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A game of spirit

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By Doreen Yuan

Today I would like to recommend a leisure adventure game. The name of this game is Sky: The Children of Light. In this game, the player will play the child of the sky, fall on the mainland as a meteor, and take risks from then on.

There are seven maps in the game. The scene design of each map is very exquisite and ingenious. As a relatively successful worker in mobile 3D games, I can say that I like the role interaction and character design very much.

Players can play different characters in different costumes, and the color of wings will be different. As players find golden figurines in more maps, they can upgrade their wings. The higher the level of wings, the higher they fly.

What I want to focus on is the setting of ancestors in this game. In this game, ancestors are called spirits. Players can only find candles, that is, customs clearance props, if they follow their ancestors’ steps. Therefore, spirit is a very important theme in this game. In the last level, only players can reach the top of the Eden with mutual help. This also relies on spirit, so spirit can help us to maintain ourselves, be positive and look forward to the future through difficulties.

Spirit Editor: Katelin Slosky

*Doreen says if you’re interested in the game, you can download the game from the Apple or Android store. Do it, and play together with Doreen!

Time passes

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By Katelin Slosky

Time passes, and 

We must live in the moment,

But never think about living in the moment

Or else the moment is ruined

If we think ahead, how will we focus on finding happiness now?

I miss my old friends

Because one day we’ll cross paths

and i’ll say “hey”

and they’ll say “who are you?”

‘cause they won’t know who i am

and i suppose i won’t know who they are either

We’ve changed so much through all this time

We’re practically strangers now, with only the memory of who we once were

Where did Time go?

But I guess, when you live in the moment, you don’t think ahead

You don’t think about trying to enjoy it, because you already are

And just like that, it’s gone

I wish we could go back

I wish I could go back

Carpe Diem Editor: Quintus Ni

Live in the Moment

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By Doreen Yuan

Life is an existence towards death. It is a completely different state for a person to think about death when he is young, and to think about death when he is old, or even to think about death when he is dying. In the face of life there is death, writer Bi Shumin said, a writer who tries “to help people see [death] as a natural thing.”

It’s not unreasonable to say that life is short. People’s birth means death. The countdown of life has begun quietly, and we are one step closer to death. Therefore, when one is alive, one has done all one wants to do. One’s life will be complete.

Although none of us can predict what will happen in the next second, death and the end are inevitable. So, take advantage of the time to visit; take advantage of our young enthusiasm; and do all the things you want to do in order so as to leave no regrets and pass away peacefully.

With her original graphic, Doreen encourages all to “have fun” and live in the moment. She says the above is reminiscent of PVS Scarefest nights.

Carpe Diem Editor: Quintus Ni

Source Referenced: http://en.chinaculture.org/library/2008-01/09/content_75971_2.htm

Luke’s Ranking of his High-School Mandated Readings

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By Luke Langlois

Four years of English class gives students plenty of time to read plenty of books. Some were better than others. So, here is my mostly spoiler-free (for students who haven’t read these yet) ranking of high-school mandated readings. Stick around until the end to read up on the opinions of some other members of the senior class. Please note that this is opinion; these are all world-renowned works and enriching literature.

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#19 – Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club: While The Joy Luck Club has a satisfying ending that will at least slightly touch anyone who’s ever had a family, the narrative style was not so satisfying (basically, a collection of short stories), and I never could connect to it. To be fair, the book revolves around Chinese American immigrant families and would likely mean much more to someone more culturally or circumstantially connected to the protagonists. 

#18 – Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: This was not technically a required class reading, but it was one of the summer reading options for AP English Language and almost everyone in my class picked it up, so it counts. The reason it is so low is because of the, ahem, great expectations I had for it. Fahrenheit 451 is just one of those books that is “hyped up” in the literary sphere, but it did not have the punch I expected when I read it. 

#17 – Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations: This tale of wealth, poverty, love, and rejection is an all-time great bildungsroman (coming-of-age story), but there is just too much coming of age. It is just so long and dreadfully dull at times. I will say, however, that Dickens has to be a significant contributor to our knowledge of the Victorian Era as the way he wrote his settings in this novel, from the cabinets in the cabins to the bustle on the streets, left little to the imagination.

#16 – Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus: This play, while not exactly full of action, is given credit in my mind because of how aware you are of the “expiration date” on Doctor Faustus’s deal with the devil. What does a man look like when his eternal soul is running out of free time?

#15 – Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince: Perhaps if I was born five-hundred years earlier and into a royal family I would find more practical use out of this guide on how to rule your sovereign state. The historical value of this book outweighs its content.

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#14 – Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray: There are three things I learned from this novel: the soul cannot be cleansed; you cannot hide from yourself; and don’t do drugs.

#13 – William Shakespeare’s Macbeth: The regicidal aspect of this play may not be applicable to today’s world, but I find value in Macbeth by comparing the plot to what happens when you lie. If you lie once, you have to keep lying, but that blood will never leave your hands.

#12 – William Golding’s Lord of the Flies: This novel forced me to take a long hard look at myself and humanity as a whole. I concluded that, yes, we do suck.

#11 – Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits: I have to say that this was one of the strangest novels I have read period. Allende seamlessly blends what is real with the magical elements of the novel as if the magic is not even there (thus the label of magical realism). The most intriguing part to me, though, is the portrayal of one of the United States’s not-so-great moments: putting authoritarian leader Pinochet into power in Chile. Isabelle Allende’s familial connection to the leader before Pinochet, Salvador Allende, adds more authenticity to it all. 

#10 – Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea: A relatively short novel that depicts an old man wrestling with a large marlin off the coast of Cuba. It perfectly combines moments of extreme intensity (shark attack!) with the peace of fishing adrift in the ocean.

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#9 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment: A look into our human psyche that is entirely dreadful, but it’s a good type of dreadful. Like the characters in this novel, I felt like I was also living in a cramped Russian slum trapped inside of my head.

#8 –  F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby: Many people would call this novel the most overrated out of these greats work, but I see it as a touching tragedy because, honestly, I rooted for Gatsby! Gatsby gave his heart and soul building an empire of wealth for his glimmering green light, but it was just out of reach.

#7 TIE – William Shakespeare’s Othello and Hamlet: There was nothing that particularly sticks with me about the meanings of these plays, but, when you read Shakespeare, you see bits and pieces of story elements, themes, and phrases that have survived the test of time and appear in our modern works. It’s quite cool!

#5 Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country: I know some of you may find this unusually high, but this novel made me want to take a trip to South Africa, even though the state of affairs there is depicted somewhat poorly here. I can attribute that to Paton’s description of the nation’s natural beauty. Plus, Stephen Kumalo is a universally likable protagonist. 

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#4 Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns: I am enthralled by this novel in the same way I am enthralled by Cry, the Beloved Country. Even though Hosseini portrays a war-torn Afghanistan where women suffer from heartbreaking abuse that is culturally ingrained, he still makes sure to look beyond the horrors and emphasize the natural human beauty that connects us all, regardless of culture.

#3 John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men: Like Fahrenheit 451, this book is just one of those that is hyped up. Unlike Fahrenheit 451, it has the punch it needed. If you’ve read it, you know the one.

#2 Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: This story of a father and son journeying across post-apocalyptic America is devoid of anything even remotely close to happiness, warmth, life, or hope. That’s what makes it great. It is overwhelmingly grey, chilling, and depressing and is an excellent deterrent to nuclear warfare (even though the catastrophe that occurred is never revealed). 

#1 Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man: Again, this was an AP Lang reading option so most students have not read this one, but, as you can see by the ranking, I recommend you do so. The longer novels have not fared well on this list, but Invisible Man is a six-hundred-page beast that authentically documents every facet of the 20th-century strife of the African-American Harlem and broader American community. In this picaresque novel, the protagonist is never even given a name, but his experience with racially-driven brutality and his inability to find an identity (thus, the invisible man), made me more desperate to cheer for him than any other literary protagonist. The novel is dense and reading it is an investment of time, but it is time well spent for the historical and racial perspective.

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Does the senior class agree with me? Let’s find out. . . 

Favorite High-School Mandated Reads:

Brennan Nick – Fahrenheit 451

Sydney Armor – A Thousand Splendid Suns

Shelby Armor – Of Mice and Men

Wilton Zuniga – Doctor Faustus 

Charles Schnell – Crime and Punishment 

Renee Vazquez – Othello?

Lawrence Nelson  – Fahrenheit 451

Least Favorite High-School Mandated Reads: 

Brennan Nick – The Old Man and the Sea

Sydney Armor – Doctor Faustus

Shelby Armor – The Road

Wilton Zuniga – The Prince

Charles Schnell – The Road

Renee Vazquez – Cry, the Beloved Country

Lawrence Nelson – The Joy Luck Club

Favorite Books Editor: James Zheng

Historical Figures–What would life be like without them?

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By Chelsea

As we all know, historical figures played a huge part in the making of our history. Their impacts are hugely different from one another, and thus, they made the world what it is today. Here are some famous historical figures that shaped the world. Imagine what life would be like without them.

Without Issac Newton, we would discover gravity much later, thus delaying the progression of scientific improvement.

Without William Shakespare, the greatest plays and stories would not have been created. 

Without Charles Darwin, the science of evolution of all species would not be discovered until much later. 

Without Nicolaus Copernicus, people would choose to believe in religion that earth is the center of the universe much longer than it should be.

Without Benjamin Franklin, the discovery of electricity would be much later than it was supposed to be.

Without George Washington, America would take much more time to gain its independence, or it would still remain in the Commonwealth.

Without Susan B. Anthony, the women’s suffrage movement would never have made it that far.

Without Adolf Hitler, the Second World War would probably have never happened. The geography of European countries would not have changed during that time. The recovery of the Great Depression in the USA would recover much slower. NATO and the Marshall plan would never exist. etc. 

Without Robert E. Kahn and Vint Cerf, our improvement on the internet would have slowed, or never happened. 

Without Sergey Brin, our beloved Google would never exist. Or, it would take on another name.

Something to Think about Thursday: Photos from the Home Front

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I asked our PVS bloggers to document what they see from the Home Front in this time of coronavirus quarantine. They discovered old family photos, streets empty of traffic, happy dogs, a world outside still rich in sunshine and butterflies, the joy of sleeping in, the joy of cooking, and the joy of reading Nietzsche.

Photo by Renée Vazquez: “Picture of my great-great grandmother that we dug back up.”
Photo by Chelsea Xu: “Here’s some pictures I took during my walks. It’s usually very peaceful and quiet in my area, and I can hear the soft wind blowing and birds singing that I rarely had the time to listen to before the outbreak.”
Photo by Renée Vazquez: We noticed our dogs are pretty happy about having us around.
Photo by Quintus Ni: Quintus finds time to sit outside in the sun. It soothes him.
Photo by Doreen Yuan: We all get to sleep a little bit longer.
Photo by Susie Zachik: The foothills of our valley seem to be doing just fine, as are the blue skies, the clouds, the mountains.
Photo by Doreen Yuan: We’re doing a lot more home cooking.
Photo by James Zheng: James, of course, turns to Nietzsche in times of need.
Photo by Katelin Slosky: Katelin takes notice of the great butterfly migration going on.

What is Morality?

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Co-written by Renée and Chelsea

Is morality strictly a code of conduct, or ¨standards by which one decides what’s right and wrong,¨ as one of our anonymous sources put it? This is what we tasked our student populace to decide. . . .  Is morality always rational? How does one determine what’s right or wrong? How does one know what’s good or bad? Nature does not seem to bother itself with these questions, but we humans do. Morality isn’t clear cut in our world. There are layers and layers of circumstance to try and factor in. How do we choose between beliefs when we are stuck between two…? Most of us would agree that something such as killing is wrong. But, what is the “right” decision, if there even is a right decision? To test your morality, we presented a paraphrased version of the famous “Trolley Problem” and other moral quandaries.

Survey Questions:

*What is morality (to you)?

*There is a runaway unmanned trolley barreling down the railway tracks. Ahead on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person tied down on the sidetrack. You have two options:  Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track. Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person. What is the right thing to do?

*As before, an unmanned trolley is hurtling down a track towards five people. You are on a bridge under which it will pass, and you can stop it by pushing a very fat man next to you onto the track, killing him to save five. What do you do?

*As before, a trolley is hurtling down a track towards five people. You can divert its path by colliding another trolley into it, but if you do, both will be derailed and go down a hill, and into a home where there is at least one person living there. Anyone in the home would die. What do you do?

*As before, a trolley is hurtling down a track towards five people. This time you are on it. You can divert its path, but if you do, you would be killed. What do you do?

*You’re a gifted transplant surgeon who has five patients, each in need of a different organ who will die without that organ. Unfortunately, there are no organs available to perform any of these five transplant operations. A healthy young vagabond, passing through the city, comes in for a routine checkup. In the course of doing the checkup, you discover that his organs are compatible with all five of your dying patients. If the young man were to disappear, no one would suspect you and he has no family left. Do you kill that tourist and provide his healthy organs to those five dying people and save their lives?

Aurora: Morality is someone’s personal beliefs. It depends on the person. Survey responses– pull the lever, no push, save the house, save self, no sacrifice patient.

Conner: I don’t know! — no pull, yes push, save the house, kill self, no sacrifice patient.

Leslie: I don’t know. — yes pull,  yes push, yes wipe out the house, kill self, no sacrifice patient. 

Leo: Morality involves the values that I hold subjectively (my value system). — no pull, no push, kill self, save the house, sacrifice the patient.

Anonymous: Morality is making an active choice between right and wrong. — yes pull, yes push, yes sacrifice the house, no don’t sacrifice the vagabond patient.

Josh: Morality is knowing right from wrong. — no pull no push, no don’t wipe out the house and occupants, kill self, no don’t sacrifice vagabond.

Sofia: I don’t know how to define morality. — yes pull, yes push, yes sacrifice house occupants? kill self, sacrifice vagabond (if there are no transplant patients if not, then no).

Dominic: Morality is having morals and would be the extent to which one knows right and wrong. — yes pull, yes push, no don’t sacrifice house occupants, no-kill self, sacrifice vagabond. 

Anonymous: I don’t know about morality. — yes pull, no push, no don’t sacrifice house occupants, kill self, sacrifice the vagabond. There are too many factors and in real life, I don’t know. There is no “right answer.”

Nathan: Morality is the idea of doing “good” things based on your own code. —  yes pull, no push, yes sacrifice the house occupants, kill self, no don’t sacrifice the vagabond.

Anonymous: Morality is the standards by which one decides what’s right and wrong. — pull the lever, no push, don’t sacrifice the house occupants, kill self, no don’t sacrifice the vagabond.

The “moral” of the story is . . . relative . . . .

Morality Editor: Luke Langlois

Can We Truly Admire Historical Figures?

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By Luke Langlois

Image result for ronald reagan black and white

Blog readers, as I am writing this, the world is practically on lockdown due to COVID-19 and, although we are still practicing distance learning, I find myself with quite a bit of time on my hands. If you happen to find yourself stuck at home, this is an excellent time to think about big questions and self-reflect. For example: if you were to become a historical figure, would you be an admirable one? While I am sure you would like the answer to be “Yes, of course!” you probably have some skeletons in your closet that would make it real difficult to like you if they were presented in a history textbook. Whether it is something you have said, done, believed, or some other personal vice, there has got to be something that is not likable about yourself. 

I present this information not as a personal attack or something to lower your self-esteem, rather it is just a fact of the human condition. Nobody is perfect, and even if you believe you are, the definition of perfect varies by individual. But that’s a discussion for another time. Now, humans also have a tendency to admire other people. After all, we are social creatures. Furthermore, we tend to glorify people who have made their mark on our world and human history. The accomplishments of these historical figures are romanticized, and we make these people become “larger than life” with monuments, namings, movies, documentaries, etc. Yet, how are we supposed to look up to and, sometimes, even model ourselves after these figures if they are deeply flawed like the rest of us? 

We all know by now that just about every President we have had has had some sort of nasty side, even though streets and cities around the country are named after them. Washington, Jefferson, and almost every President up to Ulysses S. Grant owned slaves. Ronald Reagan was recently revealed to have made racially insensitive comments in a phone call with President Nixon, who also chuckled at the joke (although he’s already not a very well liked man). More contemporarily, Barack Obama stated that he was against same-sex marriage all the way up to the 2008 election, a position he would now be chastised for amongst his supporters. While it is true that the office of President of the United States has been held by a limited demographic, to say the least, the point still stands for other often admired historical figures: people who have done great things have also done some not-so-great things. Nowadays, it seems that we walk on eggshells when it comes to these matters. If you admire a figure with some not-so-admirable traits, many people would argue that you subscribe to these beliefs and even enable these actions by looking up to the said figure. 

One of the primary purposes of learning about history is to learn from our past mistakes. The problem many people have with history, though, is that it is difficult to make connections from past to present. It can be difficult to relate our modern information era to, say, the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. This is where historical figures come in. Although times may change, people have always been people. When we can relate to a figure and find a common point through our humanity, we can truly feel the enrichment of our history. If we scold ourselves for connecting with our historical figures, we risk severing ourselves from a meaningful connection with our past.  

“No one is entirely good or entirely bad. Everyone has some good and some bad in them. Look at Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He certainly helped the United States get out of the Great Depression and was the president the country needed at the time. However, he was not perfect: he signed off [Executive Order 9066] on the Japanese internment camps, for instance.”

— Palm Valley Student Charles Schnell

Historical Figures Editor: Renée Vazquez

The mind at war with the heart.

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A poem. For humanity.

By Renée 

I know my emotions.

I know that you’re not sure about yours.

I know that words for you don’t mean the same thing as they do to me.

But they’re all that I’ve had for a long time.

I can’t let you go.

You give me hope for a future that used to seem bleak.

You make me want to scream at the world how amazing you are.

You make me want to be a better person.

You make me want to never let you go.

You are the one who I want to go through the bad times with.

Just let me tell you what I know.

Just let me enjoy you.

And even though I would like to hold you forever,

I’ll let you go when you want me to.

Humanity Editor: Doreen Yuan

My Morality is being honest to myself forever

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“Very deep and insightful. It made me look into myself a little deeper. I loved it.”–Gerry Dobbins

By Quintus Ni

Time passes like flowing water and disappears silently. When I quiet down and look back, I find that people always sigh deeply at certain moments.

They sigh for some things, some people, or some little experiences……

Then, I come to the conclusion that actually life is not easy, and each person has their own embarrassments. When you try to understand the past and don’t mind your embarrassment anymore, something called compassion will appear in your heart. When you learn to accept your merits and demerits, it means that you are also making peace with the world.

“What does not kill you makes you stronger.”

I didn’t believe this sentence before. I thought it was just a typical motivational quote, until I experienced some things. I have to admit that some “bad” experiences are not necessarily bad, because they at least taught me something.

Every day is new because people experience different things. When you learn to consider and summarize what has happened in your life, your views will gradually become deeper and deeper, and naturally you will come to your own unique ideas of life and morality.

After you experience something, you will be rewarded with gains, feelings, and wisdom.

It is just like traveling. If you go out to see more, naturally you will have a broader vision and mind. Meanwhile, you will be more aware of what you long for most and what the things most worth cherishing and pursuing are. Therefore, it makes sense that senior citizens often say that the more you have experienced, the more you have gained.

I remember in my younger days, when I argued sharply if someone slandered me; I replied angrily if someone misunderstood me; I refuted with more vicious words if someone insulted me……

I was definitely an extremely direct person with sharp characteristics, successfully making myself the person I hate the most.

But later, I learned to adjust my mind positively, and finally understood that no matter how good you are, there are always some people who don’t like you. The world won’t reward you equitably for what you have paid, and it won’t treat you in the same way even if you did treat others kindly.

It is life and its experiences that has made me peaceful, setbacks and difficulties that made me positive, and the people of the world that made me tolerant.

I gradually learned to accept and face everything calmly, treat the people around me more kindly, and be undisturbed no matter what happens. In this way, I slowly taste life and settle myself in time.

Fairness and unfairness are common in life. But it’s uncommon that you can still remain humble, peaceful, kind, and optimistic after you experience much.

Someone once said that your calmness comes from your past innocence, and that your kindness comes from your past sadness and uneasiness. I look back and find this to be absolutely true.

Even the most irritable people will gradually become gentle and patient if they are polished by time. We’ll eventually grow from those years when we got angry and listened to no one’s advice. Then we will smile and accept it all, good or bad. An ancient saying says to remain indifferent and leisurely watch the flowers bloom and fade.

Eventually, we may no longer be as imperious, impulsive, and carefree as in our childhood days, but we’ve already known the width and thickness of life.

We have cried, laughed, lost, doubted, and hesitated along the way……But, finally, we have learned to regard everything as growth.

Maybe this is what life should be!

You live up to time, and time lives up to you.

Morality Editor Luke Langlois