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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.

PVS 2024 Resolutions

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We welcome 8th-grader Jack Edelstein to The Bird on Fire stable of writers. This is Jack’s debut post.

By Jack Edelstein, 8th Grade

A New Year’s tradition many celebrate, but don’t necessarily fulfill, involves making resolutions. Typical resolutions involve vowing to work out or manage stress. A little history on New Year’s resolutions – according to History.com, “The ancient Babylonians are said to have been the first people to make New Year’s resolutions some 4,000 years ago. They were also the first to hold recorded celebrations in honor of the new year…”

Although we aren’t ancient Babylonians, PVS staff and students make New Year’s resolutions. I went around the school and interviewed different people to see the resolutions they set for themselves.

7th Grader, Moses Gizaw 

“To be more athletic, I have got to get on the Middle School Basketball A team,” says Moses.

I’ll see you there.

8th Grader, Jaden Ramer

“Stop being mean because it does not benefit me.”

Hard habit to break sometimes, I’ll admit.

Fellow Blogger and 8th Grader, Jackie Padgett

“I guess I want to try new things this year because I don’t particularly like change.”

And to be honest, who does?

Freshman, Evan Wang

“Get Gold at my Jiu Jitsu tournament; I do not like losing.”

True statement.

Sophomore, Matteo Lam

“Work out more, be more disciplined; I’ve been trying to do it, and it’s nice to call it a New Year’s resolution.”

Me too, me too.

Junior, Riley Jorgenson

“Get better at baseball; I want to get a college scholarship.”

I want a scholarship, too, Riley.

Senior, Arsh Rehman

“Get better at baseball, so I can MAKE 30 million dollars a year.”

I think the most relatable and greatest resolution by far.

Mr. Killeen, MUS Science

“I usually plan on what I need to do, but I would say probably to keep my good grades at grad school. I am attending San Diego State.”

I wish you good luck toward your studies.

Big Coach Erenberg, Athletic Director

“I don’t have a New Year’s resolution. I always try to improve our programs and win.”

Indubitably.

These are your PVS 2024 New Year’s Resolutions! 

If you were wondering, my New Year’s resolution is to learn how to play guitar and walk my dog more. If you have any interesting or admirable resolutions let us know in the comments!

Stuck Quarantining at Home? Take Up a Hobby.

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By Alyna Rei–Upper School Junior and Blog Correspondent

I’m not usually the person to try many hobbies or go outside the box. But, with quarantine and a couple of boring days stuck at home, I was able to conjure up a few new hobbies—some I jettisoned when we came out of quarantine; some I continue to this day.

Quarantine hobbies that were just too weird to continue . . .

Collecting Crystals and Stones – I was pretty enthusiastic about this hobby in 2021. I would collect cool-looking stones. It might have been a crystal that had some essential meaning, or just a cool-looking stone. I still have my crystals, but I just don’t collect them as much now. I’m not sure why I stopped collecting them, but I feel like this hobby is off and on for me. This is something I may come back to, depending on my karmic need.

Socializing – I’m not sure if this can be considered as a hobby. When I was around 12 or 13, I would really like to talk to people and meet new people. Now that I’m older,  I feel that having two-three friends is comfortable. I also hate the idea of having to talk to strangers. Through the years, I started to like the idea of being alone on a couple of occasions and having me time. The thought of socializing with people that I don’t know or being in a huge crowd of people gives me a little anxiety. Plus, now that we’re out of quarantine, I’m in the world more. It’s nurturing to embrace me time.

Quarantine hobbies that stayed with me . . .

Reading – Going back to liking the fact of being by myself, I have gotten into reading. I got this hobby from my mom who loves fictional books (same with me). I love to listen to calm music and read a book in my alone time. I am mostly into romance books. I thrive on rom coms and fictional romances.

Collecting Plants – I started this hobby at the age thirteen. I would always see little succulent plants and houseplants on the internet and  ask, ”Why would anyone want to have a plant in their room?” But, through the years, I started to love having plants in my room and loving the habit of watering them. I say this is a good hobby since it taught me how to care for a living object and have responsibility. My mom first gave me plants that you can’t kill. Once my mom saw that I can keep a plant alive, I started to collect plants that are trickier, but plants that I am really interested in. I usually prefer plants that require not a lot of sun.

* * *

I’m pretty content with the hobbies I do now. I’m not sure if I will come up with more since I don’t like to switch into different hobbies and things. But, I feel like hobbies will always keep me productive and intact.

Soccer News, Rumors, and Scores

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This week Oliver thrills us with the latest update on soccer, or football as we call it in England (or what the world knows as fútbol). In his article, Oliver provides us with the recent match scores and placings in the Premier League. On top of that, he shares up-to-date soccer rumors and news. – Sienna Price, Editor

By Oliver Martinez, Fútbol Enthusiast

Welcome back to soccer news, rumors and scores. Let’s start with the Premier League. On Saturday, January 15, Manchester City beat Chelsea 1-0. Manchester is now in 1st, and Chelsea moves to 3rd. On Saturday, January 15, the Wolves beat Southampton 3-1. The Wolves are in 8th, and Southampton is in 12th place. And, Aston Villa drew Manchester United 2-2! Because of this, Manchester U is in 7th and Aston V in 13th place. On Sunday, January 16, Liverpool beat Brentford 3-0, putting Liverpool in 2nd and Brentford in 14th. 

As for La Liga, there have been no relevant games since last week. 

Soccer Rumors and News: Big teams like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and Manchester City are looking to trade for Erling Haaland. Erling Haaland is a great player that is currently in Dortmund; his contract ends in 2024, but there is a release clause that would allow him to leave in the summer of 2022 for a total of 75 million euros (amp.marca.com).

Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich are hoping to buy Spanish young star Pablo Gavi. One of Gavi’s accomplishments include being the youngest player to play for Spain’s national team. He was only 17. Another one of his accomplishments is being the fourth youngest to play for Barcelona in La Liga (espn.com). English soccer legend Wayne Mark Rooney, also known as Rooney, hopes to get a chance to coach Everton. “I’m the same as everyone else, I see the speculation on social media and in the newspapers. Of course Everton is a club I grew up supporting.” There is a strong possibility he will get the job–Everton just sacked Rafael Benitez (football365.com).

2020 Seniors Paint Parking Spaces

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Celebrating School Events

Last Saturday the 10th, after Senior Sunrise, the 2020 PVS Seniors donned coveralls, grabbed their paint buckets and brushes, and set to painting their senior parking spaces. Drive by the southernmost lot to see their artwork, and DON’T park in their spaces.

Seniors Andrew Hall, Hannah Hall, and Caroline Scheil are well protected from paint blow-back in their matching coveralls. Photo Credit: Ms. Jen Clark
Senior Chelsea Xu–artist and anime fan–sketches anime character Pain in her spot. Photo Credit: Ms. Jen Clark
Seniors Evan Spry and Jake Sonderman with Junior Jessica Denyer cool down after the painting. The day’s temperatures reached into the 100s. Photo Credit: Ms. Jen Clark

Shaking Bridge Effect–an intriguing love technique.

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When Editor Quintus assigned us the theme of “Love,” James thought of Shaking Bridges. . . .

By James Zheng

There are plenty of interesting and bizarre psychological effects that appear really paradoxical but they actually turn out to be pretty intuitive. I remember one such psychological effect, the Shaking Bridge Effect–which should be taken into account as a representative effect pertaining to the core topic of Editor Quintus’s theme, love.  

The Shaking Bridge Effect usually occurs in a specific circumstance, which is when one rigorously walks through a shaking bridge. That experience would accelerate the heartbeat and unsettle the individual. At this moment, if the individual coincidentally (or deliberately) encounters another person, the individual would misperceive the current situation. The individual would misunderstand his/her accelerated heartbeat as the presence of his/her affection towards that person. So, falling in love is like when you are coming across the shaking bridge, and your heart is beating fast, and all of a sudden you see someone in your sight, you basically see this “heart beating” as a reaction to the “person” instead of the “shaking effect.” And eventually, this will root the seed of love in the bridge walker’s mind.

This psychological effect is proposed by Arthur Aron, who is a professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is best known for his work on intimacy in interpersonal relationships and development of the self-expansion model of motivation in close relationships. Coming back to the Shaking Bridge Effect, the premise  basically tells us a dangerous or stimulating situation could enhance the mutual relationship.

There is a famous experiment projected by Aron. The suspension bridge is 450 feet long and 5 feet wide. This suspension bridge has been suspended over the 230-foot high valley of the Kapolano river with two pieces of hemp rope and fragrant wood. The suspension bridge swings back and forth, which is not only exciting, but also frightening. The team asked a beautiful young woman to stand in the middle of the bridge, waiting for men between the ages of 18 and 35 who had no female companion to cross the bridge. She was directed to tell the men who crossed the bridge that she hoped they would participate in an ongoing survey. She asked them several questions and recorded their results.

Then, the same experiment was carried out on another ordinary bridge that spans a stream but is only 10 feet tall. The same beautiful lady showed the same questionnaire to the men crossing the bridge.

As a result, the men walking across the suspension bridge thought the woman was more beautiful, and about half of the men later asked for her phone number. And, for males crossing the stable bridge, only two of the 16 males asked for her phone number.

Researchers believe that, unlike people’s common sense, individual emotional experience is not formed spontaneously because of their own experiences; it is a two-stage process of self perception. In this process, people first experience their own physiological feelings, and then, in the surrounding environment, they will find a suitable explanation for their physiological feelings. For example, according to the shaking bridge theory, in the process of emotional experience, people first feel that their physiological performance is different from that in the usual time; their heart rate is accelerating, and their hands are shaking a little. Next, they will involuntarily observe the environment to find clues to explain why their physiological performance happens.

And based on that, this effect reveals a fact which this technique could trigger in any circumstances that are different from usual and lead us to want to obtain a reasonable explanation for it. However, this provokes another conclusion: in real life, there may be different but reasonable explanations for the same physiological performance. Sometimes, it is difficult for people to determine which factor causes their physiological performance. Because it is difficult to accurately point out the real reason of their physiological performance, people might have a wrong understanding of emotions. In psychological terms, scholars call the process of people making wrong inferences about their feelings as “misattribution of arousal.”

Finally, to summarize everything in a simplistic way, when you like someone secretly, don’t worry whether that person likes you or not, maybe you just need to take them on a walk on an unstable bridge.

Love Editor: Quintus Ni

These Songs are Actually Pretty Good

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By James Zheng, a surprise music critic blogger

Music, as a part of our daily life, has always accompanied us whenever we need it. And, according to what I have seen so far about what people usually listen to around me, it’s normally either rap music or pop music. I’ve included plenty of unknown songs worth recommending in this post; you might recognize them; maybe not. Let’s find out.

Overall, I categorized them by genre to give you a brief preview of each.

Rock Music

  • Simple Plan the band. Recommendation for their songs: Holding On and Take My Hand. Simple Plan is from Canada. I would consider them as derived from punk rock. I have listened to each of their albums; I am obsessed with their unique style; this style is second to none. They do not generate the conventional idea of rock that makes a very noisy track. They don’t do much heavy metal sound; instead, they have a very cheerful track style. And, before they put the sound of electric guitar in, they usually have a fantastic melody mixed with piano and bass. All of their songs are amazing.
  • Daughtry the band. Recommendation for their songs: It’s Not Over and Over You. Daughtry is from America, and they are more popular than Simple Plan. Their style is a little bit hard to define because they keep changing it in each album. The unique thing about Daughtry is probably the lead vocalist’s–Chris Daughtry’s–wild singing style. You feel like he is yelling, but in fact he is not. He just puts his emotion fully into the song as few people do.

Instrumental Music

  • String For a Queen by ELYZA/Xan. Speaking of instrumental music, String For a Queen is my favorite ever song. The beat keeps rising and falling, it is really unpredictable. In another words, you don’t know what’s coming next, but you are expecting something more, and eventually the better thing than the expectation comes. The String For a Queen has a really dreamlike beat which more sounds like a fantasy motif. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK075fzsDCM
  • Blue by Xeuphoria. Blue has a very tranquil beat. When you are nervous or restless, try to listen to this song and it could help a lot to calm your mind down and make you fall into the enjoyment of this quiet melody.

Electronic Music

  • Demons (Original Mix) by Paris Blohm.
  • Wolves by Selena Gomez, Marshmello.
  • I am not sure if electronic music is popular in America. I think that it is a huge improvement from traditional instrumental music. Initially electronic music was played without lyrics, but to further innovate and make it more exceptional, a DJ (Disc Jockey) decides to add the singing part in to make it better.

Popular Music

  • What Are Words by Chris Medina. This song has a touching story behind it. The incentive for Chris to write this song is due to an accident that happened to his wife. His wife got severely injured and needed a large amount of money to pay for the therapy bill. Chris decided to participate in the show American Idol and strove to get the reward so that he could pay for his wife’s medical bill. Although he was eliminated, the song left an intense impression. The track consists of piano and violin, which is a simple combination of sounds. But he has a great voice and captivating emotion in the song.
  • Color Blind by Matt B. Matt remixed an instrumental song called River Flows in You, and then made Color Blind. Matt has an unexpectedly unique voice; his singing style is quite natural and casual. And the whole rhythm of the song is really relaxing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BInjDfGMUlM

Anime Theme Music

  • Call of Silence by Gemie. Call of Silence is a interlude song within the anime called Attack On Titan 2nd Season. It is more likely to be a character song. The whole song is in English without a singing accent; you can understand the lyrics clearly.  
  • Red Swan by YOSHIKI/HYDE. Red Swan is the theme song for Attack On Titan 3rd Season, and most of the lyrics are in English. It is a light rock song fused with the sound of piano.

If you listen to music a lot and have not yet known these songs, I strongly suggest you to get know them. You might step into a new musical realm.

Undercover–Another recommendation for a party game.

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By James Zheng, with Expert Party Advice

When Editor Holden asked for submissions that “spice up everyday life,” James went back to party games and how to spice up your party life, or how to be the life of the party. (This joke was made by Ms. Zachik, not Holden, for the record).

I did a post about the Werewolves game, and, then, soon after I found more excellent recommendations for party games. The game I am going to introduce in this post is less difficult to learn and more entertaining to play.

Undercover, which is also called Who is the Spy, was generated from a game that appeared in a Chinese variety show consisting of guest interviews and gaming interaction. It became a really popular party board game, and then a game developer created the online version Undercover.

The recommended amount of players is five to eight with one moderator. The most significant part of this game is that the moderator needs to decide on a “major” word and a “minor” word and write them on the paper to hand out later to participants. The “major” word and “minor” word represent the identities of the players. The player who holds the major word is the “civilian”; the player who holds the minor card is the “undercover.” And, to decide what the major word and minor word will be, the moderator needs to find two words that have similar meaning. The words can be anything as long as they are similar. If the amount of civilians is no more than five, the amount of undercover will just be one.

The gameplay of Undercover has the same feature as the Werewolves game–players need to talk during the game process. The players’ ability to express themselves is an important factor in deciding the result of the game. At the beginning of the game, each participant is given a pre-written paper as their identity–civilian or undercover. Then, each of them has to describe what their word is or means. After everyone finishes the description, everyone has to vote for one person who they think is the undercover. When the person is out, the moderator needs to check if that person holds the major word or minor word to decide if the game is still on or finished. The winning precondition for the undercover is when the amount of undercovers is the same as the civilians.

Basic Gaming Rules and Hints:

  • The person who holds the minor word does not know that they are the undercover, so the only way to find out is to listen to everyone’s description to see if they are holding the same or different word, then to guess what the major word is to mask themselves.
  • You CANNOT put the word that you are holding into your description. A person’s description cannot be too short or abstract, but it could be long if the person wants to speak more.
  • If you are playing as a civilian, of course you don’t want to spoil your word too much for the undercover. But, at the same time, your description cannot be too short or abstract; you can be just a little bit specific or try to find the characteristic that the word has. Try to organize your language at a perfect length to let other civilians trust you.       

Depending on what words the moderator comes up with, the game can be played at different levels. Undercover is really easy to learn; the preparation is also pretty simple. Play with your friends and enjoy it!

Editor: Holden Hartle

HOCKEY!

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By Luke Langlois, prominent hockey fan, can’t ice skate

This week’s theme is “Making Daily Life More Interesting.” Life can be full of the same repetitive actions over and over again, so I asked my fellow bloggers to bring some spice to everyday life. Hockey playoffs definitely add spice to everyday life. — Editor Holden Hartle

Do you know what makes daily life more interesting? Playoffs. If you have been missing out on all of the various types of playoffs recently, fear not, for there is another sixteen-team conquest on the horizon– the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs. Nobody enjoys being left out of the loop, so today I would like to present some information about this year’s playoffs and present my predictions. I can assure you with 100% certainty that my predictions will be wrong. But, that’s half the fun. Without further ado, here are the participants in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs:

Western Conference Matchups from Top to Bottom

  1. Calgary Flames (CGY) vs. Colorado Avalanche (COL)
  2. San Jose Sharks (SJS) vs. Vegas Golden Knights (VGK)
  3. Nashville Predators (NSH) vs. Dallas Stars (DAL)
  4. Winnipeg Jets (WPG) vs. St. Louis Blues (STL)

Eastern Conference Matchups from Top to Bottom

  1. Tampa Bay Lightning (TBL) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (CBJ)
  2. Boston Bruins (BOS) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (TOR)
  3. Washington Capitals (WSH) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (CAR)
  4. New York Islanders (NYI) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (PIT)

Now that we’ve established the matchups, here’s some information regarding the playoffs in general and this year’s matchups.

  1. The Tampa Bay Lightning won the 2018-2019 President’s Trophy, meaning they had the best regular season record at 62-20-16 (wins, losses, overtime losses). This record ties the regular season record of wins set by the 1995-1996 Detroit Red Wings. In short, Tampa Bay is STACKED! But, history has shown that the best regular season team fails to win the championship. In fact, the ’95-’96 Red Wings team, the most dominant team in history, lost in the playoffs. Will history repeat itself?
  2. The Pittsburgh Penguins are making a playoff appearance for their 13th straight season, the longest active streak in the NHL.
  3. On the other side of the coin, the Carolina Hurricanes have ended their playoff drought, making their first appearance since the 2008-2009 season.
  4. The Washington (D.C) Capitals are the defending champions.
  5. The New York Islanders will have home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs for the first time since 1988.
  6. The Vegas Golden Knights are only in their second season ever but have landed at third place in their division.
  7. The Columbus Blue Jackets have been around since 2000 but are seeking their first ever series win (each series is best of seven).
  8. The St. Louis Blues may not be a #1 seed, but they have the best record in the NHL since the All-Star Break (about 2/3rds through the season), even eclipsing Tampa Bay’s win-loss record.

I could go on, but that should provide a bit of context for the reader. Now, for my grand predictions. 2019’s Stanley Cup Champion will be the Tampa Bay Lightning. Don’t get me wrong, nine times out of ten the President’s Trophy winner will get upset. Hockey is a sport that is PRIME for upsets, but it is my FIRM belief that Tampa Bay is just TOO GOOD! Here is a number; Tampa Bay’s goal differential is +103. This means that they outscored their opponents in the regular season by a total of 103 goals. To put this into perspective, the 2nd place team, Calgary, had a goal differential of +62, a far cry from 103.

NHL games are quite difficult to pull your eyes from. Unlike football, baseball, or basketball, breaks in the play are infrequent. In fact, players move in and out from the bench during play, no timeout or stoppage in play required. Even if you have never watched a game before, it’s worth it to stop and watch if you have the time. Besides the pure visual candy, NHL playoff matchups can go either way (unlike the NBA). You usually cannot slap the higher ranked team as the winner and call it a day. In 2012, the Los Angeles Kings team that stumbled and crashed into the playoffs ended up being one of the most dominant playoff teams ever seen, and they won it all (go Kings). Last year, the Vegas Golden Knights made it to the finals in their very first season of play, besting teams who have been around for half a century. But Luke, why are you telling us all this even though you say Tampa will win it all? Well, it makes sense considering the fact that Tampa has a statistical advantage on every team in just about every category. But, again, the regular season is wiped from the slate come the playoffs. Don’t be surprised if my bracket is an incoherent mess a week from now. Hockey is hockey. The playoffs start on Wednesday April 10th (TODAY). There will be a game on every night until the semifinal games where there may be breaks in days. This gives you plenty of time to check a game out. Catch the games nationally televised on either NBCSN or USA.

Making Daily Life More Interesting Editor: Holden Hartle