Train of Thought

    ` When playing games with a couple of my friends, I found myself judging their skill at the game. "Wow, they're so bad" I thought to myself. At the time, we were playing as a group, and began to lose the game we were playing. I have a pretty competitive mindset, so when the tides turned against us I began to analyze what the possible culprit of the loss could be. Rather than focusing on what I could do to improve, I blamed my teammates, a common pitfall in all group sports or activities. We as people are quick to push the blame away from ourselves, even if it clearly could've been our own fault. We make judgements on a day to day basis, be it in a game or on the road, but regardless of the medium, excuses as to why we aren't to blame always exist. "Well, he should've seen me coming!" could be a common excuse if you cut someone off on the road. Making judgements of others doesn't diminish who we are as people, but it is important to focus intr

     "How to Be Alone" covers various pockets of America and their individual stories of quarantine solidarity. The pandemic hit everyone in vastly different ways, but ironically, that's what unites us; all our lives were shaken to their core. Communities have been forced to stay secluded, and the isolation slowly takes it toll on mental health. Like an astronaut, we must stay focused on the mission and keep ourselves busy to force away the boredom and loneliness slowly creeping in. Not everyone has a relationship or friends to connect to, and their human interactions are next to none. My own quarantine experience has been a confusing period of growth. Like everyone else, it began by coming to terms with everything I would no longer be able to do, from going to the gym on a daily basis, hanging out with friends, or going out to eat. My friends and I stayed connected through the voice calls we had nearly every night; most nights we would play games and keep ourselves busy,

  Physics C      ~Mr. Glynn  The image above is familiar to us all; to some, it may even cause anxiety. To me, this image represents a distinct shift deeper than simply switching to virtual. The way we used to remember school, through memories at the lunch table with friends or an especially hard test, has vanished; the only remaining catalogue of the struggle we underwent tucked away in folders. Each folder represents a new week of procrastination, stress, and homework, yet it all seems so bland and insignificant. Weeks all melt into each other like a movie on fast forward when we can't find the remote, whizzing by faster than we can follow. There are no memorable events separating the weeks, just an ever increasing number until we reach our uncertain graduation. Although we have more free time than we'll probably ever have again, everything feels like a chore, with the same routine being repeated day after day. Returning to school feels like entering a post apocalyptic future