Thornton Academy – AP Language 2018-2019

I’d like to think that I’ve babysat quite a bit in the past four years. Primarily for the same family, but each experience new and challenging. I have microwaved enough of Chef Boyardee’s Mini Raviolis to overflow our quaint little classroom. I’ve decided to share my top 5 babysitting fails in hopes to educate some and amuse all.

The first story comes from right at the very beginning of my trysts, at the tender age of 12. My little cousins (whom I shall call H, K, and R) were 2, 4, and 6, respectively. One of the perks of babysitting the same children is watching them grow up. H is now in the first grade, and R will enter middle school next year. K, however, maintains some of her toddler qualities — she still asks for lunch at 9 am. “It’s REALLY late.” She argues every time.

H was upstairs taking a nap in a cot set up for her. She is the cousin of K and R, and stays at their house frequently. R and K’s mom gave me all of the instructions, before offering a soft smile as she tugged on her sneakers and ventured into the snow of December break. I turned on a Disney movie and obliged K in a round of hide and seek. R has always been a stoic child, unless something involved arguing with her sister. She sat quietly and stared at the TV.

After awhile, I heard rustling upstairs. H was up; time to add another small child into the mix. I approached her cot, and H looked at me for a minute. “I wan’ Mama.” She voiced, before preceding to weep. I cringed internally — what does one tell a toddler that wants their mother? “Sorry, Mom is not available right now, leave a message with the clueless babysitter.” I proceeded to gather the crying child into my arms and take her downstairs. Luckily, she saw a Barbie doll and was forevermore distracted.

I was relishing in the relief that washed over my nervous being like The Ice Bucket Challenge when a rumble was heard. The roof began to shake and clatter, thunderously rattling the house on its concrete foundation. Was that a metaphor for beginning to babysit? Probably. I took a cursory glance towards under the table — a safe place for Earthquakes — but my feet stayed where they were. H screamed and clutched my ankle; I picked her up as the wails began again. K whimpered, standing up and scurrying to the glass doors that led to the backyard. R continued to watch the television. I joined K, and the three of us watched a mound of snow deposit itself onto the deck. All noise ceased, and the house was still once more.

Several theories ran through my head as I bounced H on my hip and stared outside in disbelief. Was the roof broken? Was there too much snow? Was the world ending? Would I, Grace, 12 year-old amateur babysitter, have to protect three little girls from a hoarde of feral zombies?

A few hours later, a car arrived in the driveway. Over K’s dramatic retelling of our hide-and-seek escapades, I informed R and K’s mom of the events that had transpired. She nodded all throughout the story, but her lips curled into an amused smile as the story wrapped up. Laughter bubbled inside her, it seemed, and spilled over when I finished. “Grace, this roof is metal. Snow falls off all the time.”

Oh.

                 (Twice, a Kpop group)

When I was in middle school, I came across a group called Girl’s Generation. They’re a Kpop group of 9 girls, and I became fascinated with their music videos and choreography. Even though I didn’t know what the lyrics meant (since they sing in Korean) I still loved the upbeat music style and cute video style.

I eventually became obsessed with some other videos and quickly forgot all about Kpop, until just a few months ago I saw a video of theirs pop up on my Instagram explore page.

I was shocked. I had completely forgotten all about Girl’s generation and Kpop, but it’s like the universe was sending me a sign. The video was a short clip from a YouTube react video. I quickly watched the whole video, and watched a different group, Momoland, react to many different Kpop music videos.

It was like I was in middle school again. I started watching all sorts of videos, and discovering new groups. Korean culture and music is so different from ours, and I think that’s why this genre intrigues me so much.

So, I decided I want to learn Korean, not only to understand the music, but because their culture interests me so much. Korean is not an easy language to learn, especially because they use Hangul, a completely different alphabet than ours. It’s quite the learning curve, and I’m still trying to completely memorize the different letters.

I made this challenge my New Year’s Resolution, and I hope that by the end of the year I will know lots of Korean words.

The newest art exhibit at Thornton Academy, featuring reimaginings of numerous cover designs by Mrs. Merry’s Illustration class, is nothing short of a varied display. Each piece in the show depicts a completely unique style, subject, and mood, with focuses on music to movies to films to podcasts. Each artist’s work shows a great level of thought and dedication, with several standout pieces.

The cover art dedicated to Brian Selznick’s, Hugo by Luc Thorington (‘20) is one of these. There is quite a contrast between colors in the piece, with varied metallic and neutral hues lain atop a deep blue background. The addition of white pen work also aids in helping elements of the work pop, prime examples being gears, title letters, and stars within the Paris skyline. The sheer amount of detail incorporated in this work also contribute to the clean and polished end product.

Another piece that pops in the current exhibit is Ana Pilioglos’ (‘20) Marvel inspired cover art. This is yet another piece where the amount of detail is quite extraordinary. Each individual feather of the wings of the main subject of the piece is illustrated and shaded, adding a visually appealing illusion of depth and shape. The same goes for the rest of the figure in focus, each detail of her armor, hair, and features finished to the very last dot and dash. 

Yet another standout piece is Cordelia Perry’s (‘19) cover art for The Magnus Archives. Perry’s piece shows extreme dedication, with numerous individual objects representing different episodes of the show, each one with its own fine details and monochrome shading. The composition of the work is also quite balanced, each object placed around the title words in a circular formation, creating emphasis on the words of the piece.

Despite these special mentions, there is no weak piece in the cover art exhibit. The variation of the exhibit offers a small bit of insight into each artist’s interests. Individual style is also put on display in this exhibit. No piece looks the same, and the style, color palette, and general technique reflect the theme and mood of each focus subject.

All in all, the most recent exhibit from Thornton Academy’s Illustration class is well put together and successful, and worth the short time it takes to walk through and view it in the gallery.   

It’s been so long since the last time I read a book quietly and finished it within one day. If it’s not because my phone was out of battery on a journey to another city, I might be able to read through this book within weeks, or longer. I used to love reading books, and I still do, but it’s more like reading books to waste time now. I always find myself excuses to not read a book, like I don’t have time for it, or I don’t like the way the author writes. However, this book gave me a feeling of power, and it settled my impetuous heart down.

In The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, a man walked six hundred miles alone to a hospital, delivering a message of hope, for a person, for a wish. It’s not a path to a holy city or sacred place, it’s a path to his own heart.

When I was reading this book, there were lots of fragmentary thoughts and ideas shining with pieces of light coming out of my head. I wanted to write them down in case of letting them sliding away, but I was also worried that my simple and clumsy words could not accurately describe my feelings. Nevertheless, I wanted to have a try anyway, just like Harold in the story.

Family of Origin.

If you heard about this phrase or know something about it, you would understand how important it is for each of us. This phrase helps explain the settings of this story. When Harold was still a young boy, his mother left him and his father; and at the age of 16, Harold’s father kicked him out of the house. Harold was a child who never experienced love from his parents, so he didn’t know how to express his love to his son David, who was unemployed after graduating from Cambridge, addicted to drink and drugs, committed suicide in the garden shed where he was discovered by the father with whom he barely ever communicated, and spurned at his father until his death.

If the problems between parents and children are not taken good care of, unsolved issues will be passed to the following generations. The same problems will happen again and sometimes the problems get worse.

Years later, Harold finally faced himself and his inner pain about being abandoned by his parents, about his son’s suicide, about his loss of responsibility. Harold ran away from all these painful moments for several decades and his wife Maureen had been estranged from him like a stranger for twenty years. Harold loved them, his sone and his wife, but too much pain had kept him from expressing love.

Until a sudden decision, a madness he had never tried in his life, he walked down a highway to the North, to a strange place where a dying friend Queenie Hennessy was waiting for his hope of life.

Giving and Accepting.

There will be many people coming and going, meeting and parting during a journey. They spend some time together, share their stories, and the leave. On the way to his friend, Harold met a lot of people who offered him help, sometimes a piece of bread, sometimes a cup of hot tea, sometimes a place to stay overnight, and sometimes words of encouragement.

Harold was afraid to accept the kindness at the beginning, until one day, he finally realized that accepting was as important as giving. “They had offered him comfort and shelter, even when he was afraid of taking them, and in accepting, he had learned something new. It was as much of a gift to receive as it was to give, requiring both courage and humility.”

Harold started learning to give a hand to those in need and to accept kindness readily. He opened up himself little by little and his eyes began to be filled with joy. He was no longer the retired old man hiding himself deeply and doing nothing about his life. The vitality of life gradually increased during the interaction and exchange, and even his wife Maureen, who initially complained bitterly about his departure, began to support his move.

Sharing turns out to be a two-way communication.

Letting Go.

“In walking, he unleashed the past that he had spent twenty years seeking to avoid, and now it chattered and played through his head with a wild energy that was its own.”

Harold realized that people need to let go things they thought they can never live without. Harold let go not only things like money, credit card, phone, or map, but also his inner pain, grief, and regrets. For so many years, he could not forgive himself for his son’s death and the estrangement from his wife. He tried to hide himself, lower his head, and become an invisible man, so that no one could find out his guilts.

Harold did nothing wrong except for one thing. He had forgiven his mother who ran away from home, his father who kicked him out of the house, and his parents never teaching him how to love and how to express love, but he did not forgive himself. His wife Maureen could not forgive Harold as well, for the loss of their son and destroying the happy life they were supposed to have.

“The only difference is that I am getting used to the pain. It’s like discovering a great hole in the ground. To begin with, you forget it’s there and keep falling in. After a while, it’s still there, but you learn to walk around it.” It was this pilgrimage that finally put the burden of the twenty years’ estrangement off their shoulders.

Letting go of the past and the guilt and opening up the heart will free the true feelings buried deeply.

In this way, it will be natural to forgive the fast and each other; In this way, it will be natural to find the initial sense of loving and moving.

Face it, share it, and let it go.

Forgive and love.

Everyone is on their own pilgrimage.