The Reality of Processed Meat

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Take Care of Yourself DQ. We're back again, with some shocking facts about the meat you're putting in your body, and the toll it has on our environment.

*Cue weird piano music*

With the average American consuming 156 hamburgers a year, and each burger using up 425.1 gallons of water, we can only imagine the damage we are doing to our environment. Additionally, if everyone skipped eating one burger a week for a year, we could each save 22,100 gallons of water per year. This could not only be beneficial to our environment, but also our bodies. The effects on the environment are much worse. Scientists may use different numbers, mostly because there are many different types of beef, such as grass-fed, conventional beef, and natural beef. However, an article from Business Insider, gives us the update on conventional beef, a beef frequently used, and produced by, the United States. 

Here are the numbers: 

Conventional beef production requires more than 485 billion liters of water, per 1 billion kilograms of beef produced, and requires 5,457 hectares of land, per 1 billion kilograms of beef, which is equal to 54.5 feet of land. The worst numbers are methane, and the carbon footprint. As a direct quote from SoCalGas, methane that is released into the atmosphere, before it is burned, is harmful to the environment. Because it is able to trap heat in the atmosphere, methane contributes to climate change. Additionally, we are using 0.126 pounds of it, or in ounces, 2.016 ounces. The carbon footprint really brings it all around though, which is equal to 4 pounds of carbon footprint. 

If that wasn't enough for you to feel at least the smallest amount of guilt, this might. The effects of eating red meat on a daily basis are many, but to name a few are heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even colorectal cancer.  

I can hear the cons coming in now. But what about the protein and the fiber? My answer to that is simple plant-based protein. The stars of this show are beyond meat, and are impossible foods worth over 16 billion dollars combined. The even crazier part is that one Beyond Burger patty has the same amount of protein as an Inn & Out burger patty, with 20 grams of protein. 

But yes, there are cons, as many synthetic types of meat are not perfected. 

The amount of sodium can be very high in Beyond Burgers, and many people are cautious of the calorie count, which is one reason I haven't tried this particular brand. 

I began my vegetarian lifestyle after staying a week in the slums of Ecuador. It was a healthier choice for me, and it continued to be so throughout my stay. It was a struggle for me once I came back to the states, but I did tons of research on foods that could be healthier for me. I eventually came to the realization that I was not only doing this for myself, but rather for my environment now. I recommend this to people right now, because having the time to do something meaningful for you, and others, makes a huge difference in your mood, and also can help your body and environment. 

References:

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/how-healthy-is-the-new-meatless-beyond-burger

https://www.takeextinctionoffyourplate.com/extinction_facts/pdfs/BurgerFactsheet.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-the-fake-meat-revolution.html?searchResultPosition=1

https://www.businessinsider.com/one-hamburger-environment-resources-2015-2 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves From Snow White's Point of View

Submitted in response to Words Alive’s prompt, Flip the Script in This Upside-Down New World

Ever since I was a child, I have been raised by my stepmother and been forced to work several hours a day to clean the palace and make it spotless. Whenever I cleaned down in the cellars, I would learn the art of healing from one of the prisoners in my step-mother’s cells. She taught me how to revive an unconscious person and how to make medicines on the spot, in case of an emergency. 

Then one day, this Prince showed up at the castle while I was making a wish in the wishing well and we talked for a little while. He was a chivalrous young man. A few days later however, my step-mother’s favorite huntsman took me into a forest and told me that he was escorting me for a walk. However, things took an interesting turn when the huntsman raised his knife to kill me. I was petrified because no one had ever tried to kill me before. Before I screamed, he dropped his weapon and said:

“I’ll make sure no one finds out, run away as fast as you can!”

I nodded, breathlessly and made a run for it as fast as I could.

After facing horrors, I would have never imagined, I managed to find a small house with seven kind, friendly dwarves who I looked after as if they were my siblings. One of those days, that same Prince came over and dropped by the dwarves’ home while I was cleaning. After we talked for a while, an old woman came by and we brought a basket of apples from her. Unsuspectingly, the prince ate an apple, immediately falling to the floor, seemingly dead. When I checked his pulse, it convinced me otherwise. That moment, the dwarves came home and seeing the predicament gave a gasp of horror.

“Give him the kiss of life!” Dopey exclaimed.

I scoffed, effortlessly performing normal CPR, not mouth-to-mouth and revived him, dislodging the piece of apple in his throat. 

That day, he had asked me to marry him, but I turned him down, saying I wanted to take care of the animals in the forest and the dwarves’ home. He stalked off, angry that a maiden in shining armor would have to save him, a bachelor in a bind. Heh, I mean after all, don’t judge a book by its cover and you obviously can’t marry a man you just met. 

So here I am, Snow white and her seven dwarf brothers, the animals of the forest living happily ever after.

(Bet you didn’t see that one coming, am I right?)

When the Wave Crashes

Summers coming to a close in sunny San Diego. Down at the coast, the sun sets over the blue horizon, baking the landscape in a thick layer of heat. Its harsh rays reflect off the ocean's water, casting a pink-ish trail of freckles across my wonderstruck face. With a deep inhale, I breathe in the smell of saltwater and surf wax, their scents merging to create a strangely familiar and nostalgic smell. I shift back and forth on my board, my head and chest facing up to the sky, mesmerized by the world of color before me. Pinks, purples, blues, and even reds dance in a tango of light, painting a postcard-worthy sunset. I let my legs hang limply off the side of my board, allowing the natural rhythm of the water to carry me.

Down at the shore, few people pass by, mostly just locals enjoying the sunset. Around this time of year, the beaches stay strangely deserted. I find the mid-summer crowds tend to fall off around late August, most get bored and ready to move onto something new. Personally, I prefer the beaches during the later months of summer. Once we've passed the inevitable June gloom and the water warms to a nice 70°, making for the perfect evening swim or surf session. I stare off to the shoreline for a second before my gaze trails up to the sky. I watch as a lone seagull flies overhead, so engrossed in the world before me, I almost miss my dad's cries of excitement as he paddles towards me. 

“Turn around, turn around!” He cries, eager to catch my attention. I snap out of my daze, turning my head to watch as a steadily growing wave approaches me. Slowly, realization dawns on me as I splash about, desperately moving at a sloth-like pace to turn my board around. Every second counts as I get in position, going through my mental checklist of steps to catching the perfect wave. 

Weight even, toes barely hanging off the back of the board as I start to paddle. I keep my eyes up, facing forward as I await that familiar pull. Don't look back, if there's one thing I've learned it's never look back. There's no reason to, all it leads to is an unnecessary sense of fear and what-ifs. Careful, don't let your guard down, I warn myself. Are you still paddling? Don't stop, even when you feel the wave catch you, it's the only way you'll get the proper momentum to go anywhere. Now, I take one last deep breath as I feel the wave come on. Keeping my weight forward, I paddle hard, enjoying the last few moments of silence before I stand and the wave crashes into a storm of whitewash. I float for just a moment until I feel the inevitable pull as the wave sucks me into its fury. Without a second to spare I pop a leg up, steadily rising as I hover above the water. With a sudden drop, the wave crashes below me, pulling me with it as I ride it to shore. Shouts of excitement and laughter ring out behind me, my dad cheering me on as I go. A loud, enthusiastic laugh escapes my mouth, echoing over the rawr of the crashing waves. 

Recently, I've found myself repeating this memory time after time in my head. Ever since I was young my dad has been taking me and my sister down to the beach to go surfing with him. That memory in specific I remember so vividly, the sweet late summer air, the calls of encouragement as I rode that last wave to shore. In these times of uncertainty and doubt, I find myself clinging onto this memory for support. It acts as a reminder to keep my head up, to keep paddling because no wave is too big, especially if you know how to take things one step at a time. 

Corona-spiracy

Conspiracy theories are considered by many to be the epitome of stupidity and paranoia. And I understand why. Drawing connections between distinct events that don’t exist seems pretty inane. Conspiracies around coronavirus don’t seem to be any different. Just making stuff up and saying that it’s clearly the only explanation. But that’s where you’re wrong. You see, at first glance, many conspiracy theories seem dumb. But trust me, if you just fetch your tinfoil hats and suspend your disbelief, I think I can make these theories make sense. 

So let’s start with a simple one. Coronavirus was made by the Chinese government in league with the Illuminati to control the world population. Alright, so where do I start. This must seem really dumb. I mean, does the Illuminati even exist? Well my dear readers, of course it does. How can you explain the pyramids? The Sphinx? Or what about the moon? You think those are man-made, or in the case of the moon, natural? Of course they aren’t. They were built by a race of alien lizard men that hatched from the moon, which is an egg, and now control the world. They built the Sphinx and they built the pyramids. So with so much power, do you really think it’s a stretch to say that they also made Corona? Of course it isn’t. It’s obvious at this point. And now that I’ve proven this one, everything else will start to make sense.

So now for a more interesting one. Where does Bud Light fit in with this? Well, Corona Beer has suffered as a result of Coronavirus. Americans aren’t known for being the sharpest tools in the shed, and they fear buying Corona will give them Corona. Or it could just be that China is one of their largest markets. The fact that many people in China are staying home to avoid getting Corona is preventing them from purchasing copious amounts of Corona. No, it’s definitely dumb Americans. The most sensible explanation is often wrong. So who profits from this “corona-phobia?” Bud Light of course. They are the next biggest brand that sells beer. And I think that Bud Light paid the Illuminati with human sacrifices to make coronavirus and spread it around the world in order to cripple Corona. 

Now for the final conspiracy. Who was orchestrating this at an Earth level? After all, the Illuminati watches us from the international space station, so who was running things on Earth? None other than Gretta Thunberg. Who else could it be? It’s not like you could possibly argue that it just happened naturally like the Spanish flu or the black plague. Who wants to stop environmental pollution? Gretta Thunberg. Who wants to save the polar ice caps? Gretta Thunberg. Who’s secretly an alien shape-shifting lizard person? Gretta Thunberg. And has this plan worked? Yes. Dolphins are returning to Venice, cities all over the world have much less smog in the air. Most importantly, the economy is collapsing so all those evil evil factories can’t operate anymore. I think I've proven this one. 

Now, while I know it’s not the best time to remind everyone, I hope you were keeping your tin foil hats on. The government may have read your mind and could be on the way to arrest you and wipe your memory. But remember, reality is an illusion and we are all secretly slaves to lizard overlords. That’s all, don’t forget to like and subcr… oh wait, never mind.

Rebirth

Renaissance.  A french word, meaning rebirth.  The Renaissance, in short, was a rebirth of European culture from the 14th to 17th century.  The art movement that came along with all of the advances in the sciences, literature, politics, and economics, has been on my mind lately more than ever.  

We are currently experiencing a pandemic.  For safety, we are undergoing a government-issued quarantine.  Some people are using this time to pursue a passion, learn a new skill, perfect their craft, or anything to get their creative juices flowing.  Personally, I have yet to try these things.  But an artist named Chuck Styles is currently inspiring me to further consider that list.

Chuck Styles creates a lot of realistic portraits, often using vibrant paints to stand out against and complement the natural tones of humans.  In my opinion, his art style is beautiful and I can’t say I’ve seen anything quite like it.  I could stare at the paint for hours and continue to find more and more unique qualities and connect his pieces through more common patterns.  His art is inspiring and one of a kind.  

Scrolling through https://www.artofchuckstyles.com/,  his writing, “Creating Art in a Crisis” jumped out to me faster than the Renaissance art movement presentation in Mr. David’s 8th grade art class.  Out of all of Chuck Styles’ series’ that one grabbed me.  Out of all the art movements we learned about, that one caught my attention.  Probably because they were both born from a really dark time.

Styles’ series was sparked by the current pandemic and is described as “depicting this time period in human history”.  And the black death ended an era and sparked the Renaissance.  If there are artists out there right now that have the Same idea as Chuck Styles--which, I know there are--we could witness an entirely new and significant art movement!

Imagine living through a movement as eminent as the Renaissance.  That could be our future.  We still talk about it 400 years after it ended!  ‘The Creation of Adam’ (specifically the hands) is one of the most recreated pieces in history!  It was even a trend on TikTok a few months ago to paint those hands on jeans!  What if, 400 years from now, if humans are all still doing their thing, they’re talking about and recreating your own or your friend’s/family member’s art piece?  What if our art inspires people so long after it’s creation?

Even if it doesn’t last that long or is nearly that influential, I want to see this happen.  I think it’s just one way to social distance together.  It makes me want to pick up a pencil.   

Stay at home and save lives

Submitted in response to The Coronavirus in Just Six Words writing prompt.

Stay at home and save lives.

Response to Love by Matt de la Peña

Submitted in response to Words Alive’s Writing Challenge from author Matt de la Peña: LOVE

I believe the family is wrong in this situation. To hide the girl from the world and block out all the pain is not the way to teach her; sometimes the fear of the unknown can be greater than the fear of the situation itself. Also, the imaginations of young children are powerful- whether they use it positively or negatively. For instance, in that girls mind, she rides unicorns through the yard, but zombies lurk under her bed. Just imagine the horrors that would form in the little girl’s mind at the thought of what this news might be about.

 However, I do see that shielding the child was an act of love. To me, this picture presents a family who only wants to keep their little girl safe. They want her to be oblivious to the world. To stay free of pain, grief, and fear. But in reality, is this really the way for a child to learn? The way for their little girl to grow, and to face challenges that might be scary in her own life? 

I imagine that on the screen in the photo, they are seeing the effects of Global Warming. Maybe on the news in the world Matt de la Pena has created, they want to remind everyone of the other perils our world is facing, not only COVID -19 (although I do agree it should be our main priority right now).   

The family is watching stranded polar bears moaning desperately towards the vast ocean. They witness vibrant coral becoming bleached, white and dying, from the warming waters. The family sees walruses tumbling off cliffs to their deaths because there is hardly any land for them to live on with the rising sea levels. 

The family doesn’t want the girl to hear this heartbreaking information. But how could she grow up to save the world if she doesn’t even know what’s out there? 

Those are some of the views and opinions I have visualized about the family’s actions and what I imagine the screen in this picture is showing. 

Colorful Dreams

Submitted in response to Words Alive’s prompt, Stuck Inside but Writing Outside the Box

A colored pencil’s life is spectacular!! I’m telling you this because me and my buddies have professionalism. I live in a box with all my varicolored friends, it’s a fascinating world down here even though we are in a box and we all are tight and Incommodious together. Sometimes we do have our small debates on color rearranging but it’s the order we put back into. When we swoosh softly around making tracks of our magnificent color to design such wonderful images on paper makes us feel exuberant!! The feeling of a slick pathway on paper and creating a kid’s phenomenal imagination! We love our job of adding such magnificent vivid colors to your creations! When the time is over to color or you no longer feel the excitement to color with us we feel gloomy inside, also when some of our friends go missing under the couch. But looking on the bright side we love the feeling of being able to color with you!!

Homemade Food

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.” - Sun Tzu

From this project, I felt like there was a new experience, by looking at a different way of cooking, and I really enjoyed my experience. There was a day where one of my teachers, Kyle, gave us an assignment to cook a meal for our family, and since I haven’t really been able to go out in the world, and see my friends, I have really liked that assignment. For the assignment, I made my family chicken ravioli. This is a dish I had never heard of, until my girlfriend, Alissa, told me about it. I ended up choosing that dish to use for the assignment. This assignment was a really good help for me to get an escape for reality, because cooking is a really fun hobby of mine. Cooking the ravioli was kind of a challenge, because my girlfriend recommended me to cook it from scratch, which I have never done before. All around, it was a fun experience to try a new way of cooking. 

First of all, I had to go to the store with my mom, which took a long time, because she had to go to her office. I ended up waiting for her in the hot car, and I couldn't get out, because I didn't have a mask to go outside. But while I was waiting for my mom, my baby brother, who’s 3, was there with me in the car. The whole time, he was just watching my phone, so it was nice and calm. Then about 2 hours passed, and my phone ran out of battery. So he started crying, threw a tantrum, and I couldn't do anything to help him, since we couldn’t go outside, and I couldn't give him my phone. So I saw some of the toys he had on the floor of the car, so I handed him some, and he calmed down for a while but then started crying again. Luckily, my mom came back about 10 minutes later. So then, after my mom’s work, we went to the store to get ricotta cheese, because we needed it to use it as the filling for the ravioli. I also didn't go with my mom to the grocery store, because I had to stay and take care of my baby brother. This time my mom gave him her phone, so it was much calmer, but it was still really hot. Then she came back with some water bottles, and I felt so relieved to finally go home, and to be drinking cold water in the hot California sun. 

The following day, I had finished school about an hour early, because I wanted to take a shower. Afterward, I went to the kitchen, only to find that my mom had all the ingredients out already. There were a lot of ingredients, because I made the dough for the ravioli from scratch. My mom walked me through making the dough, because I had never made dough before. That would be my first time. It was pretty easy to make, because you just roll the dough. I was about half way into rolling the dough, so I stopped for a little bit to make the filling, which was ricotta cheese, and spinach with some garlic. In the end, it was really good because I never thought of putting garlic in the filling, but it turned out really good. Then, after I let that cook, I started to make the alfredo sauce to put over the ravioli and chicken. For the alfredo sauce, I started off with butter at the bottom of a bowl, before I started adding in garlic, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, heavy cream, pepper, and garlic. It didn't have ricotta at first, and I liked it like that, because it was creamy. I like creamy food, but then my mom tried it, and suggested that I put ricotta cheese in it. I listened to her because I always do, and I just let it rest in the pot. After that, it started getting really hot in the kitchen, because the stove was on and my head started to hurt. I felt like taking a break, but I couldn’t because the grind never stops. I put the filling in the dough, and after that I started to boil the ravioli, which was the second-to-last step. It ended up taking some time, because I did a test, and it took some time to cook the dough. Then, finally as the raviolis finished up, I was putting them in a big wide pot, to share with my family. After I put the chicken, and the ravioli, in the pot, I topped it all off with the alfredo sauce. Once I was done, I served it to my mom, because she and I were the only ones home. It felt good talking to her normally, because I haven’t really talked to my parents. It was a joke, because of social distancing, but it just felt good to talk to her again.

Letter to Self

Dear Alex,

If you ever read this future self, I hope that person you have become is someone who is able to live freely and with the mentality that you can be yourself. Inherently life has always been strange. You may have felt like you've gone through the worst experiences of belittling words being shot towards you from time to time. You tried to get those words to just go right through you instead of impaling you and your self-esteem but it is clear that regardless of them going through you or not it will still leave a wound. Wounds that have the chance of completely hijacking your mind and mentality, creating a new personality. Though at the time of writing this I am not in a place I would like to be, I am wishing upon stars and beyond that, you will be able to grow into a person that you are happy to be with fewer insecurities and less sensitivity. 

Sincerely,

Past You

My Experience with Online School

Hey, so have you ever been bored and stuck home quarantined with nowhere to go, not even school? But then you get school back, but online school, not regular school, and then you have to do everything online? Well if not, I will tell you what that's kinda like for me. 

In my city and all around the world, we are stuck at home in quarantine and have to do school online because of a virus called the Coronavirus. There are many things that we are having to do in distance learning/online school but, today I will only be talking about one. That one thing that we are having to do, is read a book and meet weekly with a group of other classmates that are reading the same book. But first, let’s start this off by talking about what book we are reading. 

My book group and I are reading this really good and interesting book. It’s a mystery book called “Patron Saints of Nothing” and as I said earlier, it’s extremely interesting. I’ve really enjoyed this book since the first day that I started reading it, the book just caught my eye and I couldn't help but keep reading. Before I go any further, let me tell you a bit of a backstory of what I’ve read so far. I’ll make sure not to spoil just in case you want to read it. 

So, the main character is a boy named Jay, he is Filipino but lives in America, and is a senior. Something happens and he tries to figure it out. In my opinion, I say that everything just gets suspicious. But, that’s all I’ll say and I hope that you have the courage to go read this great book on your own. Now I’ll get into what my book group and I are doing with the book and our book clubs.

As I said before, we are reading “Patron Saints of Nothing” and it is kinda hard to read when you are in a group. I say this because we read at different paces and it is hard to be on the same page when we only meet once a week for our book club meetings.

In our book club meetings, we meet up as a group and talk about our book. Now, you may be wondering how do we meet since we are having to do everything over the computer? Well, we have a book club meeting once a week on an app called Zoom for about 30 minutes.

 I personally don't like that we have to do online school because of Corona being all around the world. I also don't like being stuck at home quarantined and not being able to go anywhere. 

There is one more thing that I would actually like to touch on before I end this. I want to talk about how I have experienced something that I never thought that I would do while being stuck at home. The thing that I have been doing is reading a lot and it’s really surprising to me because I usually only read when I have to. Now, I have been reading books a lot more. At the moment I am just reading “Patron Saints of Nothing” with my group and I am having fun with it. 

I also enjoy having our book club meetings. At our first meeting, we just decided how we were going to work out how many pages we should have done by our next meeting so we can't spoil the book. 

Now that you heard about my short story about what we have to do during online school, I now want to ask you if this has ever happened to you, what did you do during online school? Or, even just what you have been doing while being stuck at home?

My Favorite Video Games

I love playing video games. When I am done doing chores, I just play for an hour and 30 minutes a day. My favorite game is Ark, but I do like other games like Battlefront II, Need for Speed Payback, Minecraft, Rocket League, Jurassic World Evolution, and Battlefront II. Occasionally, I like to play games like Minecraft but I mostly play Ark and Super Smash Bros. That's the game that I mostly play. When I first found out about it, I thought that it was just a survival game with different maps. Later I found out that it has a storyline in it. That's when I became interested in playing it. I started to do research about the storyline, and that is when it got more interesting to me.

The storyline is that something is going on on Earth and humans are building these ARKs that go to space to save lives. But, there is a catch, giant monsters destroy half the world using this stuff called corruption. Corruption ends up infecting all wildlife around it. Later, survivors go on the ARKs to fight the guardians, and one of the guardians used to be human. That guardian is named Rockwell.

There is another game that I enjoy playing, and that is Battlefront II. Sometimes my friends and I play. I think the last time we played was when we did a game night. Mostly I played Super Smash Bros. That was pretty fun. Need for Speed got old for me and even though I do not play it anymore, I still like it. Battlefront II is a Star Wars game that you can play with your friends for fun. There is a story about this game too but it is kinda boring. In Battlefront you can play as different Star Wars characters and play against other people.

Rocket League is soccer but with cars. It is kinda fun but boring at the same time. Need for Speed Payback is a car game where you just race and run from the cops. After completing the stories to those games, I stopped playing. Jurassic World Evolution is a game where you can unlock different islands and build parks and create dinos. Super Smash Bros is a game on Nintendo Switch where you can pick different characters and fight your friends. Those are the games that I like and enjoy playing. What are yours?

Summer

I and most people can't wait for summer to come. Personally, the most recent summer was the best summer I have ever had. Maybe the best time of my life. I spent almost every day hanging out with friends, spending time with family, going on vacations, to the beach, but most importantly, I was able to wake up whenever I wanted to. And I know that's how most summers are for people. But before this summer, all I did was surf, and stay home. Staying home for me is much different than the average person. For those of you who don’t know, my mom owns a daycare inside my house. Which yes, I know, is crazy. When I wake up, it's only to the noise of 12 children in the house, or some loud music, or kid shows like Mickey mouse. This is how I would usually spend my summers. But, something changed last summer, it was the best summer yet. In my gut, I don't know how much fun this summer will be, with COVID and all.

Of course, I miss summer, who doesn't? But think about it, if summer lasted eternally, you would get tired of it. You know that feeling at the end of the summer, you feel prepared to go back. In a sense, you want to return to school. Then, after the first week, you're tired of it, why? Why do we always feel like this? I believe that humans have the nature of always wanting more, once you get something, you're satisfied, but after having it, you want something else, something new and fresh.

This is what summer has always felt like to me, you want it so bad, so when you get it, you enjoy it until you eventually get tired of it. You want something new and fresh. You finally make it past school, the entire year, you soak up all the fun and joy, till you get bored. Then you kind of miss school.

For me at least, this also relates to basically everything. For example, when you get a new car, you love it so much, but after a few years, everything changes. It  gets old, you want something new, you get tired of it. What once seemed like something you would never get tired of, you throw away.

When I was writing about summer, something popped up at me. How is this year's summer going to be? With COVID, how are we going to enjoy ourselves? What protocols are we going to have to follow? Are we still going to be on lockdown? This is where my problems start, if you couldn't tell, I am an extreme over-thinker. I mean, like majorly. I always think, what if this, what if that? How can I fix this, how about that? But, I think this is a good thing, it keeps me on my toes, I'm always ready. I like to say, if you go in with low expectations, you will always come out more happy than if you over-excite yourself. So maybe this year's summer won't be so bad, maybe it will. But either way, we need to adapt and change how we do things so we can succeed through this hard time. 

My Playlist for Getting Through COVID-19 ft. Kero Kero Bonito

1. “Break” —KKB

2. “Time Today” —KKB

3. “My Party” —KKB

4. “It’s My Party” —Lesley Gore

5. “Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows” —Lesley Gore

6. “Falling Down” —Lil Peep ft. XXX

7. “Life is Beautiful” —Lil Peep

8. “Material Girl” —Madonna

9. “Dead Man’s Party” —Oingo Boingo

10. “Dancing Queen” —ABBA

11. “Nowhere Girl” —B-Movie

“Time Today” by Kero Kero Bonito

I feel that “Time Today” represents what’s going on currently extremely well. This song talks about how Sara (the singer and writer), has a lot of free time, and during that time she thinks about her hopes and dreams. She decides that using the time she has to make plans was one of the best things she could do. At the moment, everyone is stuck at home with a lot of time on their hands. I agree with that way of thinking. I believe that people can either spend their time waiting and/or getting into bad routines, or you can make use of the resources you have to build knowledge and expand on your dreams (honestly just anything that uses your brain). I know that everyone is getting through this situation in their own ways, whether it’s food, procrastination, or exercise; but no matter what your coping methods are, it’s important to stay hopeful and strong. To focus on what you can do, and not vice versa. 

“I’ve got so much time today. I’ve got hopes and dreams and plans all yet to be made, so look out the way 'cos I'm coming through now I got something to do; and I'll try, as I might, to keep up with the light.”
—Kero Kero Bonito

“My Party” by Kero Kero Bonito

This song relates to me personally during quarantine (and maybe a few others who had quarantine birthdays). The song “My Party” talks about how Sarah (the singer) is having a party, and that no matter who or what you’re going through you’re welcome to come; she doesn’t discriminate. As long as you’re willing to party. It also talks about how someone doesn’t necessarily need a reason to party, and that sometimes it’s okay to want to have fun. This reminded me of my birthday this year. Since my birthday was during quarantine, I didn’t really get the chance to celebrate. I didn’t mind all that much but missed my friends more than usual that day.

“I’m having a party. Everyone can come. By the way you’re invited! You seem pretty fun. I’ve got a massive sound system, the biggest in the world. DJ spins all the runes, that will make you move. I don’t need a reason to get down, but if it’s your birthday you're still welcome to come round. My Party.”
—Kero Kero Bonito

“Break” by Kero Kero Bonito

“Break” is a song that I feel could represent before, during, and most likely after quarantine. The song talks about how at some point everyone needs a break; we sometimes don’t believe we deserve one, but everyone does at some point. Most of the people I know (including me) were having trouble being stressed and feeling overwhelmed, to the point where it was difficult to get stuff done. Then, COVID became a concern near us, and school was canceled until further notice. Now that everyone has nothing to do, they want something to do; but when there’s something to do, that’s when no one wants to do anything. 

“I know it seems kind of tough, but really it’s easy enough, for us to slow down the pace so we can all go take a break. In Fact there’s not much better than nothing at all, and that’s especially true, when there is something to do.”

 —Kero Kero Bonito

Quarantine has helped me see how much I enjoy being around my friends, or just people in general. I plan on taking my freedom much more seriously once this is all over. I’m taking the time I have at home now to grow and learn. To build better ways to strengthen self-care. I’ll take the good habits I built during quarantine into the rest of my high school career. Taking time to nourish yourself is important, and I think that now is the perfect time to do so.

57 Bus Summary on Quarantine Mode

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”
— Albert Camus, Nobel Prize-winning philosopher

During this quarantine, with all this COVID-19  I have been a little worried, bored and I feel like I should try to do something new, so here I am, writing my first summary about a book, and the book I am going to talk about is 57 Bus. But before this I want to make something clear, I know that people everywhere say that you have to be productive, do new things, take care of yourself, among other things and I'm trying, but also I know that for many other people it hasn't been easy at all, and it's okay, if you can't do new things or just don't want to, it’s fine, we are all experiencing it in different ways.

As you know, for all the students, the school is closed and we started doing online classes. Personally, it helped me a lot to see the importance of school in general. For my humanities class, they made a book club, each one decided which book they and I want to read and after each week I will meet the same people who are reading the same book as me. And for the same class we had another job, which is this one you are reading, is to write for two weeks for 30 minutes a day and then read everything we write and choose one or more to make a big piece of writing, during this difficult time I realized how much I like to write and read, and having this possibility is something very special for me.

Today I am going to talk about the book 57 bus by Dashka Slater, a story based on real events. To me, it’s very impressive. Check out the news clip of the real-life story.

This book tells the story of Sasha who is white teenager, agender and neutral meaning they do not feel like neither woman nor man. This book is made for the teenage audience, and the author's purpose was for teenagers to understand each of the characters and see some problems in the society in which they live.

“It seemed clear to me that teenagers would find the characters compelling and I wanted them to have a chance to grapple with the complex issues the story raises: issues about either/or narratives, about race, gender, class, justice and forgiveness.”
— Dashka Slater, author

The truth is that I have not finished reading it, but what I have read I liked very much because the book makes me feel different emotions and has taught me different things. In the first pages we can see a bit of Sasha's history, before the problem will unravel. There is one detail that we have to understand: Sasha used the pronoun they and before that Sasha was called Luke. At first I asked myself: “Who is Luke,?” I was super confused but as I continued reading I realized that they were the same person. I thought that Sasha was a girl which I know is wrong because it is a stereotype in names and I think that the author herself  wants us to learn from her book to stop using stereotypes and stop believing that there is only the binary gender: male and female.

The other very important character is Richard, a black male teenager who is surrounded by people who loved him or at one point hurt him. He went through many deaths of loved ones, this was something that marked him a lot. His friends and the book describe him as a good person, very funny, kind, but sometimes he was influenced by his friends, leading him to do things that maybe they are not the best.

But what is the conflict in this book? Everything is based on a day that Sasha was riding quietly on bus number 57. They were asleep while their friend was with them too, so three teenagers around 16-17 years old approached Sasha playing and they began to talk to them and annoy them, but they did not listen and they were still asleep. One of the three teenagers began to see that they were ignoring him and got mad and said to another of his friends "do it, do it now.” And one of them set Sasha's skirt on fire. What they didn't think was that the fire would spread so fast in their clothes that they would cause third degree burns on 25 percent of Sasha’s body. They were hospitalized. The other teen went to trial, but since they wanted to give him a trial treating him as an adult, it caused many more problems on social media since some agreed and others did not, apart from that people were giving that teenager a lot of hate.

But maybe you’re asking who can do that thing and why?? Well The person who set Sasha on fire is ……….  I can't tell you who it is because the magic of the story would be lost. You will have to read the book to know it, and also to know other things like, what happened to the other two boys? What happened to the person who set them on fire? How is Sasha and what consequences did this accident have?

But what I can tell you is that things I liked during the book, what I liked from the pages is that they teach you many things. The pages not only have the story, but they leave you some teaching — for example as we know that all people are different, different tastes in music, different sexual preferences and each have their own gender, and that's why “we always have to adopt the language that people use to call themselves” as the book says. Among the beautiful pages of this book you can find many definitions:

¨Terms for Gender and Sex¨:

1.  Agender:¨Doesn't identify as any gender.¨ 

2. Androgynous:¨Identifies as third gender that blends male female characteristics¨

3.  Bigender:¨Sometimes identifies as male and sometimes as female.¨

4.  Cisgender:¨The opposite of transgender; gender matches their birth sex.¨

5.  Gender Questioning:¨Is unsure about where they belong on the gender spectrum.¨

6. Genderqueer:¨Gender identity doesn’t fit neatly into male/female categories.¨

7. Intersex:¨Born with sexual anatomy, organs, or chromosomes that don’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. Replaces the outdated and offensive term hermaphrodite.¨

8.  Transgender:¨Feels their gender is different from their birth sex, whether or not they have physically changed their body or outward presentation. A transgender man is someone who currently identifies as male. A transgender woman is someone who currently identifies as female.¨

¨Terms for Sexuality¨

1. Asexual:¨Not physically attracted to anyone.¨

2. Bisexual:¨Physically attracted to both men and women.¨

3. Cupiosexual:¨Doesn’t feel sexual attraction, but is still interested in sex.¨

4. Graysexual:¨Mostly doesn’t feel sexual attraction but does occasionally.¨

5. Heterosexual:¨Physically attracted to people of the opposite gender.¨

6. Homosexual:¨Physically attracted to people of the same gender.¨

7. Pansexual:¨Physically attracted to people across the gender spectrum.¨

¨Terms for Romantic Inclination¨

1. Aromantic:¨Not romantically attracted to anyone.¨

2. Biromantic:¨Romantically attracted to both men and women.¨

3. Cupioromantic:¨Doesn’t feel romantic attraction, but is still interested in romance.¨

4. Heteroromantic:¨Romantically attracted to people of the opposite gender.¨

5. Homoromantic: Romantically attracted to people of the same gender.¨

6. Panromantic:¨Romantically attracted to people across the gender spectrum.¨

7. Quoiromantic:¨Doesn’t understand the difference between romantic and Platonic love.¨

Among other definitions that make you understand the book perfectly, the pages make you fall in love with reading, wanting to read more and more every time

¨Reading is like breathing in; writing is like breathing out¨
—Pam Allyn

So a piece of advice that I give you is that in this difficult time when we have so much free time and sometimes we are only thinking about things that don’t clear your mind, become active, not only physically but mentally allowing your mind to imagine. I invite you to write your ideas, comments and questions you have about the books that you read every time and I promise it’s going to be the best thing ever. The last thing I want to say is, as the book 57 bus says is each person in this world is so different from each other  and it doesn't matter, because every little thing that we have makes us who we are now and we always have to respect each other no matter what.

San Diego: Life & Ocean

Our country alone has 4,429 cases confirmed with 165 deaths. As it is known for being a city on the Pacific coast, California is known for its beaches, parks, and warm climate. All the beaches in California have been closed since the coronavirus has happened., However, they’re slowly starting to open back up. It’s unfortunate that everything is getting closed because the people that took advantage of staying at home before Corona now wish they could go out. 

When we were first told to isolate ourselves quarantine at home, when the virus had just become known, it was not taken very seriously. People wouldn’t listen and still headed out to the beach which had made the situation worse and unsafe for everyone. People would go on the beach which is not good containing all the older people at risk of the virus, and when the virus spread got worse, they eventually had to shut beaches down forcing us to self isolate at home which is hard for everyone that has to work or students that have their schools shut down. As we go through this quarantine, we now have to do online school so that we can continue with this school year. What’s tragic is the fact that seniors, eighth graders, and fifth graders don’t get to promote or graduate at school. Their events canceled which is disappointing and a big loss for those people. It’s very different and interesting using Zoom as our way to connect with others for school. With that, it’s also hard getting food to provide for students that usually count on school food. Along with the young people, elderly that can’t go out to the stores and get food for themselves or their families are having a tough time. 

Food is a big necessity, as we go through this pandemic, we see people buying lots of food. We see people fighting over toilet paper and hand sanitizer. We see all the aisles in stores empty. People started overbuying products because people are scared they’ll run out of an item and won’t be able to go back to the store and get it, and so people who need those items the most won’t be able to get them because of people unnecessarily buying the products in bulk. These products include cleaning products, face masks, hand sanitizer, hand soap, diapers, and way much more. Fortunately, stores began putting signs above certain products that show how much a specific item we’re allowed to purchase; a limit. 

Even though we’re supposed to be staying at home quarantined while having the approval to go out to get necessary stuff, even with masks, we’re still at risk of catching the virus no matter what. People are going out to hang out and have fun with a bunch of people and seem to not understand the meaning of “staying at home.” 

Good thing is, places are starting to open back up. It’s slowly becoming normal again, and I’m sure the wait is going to be worth it. Everyone will forever remember the coronavirus outbreak that happened in 2020. It may even be in the history books for future generations. 

Anyway, did you guys hear about those murder hornets? 

A Deeper Dive Into Music

I feel like when we listen to music normally we only half listen to it. It helps us to feel, and to hear the catchy sounds, as we have a conversation or study. But when you literally have nothing else to do, but plug in your headphones, and ignore your other senses to hear the music intimately, it's different. There’s a deeper understanding, and it sparks conversation in your head. You feel things that felt just present before, such as major details that are incredibly important. You also get a chance to understand what the repetitive words in the song mean, and I think people overlook lyrics more than they should. Most people feel content listening to a fun song, rather than hearing how much passion and meaning is being put into them by the person singing the songs.

A song with a deep meaning could easily be misinterpreted, or just not fully understood. Maybe you understand most of what's being said, but there are references to situations, or what is being said, that are metaphors for something else. When you pay attention to certain songs, you can hear a bigger message than what you originally thought was there.

Song’s meanings can be manipulated through the key they’re written in. For example, some songs sound happy, where others sound sad, and a song could easily use this to mislead someone. Additionally, It might be in a high upbeat song but have dark lyrics. There can be many hidden meanings behind songs that you may not have realized before.

Omnipotent Paradox

Today, a puzzling thought occurred to me, which was that if God is incredibly powerful, then they should be able to create a rock so heavy that even they can’t lift it. However, if they cannot lift it, then they’re not completely powerful. After further research, I discovered this was called the omnipotent paradox.

As the days progressed, I began to do further research, and I looked at the two types of infinity. The first is countable infinity, which is just counting by a set amount up to infinity (1, 2, 3...). However, the type of infinity I found that could possibly put god’s power into perspective is uncountable infinity. This type of infinity is the number of decimals between any two numbers. By using this we can find the smallest number, which is 0.01. Moreover, in the bible or any other religious book, it never actually says that god is omnipotent. Therefore, we can safely assume that God is an infinitely small amount of all powerful, or more than omnipotent.

What Will Change After Coronavirus

At the moment, I am in quarantine, as are most other people. When I think about the shelter in place that is happening right now, I also have to think about when it will end, and what will it be like when it is over. So, what do I think will change when we get out of quarantine? Well, I think some things will change, like video calling and noticing how close you are to people, and some things, in the realm of politics, that should change, but probably will not.

When in quarantine, lots of us have been connecting with friends and family through the internet and video calls. The thing is, some people are connecting with relatives or friends who don’t live in the same area as them, people who we wouldn’t normally be talking to. Personally, my family has had weekly zoom calls with people that we normally see several times each year. This quarantine has brought us together in the face of adversary, and I believe that this togetherness will continue even when the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Many people did not know that things like Zoom existed before having to use them for work and school. Using these tools, we can have realer communication with people who we have relations with.

A second thing that I think will change is everyone’s awareness of how close you are to someone. Currently, if I am walking in my neighborhood, there is a lot of thought that goes into the best way of staying the furthest distance possible away from people. Even once we get out of this, I think that there will be a heightened awareness of where people are in relation to you.

A thing that should really change is the United State’s policies on dealing with worldwide pandemics in the future. Our leadership did not do much at all when the virus was first starting to spread. There was, and is, a lot of false information going around about how to cure COVID-19 and where the virus came from. There are theories like it came from 5g towers, which is completely false. 5g towers can carry viruses, but those are computer viruses, not biological viruses like the coronavirus. People are also saying that it was a biological weapon created in a lab somewhere in China, or that one specific person brought it to China. Those are all false, as far as we know, and should not be presented as true unless we know that they are true. There is also a ton of misinformation on how to cure COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine, bright light, and putting disinfectant in people’s lungs, those are all completely untrue and they can actually hurt you. Even our president is spreading this misinformation at press conferences that are supposed to be presenting true information, and then backing down and saying that he was being “sarcastic”. As you can see, there is a lot about our situation that has not been handled well, and that should not have been the case. Sadly, I don’t think that much change will actually happen. I think that it will be another empty promise in politician’s campaigns, but until another major virus shows up, I don’t think a lot will actually end up changing.  However, we can change this if we work together to let those politicians know that we want changes to be made as protection from future pandemics.

Overall, this quarantine is going to change us, and we can’t let ourselves just forget about it after it is over. We need to make sure that we remember the good things, like connecting with video calls, and the bad things, like how unprepared the US was for this pandemic. If we all do the right thing, we can prevent a future pandemic from becoming as bad as this one.