(First weekly)
(2349 total words)

Poetry
(304 words)
Etheree
Sketch
First stroke
Second stroke
Drawing it in
One stroke at a time
The lines turn into a
Beautiful masterpiece
Choose your colors wisely, my friend.
Eventually, it becomes a
Fully finished drawing of what you love.

Limerick
Shurikens are going flying
And you know that Birdi is not lying
When you hear her welcome you warmly
Into a place with a mood the opposite of stormy
And you know that there will be no crying

Acrostic
Mystery Monastery looms above
You are frightened but go in
Small, shiny shurikens fly as you march down the hall
To a month of Scratch Writing Camp
Everyone is kind here
Red and black begins to surround you as
You walk around and feel at home

Diamante
Spring
Warm, happy
Grow, unfrost, shine
Rain, robin, leaf, jacket
Crinkle, blow, bundle
Cool, Calm
Autumn

Cinquain
Stories are powerful things, you know.
They can be letting someone know that they are not alone
Or perhaps you are telling your own story
Maybe you are simply getting something off your chest
What will you write next?

Haiku
A small flower grows
In a desert of trampled
And dusty soil

Free verse
Building a snowperson
It starts with a hunk of snow
Roll, roll, roll
Roll, roll, roll
Roll, roll, roll
Place it on the ground
Wherever you please
Grab another piece
Roll, roll, roll
Roll, roll, roll
Stack it on the first
Grab a third piece
Roll, roll roll
Stack it on top
Give your snowperson
Some eyes, a nose
And arms
And maybe
Just maybe
Something else
I haven’t thought of;
Something that no one
Has thought of
Not yet

Monorhyme
A coyote howls
A wolf prowls
The trees house owls
It is a chorus of yowls
As the animals’ jowls
Open in a slur of vowels

Essay
(501 words)
Americans see lots and lots of ads for prescription medicine. These ads are called pharmaceuticals. They are on television, on YouTube, on websites, and on pretty much any other place on the internet you can think of. If you live in America, you know what I mean when I say that you can barely go anywhere on the internet without seeing them. In fact, this made up 75% of the money spent on ads in 2020. That is a vast majority. The number of ads is not the real problem, though. The real problem is what all these ads popping up everywhere cause. It results in people taking medicines that they do not need. If they do need that medicine but started taking it because they saw it in a commercial, they might be less compliant with taking it. All of these are reasons why I think that the US and New Zealand should illegalize these ads like the rest of the world already has. If all but two countries in the entire world have done something, it doesn’t seem like you should even need much proof to know that those last two countries should probably follow along.
A 10% increase in pharmaceuticals resulted in a 5% increase in prescription drugs that were purchased. That is a lot more people purchasing those things. A whopping 70% of this was people starting new prescriptions. That is way more people than there should be that are starting new prescription medications. Only the other 30% of it was people becoming more compliant with prescriptions they’d already had. If America and New Zealand banned these ads, none of this would happen. At first, yes, quite a few companies would probably end up being forced to shut down. But when you think about it, which is more important? The short-term effect of businesses shutting down? Or the long-term effect of citizens of these countries taking the right medicines and being compliant with them? I believe it would be the latter. A short burst of businesses shutting down doesn’t compare much to the overall health of a country.
Now, the argument that some people make is that commercials for prescription medicine serve as a reminder to those already taking them to be more compliant with them. Like, if you were taking a medicine and saw a commercial for it on TV, you would be reminded to take it. That much is true. And it would be a good thing if it was the majority of the people who started buying more prescription drugs in response to more pharmaceuticals. However, that is not even close to being the case. The negative effect of people taking them when they do not need them greatly outweighs the positive effect of people who actually need them and are actively taking them being reminded to comply with them. So in conclusion, I think that the US and New Zealand should join the rest of the world in banning commercials for prescription drugs.

Scriptwriting
(709 words)
PATRICIA is near her house. MAYA walks up to her.

PATRICIA
Why hello, Maya. I assume you’re looking for a place to stay? (friendly)

MAYA
Yes, I am. (surprised)

PATRICIA
Well, you can always stay at my house. I think my daughter is about your age. (friendly)

MAYA
Oh. Okay. I’m always happy for a place to stay. (skeptical)

PATRICIA
Oh, that’s wonderful. Come in then. (skeptical) By the way, my name is Patricia Largucen. You hear that? Puh-TRISH-uh LAR-gus-ehn. (insistent)

MAYA
Excuse me, but where is your daughter?

PATRICIA
Oh. Shirley is probably outside in the backyard with a book. It’s her favorite thing to do, read in the backyard. Not that most of our backyard isn’t a garden, that is. Would you like to meet her?

MAYA
No thank you. I can meet her later.

PATRICIA
This is the room you’ll be staying in. Sorry, It’s not much, I know. But I assure you we can get it cleaned up shortly.

MAYA, PATRICIA, and SHIRLEY eat dinner. Afterwards…




SHIRLEY
I think Mom has an old photo album we could look through. It’s not exactly family photos, though. Mom likes to collect photographs from travelers and traders, so it’s mostly just random.

SHIRLEY flips through the album.

MAYA
Where did you get this?

MAYA points to a picture of a girl.

SHIRLEY
I don’t know. Mom might know, though. Why?

MAYA
O-oh, I was just wondering. They looked interesting, that's all.

SHIRLEY
I’ll go ask Mom if she can remember.

SHIRLEY walks out and finds PATRICIA. MAYA sneaks out and eavesdrops on SHIRLEY asking PATRICIA where the picture came from.

PATRICIA
Well, I’m not sure, but I think they came from a tall man with black hair. Yes, that’s right. Now I remember. I think he was looking for his daughter who had run away, and gave us the pictures to see if we had any better luck finding her.

PATRICIA and SHIRLEY walk out of the room, and notice MAYA standing outside it.

MAYA
I-I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to intrude! But I think… I think the kid in the pictures is… me. And I think it’s time I find my parents.

PATRICIA
Well, we can go with you, if you like.

SHIRLEY
B-but I don’t think I’ve ever left this town!

PATRICIA
Then it would be a good learning experience, love.

MAYA
Well, if I’m going to get a say in whether you go with me or not, I’m going to say that you can come with me if you want. I could use some company for once, and I think I remember looking at a city not too far from here and thinking I’d seen it before. We should start there.

SHIRLEY
I guess if you agree, then I’ll come.

PATRICIA
Then it’s settled. We’re coming. We can leave tomorrow.

MAYA, PATRICIA, and SHIRLEY go to sleep. The next morning, they pack their bags and set off. A little while into their journey, they pass through a field of butter-yellow flowers. MAYA appears to be a bit scared of them.

SHIRLEY
Maya, why are the flowers making you scared?

MAYA
The color yellow bothers me, that’s all. (nervous)

PATRICIA
We can take a detour, if you’d like.

MAYA
No really, It’s fine.

PATRICIA
Alright, then.

MAYA, PATRICIA, and SHIRLEY get past the flowers and closer to the city. They are now near the sea. But now SHIRLEY is looking nervous.

PATRICIA
Shirley, are you okay?
SHIRLEY
I’m sorry. I should have mentioned it earlier, but the main reason I don’t like traveling is because… well, the sea scares me. I don’t like you could just fall in at any moment.

PATRICIA
You’ll be alright, dear. We won’t go near it.

SHIRLEY
Thanks.

MAYA, PATRICIA, and SHIRLEY reach the city.

MAYA
It’s all coming back now. This is definitely where my parents live. And even better, I know where their apartment is!

PATRICIA
Let’s go, then. Lead the way.

MAYA guides PATRICIA and SHIRLEY to the right apartment door. MAYA knocks on the door and waits. MAYA’s parents answer the door.

MAYA
Mom! Dad!

PATRICIA
We should leave Maya and her parents to catch up. We can always visit later.

SHIRLEY
Alright. Let’s get back home.

Creative Nonfiction
(833 words total)
Creative Nonfiction

Descriptive (Memoir)
It started out a normal day. Well, maybe normal isn’t the right word. As normal as it ever is with the friends I have, at least.
Anyway, I was outside, sitting on a blanket, eating lunch with my friends. What turned it into a day I won’t forget anytime soon was when someone suggested that we play Never Have I Ever.
If you didn’t know, this is how you play: Everyone puts up a hand, with all five fingers up. Then everyone takes turns saying “Never have I ever…” and then they add something like “eaten a stick” or “watched Peppa Pig” to the end of it. It makes a sentence like “Never have I ever read a manga.” Everyone who has done whatever was just said has to put down a finger. The goal is to think of something that a lot of the people you’re playing with have done, but you haven’t.
Traditionally, when you put down all five fingers, you drink a shot of wine or some other kind of alcohol. But we were at school and that would be illegal anyway, since we’re all kids. Although I think the reason my friends decided not to do that probably had a bit more to do with the fact we didn’t have any available rather than the fact that it would be illegal.
The point is, one of my friends had come up with a different idea. They mashed up some of the hash browns from Chick-Fil-A they’d had for lunch. With their bare hands. Then they put them down in the middle of the blanket we were sitting on. So now you would have to eat a piece of that instead of drinking alcohol when you got all five fingers down. It was so, so gross. But hey, if there’s a bright side, at least it didn't involve alcohol.
When this idea was added to the game, I immediately asked to be a spectator and just watch. Being good friends, everyone let me do that. One of my friends, though, was very excited to eat these incredibly gross hash browns. This was not surprising, considering that I’d also watched her excitedly eat hash browns off of the ground.
This story’s moral is to never have friends as crazy as mine. Just kidding! If there’s anything you should learn from this story, it’s to never feel pressured into doing something you don’t want to do. If your friends are good friends, they’ll let you back out.

Narrative (History)
The date was March second, 1955. A certain 15-year-old Black girl just happened to be taking the bus home from high school that day. A white person just happened to need to sit in her seat. The bus driver just happened to need to ask her to get up.
You might be able to guess what happened after that. “No,” she replied. “I paid my fare. It’s my constitutional right.” The bus driver called for the police. Two police officers came onto the bus and arrested her. She was put in handcuffs and taken away to jail. “It’s my constitutional right!” she proclaimed over and over again, as she was being dragged all the way out of the bus.
In school, her class had been studying Black history. They’d been studying people like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. They’d been studying Jim Crow laws, and how that made their lives harder.
Back then, Black people couldn’t just go into a store and try on clothes or shoes to see if they would fit. To buy shoes that fit, they had to trace their foot onto a brown paper bag and see if it fit them that way.
This girl’s head had been too full of Black history. Too full of the injustices Black people had endured. Too full of all of that to just stand up and obey the bus driver when he told her to give up her seat. But who was she, anyway? You might be able to guess. You might not. Either way, that girl’s name is Claudette Colvin. She is now 82 years old.
The world may remember Rosa Parks as the one who sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, but Claudette Colvin was the one who really got it moving. And, surprisingly or not, this is no accident. The NAACP and other civil rights leaders didn’t think they would be taken as seriously if the face of their campaign was that of a 15-year-old girl, rather than a 42-year old woman.
However, you can learn that Rosa Parks was not, in fact, the first, despite the fact that she gets all the credit. Despite the fact that she’s the one we all learn about in school. In fact, there were people even before Claudette Colvin. Black women who were fined quietly and then faded into the background. But Claudette Colvin was the first to really cause an upset. The first to really change the law.

Daily #4:

Project With Pictures:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/654609334/

Main Cabin Daily 3/5
Topic: Superpower
Word Count: 235
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A really funny story, I actually do day dream of one specific power, and i've even thought through the logistics of it!
It's Teleportation.
I think it would be just a quick and convenient time saver in many cases.
I would have limitations that
A. I need to be able to see the area i'm teleporting too.
B. The area has to be unoccupied.
It wouldn't make sense if you just teleported through a wall and knew exactly where you were, and it would be really messed up if you teleported in something. (I'm imagining a backstory of a character with their parents dying for that reason right now to be honest. (Woah look fancy writing I didn't use acronyms of rn and tbh)
Notable options would be powers involving communication and fantasy magic, the keeper of the lost cities series has many desirable ones!
kinda short daily and i'm like 3 - 4 thousand words behind my goal, so I'm probably going to do some rants and then start a in progress for a while story called mages of the ages (may be altered later)
It gives me so much cringe and nostalgia looking back on my old writing *sigh*
Cya <3

P.s. ok can we talk about how it took me an hour to write a kinda scripted 400 word story and this took like 5 minutes to write and it's around 200 words like I can rant well haha.

Weekly #1 ~
2,850 words
Adventure Cabin

PART ONE, POETRY:
I did an acrostic, a free verse, a haiku, a cinquain, and an epigram

Acrostic for “Snow”
Soft, and shining, falling from the sky, landing softly on the ground
Never boring, people always slipping and tripping
Oh my gosh, it’s so much fun to play and throw around the snow
When you’re done, don’t forget to warm yourself up
(42 words)

Free Verse about stress:
Stress.
It comes out of nowhere.
When it comes, it fills you up.
You’re overwhelmed.
There’s too much to do.
And not enough time to do it all.
Even so, you try to do it all.

Why?
Why do you go and go and go?
Well, it’s simple.
It’s because you can’t let anybody down.
Because you feel like you can’t back out.
Because you’ll disappoint everyone around you.
And that’s one thing you couldn’t handle.

So you keep going.
And going.
And going.
And going.

You’re trapped in your head.
Thinking only about the things you’ve done wrong.
You can never focus on the good.
There’s just too many bad, stressful, worrying things swirling in your head.

You don’t tell anybody about how bad it can get.
How many times you’ve cried in secret.
And then forced a smile ten minutes later so that nobody knows.
How many times you’ve cried yourself to sleep.
As quiet as you can, so that nobody knows.

Why?
Why do you hide it?
Why not ask for help?
Why do you keep saying “I’m fine.” when you’re clearly not.

Because you don’t want to be a burden.
Because you know most people won’t care.
Because people will say you’re being dramatic
Because they won’t take your seriously
Because they’ll think you’re exaggerating.

At the end of the day, there’s one thing you can do.
Take a breath
Take a step back
And keep going.
(241 words)

Haiku about a river:
It flows, soft and sweet
Bubbling and foaming white
Quiet and calming
(12 words)

Cinquain about rain:
Rain
Wet and cold
Falling, thundring, pounding
Feels cold, but so nice to touch
Precipitation
(15 words)

Epigram:
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
- Ayn Rand
(16 words)

(Total of 326 words of poetry)

PART TWO, ESSAY:

A debate that has been going on for quite a few years in the field of education is whether or not teachers should play soft classical music in classrooms while students are doing independent work or taking a test; or allow students to listen to music through headphones while they work. While some argue that this will be distracting to students and hinder their learning, many believe that the exact opposite is true. There are several studies that support the idea that music actually helps students learn, and doesn’t hinder their learning at all.

Playing music in the background of a classroom while students are studying or taking a test can help them to focus more on the task they are currently working on. Playing music may also help students be less distracted while they are working. If students are listening to music through headphones, or even through a speaker somewhere in the classroom, then they won’t be as distracted by outside noise and distractions. This helps the students focus on the task at hand, instead of the distractions going on around them. In addition to eliminating distractions, listening to a type of classical music that students enjoy can put the students in a better mood and make them feel happier, this in turn makes the task at hand feel more enjoyable therefore they will be more focused on whatever it is they are working on. All of this combined is just one of many clear ways that music in the classroom is beneficial to students' learning and focus. Music has also been shown to boost levels of dopamine, which is a hormone known to increase the pleasure of whatever task you are doing during an influx of dopamine. Therefore, playing music in the background while students work will make the work they are doing more enjoyable. If something is enjoyable, then you are more likely to be motivated to do it, so students will be more motivated to complete their schoolwork and work harder on it, consequently learning and retaining more information from each lesson and assignment. This in turn will help them to score higher on their tests and exams, because they will be able to remember more information from all of their lessons. This is good for all students, as well as for the schools. For students, higher scores and more knowledge can help them if they decide to go to college. Students with higher scores would be able to apply to better colleges, and get better degrees, therefore getting themselves better jobs in the future. All of that will give students better lives as adults.


A lot of students will benefit and learn better if teachers allow them to start listening to music, even if it’s only through headphones so that it isn’t distracting to the other students around them. Personally, I know that I benefit a lot from the fact that I can listen to music through my headphones while I’m doing independent work on my computer. It helps me but doesn’t distract my classmates, so it is a win win! Music should be allowed in classrooms, either for the whole class or for each individual student if they so choose.
(536 words)

PART THREE, SCRIPT WRITING:
This is the writing I’ll be adapting, it’s a fanfiction that I wrote a couple months ago!

It was about 5:30 pm, Davey and Les were about to leave the lodge after a day of selling papers when the rain started. At first Davey wasn’t too concerned, they’d walked home in the rain before, but then it started coming down more and more. And before long it was pouring.There was no way they could walk home in that, they’d be soaked and Davey really didn’t want Les or him getting sick.
As they were waiting out the rain,Davey looked over at Piper, who was sitting on her bunk reading. At least, she looked like she was reading. But Davey noticed her eyes kept flicking to the window by her bunk, where the rain was hammering against the glass. Her brow was slightly furrowed; she looked nervous, like she was waiting for something that she wasn’t looking forward to. He walked over to her to see what was wrong.
“Hey Piper.” He started, taking a seat next to her. Her head whipped towards him, then she smiled “You doing alright?”
“Yeah. M’fine.” The sixteen year old answered. But after a moment she added softly “For now.”
“What do you mean ‘for now?”
“Exactly what I just said.” Davey tried to figure out what she could be worried about when a memory from during the strike came to mind.
Piper and Jack were at his house with him, Sarah and his folks having dinner. It was the first day they’d met. Everything was silent until the rain started. Piper had the same worried expression she was wearing now. Then when the thunder first sounded she had flinched and given a small gasp. He watched as the girl took a deep breath while another clap of thunder sounded. Then he asked her
“You alright?” Her look shifted to one of what looked like embarrassment as she stammered a response
“Y-Yeah… I… M’fine.” She looked towards Jack. Her brother gave a small nod and Davey noticed him grab her hand as his parents continued talking.
That’s when he realized what was wrong. Piper was scared of thunder. Probably storms in general.
“It’s the rain right?” She looked confused “It’s making you nervous.” he finished
“I… I dunno what ya talkin ‘bout.” Piper muttered, “Why would the rain make me… make me noivous?”
“Well… you’re scared of storms… Right? I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that’s what it is right?”
“What’re ya…. I mean I… I don…” She trailed off and sighed before asking softly “How’d ya know?”
“Oh well, don’t you know.” He grinned jokingly “I know everything about you.”
“No ya don’t. Like, at all. But seriously…. How’d ya know?”
“I don’t really know. But um, remember when you came over to my house the day before the strike started? When it was thundering? You looked really nervous then, just like you look right n-” He stopped as suddenly there was a crash of thunder and Piper gasped, squeezing her eyes closed and clenching her fists. Davey instinctively placed his hand on her shoulder, but she jerked away
“No!” She quietly gasped. Then her eyes flew open. She looked around and then took a deep breath “Sorry…” She murmured, she looked down, seemingly embarrassed. “I shouldn’t be…” She flinched at another sound of thunder “I shouldn’t be this scared of storms but…”
“Hey, it’s fine.” He responded quickly. He wanted to grasp her hand or something to comfort her, but he also didn’t want her to freak out or anything. And she seemed pretty jumpy right now when it came to touch. “You gonna be okay though?”
“I th-” She stopped and closed her eyes at a flash of lightning and flinched at the subsequent sound of thunder. Then she continued “I think so. I mean… I’ve gotten through storms before, right?”
“Well yeah but… I mean, are you sure?” Piper nodded, but she kept eyeing the window nervously. “You wanna move away from the window?” He asked
“Yeah… Yeah I guess so.” She stood up and followed her as she walked towards her bedroom. Once there, she closed the door behind the two of them. Then she crossed to her bed and sat down, pulling her knees up to her chest and closing her eyes. Davey sat beside her but he wasn’t sure what to do. So he waited for her to say or do something. After a moment, Piper opened her eyes and then she reached over and gently grasped his hand. He gave her a small smile and gently squeezed her hand as they heard another clap of thunder from outside. Piper tightly clenched his hand and he gently squeezed back. After a minute or so, she rested her head on his shoulder and pressed a bit closer to him. Davey gently released her hand and grabbed it with his other before placing his free arm over her shoulders. Piper flinched, closing her eyes, and Davey gently squeezed her shoulders to remind her she wasn’t by herself, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t think he needed to. This seemed to be enough for her right now.


Characters in the Scene
PIPER: 16 year old girl, shoulder length hair, newsie, Davey’s girlfriend
DAVEY: 17 year old boy, curly brown hair, newsie, Piper’s boyfriend
NARRATOR: Never seen on stage, narrates the memory and beginning of the story

(Scene opens with PIPER sitting on a bunk bed near a window, pretending to read a book while sounds of rain are playing. The scene is frozen while NARRATOR sets the scene)

NARRATOR
It’s a rainy spring evening in Manhattan, New York City. The year is 1900. Sixteen year old Piper Kelly is living at the Newsie’s lodge and is reading, or so it seems. Seventeen year old David, Davey Jacobs, is her boyfriend. He was planning on walking home after hanging out with the girl after selling newspapers all day, but his plans were interrupted by a heavy rain beginning. Without much of another choice, Davey decides to stay at the Lodge until the rain clear enough for him to walk home with his younger brother, Les. He decides to go and talk to Piper for a little bit.

(DAVEY walks towards PIPER)

DAVEY
Hey Piper! (Beat) You doing alright?

PIPER
Yeah, m’fine. (Speaks softly, embarrassed) For now.

DAVEY (Confused/concerned)
What do you mean, for now?

PIPER
Exactly what I said.

(Scene freezes while NARRATOR speaks)

NARRATOR (Offstage)
Davey was unsure of what the girl could possibly mean. Until he remembered something that had happened a year prior. Piper and her brother Jack were eating dinner with Davey and his family. It had been raining, and when it began thundering, Piper looked scared. It was when he remembered this occurrence that Davey realized exactly what the girl was talking about.

(Scene unfreezes and continues as if there was no pause)

DAVEY
It’s the rain, right? It’s making you nervous?

PIPER
I… I dunno… What ya talking about. Why.. Why would the rain make me… Make me noivous?

DAVEY
Well… You’re scared of storms… Right? I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that’s what it is. Right?

PIPER
What’re ya… I mean… I dunno… I- (PIPER sighs) How’d ya know?

DAVEY (Jokingly, sarcastic)
Well, don’t you know? I know everything about you.

PIPER
No ya don’t. Like at all. But seriously, how’d ya know?

DAVEY (Becoming more serious)
Well, I wasn’t positive… But um, remember when you came over for dinner right before the strike started? When it was thundering? Well, you looked really nervous, just like you do right no-

(DAVEY is cut off by a sound of crashing thunder. PIPER flinches, scared. DAVEY places a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, but she jerks away, terrified)

PIPER (Quietly, in a whisper)
No! (Beat) Sorry… I shouldn’t be this scared of st-

(PIPER is cut off by another sound of thunder and flinches again)

PIPER
Storms… I shouldn’t be this scared of storms I mean… There… Well there isn’t really a reason for it anyways.

DAVEY
Hey, it’s fine. It’s okay.You know, it’s totally normal to be scared of stuff. It’s totally fine. (Beat) You gonna be okay though?

PIPER
I… I th- I think so.. I mean, I’ve gotten through storms before, right?

DAVEY
Well, yeah… But…

(Sound of thunder plays again. PIPER flinches again)

DAVEY
Do you want to move away from the window?

(PIPER nods)

PIPER
Yeah.. I… I guess s-so

(PIPER and DAVEY move to another bunk bed on the other side of the stage. PIPER sits on the bed, pulling her legs up to her chest and closing her eyes. DAVEY sits beside her)

DAVEY
Sure you’re going to be alright?

PIPER
Yes. I think so. So long as I’m not by myself.

DAVEY (Comfortingly)
You won’t be. I promise.

(PIPER rests her head on DAVEY’s shoulder and DAVEY places and arm around PIPER)

PIPER (In a whisper)
Thank you for staying…. It.. It really means a lot… And it helps.

DAVEY
Of course. I wouldn’t leave you by yourself. Never.

(The scene freezes as NARRATOR delivers the conclusion of the scene)

NARRATOR
Davey and Piper continue to sit like this for the rest of the evening, until the storm passes. Even after it ends and it is no longer raining, Davey decides that he and his brother would stay the night at the Lodge, both since it is already late and getting dark, and also so that he can make sure Piper will be alright. Luckily she is, and the night becomes a distant memory as the two continue on with their lives.
(758 words)

PART FOUR, NON-FICTION:
The two types of non-fiction that I’m doing is a memoir and a book review

Memoir of the Preparation For the Closing Night of Matilda Jr.
On December 18th, 2021 it was closing night for the cast of Matilda Jr., performed at (Editing out name of theater for privacy reasons) theater in (Editing out city). The show would begin at 2:30 PM, and that cast arrived at 1:00 PM to get into costume, do final makeup and hair checks, so the lead actors could complete microphone checks, and to get hyped up for the show in general.
In this production of Matilda Jr I got to play that part of Miss Agatha Trunchbull, and it was so much fun! My sibling got to play Mrs. Wormwood and one of my good friends was playing Matilda.
Me and my family live fairly close to the theater, and so we left around 12:15 PM and arrived at the theater around the same time as a lot of my friends. Once we got there, we grabbed our “showboxes” from the back of the car and went inside to start getting ready.
In case you don’t know, showboxes are small boxes that performers bring with them to shows and tech rehearsals that hold almost all the items that they will need for those shows and tech rehearsals. They usually include things like, extra makeup and hair supplies, any props that you were taking to and from the performances, hygiene products, cover ups to put over your costume so you can eat in it, and quiet entertainment to use during their downtime.
Once we got there, we had to wait in the audience seats because the person with keys to the backstage dressing rooms wasn’t there yet and so we had to wait for them before we could go backstage and start getting ready. That didn’t really make much of a difference though, and so me and my friends all just kind of sat around talking and playing with stuff we’d brought in our showboxes until the dressing rooms were finally open and we could start getting ready backstage. And by then, the rest of the cast was there and so we were all ready to start getting ready together.
The first thing that all the lead characters did was go into the mic room so we could all get our microphones put on before we put on our costumes since the microphones have to be placed on the very bottom layer of a costume. Then we all went out onto the stage to begin the mic checks.
Mic checks are when actors come on stage with their connected microphones and they begin singing their solos and saying their lines so that the people in the sound booth can make sure that everything is mixed correctly and it sounds good.
After that, we all went backstage and got our costumes on, and put finishing touches on our makeup and hair. Then the whole cast went back on stage to do our pre-show ritual called a power squeeze. We all stood in a circle and grabbed hands. We closed our eyes and took a few deep breaths and then my director started the power squeeze by squeezing the hand of the person next to him, then the squeeze continued around the circle until it reached back to the beginning.
That was the last thing we had to do before the show started, and only 10 minutes later, the music began and the last show of this run was beginning.
(570 words)

Book Review of Red Queen:
Red Queen is the first book in a young adult dystopian series written by Veronica Roth that contains a total of four books, and a new book containing a prequel that was released in 2020.
Before I start, I just want to say that I would recommend you read it only if you are thirteen years or older as it does feature quite a few scenes of intense v!olence.
Now that I’ve gotten the warning out of the way, I’ll be giving a brief overview of the plot before giving my own opinion on what I thought about the book!
The basis of the plot is set in a dystopian kingdom where society is split by the color of their bl00d. People with red bl00d, which is most of the population in the series, are considered the “common” people of the society and are looked down upon by the people who do not have red bl00d. The “Reds” as they are called in the series, perform the most mediocre and mundane of jobs that the nobles and wealthy of the kingdom find beneath them. Another thing that is horrible about being a Red in this book, is that at age seventeen, all Reds are conscripted into the army, which has been fighting with a neighboring country for nearly 100 years.
On the other hand, the smaller portion of the country has silver bl00d and are called the Silvers. Not only are the Silvers the nobles and wealthy of this country, all Silvers have special powers, known as “Abilities”.
Some examples of abilities that are mentioned in the book series are:
Burners, who can control fire
Greenwardens, who can manipulate plants
Nymphs, who can control water
Silencers, who can stop other Silvers from using their abilities
Whispers, who can read others minds and speak in others heads
Telkies, who can move things with their minds
Strongarms, who have superhuman strength
And Silks, who have superhuman speed and agility

And those are only a couple of the many abilities that are mentioned across the four books, there are many many more.

The main character in the series is a sixteen, almost seventeen, year old Red girl named Mare Barrow who lives in the slums of “The Stilts”. In the book, it is revealed that she and her best friend Kilorn are going to be conscripted into the army soon because they are both almost seventeen and neither of them have jobs, which is the only way that you can be exempted from the conscription.
Later on in the series it is revealed that Mare Barrow is the only Red ever on record to have an ability, and she is taken in by the royal family to conceal the fact that she is a Red to keep the secret from the rest of the country.
The rest of the book follows Mare as she attempts to conceal the fact that she is Red from society while having to participate in the royal court. As you can probably guess, there are a lot of close calls and things start to go south near the end. However, I won’t say anything else so as not to spoil the series.
Now for my personal view of the book, I really liked the first book and continued to enjoy the other three books as well. I think the plot was good and driven, there was nothing that felt like it was forced to simply move the book forward. I will say that throughout the series there are several confusing matters about the love triangle that is included in the series and I liked it, but I kind of thought that it was a little bit drawn out. I feel like there were a lot of instances that it could have been finished off.
Anyway, I really think that it was a good series and if you’re thirteen or older I highly recommend you look into it!
(660 words)

Total of: 1,230 words for Non-fiction

Total word count for all four parts: 2,850 words!

Main Cabin Daily #5: (231 words!)

I haven't really thought of having magical powers that much. But when I was little I would always say my superpower would be the ability to teleport, so I could “teleport back to my old home.” It was because we'd just moved and it was really hard for me for a while with that big change. I've made new friends by now, though. But if I were to choose what magical ability I could have, I'd choose telepathy for a few reasons. One, because I am terribly shy and socially awkward in real life, and if I could just talk to everyone that way without having to say anything embarrassing out loud, boy, that would be amazing. Also, because I could give someone a secret knowing that absolutely no one else could hear it. You see, my telepathy would work in a certain way. I would look into someone's eyes and just think about my message and it'd come to them and only them. Absolutely no one else would hear it or even notice it, other than us maybe acting a bit strange. The last reason I'd choose telepathy is, well, because it's just cool and all that. I think telepathy is a really cool ability, and it might even be real. Besides secret codes and facial expressions. But if it was, I certainly can't do it. I can only wish.

Weekly > #1 (WIP)

Poems

(I'm doing a cinquain, villanelle, ekphrastic poem, tanka and sonnet)

Sun (cinquain)
Hot, bright
Shining, warming, providing
The reason energy exists
Star

Ocean (tanka)
Beautiful ocean
All wondrous and so dreamy
Just swallow me whole
Let your flowing waves calm me
Your blue and salty waters

Ink (villanelle)
All words've been already fused
O take the poem from my heart
My ink was used up, all been used

My writing sounds completely bruised
Why've I stopped making works of art?
All words've been already fused

Of lacking inspiration I'm accused
To find it, far, far away must I depart?
My ink was used up, all been used

If tis a joke I'm unamused
Away from this poem I want to dart
All words've been already fused

My skill's gone far too long unused
Writing good words you can't jumpstart
My ink was used up, all been used

Words that I say all were reused
Should I get more supplies from the mart?
All words've been already fused
My ink was used up, all been used

Dinner (ekphrastic poem)
Two girls sit at the table a bit distant from the loud grown-ups
They look at their aunt's parrots who are escaping their cage a bit to the right of the table
Their aunt is busy in the kitchen not knowing what her pets are about to do
Their parents are chatting with distant cousins and siblings, too busy to notice
Their grandparents are with aunt Shae in the kitchen
cooking up their great great great grandparents desert recipes
Their uncle isn't at the table or in the kitchen, maybe he didn't show up or stayed in the car

Too Fast (sonnet)
It's like you grew wings from nowhere
All the times you told me I was your sky
I guess you forgot and you turned to thin air
When I think of you I want to cry

I knew you would fly away someday
Just didn't think it would be so soon
Why oh why couldn't you stay
Losing you hit me like a typhoon

But I hope you're happy where you are right now
I think I could manage without you around
Other thoughts in my head I'll allow
But I'll always hope that again you'll come ‘round

Flew away in the time of a yawn
And now, well already you’re gone

370 words

Essay

Pros and Cons of Nuclear Energy
Nuclear energy, put simply happens when atoms split in a reactor to heat water until it becomes steam and that steam turns a turbine to generate electricity. Nuclear power plants make 20% of the United States' electricity, all with minimal carbon emissions since they use uranium instead of fossil fuels. So what exactly are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of energy? Well, let's look into that!

Nuclear energy has many advantages but as everything does, it also has disadvantages. Starting with the advantages, nuclear energy fights climate change. Nuclear energy provides electricity without releasing carbon gases which is crucial for the earth's current situation. Nuclear energy is reliable as well, nuclear energy provides electricity to people 24/7. Nuclear power plants are working at maximum power about 92.5% of the year which is 2.5 to 3.5 times more than solar or wind plants. Nuclear power plants produce 1.5 to as much as 2 more times as much electricity as coal or natural gas plants. Another benefit of nuclear power plants is that they provide hundreds of thousands of well paid, long-term jobs for workers. Lastly, although uranium is not renewable our uranium reserves are estimated to last up to the year 2100 while we are estimated to run out of oil in 2052, gas in 2060 and coal in 2088. Now to go over some of the disadvantages, nuclear power plants are extremely expensive to build. The estimated cost to build a nuclear power plant in 2008 was 9 billion dollars, that is a lot of money. Second of all, nuclear accidents are deadly. Also when most people hear the words “nuclear power plant” one of the first things they will think of is the Chernobyl disaster which caused over 10 000 deaths due to the long-term effects of radiation and although nuclear power plants became much safer, the Fukushima power plant crisis shows that even if power plants are designed to be safe; accidents still can and will happen. Another disadvantage is that although nuclear energy is good for the environment in terms of it being better for the atmosphere, mining for uranium is not environmentally friendly. Open-pit mining is safer for miners but it leaves behind radioactive particles which could cause erosion and may pollute nearby water sources while underground mining exposes miners to radiation. Another disadvantage is that nuclear energy could potentially become a security threat, power plants could become a target for t*rr*r*sts with the intention to cause disaster and could turn into nuclear weapons if they end up in the wrong hands. Security around nuclear materials and power plants is crucial.

Nuclear energy is a reliable, modern and cleaner form of energy but obviously nothing can be perfect. Do we have a future with nuclear energy? Perhaps. It is always incredibly important to note both pros and cons of a thing before jumping to conclusions. Nuclear energy is more reliable and clean than most modern-day energy sources however it is unsafe and expensive.

500 words

Nonfiction

(I'm doing a biography and historical nonfiction piece)
Who was Coco Chanel? (biography)
Coco Chanel was a fashion designer and innovator who is famous for her timeless designs which inspired women's fashion to turn away from uncomfortable 19th-century dress such as corsets or petticoats. In 1920 she launched her first perfume and soon after the Chanel suit, little black dress and much more.

Coco was born on August 19th 1883 in Saumur, France as Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. Her family was poor, her father worked as a peddler. Her mother died of tuberculosis when she was 12 and shortly after her father sent her and her 2 sisters to a convent in Correze. Life in the convent was strict and frugal and made her want to rebel against all forms of discipline and fight to get her own way. However she did learn how to sew, something that would later become her life's passion. When she turned 18 she left the convent and moved to Moulins where she was hired as a seamstress by a rich man and lead a secondary career singing at cabaret events when she was called Coco. Chanel said that Coco was a shortened version of “cocotte” which is French for “kept woman”. In 1913 with the financial aid from her lover Arthur Capel, Coco opened a boutique in Deauville. She made good use of jersey fabric which is a manufactured cloth which had to be used during the shortages of World War 1. She quickly gained a good reputation and her success encouraged her to start another shop in Biarritz. In 1919 Coco was able to open her first boutique in Paris on rue Cambon at the heart of the most fashionable area in Paris. In the 1920's Chanel took her business to new height when she launched her 1st perfume, Chanel No.5. In 1925, she introduced the legendary Chanel suit which borrowed elements of men's fashion and incorporated that into women's fashion and the little black dress for which she took a colour usually associated with mourning and showed how nice it would look in evening wear. Though he economic depression of the 1930's had a negative impact on Chanel's company, the reason that she closed down her business was the outbreak of World War 2 as, quoting her “war is no time for fashion”. In 1939 she closed down all her shops and fired all her workers. After the war Coco left Paris and spent sa few years in Switzerland in a sort of exile. However in the 1950's Chanel made a return to the world of fashion and her feminine, easy fitting designs won over shoppers all over again.

433 words

The Space Race (historical non-fiction)
The space race was a part of the Cold War which was basically a competition between the US and the Soviet Union in any arena possible. Even space. When the Soviets launched Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite and the first human-made object to be placed into earth's orbit in October 1957, it created fear and anxiety among the US public that the USSR has surpassed the technological achievements of the United States. Sputnik orbited the earth and transmitted radio signals for 21 days before burning in the earth's atmosphere. Then Sputnik II was launched in November, carrying a dog named Laika as an experiment if living beings could survive a flight to space. As their next successful space flight, in May 1958 the Soviets launched Sputnik III, a satellite which weighed almost 3 000 pounds! Plus in 1959, the USSR sent a space probe called Lunik III to photograph the dark side of the moon. In response to the Soviet Union's quick technological success, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (commonly known as NASA) was established on October 1st, 1958. NASA's objective was to launch a manned vehicle into earth's orbit as soon as possible (or just sooner than the Soviets). However the USSR won the race to put a man in space. In April 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin would become the first man to enter earth's orbit in the spacecraft Vostok I. America was not far behind though and in May 1961, Alan Shepherd became the first American in space. A bit less than a year later John Glenn became the first American to enter earth's orbit. The USSR's successes in the space race led the US president (who at that time was John. F. Kennedy) to announce the inauguration of the Apollo Program with the goal of sending a man to the moon by the end of the decade. Over the next few years each side took several victories including the US achieving the first mars flyby with Mariner 4 and the Soviets sending the first woman to space. During this revolutionary time several other countries also launched satellites and rockets including Canada in 1962, France in 1955 as well as Japan and China in 1970. Coming back to the Apollo program, the program got off to a terrible start when the Apollo 1 capsule got into a horrific accident. However, after Apollo 1 the program went into a better direction with Apollo 9 and 10 which landed on the moon bringing their crew within a few miles of the lunar surface. Then on the day of July 20th, 1969, the space race reached its peak when American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the moon landing on Apollo 11. There were more less significant victories by the Soviets and the Americans but soon the space race and the whole Cold War wound down and both countries cooperated to construct International Space Station.

487 words

Scriptwriting

DEVERE
You know that some stupid clock can't destroy the world. You're just lying to yourself to explain what you don't know.

INESSA
Vee, I understand that it sounds weird to you that people have other beliefs than you but it's not like I don't have a reason to believe in the clockwork heart. I know what I saw. I know that it gave me my curse.

DEVERE
You're not cursed! You're just crazy like everyone else. The clockwork heart is just a myth, grow up.

FELIX, from off-stage
Actually Vee, if using your logic, you also can't prove that it's not real. However people who have been searching for answers on that topic can provide at least a bit of proof that it is.

DEVERE
No one asked /you/

FELIX, walking onto the stage
Just stating the facts

INESSA
Sorry to interrupt our argument but aren't the birdies coming today? We have to help Enn hide all the artifacts.

DEVERE
At this point, why do we even care so much about the artifacts? In my opinion we should forget the Ancients.

FELIX
So you're with the ‘New Ones’? Are you spying on us?

DEVERE
The only reason I'm not with them is that they don't do what they promised to do. The evolution never happened, they never did anything. They made our people do everything

INESSA
Finally something that makes sense, I thought your only purpose in life was making meaningless arguments. I don't know what you two are gonna do but I'm heading over to the museum.

(INESSA walks off stage)

DEVERE
Well, I'm staying here. You're free to follow your girlfriend.

FELIX
At least you're back to your argumentative self. I was worried. I /am/ going to the museum as well though since if the birdies find the artifacts our city's being put under closer watch and Enn's no good at hiding things.

(setting changes to the museum)

ENN
Thanks for coming, I assume Devere didn't come?

FELIX
You know her, she never changes

ENN
Ok, well you know what to do. Take the very valuable artifacts from room 4 into the wall compartment and the rest into the underground storage rooms. Hopefully they didn't remake the birdies to unlock doors.

INESSA, looking at a mini calendar
Did you debunk any new Ancients' tech?

ENN
I see you found the day counter, I believe it was used to tell the time of year as back then the weather changed much more.

FELIX
Crazy to try and think what the world was like back then. It was probably a lot better than now.

INESSA
True, can't imagine that the weather was different every 30? days. Now it's always the same.

ENN, grabbing the calendar
Every artifact is an important part of piecing together the history of the Ancients and maybe even stopping the ‘New Ones’

DEVERE walks on stage

DEVERE
Hey, so… I thought you guys needed help so I came here. Also I was a bit bored, it's not like I can randomly make up a revolutionary idea.

ENN
The more of us there are the faster we can finish and the better chance we have of protecting the artifacts from the birdies

EVERYONE starts putting away the artifacts carefully

INESSA
I wish the ‘New Ones’ could leave our cities alone. They can clear out their territory of the Ancients' stuff, no one will care. But they're taking from /us/.

ENN
They just don't want us to learn from the Ancients' ways. They always want to stay superior.

DEVERE
They probably only want to have a sense of control by sending in the birdies.

(a birdie is listening in to their conversation)

FELIX
Did you hear something? That sounded like a birdie!

INESSA
You're probably just paranoid. I didn't hear anything.

ENN and DEVERE
Neither did I.

FELIX
I swear I heard a birdie!

DEVERE
I think it's just that one of the mechanical artifacts turned on. There are a bunch that can start moving randomly if you do as much as touch them.

INESSA
I honestly won't be surprised if there was a birdie here. We should double check.

EVERYONE looks around

DEVERE
(screams) I found one!

ENN
Quick, it's getting away!

(INESSA catches it and breaks it apart)

ENN
Good thing we caught that thing. If we didn't the New Ones could've found out about everything!

738 words

TOTAL: 2528 words!

Main Cabin Daily March 5th
Ah, what magic power would I want to have? If I had the choice of absolutely any power I wanted… What if my power was the ability to have any power I wanted? Yes, this might be stretching the rules, but hear me out.
You’re magic power is the ability to have any magic power you want. However, to obtain a new one, you must give up you’re old one. But it’s as simple as that. Maybe there’s a chant or something you have to say out loud, and then ~boom~ you have a new power!
One minute you could be communicating with animals with ease, the next minute you could be flying higher than the tallest tree, or diving to the deepest depths of the ocean.
Of course, a power like this needs limitations least it become over powered. You’d only be able to switch powers every so often. Maybe once a day? And each power only lasts for a week before it runs out (if you haven’t switched to a new one), and you have to get a new one. You’ll be able to repeat that power later, but not immediately.
Imagine that, wouldn’t it be amazing? Again, this probably stretched the limits and probably wasn’t what was expected, but hey. It would work, don’t you think?
Though imagine someone asked you to levitate to grab something neither of you can reach or something and you’re just like “Sorry man, I’m a pyrokinetic today. Go get a ladder or something.”
Anyway, that’s a wrap. This power would definitely have its limitations, but if I could have any power, I think I would want to have the power to have any power.
Hehe that sounds greedy. Oh well.

march 5 daily: ugh, I have no idea! I've always wanted to fly, or be a hydrokinetic (hehe kotlc fan here) but my fellow kotlc IRL friends are always like, ‘you think a lot, you would be a telepath!’ so, basically, when I say fly I don't mean like, wings fly. it's more like floating in the air rather than flying. and a hydrokinetic is basically a water bender, someone who can control water. lastly, a telepath is someone who can read minds. heh- I would love to teleport too, I'm always late xD (92 words, also posted in the main cabin comments)

Weekly 1
Time to speedrun this so I can do the dailies for the rest of the week- Is this a good strategy? No. Does that mean I won't do it again? Absolutely not.

Poetry
Acrostic - Learning
Learning is not just a lecture on
Erosion in science or
A lesson on times past.
Rather, it is when you
Not only experience, but adapt after, every
Indication that you've failed.
No one is perfect, but we can still
Grow, and that is what learning is.

Haiku - History
This is history
We are living lessons
Others will soon learn

Etheree - Question
What?
What, now?
What happened?
Where's yesterday?
What happened to us?
What has the world come to?
What is this about, people?
Society's clear disaster
When expectations of us arise
And popularity becomes our lives.

(…that made more sense in my head- Whatever, it's poetry, interpret as you want)

Limerick - Memes
Ya know, humor really has devolved
It is a mystery, still unsolved
But keep in mind, the memes
Are amusing, it seems
Ah, how modern humor has dissolved.

(In other words: We all have broken humor here )

Soliloquy (Or narrative?) - Cage
(I've written some poetry like this before, mainly when I'm upset, so I saved the easiest (in my opinion) for last.)

I still cannot fly
Why do I even try?
I can only cry
And keep up the lie
Until I have to no longer.

I remain a caged bird
I am not yet free
Though today has revealed a piece of a key
Maybe it'll become full when two becomes three
But this is my choice, not for others to choose for me.

If I cannot exist in peace
If my worries will remain yet to cease
If I cannot be myself
Who am I to be?
Not who she wants
I shouldn't be who she wants
I care way too much about what she thinks of me
Because she has caused me physical pain
And I worry that, with one wrong move, she'll do it again

She found my weak point
I now cannot disappoint
Did she overhear me saying that one negative thing?
About ELA, in the halls, when I thought she wasn't listening?
I wasn't talking behind her back or anything
I was simply sharing my worries about something happening.
It's happened for a bit before
And since then, I've worried more.
But maybe, just maybe…
If something happens…
Will I sorrow?
Or will I learn to soar?

(Poetry: 322 words.)

Essay
It's no secret that many schools, especially middle schools, have popular kids. In my experience, most popular kids I've encountered seem cool to everyone at first, but then there's the side to them that people try to avoid seeing. In this essay, I will be talking about that side and why popularity is overrated.
Firstly, I'll be talking about trends. You know, when things become popular and next thing you know, everyone is going along with it faster than you can say “British lettuce”, only to be replaced in, like, two weeks? Popular kids will very likely be following them, and then seemingly completely forget immediately after it's gone. Personally, I don't follow them. I focus less on what everyone else likes and more on what I like. But that's just me. However, popular kids seem to only take interest in those. So how the heck are they still popular? I'll explain it in eight words: They fit in so much, they stand out. Like how ice can be so cold it burns.
Second thing I'll mention about popular kids in my experience: Gossip. Oh, how the popular kids in my class love gossip. They always stick their noses into everyone else's business rather than minding their own. And it's especially on dating. What is it with popular kids and dating? It's like a competition: Who can date and break up with the most people in one school year? And when they don't want to talk about their relationships, they start spreading rumors about others'.
Third (I have a lot of things against popular kids.): They can be rude, sometimes even bullies. I'm using my class as an example, again. For the entire school year, there was this one kid in our class that everyone laughed at and bullied, even his friends. However, the worst of it came from this one popular kid. This one, a complete and total jerk. I mean, if someone comes into the school year bragging about their family, you should take that as a sign that this is not the type of person you would want to be around. This kid would bully him about his appearance, which is not something that should be happening. See, this is how you can tell who pays attention in class: We've had lessons on bullying. Every. Freaking. Year. And then another kid in the class started bullying him for his interests. So people can't like what they like? Is this what middle schools are these days? (Please note: I am not saying all popular kids are like this. I am just speaking from my experience with them.)
Lastly, if you get them to dislike you, they can be your worst nightmare. I'm speaking as someone on the receiving end of it. I remember once, a few months ago, there were some people in the classroom that weren't from our class, because they had a test to do or something. Either way, one of the popular kids, that just happens to dislike me and my friends the most, said something about me having a temper tantrum the previous week. I did not, in fact, have a temper tantrum that previous week. And then one of her friends joins in, saying “Yeah, you were raging!” Oddly enough, that was the same person that told me lies about my closest friend. And they wonder why I hate them so much.
In conclusion, popularity isn't always as it seems to be, and sometimes, it's better to be invisible the less confidence you have. At least then, you can be yourself. But if you have enough, by all means, be who you are. Don't let them stop you.

(Essay: 615 words)

Script
Original piece
It was midnight. The night covered everything like a blanket of darkness over the small town. A silhouette of a person was standing by a building.
Suddenly, a movement caught their eye. A second person had come out from lurking in the shadows.
The first figure turned on a dim light, shining from their wrist. “You’re late,” said a female voice.
“I’m sorry. I was spotted by a stray dog down the street, and he started barking at me. I had to shut him up,” replied a soft male voice.
“You didn’t shoot him, did you?”
“No. I muzzled him. I plan to take it off when this meeting is over.”
A sideways trash can down the street burst open at just that moment. A third figure emerged, quickly and efficiently as a mouse. The lid closed shut behind them like a cat door.
“You should have come sooner. You’re already a whole two minutes late,” Said the first figure, calm as if she had anticipated the whole thing for months.
“How did you know I was in there?” Asked a third voice, younger and higher pitched than the others.
“Agent Lilac, you can’t be a spy without knowing if someone is hiding in a spot as obvious as a trash can.”
“I’m sorry, Selina. You were right, I should have come out sooner. There might have been a bag of dog poop in there somewhere,” Lilac apologized.
“There was,” said yet another male voice.
“Leo! I didn’t know you were chosen for this meeting!” Exclaimed Lilac.
“SHH!” Scream-whispered the other spies.
“I saw the homeowners putting it in there earlier,” Leo continued. “I would have hid in there, but I decided that I would give it to my sister.”
“You poophead,” Lilac muttered under her breath.
“I heard that.”
Lilac and Selina exchanged looks. “Brothers these days,” they said in unison. They both knew what it was like to have an annoying brother.
“Enough of that, let’s get to the point of this meeting. That muzzle is weak, and that dog is strong. He will break out soon enough,” said the second voice.

Script adaptation
The lights are dim, and there is very little illumination as a figure, agent SELINA, stands onstage. She is the leader of this group, the one that
called this meeting. Suddenly, another figure, agent JALILE, walks on from stage right. He is the co-leader, and for good reason. Although he can
be easily identified by his bright blue eyes.
SELINA glares down at her watch.
SELINA: You're late.
JALILE: Sorry…I was spotted by a stray dog down the street on the way here, and he started barking at me. I had to shut him up so the entire neighborhood wouldn't wake up.
SELINA: You didn't…shoot him, did you?
JALILE: That would just make everyone come outside to see what happened! I muzzled him, but I'll take it off when this meeting is over.
At this moment, another figure scrambles out of a sideways trash can. It is LILAC, the youngest and least trained of the group. As she exits,
she removes a leaf from her hair and pushes the rest of it out of her face. SELINA is unfazed.
SELINA: You should have come out sooner, Lilac. You're already a whole…
SELINA checks her watch again and frowns.
SELINA: Five minutes late.
LILAC smiles a little bit and faces SELINA.
LILAC: How did you know I was in there?
SELINA: Agent Lilac, you can't be a spy without knowing if someone is hiding in a spot as obvious as a trash can. You should know that by now.
LILAC: Yeah…sorry about that, Selina. You're right, I really should have exited earlier. There may have been a bag of dog poop in there somewhere.
The fourth and final figure enters. This is LEO, LILAC's older brother. He had heard his sister's comment, and grins slyly.
LEO: There was.
LILAC, for now, ignores this statement, and squeals with excitement.
LILAC: Leo! I didn't know you were chosen for this meeting!
ALL SPIES EXCEPT LILAC shush her, for they do not want to get caught.
SELINA: It's called a ‘secret meeting’ for a reason.
LEO continues his earlier statement, grinning ear to ear.
LEO: I happened to be walking by when the homeowners were putting it in there earlier. Originally, I was going to hide in there, but decided to save it for my sister.
LILAC (Clearly annoyed): You complete and total poophead.
LEO: I heard that.
LILAC and SELINA give each other a look, for they both have an annoying brother.
(Just going to write another scene of this because I can't get the minimum amount of words with this one alone.)
THE MANAGER of the candy factory is seen sitting on his couch in his new apartment. As he glances around to make sure no one is watching,
he removes his sunglasses. His eyes are bright blue, revealing him to be a character the audience knows. However, he frantically puts them back
on as there is a knock at his door.
MANAGER: Just leave me alone, will ya?
LILAC: No, I don't think I'll do that, Mister Candymaker.
MANAGER: Oh, you? You're one of the people that visited earlier this week, aren't you?
LILAC: That's right. And you're the one that's been poisoning your customers.
MANAGER: I am not! What a foolish thing, to accuse someone of something with no proof.
LILAC: I have all the proof that I need. And so do the hundreds of customers that are on the receiving end of your…business.
MANAGER: Oh, sure, but you miss one detail.
LILAC: Which is?
MANAGER: I'm sure you already know that no one has knowledge of my identity. Heck, this isn't even my real voice you're hearing. I could be a stranger, or I could be a family member. You'd never know.
LILAC laughs, for she has a good idea as to exactly who this is.
LILAC: It wasn't a business trip, was it?
MANAGER: I have no idea what you are talking about.
LILAC: You can't fool me with such lies. Tell me, how's your wife, Kate, been lately?
THE MANAGER flinches as LILAC continues.
LILAC: And what about your son, Thomas?
THE MANAGER stands up and stares LILAC in the face.
MANAGER: You don't know who I am.
LILAC: Oh, really? That'd be surprising, considering that I was supposed to be working with you this week before you went off to try to keep up your facade.
MANAGER: And yet you still do not speak a name. Do you truly know me? Why are you even here?
LILAC: Well…I just wanted to say…
MANAGER: Yes?
LILAC pulls out a pair of handcuffs.
LILAC: Welcome to the neighborhood.

(Script: 748 words.)

Non-fiction
Piece 1: Narrative (/Memoir?)
I hadn't expected to make a friend that day.
Actually, let's revise that statement: I hadn't expected to make a friend at all.
To paint the picture of that seemingly ordinary Math Skills class: Second period on a Monday, first full week of the school year. I only really had one friend, Celcius (Which, yes, that is how the nickname is spelled). I sat in the back, already knowing that there was no chance anyone would ever notice me this year. In front of me, a girl I barely knew. (Flash forward to the present: This person uses he/they pronouns. I'm using she/her for now because at this point in time, I did not know their gender.) In the front row, in front of the first classmate, another. Beside the one in the first row sat a third. There's your brief outline of the scene. (Note: This may not be accurate, but whatever. I'm just using this to show my proximity to them and to help you, the reader, understand who is who.)
Anyway, I was just minding my own business, but couldn't help but eavesdrop as the person two seats in front of me turned around and said to the one directly in front of me, " and I don't want to be friends with you anymore."
And then an argument started. It's not like they caused a scene or anything, but I was sitting right there, so it was kinda hard to miss. The student in front of me seemed a little surprised at this statement. The one who had spoken was being a little rude about it.
In other words, I was watching the collapse of a friendship, the day I would remember, try to learn from, and have quite the panic attack over. I'm getting off track here.
Anyway, the rest of that period wasn't great for the person in front of me, so afterwards, I decided to ask how she was doing. The argument had been exactly what I needed to talk to this classmate, one of the only other people in my class that didn't hang around with all the others all the time.
I kept checking in throughout the day, and tried to cheer her up. By the time school was over that day, we were somewhere between acquaintances and friends, in my opinion.
And then, something amazing.
All it took was one music class, and the conversation topics went up exponentially.
We had played a game, where we had to show whether or not we liked the song the teacher was playing. Two were from musicals, and as it turned out, the acquaintance-friend was also a theatre kid.
One thing led to another, and now, if you've been around the OHFC, you'd know this person as none other than one of my very closest friends, Theseus.

(Piece 1: 474 words.)

Piece 2: Humor/Commentary
Since I'm unoriginal, I'll be commenting on the incidents from the rest of this.
Yep, cue the applause, everybody! Brighten the spotlights! The originality genius has struck again!
I'm so unfunny…
Anyways, let's get on with this. I want to finish today-
Starting with the essay…Yeah, schools have popular kids. Great work, Sherlock! Have a cookie for your absolute genius! And, popular kids = Bad? Ha! You're, like, one of the only people in your class with that opinion, Squeak.
Oh, wait…trends? Why are you assuming we know what the heck those are?
Faster than you can say…what? Bree-teesh leh-t-use? Bret-ush leh-t-is? Wow, those must go by really slowly.
Ooh, I'm already a quarter of the way done with this- ayyy!
*Cough* Back to the essay.
Moving on to body paragraph two. Gossip?! No me diga! It must be just like the salon from In the Heights, right? Fun and a good place for school news? I'm sure it can't be that bad…right? *Stares at the paper bingo card I made the other night as a reference to The Table, and notices that “Gossip” is the free space.* Oh…never mind-
I think that's enough of the essay for now. Moving on…
Ooh, exactly halfway through! That's great! Time to look at the script!
First part…seems okay, I guess. But here's a question: HOW THE HECK ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT JALILE'S EYE COLOR IS? IS HE SOME WEIRD MAGICAL SPY WITH GLOW-IN-THE-DARK EYES? EXPLAIN THIS LOGIC, PAST ME. EXPLAIN.
Second part: WOW, LILAC ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING! AND HERE WE WERE BEFORE, WITH OUR FIRST IMPRESSION OF HER BEING A FIGURE DASHING OUT OF A TRASH CAN. Wait…OHHH, that's why his eyes were mentioned in both scenes? NEVER WOULD'VE THOUGHT!
Just a hundred words left…come on, Squeak, you can finish this.
I'll end this with some questions for Past Me while I was writing this over the past 24 hours or so:
Why?
The heck are the poems supposed to mean?
AND WHY DID YOU WRITE 115 WORDS OVER THE MINIMUM ON THE ESSAY? WHY DO SO MUCH WHEN YOU CAN DO THE MINIMUM? EVER THOUGHT OF THAT? LOOK, I WILL MAKE THIS ENTIRE THING EXACTLY 400 WORDS. EXACTLY THE MINIMUM OF THESE! ANY SECOND NOW…HERE! …no? How about…NOW! Still no? Dangit…NOW! Well, heck…wait…HA! HERE!

(Piece 2: 400 words)

Words
Total: 2,559 words!

I would choose cosmic manipulation, which is basically the power to create / manipulate cosmical matter! I chose it because I'm a space lover, and it's hard to wrap my mind around such an impossible power. It's so fascinating to think about the endless universe waiting to be made with those powers. If I ever felt down, I could create my own constellations and stargaze. It doesn't have much defensive abilities, but I think it would distract any opponents that get in my way. Another power I would possibly choose is mind reading, a simple but also complex power. I wouldn't use it for any harm, I would just use it to sense the competitor's next move. Then, I would have a clearer picture of the fight or quest. I might actually make a story with these powers! (+137 words!)

March 5th daily (a long ramble, 272 words to be exact )

If I had a magical power, it would be able to control the elements. I used to (and kinda right now as well) wish I had it. I have a whole big list of what I have thought of, so be prepared >
First of all, when I need my magic, I transform with a beam of light. It surrounds me, and then fades away, but then I have a lavender dress and a golden necklace.
I have the basic four elements, water, fire, earth, and wind. I could manipulate them at my will and conjure them into almost anything. They can conjure into almost any item, for example, a shield. (Mainly for earth and wind because for the others they would slip right through (wind is so strong it makes anything go flying away), unless they are using an element that loses to the other element, e.g., water and fire.)
The elements can also be combined with one another. For example, water and fire can create smoke, and water and earth can create wood.
You might be wondering what that golden necklace is about, huh? So, the necklace controls the flow of magic through my body. So, I can’t do too overpowered things. If I take it off, my magic isn’t controlled anymore, and can do its full potential, which is having all the elements being able to go at once (Way stronger than one alone). However, this tires my body, which means I wouldn’t be able to be quite active for about 3 days after I put my necklace back on, and my magic will come back at around 7.

March 5th daily
111 words

I would want the power to magically take the points from all the other cabins and give them all to Fan-Fi.
Kidding.
Seriously, though? I’m not sure.
I’d like the ability to understand animals. I’m curious what they would say to me if they could. But then, there’s lots of other powers I’d also like.
But I think I’d go with telepathy. I’m extremely curious about how other people’s minds work, and I could also use it to see what animals were thinking. (I’m even more curious about how non-human animals’ minds work.) If I looked at a person or other animal and concentrated, I’d be able to see their thoughts.

ʚ essays workshop ɞ
551 words
back to full weekly

Why Royale High should pay fabric and hair designers

Royale high is a video game on the popular gaming website and app, ROBLOX. One of the many assets of the game is being able to customize your avatar inside the game. This can be done in multiple forms.
Two ways out of many ways to customize your Royale High avatar are picking the face, or creating custom faces. Creating a custom face is mixing and matching eyes, lips, and other marks such as makeup, freckles, birthmarks, vitiligo, beards, etc. These faces and custom face parts are amazingly detailed art pieces. Tons of new faces being added often on updates result in many different face and custom face options. These amazing art pieces are made by players of Royale High who post their face concepts online, or by Royale High developers themselves. A third option available in the game to customize your avatar is by choosing the hair color. There are precisely 14 free solid hair colors. These include shades of blonde, brown, black, white, green, blue, and purple. There is a Royale High hair game pass that can be bought with ROBUX, which is the ROBLOX platform currency (bought with real money). Buying this special hair game pass allows you to customize your Royale High character with unlimited hair colors and patterns. New hair colors are constantly being added to the game pass, hair colors created by Royale High developers and people posting hair color concepts online. Special hair colors range from glowing hair to split hair colors to ombre to every color of the rainbow to polka-dots to patterns and mixes of these types as well.

These hair patterns and faces and face parts are all amazing and the designers of them spend hours of their time creating more. Mainly tweens - teens - young adults are creating these face and hair designs. This means they probably have homework, and instead are breaking their back creating face and hair patterns before the due date for them to be added into the game that update. Sick or not sick, sleep deprived or not sleep deprived, homework needed to be done that was due days before or not .. This is not acceptable. Artists are working too hard and sacrificing too much for no payment at all. Not even a badge that the artists receive for their patterns being brought into the game, or the artists receiving in game currency (diamonds) or in game items. This is obviously not right for Royale High to be doing this while another game on ROBLOX that is less popular and makes less money off of their game is paying face designers 4,000 ROBUX per face. This is equivalent to fifty dollars. This means that Royale High has more than enough to pay their face and hair designers at least in some way. Multiple face and hair artists have posted online that they would be satisfied with even in game currency or a badge and not real money. Something.

The conclusion is that Royale High needs to stand up and pay their face and hair designers. The creator of Royale High is an adult and should not be taking advantage of younger artists who play Royale High. This is not right. There is never a time too late for change, especially change that should have happened long ago.

#12
Daisy Grace
Contemporary
3/4/22

Straw Hats in the Civil War

The Civil War was a time of pain and war for many Americans. They would go to sleep with the troubling thoughts of “Will I wake up to see tomorrow?” or, for men, “Will I get drafted?” Families would be torn apart because of war crimes and fathers going out to fight for justice. Even during this time of war and uncertainty, Americans were able to look towards one thing to brighten their gloomy days; something to stop the sun from blinding them, or ripping each of the thin hairs off of their scalp because of sunburn. One of the only things to bring hope to the hopeless were straw hats. The only problem with these hats was the expense to buy them. However, many young pioneers still found the price worth the hope it would bring to them and their families. I believe that every American in the United States should have the ability to have a straw hat in any war. However, in the Civil War, it was crucial.
Straw hats were made using corn such as kettle corn. They were extremely expensive at the high rate of 65 cents per hat. There were, unfortunately, different hats for males and females. Men’s hats looked like a normal hat while women’s looked as though somebody took a stretchy stalk of corn and twisted other tidbits on top of it. For both, two facts remained: one being the price and the other being the fact that they were made using kettle corn. If all Americans could have had access to these hats, many more would have the will to live. If every hat was the newfangled equivalent to 89 dollars.There are 331,883,986 citizens and the government paid to have a hat made for each of them, 29,537,674,754 dollars would be used. According to the budget, the United States government spends roughly 598,500,000,000 dollars on the military per year. Spending half of the money used on the military per year would benefit the civilians in the time of crisis. When there’s no stability in the world, everybody needs their kettle korn straw hat to console them. A likely rebuttal to the argument would be the fact that there isn’t always a national crisis. Spending 29,537,674,754 dollars on straw hats every year may seem like a wasteful thing to do. Straw hats bring comfort to people no matter the situation. If the world had them for everyday activities, it would be a better place. In times like Covid-19, where the teen suicide rate has raised by 51%, it is beyond crucial to have something to keep you going. In this case, a year-long companion.
It would be a wise idea for the United States government to spend the money on the straw hats for the citizens. It would give them an upper-hand to any war because people would have the motivation to fight, and to fight to win. In the past few wars, the motivation for fighting has been down. The United States in a world power without a doubt, but no amount of power will get you anywhere with the attitude of fighting not to lose instead of fighting to win. As mentioned before, straw hats bring hope. They bring security, and comfort. They bring the will to survive another day - which would be entitled by fighting to win a war. If World War 3 begins, the United States of America would have a far greater chance of winning the war if the citizens themselves had a metaphorical rope to cling onto.
The Civil War brought troubling thoughts to many Americans. They weren’t sure whether they could put their trust into the fact that they would indeed see another day with their whole family together. Desperation often turns to blaming others for difficult problems in your life, which could be one of the reasons the Civil War lasted as long as it did. If every American, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, had access to a straw hat, there would have been a brighter change. If they had something to not only make their burning and potentially bald scalps feel better, it would be easier for them to hold on to the reality that there was a purpose. Straw hats bring hope, peace, and comfort. I, on the behalf of American citizens throughout the 50 states, plead you to sacrifice some of your well-earned money for this cause.


Author's Note:
I bestow my unending admiration, respect, and thanks to Jessica for helping me with the math in this essay. Without her, we Americans would stand no chance in our fight for justice. Jessica, not even an American, is aware of the benefits this would have upon our country. Thank you, Jessica, and you will be the first to know when President Joe Biden writes me back with his stamp of approval in buying us desperate Americans out straw hats. I send you my (platonic, friendly) love.
Daisy

hi, gonna post my writing here i'm uncomfortable with sharing writing soo i'll delete stuff after a while k thx

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daily 3/29/22
(brain died while writing this lol it be repetitive)
This item has four legs and a sturdy back. Made of pure material, nothing inorganic or messy. The seat is solid, as well as the back and legs. The legs are supporting and help to keep up the seat and back while the person is sitting on it. The seat is used for the person to sit on, and the back is to keep the person steady, so as to not get any back injuries as well. Overall this item is a steady fix to anyone who needs a place to sit and rest. Perfect for a person who needs rest.

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Critiquing writing: daily 3/23
@Cru-mble
ok i'm going straight into the critique (oh btw you do an amazing job leading our cabin!)

Hello! This piece of writing is overall very amazing, and the way you encorporated the elements of the character, setting, and plot seems very well!

Overall, the details and word choice is very good, and you diversified the words that you used, rather than repeating the same sentence a few times. I personally find this tricky and may or may not have gotten points off due to that..

The scenery and the thorough description of Emery's surroundings is very well written, and gives the writer a pretty good idea of the setting, and the world the character is living in. However, by using more sensory description (me forgetting what it actually is called-), you can make the scene even more engaging and imaginative to the reader and build upon what already is amazing!

The character also can be a bit more well-written overall. Emery's actions are clearly stated and describe what she is doing, however you could potentially implement more personality into the character that you are writing. I didn't really notice that much personality coming from Emery, other than the first paragraph, which seems to show her logical thinking, her semi-defiant attitude (her going to the ground when not really supposed to), as well as her liking to jog. However, showing more of the character personality through decisions and actions, as well as more inward thinking, would help to build the character.

The part where you write “Technically, Emery wasn’t supposed to be on the ground. The trees were pretty thick..” doesn't seem to transition that well from one idea to the next. I noticed how you mentioned how Emery shouldn't be on the ground a few paragraphs later with the ladder, so it might be better to insert that sentence (or delete it entirely, as paragraph 4 seems it could do without it) where it might better fit. I get why you'd put it there, as it explains her looking up at the trees from the ground, however, it might confuse the reader.

The part in the text where it says " had never had a liking for jewelry, why was this different? She fingered the clasp and pulled it toward the front of her neck" also might not make the most sense. Right after stating her feelings for the necklace, she puts it on. This part of the story contradicts it, however by explaining her action a bit better, it would make more sense.

This story was really good, and I think that it was amazing! I hope this was helpful in any way, and hopefully I didn't come off as a humanoid grammarly or anything of the sort. Also, I'm not quite the best in writing, so some of these things might not be as helpful, however I'm just stating these things from a not-so-genius writer perspective. Anyways, good job!

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Weekly 2
Part 1 - Collaboration Story
adding later, link is here tho https://scratch.mit.edu/users/TheHawaiiGirl2/#comments-192420365

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Part 2 - Character
Name: Fern
Age: 3 (human age: 21)
Species: dog
*my brain died when writing part 2, so some stuff might be cringe and kinda repetitive. Sorry :’)

Personality and traits
Fern is an enthusiastic, playful dog that loves to play. She enjoys making new friends with people she’s never met before, and even befriending old enemies (if she ever has any). Overall, she is very nice, kind and caring as well, however, she is also very absent-minded and always is forgetting things. Sometimes, this does include her friends. However, she always makes it up to them later on…if she remembers. Although she is very enthusiastic, sometimes it’s a bit too much as well. She will often overwhelm others, in fact, that sometimes they get scared away, unbeknownst to her.

Overall Fern is a very adaptive dog, due to her energetic and ‘on-the-go’ friendliness. She is able to go with the flow, and can use this to her advantage. On top of that, sometimes her absent-mindedness can be useful when she is put into new situations, due to her being able to change her mood very quickly about subjects she may not be so sure about. Fern is also not very modest, as she always likes to brag about things she remembers doing 10 dog years ago. It is sometimes fun to hear her stories, but it can sometimes seem like they are false, fabricated tales of another dog that once lived a while ago. (214w)

Wants, hopes, and strengths
There are many things that Fern wants in her life. Or, perhaps, things that she would’ve wanted to do. She forgets these things too much. However, other than material things, things that she could obtain after looking for a bit during her free time, the thing she wants most of all is to…be friends with everyone. Of course, the one thing she can remember is some of her friends at any given moment. Yeah, she has that many of them. This strong desire to be friends with even more around her helps to boost her positive energy, as well as make others admire her. Overall, she really wants that, and it’s her main goal. Other than the things that she can’t remember anymore, the only thing that she focuses on is this. Surprisingly, this is the only thing that she actually can remember. Many admire her for this.

Wants and needs are different from each other. There are many things that Fern feels as if she needs as well, although that isn’t necessarily true…for example, she ‘needs’ more friends, she ‘needs’ more owners to make her happy, and most of all, she ‘needs’ more food. Classic dog mindset, right? Her main goal of wanting to make all the friends in the world isn’t what she considers a want, although it is. But, she considers it a need that has to happen in order to make her feel content about her life.

A want might be considered a hope, and sometimes those are the same, and sometimes they are different. Many of Fern’s wants are considered hopes, because she doesn’t really want them (other than her main desire).

Fern also has many strengths. As said before, she is really energetic and friendly. This makes her the perfect dog to talk to, as she will become your friend the first time you meet her. Also, she has a lot of positive energy, which rubs off onto others and makes them feel great too, even if they were having a bad day. (339w)

Dislikes and Fears
Fern doesn’t have that many dislikes and fears. After all, she is very friendly and open-minded, so she tries to enjoy everything, even if she doesn’t actually like something. However, there are a few things that she absolutely will not ever like. For example, spiders are something that she dislikes, and also fears, although she might not admit that. The way they crawl really is freaky! She also dislikes green veggies. Sometimes, her owners will drop food on the floor when cooking, but when she eats green veggies, she immediately drops it back on the floor and walks away. She really dislikes those! (103w)

Part 3 - Setting
The setting of this story is in a forest in the future. The once lush, green rainforest had to overcome many changes over the years as human civilization advanced and developed. With the rise of deforestation and forests being lost around the globe, the remaining trees adapted to become dangerous to any living creatures. These trees prey on other greenery, and sometimes even humans, depending on the species. In this specific forest, there are a variety of trees that prey on different things (weeds, ferns, other greenery, small animals, larger animals) to lessen the competition amongst each other. This forest became known as the Gray Forest, as over time, the wildlife color had changed to this due to increasing carbon dioxide in the air, as well as the evolving plants and animals.

The current year is 5342, since it takes a lot of time for species to evolve and change at this level. The current species of trees include the Floorwood, Greenwood, Carwood, among many more.

The Floorwoods are smaller trees that prosper in the Gray Forest due to the little amount of food that they require in order to survive. Different variations may grow like weeds, while some may take a longer while to grow to their full maturity. These trees get their names because they are close to the ground and short, but also because they feed on greens that are near the floor by slowly sucking up their nutrients. These smaller greens that the Floorwoods feed on are abundant and grow really quickly, so the Floorwoods won’t run out of food any time soon.

The Greenwoods are named this way due to them being green, which is unnatural in the forest. They have a poison that runs through its thinner bark, and when smaller animals or greens get affected by this poison, the trees are able to feed on them. Smaller animals are increasingly becoming rarer in the Gray Forest due to the trees continuously feeding on them, which means that the Greenwoods might become more endangered in the future.

The Carwoods are named this way because they are carnivorous, mainly feeding on live creatures. They use their roots to grab these creatures. These roots are fast, however they are also thin. Animals rarely come out into the forest anymore, which means that the Carwoods are a very rare species that may not survive much longer unless cared for. However, no living creature would want to do that, as they are very dangerous.

Overall the variety of trees in the Gray Forest lead to a hard time when exploring and traveling through it. Travelers must be very brave and experienced in knowledge about the different types of trees, since as long as they don’t both the trees and overall avoid them, they can get through the Gray Forest safely. (472w)

Part 4 - Premise
Your character is having a normal day, doing the things that they enjoy. However, one day, something goes wrong…

A time bomb suddenly attacks, affecting the area/setting that your character is in. (However, outside, everything is normal, but the character does not know that. Does another character know? Perhaps an enemy?) Everything freezes around them, falling items defy physics, and others around them are frozen in place, unable to move. However, your character is somehow not affected by the time bomb! Walking around, they explore their surroundings. Do they panic, or seem to be in awe? Do they see any of their friends? What do they plan to do?

Whoever set the time bomb enters the frozen field. Your character encounters the enemy unexpectedly, however, they are not who they seem. In fact, they are someone your character knows! (Either a nemesis, or perhaps a friend. Why did they do that? What is the character’s response?) (157w)

Weekly #2 part 5 - Bringing it together

Character - https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/549873/?page=3#post-6104262
Setting - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/651468193/
Premise - https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/586550/?page=2#post-6106427

*I have no time to edit this lol, so sorry in advance for sounding like a kid uhm I dislike fictional writing*

Lakeside High School is a very prestigious high school that many aspire to get into. They offer many different courses, however, they specialize in the arts. Many students who want to be anything from an actor to a visual artist when they grow up aspire to be here. However, there is only one problem: it’s quite expensive.

Elsie Lasker is 15 years old, living right near the school. As someone who lives right near the school, she’s always wanted to get in for visual arts. Many of her older friends have gone there, due to them having a talent in one area of the arts, and they say how awesome it is with the smaller school setting, awesome classes and teachers, and most of all: the lakeside view, in which the school was named after.

So, it came as quite the surprise when one day, the mailman comes over, delivers everything as usual, and in the mix of letters from her friends and cousins, Elsie discovers a full-on sponsorship to Lakeside High School.

“Lakeside High School?!? For real, no way!!!” Elsie, normally a calm, put-together girl, couldn't help but let out a squeal of excitement. Her parents heard this and after the shock, they started murmuring to each other, both in awe and confusion.

/ “Lakeside High School? How in the world did Elsie get a sponsorship for that school? I didn’t know that they did that!” /

/ “Yeah. I know Elsie is a great girl who deserves to go there, but there’s no way we could afford that without this sponsorship! She really deserves it!” /

After the shock and excitement came more excitement. Elsie’s parents continued to congratulate her, however Elsie was still in awe, and a bit shocked.

“Well, time to get ready for this new school! It starts in a month! We have to get supplies…Elsie, is there anything you need?”

1 month later

Elsie took a deep breath. Her first day of going to Lakeside High School. Triple-checking to make sure everything she needed was in her bag, she took a few bold steps, and before she knew it the short walk from home to school had breezed by, and in front of her was the school. (trashy writing lol)

It looked like an older school, as far as Elsie could tell, due to the way the architecture style was. However, the school had been cleaned up, and it looked really amazing. Although Elsie was going into 10th grade, an awkward year to move schools, she couldn’t help but feel a little excited. She noticed the way the bushes were trimmed (straight and neat, in a cubical pattern), the school uniforms that everyone was wearing (and she, too), as well as the way the windows gleamed with an extra shine, practically begging her to come inside. And, the best part was the lake, which she could get a perfect view of right behind the school.

It shimmered brightly from the morning sun, and ducks swam around. It looked like the perfect place to take a break, and as far as Elsie knew, it was owned by the school, which means that she could go there for her lunch break. How exciting!

After that, the first few periods breezed by pretty quickly. Elsie hadn’t really talked in-depth with anyone yet, however she was content with reflecting on her own thoughts. / “Now that I’m here, I can actually become a professional artist! I can get a job, and not have to worry about finding time after school to practice. This is perfect!” /

First period was math, and Elsie realized that they were taking advanced math. She was already taking calculus, a class that was meant for students in 12th grade. However, Elsie, being knowledgeable in many things, was able to get by the class without too much struggle. It also helped that it was the first day, which was just an introduction.

After that, she had language arts, where she learned about grammar and writing properly. Elsie struggled a bit with this subject, however, the teacher was really nice, so Elsie felt as if she could talk to the teacher if she ever needed help.

Her third period was history, and the teacher had decided to spend their first class by getting to know the people around each other. In this way, Elsie was able to learn a lot about her classmates in the class, and she even met some potential friends.

Lunch break was coming nearer and nearer, and before Elsie knew it the bell was ringing. Right before everyone piled out the doorway, the principal, Mr. Hughes came over and introduced himself. Elsie personally didn’t mind, however, it seemed the other kids wanted to get out for lunch.

“And starting next quarter, you will be put into cohorts based on what subject you will be studying in the arts. Be prepared for that! You are now dismissed.” The principal, and Elsie, watched as everyone stampeded outside.

Right before it was Elsie’s turn, the principal said, “Are you Elsie Lasker? I would like to request your presence right now in my office, if you don’t mind.”

“O-of course not, sir! I will be right there.” Slightly nervous, Elsie walked over to the office before the principal could follow her. / “The first day of school, and I’m already in trouble? How could that happen? I wasn’t breaking any rules, was I?” /

//

In the principal’s office, Elsie had to listen to Mr. Hughes go on and on about his school, and how amazing it was. Elsie personally disliked loud people like that, people who seemed to care only about themselves. However, out of politeness, she listened on.

After a while, the principal finally got to the point. “Elsie, I have something to tell you. Unfortunately, the wrong address for the acceptance note was sent. This scholarship letter was meant for Leiah next door.”

Elsie gasped. Leiah. She was very loud and arrogant, and sometimes her mom would invite her over (unwillingly, for Elsie), and Leiah would always brag about her violin and how she was awesome at it. One time, she even brought it over, and Elsie had to listen to, ironically, bad music for a whole 2 hours.

So, how come she got the scholarship? Did she apply for something? Looking over at the principal, Elsie could see him looking sorry for her, pitying her. That was not something Elsie would want to see. So, she focused her attention behind him, although the silence got more awkward by the second. The lake, shimmering, at a different angle due to the different time of day. It was so pretty. And, she wouldn’t be staying at this amazing school. Now what? Would she be homeschooled?

“I know, isn’t it beautiful? I personally own this lake after I bought it from some other man. I had to barter with him for the cheapest price. Isn’t it amazing? I love it a lot! I bet other kids do as well, but not as much as me!” He let out a hearty laugh, and continued to repeat what he had already said 20 times about the lake.

“Oh yeah, Elsie, your parents are coming to get you right now. Have a good day!”

Right at that moment, her mom did indeed come, and opened the door and took Elsie back home without a word, as they had already been given a call home earlier. Ad they passed through the hallways, Elsie saw, out of the corner of her eye, Leiah passing by, with a big grin on her face. How lucky was she.

~ fin ~
(1267w)

3.5.2022 - daily 5

Daily for Contemporary:

If I could have a magic power, it would probably be to control time. I know, it's just too powerful. But imagine being able to stop time for a moment or going back to the past! I've made mistakes that I've regretted in the past, we all have. If you could go back to the past, and change your actions, maybe something else that I'd liked more could have happened. And since I'm a huge procrastinator, if I could just stop time and do everything I needed to do without anyone else realizing, how amazing would that be? Controlling time will of course have its limits, who sees a magical power without limits to it? Teleportation, makes you feel nauseous. Shapeshifting, you might turn into something else that you didn't want. Making things appear in front of your eyes, maybe it'll be broken or disfigured. All the powers in stories and books have limits to them. My imagination is going to wide to perfectly stop time anytime you wanted.

Imagine that!

(171 words)

march 5th
daily
206 words

I think my magic power (if I had one) would be cloning myself, because it seems nearly impossible to defeat, making it the perfect secret weapon for my eventual take-over of the world. (/j) The clones would operate under a hive-mind of sorts, each communicating with each other through telepathy signals. So, by a certain extent, telepathy would be a different power I could use, but it would already come with the clones. (Why am I speaking about the cloning power like it’s an Amazon product?) There would be a limit to how many clones I could produce, obviously, because the way my power would work would be that each atom in my body would be split in half, then again, and again, and again, until my body becomes too unstable to be cloned again. (This is very /not/ scientific, if you couldn’t already tell.) This would produce about seven clones, maybe more or maybe less depending on my energy level. Once all the clones are out, there is no “original” clone and we are all connected together through telepathy. The world will only be able to watch as I slowly take over every piece of land on this planet.
For now, though, I must wait.

Weekly 1
Part 1

Acrostic-Fox
Fox,the gracios creature
Odored by many.
Xaern to everything

Forest
Forest the wild place
Oh the wonderful place
Return to the power of nature
Eat the wild fruit
Sit in the wet,cool grass
Take back the memory of your ancestors
Narrative?
I once saw little girl Foxie,walking,
walking around a cave
looking in every hole
and seeking for the biggest danger
that can await.
And when she saw a big-big spider.
Bigger than many her age.
She slayed it with her sword,
and many people were free.
She didn't accept a “thank you”
and with no words,
she disapeared.
Everyone now growing up,
Knows that there is a woman
named Foxie,
who can help you in any way
she can.
It was when she was a little girl Foxie
she didn't fear of anything.

Tounge twisters
Berry bade Baby bye.
Megan made mango muffins
Carrot carried cactus to cut cobble

Hauki
Bird
Birds flew out a nest,
Making everything loud here,
and silence again

Euphony - The snake
Shaking with fear
the rattle snake
turns away.

Diary

Diary,A place of secret stories
A book that you can trust.
And no one will find out


Free Verse - Through The Forest …

Through the forest you walk
looking at the nature around you
seeing birds singing in the branches
smiling to the sun
Through the forest you run
rolling in the grass
looking at the trees
and smiling at a squirrel
Through the forest you crawl
Crawl,like a bear
looking in the holes,
finding little bear cubs
in the holes
Through the forest you climb,
Climb the big trees.
Look into birds nests
and eat the wild apples
Through the forest you fly
You fly really high
and talk to the bird in the air.
You see the wonders of nature
up from above.
'cause through the forest you fly
+325 words

Part 2

Essay

Whenever you come to the park, and see a duck, or ducks. You want to feed them. What do you feed them with? Bread! (of course only if you have bread but let's say you do) And you feed them. But did you know that this is bad for the duck's health and their environment?

“Bread is high in carbohydrates and has little nutritional value for ducks.” - from the internet. Duck's since wild, need special diet,like earthworms, snails, slugs, mollusks, small fish,grass,plants, leaves e.t.c. It also depends on the type of bread, like old bread can cause big health problems. It can also be dangerous for other fish, wildlife, even humans. Bread can be fattening to ducks and make it harder for them to fly and avoid predators, but feeding ducks can also lead to other serious problems.(like said above) Also,ducklings will not learn to recognize natural foods as easily as their parents.
Bread also causes pollution in the water because,if you offer to much ducks wouldn't eat all the bread it will become soggy and rot, which can cause health problems to ducks themselves again.Where an easy food source can be found ducks and other water creatures will lay more eggs and the pond or lake will quickly become overcrowded. This makes it more difficult for the birds to seek out healthier food sources and increases the likeliness of territorial aggression. In overcrowded areas, predators can also thrive and will impact other bird population, and diseases can quickly spread through large flocks as well. Also, when birds become used to getting food from humans, they lose their natural fear of humans and may become aggressive in order to get more food.Their loss of fear can also cause other dangers, such as not fearing to cross any busy,crowded roads in order to reach sources of food.Wild ducks and any water life can live longer, healthier lives by relying on natural food sources such as aquatic plants, seeds, grasses, nuts, and insects, rather than taking food from humans(esppecialy bread). If you still want to feed the ducks, which can be an enchanting experience, there are many healthier option to offer instead of bread. Great foods to feed ducks include: Grapes (cut in half to prevent from choking) Grains, Corn, and many other things that you can find on the internet.

In conclusion, ducks can live a longer,more productive and healthier live without bread than with bread. So if you still feed ducks with bread than shame on you! (XD) because you are threatening there lives! (okay that's to much maybe ) So if you don't want to threaten the ducks precious cute little lives than feed them with: Grapes (cut in half to prevent from choking) Grains, Corn, and many other things (that you can find on the internet) And don't forget to NEVER feed the cute little ducks or actually any water-life then never feed ducks(or any water life) with bread. So that they can live a good,long ,healthy live!
+508

Hazels diary
November 13th
I can’t believe I found something so ancient.A diary of a princess from 1300. I opened the dusty notebook and read the following:
The diary of princess Zora the 1st
Nov 14th 1300
Today I had a normal day. When I woke up,my servant dressed me.I chose my beautiful purple velvet dress and a hat made with ostrich feathers.My servant put on my beautiful high-heeled shoes.I went to school.Not the normal school the poor kids go to.I’m by myself with a boring professor who always tells long lectures….


Hazel’s diary
Nov 14th 2021
I wake up put on my best clothes:usauly my white t-shirt black pants and a gray hoodie.I take my backpack and have breakfast,I pack my lunch.I got to the bus stop and wait for the bus to pick me up. When I go into the bus I sit next to my BFF Megan,we talk all the way to school. I tell Moragan about a ancient diary from 1300 of a princess.I showed her the diary and we looked through here is a interesting thing we found:

Nov 14th after “school” 1300:
My parents talked to me about a tedious trip to see how the kingdom is doing. I dislike trips soo much. We have to ride in a shaky carriage,it shakes all the time.Anyway,we start packing,my servant pack some things to entertain me while I play with my sisters. My servant asked the most idiotic question in the world.She asked me if I want to pack some clothes. I was angry,really angry.I beat her,she deserves it.
After packing we had dinner and went to sleep.

Hazel’s diary.
November 14’th on the school bus.
Me and Megan cried when we read about Zora beating the poor servant,who was definitely joking. I put the diary in the bag,and the bag into my backpack just when the school bus stopped near my school “Sunrise Elementary”Me and Megan jumped down and Megan said”Oh,Hazel I can’t believe that Zora doesn’t have a sense of humor,you know,I thought princess do have a sense of humor and and… ” She didn’t finish because the bell rang we ran into class sat next to each other and listened to our teacher checking if we were here.

HAZEL is brushing off dust and dirt of a book and putting it into a bag.
HAZEL: Wow! This is so cool! I wonder what it is.
(Megan walks in)
MEGAN: Sup Haze! Whaz-up!
HAZEL: Look what I found Meg! It's this book!
MEGAN: Ooh! Let me see… Wow! This is wonderful,look,it's a diary… can you read it?
HAZEL: Some of it.I think it is a diary of an English princess, ‘cause it’s English.
MEGAN: Wow…Logic girl….
HAZEL: Oh c'mon stop being like that, anyway, lets go catch the bus at the bus stop.
(they run to the bus stop.)
MEGAN: good… were not late.
(they sit on the bus)