Mrs. Ho's AP Lit - 2021/2022

Who here can say they have some sort of comfort object? I’ve found that there is sort of a stigma around these objects even though a study showed that  35% of people in the British Isles say that they sleep with a comfort teddy bear. But I have a question: Why do we have comfort objects? Child psychology offers an explanation. Not to keep it too long winded, but it states that the child uses it as a transitional device. Which is essentially a device that helps keep a child grounded as they slowly transition away from dependency on the mother. (Should you want any more information on that, I'm not the person to talk to) And this makes sense. Of course, a child would need to have something to help go through that process. But, with that being said, what about nonphysical comfort things? What about things like songs? On that, I’m slightly more qualified to talk about. I have a few songs that offer comfort. One of those is Zombie Pop by DPR Ian. This song was shown to me by a friend an...

     How strange it is to see people fighting over such menial things. The way that people will find things that affect nothing and no one, and take that and argue. Witnessed an argument over whether firearms should be legal in the States. The opponent took the stance that it’s specified in the second amendment that we as a people have the right to keep and bear arms. (Mind you these are only thoughts, and these thoughts are affecting no one.) The other had taken the stance that if you have a firearm you are a criminal who will or already has murdered someone. (I will not be giving any sort of opinion as I'm more than sure it would lead to chaos.) And all through this encounter, all I could think was “What does this matter?” These two people were both strangers who by all accounts could have been friends, but when a singular topic arose they were at each other's throats calling each other “idiot” or “half witted” among other things. It's a shame. We all focus on each othe...

  I don’t often find myself being an emotional person. It’s just who I am. But recently I found myself going down a rabbit hole that almost brought a tear to my eye. I was reading an article about the Christmas Truce of 1914. What happened was, on the evening of December 24th, 1914, German forces on the western front began putting up candles and trees on the trench parapet. The two armies then began singing carols. They originally began to sing in competition with one another, but their songs eventually came together in the carol Silent Night. Soon thereafter, officers began to leave the trenches to discuss the possibility of a truce. After an agreement was struck, soldiers began to walk into no man’s land to gather and bury their dead and rest. Christmas Eve services were held on both sides, and soldiers would often attend the other’s services. On Christmas day there are reports of gifts such as chocolate, beer, cigarettes, and even clothes being given. As well there were soldiers...

     I’m sure many of you have already seen and made up your minds about the trial of one Kyle Rittenhouse. But we’re not here to talk about his potential guilt or innocence. But what we hopefully all can agree on, is that this trial is an absolute mess.      The first thing that I find somewhat hilarious is the incompetence on all sides. Within the first 15 minutes of the trial, the prosecutor attempted to use Kyle’s silence as a talking point for his guilt. But herein lies a problem. Our 5th amendment right grants us the ability to stay silent, so the prosecutor trying to use that as a talking point for Kyle’s guilt was seen as an infringement on his 5th amendment right. Another very infamous part of the trial was when testimony was given by Gaige Grosskreutz. When asked whether or not Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense, he was asked whether or not he chased Rittenhouse down with a pistol. Grosskreutz had said no. When prompted with video evidence he ...

  In his poem “On The Amtrak From Boston To New York City” Sherman Alexie describes his interactions with an older white lady sitting across from him while on the Amtrak from Boston to New York, and how the comments that the lady was making about the local landscape were extremely emotionally and internally conflicting for Alexie, who is a Native American. Shortly into their trip, the lady points out to Alexie a “house on the hill [that] is over two hundred years old,” but all Alexie can think about is how his culture and ancestors were inhabiting those lands “15,000 years… before” anyone else was there. This introduces the main theme of the rest of the poem, which is the obliviousness to the very racism and misrepresentation of Native Americans by white people in America. When the lady then asks if Alexie visited Walden Pond, he refrains from sarcastically responding about the “five Walden Ponds on [his] reservation out west,” and the other “hundreds surrounding Spokane,” because ...

  For those of you in our class who don’t know, soccer is one of my favorite sports. Coming from Chile, soccer is a major part of many young South American boys' upbringing, and it was no different for me, so when I moved here to the States I picked up right where I left off, and it’s only been up from there. This year, I am the captain of our Eagles varsity soccer team, a title that I feel I’ve worked extremely hard towards and one that I’ve earned, not received. Ever since joining the team my Freshman year, we’ve made the playoffs every season, and I don’t expect that streak to end under my captaincy. This year, we have a young yet hungry team, a team that’s going out onto the field and giving their all until the last minute. We have six starters that are underclassmen, which at first glance would seem like a disadvantage, but I’ll be the first to say that there’s not another group of guys that young in our soccer district that will put their blood and sweat into every play, and ...