Lifestyle
What School Supply are you based on your zodiac sign?
By April Sanchez
Aquarius
(January 21 - February 18) A Good Book; the
beginning of the school year is always stressful, just
relax yourself to a good book and just take a breather,
everything will be alright.
Pisces
(February 19- March 20) dotted journal; I know
that you are excited for a new school year, get yourself a
blank notebook and just doodle or write down your new
ideas for the school year.
Aries
(March 21- April 19) Day by day planner; for Aries
school is the least we want to deal with. Let’s be real for
a second, Aries are all unorganized and starting the
school year with a planner should be a safer bet than
going with the flow.
Taurus
(April 20- May 20) Backpack; start the new
school year with a unique backpack that defines you as a
person. Don’t be afraid to stand out!
Gemini
(May 22 – June 21) notebooks; Starting the
school year and still finding your style is nerve racking
but you can always have cute notebooks that speak to
you personally and show a side to you that you might not
be able to show clothing wise.
Cancer
(June 22 – July 22) Pencil case; Did you go all out
with highlighters, pens, and pencils? Indulge yourself
with a pencil case that represents you and keeps your
things in order.
Leo
(July 23 – August 22) Calligraphy markers; Bring out
your inner artist with note taking and not does it give
you the jump to show off your notes, but it also gives you
a sophisticated look.
Virgo
(August 23 – September 22) pens; Start organizing
your notes and maybe even your planner. It can bring
life to being a perfectionist when it comes to planning
and organizing your paperwork.
Libra
(September 23- October 22) Highlighters; It is
hard remembering sometimes when it comes to reading
so highlighters are a way to go. Not only does it look
cool, but it will help with memorization.
Scorpio
(October 23 – November 22) Hand sanitizer;
school is stressful and full of germs; might smell like
sweat and led from the pencils. So don’t forget to bring
fragrant hand sanitizer to keep the germs away and on
the plus side, it smells good.
Sagittarius
(November 23 – December 21) Water bottle;
are you in sports? If you are, you must stay hydrated and
ready to play. Maybe you don’t have sports and is just
hot from all the heat. Water is an essential need in our
lives. Better stay hydrated with a cool water bottle to
keep your water cold throughout the day.
Capricorn
(December 22 – January 20) sticky notes; still
forgetting the things you need to remember? Write them
down on sticky notes so you won’t forget, maybe also
leave a cute encouraging message for yourself or
someone else.
Some ways to improve your life
Kassandra Misquez
School, work, and life can all be physically and mentally draining some ways to help take off that tension are by following this advice.
1. Build a routine that works around your life:
Having a schedule and routine can help benefit
your life some examples would be having time aside for your work and daily life
2. Taking care of your mind:
not taking care of or listening to your mind can
be the biggest mistake to yourself.
3. Download task manager apps to help keep
track of time:
By downloading something to help you, it can
send you reminders in case you are a forgetful person.
having these kinds of apps can help you stay
on top of school or work.
4. Self-care:
Take a bubble bath or shower and relax and
wear comfortable clothes.
5. Good night's rest:
try to go to bed earlier and try to relax before bed so it
is easier to fall asleep.
6. Listen to yourself:
Do what makes you happy! you don’t have to
please anyone follow your heart and mind.
7. Let go of negative people:
If someone in your life is not an advocate for you
and doesn’t want to see you succeed, they should
not be in your life.
8. Set achievable goals:
Set goals that can be done easily but that you see
a difference like household chores. Examples clean
your room do the dishes, go on a walk setting
these goals can make you feel accomplished and
have a better attitude.
9. Think before you speak:
Saying something you don’t mean in a fit of
anger can have a negative impact on the person
you say it to and the way they view you as a
person. Try to relax if you are in an argument
and don’t let your emotions get the better of you.
10. Don’t be afraid to ask for help:
Asking for help mentally or physically can be
scary but once it is achieved you will feel
relieved, and you won’t have to struggle in
silence.
who has helped shape your life?
Breanay Chavez
I have some people who helped me to shape my life, but the most important one is my mom. My mom has taught me to be a good person, and yeah, the regular to be responsible and all that stuff but she has taught me to believe in what I want and stand up for what I believe. She made me look at things differently and to be mature about situations. I feel like mother and daughter’s relationship especially if it’s the oldest daughter, which I am. Is the hardest thing because I feel like she is learning but at the same time I am learning too so it can be very hard when communicating about stuff because your mom can’t really help if she has never been in a situation to help. But it’s a very cherishing thing to have with your mom, growing together and finding ourselves with each other. I feel like I, myself, have helped shape my life as well. Learning from stuff by myself and progressing from the mistakes I have made. Since the eighth grade I have made poor decisions that led to horrible outcomes, but instead of letting it defeat me. I managed to get out of my bad habits and started taking in life differently. Since I’ve been changing my mindset, I realized that not many people have blessings like I do and that I should start taking advantage of living life. I am still trying to find peace with myself and it feels good to know that I have changed mentally for myself.
Leilene De Los Reyes
Someone who has shaped who I am today is no longer in my life. It happens, that the people who helped us find ourselves the most may no longer be present in your life. An ex-friend, ex-lover, and even family members can all shape who you are today. In my case, it was an ex-friend, or maybe a little more than that but it was a close bond. We were so close yet so different it helped me realize so much about myself. Although our connection didn’t continue, he showed me to follow through with my plan because my outcome would be worth it. He helped me build a stronger mentality for myself and not let people break down my walls so easily. Coming into this bond I really thought I'd get nothing out of it. He showed me the bigger picture in life. I’d always go to him with a worry that I was scared to fail that I wouldn’t reach my goal, and just so much
overthinking about my future, he would then always reply to me that I have my whole life to go. To enjoy what I’m doing now and what I have now because later in life reality will come. I just wanted it all to fast, to grow up and become who I want to be, but it will come eventually maybe not now or not here in Deming but somewhere bigger and better. He would always mention that there is more out in the world than just this small town that we live in. There is more out there than just this because “The World Is Yours”.
Kiley Ziller
Two people I can say have shaped my life into the way it is now are my father and mother. Let us start with my father. My dad has helped me become the person I am by pushing me to my limits, pushing my buttons, and messing around with me, and I can say I have benefited from that by knowing how to joke around and be
serious when needed. He has toughened me up a whole lot and I thank him because being in high school is stressful at times and people will tend to disrespect you and being tough helps it not get to you. I can say my mom has helped me by supporting me, comforting me and such she is the person you could cry or complain to. My mom has been there through all my tough times,
and I highly appreciate it. My parents, even though they are not together, they are my role models. They work together and put their past behind them to put me and my siblings first no matter what.
Ivette gonzalez
someone who helped shape my life would have to be my mom because of the stuff she had to sacrifice to give us the stuff that we wanted and needed being a single mom and going back to school with 5 kids can really have a big effect on someone’s life and lifestyle and I couldn’t thank her enough for the sacrifices. One of my favorite childhood memories would have to be when I went to Knott’s Berry Farm with my family, and we just had a fun day riding roller coasters getting wet, and eating all the good food from there. What I’m mostly looking forward to after I graduate high school is to start working before I go to college because I plan on saving money for little things that I’m going to need or want while in college because I plan on majoring in an ultrasound technician or to be a lawyer.
Isabel Jimenez
My mom has helped me shape my life. Some people don’t have a mom that they could look up to and I am very thankful I do. I think I act exactly like my mom; we say the same things and do things
the same way, and that is all because I've learned everything from her. I feel comfortable telling my mom anything. I think that’s how she influenced me. I tell my mom almost everything and she always
helps me through it and makes me feel better about myself. Me and my mom love to watch movies together. My mom doesn’t like to go out and watch movies so we have to wait like 2 weeks so we can
rent it. We also like to go shopping; my dad always gets mad at us because he says we always get stuff we don’t need. Me and my mom always buy stuff that’s useful, sometimes. It is so funny because my mom always says that we watched each other grow up because she had me at a young age. My mom was never alone in raising me, my grandma was always there to help her when she needed it, so I am also very close to my grandma as well. People have always told me that me and my mom look alike but I don’t really see it. My mom thinks the only reason I don’t think we look the same is because we don’t have the same hair, but I just don’t think we look the same
at all. Another thing that is really funny is that my mom thinks we look alike but I don’t and I think we have the same attitude but she doesn’t.
What Are You Most Looking Forward to After
High School?
Brittany Smith
After High School I just want to focus on money and being able to
build my cars. I’m getting my Second car soon I hope, and it’ll be a
1990 Nissan s13 240x. I don’t want boring cars, so I need money to be able to modify my car and work on it when needed. I want to have multiple sports cars and not just one. So, when I graduate, I’m going to make sure I keep a steady paycheck and I’m going to make sure I have a house and everything else needed before I start with my car. I don’t know exactly what I want to do with my car engine wise, but I know how I want it to look. I must do well in high school so I can have enough money for everything I want to do. My car is going to be black and it’s going to have a black and purple interior. Black will be the main color, but purple will be the accent color. I know that I’m actually getting this car soon but I can’t get a job yet so I cant work on it. I cant wait to get more cars to work on but my cars will be the main thing stealing my paycheck.
Ryan Mohammad
When I graduate High School, I want to go to college to study, and become a teacher. I’ve never thought about being a teacher when I
was younger, but many friends say that I would make a good teacher. If I do end up studying to become a teacher, I’d for sure
become a math teacher. I’ve heard that it’s hard teaching and not everyone enjoys it, but I think I can be a fun teacher and good at
teaching it. Math is my favorite subject so I’m for sure going to make that class fun.
Zachary Andujo
I think what I’m excited about after high school and when I graduate is finally starting life. Like getting a job or getting my own place is what I’m really excited about. Hopefully my lovely girlfriend will be there by my side. But whether I decide to go to college I look forward to what’s next. Now it may sound bad, but I really look forward to being able to walk into a casino without being harassed to step away from the machine and play. But I’m more scared than excited, times moved so fast and I’m already going to be done with high school and soon move away from my home and my parents. It’s scary and I always thought I had more time, but it’s all gone by so fast and now I’m going to be an adult. Life offers so much happiness, but it all depends on where you find it. It can also offer pain like debt and worrying if you’re going to end up on the streets. Because there are so many stories of people living in a good house in their 20’s and in their 30’s or 40’s, they’re homeless
with nothing to their name and in some cases. It’s all because you lose your license or I.D. It’s a dark note to end on but I’m excited none the less for life and its challenges, Hopefully I can start a business and it takes off and I can live comfortably for the rest of my life.
McKenzie Trejo
have now approached my last four years of school, and now I am thinking of what is beyond my high school years. As I approach the end of an era in my life I am brought up with the question, what are you looking forward to the most after high school? The question may seem like an easy question, but it raises so many more questions. Questions such as, what are you going to do in your life? Who do you strive to be? Do you know what career path you want to take? But we won’t get into detail about that let’s focus on our main question, what are you looking forward to the most after high school? The One thing I am looking forward to after high school is trying out for college softball. It may seem like a long shot to some, but I want to try and succeed at something that makes me happy to be doing.
After college:
College isn’t forever what about after college, after softball? What then? Hoping to graduate college with the required degrees, I want to go on to become a biologist and I think I am very much looking forward to that. Becoming a biologist in the field of somewhere along the lines of studying a certain type of animal I hope that it can take me to incredible places where I can meet incredible people who are just as passionate about their work as I would be. Being a biologist would mean that the outdoors would be my office, I wouldn’t have to be in an office space that confines me in one room, I would be able to go study nature and be able to be where I love.
Ivette gonzalez
someone who helped shape my life would have to be my mom because of the stuff she had to sacrifice to give us the stuff that we wanted and needed being a single mom and going back to school with 5 kids can really have a big effect on someone’s life and lifestyle and I couldn’t thank her enough for the sacrifices. One of my favorite childhood memories would have to be when I went to Knott’s Berry Farm with my family, and we just had a fun day riding roller coasters getting wet, and eating all the good food from there. What I’m mostly looking forward to after I graduate high school is to start working before I go to college because I plan on saving money for little things that I’m going to need or want while in college because I plan on majoring in an ultrasound technician or to be a lawyer.
Social Media and its Effects on the Environment and Teens
By Yesenia Sandoval
Social Media is a creative outlet for some and hell on earth for others. The livelihood of many revolves around apps such as TikTok and Instagram. Many people have built careers and even raised families on the opportunities that are presented for up-and-coming influencers. The constant pressure to romanticize your own life, every aspect, of the mundane reality of living day to day. The reality is that people don’t show everything they do on social media, the boring afternoons, the Unfulfilled days, all that is somehow masked by the constant uploads of happy, aesthetic material. Throughout our history, it is known that woman must meet such high expectations put on us by men and the capitalistic society.” You should smile more”. “Oh, wait you have smile lines, here is some cream” The unnecessary consumption of products is horrible it’s not only impacting our mental health but our environment and due to the fact that most luxury products are expensive, we create apps such as temu, to provide knockoff versions of luxury products to common people. Having influencers sponsored by an app of that nature knowing that they will never actually use a product like that, because of the low quality causes more people to repurchase items that they will never use again, eventually creating a cycle of unused items that end up in landfills for the next trend to come.
Tech and its Effect on our Attention Span
Written by: Carlos Rodriguez
Since 2015, the average attention span of a regular 6yo was 12-18 minutes, which wasn’t bad; but compared to 8.25 seconds nowadays that’s a big jump. In 7 years, the attention span went from about 12 mins to 8 seconds, and this was all caused by constant use of technology and social media. Smart Phones have literally sucked our real life lives into our screens and now its to a point where people dictate their own decisions based off the media’s thoughts. This is all out of a small “do- everything” device that we can hold right in our hands.
Thankfully though, there are ways to help lengthen your attention span and the first would be to use Active Listening. When your conversing with people, this activates the part of your brain you use for learning and comprehension and requires you to pay attention. Multitasking is also one of the biggest reasons for attention spans being cut short. When you multitask your focus is being shifted from subject to subject, making it easier to distract yourself from what you’re really supposed to be doing. Completing tasks is a whole lot easier when you set your mind to completing just one task and moving to the next.
Multitasking mixes thoughts with ideas and allows for a whole deal of mix-up to take place. Sometimes just doing one thing at a time is the best way to do something, and taking your time to make things look and feel better for you is the way to go. Let’s cut the screens off and get to some real life production!
Free-write – Journalism
Written By: Carlos Rodriguez
Life’s been a blur, this month of August has flown by. This is the 31st of the month and also the last day to turn in this paper. Its been treating me good though, I’ve been working and relaxing. I’ve also been trying to spend more time with my homies; one of them got a bike and we’re going to start riding.
I miss the good o’l days too, when we all the boys would come out to the skatepark . We’d be there grinding it out on the bikes and boards. My bike was golden with four pegs, and golden handlebars. Now the frame of the bike and the bars are hung on my bedroom-walls in remembrance to the memories we all made.
Now, I don’t know how much I need to write but I’ll keep writing… Drake is going to release a new album soon called “ For all the Dawgs” Featuring his son as the album cover artist; I think its pretty cute honestly. I’ve also been re-doing my room, I’m painting my walls black on the North and South walls black with two white stripes going horizontally. It’s going to look great especially if I’m doing it, I’m pretty good when it comes to any type of work.
But yes! This was my free-write and I hope you enjoyed!
Dealing with Stress
By Annette Rangel Villareal
(Opinion)
High School is a big Reason why students may deal with stress. There is so much going on all the time.
There could be good reasons were kinds get anxiety to perform well in academics such as getting into a good college. But there things that may Couse stress or depression such as bulling, body image and fake friends and relationships. Its crazy to think about what kids/students have to go through in there high school lives. Some teachers and parents think its just school but there’s so much going on its hard to understand us when sometimes it can be to much.
We can try many things to help cope with that stress but sometimes it can become really serious and need more professional help and that’s totally okay. If we look at ourselves and prevent some stressful situations by maybe talking to someone or walking away from un called situations aka drama.
And little by little with help of others students will stop caring so much about what others have to say and learn to love themselves.