Ben Franklin High School, 2023 (English II Gifted)

Ben Franklin High School, 2023 (English I Honors)

Moonsong by G.K.

Moonsong
by G.K.

When awake and alone in a bed drenched in her blue light,
The Moon seems to shine for the lonely people,
Illuminating the empty crumpled sheets beside them,
Holding the forgetful hands that instinctively reach across,
Still expecting to find warmth and a pulse.
But the Moon is more alive than we think, she rises and falls and changes,
Slowly tilting her mysterious paleface away from us day by day
Until there is nothing but black above us and for a brief night, 
We experience the darkness that exists in her absence.

The Moon is more alive than we think;
She shares a cycle with every woman, taking 28 days to go from 
Dark to dark again, waxing and waning into familiar shapes
Of toenails and crescents and pizza pies;
She brings romance to the lovers,
Who dance and laugh beneath her in each other’s arms,
Outlines of hands and cheeks and lips are made softer by her glow,
Encouraging them to sing louder and hug tighter and kiss harder;
She brings peace to the baby’s slumber,
Provides a light for night swimming and campfires,
She is a friend to wolves and the lonesome dreamers.

When standing at the edge of vast ocean or lying in the middle of an open field,
Letting the Moon’s waves lickyour toes or her light soak your skin,
Unable to think of anything other than how tiny you are, 
Be like the her,
Rising and falling,
Waning and waxing,     
In complete silence,
And for no reason.

Lycée Français, 2020-2021 (Among Us)

During the 2020-2021 school year, every Friday afternoon I met with my 8th grade English I class for 30 minutes of academic support in a virtual setting. That year, learning in the time of COVID, my students didn’t need 30 minutes of academic support at the end of the week. Rather, they needed social/emotional support. So, I prioritized laughter, reflection, and community building. Along the way, they taught me how to play Among Us and together, we found little bits of peace in an otherwise challenging school year.

1984 and Invitation to a Beheading Comparative Essay by E.Y.

The terrifying nature of freedom causes individuals to assimilate into society to shirk their responsibilities.  Societies thus take advantage of this by oppressing individuals to maintain stability.  1984, by George Orwell, and Invitation to a Beheading, by Vladimir Nabokov, both exhibit oppressive environments and individuals who accept these societies.  The protagonists believe in the ideals and opinions perpetuated by their respective powers, and choose to subject themselves to the oppression put forth by those in control.  Jean-Paul Sartre’s essay, “Existentialism is a Humanism”, discusses the freedom and responsibility inherent to humanity.  In Orwell and Nabokov’s works, the protagonists, faced with the burden of decision and consequent responsibility, choose to suppress their freedom.  Out of fear, not of oppressive forces but of self-dependence, they turn to another to control their lives.  Thus they ultimately engage in deceiving themselves and choose lives of bad faith, where they are dishonest with themselves and refuse to embrace despair and anguish.  They suppress their individuality to ignore the responsibility inherent to freedom.  Both 1984 and Invitation to a Beheading exhibit the intrinsically oppressive nature of society and show that, through an existentialist lens, structured society is unnatural and accepting it is ultimately a form of self-deception as it suppresses an individual’s freedom. [Read more…]