By: Cleo Newton        

I used to go to a Chinese immersion elementary school. All the core classes were taught in Chinese, and the only classes that weren’t taught in Chinese were gym, art and science.

Our kindergarten teacher, Li Laoshi, went on maternity leave for pretty much the whole year. She came back to visit some of the time but she wasn’t really there most of the time.

Our sub was named Jia Laoshi, I don’t think anybody liked her. She was really strict, she wasn’t really a good teacher, and wasn’t good with kids. There were times when she would put kids in timeout for really small reasons. She once put the entire class in timeout for 6 min because a couple kids were talking. She set a timer on her iPad and everyone just sat in silence waiting for the timer to go off.

One day, I was coming back from recess and was talking with my friends like everyone else. Class started and everyone was supposed to be quiet, a few people, including me, were still stalking. Jia Laoshi sent me to a timeout. I think it kinda makes sense that I would get sent to timeout for talking during class, but I don’t think it was fair that I was the only one getting sent to timeout. A couple minutes later one of my friends got sent to timeout for the same reason. She sat down on the other side of the room and I waved to her. The teacher saw me waving and immediately sent me to the buddy room. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone in the other classroom at the time.

Elementary school was pretty interesting. Like everyone, I had ups and downs. I don’t think the teachers did a good job helping everyone in the school. I have a friend whose sibling didn’t have any friends at school at all. Their teachers never did anything about it. That friend eventually transferred schools due to bullying in 4th grade.

Teachers also punished some kids unfairly. My experiences in elementary school never got that bad; I had a good time most of the time. I still think that the teachers could have done a better job trying to connect and understand their students instead of jumping to conclusions or punishing them when there was a misunderstanding. Of course, not all the teachers were like this.

Many years have passed since I’ve gone to this school. I still visit during their holidays and celebrations. Many things have changed, like the interior design. Most of the old teachers have left over the years, I only recognize about 3 teachers now including the principal. I plan to visit as often as I can.

By: Mira Kaufman

Religion and philosophy have shaped our world but why do people believe in a God or creator and how have we humans continued to have faiths for thousands of years?

According to Nick Perham, on Independent, only 16 percent of the world’s population are considered not religious. This means that 84 percent of the world believe or have religious values passed down into their lives. There are many reasons why 84 percent of our world’s population believes and follows religion, but even so, these questions have been asked for thousands of years, and yet we may never truly have answers.

The first reason for religious practice is heritage. Many families identify with a religion or philosophy, meaning they raise their children through generations with tradition, practice, belief, and followed values. In many religions, followers are not taught to question the system but to follow, allowing beliefs to continue with little interference. In religious families, practices become meaningful even without a belief involved. For example, many Americans celebrate Christmas but would not consider themselves a Christian.

When a person believes in a God/s it comes with a sense of purpose and belonging. This may include the goal for placement in an afterlife. Believing in a given path in life is quite common too. In many religions, followers find comfort in purpose and reason. For many, it is scary to not know why one exists, which is a leading reason for why people believe in god/s to find comfort in their everyday lives.

Another reason is the lack of proof for the answers of the universe. There is no direct proof of God/s existence nor is their proof of no God/s. This gives people the allowance to believe for there is no scientific evidence that they are right or wrong.

People are curious beings all with different values, opinions, and stories. Religions and philosophies shape who we are and tell a story of our society. A person’s spiritual beliefs are a powerful tool to shape their identity. Whether you believe in God/s or not it is essential to see and hear each other’s stories. We, no matter what we believe, are all humans. We must take it upon ourselves to open our minds and find community and respect for each other to keep living on the same earth that we have all these years.

By: Persephone Pond

Villains are what makes a story a story. An opposing force always gets in the way of the hero, creating endless opportunities for character development and fun plots. But what happens when a villain is poorly written? In this article, I’ll be highlighting some of the best and worst ways you can write a villain and some examples of both.

Humanization is a very important factor for a complex villain. A lot of antagonists in children’s media aren’t very humanized because having things clean cut as “good” and “bad” is what is typically done for children, but to really have another level of character for a villain, humanization is essential. This brings the aspect of humanity to a person who’s only really been seen as evil for the length of the game or show and can help the viewer to understand and empathize with this person, or just gain an understanding that the villain is still on the same level as the hero or protagonist.

Motives and backstory are important aspects of any character, but in my eyes, especially villains. Regardless of if the villain is going to have redemption, there needs to be a reason that this person is doing what they’re doing. Often, in villains, the thing that draws them apart from the hero is their outlook on the world and their ideals or philosophy, which impacts their perspective on the world. This determines their actions, which are often viewed as evil or bad. This aspect of a villain is vital to understand why this person does what they do.

And on the topic of philosophy, personally I think if a villain makes you think about another aspect of a common societal, or some other problem, then the writers did a good job. Villains aren’t necessarily only there to oppose the protagonist, but to provide another outlook and challenge the hero’s ideas and try to impose change, even if their methods aren’t the best. This is my favorite part of any villain and I strongly believe having a philosophy makes all the difference in characters of all kinds.

Redemption arcs are very iffy parts of villian stories. There’s nothing wrong with redeeming your villain, oftentimes it makes for a wonderful addition to the story, but there are quite a few ways to screw a redemption arc up. One of the biggest ways is the justification of the villain and their actions through trauma to create this redemption.

Trauma isn’t inherently bad, it often creates a complex backstory for a villain and gives them a good motive, but when the audience is expected to forgive a morally wrong person who’s done bad things just because they had a hard life, it’s a deal breaker. You can write a villain with trauma and have them reveal it, but when we, as an audience, excuse things like murder because one person went through something is just bad writing, and I personally think it’s one of the biggest red flags in a show. This is a very touchy spot in writing any piece of media, but it can, and has been, done very well, and it’s very rewarding to watch a show or play a game with a well written villain.

These are all aspects of writing a character that are incredibly important, and as there are badly written villains all over the place, a well written one is worth the find.

By: Chloe Rocha

The national suicide hotline is 988. This is a 24/7 hotline available in many different languages. There is also a texting method; the number is 741-741, text Home to start the conversation.

Mental health issues are something that almost everyone deals with. It is not uncommon to experience some signs of mental health issues at one point in your life.

Common signs of mental health issues can include, but are not limited to:

• A sense of feeling sad or down.
• Confused thinking or reduced ability to concentrate.
• Excessive fears or worries, or extreme feelings of guilt.
• Extreme mood changes of highs and lows.
• Withdrawal from friends and activities.
• Significant tiredness, low energy or problems sleeping.

There are also many more signs, these are just a few I have listed.

If mental health is something that everyone can experience but can’t control, then why should we have to pay for the resources to help get better? There may be some resources already available for free, but just because it’s free doesn’t mean that it’s good quality. To get the best out of these resources, it takes money.

I have been on the side of needing mental health resources but not being able to acquire them because of cost. Just recently, I wanted to seek help for something going on in my life, but wasn’t able to receive it because we didn’t have insurance or the amount of money that it would take to pay without insurance.

In Minnesota, the average self pay price for therapy is about $130 according to an article by Talktomira.com. However, the cost of seeing a therapist depends on the number of sessions you desire and book, your location, and many more other factors.

Although therapy is the most common mental health resource there are other alternatives that include:

• Exercise
• Meditation
• Art
• Music
• Journaling
• Reading
• Peer support
• Eco-therapy
• Medication
• Self help books

Some of these alternatives don’t require money, and are something that you could do on your own time, and in your own space. But these alternatives may not be effective, depending on the person that does these methods.