Zahra F

November 2013 in Review

Last month we ran our first ever Thankful Notes poster drive and Halloween contest. So please check out our Halloween contest winners Taylor, Olivia and Autumn’s art submissions under the art tab.

For our Thankful Notes poster drive students were asked to leave a note on a poster for what they were thankful for this year so far. Thank you everyone for your many interesting answers and happy holidays.

Bourbon Red Team ~^_^~

Bourbon Red

Halloween Contest

Deadline Friday October 28th 

Mediums: Short Stories, Poems, and Art 

Submit materials either through the blog email or to room 3015 

Genre/Theme: Horror or all things spooky and Halloween 

Prize: Gift Cards and Candy awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners 

Winner announced October 31st

Good Luck!  ~^_^~  

Sami Abou Mayaleh 

sweet girls. 

rise from your slumber, young woman.

it is six in the morning.

straighten your back on your pink bed.

we don't care if you don't want to.

wake up, young lady, you have to

curl your hair and put on your pretty dress. 

wear your sweet rosy lipstick intricately-

or else, little lady.

make sure to powder your pretty cheeks

with the daintiest blush-

or else, little lady.

do you want us to redden your cheeks with our palms?

and you're off, pretty woman! 

we all hope you have a great day.

go get your education, buttercup.

this is good for you.

good girl - sweet obedient girl.

step out of line and we'll cripple you.

we love you!

-Joe Cataldo

                 Sustaining a View

Through a sea of pine trees emerges an edifice,

Sheltered by two mountains ever watching,

Beside a gentle lake formed by glaciers long ago.

Visitors are dispersed, full of joy and relaxation,

On green grounds that express their liveliness.

When entering this grand residence,

A state of serenity and seclusion arises.

The turn of the century décor shifts to another
    time,

As if exploring the ballrooms of the great Titanic.

As the guardian mountains envelop the sun for the   day,

Bathing suits are exchanged for formal attire.

A euphony of classical piano and the aroma of fine dining is apparent,

While the occupants enjoy the nightlife experience.

The landscape outside is oh so still.

Dim lights on the pathways illuminate like the stars above.

A slumber eases upon the old place in the valley,

With the cascade of trees and the protecting mountains,

Concealing the location from an outside view.

A hushed and tranquil realm, eager for the next day.

THE WANDERER

I have seen the bones of Earth

Jutting out beneath her skin.

I have felt her steady pulse.

At both points I’ve heard the din.

I have seen her barren belly

Miles deep I’ve found my way.

And I have seen her stretch her limbs

Fertile green in the shining day.

I have felt her sweet caresses

Against my cheek while on her plains.

I have felt her wicked danger

In her deserts, felt its drain.

I am bound to wander her,

Be it a blessing or a curse.

For I am a Wanderer,

Across her surface I’ll traverse.

To one place she’ll beckon me,

But to another on the next,

And I am bound to wander her

Until I find my place to rest.

- by Kaity Tegtmeyer

 by Sierra Maltese-Cotter

 

A Single Step 

The ground here, it taught me how to walk.
The air here, it taught me to how to breathe.
The ocean here, it taught me how to swim.
The people here, they taught me how to love.
But these people here, they taught me how to hate.
The pain here, it taught me how to weep,

 Then it taught me how to cry out,

 As if my soul were being pulled from my body.
But here,

Here I heard the first joke that made me laugh.
Here, I learned how to live.

If one place taught me so much, must I always stay?
I cannot.
I cannot stay.
For even though this is where I learned all I know,

I wish to know more.
For though this is where I first embarked on adventures,

I wish to venture more.
I wish to learn more.
I cannot learn more here,

Not now,

I have stayed too long.
I must travel where I never have before,
To learn what more places have to teach me.

I wish to leave, to explore the unknown,
And to see the unseen.
I wish to breathe where I never have.
To swim where I never have.
To love whom I never have.
Maybe even to hate whom I never have,

And to cry about what I never did.
I wish to laugh at new jokes.
I wish to live a new life.

I wish to walk where I never have before.
I wish to walk upon as much of this earth as I can, before it takes
me back into the ground I step upon.

This place is my home.
This place taught me many things,

But above all, she taught me how to be free.
 I will never be free if I do not learn to wander.
This place has been my teacher,
And I know now what she was teaching me;
She was teaching me how to live,

So that I could live wherever life takes me.
She taught me how to run.
She taught me never to let fear keep me from doing what I desire.
She taught me never to let one place claim me, and keep me from my destiny,

Not even herself.
She taught me that it takes one single step in a direction to start a new path.

But a single step can be so hard to take.
With every step away from this place, I feel gravity strengthen,

As if Earth is grasping my feet to pull me under.
I feel the wind blow me back,

And the more I walk, the stronger the gale becomes.
I feel my heart ache with the thought of those I am leaving behind,
And I feel my ambition wane in the shadow of my fear.

So maybe I shouldn't step.
Maybe I should run.
Run towards the endless possibilities.

Run fast, and never let anything hold me back.

But no matter how far I run,
I will come back to this place.
This place is my home,
And it will still be my home when I return.
But I will return with stories to tell.
Stories that will make people laugh at what they never have.
Stories that will make people cry at what they never have.

 Goodbye my childhood friend.
I will see you again one day,
But I cannot stay.
I will not stay.
A single step, that's all it takes.