The Palm Valley School Student Blog
By Gladis Canby
Hey.
It’s ok.
You’re ok.
You have to be ok.
You don’t realize
how many people
need you to be ok.
To be here.
To be with me.
Right now.
Take a deep breath.
Wake up.
Don’t do this.
Don’t walk away.
Don’t give up.
If you do,
I will forever stay here,
in this spot.
I will live in this moment,
and replay this scene
over and over–
again and again,
wondering
where I went wrong.
So please,
open your eyes.
Editor: Peter Kadel
A pocket poem by Brennan Nick
Two doors–left and right,
Each in equal rank and light,
One was bad, though I couldn’t flee,
The other good, though I didn’t see.
Without this insight,
I chose the bad,
which did invite the tragedy I had.
Editor: Makena Behnke
By House Linguist Brennan Nick
In case you did not know, the people of Shakespeare’s time spoke much differently than we do today. If someone in Shakespeare’s time came today and spoke to you, you may only be able to understand about 75% of what they are saying. However, the year 1600 was “only” about ten generations ago. Now, I personally do not feel like I speak much differently from my parents, let alone Shakespeare. Besides, there have been massive enunciation shifts from Shakespeare’s time to now. So I wondered, what massive sound changes are going on right now?
Well, one thing that I learned very recently is the fact that some people pronounce the words “cot” and “caught” differently, while an increasing number of people pronounce them the same. This is called the cot-caught merger. This blew my mind when I learned this because I never realized that we were experiencing sound shifts right now. The difference is between the “aw,” “au,” “al,” and “ought” sounds and the short “o” sounds. The difference can be seen in words like . . .
–“cot” and “caught,”
–”collar” and “caller,”
–”stock” and “stalk,”
–”chock” and “chalk,”
–and ”don” and “dawn.”
It used to be that everyone made a distinction between the two different vowel sounds. However, people are increasingly pronouncing those vowel sounds the same. This shift is occurring the most in the Greater Pittsburgh Area and West Virginia, the New England Area, and the entire western half of the USA, with some exceptions such as San Francisco (See map).
With this knowledge, I then decided to collect some data on who pronounced the vowel sounds the same way and who pronounced them differently. So, I went around to many people here in Southern California and had them say these words:
“Rock cot talk rob stalk water
Call stock caught doll also”*
*Unbolded = “cot” sound for all words
Bold = Both “cot” and “caught” sounds used
Here is what I found:
People who did make a distinction: 10
People who did not make a distinction: 27
Even though I got the data, I still wanted to find some characteristic that determined who made a distinction and who did not. Age did not have to do with it, as there were both teachers and students who made the distinction and did not. What I found to be the greatest determiner was whether or not they were from California or if they were from elsewhere.
People who made a distinction and are not from California–8.
People who made a distinction and are from California–2.
People who did not make a distinction and are not from California–7.
People who did not make a distinction and are from California–20.
This can be explained by the fact that, in California, the two vowel sounds are merged by most people; whereas the two vowels are largely unmerged in many other areas of the country.
All in all, this was a fun experiment.
Below is a video where you can “hear” the difference for yourself.
Editor: Leo Milmet
By Leo Milmet
I’ve been called a liar.
A bit excessive.
A weak little weasel who has just gotta toughen up.
A cold-hearted young man with a face of stone.
A slave to my fears.
A bitter soul.
I’ve been asked “What the hell is wrong with you?” countless times.
I’ve been unfavorably compared to the accommodation-needing, annoying kid in the car who constantly asks “Are we there yet?”
I’ve been told, by well-intentioned people, “Mine is different. You wouldn’t have a problem with mine.”
All I said was,
“I’m afraid of dogs.”
Editor: Peter Kadel
By Anne
She has a
bizarre
point of view.
An unusual
way of being.
They say she is
weird,
strange,
freakish.
She feels
unearthly.
She wishes she were
dreamlike.
One day
all of her
will be an illusion.
Editor: Makena Behnke
By Leo Milmet
Have you ever seen a film or television show, or read a book, or listened to a song, that you really, really like (or maybe even…LOVE) that you know is just awful? Or maybe you hate something for many reasons, but love to analyze just why you hate it, or you genuinely like a film, book, show, or song that everyone else hates? These various types of films are often called guilty pleasures, and I must say that I have many of them. I used to think of guilty pleasures as embarrassing, but not anymore. I actually really embrace my enjoyment of many truly bad (or badly reviewed) film and shows, like Maris Curran’s drama Five Nights in Maine, the new Burt Reynolds film The Last Movie Star (the rare film that I truly, honestly love that still has terrible reviews), almost any M. Night Shyamalan film (with the exception of Lady in the Water and the god-awful The Last Airbender) or, especially, the CW-produced coming-of-age show Gossip Girl. I really, honestly like that show. It’s awful, yes, and I despise nine out of ten shows of its type, but for some reason, I enjoy Gossip Girl. All art is subjective, so subjective that, in fact, you could easily argue that there should be no such thing as a “guilty pleasure,” but no matter. There is value to these artistic works.
Now, you may ask, “Where on earth is the value in Gossip Girl, or The Village, or even in Five Nights in Maine?” For myself, I find the value in “bad” films or shows by analyzing them, just to understand why they are bad. I can safely say that Gossip Girl is bad. The dialogue is sometimes ridiculously unrealistic, and the plotting can be very lazy. But, it’s incredibly fun for me to watch, and I love to analyze just why it is, in fact, a bad show. It’s simply a bad show that I watch all the time. And, doing exactly that, with whatever guilty pleasure you may have, is what I recommend to you today. If you’ve always had a couple of guilty pleasures that you’ve been embarrassed about for a while, maybe go through them again one day and try to figure out just why they are bad, good, or some mixture of the two. Trust me, it can be a lot of fun.
Editor: Makena Behnke
By Peter Kadel
He stood before me, looking as he looked every day–rugged, a man of the forest, bearded and burly. He and his possessions were not gilded or lavish but utilitarian and plain. He and everything he owned had a purpose that they fulfilled adequately. None of his features or possessions were extraordinary in any way, with one exception–the pen. He always carried an ornately decorated fountain pen. I never found out where he got it or how he was ever able to afford such a gilded masterpiece. But, he had it with him always, a special pocket on his rucksack held the treasure so it was safe yet easy to reach. The body of the pen was made from a piece of obsidian as black as a moonless night with gold inlay and a golden nib. I was always surprised when I saw him holding the black treasure. It was a diamond in the rough of his demeanor. His worn and weathered hands worried the smooth glasslike surface. I never saw him use it, but the pen was always there.
He would never part with it: when the drought hit and we were starving and thirsty, he kept it. When the common folks were prohibited from reading and writing, he kept it. When a group of bandits took my sister and demanded our valuables, he kept it. When rumors spread of a wealthy collector offering a large sum for old writing implements, he kept it. When he was given a choice between the pen and his life….
It was just a pen, not a long lost relic, not a family treasure passed down for generations, not a holy artifact coveted by all. I’ll never understand why he cared about that thing so much. When I asked him why it was worth more than a human life, he said, “I carry these tools all over these here mountains, and I use them to create things so I can survive. But this pen won’t help me survive. If I were to use this pen to create something, that something lasts beyond me.”
So there it was, greed and vanity. Or maybe not. When he lay dying in a pool of his own failings, he handed the pen to me.
Editor: Claire Jenkins
By Swan Weasley
A bird
who clipped its own wings
was lonely
because it couldn’t fly.
Whenever its ability to fly
began to return
it would clip its wings.
Again,
and again,
and again.
Whether or not it realized it.
Editor: Makena Behnke
By Claire Jenkins
Now mind you, I have a PERMIT, not a license. I am but a child in the driving world, and it is a SCARY world, people. For those of you who have been driving for years, it may seem like second-hand nature, but for us newbies it is practically WWIII. Whether you are trying to switch lanes or make it through a four-way stop in one piece, it feels like death flashes by every five seconds.
Below is a list of driving no-no’s that I accidentally “yes-yes’d”:
I really do try my best, guys. Thanks for enjoying my stupidity, and don’t report me for breaking as many laws as I have while driving.
Editor: Makena Behnke
By Renée
Our names
Are us.
They’re poetic in meaning.
Some common,
Some unique.
Sometimes we choose them;
Sometimes they’re chosen for us:
A family heirloom,
A memorial,
An aspiration,
An inspiration.
Our nicknames we give to those we know.
A name becomes beautiful when it belongs to someone we love.
We present ourselves through our names.
We are behind our signatures.
Us: complex and ever changing beings
Represented by our names.
Editor: Claire Jenkins