FREE: A Dream Deferred

"What happens to a dream deferred?"

What happens to a person when they have a dream? When someone has a major goal in life? When someone aspires towards something? They tend to strive. To go to their limits to achieve that goal. They live on excitement, they live on motivation. But what happens when that dream is no longer there? When that dream gets cut off? When that dream gets deferred?

When I was 10, I went to a camp called the Mosaic Project. It was a week long program in the Napa Valley, originally designed for the disabled. We slept in cabins, sang songs around the campfire, and learned about life skills such as empathy. It was the first, and most amazing experience I've ever had. We had cabin leaders there. They were teenagers assigned to supervise us kids. I swore to myself, one day I would definitely return to the Mosaic Project as a cabin leader. Having that goal in mind, I was beyond excited. My mom on the other hand didn't understand my goal. She didn't know why I wanted to leave home for another couple weeks, she didn't wanna spend the money, or drive me up to Napa. With that knowledge, my dream was gone. Knowing that the chances of accomplishing that goal were slim, my excitement soon turned to disappointment. Disappointment to me, is the main consequence of a deferred dream.

What do you think happens when a dream is deferred?

CE: 1 Out Of 18.

Thursday afternoon, a toddler laying in the middle of the street, unquestionably injured after being ran over multiple times. If she was obviously harmed, why was she still laying unconscious on the road?

Yue Yue, a Chinese toddler, was ran over repeatedly Thursday afternoon in Foshan, Guangdong Province, China. You'd think after seeing such a young life on the line, someone would've immediately helped her, right? Wrong. 18 pedestrians and cyclists passed right on by without calling an ambulance, or even helping Yue Yue off the street. Thank goodness Chen Xianmei, a 57 year old nearby, had the decency to move her off to the side of the street, and called for help, saving her life.

When I heard the news, and heard that over a dozen people passed by without helping her in the slightest way seemed so incredibly wrong to me. It made me think, "Is it that hard to be a good person nowadays? What has the world come to?" It's shocking that only 1 person out of 18 people chose to stop, and chose to save a life.

Though it's sickening to know that so many people are so heartless nowadays, it's refreshing to know that there's still some kind-hearted, generous people out there in the world.

FREE: Appearance.

Appearance. One dilemma everybody shares. Whether it's a pimple, or the way you dress, appearance seems to be an issue everyone has to deal with, some more than others.

Before I used to think appearance was an extremely big deal. Having to look presentable anywhere I go. Even if it's to the grocery store, or to a family member's house, I'd always have to put myself together. But as lifes progresses, the need to "dress to impress" becomes less and less important to me. Now when I think about it, who am I trying to impress? Nobody. As long as I feel comfortable in my own skin, why should I feel the need to impress anyone else? Unless I have one of those high school puppy crushes, but I don't at the moment. Lately I've been noticing that I've been downgrading the way I present myself. Not meaning that I don't care how I present myself now, it just means that I don't put as much effort into looking nice everywhere I go. Instead of spending a couple hours a night looking for something to wear, I'll settle with anything I can find in about 30 minutes that looks decent.

What I've come to realize is that appearance isn't everything. Just because you look nice on the outside, doesn't mean anything else. You shouldn't spend so much time worrying about such a topic, because appearance isn't everything.

RP: Cellphones? Unnecessary.

"But yeah, I'll get a text and just look at my phone and throw it on my bed or something." - Vicky Hoang

I completely agree with Vicky. To me, technology is starting to bore me. Before, whenever I got a call or a text message, I'd pick up or text back right away, or as soon as I saw it. When my bill came, my mom would always ask who I text to have hit over 15,000 messages that month. But lately, I've been getting really lazy with all that. If someone calls me and I miss it, chances are I won't call back, unless it's someone important like my mom. If someone texts me, 99.99% of the time, I won't text back. I'd read it, then re-lock my phone and toss it back to wherever it was. Honestly, it's not because I don't want to talk to the person, it's because I'm too lazy to even reply.

I remember when I first got texting, I was so excited. I wanted to text everyone, I wanted everyone to text me. At a point, I felt that I couldn't even live without my phone(exaggerating), but I did think that. And even though I felt such love towards my phone before, I find that as time goes on, my phone becomes less and less important to me. Sure, it's a good thing to have incase of emergency. But now, I can probably say I could go without a cellphone.

Before if you asked me, "Do you think you can live without your phone?" I'd probably reply, "NO." But now, if you asked me the same question, I'd reply, "Yes, cellphones aren't necessary to live."

CE: Sick.

An underground issue that has finally surfaced. Priests sexually abusing minors? Yes, priests. The reports have increasingly been flooding in, in Europe and the US. Have these cases been brought to justice? After years of sweeping these reports under the carpet, the world is beginning to take legal notice to these sickening actions.

 "When at age 15, I called the diocese to report the rapes they hung up on me." - Megan Peterson, 21.


Disgusting. Revolting. Disgraceful. All words I can think of to describe not only the priests accountable for these actions, but also the figure of authority who was supposed to be responsible of handling the result of those actions. It's one thing to be the abuser, but what makes you better if someone has chosen to confide in you, and seek your help, and all you can think to do is hang up the phone. Shame.


In my mind, I thought priests were supposed to be against those gruesome actions. To be against those merciless people. I never thought of them to be the ones hiding behind such crimes. And for them to be sexually assaulting minors, and still being able to wander the streets freely is ridiculous. The world has taken the first step of recognizing the situation, but let's take the second step. Let's get rid of these sick, twisted people, and put them behind bars.

RP: School Makes You Cool.

"The choices that some people make really confuse me. You're offered free education, something that isn't available to everyone and yet still decide to take it for granted." - Peter Nguyen

In the country we live in, we're fortunate enough to have a free public education. And in school, we're given numerous opportunities to improve the chances of our futures. With a deal like that, you'd think each and every member of the student body would be thankful for a such an education. But instead, you observe many students destroying their futures instead of building them up, because they think they're "too cool for school."

I agree with Peter's statement. Many kids nowadays have such a negative attitude towards school. I'll admit, I've had my fair share of days where I didn't feel like going to school, or where I'd complain about how I hate school. But in all honesty, I love school. Besides the fact that it's a place offering me a free education and a chance at a better future, it's a place that allows me to associate with people foreign to me, even allowing me to create life long bonds with some of them. It disappoints me to see the negativity and disrespect towards school from some students. Disrespecting school rules because they're, "too cool for school." Disrespecting teachers because they're, "too cool for school." And even disrespecting peers because they're, "too cool for school."

When I see people with that attitude, it completely changes my perspective of them as a person. Honestly, it makes me think of them of a person that I frankly don't wanna be associated with. Coming to school with your mind set on not wanting to be there, or being there to disrupt the learning environment of others in UNcool. But coming to school ready to learn, with a positive respectful attitude, makes you incredibly cool.

FREE: Pride.

Orange. The color assigned to us sophomores. Tomorrow is the day of our homecoming game, also the day where each class wears their class colors. I wonder who really has pride to be a sophomore.

Last year, being a freshman our color was a bland shade of gray. &to avoid being boo'd & pennied, I chose to show up at school in a neutral white. I can honestly say I wasn't proud to be a freshman that day. But this year, it's a completely different story. Weeks before homecoming, I went shopping for all things orange. An orange tee shit, orange socks, and even orange face paint. I know this year I can show my school spirit & pride to be a sophomore. I don't have to hide anymore, and I can finally walk around with my war paint on. I'm ready for tomorrow, to get up in the morning, put my orange on, get through the day, the pep rally, and even to see our class float. Already ready, I can't wait for Alameda High's homecoming day :)

BC: Words Of Inspiration.

As you may know, the ex-CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, recently passed due to Pancreatic cancer. Before he passed, he made a speech. One of the things he said was, "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." After I read  that, I stopped for a second to think about what he meant, but I didn't understand it. As I kept reading, he said, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" With that, I began to get an idea of what he meant. Even though he already knew he was on the road to death, he still used that quote to get the most out of everyday. I began to understand the quote that inspired the way he lived his life for the past 33 years.

Hearing this quote for the first time opened up a door to me that I didn't even know existed. It opened up a whole new perspective of life to me. It made me realize a lot more that I hadn't even thought to think about before. If I woke up tomorrow morning, looked in the mirror, and asked myself, "If this was going to be my last day to live, would I actually want to do what I'm going to do today?" I'd realize that if I lived my last day yielding to my normal routine, I would've ended my life half liven. Doing the things I had to do, instead of the things I wanted to do. Not experiencing all the things I wanted to have experienced. Not seeing places I wanted to have seen. In my mind, I wouldn't have even lived.


"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life." - Steve Jobs


That was his way of making big decisions, and I see where he's coming from. I agree with him actually. To keep in mind that your life could be over at any day, at any second, affects the way you think so much more than you think now. You would want to make the decisions most beneficial for you, so you could have lived your life proudly & prosperously, right? Well I don't know about you, but that's how I'd want to live my life. So with every decision I make, If I think about that one saying, I think I'd make the better choices in life for me.

I realized that there is so much more to fulfill in life, and that our time is precious. Not a second should be wasted, because that second could be your very last. It makes you think about so much more, and it makes you see life in a completely different way. It makes you appreciate so much more. And what I'm hoping is that this quote will have the same effect on the rest of my community, if better more, than it did on me. Thank you for these words of inspiration, may your legacy live on, Steve Jobs.

CE: Fat Tax?

Denmark has imposed the worlds first fat tax on it's country with intentions to prevent the intake of fatty foods and obesity. The tax affects foods such as milk and butter, to pizza and meat. Their plan is to increase the prices of anything eatable with fats an oils incorporated, to decrease the chances of weight gain & unhealthy diseases related to the intake of those foods, such as fast foods. Do you think this is an intelligent approach to the situation?

Do I understand where they're coming from? Yes I do. Do I think they've created this tax with good intentions? Yes I do. But do I think this plan will succeed? No I don't. To be honest, I don't think the low prices & easy access to the fatty foods is the problem. I think that if people just eat in moderation, consuming such foods wouldn't be such an issue. For example, I myself eat fast foods, such as french fries, pizza, and cakes. But I eat them in moderation, and if I wanted to purchase more, I don't think it'd be fair for me to pay more. In all actuality, I really doubt that raising the prices on these foods will change much. Sure, maybe some people will cut down on buying so much. But I'm almost positive that the majority of the population will still purchase those foods if that's what they really want. So do I believe this tax will stick around for countless years to come? I'm almost positive it won't. What do you think?

RP: Another Word For Music? Home.

"I like the feeling of being in my own little world, have my music on, and I can express my feeling or emotions."


I know exactly what he's talking about when he says this. When I have my music on, I feel like I can shut out the remainder of the world and concentrate on myself. I can let out and express my emotions. For me, and I'm sure many for many other people, it's just a favor music does for us.

Music. There's many genres, many artists, and many songs to choose from. It can cope to anyone's taste, it's versatile. It's diverse. But the one thing music does for everyone, is that it allows you to express yourself no matter what mood you're in, and that's what I love about it.

Personally, music is my main source of comfort. Music is something I can always turn to, like a best friend. No matter what mood I happen to be in, there's always a song that matches it. If I'm in a happy excited mood, I could put on an upbeat fast song, and the music will be there with me almost holding my hand and dancing with me. If I'm feeling down, I could put on a soft slow jam, and the music would be there almost holding me and crying with me. My main point is music is comfort. It will be there whenever you need it to be, that's a guarantee. In my opinion, music is home.

FREE: What I'm Thankful Most For.

Ever had one of those days when you feel like it just isn't your day? When you don't even feel like getting out of bed? When everyone just seems to irritate you for no apparent reason? Well I'm having one of those days,  and I love how you always have those friends who can brighten up your mood without even seeming to try. Those are the friends I'm thankful for.

It's Wednesday after school, and the weather's been bipolar all day. With rain and sun, then rain and sun again. At the moment, the weather is hideous outside. Cold, windy, and rainy. My day at school, not so great. Sleeping through every class besides PE, and being either angry or apathetic while I was awake. I obviously did not have a 7 hour long school day filled with daisies and cotton candy. All I could think about all day was getting through that excruciating day as fast as possible, so I could go home and sleep through the rest of the day. I didn't have any plans for after school, and I didn't really want any either. I didn't think anything could make my day brighter. But then came along my good friend Ariel. Convincing me to hangout after school instead of going home, I felt better. With a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, a board game of Life, and some extremely funny advice, my day got so much better.

I'm thankful to have people like that in my life. Friends that're willing to listen to what I have to say when I'm not having the best day. Friends who can make me laugh and smile without even trying. Friends that I'm positive will always be there for me. They're what gets me through the day. I can honestly say I wouldn't even know where I'd be without my friends. So they're what I'm thankful most for.