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The concept of love
My first word was love. Under the flickering lights of North Shore Hospital on March 10, 2002, I met the one person whose love for me is unconditional. As I tore my eyelids open and glanced the kind, raven-haired woman, I immediately noticed her smile, which stretched for miles past the horizon. I truly believe that one person molded me into the person I am today. As I grew up, I became afraid of my own reflection, until I realized that the only things I should see staring back at me are the doting eyes of my grandma. Many years later, I returned to the hospital. One week away from losing my...
Polluted by vaping
Among today’s novelty-seeking youth, there is another rising fad – vaping. According to a 2017 National Institutes of Drug Abuse, more than one in four high school seniors reported vaping in the previous year. Searching online, you can also effortlessly find many cool-looking guys teaching how to blow out bizarre shapes of smoke rings to stunt your peers. Same as poppies, vaping looks charming and gorgeous, but addictive and toxic in essence. It is not an innocent healthier substitution to real cigarettes as it acclaims. Indeed, the nicotine it contains is no less lethal. What’s more, the most...
Current Events, Climate Change and Your Health
With the two climate strikes that happened in September, important conversations are happening about what needs to be done to improve the planet for future generations. Surrounding the dates of the United Nations Climate Action Summit, strikers across the world demanded climate justice for everyone. The demands included an end to the age of fossil fuels, as well as an energy revolution with climate justice and equity as its driving factor. The climate strikes — which have involved everyone from school-aged children to senior citizens — show that climate change is no longer an issue that can be...
Being a Muslim girl in America
Live Life to the fullest
Live life and live it to the fullest!!! This statement is the most overused yet motivational line that is used in the 20th century of life. It has been used so much that it lost its value, its significance that it’s just that a statement that is used with the hope that it will bring someone some light, some energy, something for people to feed on, to read on . This is more than a statement its a feeling that cant truly be described. BUT I am here to say that this statement is…..well…. actually… true. I know this because I’ve experienced it…I actually felt it and lived it. I was in Florida on a...
Which College Will Divest Next?
Signs and protestors proclaiming “Injustice is not an investment,” “Climate change is not a game,” and “We’re still here”... The heated adrenaline is almost palpable if you step onto college campuses today. The kids are asking for divestment. According to Fossil Free, universities have divested around $14 trillion to date. Divesting means that they will actively sell shares in companies that spark environmental or social concerns. In the words of 350.org, this implies “a fast and just transition to 100% renewable energy for all,” “no new fossil fuel projects anywhere,” and “not a penny more...
The Human Struggle for Acceptance
Try to Remember
What Do You Really Want?
Then Read It From the Bottom to Top (A Reverse Poetry)
I am a nothing So I refuse to believe that I am just as worthy as she is I am not as beautiful nor strong. And nothing you say will make me believe I am graceful and steady on the inside And my heart is right because painful broken society-implaced beauty. Is always more important than inner beauty because remember how you look on the outside matters. No longer can it be said that I am a somebody. I don't matter. So don't try to convince me this ugly lie: I am beautiful. (Read it now from the bottom to top)
Vaping: A Youth Epidemic
Electronic cigarettes, e-cigarettes, e-cigs, vapes, JUULs—no matter what you call them, these devices are popping up everywhere, and their explosion in popularity has created a huge public health threat for teens and young adults. A modern update to traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes deliver a heated liquid, often containing nicotine, in the form of a vapor that the user then inhales. With major companies like JUUL offering youth-friendly vapor flavors (such as fruit, candy, soda, pastry, and mint) and creating sleek, discrete devices that boast a trendy look, it’s not surprising that these...
Opioid Crisis: How Youth Can Look at Pain Relief
If you’ve been keeping up with current events, chances are you are well aware of the dire reports of the United States' immense and worsening opioid crisis, which claimed as many as 130 lives every single day in the nation by 2017, the latest year data was collected. Yet amid the flurry of warnings and lamentations, one thing you likely haven’t heard is the enormous toll the crisis of addiction is taking on young people not only in America but also around the globe. For far too long, youth have been largely excluded from conversations surrounding the opioid crisis, not to mention today’s...
True Terror
What is True terror? You may think that it is when a war is declared or a shooting etc. But I think true terror is when it involves yourself. If it doesn't Directly affect YOU then it cannot be described as terror. You may be scared but not in terror. Now terror does not have to be lethal or frightening. It can be as simple as your computer being taken away. And that’s what it was for me. That was the moment that I experienced true terror. We had just moved to Worthington two months ago, and all I did was play on my computer. My dad got fed up and started unplugging the cords powering the...
Hey kids.
We cannot emphasize enough How it’s a problem, too much to bluff. Innocence is swept away, All because the older ones have a say, A say for us girls, and even the boys. However, it’s always the girls that are sensualized toys. At a tender age, be it nine or twenty, you would think they’d leave us be We should be open and not forced Into this over sexualized society where all they see are curves, chest, hips, legs, and the symmetrical face already. They crave beauty. They desire with lust. Well how can we trust? We’re so young, we may not even be ready. For such comments and looks. We still...
This Poem is For the Love
This poem is for the children whose schools have closed, the children who rely on whatever their pocket change can buy them in the cafeteria to get them through the day. This poem is for the people who lived through a lifetime of war and are as afraid of going outside on this still spring night as they were back then. This poem is for every family from my city to your city, to every city neither of us have ever been to or heard of. This poem is for the mother who lost her job and has to feed 3 kids. This poem is for the boy who searches for smiley faces in the rain drops sticking to his...
Living my teenage years through historical and political events
Your teenage years are supposed to be a time for you to figure out who you really are. It’s also a time where you often feel lost and confused. However, with everything that’s been going on (Covid-19, protests for the death of George Floyd, etc..), these influential teenage years have become extremely dense. Many students haven’t been able to get their prom or graduation. Others are struggling to attend online classes in a home that doesn't have the necessary technological facilities. This is what makes this time so unique; it affects all of us, crossing societal and economic borders. Though...
Being an autistic teen in quarantine and staying occupied.
My name is Alex. I am autistic on the autism spectrum disorder. This is what it's like for me in quarantine using my own words. Quarantine has been tough a little bit. I miss talking to people face to face outside of my parents at home. At first I hated the thought of having to stay home more than usual. It was interesting at the end of last school year with "crisis school" as they called it. It's been a little hard for my mental health too, as I have other mental health issues. There was no fancy celebration for my eighth grade promotion due to the pandemic, so my mom had a lot of family and...
Sunshine
Rays of light shine upon me, brightening the world amidst the darkest of days. Even though the shadows may steal our happiness today, the sun shall bring new light upon this world. Do not fear for the troubles that have been bestowed upon you today but set your eyes on the joy that lies tomorrow for although the rain may pour, sunshine awaits.
Shadows of Indifference
A night, midnight blue, one with no stars An eye peering through the opening, clouds reflected in gaze And blank stares, pearly white - drenched in tears The pendulum’s swinging, completing its endless cycle Hushed whispers ripple the surface, then back again An unfathomable abyss and death’s glare upon us with wings of black silk shadowing A mirror with many faces, broken shards blemishing beauty A girl, no two. Nameless, shamelessly looking. Dreaming- As the sweet, soul-sucking vortex redeems her again Walls encroach upon the silent dreamer as she remembers Transparent glass walls that cut...