5. Fettuccine 2025

There is a bonus to doing what you want to do. Maybe a roller coaster that drops your stomach or the buzz of a concert that washes over your ears in waves—those are peak moments. I used to do them by myself. I went to concerts and theme parks alone, and I'm here to tell you, I enjoyed myself. There is a liberating sense in doing what you want, where, when, and with whom you want. Then I started sharing them with the people that matter to me the most: my friends. And unexpectedly, the peaks were even higher. It wasn't that the activities themselves were so different—it was the energy that came with them. Screaming on a ride with someone, laughing at a joke told in line, dancing to a song with someone who adores it just as intensely as you do… all of it is amplified when there’s someone there to reflect it back. What I’ve come to understand is that a friend turns moments into memories. Sure, you'll remember the concert—but now you’ll also be reminded of your friend’s tears o...

I started watching Young Sheldon when I saw all those clips of it on Instagram and noticed it didn't have any of those annoying laugh tracks that made me loathe traditional sitcoms. I was instantly hooked by how real all of the characters felt and never felt. They all had Sheldon as a focus in the beginning seasons where their goals and mindsets were still developing but after Sheldon had lost its appeal and the i was fully invested into all of the characters the story became about the entire community which i really enjoyed. This culminated into the funeral scene at the penultimate episode in the series. I had already been spoiled by this scene countless times but it was still gut wrenching when I was watching it. I truly sympathized with all the characters I knew so well, especially since their grief felt so real. I’m talking about this because it intrigued me that this is the moment that they decided to end the show, depicting the different ways that people dealt with grief. ...

     One feeling that I'm sure most of us have shared is sentiment. Recently I have been thinking more and more about leaving for college. Being junior’s, we only have approximately fourteen months of school left before we finish high school. Time flew by so fast that it feels like I was a freshman just yesterday. What is even weirder for me is that we already finished one third of the current year 2025. With time seemingly moving so fast, small things are starting to catch my attention. Yesterday, I saw a father teaching his son how to ride a bike. Remembering small glimpses of when my dad taught me how to ride a bike made me realize how much I’ve grown. In a few months I probably won’t be seeing either of my parents very often so I have become much more prone to feeling sentimental value towards small objects like presents from my parents or childhood toys. I’m extremely curious to hear how you all, my classmates, are feeling about high school ending not too far from no...

American history is a course that is required in almost every school in America, with the story usually beginning with the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus and colonization. Following that, is usually the tale of the American Revolution and the Founding Fathers , George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, John Jay, and James Madison, figures in history who have become immoralized, held in high regard by most Americans as they fought for and established America, a nation whose values were rooted in peace, freedom, and democracy. M any American history curricula then transition into how America grew, expanding into and beyond the Western Frontier. America slowly made a place for herself in the world as she grew in influence, and a new, definingly American culture and society emerged. America soon saw herself as the “Chosen Nation,” blessed by the Christian God, and semblances of the idea of the “American Dream,” long before the te...

Some of my favorite memories are family weddings. I recently went to a family wedding in Michigan, which was definitely one of the highlights of my year. The excitement of hopping on a plane to a place I've never visited and the anticipation of seeing my family after years are both equally heartwarming feelings.  I love everything about weddings. Getting ready with my cousins is definitely my favorite part. My cousin Zoeya and I are always the assigned makeup artists, so I look forward to exploring that passion through every single look I create. The music is another one of my favorite parts. Blasting Hindi songs like  Sheila Ki Jawani while my cousins and I do our mom's makeup is a memory that will be engraved in my brain forever.  I am a firm believer that getting ready for an event is the best part, which is another reason why I love weddings. Arriving at the wedding venue in an SUV that's way too small to fit my entire family always stirs memorable laughter as well, b...

Why does classical music help you focus better? Or how come a song on the radio can instantly trigger a super specific memory from years ago? Well, music plays a special role in your brain. Whether it be boosting concentration or acting as a time machine, a melody can play a much bigger role in your life than you realize. Let’s start with the aspect of concentration. Ever try studying with music playing in the background? Turns out, certain genres of music can help you finish that assignment you’ve been procrastinating on much faster AND help you retain that information for your test the next day! This is because in genres such as classical music, there is a correlation between listening to the melody and reduced stress. Classical music can cause the heart rate and breathing to slow, while also lowering cortisol levels in the brain which helps lessen anxiety and lower blood pressure. Essentially, due to the slow tempo often found in classical music as well as the reaction of the paras...

I remember patiently waiting behind the yellow line at Patterson Elementary School before the bell rang, my muscles twitching in preparation to sprint fast enough to be the first person at the ball bin and grab the smoothest and bounciest basketball. I remember climbing up the ladder in the freezing wind to get down the slide, covered in ice from the frozen dew, getting my clothes wet in the process, but it was definitely worth the few seconds of enjoyment. I remember hustling down the field, bell in front of my feet, one defender to beat, but forgetting to kick the ball into the goal and allowing the goalie to simply grab the ball from the tip of my toes.  As we progress through life, only certain events that have personal connections or some other type of identifier are encoded into our long-term memory compared to the simple, everyday events that are in our short term memory and are forgotten twenty seconds later.  The three events from my childhood that I mentioned all ha...

Junior year has caused me to underestimate the power of sleep. Next year I won’t take as many hard classes but right now I have to find a solution. For the past couple of months I have gone to bed so late finishing my work and crawling out of bed the next morning to school where I perform marginally worse due to my lack of sleep. This keeps repeating until rock-bottom, where you're so tired you ignore everything just to take a nap or do something relaxing only for the cycle to repeat itself. I know it's cliché and even annoying to recommend 8-10 hours of sleep every night because I don’t know what kind of work you have and it's rude to automatically assume you are mismanaging your time, but that's not what I’m talking about here. Lately, instead of staying up late to finish work, I just go to sleep and finish it in the morning. Obviously, it is annoying to wake up early in the morning but I find myself more refreshed throughout the day and feel more academically compete...

For me, travel has never been about recreation; it is who I am. It is something I was taught by my father when I was very little, and I have been fortunate enough to have visited 14 countries so far, each of which has taught me something new about what it is like to be human. From Tokyo's crowded streets to Greece's ancient ruins, each new experience of a place has broadened my horizons regarding the diversity of the world. The highlight of all my travels has been cultural immersion, going well beyond clichéd tourist pursuits to build real relationships. Much of my travel has been with volunteer groups, where cultural exchange was an organically woven aspect of meaningful public service, balancing cooperation with friendship. As either an English teacher in Ethiopia, a conservation volunteer in Kenya (by far the most beautiful country I have visited as well as my most recently visited), or a food relief worker in Vietnam, I have directly observed how resilience and compassion ...

I n the modern age, the 1950s era of American culture is often thought of as a simpler time, a period marked by a glamorous Hollywood industry, vintage fashion, misty diners, and beautiful celebrities who seemed to capture audiences in a trance. When the 50s are thought of now, many often have a softer look in their eye as if recalling a distant memory and longing to be able to live in that era. T his decade may have been more stable and saw the beginnings of many positive changes in American history with the economic boom that followed the end of the second World War and the start of the Civil Rights Movement, but the idyllic image of the perfect couple having a picnic in the park is not and should not be representative of the 1950s. T he 1950s were abounded with social prejudice and inequalities and other tensions, such as the beginnings of the Cold War and a widespread paranoia of nuclear weapons and attacks . J im Crow laws had not been repealed until 1965, and during the 50s, Af...

Memories are linked to so many moments and past versions of ourselves that lie within the deepest parts of our brains. Even the simplest, smallest memories that may even seem insignificant at the time can have such an impact on us.  My most favorite recent memory is eating ice cream in the freezing cold with the people I love. My family that lives in Texas visited over the weekend, and I literally had the time of my life. I've always been close to my cousins, so this particular memory means the world to me.  A constant fear that I have is that as we all grow older, our relationship is going to change. I fear that we aren't going to remain as close as we are right now and that we'll eventually go our separate ways in life, but I constantly try and remind myself that family is bonded for life.  Monday was my last day with them, and I'll cherish this specific memory forever. It was about 45 degrees in San Francisco and even colder in the area my grandma lives in, making th...

     Every year in which I took a history class, my history teacher would give the class a reason for why it is important to learn history. The main reason we mostly got is that we must learn history in order to understand the mistakes humanity made in the past so we can make better decisions in the future. This reasoning is sound and makes sense, however, history is used for so much more than just a reference to make sure we're making the right decisions. History gives people sentiments, values, emotional bonds to various things, and sometimes, purpose. People put up signs in their yards saying black lives matter or pride flags because they know what happened to these minority groups in history and they take it upon themselves to contribute to change. When lawmakers take Native American land into account when creating new policies, they are doing so because of the history of injustice that Native Americans groups faced and they feel responsible for fixing the wrongs of t...

I remember tip-toeing on the curb at the playground in preschool just to fall down shortly after and be wounded with a bloody scab on my right knee. I remember walking back to my car after my fourth birthday party at Kid’s Castle, and the exact image of the car, trunk open and loaded with gift bags, does not depart my mind. I remember driving on Ozark River Way and sitting in a booster seat, and I vividly recall the car as it went over a speedbump and my seat lunged forward, as I had not been buckled in properly, and my sister thankfully saved me from falling.  But why? Those were all random, but they have a name. Involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs). In this article, Dr. McDonald recalls a few memories of his own that seemed simply unexplainably random. He continued on to describe why these memories exist and under what conditions they are activated and recalled by our brains. A specific study showed that new stimuli that are introduced into our normal environments trigge...

     The key to every successful athlete, musician, writer, actor, soldier, pilot, chef, artist, firefighter, dancer, mechanic, and surgeon is muscle memory. Through the process of countless repetitions and hundreds of hours of practice, an almost flow-like state is created that allows a professional to achieve optimal performance. Merriam-Webster defines muscle memory as “the ability to repeat a specific muscular movement with improved efficiency and accuracy that is acquired through practice and repetition.” Muscle memory is something that I believe everyone has achieved in one way or another, whether it be being able to walk without thinking or riding a bike without worrying about falling.           When it comes to water polo, my coach prioritizes muscle memory —and I can certainly see why. Back in our season, we each practiced certain repetitions thousands of times. From treading water to the motion of a shot to the nuances of a pass, m...