subject, History in general I prefer middle school, and English in general I prefer high school, with philosophy being a tie, and cooking would be DEFINITELY high school.  

Was there a topic in History that you were uninterested in as a kid that has changed today?

The musical Hamilton got me far more interested in that era in history, and even got me to read the book. 

Where has been your favorite place to teach?

I taught at a school in LA for students who are very bright but had learning or emotional challenges. I had no idea that I could even teach people who had those problems, but I was desperate. I was there for four years, and it was super rewarding. I feel like it made me a better teacher.  

Do you have any advice for students who want to become teachers?

Marry rich (she said with a chuckle). In all seriousness, think carefully about your quality of life. I don’t make a lot, but I am very happy with this job. I still get up in the morning excited to go to work. In my 40 years of teaching, I have only ever not wanted to be a teacher during 9/11.  I will always choose teaching.  

What inspires you to teach?

There has been some pushback with critical thinking, I feel a deep responsibility to teach them HOW to think critically and judge info for themselves.  

Why is it important to learn History?

Those who don’t learn History are doomed to repeat it. I tend to emphasize people in History because it sets a great example for the kids. I feel that teaching young girls about powerful women can set a good example.  

History can be tricky, and a little bit confusing at times. Both of these teachers are excellent at what they do, and are very passionate about teaching in general. I loved sitting down just to talk to both Mr. Satterfield and Ms. Schapiro.  

Politeness is a Waste of Time

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The Bird on Fire staff bloggers are tasked with writing about a cause. Here, Levi opts to go after the glue that holds together our society–politeness and small talk. It nearly goes without saying, the opinions of Levi do not necessarily represent the views of The Bird on Fire.

Blog Advisor Zachik

By Levi Kassinove, Junior

Dear Readers, given the comprehensive, semi-scientific post of last week, I feel you deserve a break. It’s time for a lighthearted post about why polite people are living a lie.

— Levi

Recently, on vacation, my friends and I were walking outside at night in the desert. Without giving too many details so as to not embarrass anyone, there were scorpions roaming around, and we needed a UV light to see them. We did not have a UV light. We walked around nonchalantly, accepting our situation, until a lady walked up to us and offered to let us borrow her UV flashlight. One of my friends fought absolute TOOTH AND NAIL for her to not give it to us. My friend repeatedly told her, “Oh you don’t have to, you really don’t have to,” to which the lady responded, “I insist. You guys are children and you should have fun.” This exchange kept going until I interrupted and said that I would like to use the light to see the scorpions. My friend grimaced and told me that I didn’t know how to handle social interaction. We had a great time looking at the formerly invisible scorpions in the night. We took pictures and gazed in awe at their beauty. Personally, I, along with some other people with us, had never seen scorpions in the wild before. It was a cool opportunity. Anyway, the point is that this would have never happened if my people-pleaser friend had successfully shooed the light-lending lady away. The lady had offered us a UV light that she already owned. She insisted that we try it out. So why fight out of politeness? It harms both parties in this case, since the lady seemed to genuinely want us to have fun. This exchange is an example of one of the many reasons why it is a bad habit to be unnecessarily polite, which is that it can prevent people from taking advantage of opportunities. 

Small talk, on the other hand, is something that we’ve all had to endure throughout our lives. Some live for it. I’d say that they aren’t really living. You can forget having a real human connection with the person if you insist on rhetorically asking how the other person is doing. If one person simply gives the other a real answer, the conversation will switch and both parties will let their guard down. So, I say just skip the small talk. Everyone would find it refreshing, unless they don’t have anything to talk about beyond the weather. The people that prefer to stay engaged in small talk are not interesting, and not worth getting to know any further. That is, if there is anything further to know. 

Perhaps small talk ties into politeness, if enough people feel that it is common courtesy. Ultimately, however, it is an unnecessary and exhausting exchange between people. And, it won’t provide any information of substance to the other person. To be blunt is to be genuine. I would go insane if people were to only engage in small talk. 

Consider this guy Bill who’s asking about the weather, when they are both literally standing outside. Bill has no idea how to respond, as this is a nonsensical question. Be more like Bill. 

englishclassviaskype.com

That Feeling

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The Blog staff’s second assignment was to “Find a cause” and share it with us, The Bird on Fire readers. Some student bloggers chose to champion their own causes, explain causes going viral, or causes brought about through environmental, political, or social change. Penny, in verse form, chose to illuminate the importance of reaching out to another.

Blog Advisor Zachik

By 7th-Grader Penny Andreas 

The school bell rings

Kids come out of the doors

I sit there waiting

Thinking had anybody come

I come back to my house

Nobody wondering if I am okay

Nobody even noticing

I sit alone with my doubts

I take a walk

By myself

Thinking would anybody notice

If I was gone

Next day I consider not waking up

Still I come to school

Then she walked up to me 

And said she wanted to talk

My classmate guided me out to the hall

She asked if I was okay

I started to cry

I started to bawl 

I told her everything

My struggles at home

I told her the feeling

Of being alone

At first she just looked at me

Then took my hand

She said it would be okay

And she understands

She helped me to my feet

And said she was sorry

She said I have felt that feeling

Of feeling solitary

I will forever thank her

For getting me to my feet

For listening to what I said

For accepting me

For somehow seeing

That feeling

Why do People Love to Hate?

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An Editorial and Explanation by Abigail Horwitt

According to my classmates, I am known to hate people. I wouldn’t say it’s something to be proud of, but it is something normal among people. Let me explain the reasons behind why people enjoy hating other people. 

First of all, what is hate? According to medicine.net, “Hate is the feeling of intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or a sense of injury.” Enough hatred towards a person can lead to hurting them, or even yourself.  Everyone has gone through uncomfortable hatred at some point, either after being betrayed, or hurt physically or emotionally. Yes, it is normal to have hateful thoughts sometimes, but having the feeling of hatred build up for a certain period of time can mess with your mind and body. It can also bring out more negative thoughts and feelings which can affect personal and general relationships. On the other hand, hatred can change the chemistry inside your brain by stimulating the area in your brain that is responsible for planning and putting actions into motion (medicine.net). This part of your brain will trigger aggression, causing you to either defend or attack. While that is happening, your brain will increase two of your hormones called cortisol and adrenaline which can cause things like weight gain, insomnia, anxiety, depression, and other chronic illnesses (medicine.net). The feeling of hate can further trigger anxiety, restlessness, overthinking, and paranoia. Very often your brain will try and predict what the person you hate might say to defend themselves against you. Overall, hatred can take a major toll on your mind and body, to the point where if you hate for too long, it could completely affect and hurt your mental health. Your body’s nervous system, immune system, and endocrine system are also negatively affected by hating someone. Having these extreme emotions can also trigger the release of stress hormones in your brain, and over time the stress hormones can cause inflammation throughout your body that can result in serious health consequences (medicine.net). The more intense your emotions become and the more you hold on to the hatred the more it affects your body. 

Love isn’t actually the opposite of hate. Love is the feeling of deep affection towards someone. The actual opposite of hate is mental and emotional indifference. Why? The reason for hate not being the opposite of love is because hatred is a form of attachment to the thing or person you hate the most. Instead of affection towards someone, the feeling of hate can falsely inflate the ego and creates a false sense of superiority and self-righteousness against the thing or person who is hated (medicine.net). What makes you feel better about hating?

Finding someone to hate with you.

The Science of People site asks, is the cliché true that “No bond is stronger than two people who hate the same person?” (scienceofpeople.com). Research out of the University of South Florida has discovered that people who are able to share their negative feelings towards someone compared to those who share positive feelings are more likely to form a stronger bond. So, that cliche does actually have some truth to it.

Even though hatred is socially unacceptable on most occasions, it’s natural; we’ve all felt it. Careful: hatred can be intoxicating. When we hate enough to share our strong feelings, we often find like minds, and people bond–but not in a necessarily healthy way (scienceofpeople.com).

Medicine.net recommends we acknowledge our feelings of hatred and find a solution to the problem; bring down our blood pressure; understand the root cause of our hate; and do something about it. Very often, the root of hatred is insecurity and mistrust. So, build and gather the tools you need to strengthen.

Introspection, or Epistemology?

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By James Zheng

To give a standard explanation of Epistemology, it is the study of the nature of knowledge, justification, and the rationality of belief. To make this statement more general, it is primarily just about how mankind gains knowledge, or perceives everything. It could be the knowledge of knowing how to read and write, or it could be the knowledge of knowing how to walk and run. So, the simple discussion within Epistemology is just a pursuit towards one question: how do we know?

First, what does Immanuel Kant, a German pioneer of philosophy, say about knowing in his Critique of Practical Reason? All knowledge is based on judgment (judgment is a process of knowing). Sometimes, it does not matter whether a single representation or concept is true or not, such as “this is a flower.” Only when two representations or concepts are connected to form a judgment, such as “this flower is red,” there may be a problem on what constitutes knowledge. Judgment can be divided into two categories: one is analytical judgment, and the other is comprehensive judgment. The so-called “analytical judgment” explains what has already been contained in the subject, such as a “triangle has three angles.” Obviously, this kind of judgment has universal necessity, but because the object is only the interpretation of the subject and does not add to the content of knowledge, it is not strictly knowledge. The so-called “comprehensive judgment” refers to such judgment where the object is not included in the subject but is added to the subject through experience, such as “objects have weight.” Obviously, this kind of judgment can expand the content of the world’s knowledge and help the world understand the world, so only comprehensive judgment is the real knowledge. It does not have to be scientific knowledge. 

I do like his sophisticated theory, but I would like to make things easier. Here is a starting point and a basic question: what is knowledge? Let’s consider three sentences:

1) I know my bike is under the building, but my bike is not there.

2) He never believed that she liked him, but he knew that she liked him.

3) He knew he would win the lottery because he thought he was lucky.

All these three sentences make people feel that something is wrong. It makes people feel that the first half of the sentence and the second half of the sentence can not be true or established at the same time. In all three cases, there seems to be no real knowledge. The three sentences that are more intuitive are as follows:

1) I thought my bike was downstairs, but my bike wasn’t there.

2) He didn’t believe it and never knew that she liked him.

3) He thought he would win the lottery because he thought he was lucky.

Or three sentences like this:

1) Now I know my bike is downstairs because I saw it when I went downstairs.

2) He knew she liked him, and he believed that all the time. She does like him.

3) After seeing the winning result, he knew that he had won the lottery.

The above examples contain the most crucial factor of what constructs knowledge and three similar types of analysis of knowledge. They are called justified true beliefs. 

Therefore, how is this simple but incomprehensive post going to relate to “introspection?” If you consider that our process of obtaining knowledge is a type of introspection, it makes sense. Still, the three examples show us the transformation of information in our minds. At the first attempt, we would like to know the knowledge though our intuition, but by receiving some other vague information that may affect the final result, we go to a further stage, which refers to examination. And through introspection, we may question “how do I know” and “how do you know” which is also introspection. That is what makes me think that introspection is linked with Epistemology.  

Sources:

https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%BC%8A%E6%9B%BC%E5%8A%AA%E5%B0%94%C2%B7%E5%BA%B7%E5%BE%B7/2631177?fromtitle=%E5%BA%B7%E5%BE%B7&fromid=5618&fr=aladdin
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/20451407

Introspection Editor: Luke Langlois

My Introspection

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By Quintus Ni

In my world, the dark night blinds me from stars all over the sky and deprives me of the vast universe. Only cool breezes blow me awake.

Looking back, my life over the past dozen years knows no dramatic ups or downs; it has only consisted of ordinary memories. I have been undistinguished all along, which tires me tremendously. I do not revolt by grand rebukes, but I write it down and lock it away along with stories that are hard to tell, of course. Meanwhile, I rely on fantasies, dreaming of things that I desire badly that cannot be achieved in reality. After a moment of enjoying the imaginative possession, I inevitably fall to reality. This repeats again and again.

I have a pair of sharp eyes, but I can never see my current situation clearly. Everything seems splendid to me, without knowing that keeping the status quo is followed by thorough darkness. All of a sudden, I find myself good at enduring but poor at controlling myself. When I am alone, I always decorate things that touch my heart with a little bit of fantasy and then keep them under wraps. But, if someone touches upon them unconsciously, I will collapse in public and fall into the abyss that will never return. I will console myself after falling back to loneliness. I know this will not bring me any thoughts or behaviors to improve myself, but I am always too lazy to accept it.

It may dawn on me in one instant, but I usually dispel my insights in the next moment. In helplessness, I finally understand that the word “negativity” is enough to generalize my life. Now, fantasies and silences are also retreating because my “real” self is too far away from reality!

Introspection Editor: Luke Langlois

How Colors Represent Emotions

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By Chelsea, who’s feeling “blue” today–her favorite color (along with black)

Hey guys, I’m back with the newest post. Editor Luke’s theme is “introspection,” so the topic that I’m going to discuss is how colors represent our emotions inside or the emotions you are trying to express. But, please, keep in mind that not everything is accurate since this post is based on the public’s opinion. 

Black: Black usually represents the darkness inside of you. It can represent the bad or evil side of a person. It can also represent death.

White: White is usually the color of heaven or angels, so it represents your innocence, purity, or goodness. But in some cultures, white can also represent death.

Pink: Pink is the color of love. It’s the color that you usually use on Valentine’s Day. Thus, it represents the romantic feelings toward a certain person. It also represents anything sweet, playful, or feminine.

Red: Red is the color that usually represents fire. It shows determination, strength, power, and can sometimes be used for love (the red string that connects soulmates). 

Purple: Purple was the color used for royalty and nobility back in the days. It can also represent your own feelings of pride, mystery, peace, and dignity.

Blue: Blue is the color of the sea. It usually represents the trust, loyalty, wisdom, or intelligence of a person. It’s also the color of calm and cool.

Green: Green is the color that usually represents life, nature, and energy. In a person, on the other hand, green can represent one’s ambition, greed, or jealousy.

Yellow: Yellow usually represents the energy, happiness, optimism, enlightenment, honor, or joy in a person.

Orange: Orange is the color that represents enthusiasm, fascination, and encouragement. It symbolizes strength and endurance in a person.

Introspection Editor: Luke Langlois

Sources Referenced:

http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

Positivity

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Editor Luke assigned the Blog Staffers the topic “Introspection”–to write on anything introspective. Katelin takes stock as one year rolls into the next. As she ages, as she matures, she considers how she wants to live her life.

By Katelin Mei

One of my New Year Resolutions is to become more positive. I will try to make the most out of what I have and try to enjoy life. I feel that I have been quite negative in the past years. I always thought that things were getting worse and worse and that I would not be able to go back to feeling happiness like I did before when I was younger. The years seemed to go by quicker, and holidays meant less and less to me. This year has felt like it has gone by slower than my entire time in middle school, simply because I try to make the most out of everything that comes my way. I try to enjoy life now, and instead of letting each day drift by, I try to enjoy each and every day.

Introspection Editor: Luke Langlois