Wait, what class is this?
“So Grace what do you think about the 7th grade boys?” I stare at my maths teacher for a long time as he holds the camera close to my face.
“Are you filming this?” I ask suspiciously and he nods.
“I need to make a video for the 7th and 8th grade”
“Why do you need to know what I think about the guys though?” I ask frowning.
“Grace just answer the question” He sighs in exasperation.
Jennifer beside me jumps in. ”They’re funny”
I nod smiling. ”Yeah they are pretty funny most of the time, gross at times though” I chime in and the class laughs.
“That’s a lie!” Jacob calls from across the room.
“You’re the grossest Jake!” I call making my classmates snicker and Mr. Bort laugh out loud.
“Okay what do you think about relationships in the 7th grade?” I blush and splutter.
“Gosh Mr. Bort I don’t know none of us are in a relationship….officially” I add weakly making everyone laugh again.
“Do you think that will change in the next year?” He inquires politely and I groan.
“I don’t know maybe”
“Do you want them too?” I stare at him and turn away mumbling quietly.
“No” The class chuckles again at this and Mr. Bort finally seems finished. He picks up his chair and camera and moves on to the table to the left of us.
“Shawn what do you think of the other 7th graders?” He asks training his camera on the hyper young man at the table.
“We’re all insane” He blurts out and we laugh
“Ooh, ooh can I answer!” Another boy at the other end of the class yells.
“You don’t even have anything to say you just like being on camera!” Jake snaps at him
“True, come film me Mr. Bort!” Andrew calls across the room. Mr. Bort picks up his chair and moves to focus on Andrew.
“Okay Andrew what do you think about Jake”
“Oh, well Jake is pretty weird sometimes but did you know that-”
“Andrew if you’re going to blurt out some really nasty science fact could you not do it in here?” Several voices chorus at once and Andrew obediently closes his mouth. So Mr. Bort turns to the boy sitting beside Jake, a quiet, smart, boy.
“Xing what have you thought of school this semester?” He asks
“It’s good” The boy answers, voice soft and quiet.
“What do you think about the other boys in your class”
“They’re really crazy sometimes” He informs our teacher “A little too much for me actually”
“Are you coming back next year?” Xing nods and taps his pencil lightly on the maths page we were working on before Mr. Bort pulled out the camera. Mr. Bort continues to go back and forth from one student to another asking awkward and silly questions when the bell rings.
“Okay, could you all finish that sheet for homework tonight?” He asks, although there’s really no question or discussion in the matter. We chorus assent as we pack up our things and our class leaves more quietly than we usually do, as if afraid a camera might still be running ready to pick up conversation
Notes
- This was based off a maths class on Tuesday, or Wednesday…I think
- Guess what, all names except mine are anonymous…again
- Little random? That’s what I thought.
Harry Potter: Dark Magic or Benign Distinction?
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,” Exodus 22:18
“He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger” 2 Chronicles 33:6
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21
Christian Geek: Um okay so clearly that means that neither me nor any of my offspring should ever in their lives read Harry Potter or God will hate all of us!
Um…no, not exactly.
Is Harry Potter witchcraft? Okay first take the name Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry that makes our Chrisitan geek go.
“Yes, yes you see it’s right there in the title of the school and we shall not read it lest we awaken the Lord’s wrath”
and then I go.
“Shut up and let me explain”
The thing is I know a lot of people and a lot of Christian’s who believe that Harry Potter glorifies black magic, when it clearly doesn’t. Take the crusiatus curse or avada kedavra or even imperio thought of as the ‘forbidden curses.’ They (our young heroes) are taught IN THAT SCHOOL not to use these, the use of these curses puts you in jail and the use of witchcraft and whatnot without repentance to the Lord in life? Puts you in hell. It makes a distinction betweek good and bad (light and dark, nice and mean, whatever) magic. Harry Potter isn’t a bad book to read if you read the seven books or one book or every Harry Potter book, extra book, and fanfiction your not the worst sinner in the world as our Christian geek goes.
“No, no Harry Potter is bad and you musn’t read it!” and I go.
“…I just defaced the school name argument what’s your next one?”
“It uses magic and we are supposed to not use magic and the main characters go and use magic clearly” to which I say.
Who cares it’s fantasy it’s not like I’m going to take a stick and run around shouting ‘lumos’ and ‘expelliarmus’ everywhere! Well, maybe I did that when I was a kid but I don’t think I was glorifying dark magic. Even if me and my friends ran around and assigned each other Harry Potter roles to play and say I was Voldemort and I ‘used’ avada kedavra (to which our Christian geek goes)
“Ooh, naught naughty Christian!”
So I use it on my sister say. Am I or my sister or my friends glorifying dark magic? I don’t think so, partly because Voldemort always lost and there must be a distinction between dark and light magic in these books because no one wanted to play Voldemort or Malfoy or Snape because they were thought of as bad characters. Somehow I ended up frequently playing these roles…thats what happens when you’re the youngest.
Further more, yes, very clearly the main characters wave their fancy wands around and use magic. However can I ask my Christian geek here, do you like the Chronicles of Narnia, or say, Lord of the Rings?
“Oh yes wonderful book, great books, they really have a wonderful message I love them”
Um, isn’t there very clearly magic in those books? (if you’ve never picked up on that element in those books then I’m sorry but…) And then he goes.
“Well…the authors were Christian”
I think J.K Rowling’s a Christian. I’ve seen she’s said it a few times and it even says Christian elements were a major inspiriation and themes in her books. And now you go
0_0 what?
Yeah. It’s the truth I know it hurts but just hang in there I have one more argument. So you say you like the Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings or whatever and I’m sure part of that is because of Aslan or Gandalf relating to Christ right? Okay, in the end of the 7th book (which you didn’t read because you were probably leading like anti-Harry Potter Christian rally’s or whatever against it) Harry sacrifices his life for his friends. He dies at Voldemorts hands, and then comes back to life.
Hold on, hold on this is reminding me of something…but I can’t quite put my finger on it…was it maybe the story of Christ? Hmm?
“Okay, okay I’ve got it Harry Potter makes a distinction between good and black magic and it had Christian themes and has a Christlike figure in it, done now?”
Do you want to borrow my copy of the first book?
“…Maybe”
Notes
- I grazed on very basic arguments against Harry Potter in this post, there are deeper ones and whatnot so if you have any questions or whatever feel free to contact me with them.
- I like Harry Potter
- I also like Chronicles of Narnia
‘- Haven’t read Lord of the Rings…. Bad author I know.
- My Christian geek was made up he doesn’t exist.
- I’m just saying Harry Potter has never seemed very dark to me…
-Grace T
Let’s Nuke ‘Em!
“Wait” Mr. Park stops the argument before it begins. “Wait guys, let me say right now before you all start screaming at each other that America did not just decide ‘hey lets go nuke Japan for the fun of it okay we gave them a chance to surrender twice and then nuked them and THEN helped rebuild them”
“It was still wrong to go dropping atomic bombs on Japan!” Matthew argues fiercely.
“No Matthew wait, I respect your opinion on the matter but I want to explain some things to you all first all right. The first thing is 15,000 people were dying per month in China at that point in World War 2 30,000 people were dying per month in all of Southeast Asia at that time. They estimated that if America invaded Japan and put up enough force to win they would lose 1million soldiers. If the winning side loses 1million by how many do you think the losing side will deplete in numbers? Okay, so many people were dying in the world at that time that the war just had to END.” We all stare at him now, we can all sense it coming a fascinating and long discussion that will twist, bend, and inform us on all sorts of stuff about World War 2 and America’s nukes.
“Now I will say when the atomic bombs went off we did just basically bomb the snot out of Japan all right guys, but let me explain. We gave Japan a chance to surrender. They said no. We gave them a chance to surrender and TOLD them that if they did not we would unleash a weapon on them unlike anything ever seen. They said no. We used the first atomic bomb on them and they still didn’t surrender so we used the second one and THEN they surrendered. I do not want to tell you all whether it was necessary or not that’s something we’ll look at next year in 8th grade you can see both sides of the argument and decide for yourself. Yes Grace?”
I lower my hand and ask. “Do you personally think it was necessary?”
“Personally I do to end the war but that’s something you all have to decide individually, Grace do you think it was necessary?” I know what the class is waiting for, for the American to say oh yes definitely but I’m starting to wonder. I mean yeah the nukes were necessary to save a lot of lives even though they killed a lot of people themselves. I’m sure maybe I’ll end up saying yes they were necessary in the end but I want to look into the topic a little more first. Finally I decide to humor my classmates.
“Yes I personally think the nukes were probably necessary”
“And that’s Grace’s opinion but you all can have different ones and that’s perfectly all right” He continues. No one says anything for a while when suddenly Mr. Park seemed to remember something.
“Oh yeah, when Grant gave his presentation on Japan and you all giggled at the picture of the mushroom cloud the nuke caused. Why did you laugh? Do you realize how many people those nuclear bombs killed? But more importantly do you know how many more people would have died if the war kept going? Now that’s just something to think about something to think about that we’ll go more into next year. Uh yes Kathy what’s your question?”
“You know a lot of people in Korea were dying too” She points out defensively. Oh my gosh Koreans and their pride is so ridiculous sometimes.
“I know that Kathy I do” Mr. Park laughs
“Yah and they were imprisoning them and stuff” She adds eyes getting big.
“Oh yeah Japan’s occupation imprisoned people, tortured people, killed people, dressed them like Japanese soldiers, prisoners were made sex slaves and- well….you all know I guess a lot of your countries were occupied” He trails off and she continues.
“But what I mean is Japan influenced Korean language a lot and now there are aspects of each others languages and each other” He points at her with a smile.
“Very good that’s called Cultural Diffusion and it’s on your test, speaking of which are you ready to take it?”
Notes
-Once again based off my social studies class
-Once again all names but my own are anonymous and changed
- Once again I thought maybe you’d find it interesting.
New Short Story
Well..it’s not really a short story and I don’t think it’s a poem unless you want to call it a free verse. But I couldn’t really think of anywhere else to put it. Anyway this is something I wrote in Language Arts a few days ago that I thought I’d like to share with you all.
Arguing…in a prayer?
Hello!
“Hi Grace, how was your day today?”
It was great thanks. I got Skyrim working on my laptop again, my roommate and I went out to Starbucks in the morning, we watched a movie in the dorm and I spent most of the afternoon hanging out with some of my classmates and- well…I guess you already know about this.
“That’s alright I like hearing it from you”
Haha…thanks. So that was basically my day….
“Grace?”
Oh, sorry, sorry my mind gets sidetracked a lot.
“I’ve noticed in the past couple of weeks, is something on your mind?”
No I’m just no good at paying attention.
“That’s alright, I’m glad your day went well, do you want anything specific tonight?”
No nothing out of the ordninary, people in the states, parents, family, friends, my presentation…all of that. Do you need anything from me?
“Yes actually I do”
Really? What is- oh don’t tell again.
“Grace”
No, please don’t make me send that email. I really don’t want to!
“You’ve done a lot of things in the past nine months you haven’t wanted to do”
Because you told me too…
“I’m telling you to send this email”
He’ll tease me though, or make fun of me, or tell me I’m taking this too seriously, and I kind of deserve it!
“Grace, my daughter you haven’t even messaged him yet how do you know his reaction?”
Because I know him, I know his heart and his mind I’ve known him for, like, ever!
“No Grace, I have known him forever. I’ve seen the depths of his heart and I love him more than you ever can I know his reaction and I know his life and his place, his future and his past. I’ve seen every thought that has ever drifted through his mind”
Yeah so you know how he’ll react!
“I do”
And what if he’s mean, or obnoxious about it?
“So?”
Well…I don’t want to go through that.
“You are my child…I never said following me would be easy”
I know it’s just…I already feel like I’ve done and confessed a lot for you and I’ve changed my life so much I’ve been doing my devos and everything and-
“Not lately”
Huh?
“I’ve seen you Grace, you haven’t been reading your bible much lately do you know which book you’re even studying?”
Of course I do it’s Joshua!
“And do you know which chapter you’re on? You haven’t read it in a few weeks”
Um…9?
“Grace”
Okay so I haven’t done my devos recently but I did for a while and this is totally unfair of you to tell me to do this too.
“Oh yes I know it’s unfair, I die and give you totally undeserved eternal life and in return I ask you to send an email”
Oh not the dying thing again.
“Grace!”
Sorry, sorry….alright but can’t you at least like…use some awesome power and poof make the email appear in perfect words for him to understand?
“No, I will not write the email for you but I will aid you in writing it”
Fair enough. When do I send it?
“Tomorrow”
If I don’t have time?
“Find time”
You’re so pushy.
“You seem tired”
duh…sorry.
“No worries, thank you for listening my child I’m proud of you. Sleep now, goodnight I will speak with you tomorrow and I will stand beside you always”
Wait
“What?”
Don’t you have more important things to do than worry about me sending an email?
“Grace every move you make and step you take matters the world over to me, and it’s the same for him, and your other friends, and your parents, and your enemies, and your cousins and aunts and uncles and-”
Okay I got it goodnight- well you don’t have night really do you? You know you’re all omnipresent and omniscient nd omni….stuff….
“No but goodnight to you Grace”
- Grace T
Freedom of Speech, Press, and Assembly
“Yes?” My teacher glances at a boy a few seats down from me and he lowers his hand asking.
“What’s wrong with communism anyway, what doesn’t America like about it, like why bomb all those people in Laos?” A few kids giggle but are silenced by a look from Mr. Park
I guess I understand what he means I think when you get down to the core concept of it communism isn’t a horrible idea but it’s the people running the government that mess it up. Mr. Park nods now
“That’s a good question Jonathan first I want you to know that Chinese communism is different than the Soviet Union communism, which you learned about in LA?” We nod and a few students chorus
“Yes”
“Alright basically guys what’s wrong with communism is it lacks three basic and great freedoms that I think all governments should have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. They also torture and kill people and don’t often give them enough to live but those three freedoms which democracies have is something communism is seriously missing. Let me give you an example does anyone here know about the protest in KL (Kuala Lumpur) last…weekend I think?”
One boy a seat in front of me and to the left raises his hand.
“I heard about that” he announces
“Good…do you know what they did to the people doing the protest?” Mr. Park goes on
“Uh…they tear gassed them?”
“Yes America would only disperse a protest like that if it had been violent”
“This one wasn’t violent though!” A girl several rows in front pipes up. Mr. park nods
“Exactly, now could there have been violence that we didn’t see or know about? Certainly maybe that’s why they put out the tear gas or they could have simply wanted to quell the protest freedom of speech is being able to get together and protest like that freely. Now I’m not saying Malaysia is a communist country, Malaysia is quite far from being a communist country but that’s the freedom of speech, or lack thereof, in a nutshell.”
“What about the other freedoms?” A girl asks several seats down “Press and assembly?”
“Good Theresa the freedom of press…lets take China for example now, or the current situation in Syria if you’d like”
“China” the class decides, we’ve heard way too much about Syria lately.
“Okay there is a man in China who has recently been trying to exercise freedom of speech in China by speaking out against the communist government-”
“They’re like half communist!” a few kids shout indignantly and I roll my eyes. What is it about the nationalism of Chinese people?
Mr. Park shakes his head. “Guys China…is communist, no way around it. So anyway this man in China his name is Chen…something or another and he was complaining about some things communist China does…like house arrest”
“What’s house-”
“Threatening family members and keeping people at their house under guard” Mr. Park interrupts the question.
“You know what they did? Put him under house arrest, and his family under house arrest. With multiple guards on him at a time. So he snuck out, escaped from house arrest and made his way to the American Embassy…does anyone know why the American Embassy?” I raise my hand and he nods ”Grace?”
“He’s safe there, he can’t ask for asylum or to leave the country but the Chinese…uh…dudes can’t get to him” Mr. Park nods.
“Very good but then he got all worried about his family and so the embassy started chatting with the communists and now his family is meeting him presumably in a hospital because he hurt himself. The details are fuzzy for me and this is the first time you’ve heard of this and do you know why? Because China does not allow the press or the other Chinese people to get in on this and to write and hear about. Therefor a lack of the freedom of press”
“Freedom of assembly what about that?” Other kids ask eagerly now and Mr. Park glances at the clock.
“We don’t have much time so I won’t give you a long example but freedom of assembly is the ability to get together to form groups and meet with others, something communism and other governments lack. Uh…quick example. You all know the fifth Harry Potter movie that mean lady Umbridge?” Most of us nod and whisper excitedly. “One of those first rules she nails to that wall….she gets rid of the freedomof assembly at Hogwarts” the bell rings then and we begin to pack up.
“Got it now Jonathan?” Mr. park asks and Jonathan nods, seeming a little overwhelmed and Mr. Park goes on. “There are plenty of other problems with communism but those are three things I think its missing. Now, we’ll talk more about Laos and have some more presentations on Monday have a great weekend!”
Notes
- The chinese mans name is Chen Guangcheng I’m not sure if all the facts are right or not but that’s what we discussed.
- This was based off of a conversation we had in my Social Studies class on May 4th.
- I did add a couple of things to explain the Freedoms better
- The topic of Laos came up with one of my friends presentations (we’re doing presentations on Asian countries) and his was Laos so we ended up talking about communism.
- Theresa, Jonathan, and Mr. Park are anonymous names, my name is obviously not.
-I just thought you might be interested from this conversation ’cause I was.
-Have a good weekend! 
-Grace T
Foreshadowing 2.0!!! 0_0
“Fine!” He snaps fighting hard not to shout. “Go, get out of here, avoid your past and run!” I hesitate and back up nervously, stooping low to grab my pack as I do so. I shift uncomfortably from foot to foot unable to make myself leave and Zacharias repeats. “Go!” Then something strange happens. His eyes glint turning a pale silvery color, blazing with white fury. Obediently we turn and run.
~~~
“We…as friends, companions?” I shake my head and don’t say anything more. I felt it recently, this strange sensation in the pit of my stomach, something that at first scared me but overtime I began to welcome and cherish. Now I move my face down slowly and connect my lips with her lightly.
I don’t know what I expect her to do, push me away maybe or just sit and wait unsure what to do, so Haley surprises me when her lips answer mine. We stay in that position for a long time.
Reader: What is this, why do you keep doing these weird foreshadows?
Grace: It’s a new book….
Reader: Well no duh, but why don’t you just put up the chapters now
Grace: The plots not in check I don’t want to make the same mistake I made with Angels and post it then go back and change a bunch of things
Reader: Fine…but hurry
Grace: No promises….
Homesick
“Thanks mom!” I call as I jump out of our grandparents car onto the street. She waves to me and drives away, I stand absently on the sidewalk corner for a moment, finally I look up at the street sign. It portrays in large white letters the name of the street I lived on for five years. I make my way wearily up the hill feeling spiders crawling along my stomach. Seeing all the houses again, and the school and park across the street is weird and surreal for me, seeing him though is even stranger.
We planned to meet here so I don’t know why it’s so strange to see him hanging around in front of his old house, at the top of the hill waiting. He’s facing the street, not expecting me to be walking part of the way. His peripheral vision must catch some faint movement though as I approach because he turns curiously and stares at me. I come to an abrupt halt in front of him. Neither of us says anything for a moment, we just stare at each other. He’s taller than he was and leaner with faint muscles visible on his arms and legs. His dark hair is grown about halfway down his neck and curls slightly at the end. His similarly colored eyes are the same thoughtful and serious features they always were. I don’t know what he makes of me the only thought I can form of him is that he’s so….different.
Finally we both step forward, neither of us saying a word but both wrapping our arms around each other in a semi-awkward semi-sweet hug. I don’t know what to say or what to do, my mouth is moving but nothing comes out. Finally he’s the one to break the silence.
“I missed you” the words break the spell I’m under and I laugh. When we finally pull back I look up at him and hesitate, shifting my weight from foot to foot.
“So…what do you want to do?” I ask curiously. He jerks his head toward the elementary school across the street.
“Suppose we just catch up a bit” I nod and follow him across the quiet street. We walk, we talk, and we laugh. It comes easily to me, we pause sometimes and look around where we are getting our bearings again, remembering what we used to do there and then moving on. We finish in one of the trees across the street, we’ve climbed higher than we did when we were younger because we’re older now, and watch the park. Everything’s a lot more different than it was two years ago but there’s still a lot of things that are eerily the same. We sit, and we watch, and we wait in a comfortable silence for a long time until he turns to face me. He opens his mouth, words about to spring from his lips-
I wake up abruptly with an agonized sob breaking through my throat and into the darkness of the room. I hear my roommate shift and stir slightly, I don’t let another sound escape my lips until I’m certain she’s gone back to sleep. Even then though I don’t make another sound I just let the warm tears slip down my cheeks until I feel somewhat better and then roll over, glance at the clock, and fall back into a troubled sleep trying to preserve a few hours of rest for school in the coming day.
- Grace T
