Sohil's Story

      Throughout high school I have always been concerned with what comes next. How far ahead I looked differed but I always seemed to be looking ahead. "I have homework due tonight", "I have a test in a week", "I have AP tests in a month". Even summers, although I was a lot more relaxed, I still took summer school or I was studying for the ACT/SAT.      By always looking ahead, I was not able to really live in the present. The days seemed to blur together as I moved from one assignment to one assignment and studying from one test to another. Reflecting back on it, I believe the greatest lesson high school taught me was that stressing for something makes it seem worse than it is. Sometimes I would be so worried about a test or quiz but when I took it I found it surprisingly easy. I had spent a great amount of time worrying for nothing.      Rather than always focusing on the endpoint, focusing on the journey is more important. You can't contr...

     As senior year draws to a close I don't feel the excitement that I always thought I would feel in younger grades. I thought that the end of senior year would mean that I would fall behind on work and not care a lot about school. Instead the end of senior year is pretty much like the end of any year. Most of my days feel the same; I log in to class from 7:20 to 12:25 then I study, watch some TV, sleep and repeat the next day. The days seem to blend together and it's difficult finding motivation.      I hope this will change after AP tests. After that, I won't have school and I won't have anything to study for. While this may seem like a good thing, and I hope it is, I worry that without any goal to work towards I will have nothing worthwhile to do. In the past, I would be so excited for just a little free time where I could go play basketball or go biking or something fun with friends. With the pandemic, I worry that instead of making the most of my fre...

      The play Waiting for Godot  centers around two characters, Vladimir and Estragon as they wait for a man named Godot who never shows up. The play displays the meaningless nature of their wait through a jumbled speech from Lucky and a drab setting. Through the play, I was able to see how pointless waiting for something can be.      Many people set New Year's Resolutions every year, such as budgeting better, exercising more, or reading more books, and try to stick with them for as long as they can. Sometimes people are able to succeed and build a lifelong habit. However, according to some studies, around eighty percent of New Year's Resolutions fail in February. I believe the primary reason for this is that people wait till New Year's to institute a change in their life. Even though they may want to read more in November, they say to themselves "I should leave this as a New Year's Resolution". Then when the time comes around, they aren't as pas...

    Recently I have been watching a lot of March Madness. Filling out my bracket, rooting for my favorite team, Michigan, and watching basketball make March Madness lots of fun. However, by watching the games I learned a lot outside of basketball.      One of the big upsets has been Oral Roberts University advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. To do this, they beat Ohio State and Florida. No one thought they would make it this far but they overcame the odds of playing two difficult games and proved everyone wrong. This showed me that no matter what anyone says, as long as you believe in yourself anything is possible.      The second lesson I learned came from the Illinois vs Loyola Chicago game. Illinois was coming off a great season and had the number 1 seed and many people thought they could win the championship. However, Loyola Chicago beat them to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Even though you could see a lot of the Illinois players were hurt by this...

 You say goodbye to your parents Your belongings are packed You drive away from your house And start your new journey. While driving you look out the window And see beautiful flowers everywhere All along the sides of the road Are orchids the brightest, richest shade of purple. Orchids shoot out of other cars exhaust Orchids raining from the sky Orchids sticking to your windshield Orchids cloud your vision.  You get to your dorm And turn on the lights Your bed is covered in orchids And your orchids litter the floor.  Yet even in the midst of all the orchids You still miss back home.  This poem was my spin on Orchids Are Sprouting From the Floorboards by Kaveh Akbar. The poem is about distracting yourself from a distress in your life. 

 I sit at my desk Typing on a medium screen Feeling a little tired I have to sip some caffeine Once I finish working On my medium screen I can start to relax And change the scene I switch my attention To a smaller screen Scrolling through stories About the COVID vaccine I should get some fresh air, I think to myself I glance outside, the sunset red as a rose But Netflix calls to me on a large screen Fresh air isn't that important I suppose It's time to go to bed I finally shut of my screen Resolving to decrease my screen time But I can't escape my routine. 

You sit at a desk Tapping your feet They pass out the test And tell you not to cheat You work through the problems At blazing speed Then look back through the test Making sure to proofread You turn test in Nervous for your grade You walk back to your desk Still a little afraid Over the next couple days You still think of your test Trying to distract yourself Just makes you more distressed The teacher finally hands back your test Facing upside down You flip it over hoping for the best And you are not letdown Now you see That your hard work pays off Your worrying was foolish You look back and scoff.

 In Invisible Man , by Ralph Ellison, the narrator is sent North by Dr. Bledsoe under the guise of finding a job in New York City. After being rejected by all except one of the jobs Bledsoe supposedly lined him up for, the narrator goes to the last job opportunity. There a man who is the son of Mr. Emerson, a trustee, reveals to the narrator that the letter of recommendation that Bledsoe gave him actually portray the narrator in a negative light.  This realization leads to a feeling of anagnorisis, where the narrator realizes that just because someone is black doesn't mean that they have other black people's best interest in mind. He understands that Bledsoe doesn't care about him and the other black students, but rather Bledsoe just cares about his position in the white man's society. This means doing anything that allows him to hold his power, which predominately includes doing things that please white men.  After realizing that people's motives may not be what th...

 What makes a good mentor? Is it someone who simply teaches you how to do something or do they have to have other qualities? I believe that more than just passing on experience, a mentor must help a person improve their own confidence as well as be able to work toward their goal themselves. If the mentor cannot just hold the mentee's hand and guide him through whatever it is that needs to be done. The mentor must actually teach the mentee to a point where the mentee can become a mentor to someone else.  A great example of a mentor and mentee relationship is in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies. In these movies, Gandalf takes the role of a mentor and Frodo takes the role of a mentee. Gandalf asks questions, challenged Frodo, encouraged him to take risks, helped him make goals, listened to him, offered encouragement, and gave Frodo responsibility. This helped Frodo succeed and allowed him to increase his confidence, abilities, and determination.  Mentorship is mor...

 Online school has had positives and negatives for me. Waking up at 7:45 allows me to feel a lot less tired throughout the day as opposed to waking up at 6:30 when there was school. Furthermore, during each week during last year it felt as though I was just trying to make it to the weekend to get a break, while this year I am able to stay energized through the whole week. However, it has been hard for me to get motivated to stay on top of my homework and pay attention in class. In school, I was engaged in every class and learning every day but online just feels like I barely understand the subject material and have to cram before every test.  In English class specifically, after a long period of not writing anything, my first essays were not at the level that I wanted them to be at. Through the second quarter, I was able to slightly improve my essays and I hope to continue increasing my scores throughout third and fourth quarter. I also want to work on speaking and contributin...

       I stood on one of many tall sand dunes with no destination in mind. I looked out and all I could see for miles and miles was the bright, gold color of the desert. I knew I was looking for a treasure but I didn't remember how I got to this exact location. The wind started to send sand at my eyes, causing me to close them and I got a sudden urge to turn right and walk. I picked up the pace and before I knew it, I was sprinting with my eyes closed. All of a sudden, I stopped and started digging. When I hit a hard surface, I finally opened my eyes and before me was the treasure chest I knew was for me.      As soon as I opened the treasure chest, I was standing in a square talking to a man who claimed to know about my quest for a treasure. I asked him where I could find it and he said to follow my heart. Then, I stood inside of a shop. I was helping a store keeper sell his crystals and I decided to pursue my Personal Legend. Finally, I was talking t...

 As I was looking for plants to eat, I gazed out upon the open field. My work had finally been finished; balance had been restored to the universe. I thought back on what it had cost me. Everything. I had lost my daughter, even though she had went against me. Now, however, I could rest knowing that she didn't die in vain.  I went back to my house and started to cook some of the vegetable I had got. A delicious aroma filled the room and I felt my stomach rumble. Just as I was taking the pot off of the stove, my door was broken down and a group of seven, dressed in battle gear, entered. They were the same people I had fought earlier and somehow they were able to find my location. They kept yelling at me "Where are the stones?" until I told them that I destroyed the stones. A silence fell over them and the anger they had turned to sadness. I couldn't understand why they were not thankful for me. I had ensured that half of civilization was able to live comfortably at the ...

       In The Stranger, by Albert Camus, Meursault is not allowed to smoke in prison. As a result he feels nauseous and hopes wonders why he is being denied the ability to smoke. He realizes that it is a part of his punishment that he must endure. However, after a short period of time, Meursault is able to get used to not smoking and it doesn't become a punishment for him anymore.        By not smoking for several days, Meursault was able to change his daily routine to not include smoking. Routines can be good, like in the case of Meursault breaking the habit of smoking, or bad, like overeating when watching TV. In both cases, the routine takes time to get used to; Meursault was nauseated and if you overeat, your stomach is likely to hurt. However, once they get set routines stick for a very long time. For this reason, it is important to try to form good routines that can benefit you.        Recently, I finished my college appl...

      Is wasting time really bad? The obvious answer would be yes but it depends on how you define "wasting time". Is wasting time doing something that is not productive? Well then how can we define what is productive and what is not productive. Is wasting time doing something you do not enjoy? Many people would not consider studying as wasting time, yet they do not enjoy it. So what really is wasting time? And can it be bad?      Wasting time seems to be something you want to avoid. After all, in the phrase it literally describes misusing your time, a very precious resource. But what if wasting time is necessary. If you define wasting time as doing something that is not productive, do you expect to work for 24 hours straight? No one can do this. People have to eat, sleep, and, even though many people disagree, relax. If you don't take a break from your work, you lose efficiency. You get mentally burnt out and your not as productive as you were when yo...

       In Catch 22 , by Joseph Heller, war is portrayed as a bureaucratic machine that doesn't care about the soldiers who are actually fighting it. Yossarian, fights this by trying to survive. Normally, when people think of heroes, we think of people risking their life in order to benefit many. However, in Catch 22 , the war is not fought for the benefit of many people. This makes Yossarian's mission, survival, a very heroic one. However, Yossarian quickly comes to a problem. Yossarian puts his squadron's lives in front of his own and wants to save theirs but does not want to keep flying pointless decisions and endangering his own. Yossarian solves this problem by walking away from the war. This way, he is able to prevent himself from having to choose between his life and his squadmates.        Catch 22  contrasts from many other war movies and books I have watched and read. In Catch 22 , heroism is shown in the ability to save your own life...

       As I was struggling to figure out what community I belonged to for one of my college essays, I became very stressed and started questioning why I was going through this. I was working hard to persuade the college to let ME pay them money. College is the only scenario that I can think of where I have to work to spend money. On top of this, I'm going to college to work more and be even more stressed out than I was for any other point in my life. Basically, I had worked for 12 years to educate and I was hoping for four more. All of this just to work more until I'm 75 just to survive. Assuming I am able to live to 90, I'll have 15 years at the end of my life and 5 years at the beginning of my life to myself. And at both these times I was and will not be at my best self.      I have heard a lot of people complain about the situation in the same way that I have. Would I really be better off if I didn't have to worry about where I went to college? If I...

       In Animal Farm, by George Orwell, the animals are inspired by an old boar to overthrow the humans and run the farm they live on by themselves. However, a majority of them quickly find themselves under the rule of the pigs and they end up right where they begin. The premise of Animal Farm is derived from the Russian Revolution which resulted in a government that left the people worse off then they were before. Many of the characters in Animal Farm are based off of real people. For example, Snowball represents Trotsky, Napoleon represents Stalin, Boxer represents the hardworking citizens, and so on. Many of the events in Animal Farm  also depict real life situations, such as Snowball being chased off the farm representing Trotsky being exiled from the U.S.S.R. I believe that George Orwell mimics the happenings of the Russian Revolution to make his warning about communism more clear. By using real life, Orwell shows his audience that even though communism m...

In the movies and TV shows we watch, the main characters often have two clear, contrasting choices. Do I chase the bad guy or save my friend? Should I break the law even if I am doing the right thing? Do I save my best friend or 50 strangers? The hero usually makes the right decision, which is why they are a "hero". However, in real life we have many choices over a long time that lead us to many consequences. In "Animal Farm" by George Orwell and "Saving Sourdi" by May-Lee Chai, Benjamin and Nea have many opportunities to do the right thing but choose not to, resulting in a significant loss in their lives.  In “Saving Sourdi” Nea’s decisions are based on helping her sister. This includes attacking a man who is not treating Sourdi right and manipulating Duke to try to “save Sourdi” from Mr. Chhay. However, Sourdi doesn’t need Nea’s help. By being overprotective, Nea disregards Sourdi’s wishes  and acts out of a selfish desire to keep Sourdi to herself. Th...

     In Oedipus the King  an interesting point is brought up: is it fate that controls our lives or can we choose our own destiny through the decisions we make. In the case of Oedipus the King  I thought it was clear that fate had predetermined Oedipus' life and cursed him to his tragic downfall. However, in the debate on Monday, my classmates brought up fair points on why Oedipus was to blame for his undoing. Either way, Oedipus the King  is a tragedy that exaggerates life for a play and doesn't show that fate or free necessarily determine one's life in the real world.      So does fate or free will determine one's destiny in the real world? Or is it a combination of the two? It is hard to come to a conclusive answer because most decisions in life are not black and white. You might have many options and all of them, in some way or another, will lead back to the same destination, giving the illusion of choice. Or in some situations you might ...

 This week, while working on college essays, I realized the importance of having my own voice in my essays. I was reflecting back on an anecdote I was including and I began to feel tired. I was boring myself on my own essay! If I couldn't even get through my own essay, how could I expect someone else to, not only read it, but also enjoy it? The answer was I couldn't and I needed a solution. I scoured the internet hoping to find some tips on how to make my writing more interesting. The one answer that consistently turned up was that I needed to work on my voice. This reminded me of our breakout room, in which someone suggested to me that I work on "showing not telling". At the time, I thought that was good advice but I wasn't really sure how to implement it and eventually I forgot about it. Now I knew that in order to "show not tell" I would have to speak through my writing not just describe a situation objectively like a news report. But how would I do t...