Monday, October 20, 2014

The Following Eye

The meaning of my picture is that everywhere we go people always judge what they see, and this is because society makes us judge others by the way people dress, speak to one another, etc. My picture shows this because no matter where we are in the world, there is always a sunset and the eye is always there with it.





Sunday, October 19, 2014

What Will We Eat Next?


"Used Tires." Wholesale Used Tires.
Rayan Used Tire Wholesale, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.
 
 
"McDonald’s Takes Down Starbucks."
 Guardian Liberty Voice.
 Guardian Liberty Voice, 9 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Oct. 2014
 
 
 
7/19/2194
Dear Diary,
[Come and get our new menu! McTires-All healthy and all organic
Try out our new slushi as well! Orient-oil slushi]
McTires’ release is tomorrow and I’m going to McDonalds with my friend Patricia, who will be filming for me. I can’t wait!



I’m Teresa, 16, and I’m a huge fan of McDonald’s. I post reviews on Youtube of newly introduced burgers and any other McDonalds food you can find here in Spain. I don’t just eat and share my thoughts, but I actually tear the burgers apart and explain what’s in them as well. Thanks to my fans I reached 13 million views on my last video, ‘How to enjoy crispy french wires with iron-ato ketchup.’ Why do I like McDonalds? Well, there are a number of reasons why but I’ll mention three. First, the fresh and healthy ingredients. McDonald cultivates its own crops from wood-berries to iron-ato. (By the way iro-nato is the round, red colored fruit, you all know that right?) Second, they never disappoint me with new menus. They are always creative and thoughtful in providing healthy food for us! Lastly, they maintain a clean cooking environment: no dust, no bugs, and no vegetables. This is crucial. There are some restaurants that smuggle green veggies like cabbage and radish that I never, ever want to imagine having in my food and it’s also illegal. Cheap, unhealthy stuff never is included at McDonald’s.


The next day
“Pat!! Hurry up!!” I shouted. I waved my hands so that she could clearly see where I was.
“I’m coming!” Pat replied.
I was so eager that it felt like hours waiting for her to just walk from her class to the gate.
“Get on your bike and let’s go! Pat, you brought the camera?”
“Yup.”
“Brought the mic?”
“Yup.”
“Ok, we’re all set!

At McDonalds
As we entered the building, I could already smell the lovely scent of burgers and wires. There was a long line of people by the counter, all wanting to try the new burger. It was a crowded place, but I always liked this atmosphere, so waiting in line wasn’t a big deal for me. After waiting 15 minutes, it was our turn and as usual we ordered 2 of each new food. After waiting another 10  minutes, we were able to get our food and we sat at the table by the corner so we could film in a quiet place.
“Ok Pat. Start filming.”
Filming
“Hellooo! This is Teresa and today I’ll be introducing you the new burger, McTires. I haven’t tried it yet, but just by looking at it makes me drool! The burger on the outside looks like McMetal but with tire buns. I’ll open it up and explain all the ingredients. I can see McDonalds tried their best to make the buns look as tasty as putting washer seeds on them. ……Wait.” I stopped talking.I saw something. A green something in between the tire and the silvery metal meat.
“What’s wrong? You were doing great till now.” Pat noticed something was going wrong.
“Is that a green leaf that I’m seeing?” I asked her back to make sure I wasn’t daydreaming.
“What? You kidding?”
“No, I really mean it. Come and have a look!”
“…it is…a green leaf.”
I was shocked. I couldn’t believe my eyes that I actually saw green stuff on my burger. I trusted McDonalds my 16 years of life that they only used healthy ingredients.
“Teresa, what should we do now?”
“Pat, I am so disgusted by McDonalds. Keep filming and let’s spread this word out to the world.”
“Okay. Back to the video. I had to stop filming because I saw a freaking green leaf in my burger! As you all know, I’m a great fan of McDonalds but I can’t stand this. They actually used vegetables….”

Next morning
Breaking News
Good morning, and here is a shocking news.
McDonalds, a restaurant renowned for using only healthy ingredients, was revealed to have been smuggling green vegetables through a secret route via shipping. Last night, the popular Youtuber, teen Teresa, has uploaded a video on what was supposed to be an introduction of the new burger, McTires. However, after discovering a piece of green leaf in the tire buns, the video became an expose to the world. The word is spreading quickly and there are boycott movements beginning. And yet, McDonalds hasn’t made their official announcement. MBS News, Andrea.
It was the top story on the morning news. The entire world knew. The video I posted was viewed 8 million times just in one night.
Then there was a phone call for me.
RRrrrrring
“Hello?”
“Hi Teresa, it’s me, your grandmother.”
“Aww granny, so nice to hear from you!”
“I saw your name in the news today, you know, about McDonalds.”
“Oh yeah, I still can’t believe McDonalds did that! I am really disappointed.”
“I wanted to tell you a little story, is it an okay time to do that right now?”
“Sure. What is it?”
“About 100 years ago when I was your age, we would have never dreamt of eating tires, drinking oils, or anything like that. Rather eating vegetables was a normal thing to do. So much happened during the next 100 years that we ended up assigning vegetables as toxic and started eating manufactured materials.”
“Really? How come you never told me that before? What happened in the 100 years?”
“After seeing the morning news today, I thought I had to tell you this. Darling, when I was young, the whole world was green unlike the one we live in now; all grey and deserted. I would grow my own fruits and vegetables to eat. Then all of a sudden, an obsolete satellite hit the Earth and changed the whole world. Well, it wasn’t all of a sudden actually. We all caused this by ourselves, technological development was happening rapidly that no one could stop. Me and a few others were the only survivors of the incident and we decided to keep this a secret and rebuild the world.  I’m afraid what we will be eating after the next century if another massive change happens to the world. Maybe there won’t be enough metals, rubbers, and wood for all of us to eat by then.”
Then she hung up, leaving behind so many questions in my head.That was the end of the call with no further explanation.


Chick-fil-A

The art piece "Chick-fil-A" is showing animals taking the place of humans: animals treating humans the way that humans treat animals. The truck for the fast food restaurant is picking up meat that they will kill and prepare later. Instead of animals being used, the girls are being used. "Chick-fil-A" is trying to express that we should treat the animals on this planet correctly, and remember that they have rights as well. It is revealing how we support animal cruelty everyday, by eating and giving money to meant companies that torture their animals and kill them in inhumane ways.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

The Lone Sailor



A lone sailor has decided to set sail the seas and have been polluted. His only source of movement is the bathtub.There is a huge storm and his ship gets lost in the sea. He can see land far away. The mountains look much closer than they really are. The trash that surrounds the bathtub shows there is not enough space in the bathtub. The storm is shaking his bathtub and slowly making him sink.The sailor is going to swim to his love who is in another country thousands of kilometers away. Before the storm and before the world was polluted he was a sailor and a fisherman. But after the pollution the fish died. Most people lost their jobs and their property; in this occasion the sailor has lost his boat.


Friday, October 17, 2014

The Dead Wed

In this picture you can see the wedding between a living groom and a dead bride. The view point is on the couple and the priest. The statement that I want to show is the difference between rich and poor. This is shown with that fact that the human family has to stand or sit on the ground, while that dead family has riches, like chairs and a buffet. The wedded couple is standing with the priest in the middle of the picture. It's most likely midday and it's in the 21 century. The magical realism is that necrophilia is completely in this world and even marrying a dead body is fine.

Chaotic Beauty

This art piece is titled 'Chaotic Beauty' in order to describe and show the different meanings behind all the items in this piece. The first symbol is the rose. The rose can symbolize two opposite tings, beauty and blood. The beauty part of the rose is shown on the left side, where a butterfly and bees are also located. The blood is shown on the other side. The ocean, where the rose-planted ship is floating on, also has an oxymoron symbolism. The ocean can represent the calm and cleanness, where there is no human influence, and the chaotic polluted area where there is influence. This is represented in the piece by splitting the scene into half and showing these symbols. Water pollution is the main theme that is being presented. This piece shows how beautiful the ocean is without any influence of human. 

Day and Night

scan0001.jpg
Time has changed on planet Earth. People have changed on planet Earth.  Every Day since January 10, 2101 people have been waking up during the night and sleeping thru the day. Nobody has a clue on as to why or even what made this dramatic change. All they know is that there is no going back. Emma, the girl depicted in this photo is sleeping thru the daylight and awaking during the nightfall. You can see Emma’s skin is a washed out : she doesn't get enough sunlight to get a pleasant light brown skin tone.




The Storm Break

Marshall, Taylor. "Did God Send the Tornado? The Problem of Natural Evils." Taylor Marshall PhD. N.p., 21 May 2013. Web. <http://taylormarshall.com/2013/05/did-god-send-tornado-problem-of-natural.html>.
The old lady glanced down at her sandaled feet and, after a drawn-out exhale, she began.“It was a rather unremarkable morning. Daily occurrences passed without notice from the few early risers traversing the quiet streets of Charlesville. The last withered leaves of autumn fell in succession down to the road, illuminated by the first lights of dawn. The sleeping townspeople were roused by floods of warm light as the sun made its ascent. The dull murmur of human noise gradually grew louder until cars began to leave their driveways, mothers sent their children off to school, husbands kissed their wives goodbye. Yes, it had indeed seemed as though the world had been meticulously staged to look like a perfectly uneventful collection of hours.”
She took another breath and continued on in her old Southern drawl, “I felt something that day. A spark in the air, a near undetectable static prick and yet still, I could feel it as I rose unsteadily from my bed. I remember wiping the sensation from my face, my arms, my hands and ambling downstairs uneasily.
“‘Father?’ I called as I walked groggily to the kitchen.
“‘Father?’ my voice echoed forlornly through the still house, mixed with the metal clang of spoon against bowl while I ate my cereal. I always used to roll my tired, hazel eyes at his habitual absence. He wasn’t ever home.
“‘He still isn’t back,’I meant to think, but the words slipped slyly through my lips. I returned to my bedroom to change into my school uniform. The stiff polyester of my plaid skirt abraded my dry, pale skin, and I let out my usual, seven AM ‘ugh.’ A glance to the mirror, showing a mass of frizzy auburn locks, provoked another moan.” The old lady’s eyes trailed off, and she laughed without humor.
“I heard the familiar click of the lock as I opened the door to go. It was then that it began. The hall light fizzled out, and I was left in the dull morning sun’s haze. A thunderous crash sounded from a few miles off, followed by a cacophony of piercing sirens. I fell against the door in shock. Nobody would have thought Charlesville. We were a little town in the South, and the harshest weather we had ever experienced was summer showers. Yes, the scientists did warn us about the effects of our actions, but people never listen.
“I tried desperately to collect myself when a second gust shook our house to its very foundation. A family picture smashed down to the floor. A crystal vase abloom with dead flowers toppled, dousing me with a drizzle of dirty water. I ran to the street and merged with the crowd of the panicked and hysterical. I recall following their eyes up to the blackened clouds, and gazing with horror at the sight I beheld.
“Through the overhanging trees, the sky was storming with thick, swirling tornadoes, their sickly shadows imprinted on the tarmac, moving closer by the second. My head swam in a sudden wave of nausea, and I tilted it back down only to find I was now alone. The townspeople had all bolted to their homes to collect their children and flee while they still could. I stood, petrified, before another blast stirred me into action. I ran to my neighbors’ house as they were just pulling out of their garage.
“‘Mr. Johnson! Mr. Johnson please!’I pleaded through the glass window. Mr. Johnson briefly shut his eyes as if to say ‘I hear you, but I won’t change my mind.’
“‘Please, Mrs. Johnson, my dad isn’t home, he has the car, I don’t know what to do. Please let me come with you. I have no where to go. My dad..’ My words came stumbling out one on top of the other as I was sprinting alongside the ever-hastening car. They finally escaped their long driveway, and left me desolate, coughing up their grey exhaust.
“In choking tears, I came back to the deserted main street. I collapsed in heaving sobs, my shaking hands grasping the ends of my skirt. The roar of the storm was deafening, its increasing volume speeding time and the world was set in droning fast-motion. I felt the hollow, disabling awareness that I was completely alone. As fast as my legs could take me, I ran home. As the houses of the departed passed by in a colorless blur, the tornados reached the quiet streets of Charlesville. Invisible hands pushed my thin, wispy body and I flew five yards, landing on my side. Oh god, the pain screamed. I let out a cry of pure agony and pushed up from the gravel. There was no time to lose. In my dazed, slightly concussed mind, that notion shone with complete clarity. It was do or die.
“Behind me, trees were being uprooted and spiralling to the ground, houses were crumbling. The newly paved road was severed into chunks of black rock and the sky was thick with ash and debris. The world was being churned into a throng of physical chaos, and all I could do was run.”
The old woman’s face lit up, and she gazed into the middle distance with a hint of a smile at her lips.
“But then, in the midst of all this destruction and tumult, the tornado suddenly stood still. Perfectly, blessedly still. The tremendous sound died out like smoke in the breeze as the tornado stopped rotating around its axis. I looked around in astonishment, before realizing that this was my chance. I reached my house, still intact, and barreled down to the basement. I threw myself in a room stocked with peas and bottled water, and I waited.” She closed her eyes, and sat in thought for a while before continuing.
“The tornado began again on its path of death, and I sat, holding my breath for my inevitable end. But it never came. Oh yes, the house was gone. Charlesville had ceased to exist in a matter of minutes, because we didn’t listen. We were warned, yet still in our innate stubbornness, we decided not to listen to the men in white coats. All was lost because of it, and now there are so few of us left.”





The Delusional Puppetmaster

There is a small stage, with puppets on it, and a dark shadowy figure watching over them. The puppets are anxious, solemn, and even dead. These puppets represent the people, who have decided to take narcotics, but have taken it too far. Narcotics is the shadowy figure, wearing a mask with a smile, creating an illusion that what it does is perfectly fine and that having the more of it, the better. Making the puppets need more, making them greedy, messing with their minds, and killing them. The sky is dark for a reason: his is the atmosphere the people are in, a dark, dreaded, and cold world with nothing to give them warmth. They thought that the drugs would provide it, that the drugs would accept them, but what they thought was only determined by the mask the drugs wear.

Time Stopper



"Apple Watch." Apple. Apple Inc, 9 Sept. 2014. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.


The day had finally come, the day Apple was releasing the Apple Watch. I had arranged for it to arrive at my sister’s house in New Rochelle and I convinced my brother-in law David, to come visit and bring the watch straight to Israel. The UPS man arrived with the delivery at 11AM. By 5PM David had boarded his ELAL flight for Israel.
The flight started like any other– dinner, movies, and a nap. Then, suddenly in the middle of the night, the plane was hit by lightning while flying over the Atlantic Ocean. David felt the plane lurched forward. The engine screamed out at full throttle. The lights repeatedly flickered on and off. David had no idea what was going on. People were yelling. The pilot hurriedly announced to the passengers to immediately fasten their seatbelts. There was a sharp flash of light in the pitch black sky. The cabin was lit up like the middle of the day. And then, silence, as if nothing had occurred.
The one strange thing was, David’s iPad that he was watching a movie on seemed to have lost time (right in the middle of the movie he was watching). Everything seemed to disappear. It did turn on, but it was as if it was brand new. Everything was erased. My brother-in law was annoyed, but he figured he would see me in a few hours and I would be able to fix it. At noon, five hours later, his flight landed in Ben-Gurion airport. I was so excited I insisted on skipping school that day and went with my dad to Ben Gurion to meet him. After waiting an hour, David emerged from Customs. David was excited to be here, and while as I was happy to see him, what I really wanted was what he was carrying – MY Apple Watch.
For the past three weeks I had been working with the new Apple Watch SDK (Software Development Kit) developing a new watch app. I couldn't wait to actually try it on an actual device.
My dad couldn't drive fast enough on the road back to our apartment in Tel-Aviv. He dropped David and I off in front of our apartment and then went to go park the car. I rushed up stairs, went into my room, and opened the box. I couldn't believe it was finally mine. I took out the watch, and connected it up my computer to load my new app. I started playing with the controls. Suddenly, immediately after I turned the Digital Crown counter-clockwise, everything in the room stopped, like it was suddenly frozen. Everything, that is, except for me. Our TV froze. My dog Charlie who had just been running around in my room froze. I couldn't understand what was happening. I could move, but everything around me stopped. This was just a watch, right? I stood there, wondering whether I was dreaming. Could this be real?
The only thing moving, was a stopwatch that was running on the watch. It was counting down from 30. When it got to 0, everything began to move again. Everything returned to normal. I was shocked. I wasn't sure what to do. I was waiting for my dad to come back to tell him what had just happened.
Finally he came back. I told him the story and he looked at me like I had hit my head. “How is that possible” he said? I said “Here I’ll show you”. Once again I turned the Digital Crown counter-clockwise and everything froze – including my dad. The watch counted down from 30 again and then everything returned to normal. I said to him: “See what happened?” He looked at me and said: “What are you talking about? Nothing happened. One minute you put your hand on the watch and then took it off and asked me if I saw what I thought.”
Then I had an idea. I looped my hand around his arm so we were physically connected and I turned the Digital Crown again. This time everything seemed to stop in the house, except this time my dad saw it too. We both watched as the watch counted down from 30, after which things returned to normal. We looked at each other with wide eyes: “What on earth could this be? However magical the Apple Watch is, how could this watch seem to stop time?”
I mentioned the fact that I heard from my brother-in law that during his flight to Israel some strange things happened to the plane. Had that given the Apple Watch special powers? How could we take advantage of this special watch? My first thoughts were to pull some pranks on my sister and friends. Maybe I could use a marker and draw a mustache on my sister during those 30 seconds when time froze. Or maybe I could disable the computer of one of my “favorite” teachers.
My father said: “This is an amazing thing, but we must make sure we use it for good.”  I wasn't sure what to do, but I figured ideas would turn up. Later that afternoon, I was walking to a restaurant and saw an old man crossing the street. Suddenly, he began to trip. Instantly, I turned the Digital Crown and everything stopped. The man who was falling stopped short as he was about to fall. As the clock counted down, I ran over to him, and straightened him out. I walked away before the 30 seconds were over and the man continued walking as if nothing had happened.

“WOW” I said to myself, how many people can I help in 30 seconds? At that moment, I understood the Jewish proverb that “saving one life is like saving an entire world.” The watch, (this very, very strange watch), had not turned me into a superman, but it had given me 30-second windows to help people. Somehow, I felt that if I continued helping people the unexplained power of the watch would remain. I wondered what would happen if I used the watch to do something bad (Like lifting some money from a cash register.) I decided I never wanted to find out the answer to that question. So instead, I vowed to only use this amazing watch for good.

Lunch Time

Magical realism is used with the information noted in his food. In this image you can see the dead, yet, "alive" man having a normal and casual lunch. In his plate you can notice the strings of information and newspaper headlines which is actually his pasta, indicating that he’s eating information. In this drawing I am trying to put an emphasis on the consumption of information that we as humans have on a daily basis. Nowadays, we "eat information" so often that its almost impossible not to learn something new everyday. This information could be coming from the internet, the classroom, the radio in the car, even from the applications on our cell-phones.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Lily

My name is Dan Evans; I am 33 years old and live in Copenhagen. At the age of 21, I got in a car crash with my brother. While driving home from a family party on a lonely country road, he hit a dear crossing the road. The car flipped and hit a tree. He came out with a broken rib but I suffered a far more important injury. I fell into a coma with some severe brain damage. I woke up after 17 months. After a month of rehabilitation I got out. I had been told there would be some side effects from the medications, like nausea or headaches, but I wasn't prepared for what was ahead of me. I started having weird visions of myself at night that I couldn't control. None of my doctors could find an explanation for it. They performed many test on me, trying to figure out what was wrong with me. They even came up with a name for it, “Dreams”.
My “dreams” were most often pleasant scenes, me saving the princess from the burning flames for example. However the occasional “scary dreams” would leave me unable to fall back asleep. I would sometimes dream of monsters chasing me and no matter how much I ran they would always be there. After about 2 months, I started to occasionally get up during my sleep and do stuff around the house, but have no memory of it the next morning. After that, my neighbors moved away 2 weeks later believing I was possessed after hearing me talk to myself at 4 in the morning. Most people thought the “devil” was the only explanation for my dreams, and tried to avoid me. I didn't blame them: I was pretty scared myself. It took 4 years after the accident for my life to finally start getting back on track. I still had dreams almost every night, but people stopped trying to avoid me on the streets.
One morning, I woke up with a note written on a piece of cardboard on my porch saying: “Finally someone who understands me.” While wondering who had written it, I decided to eat breakfast in the city center. I ordered a coffee on the café on Mill’s Street and asked myself what that note meant. Was there someone else out there who dreamt every night as well? At that very moment I felt a hand touch my back. I turned around only to see a woman staring at me. She looked me in the eyes and her dry lips slowly pronounced the only word I wanted to hear…”DREAMS”
She fell into my arms and we stayed there for god knows how long. It was dark when we got out of the café. We drove back home and she told me everything about herself. Her name was Lily; she was born with the ability to dream. She came from a poor family. She was seven when she realized none of her friends dreamt at night. Her parents thought she became insane and left her on the street where she lived her whole life. She heard of me 7 months ago after hearing my former neighbors speaking about me and was looking for me ever since. She walked 4,953 kilometers to find me.

We are now married and have two kids, thankfully none of them dream.

Breus, Michael. "Sleep Well." Web MD. N.p., 22 July 2010. Web. 17 Oct. 14.

Easy Money



The painting is called Easy Money. This collage is based on magical realism. Magical realism is when one adds magical elements, but portrays them as part of everyday life. Likewise, in this collage the displayed tree is a money tree, which grows money instead of leaves. Since there is no tree which grows money, this demonstrates magical realism. A boy, who is sleeping in the tree hole, reflects that if there is a tree which grows money, everyone will become lazy. This collage gives a moral:" Work hard to earn money, and don't depend on others for anything."

City Grey







As always, Jonathan woke up at 6 a.m: his job required him to. He got out of bed, showered, brushed his teeth, got dressed, and ate his breakfast. He was still a bit tired from his birthday party the previous night, so he decided to drink a cup of coffee. He left his house and saw the usual white buildings and white streets. He hopped on his white bike and started heading to work. On the way, he passed his buddy Spencer, who was in his white car. They each said good morning, exchanged some words, and then each went their own way. He decided to take the road next to The Fence this morning, because he liked looking at City Black. Jonathan lives in City White, along with all of the other light skinned people. He rarely managed to get even a tiny glimpse of a dark skinned person in City Black. However, he saw a dark skinned woman this morning, as he was riding along The Fence. He never quite understood why they were separated like this, but it had always been that way, and he didn’t like it. Along with his close friends, Jonathan had started a group called City Grey a couple of years back. City Grey is where Jonathan worked. It was a group of a few hundred light skinned people, who were building a third city in which light and dark skinned people could live together, with no separation. The city was coming along great, and they would be done in a little over a year. The government even approved of this and were funding them. He was the head engineer in City Grey. His girlfriend, Molly, planned the entire city, and his best friend, Matt, was the head builder. On the way, about five minutes from City Grey, he saw Molly sitting on a bench, crying her heart out. He stopped his bike and rushed over to her.

“Molly, what’s wrong?”, he asked in a soothing tone. 

“Jonathan!” she said between sobs, “it’s terrible, you have to see it, then you will know what’s wrong.” 

She took Jonathan to City Grey, and when he saw it, he fainted…


When Jonathan awoke, he saw a blurry image of his friend Matt. Jonathan realized he was drenched in sweat, which wasn’t too comfortable.

Matt greeted him by saying, “Happy birthday Johnny!” 

Jonathan had completely forgotten he was turning 27 that day. He saw Molly a few meters away, still crying, with her blonde hair in a mess.

“What happened? Who did this?” Jonathan asked Matt. 

Matt replied, “I have no idea, but whoever it was, they must hate City Grey.” 

Jonathan looked back behind him to see what remained of City Grey. Once a beautiful city, City Grey was just gone, crushed down into ash, dust, and pieces of buildings. He couldn’t look at it anymore. He turned his head and saw his muscular friend Matt trying to comfort Molly. Matt had always been a good hearted, kind person. He was always there for Jonathan, no matter what. Suddenly, Jonathan heard footsteps from coming from behind him. He turned and saw two men in black suits and sunglasses. He got the feeling that they knew what had happened to City Grey.

“This is the end of City Grey.” They said in total sync. “If you continue this project, you and your group will be taken care of.” 

Jonathan suddenly felt overwhelmed. 

“Who are you?” he asked them. 

“We are The Control. If anyone tampers with our system, they will feel our wrath creeping down their spines.”

He was convinced they were responsible for the destruction of City Grey. What was he to do now? Everything he had ever worked for was destroyed. There had to be a way to fix this. While he was deep in thought, the two men had disappeared, leaving him completely discombobulated. He rushed over to his friends and told them what had just happened. Enraged, the three of them agreed to not give up, and start again from scratch.

In two weeks, they, along with the whole crew, managed to clean up the rubble. Then they started rebuilding. Every month, they would complete a building, but every time they would finish, it would be gone the very next day. Despite the fact that they were obviously in danger, they kept fighting, and didn’t give up. Their cause was much too dear for them to give up. Around a year after the first visit of the two men, Jonathan saw them again. The two men told him that they had been too kind to him. They also warned him that the next building they built, would be their last. Jonathan didn’t care, but most of the crew did, most of them left, and all that remained of them were 50 people, including himself, Molly, and Matt. Every day that they continued building, another crew member would disappear, but they still didn’t give up.They finally completed the building, with only 20 of them remaining. The next day, Jonathan expected to go to City Grey, and find nothing, just as he had for the for the past 2 years, but the building was still there when he got there. He was ecstatic because it had finally worked, they had won and they never gave up, they never stopped fighting, and that rewarded them with the best feeling ever. They were all so happy and decided to get started on the next building. Just as they were about to start, Jonathan saw two dark figures in the background, he immediately knew what was happening. Before he could do anything, there was a massive flash of light. After the flash, they were all gone, and the two men walked off as if nothing ever happened. 



"Black-and-white City." Dreamstime. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014. 
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-black-white-city-image23916421









The Story of No One


McClelland, Daniel. "Invisible Man - A Literary Lesson for Better Financial Vision | Quizzle.com Blog." Quizzle Wire. N.p., 26 June 2012. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.
Stanley is special. All his life, Stanley has never been acknowledged as living. If you ask anyone about Stanley, they will stare at you blankly as if you had asked them if they had seen a ghost. Stanley was born in a big town in the Eastern United States. He was dropped off at an orphanage at the age of 5 and was given the unfortunate nickname of “No One.” Stanley was, and still is, a soft spoken person, who likes to stay to himself, yet deep down inside he is quite lonely and really wants to be loved and famous. However, his dream of being famous is just that, a dream.
On September 1st, while Stanley was working at his office reminiscing his favorite memory, his 7th Birthday at Chuck E Cheese (where nobody came to celebrate) and getting the job he currently works at (He was given the job without an interview and when he looked up his name on the company website, he was called Error #404 Employee Not Found). Stanley decided that he was going to go out and change his life that very day. When work was over, Stanley went out on a shopping trip and bought the baggiest clothes he could find, and a hat which he turned upside down to try to look like his fellow co-workers. However, when he got to the counter, the clerk didn’t even ask for money and instead kept his back to Stanley and continued to play “Candy Crush.” Stanley put the cash on the counter, however, instead of feeling saddened by the lack of hospitality, Stanley remembered that he had overheard his colleague talking about having a party later that day.
Stanley rushed to his ostrich and rode it straight to the colleague's house. The party had already started, but Stanley wasn’t bothered since nobody realised that he had snuck in. After searching for his so that he could party, he finally found them at the bar drinking like mad men. Deciding to fit in with his colleagues, he made the snap decision of drinking with them, which was a problem since Stanley had never drank before. After having the time of his life with his colleagues, he decided around 2 am that it was a good time to go home.  Hours later, after riding home and passing out, Stanley woke up and thought that surely he had managed to fit in.
With this attitude, Stanley went into the office, ready to talk about the great time he had experienced with his newfound friends. However, at lunch they ignored Stanley and kept on eating as if Stanley wasn’t even there. Finally when they did talk about the party, they didn’t even mention Stanley or the amazing time they had with him. Stanley, shocked at this, decided to go on a walk to clear his head, since he was feeling a little bit drunk.
After a while of walking, Stanley was wondering about his life, wondering why no one noticed him and why everyone seemed unable to see him. After calming himself, he decided to think about the previous night and what had gone wrong. After reflecting for several hours,he came to a conclusion. Instead of trying to be like everyone else, he should have tried to be himself. If he had been Stanley, he would have stood out, and instead of feeling sad for himself, Stanley would have been satisfied with his life.
Then Stanley heard a scream, looking over he saw a crowd of people staring at a burning house. The source of the scream was a baby trapped inside. Stanley decided that he would be himself and not be a bystander. Rushing forward, Stanley entered the burning house, ran up the stairs, and entered the nearest room. Luckily the baby was in that room. Stanley rushed, grabbed the baby and then furiously ran down the stairs. Just as Stanley got out of the burning house, it collapsed. Much to Stanley’s surprise people were clapping and cheering Stanley on. Never before had Stanley been so happy and satisfied. The mother of the baby thanked Stanley profusely and at that very moment Stanley realized what he wanted to do in life.
After being recognized by the community, Stanley left his boring job and became a doctor. For the first time ever, Stanley knew exactly what he wanted to do in his life. At first he had a hard time adjusting to being a student but soon enough, after trying hard at school, he graduated top of the class. After becoming a doctor, Stanley went on to be one of the best doctors in the city, and to this day he has had no regrets.


Karma Hurts

Image source: "Do Jocks Get Breaks? UMKC Prof Says College Made Athlete's F Magically Go Away." Daily RFT. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.

It was nearing the end of the WBAIS school year, only about two months left until graduation. Max and I were sitting next to each other in math class; we were about to get the results of the test we took last week.

“You think he’ll ace this one too?” I said to Max, pointing at Dave. Dave was this popular, buff, big shot kid in my grade who never did his homework or studied for any tests and somehow managed to pull off straight A’s throughout all of high school. Max and I were just two average kids in the grade who always studied together for tests, and got mostly C’s and B’s, with the occasional A.

“Here they come,” Max said as Ms. Marcus was passing back the tests. We were stressed as usual, waiting to see what Dave would get.

“100% boys!” Dave turned to us waving his test in the air, with a big red 100 circled on the first page.

“Better luck next time,” Ms. Marcus said giving Max and me our tests. I got a 74, and Max got a 71. This type of situation repeated itself over and over for the past four years. Max and I weren’t surprised anymore; we wouldn’t even get mad.

As we walked out of class the typical conversation happened, “How the heck does he keep doing this over and over again for four years in a row? It’s literally unbelievable, it’s like magic,” Max said to me.

“I don’t know,” I responded and  tried to think about how Dave could have pulled this off and if there was some kind of technique he was using that we could learn. “Maybe he’s cheating.” That was all I could think of.   

Dave aced every unit test of that school year and we got mostly B’s. We still couldn’t figure out how he was doing it, and all he would tell us is that he doesn’t study. I wondered how he would do on finals.

There was three weeks till finals, Max and I started making study guides and quizzing each other. We were working hard to get good grades, but even more than that we wanted to beat Dave for once. Those three weeks I had never worked harder. I had no free time at all. The first day of finals finally arrived.

“I’m ready to ace these finals,” said Dave as we walked to the gym to take our tests. “Did you guys study?” he asked us with mockery.

“Yes, but not too hard.” I said trying to sound cool. “Did you?” I asked in a trembling voice.

“You know the answer to that question, Rick.” he said laughing at us and then walked ahead to talk to his friends.

“Man I hate him,” Max said to me. “I hope he fails all his finals and becomes a janitor for the rest of his life.”

About two weeks later, while it was already summer and we were just relaxing at Max’s house by the pool, I got an email. This email contained all the finals’ scores. “Max, I got the email,” I said. He got it to. I wasn’t sure if I should open it just yet, when I heard Max scream “yes,” like a madman.

“I got A’s on all of my finals!” he exclaimed. That just stressed me out even more. “So? Are you going to open the email already!?” My fingers were shaking. I opened it.

“Finally.” is all I said, I aced them all. Now we had to find out how Dave did. I texted him, but he never replied. We later found out from one of his friends that he failed almost all of them. His friends also said, “Karma hurts.” We had finally beaten Dave.

The next important email I had to receive was the one from Stanford. I had applied because I thought it was the college most suited for me and, in my opinion, one I had a shot at getting into. It took about 3 months, but I finally got an email. Max was already off at Harvard, studying pre-law, and who knows where Dave was.

I opened the email, with shaking hands. I got accepted into Stanford! I immediately went to tell and hug my parents. They were so proud and so was I.

About a month later, my parents dropped me off at my dorm and I was setting up with my new roommate. It looked like I was going to have tons of fun in this place when I saw something funny. It was the janitor, he looked extremely familiar. “Dave?” I said to the familiar man.

“Yeah, it’s me, make your jokes, get it out of your system,” he said to me with a depressed voice. “After I failed finals I basically had no future.”

“Wow man that sucks, well you know what they say,” I said to him with the same mocking voice he had given me for four years.

“No, what do they say?” He asked in hope of something positive.


“Karma hurts,” I said with a proud smirk I had seen on his face so many times.