Hello, humans. As (I hope) you can see from the title, this is a post about trees, and fun fact: I like trees. It would be rather hypocritical for me not to, as, I do appreciate living… it’s nice, I suppose.
Anyways, trees. Know anything about them? Well, if you don’t, prepare to.
Trees omit phytoncides, chemicals that can calm anxiety, reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and boost pain threshold.
Some trees, such as bristlecone pines and giant sequoias, can live 4,000 – 5,000 years.
Each year, a mature tree can clear 48 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air, and releasing oxygen in its place.
Tree canopies help manage and filter rainwater, lessening flood damage and water runoff during storms.
Trees are able to warn other trees in their vicinity of possible danger.
Now, the above facts may be cool and all, but does learning them really do any good? Well, yes: Learning about trees allows us to appreciate trees and actually care about them. For some reason us humans have an issue of reeking havoc on anything that we don’t acknowledge benefits us greatly, and that we can but ourselves under the illusion of it not being cruel. Thus, trees have quite a problem. They can be turned into useful objects like paper, houses, and furniture, and can’t move or defend themselves against tools as powerful as an axe or saw. Plus, their critical benefits can be easily overlooked by the ignorant eye. So, learning about these benefits and other facts that just generally make trees very cool is important for trees’ wellbeing, which from the facts I already gave you, is rather reflective on – um, human survival (you know?).
Now, what am I, the writer of this blog, doing to help trees? To be honest, there isn’t much. Not even a lot that I can do. As I am still a wee child, I don’t possess any expendable “adult money”, which is (unfortunately) required to do most things worth doing in the human world. And of course, I have parents, very good parents, but they are also very busy parents (earnin’ that mulah), so making changes that might require a bit more effort, like being more particular in buying groceries with as little emissions behind them as possible, or scouring the web/school supply store for recycled lined paper, are not easy for me to get them to help me bring about. However, there are still some things I can do that help. Like, raising awareness about trees and their coolness (heh, literally), example being this blog post, and going vegetarian, because I don’t think the industrial food system, especially in processing meat, is unethical and very much contributing to climate change. It’s a collective starting of these little things, plus drastic action from governments, that can drag us and the Earth we love out of fast-approaching climate issues.
But, how can you encourage others to do this? Well, simply, spread awareness. There’s nothing more effective with humans than forcing them into the uncomfortable mental state of “Am I a bad person?”. Tell them about how trees benefit, well, everything, and how they may be a bit more intelligent/lively that they might be.
And this leads me to my last point. Who is responsible for conserving forests? (Not even short and simply) Everyone. Everyone! If humans are going to manage to get out of the great mess we’ve created, we’re all going to have to work together.
Lastly, my paraphrased version of the story of Smokey the Bear (who is a symbol for the prevention of forest fires, by the way).
Once upon a time, there was a little bear cub, now called Smokey. He lived in Licoln National Forest (in New Mexico), however this summer, the forest was patricularly hot and dry. Then, one day, someone who was camping in the forest carelessly left a lighted match or a still-burning cigarette, and a great forest fire became ablaze. Firefighters came and tried to clear flamable material around the fire to contain it, but the winds blew sparks right over. The fire got bigger and bigger, causing animals to flee from their homes in a panick, some to never return. Some firefighters had a close call, when they were caught against a rock wall and fire, however when the flames died down, they saw a small slightly-burnt bear cub clinging to a tree for dear life. The firefighters rescued the bear cub, and all made it out alive. The bear cub (Smokey) was taken to veternarian, and his burns were treated. Once recovered, his caretakers gave him his name: Smokey. From there he grew to fame, as Smokey the Bear, icon of forest fire prevention.
Hello, humans! This blog is about a book that I read in which we had to find the role trees played in it.
I read the book Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees by Franck Prévot.
The main character in this book is Wangari Maathai.
In the book, Wangari’s life and achievements are summarized. Here is my summary of that summary:
Wangari is young (yet of school age), and helps out on her family’s farm. She does not go to school because women are not encouraged to. This is until her older brother asks why she does not go to school, and their mother allows Wangari to go to school. She is accomplished in her studies and is invited (along with 600 other Kenyans) by John F. Kennedy to learn in the USA. She returns home, but although the Kenyans are now free, trees are being cut down at a worrying rate. Wangari decides to dedicate herself to stopping this, and in 1977 creates the Green Belt Movement, an organization that plants trees through tree nurseries, that Wangari affirms are staffed by village women in need of (better) jobs. Wangari fights for trees not to be cut down, and protests against the plans of the president, Daniel arap Moi. She faces some repercussions, but persists in her beliefs, until eventually a new president is elected and Wangari is appointed to Parliament, assistant minister of the environment, natural resources, and wildlife.
In this book, trees pretty much play the role of the important and helpful, yet defenseless, victims, and the central conflict is just that, too many trees being cut down and the environment and wildlife suffering, and Wangari’s efforts to stop this being punished.
The solution/end to this conflict is President Daniel arap Moi eventually being replaced by a new president that gladly embraced Wangari’s ideas and beliefs, appointing her as assistant manager of the environment, natural resources, and wildlife, an important role that allowed her to protect and replant trees.
In this story, trees are used and portrayed accurately, as one of the most important parts of any ecosystem they’re in, and very necessary to the Earth and its creatures’ well being.
The overall message of the story is that Wangari Maathai has accomplished a lot, and trees need to be preserved and protected for everyone’s sake, and I believe this is what the readers of this book should learn from reading it.
Picture taken by me. The book is illustrated by Aurélia Fronty.
Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, my tree has actually not changed. The only developments are just humans leaving things lying around haphazardly where ever they want: A few pieces of cloth tied around the tree’s lowest limbs (I think there are wishes written on them), and some seedlings planted in a few plastic tubs near the tree’s trunk.
However, this tree now has a name: Amsnol. Why? Well, I think the name fairly embodies this tree. I imagine if Amsnol became a human, people would tell newcomers: “Ah, yeah. That’s Amsnol over there. Been through some real stuff – you can tell”. Also, there’s a metal tag stapled (cruel) to the tree, that reads ‘American Snowbell’, so you can probably see how Amsnol comes from that.
But also, my tree has a new friend (no Amsnol does not, actually, this was an ant from my house, and Amsnol is on campus), Gumdrop the ant.
Taken and edited by me, featuring Gumdrop.
I feel like ants would be named after small sweet things they and eaten and liked, so Gumdrop it is (also the name is cute and so is this ant).
I imagine a conversation between these two would go something like this:
Amsnol: “Hey, Gumdrop. How’s life down there?”
Gumdrop: “Terrible, as always. My colony just got finished rebuilding our mound after some idiotic child decided to completely destroyed it by repeatedly smacking it with a stick. And the colony next to mine got poisoned by a trap.”
Amsnol: “Oh, well, my life’s been going great as usual! How long have you been rebuilding?”
Gumdrop: “Only a day or so.”
Amsnol: “That’s good, I guess. Lately the humans have been tryi-”
Now (finally), the second topic of this post: The Wishtree.
In The Wishtree, there are two characters: Red, a red oak (tree), and Bongo, a crow. In the book, Red says they are an optimist, and that Bongo is a pessimist. What do those words mean? Well, you probably already know, but if you didn’t, optimists look at life in a generally positive way, while pessimists look at life in a negative way. Does the mean optimists are always happy and pessimists are always sad? No. The word just defines the way the person described usually approaches thinking about everything.
But, in thinking which most describes my way of commonly thinking: pessimistic or optimistic, I don’t think I could choose. I sometimes use pessimistic thoughts to justify being optimistic, like: “Well, in the end, nothing matters, so being outgoing and cheerful and charismatic in social settings so I can be happy ‘cause humans are social creatures and last time I checked I was (believe it or not) human, here I come!”. Or optimistic thoughts to justify my pessimism, such as: “I’ve been really happy all week, glad to know that won’t last.” So yes, that is my dilemma. Or not really a dilemma, because I don’t think not exactly fitting the term of optimist or pessimist will be a major impediment to my livelihood.
In the Wishtree, Red also says that each species has a certain naming system, for example all red oaks are called Red, and all sugar maples are called Sugar (with a few exceptions).
Which leads me to the question of: How did I get my name (It’s Mary Elisabeth, by the way)? Well, I already know that my mom’s name is Elisabeth, so she decided to name me after her, and my aunt’s name is Mary, so my parents smushed the two together to form Mary Elisabeth. Apparently (and what I did not know), Mary is speculated to mean “sea of bitterness” (accurate), “rebelliousness” (accurate), “wished for child” (whatever that’s supposed to mean), and “beloved/love” (holy no). Elisabeth is Elizabeth but spelled differently (to make every teacher ever misspell my name), and means “my God is an oath” (what ever that, too, means, also I am an atheist). So, say hullo to the new me: The wished for and beloved, rebellious sea of bitterness and sarcasm.
Hello, humans. This is a blog post about the Tree Book Project we just finished doing in LA.
Taken and edited by me.
This is my book. I don’t remember the exact process we went through to make these, but I’ll do my best to summarize it.
First, we wrote a poem about a tree on campus, so that Ms. Gignoux could go through and choose sections she liked to turn into screen prints. We then used these screen prints to print words all across pre-painted boards, all in various colors so each turned out unique.
Next, we used various pieces of small plants (a leaf, flower, etc) to print on different sheets of paper, some blank and some dictionary. We did this by spreading akua ink onto a gelli pad, resting the plant pieces on the gelli pad, and then pressing a sheet of paper onto the gelli pad, using a brayer to really get the ink onto the paper.
After preparing materials for later in the project, we got large sheets of paper, painted blue on one side, and folded it vertically, then to the crease on both sides, folded it horizontally. We used some of the plant prints to collage the four rectangles formed by the creases (on the non-painted side), and then slitted the horizontal middle of those sections, and glued the non-painted, non-collaged corners together to form the spine of our books.
Then, with the boards we had previously patterned with our poems, we cut out covers and glued them on to our books.
After this we started collaging the inside of our books by cutting and gluing different parts of the plant prints we had already made, creating simple landscapes with “trees” on them, and hiding two or three envelopes within.
With this, our books were pretty much complete, so we got to work writing essays (we wrote some of them while working on the tree books, but I can’t remember exactly when): “Branches, Reaching Toward The Sky” and “Salute to My Roots”. We also wrote a poem called “When This is Over”.
This is my “Branches, Reaching Toward The Sky”:
Branches, Reaching Toward the Sky
My Wish Tree
By: Mary Elisabeth Tracy
My life list:
Looking to the future, I’ll eventually need to find a career. What that career will be, I honestly have no idea. I enjoy pretty much all of my subjects in school, so that doesn’t help. However, across the board, I’ve noticed that if there’s an opportunity to be funny I at least try to think something comedic (sometimes social anxiety gets the best of me) and I also really like art in all forms. So, this leads me to my first few goals/dreams.
First, I want to become a content creator. On which platform would I want to post content? Whichever one complimented the content I would make the most (though I would sooner give this dream/goal up than become a Tik Toker). This is because as I stated, I enjoy making people laugh, and content creation could be a great way to do this. I also just think it would be really cool to have a platform where I could talk about issues I believed were important.
Secondly, (and maybe this would play into content creation) I want to become an animator, or as the term would likely entail for me, create animations that I want to. This is because I think that the freedom there is in devising animations to make whatever I can possibly think up (this goes for other arts too), and the ability to tell a story through animation is amazing.
Next, I want to at some point try making music. Why? Because the way music can toy with human emotions is actually a bit intimidating, but also incredibly interesting and impressive, and, like animation, can be used to tell a story.
Lastly, I really want to write something, most likely a book because I’ve always loved how (good) books manage to transport the reader into a different world, and I’ve always wanted to strike this sense of awe and wonder in readers of my writing. This probably wouldn’t be a full-fledged career, but is still one thing I want to accomplish in life.
Moving on, this is admittedly my stupidest dream, but it is still something I very much hope to do someday: Spending mass amounts of money on doing something kind of pointless (of course if I acquired mass sums of currency, I would do something beneficial to society with my great wealth first, to make this acceptable). And, after much thought I have decided that after I die, I want my corpse to be (yeeted) launched into the sky at extreme speeds so that I can be remembered in a humorous light (“peaked after death” or “went out with bang” perhaps), and so that I can perhaps be remembered by a few more people than I would have if I had had a normal funeral.
As my sixth goal on this list, I want to do something that has never been done before. Whether that be the first person to swallow a watermelon whole without dying, or the first person to interact with other intelligent life forms from somewhere other than Earth, I don’t especially care. Now, would it be nice to do something a bit more impressive/monumental in human history, yes, but I’ll take what I can get. And the reason I want to do this is because out of over one hundred billion humans that have run around, doing the odd things that humans tend to do, I think it’s quite remarkable to be the first to do something out of all of them, and also because I would likely set my sights a bit higher than forcing a whole watermelon down my esophagus, I hope I could do something that was a bit more important towards advancements in human knowledge.
Now, this is probably the most bucket list-esk hope on my list, but I do hope to one day visit Yellowstone National Park. I want to do this simply because I did my 3rd grade project on Wyoming, specifically Yellowstone, and ever since I have been longing to go see the wildlife and natural beauty of the park in person.
On to some of my more serious hopes/goals and such. I hope that there will always be people that I love in my life (friends, family, and other loved ones), because the world is so big and confusing and harsh that I don’t even want to fathom how horrifying it would be to experience it alone, something I never want to do. But also, there are the wonderfully happy moments that make up for all the bad ones, though they are lonely with no one around, yet made (at least) ten times better when shared with loved ones.
Another one of my more important goals is to be happy. Ultimately, this is the goal I consider most important. I think some famous person said something along the lines of, “A life lived happily is a life lived well,” at some point in time, and I completely agree. What’s the point of living out a life if I don’t enjoy it? Really, I don’t know, which is why this goal is important to me. I also want to be happy because if I cannot figure out how to make myself happy, how can I expect myself to make others happy, something that I strive to do?
My last hope is to die unregretfully. I just think that dying knowing that there was more I wanted to do in life would be… disappointing, really. I mean, as far as anyone (alive) knows, death is, well, nothing. Not a colorless, soundless, feelingless place a dead person’s conscience is trapped, but actually nothing, the conscience just being erased, deleted, nonexistent. Which sounds scary, quite terrifying really, but I don’t want it to be; I hope my last moments alive are happy ones, moments in which I’m smiling, knowing the life I’d lived was a good one, and so I believe that if I’ve done everything I truly wanted to do, I can face death rather happily.
There are many things I dream for the world, and many frustrations I have with it, or more so, humanity.
Firstly, humans discriminating against other humans for factors they cannot control (and shouldn’t have to). I swear, I have no idea how humans can possess the brain power to send spacecrafts to different planets, yet some people still cannot wrap their heads around treating other humans equally, even if they have different identities.
Secondly, the industrial food chain’s treatment of animals. The industrial food chain is bad for everyone involved in it, consumers, farmers, and animals, except for the corporations behind it. However, because the chain’s main goal is to produce food that consumers will purchase while spending as little as possible in the process of actually producing the food, I would say the animals fare the worst (I mean they are the ones who die in the immediate process). They get shoved onto cramped, unhygienic lots where they’re fed low-cost grains and such that causes them an array of issues because they are not built to eat the grains, and are fed an amount such that they grow at an unnaturally quick rate, also causing them health issues, until they are taken to be (at least somewhat humanely) killed behind closed doors so that their flesh can be served at McDonald’s (or some other fast food restaurant).
Thirdly, how humans treat the environment. For quite a bit of human history, we have treated the environment like it would always just fix itself, which (because nature’s awesome) it has. However, as we see in the current world, that’s no longer something we can really fall back on, with climate change and all, but even after seeing scientific evidence that the environment is struggling to repair itself faster than humans can destroy it, some still deny that we, as a species, to preserve a livable future, need to take action, which is, point blank, idiotic.
Fourthly, gender stereotypes. Just because someone has long hair doesn’t mean they’re a girl, and just because someone had short hair doesn’t make them a boy. It should be simple enough, but apparently not for some people.
Fifthly and finally, I want there to be mechanical wings so that I can fly like a bird. I decided that I might as well end this essay on a happier note than what I want to fix about humanity.
And this is my “Salute to My Roots”:
SALUTE TO MY ROOTS!
Mary Elisabeth Tracy
One of the people I owe the most to in this world is my mom. She is funny, intelligent, kind, and hard-working, all qualities that I strive to hold myself, making her an excellent role model for me. My mom came from a struggling household, and through hard work and determination, got into Harvard. Now, she has a good job and loving family, both greatly deserved. Another part of my mom that I greatly appreciate and look up to her for is how she’s always been there for me when I needed it, and supported me in the decisions I’ve made. Such as when I decided to stop playing chess competitively because of the pressure I continuously felt to get better and better, she let me choose what I wanted to do, and supported me in the decision I eventually made. She also helped me in parting with the (at least I would consider it to be) mental sport that I had been playing for 5+ years. And, after that, she supported me in becoming much more involved in the other sport I was doing, horseback riding. All in all, I cannot thank my mom enough for all she has done for me.
Another person I owe, so, so much to is my dad. Besides (along with my mom) giving me a good home to live in, a great school to go to, food, water, and extracurriculars that interest me, he has taught me to think for myself, in surprising ways! For one, both he and I are sarcastic and (admittedly) a little bit stubborn (like parent, like child), so we have gotten into a fair amount of debates (the most notorious being the impact of microbubbles). Some of these disputes have been more heated than others, but I would say that ultimately, they have made me more of a critical thinker, which I am extremely grateful for. I appreciate everything my dad has done for me.
Another person who has been a role model for me is Dr. Shebalin, my 5th grade advisor and science teacher. Since the year she taught me, I’ve thought of her as composed, considerate, and down-to-earth. One of the things I respected her most for was never yelling, because she didn’t need to. When a class was misbehaving, she expressed disappointment, not anger, and because we all respected her, it had more of an effect. Dr. Shebalin also taught me about some of the topics I see as important problems in the world, such as climate change, and the struggle of endangered species that could, in the none too far future, lead to their extinction. Needless to say, Dr. Shebalin has been one of my favorite and most influential teachers.
Of course, when thanking the people who have influenced me for the better, I cannot leave out my friends. While the bond between a parent and their child (in healthy parent-child relationships) is strong, there’s just a sort of intimacy it lacks compared to the bond between friends, because friends see each other as peers, as equals, instead of one being the provider, and the other being dependent on the provider (in healthy friendships). So, I’ve always just been able to be myself around my friends, not having to worry about getting lectured for an edgy joke. But, how I would say my friends have influenced my life for the better is by giving me the comfort of knowing that I can talk to them, and they’ll probably be able to understand what I’m feeling. Yes, my parents have been on this Earth about four times as long as my friends have, meaning they probably have more life experience, but times have changed quite a bit since they were my age. It’s about 30 years since they were in sixth grade, so one, their middle school experience was likely different than mine, and two, they probably don’t remember their middle school experience exactly as it was. Meanwhile, my friends are experiencing middle school at the exact same time as me, so they can usually relate more to the problems I talk to them about. Ultimately, I could not have picked better friends.
After finishing the essays and poem, we printed and cut out our “When This is Over” poem, and glued it into our books. We folded the essays and put them into two of our envelopes, and put a little picture of ourselves in the third.
And that’s how we made our books.
Throughout this whole process, we were assisted by Ms. Gignoux, who, herself, is an artist! She creates really cool textiles, as well as working with and teaching students at other schools, which is very awesome indeed.
Overall, my opinion on the tree book project is that it was fun because (in the words of my LA teacher) I like peeling dried glue off of my hands (smile). Actually – and this is going to be a very controversial opinion – I just don’t find the joy others seem to have in it. But no, I really liked doing the tree books. At the beginning, I was resigned to the fact there would be little to no creativity in the whole project, but I was pleasantly surprised, and am happy with the final product. So yes, it was a very fine experience.
BONUS – PHOTOSHOOT!
Taken and edited by me.Taken and edited by me. Thanks to Illaria and Maya for holding my book so I could take this. Also thanks to Maya for featuring herself in this photo.Taken and edited by me.Taken and edited by me. Thanks to the tree for holding my book.
This is a post about finger prints, although from the title, I doubt you, the reader, need this piece of information.
My fingerprints. Blurred and edited because they are very classified information. Taken and edited by me.
As already stated these, yes, these abstract blobs of grey are, in fact, my finger prints.
However, this might not be very interesting to you, dear reader, so here are some facts about the topic at hand (literally, heh), fingerprints:
A fingerprint left on a surface is called a latent fingerprint. And yes, humans leave fingerprints on many surfaces they touch, so, if you ever happen to perhaps… commit homocide, wear gloves.
Fingerprints are formed by the friction ridges on human fingers.
Gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and koalas have fingerprints similar to those of humans.
As with human fingerprints, zebras and dogs have individually unique features: zebras’ stripe patterns, and dogs’ nose prints.
Fingerprints are to a certain extent inherited from biological parents, however the small details in their ridges are not.
From mcgill.ca – “You Inherit Part of Your Fingerprint From Your Parents” (Source 3). Picture is showing various types of markings in fingerprints, called minutiae.
Arches occur in about 5% of the world’s population, making them the rarest type of fingerprint (excluding the subcategories).
Whorls occur in about 25% to 35% of the world’s population, making them the fingerprint type that makes a person a bit peculiar, but really just pretty ordinary, to be honest.
Loops occur in 60% to 70% of the world’s population, making them the most common type of fingerprint (again, excluding subcategories).
H (original greeting – clap). So we did a thing in LA. And that thing had to do with the stock market. The thing we did (and are still doing) is a game where everyone starts off with (theoretical) $20,000, and “invests” it into 3 to 6 different stocks under a company that they “create”, and whoever has made (and lost) the most on their stocks by the end of the school year wins.
Why did we do this in LA? For a deep analysis of the mystery book we’re reading, The Westing Game. Basically, there’s this character, Turtle Wexler, and she likes the stock market.
The stocks I “invested” my theoretical $20,000 into were Moderna, Southwest, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Delta, and Walt Disney.
Why did I choose the ones I did? Well, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer are all pharmaceutical companies, so they’re working on a vaccine for a little virus you may or may not have heard of, Covid-19, which I think will really be in fashion around the time when we’ll check how much we’ve made/lost, so these companies will (hopefully) be doing well, and their stocks should reflect their success (right? I hope that’s how stocks work).
I invested in Delta and Southwest because they’re popular air lines companies, and I think (/hope) that once the vaccine starts being widely distributed to more people (at least those in wealthier countries, that is), so (hopefully) people will start traveling via airplane more, so air lines companies should have a boost in performance.
I invested in Walt Disney because, again, once places start opening back up, I think amusement parks (such as Disney world) will be a prime attraction that people start traveling to again, (hopefully) leading to a boost in performance of the parks’ companies.
A screenshot of my Google Sheets stock spreadsheet.
Anyways, I will be “investing” under the “company” of Wonk. Here’s our (AKA my) logo.
Drawn by me in Adobe Draw.
I was thinking that Wonk’s catch phrase could be “You will regret not investing with us”, in more of a… murderous tone, but I didn’t have time to.
Anyway, so far (as of 10:15 AM, 3/4/2021, when I checked how my stocks were doing) Wonk has made a profit of $-1296.17.
So, in LA class we read a short story called “Lady or the Tiger” (you can read it here), and we had to write our own ending to the story, becuase it didn’t really have one.
This is mine:
As the semi-barbaric princess’s lover strode across the arena’s sandy floor, a multitude of its grains faintly stained with varying shades of red, the audience held its breath with the excitement of what they were about to witness, for when one lives under a semi-barbaric ruler and do not try to unsurpt him, they do tend to upraise his inclinations, and so they readily watched, whether the handsome youth was to be ripped to shreds, or to be rewarded with a lady that would suit him consummately.
Devoid of hesitation the young man set his hand on the rung with which one of the doors would open, with the confidence of one who truly believes they are unmistaken, and with a great heave flaundered it open.
Unified, the audience leaned forward in their seats, fervent to see what was to befoe the accused.
After what seemed an eternity, yet was in reality a few seconds, a foot tentatively materialized from the darkness, preceded by a leg, a torso, an arm, and a face, until the whole lady had emerged. Her frame was tall, slender, and elegant, dressed in an exquisite bright red dress finishing risquely half-way down her thighs in a short peppermint-white finess, polished black heels, and midnight-black elbow-length gloves made of a fine, silky fabric.
As the young man overcame his moment of pure admiration, he hurried forward to embrace the one that he would spend the rest of his days with, the princess’s lip curled in contempt and envy, it was all she could do to not fly down the stairs onto the arena floor and tear them apart. But, as her former lover turned to see her reaction, the princess’s mouth twisted into a smile. He was too far away to see that it didn’t reach her eyes.
That night, just as the moon was about to reach the peak in its daily journey, the princess stepped out onto the street, which was rather deserted and sad in the darkness, and ghosted down it until she reached a cozy house made of stone bricks and logs. She eased the door open and, placing her feet with infinite care so that they made no sound, went inside, through the living room, and into the bedroom.
She walked over to the side of the bed bent over, and placed the razor-sharp blade of the knife she had brought on her ex-lover’s throat, and with a quick flick of her wrist, sliced it open. Easy as cutting through butter.
The princess then strode to the bed’s other side, and upon laying eyes on the lady, felt white-hot rage start to course through her veins, and a red mist obscure her gaze. Without warning the princess catapulted onto the lady, cutting off her tongue and lips, carving out her eyeballs, loping off her ears and stabbing the canals deep inside them, severing the tendons of her arms and legs, uprooting her teeth, cartching of her nose, and chopping off her fingers.
The princess withdrew, knife-in-hand, and slid off the bed, which sheets were now discolored with the strong hue of blood, leaning against the wall, breathless from the primal surge of adrenaline pounding through her bloodstream, allowing the red haze to dissipate from her vision. She came to her feet, regarding the once-alluring lady, who was now a blind, deaf, crippled, worthless disgrace writhing in agony, coughing up blood, unable to retaliate or cry for help, and the young man she had once loved, who now lay still.
The semi-barbaric princess smiled, feeling no remorse for what she had done; in her eyes the young man and his lady had been been dealt what they deserved, and they had been situated as far apart as they could, one alive, albeit barely, and the other dead.
Nonetheless, the princess knew there would be no further place for her to inhabit once it was discovered that she was the culprit behind the murder, so after grabbing a handful of the lady’s detached teeth, she brought the blade of the bloodied knife to her throat and with an abrupt swipe felt her legs buckle and her body fold as she ascended into darkness.
This is how it was meant to be.
We also had to draw (WARNING: Spoilers for the actual story) doors, with two figures behind them that coordinate with who/what’s behind the doors in your ending. So, these are pictures of mine:
So, I like drawing stuff. And I know there are at least a few, probably at least three people (that’s enough to make a religion – THEMORE YOUKNOW) that also like to draw, so I thought “You know what would be fun and awesome and cool? A contest!”. So I decided to hold one.
However, what’s more epic than one art contest? TWO art contests. So, I decided to hold two.
Anyway, there are a few things you may like to know about the contests if you plan to participate.
FANTASY ART CONTEST:
From Photosforclass.
When is the deadline for submissions? Sunday, January 24th, 2021! This gives you all of winter break, and the remote-only week after it, to complete your artwork!
What should I draw for the contest? Anything fanatical! Something that doesn’t actually exist in real life.
What medium should I use? Any medium you want to use! You can do your art on paper, digitally, or with any other medium.
How should I submit my drawing? Please submit your artwork to me via Teams. Please put your name, a clear photo of your artwork, and a brief description of what it illustrates.
Are there any guidelines for submissions? Obviously, your submission has to be school-appropriate. YOU are the one who should draw your submission! DO NOT STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S ARTWORK! Your artwork must also be submitted by the deadline.
!- If your artwork violates any of these guidelines, or if it is not submitted correctly, YOU WILL NOT BE ENTERED INTO THE CONTEST -!
DISCLAIMER: By entering your artwork, you are giving me permission to use it and its description in the blog post I’ll make announcing the winners of this contest.
REALISM CONTEST
Drawn by me.
When is the deadline for submissions? Sunday, January 24th, 2021! This gives you all of winter break, and the remote-only week after it, to complete your artwork!
What should I draw for the contest? Try your best to recreate a photo that is either from Photosforclass, or taken by you. You do NOT have to recreate the photo you choose in color (see photo above for example).
How will my photo be scored? Your artwork will be scored by how close it looks to the photo you selected. Points will NOT be deducted from your score if the color in your photo doesn’t resemble that in your artwork. HOWEVER, points WILL be deducted from your score if you don’t shade.
What medium should I use? You can either do your artwork on paper or digitally, however my personal recommendation would be that you use paper and pencil.
How should I submit my artwork? Please submit your artwork to me via Teams. Please put your name, the (uncopyrighted) photo you tried to recreateCLEAR photo of your artwork.
Are there any guidelines for submissions? Obviously, your submission has to be school-appropriate. YOU are the one who should draw your submission! DO NOT STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S ARTWORK! Do NOT recreate a copyrighted photo (please)! Your artwork must also be submitted by the deadline.
!- If your artwork violates any of these guidelines, or if it is not submitted correctly, YOU WILL NOT BE ENTERED INTO THE CONTEST -!
DISCLAIMER: By entering your artwork, you are giving me permission to use it and the photo you used as a reference for it in the blog post I’ll make announcing the winners of this contest.
PRIZES:
I didn’t really plan a standard prize, so, if 1st and 2nd (more or less places depending on how many submissions there are) in both contests want any of their pets drawn, I’ll do that, I guess.
However, the more important prize, that EVERYONE, no matter WHAT place you receive, will get is (drumroll, please)… feedback.
That’s right, I will be giving each submitted artwork specific feedback – things that were done well, and things that could be improved. I may also ask some friends to give feedback too.
Participate if you want to, and have a good winter break!
So, Thanksgiving was… pretty standard. More of a break than anything else, to be honest.
Anyways, because Thanksgiving is about giving thanks (it’s only kind of in the name) here are a few things I’m thankful for.
I am thankful that the Earth has an atmosphere- it’s pretty helpful.
I am thankful that I have such hilarious parents… just with the most amazing humor, so if you’re wondering how I got this prime comedy, that’s where. (No. Sarcasm. What. So. Ever).
I’m thankful that water exists.
I’m thankful that trees exist- hope they still do in 2050.
I’m thankful the Sun exists, it’s pretty useful to have around, I would say.
This is not sarcasm, nor satire, I repeat it is neither. Just read the title of my blog!
Anyways, what I’m actually thankful for: Everything, everything!
Sounds cheesy, but there are so many in this world with, well, nothing. So, really, just having something is, in my opinion, enough to be thankful for.
So, this Thanksgiving was a little bit different than usual. Professionals advised that family members living outside the household holding the Thanksgiving activities, should practice social distancing around their relatives.
At my house, our Thanksgiving practices consist of close-living relatives coming over for dunch (dinner-lunch). Our usual guests consist of my two grandmas, and my great uncle, all of which are… at least 65. And then they talk about politics. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do not dislike getting heated over politics, with a nice dose of comedy, but they just manage to suck the life and humor out of the discussion.
So, I wasn’t exactly unhappy that we didn’t have guests over for Thanksgiving.
So, I need a photo to go with this, so here.
Taken and edited by me.
Taken and edited by me.
To explain these, I was just out and about my neighborhood, getting textures for my Wisdom Tales comic, also freezing off my appendages, when I got distracted. I just started editing pictures, and BOOM! they started look interesting. Turns out if you manipulate grey enough (with the right lighting), you get blue, as you can see from the first picture! A really nice blue. And then on the second picture I just started playing around with Photoshop filters.
Also, I love how Thanksgiving is just time to prepare for the winter holidays. I don’t know whether to be annoyed that people are putting up Christmas lights in November, or extremely amused.
Anyways, that’s it for this blog. I’ve been thinking to host an art competition soon, so comment if you’d participate in one if I did. Thanks for spending your precious time on this earth reading my blog. Peace in.
Invite some friends over! Invite a few close friends over to do some socially-distanced activities. Maybe tell some spooky stories around the campfire, watch a movie out on the lawn, play hide-and-seek in the forest at 12:00 am (don’t do that- I doubt it’s a good idea), fun stuff like that.
Write your own spooky story. Trying to build those writing muscles? Well you probably need something to write about! So, why not a horror story? They’re great for practicing details, because it’s all about the vibe and immersing the reader into the story.
Spice up your work area. I’m sure by now you’re at least a little bit sick of your workspace. So why not spruce it up, add some pizazz, some flavor. Maybe cut out some leaves and pumpkins to tape around your workspace, or just do a little organization- I’m sure you could use it.
Face your fears! Halloween’s all about scary things, right? So how about instead you go face and overcome those fears! Scared of heights? climb a tree. Scared of spiders? hold a tarantuala. Scared of death? maybe don’t face that one.
Experiment with carving other fruits/vegetables. Pumpkin carving getting boring? Well, how about you try carving something else, then. Maybe a watermelon, or potato, or carrot, or radish, or oh- I’ve got a good one, your 50% relative. Try carving a banana. That’ll be really fun.
Run a candy experiment! Do a poll to see which is the preferred candy among your grade level, or sample different candies to see which one you like most. It’d be a really good excuse to eat tons of candy.
Cheat Halloween. Just buy a ton of candy and eat it all. Simple. What we all should’ve been doing.
From Photosforclass.com
This is what I was for Halloween, an orca. And because I’m a massive animal nerd, I thought I’d give you a few facts about these adorable creatures.
They inhabit artctic waters.
They travel in hunt in packs- they aren’t solitary animals.
They can and will kill great white sharks for food.
They’re whales, which means they’re mammals.
Notice I didn’t call them “killer whales”, because I just don’t think that puts them in a good light, do you? I’d bet you that more humans are killed each year by other humans, than by orcas.
And unless you really think that keeping giant sea creatures in tanks much too small for them is a good idea, don’t even mention SeaWorld. Anything with a mouth can bite.
I was using Adobe Draw for it, and the app’s fill tool is… imperfect. It looks like I used red for Bumblebee’s (right) lineart, but I actually used a black-brown shade, the bachground’s just bleeding through.
