The Palm Valley School Student Blog
By Charles Schnell
When you write down
Your thoughts and your feelings,
Truthfully,
You materialize it.
Your thoughts and feelings
Are a physical substance,
Made by ink on paper.
Your brain recognizes them
As real, and
Not all in your head.
That’s why
Writing
Is the ultimate form of
Therapy.
No one controls your
Thoughts and feelings
But you in your writings,
Just like how
I am writing this poem
And sharing my thoughts and feelings with you
Now.
Editor: Peter Kadel
The Bird on Fire welcomes and promotes feature writing, news stories, graphics, satire, and, especially in Makena’s case, creative writing.
Note 1 4/20/17
by Blogger Poet Makena Behnke
All my life i’ve been a normal, average, girl who sat next to you. i’m sick of being normal, because normal means being forgotten. Do you remember the girl in middle school with the dark hair who followed the popular one around? No. Why? Because she’s a People. A People is someone who doesn’t listen to themselves, someone who is forcing themselves through one door and trying to fit in the stupid, boring mold. There are too many People in the world; we each need to be a Person. To be a Person we need to be fearless. For example, i don’t know half the stuff i’m writing right now, but i was talking with a Person, and she explained that you just need to be you to be a Person. Right now, i am me which means i am a Person. Mind you it is 1:48 am, and I could read this tomorrow and say what the heck was i thinking, but i could wake up and have written an eye-opening piece. Unpredictability is the miracle of life without the placenta. No one can tell what will happen tomorrow. Who would have thought that today I would be crying over a two-sentence chat that told me I’m me for a reason. I think we all need someone to help guide us through life and hold our hand.
–2:13 am
Warning: The following may contain irony.
Introductory Post by Blogger Peter Kadel
Hello, ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! People of all ages! It is my privilege to introduce the return of everyone’s favorite blog squad…. The Bird on Fire! We took a brief hiatus because our secret lair was discovered by the Canadian Gopher army. But once we showed those rodents that the pen is mightier than little rodent claws and took back our secret sanctum, writers came in droves to join the crack team. Here is a quick overview of our freshly assembled staff.
Brennen Nick–When he sauntered in wearing a tin foil hat and screaming about the lizard people, we knew that this man was of sound mind and dedicated to telling the truth. You can expect reliable sources and sound logic from this writer.
Claire Jenkins and Shelby Armor–The dynamic duo! Blonde and blonder. Back after spending summer undercover in the criminal underground of Palm Valley. They have returned with evidence that a cold-blooded killer stalks the halls of our school. Be sure to stay tuned for their startling account.
Charles Schnell–Yeah, I think he has like some poems or stories or whatever.
Renee Vazquez–After we regained our lair, a flock of storks arrived and dropped Renee on our doorstep. When we asked her if she liked writing, she responded with an enthusiastic shout of “Yeah, sure.”
Harlow Berny–Perhaps the most mysterious member of our staff–he arrived dressed in a black cloak in the dead of night. He would only give us his name, and when we asked him what he wanted to write, he said, “ Stories of old made new.”
Makena Behnke–Another gift from our feathery overlords, dropped at our door shortly after Renee. When she landed, the lead stork said, “The prophecy is complete” and burst into flames as it flew off into the sunset.
Peter Kadel–The Harbinger of Joy, the Dragon of West Virginia, the man voted most likely to cheat death. After a stint as a guerilla journalist for Word from the Bird he has joined up with the Bird on Fire once we appeased him with offerings of plastic toy dinosaurs.
The Overlord–The mastermind of it all, the one who defeated the Gopher King, better known to you as mild mannered Ms. Zachik. We know her as the vicious pit boss who cracks the whip and lights fires under writers who work too slowly.
And so, there you have it folks, back with a new team following the same dream! Stay tuned as we bombard you with WORDS.
If you’ve been living under your bed for the past three weeks, perhaps you DIDN’T hear that PVS freshman Jake Mule, English Speaking Union Shakespeare Monologue Riverside region winner, took his Launce monologue and his sonnet to New York’s Lincoln Center. HE WAS ONE OF THE NATION’S 10 FINALISTS!–and the only freshman in a field of 55 national contenders. The ESU has released video of the finalists. Here is Jake’s final performance: his cold reading from Romeo and Juliet, his prepared monologue from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Sonnet 55.
On Saturday, May 14, the local English Speaking Union welcomed Jake and his parents, Mr. David and Mrs. Manny Mule, to their May luncheon at Seven Lakes Country Club. Jake described the experience of performing at Lincoln Center, his ventures into New York and NYU; then he performed his monologue and sonnet. Pictured below: Mr. David Mule, Jake, Bill Gaye (ESU Boardmember and former Shakespeare Monologue Competition Chair), and Mrs. Manny Mule. Mr. and Mrs. Mule also spoke. They described the experience from the parent vantage, sitting in the audience, watching the impressive talent gathered from around the nation.
–by Gaven “Jonathan Swift” Li, world-class blogger and student of rhetoric in Ms. Clark’s AP English Language and Composition class. Be forewarned: this article contains heavy doses of Satire.
On December 2nd, 2015, a married couple walked into a banquet room in San Bernardino with guns and turned a holiday party into a massacre. Fourteen innocent people were killed in this terrorist attack. We have seen mass shootings like this happen again and again in America: Newtown, Connecticut; Roseburg, Oregon; and, now, San Bernardino, California. This must-solve problem has always been my concern. After years of watching the fascinating Democratic and Republican debates about gun control as well as doing research, I have come up with a perfect plan to deal with this controversial situation and to save the future of the United States of America.
Here’s my suggestion: In order to keep all safe, everyone in the United States must have at least one gun and there should be no gun restriction at all. Age limitation and license requirements should also be eliminated. No matter who you are, a two-year-old baby, or a ninety-year-old lady, you must own a gun. According to one of my friends, who is a huge gangster movie fan and dropped out of school in fourth grade, this is a dangerous world, or a dangerous country–you might get shot anytime, anywhere; therefore, we must have guns to prevent us from getting killed. “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” This Second Amendment of the Constitution is my friend’s favorite quote. When the great Founding Fathers of America wrote the Constitution back in 1789, they must have predicted that weapons would be so powerful and destructive after two hundred and seven years. I’m sure they took into consideration automatic weapons. We live in a much more hostile society now. Although we don’t have any wild animals trying to attack us or any war with Indian tribes, we still need to be aware of, for example, crazy dogs running around on the street biting people or some scary cops carrying weapons on their belts. We need to be armed.
Furthermore, since it is so important to be armed, gun-shooting classes should be added to the United States education system. Children are the future of the country, and they need to learn everything about guns. Pistol assembling should be required for lower school kids to graduate, while 100-yard shooting is significantly necessary for high-school students to get into colleges. We have faith in our teenagers that they are all good citizens and won’t do anything to harm their neighbors or shoot anyone they don’t like.
Now, it’s time to return to my subject. I believe that my proposal will definitely bring a lot of benefits to this country.
Firstly, it would make America an extremely powerful country. Foreigners soon will realize that they can not mess with Americans any more, and foreigners will be scared to death to even step on this land. We no longer need to worry about too many immigrants coming here, which solves the other problem we are facing–immigration.
Secondly, guns protect the safety of Americans. Imagine walking on the street at night and there’s a creepy guy walking behind you; you can just pull out your gun and send him to Jesus. If you are not fast enough to kill him before he shoots you, it’s okay, at least you can die like a hero.
Thirdly, being armed makes everything much easier. There’s no need for police since everyone has weapons to solve his or her problems. Having a religious argument? Pull out your gun! Getting bullied at school? Pull out your gun! Somebody being racist? Pull out your gun! That’s also why gun-handling instruction in education is so important.
Fourthly, arming Americans will create more job opportunities. More bodyguards will be needed when rich CEOs or controversial politicians, Donald Trump for example, show up in public. They’ll need bodyguards to build a solid wall so they won’t get shot easily.
Fifthly, the crime rate is going to decrease after applying this new law. Criminals know that a small pistol can not scare anyone anymore, and they will just give up because it may be too hard for them to get more powerful weapons. American citizenship is so great that I believe they will not do anything with guns just for their own desire. Arm the good people of America with guns.
Sixthly, the sale of guns is good for the American economy. More factories will be built in order to make more guns, and more gun shops will be opened, too. Within a few years, the United States will be selling more guns than Russia!
This is my modest proposal about guns, and hopefully it works. If it doesn’t, well, I can still escape back to my motherland China before it’s too late.
The AP Literature class of Palm Valley has recently finished reading a classic Shakespearean play–Othello. As the instructor of the class, Mr. Griffin shares with us this incisive essay written by our outstanding senior, Amber Zheng, in which she talks about the play’s main villain–Iago–as being a genius of manipulation.
–Edited by Ashley Zhou
In William Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago is the villain who plots the entire evil plan that ultimately causes the death of Emilia, Othello, Desdemona and Roderigo. Iago is a person who only cares about himself, is extremely confident about himself, and is good at using other people’s weaknesses.
Iago is a perfect example of a self-centered person. He does everything in order to gain himself advantages. This characteristic is shown in the beginning of the play
when he says to Roderigo, “In following him [Othello], I follow but myself” (1.1.64). Iago follows Othello because he wants higher positions and more power, rather than to be a loyal officer of Othello. When he admits, “I am not what I am” (1.1.70), not only does he mean that he is not this seemingly good honest person that Othello believes him to be, but also that he is not the person who seems to care about others; he implies that what he truly cares about is only himself.
Iago’s self-centered trait is revealed more frequently as the play goes on. After Roderigo says that he wants to drown himself because Desdemona and Othello are married, Iago says, “I never found man that knew how to love himself” (1.3.355-356). From this sentence, we can see that Iago thinks every man around him doesn’t know how to treat himself properly, because they all care for others. In Iago’s view, Othello loves Desdemona to the point that he is willing to “renounce his baptism” (2.3.363) for her; Roderigo is ready to kill himself because of his ”loss” of Desdemona; and Cassio lets Desdemona’s beauty appear in his mind every day. From Iago’s perspective, all these behaviors are absurd, as men should only care about themselves, as he does.
That’s also why Iago says to Roderigo, “Ere . . . I would drown myself for the love of a guinea hen (he means Desdemona!), I would change my humanity with a baboon” (1.3.356-358). While Iago says this to manipulate Roderigo into following his bidding, his words actually express his true feelings: men who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others are stupid, and these people are indeed no better than baboons, certainly not supposedly smart human beings. As Iago tries to persuade Roderigo to abandon the suicide idea, he also tries to get himself as many benefits as possible by telling Roderigo to sell lands and get cash. When he succeeds, he reveals his motivation: “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse” (1.3.383). Again, Iago never does anything without the intention of getting himself advantages.
Being a self-centered person, Iago is also confident and good at using others’ weaknesses. Iago knows the difference between appearance and reality very well and establishes a plan based on his knowledge. He is confident about the success of his plan because “The Moor is of a free and open nature/ That thinks men honest that but seem to be so” (1.3.443-444). And, Desdemona is just as gullible, “framed as fruitful/ As the free elements” (2.3.361-362). Because he knows all the other characters so well, he is able to conduct his evil plan by exploiting their weaknesses. Also, because his perceptions are in fact correct, his confidence never disappoints him: everything always goes as he plans. When he says that he is a Satan – “When devils will the blackest sins put on,/ They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,/ As I do now” (2.3.371-373) – he shows his talent – indeed, his genius – for manipulating others.
The explosion of Czar Bomba as viewed from 100 miles away–Novaya Zemlya; October 30, 1961
–Henry Huang
Two weeks ago, North Korea tested a nuclear weapon, alarming the world. Nuclear weapons are some of the most destructive weapons that man has ever built. During the dark times of the Cold War, there were many crazy ideas about nuclear weapons. Here are a few of them.
1) The Czar Bomba was the biggest nuclear weapon designed and produced in history.
2) The Davy Crockett was the smallest nuclear weapon ever produced but was intended as “conventional weaponry” to be used in the battlefield against the USSR.
And, 3) in the 1950’s, NASA had planned on using nuclear explosions to propel rockets through space.
The Czar Bomba
This weapon is the most powerful explosive device ever built by human beings. Designed by the Soviets in 1960, this device had a yield of 50 megaton TNT–3,800 times more powerful than theHiroshima bomb. However, it was not designed in 50 megaton TNT; it was designed actually to be 100 megaton TNT. For a Hydrogen bomb like that, there is no place in the world that the weapon could be tested safely. That was the reason that the final explosion was only 50 megaton. It was not designed to put into real use. The Soviets were threatening Americans by the explosion of the Czar Bomba. It was designed to be a threat. When it was exploded and tested, the fireball could be seen more than 1,000 kilometers away–that’s more than 600 miles or three times the distance to Los Angeles from Rancho Mirage. The hot wind would givehuman beings 170 kilometers away 3rd degree burns. The explosion ranked second among all the explosions in the world.
(Note: the largest explosion made dinosaurs extent.)
The Davy Crockett
This nuclear weapon was designed by Americans in the late 1950’s. The United States deployed this small “battlefield” nuclear weapon in West Germany in case of 
possible Soviet invasion.
The weapon is not a relatively powerful nuke, only yielding 10 tons TNT payload. A Davy Crockett can only cause damage in a 2.5 mile range. However, that is the reason this weapon is crazy. Because this nuke is so small, it must be fired at close range with a handheld cannon. The radiation caused by firing this weapon at close range might harm the very soldiers who fired the weapon. What’s more, the weapon was designed to use in a conventional battlefield. The idea of using a nuclear weapon conventionally is crazy! How could this be common practice on the battlefield?
The United States Army, however, produced more than 2,100 pieces of the Davy Crockett nuclear device. From 1956 to 1971 Americans were producing them. The Davy Crockett retired from the Army in 1971.
Nuclear Explosions & NASA: Operation Orion
NASA, in the 1950s, worked on a project meant to send astronauts to Mars. This plan to send rockets to Mars sounds like it has nothing to do with nuclear weapons. However, it was one of the craziest ideas regarding the use of nuclear weapons.
Crazy was using nuclear weapons in the 60’s to remove rocks and mountains for road access and construction. However, this idea is the craziest. Americans were trying to use nuclear weapons as fuel for rockets! NASA was trying to use the enormous force that nuclear weapon explosions could produce to propel rockets.
The plan was so outrageous and so dangerous. They couldn’t steer a nuclear-explosion-powered rocket. The power itself is uncontrollable. The plan was to explode nuclear weapons–one by one–to push the rockets to Mars. In fact, NASA cancelled the plan in a short time.
Nuclear weaponry is a representation of human creativity. These designs are representative of the crazy things that happened in a crazy era–the Cold War. If history could repeat itself again, I believe that human beings would not create monsters like these!
*To see a simulation of the destruction of these various nuclear weapons, go to NUKEMAP @ nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap.
–by Gaven Li, longtime devoted Lakers fan
On November 29th, 2015, Kobe Bryant, the All-Star shooting guard from the
Los Angeles Lakers, made an announcement that after playing 20 years
in the National Basketball Association, he would retire after the end
of this season. Posting this poem “Dear Basketball” on the website “The
Players’ Tribune,” the 37-year-old “Black Mamba” shared his story and
love to basketball.
Dear Basketball,
From the moment
I started rolling my dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots
In the Great Western Forum
I knew one thing was real:
I fell in love with you.
A love so deep I gave you my all —
From my mind & body
To my spirit & soul.
As a six-year-old boy
Deeply in love with you
I never saw the end of the tunnel.
I only saw myself
Running out of one.
And so I ran.
I ran up and down every court
After every loose ball for you.
You asked for my hustle
I gave you my heart
Because it came with so much more.
I played through the sweat and hurt
Not because challenge called me
But because YOU called me.
I did everything for YOU
Because that’s what you do
When someone makes you feel as
Alive as you’ve made me feel.
You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream
And I’ll always love you for it.
But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.
This season is all I have left to give.
My heart can take the pounding
My mind can handle the grind
But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.
And that’s OK.
I’m ready to let you go.
I want you to know now
So we both can savor every moment we have left together.
The good and the bad.
We have given each other
All that we have.
And we both know, no matter what I do next
I’ll always be that kid
With the rolled up socks
Garbage can in the corner
:05 seconds on the clock
Ball in my hands.
5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1
Love you always,
Kobe
Kobe Bryant is definitely one of the greatest basketball players in
NBA history. After being drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in 1996,
Kobe spent his whole career with the Los Angeles Lakers and won five
NBA championships (in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010), one Most Valuable
Player (2008), two times NBA Final MVP (2009, 2010), and four times
All-Star MVP (2002, 2007, 2009, 2011)–all while wearing his purple and gold jersey.
His retirement announcement made millions of his fans sad, including me.
So, what influence does this announcement bring to the NBA?
Ticket prices have gone up!! On Saturday, which was November 28th, I WAS going to
buy tickets for the Lakers’ last game of this season with my friend.
However, we decided not to buy them then because they cost about 600
dollars each, and we needed to talk to our parents about that. The next
day, after Kobe’s announcement, we made up our minds to buy the
tickets. When we went on to the website, we saw this:
HOLY COW. What’s going on? The prices were increasing crazily; you could
even see the numbers going up if you kept refreshing the website! We
found the tickets we looked at the night before, and they
were——-NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS EACH!!!
Me and my friend were like:
At the end, we still bought two tickets for 600 bucks each, but they
were much much further back. This story tells us: Buy your ticket
early!
Anyway, Kobe Bryant’s retirement is no doubt a huge loss to
Basketball. We hope, well, at least I hope, that Kobe can enjoy the
rest of his final season.
Senior Blog Writer, Henry Huang, weighs in on the subject “How Americans should Respond to Syrian Refugees.”
First, I’d like to apologize for this article. I made myself a promise that I would not put anything political in my column. People perceive me too much as a “political geek.” I wanted to expand my horizons. My life is not just about politics; it’s about everything. However, I reached a point where I felt the obligation to write this piece.
The topic is, Daesh, otherwise known as, ISIS. More specifically, I want to talk about the refugee issue created by Daesh.
Daesh has created so much chaos in our society. It has destroyed so many things that we treasure in our lives–freedom, liberty, the simple happiness of life. They attempted to diminish the innocent Parisian victims, calling them “apostates engaged in prostitution and vice.”
Now, after such barbaric behavior, there is an outcry, getting stronger and stronger, saying that accepting refugees from Syria and Iraq should come to an end. Some people think that it is too dangerous to host those people from embattled, radicalized regions. What is even worse is Muslin communities around the world fearing attack and recrimination and feeling generally unsafe. On Dec 7, Donald Trump directly stated that all Muslins should be barred from the “Land of the free and home of the brave.”
I couldn’t witness this rhetoric any longer.
My attitude is simple; the United States should welcome all refugees from Syria and Iraq. Like Matthew 26:33 said, “Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.” We should always open our warm hugs to them. These are my reasons.
First, accepting Muslims is an attitude of resisting Daesh. It tells the world that we, as human beings, will never surrender to Daesh. The Western society with the Renaissance walked out of darkness and let the spirit of humanitarian democracy flourish. It was a long process, and it took us more than four centuries to achieve what we have today. Now, Daesh wants to destroy our principles. Daesh creates fear, sadness, and anger. Daesh wishes to distort our conscience and our courage. However, only those precious things in our lives, such as love, friendship, and strength, could ignite the torch of our souls and resist Daesh. Simply refusing to accept the refugees is indeed surrendering to Daesh and its cruelty and violence.
Also, if we make one exception to keep Muslims outside of the U.S., it will eventually take away our precious freedom! Later on, the regulation towards immigration might spread to Latin America, Africa, Asia, etc. The poem from Martin Niemoller states,
Then they came for me,
and by that time,
there was no one left to speak up.
We need to speak up. Finally, I would like to point out that it is an absolute violation of the Constitution of America for a state to announce the decision to not host Muslim refugees in that state. I personally recommend the United States government learn from Hong Kong of the 1970s. Hong Kong hosted more than two hundred thousand Vietnam refugees during the chaos of Vietnam unification. Hong Kong only had 5 million people at that time. Even though it was a highly expensive thing to do, Hong Kong still did it. What’s more, hosting the Vietnam refugees didn’t create a huge conflict within Hong Kong society. Hong Kong managed a rigorous vetting process in the identification of refugees and their reason for departing Vietnam. Hong Kong set up refugee centers with food and shelter until the refugees could be integrated into Hong Kong or other Western countries.
Europe and America could definitely learn from Hong Kong.
Americans stood up against fascists in World War II. People didn’t kneel before fascists. Now, when the new evil, Daesh, challenges our values, challenges our beliefs and tolerance, challenges our democracy, is when we, as people, should open our arms toward the Syrian refugees. It is not the duty of Americans only, but an obligation of all mankind. It is time for us to share our brotherhood and internationalism toward these suffering people. Like Emma Lazarus said,
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
–Editor Amber Zheng
Still celebrating the excitement of the recent conclusion of the 2015 baseball season, blogger Chloe Sweeney continues her look into notorious baseball curses and superstitions. This is the second installment.
–by Chloe Sweeney
In 1919, the Chicago White Sox was playing in the Worlds Series against the Cincinnati Reds when the scandal began. Although the White So
x became a top team in the league after its victory in the 1917 World Series, Charles Comiskey, the owner of the team, was known for underpaying his players. White Sox players resented Comiskey. Because the players were unable to leave their contracts, they turned to gamblers in an effort to make some extra cash. In return for a huge payoff, eight White Sox players decided to fix the World Series. They intentionally lost as large bets kept piling up for Cincinnati. After seven games, the Cincinnati Reds won the Series. The public caught wind of the massive scandal in the 1920 season, and a grand jury assembled to investigate. All eight players were acquitted in a criminal trial in 1921, but they did not escape unscathed. The Commissioner of Baseball, Kenesaw Landis, issued a statement following the acquittal. He said, “Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a ball game, no player who undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player who sits in confidence with a bunch of crooked ballplayers and gamblers, where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.” All eight players were indefinitely suspended from playing professional baseball. The huge scandal was dubbed the Curse of the Black Sox.A World Series victory had eluded Chicago for 76 years. In 2005, the curse was finally broken as the Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Astros and won the championship!
–Edited by Amber Zheng