Issue 1

June 2004

A Publication of the High School of

Teaching and the Professions,

Discovery High School, and Walton

High School

Expressions

I Am … A Teacher
Heart, Soul, Mind

Friends and Relationships

Peer Pressure
Friendship
ANGER
Teens Just Want to Have Fun…BUT
Drugs
Freedom Eventually
Sex and Young Girls
Trust Yourself

Politics

The Politics of Uniforms
The Politics of Success: What do people who are successful in the world know?
The Politics of Behavior: Roaming the Halls

Poetry

Change To Perfect
Cutz
Friends
In My Living Room
What I Go Through
Obstacles in the Way!
Why
Lost
Love
As Long As You’re Near

I am helpful and energetic.
I wonder if my skills will benefit the students.
I hear students screaming out an answer.
I see a place where students have the opportunity to learn.
I want all students to feel that they’re equal.
I want to strive to inspire children to learn as much as they can.
I want all students to become successful.

I worry that my students won’t understand the material.
I try to show them that a subject is important.
I hope children will strive for the best.
I know my teaching will interact with their futures.
I know school is the key to success.
I know learning benefits everyone.
I am helpful and energetic.

Heart, Soul, Mind

It was as if I saw my own skeleton swimming through fire, reaching for the coolness of fresh water.
My mind saw the water, but as I kept on swimming nothing happened.
I didn’t find myself in the fresh water.
I was still swimming in fire.
Could it be that my mind was somewhere else, somewhere far?
But no, I was sure that I wasn’t looking at the stars nor driving in a car.
Not knowing if my mind was playing tricks on me, or was I, was I, just dreaming?
It wasn’t as if I felt any pain swimming in the fire.
But it was like I had a hundred leather jackets on during a summer hot day.
I saw the sea.
I saw the blue sky, water, and the silent waves that run on the sea, and the cotton white clouds.
I saw them, but why couldn’t I get there?
Was I losing myself or was my soul falling and giving up on me?
Could my soul see where I wanted to go?
It just sat there and laughed and it failed me, or did my heart choose the path?
It seems that my soul enjoyed the fire more than my heart and mind did.
As I looked to the left I saw my own heart, dancing around, getting a suntan, and sipping my favorite juice.
I needed to get there but again my heart, mind, and soul were undecided about who should go where.
Then I stopped and thought to myself.
I have arms and legs.
And I began to swim, swim, to think no more.
I swam to get to the sea.
The more I was swimming, the more it looked like I got nowhere at all.
Was it my mind deceiving me or better yet was it my heart, soul, and mind, all playing tricks on me?
I couldn’t choose this one and leave the two, or choose these two and leave this one, because that just wouldn’t be fair…or would it?
So I didn’t choose.
Without a pain, I fell.
Can’t you see that if I didn’t have my heart, mind, and soul I couldn’t go on, couldn’t breathe, eat, sleep, nor think?

Peer Pressure

I think it’s important to be a leader, not a follower. I have learned not to do things just because my friends are doing it. There are many people who helped me learn this lesson. These people are my mother and sisters. They advised me to do things on my own and not let anyone give me bad influence.

The way I learned this lesson was when all my friends decided not to go to school one day. I decided to stay home, too. Even though we had fun that day, I don’t think I’ll do it again. I got in plenty of trouble. The only reason I did it was because my friends were doing it.

My homeroom teacher called my mom at work and asked her why was I absent. My mom must have told her that I left for school that morning. Trouble!!! They knew what was up. They both knew I was cutting school. My mom came home from work that day and asked me how school was. I replied "great," not knowing what was going on. Then she started yelling. She informed me that my teacher had called and she knew I didn’t go to school. She then called my sisters and told them what had happened.

My sisters all wanted to talk to me. They talked about how I should not always follow my friends because not all of them always do the right thing. They also told me that I should be a leader, not a follower. And from that day on, that’s what I have been.

Friendship

The best lesson I ever learned was that you can’t buy friendship no matter how much gum you have. I discovered that material things will not buy you friends. If you are required to give a person something to make a friend, the person is never going to be satisfied. He or she will always want more.

For example, I remember back in the 5^th grade, in my math class, when a girl named LaToya asked me for some gum. I responded "no" because I didn’t like her. She in turn said "If you give me your whole pack of gum, I will be your friend."

I gave her my gum. The next day she didn’t talk to me and as a matter of fact she talked about me! Now when I think back on my situation, I realize how naive I was. That’s how you learn from your mistakes, and I have learned something from mine that I will never forget.

By Jasmine Robinson

ANGER

Don’t hold your anger inside, because your life will be miserable. I think people should learn this, because people can hold so much anger inside that they might not be able to be anyone or to go anywhere in life. Everywhere they go, they take their anger out on everyone around them.

I sometimes take my anger out on the people around me, like my friends and my family, instead of sharing my feelings with the people who I am angry with. Like my mother—I’m starting to build up a strong dislike for her, but I won’t tell her or anyone. I feel this way because she is never home and sometimes when she is home she doesn’t cook and she doesn’t buy me and my sisters anything we need unless our grades in school are good. Sometimes I try to put myself in her shoes to see if I can see what she goes through. "Okay, my name is Sheila. I have no job, I have three children to take care of." Sometimes I don’t think that is even on her mind. I think that she only cares about herself, but she will never know if I don’t tell her.

Sometimes I am scared to tell her how I am feeling, because she might think I’m trying to be sassy with her, but I would only be speaking my mind. There have been so many times when I could have told her, but something always holds me back. I’m learning this lesson while I’m going through this state. What I am learning is that in order to stay focused, I have to let all my anger out and not on people who have nothing to do with my problems.

Teens Just Want to Have Fun…BUT 

Teenagers just want to have fun. For example, they want to drink, smoke, go to parties and clubs, and they don’t even care about school or even want to go to school.

BUT...if you don’t finish school, in the future you won’t get a job that will pay you good money to get a roof over your heads, pay your bills, and put food in your mouth.

School is the future, and if you decide to drop out now, you will regret it forever. Nowadays teenage girls want to get pregnant and think that their parents or the state are going to take care of their babies. Many girls, for example, think welfare is going to be there for them, but this is not true.

My family always tells me that they regret dropping out of school and they don’t want me to do the same. They often tell me "look what I go through! I don’t want you to go through the same thing!" This means that they have to struggle to get money.

In the future, nobody is going to hire people who don’t get a high school diploma. And it’s not only the teenagers who have to understand that that’s how life goes. It’s little kids, too. I learned that the hard way.

Friends like to give peer pressure to others to move them to do things they don’t want to do. But you always have to face your own consequences.

Drugs 

The best lesson I ever learned was when my mother talked to me about drugs. I thought that she was lying–that it starts with weed and then it ends with shooting up. She was right about what she said.

My friend started smoking weed and now he’s doing coke. He’s only 16 years old and his life is on the wrong track. I learned from watching him that drugs are not the right thing to do. That’s something I don’t want to try.

Drugs took my friend to the dark side of his life. His life revolves around drugs and violence. I want my life to belong to me.

By Chanel Alcantara

Freedom Eventually

Even though life may seem hard now, it’s going to get better when you get older. This is what my Aunt and Uncle have taught me.

They said it’s only hard for me right now because I don’t have enough freedom and I feel I need liberation. That’s because I’m only a kid. They explained that when I’m old enough to move out of my father’s house, I can have my own job, a place to live, and be able to go where I want to go. They told me that when I’m older I should make the right decisions so that I can be as free as I want. For example, they told me to not have children or even a serious relationship because those two things could stand in my way of doing and being what I want. I think being independent will work out fine.

My Aunt and Uncle have motivated me to be patient and have taught me to be understanding. I’m glad my Aunt and uncle helped me with this life lesson.

By Katrina Herbin

Sex and Young Girls 

Nowadays there are little girls from ages 11 to 15 who are starting to have sexual intercourse. Many girls do this to impress their friends, to look cool, or just to get the attention of a guy who she likes but who won’t talk to her because she is a "virgin."

I know that most young boys or even young adults are looking for sex. They may see that they get the most of that out of the young girls, because these girls don’t know what they are doing or haven’t experienced sex yet.

I think girls should think before they have sexual intercourse, because later on they may wind up regretting. It is my opinion that girls should know what they are doing and what they are getting into. They should know that many things could happen to them, such as they could become pregnant or catch STDs or AIDS. What can a young girl do once she messes up her life?

By Angela Calderon

Trust Yourself 

What do you think was the best lesson you ever learned in your life? Where did you learn the lesson from? Keep reading and you will find out what my most important lesson was.

The most important lesson I have learned in life is to always trust my judgment. I feel this lesson is most important because whatever happens in the day, the last person you see is yourself. If a person knows what to do in any situation, then that person will have known that he or she gave the matter all they had. I don’t like to have regrets about things in life because when a person regrets the situation, things just get worse.

My insight is that my judgment is a good enough decision-maker. One time some of my friends wanted me to go downtown with them. They called me horrific names when I refused, and I realized they were not my true friends. The next day I found out that one of my friends had died. Ever since then, I have trusted myself to the fullest.

Do you know what your most valuable lesson is? All I wanted to do was to get you to never lose faith in yourself. Remember that when everything is said and done, there is only one person you have to answer to, and that person is YOU.

By Matthew Maysonet

Politics 

The Politics of Uniforms

When it comes to uniforms, parents and other adults are usually for it, but who does it really affect? Us–the students. Why then are adults constantly allowed to make this decision for us? If this is a truly Democratic country, then we, the students, should be the ones who decide about uniforms.

With all this talk against uniforms, you may be asking yourself, "what’s so bad about uniforms?" I ask, "what’s so GOOD about them?"

Uniforms prevent us from expressing ourselves. They don’t allow us to create our own appearances. Sure, uniforms may seem to help avoid discrimination by making everyone look the same, but even then, someone will perk up and say "Your shirt is yellower than mine." The fact is that even though adults like to use the "it avoids discrimination" defense for supporting uniforms, discrimination is everywhere and we can’t rely on uniforms to hide it. If teenagers dislike somebody, they will find some flaw to criticize, uniform or not.

Gangs are another reason used to justify uniforms. School officials say that gangs don’t allow non-members to wear their colors. This may be true, but shouldn’t schools focus on security instead? The uniform seems to draw attention from security, an essential factor in high school, by giving school members a false sense of security.

"Looking professional" is another defensive wall for using uniforms. But "looking professional" is quite different from being professional. Some might think that this goes against my "dress to express yourself" ideology. Wrong. What I mean by "dress to express yourself" is that you should be able to wear the clothes that you as an individual–a person with unique feelings, emotions, thoughts, impulses, and opinions–feel comfortable with. You should be able to send out your own message with your clothing.

At school, officials seem to believe that looking professional will send out the message that you are professional, but sadly not as much emphasis is put on ACTING professional or actually BEING professional as there is on simply APPEARING professional.

Next, adults say that uniforms bring the school members closer together. When I first heard this, I nearly died of laughter. School officials can’t really believe this. Simply because someone dresses like me doesn’t mean that I’ll be friendlier toward that person.

All these factors pale in comparison to my next point. The uniform policy violates the Constitution. We, as citizens, are allowed freedom of speech. In other words, we are allowed to make our own individual decisions, and that includes what we look like.

In conclusion, school uniform is bad. It is an easy answer. It distracts attention from the real issues. It causes sterility among youths by preventing us from expressing ourselves. In a Democratic country like America, this simply should not be tolerated.

By Marcos Dominguez

The Politics of Success: What do people who are successful in the world know?

People who are successful in the world probably know a lot about working with other people. Maybe they worked with others and gained success that way. Or they might just work in an environment where there are many people working together.

Many jobs are based on working with others, so I think successful people know a lot about working with other people. Careers like being a doctor, lawyer, business owner, firefighter, police officer, and many more are involved with working with others, so I think successful people know that communication and patience are good things to have. They probably think that working with others can be stressful, but really helpful as well. Successful people should know how to work with others because if you can’t do that, then how are you able to work and be successful?

Overall, I think that successful people know just about everything when it comes to working with others. Many people gain success through others. Basically, everything in life is based on doing something with others.

By Alicia Lee

The Politics of Success: What do people who are successful in the world know?

People who are successful know how to work with other people because in order to be successful, you have to know how to communicate with other people. If you don’t know how to communicate with other people, it’s going to be hard to become successful. You have to work with other people when you are doing your job.

Successful people in the world also know that working with other people will help them become more successful in a way, because people need to work together to make their tasks easier. You can’t become successful on your own. If you want to, you will have to work a lot harder!

If you prefer to become successful without being able to work with others, then you are not that successful because you are not going to have the chance to learn from other successful people. You could learn things in life that way. Last but not least, hearing other people’s opinions or points of view will make you see things differently.

By Magdalena Ayala

The Politics of Success: What do people who are successful in the world know?

People are always different. In this world business seems to have a great influence on success. Successful people are normally successful thanks to their field of business.

Successful people very often feel focused on their business and they lose contact with people. I believe business people can’t really work with other people since they are at a different level of thinking than everyone else. I believe successful people may lack in the trust and skills that are needed to communicate well with other people.

Successful people don’t always have to be business people, but success is often based on how good you are at something. And business is something where success plays a big role. Remember, you can be a successful person if you are successful in communicating with people. Success can come from many directions.

By Joel R. Jimenez

The Politics of Behavior: Roaming the Halls 

Why do students roam the halls? It’s a problem. The students who are doing it are missing an opportunity to learn. They’re wasting their time and the teachers’ time. If they don’t want to go to class, they should just act like they do or just go home.

Roaming the halls can be dangerous, too. If there is an emergency in the school or at home, nobody will know where you are and it can worry whoever is calling. Even though I do it too (sometimes), I’m learning to stop because when I roam around I am missing the education I’ll need for the future.

In conclusion, roaming the halls is bad and should stop. Kids who do it are wasting their time and won’t be getting the education they need. They should stop this because then it won’t be so dangerous in the school. Since no one will be in the halls, the fights in the school will decrease.

By Naiomi Bruno

Poetry

Change to Perfect

Change life is something everyone would like to do.
Turn around, make a mistake, then go back and do it again.
Perfect.
But it hurts when you realize it’s reality, not a movie.
We all hate making mistakes.
We all regret making mistakes,
But we accept and take the sorrow and unhappiness.
We hope for a better day, but, hey,
This is our life.
This is what it brings.
I wish for things and more things, but it hurts to know I can’t have Everything.
It would be so much better if we all wish for something
And it pops right up,
But instead we wish for things and just keep wishing.
It hurts when you realize it’s reality, not a movie.
Changing life is something everyone would like to do.
Turn around, make a mistake, then go back and do it again.
Perfect.

By Tianna Williams

Cutz 

The pain is done
The blood hits the floor
I feel tired and weak
But I still want more
Some people tell me
That what I’m doing is wrong
They tell me over and over
Like a never ending song
The blade goes up and shines in the light
The blade leaves a scar of the problems
In my life

By Osiris Perez

Friends 

Friends are cool, but what’s the use
They can go and you can lose
Emotion is a potion that can cure any
explosion
Of anguish
Of pain
Giving you nothing to gain
Rain …
It could wash away the blame
Friends are cruel, so what the hell
Why not join them, please do tell

By Vladimir Cherbu

In My Living Room 

I’m in my room my living room while the radio is on,
And the lights are low I feel like nothing is right and
The world is upside down.
Deep within me I have just been killed and I’m bleeding
Inside, not blood but bitter tears, and they’re running down my
Face and they become a raging torment of sadness.
Life sees me as though I was invisible.
I believe that I am dying over and over a thousand times
And awakening in a grave.
In the depths of disguise have you realized that life hasn’t judged me because of who I am, but what I look like?
I reach deep down inside of me and I know I’m not dead
Yet (as if I one day I would like to be), tell me something
Is not wrong that I’m not a step away from hell and that I can
Still find some help.

By Arlene Santos

What I Go Through 

Ain’t nobody know what I go through,
To run to the top,
And fall down beside the kitchen pot,
Put in my might, power, and strength,
To go through each day,
To see one dead and another cry,
Knowing that it’ll never be the same,
Roads seem long and are taken short by savage men who
Seek to find their prey, and devour to stay,
And there is only one thing to say,
Be strong, and stay tall like a beauty tree that forever
Pushes to find light.

By Kim Williams

Obstacles in the Way! 

It’s funny how I love you and I’m not even with you
We’re with other people and that’s the issue
We had the chance and we passed it by
Now there’s obstacle in the way of me being with you
And you being with I
We should of took the risk when we had the chance
Who knows what would of happened
It could of changed our plans
Now we’re with other people
And don’t know when the relationships will end
But there’s obstacles in the way and we have to pass them by
Then the course will be finished
And it will be just you and I.

By Jessica Stallings

Why 

Why do you argue
Why do you complain
You both say you love each other
And claim everything’s the same
Ya’ll always use profanity toward each other
And I say it takes a lot to conquer your insanity
There’s a lot of tension between you two
Now someone’s eye is black and blue
Now she’s mad at the boy
And he’s mad at the girl
But you both are mad and take it out on the world
You tell us your sorry
And we don’t have to worry
Yet here we go again
Two broken hearts that just won’t mend

 By Kiane Plana

Lost

What we thought we had has suddenly been
Lost.
All the love, all the dreams, all the lust is
Lost.
All the visions, all the plans, our desires are
Lost.
You and I loving one another also seems to be
Lost.

Our bond, our care, our security has been
Lost.
Our faithfulness, our relationship, our discreetness is
Lost.
The time, the minutes, the seconds, are
Lost.
Everything we ever shared has been destroyed,
Lost.

By Brittney Robinson

Love

You told me you loved me

But I did not believe you

Now that I love you

And had a hard time telling you

You don’t believe me

You told me that it would be best

If we go our separate ways

and find each other

When times are best.

By Tieesha Davis

As Long As You’re Near

The first time we met I could see,
That you and I were meant to be.
Your eyes were so gentle, your
Smile so true, when you first held
My hand I just knew.

Now the time has gone by through
Laughter and tears, these days I shall
Cherish for years upon years.

Those memories we have
Shall never fade
For those are the steps
That we have made.
That was the past, the future is near,
I anxiously wait for what will appear.
New homes, more laughter
Children so dear, everything will
Be wonderful as long as you’re
Near.

By Lace Conroy

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Last Updated June 22, 2005 by Roz Krakowsky
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