 It all started when I was born. I loved, loved, loved “boy clothes”. As soon as I could talk, I wanted to be a boy and wear boy clothes. I hated wearing dresses or anything girly. If I was going formal, I was going formal in style - meaning I was wearing a suit.
My mom was awesome on the first day of kindergarten, she let me wear bright yellow pants with a blue top! I felt like a king. My dad thought the other kids would laugh at me, but he was wrong. My mom didn't care; she thought I was gay, which was not completely wrong because I am pan which means I like people for their personality. One day when I was 5, I had a babysitter and she was a photographer; she took pictures of us and it took 3 hours until she “convinced” me to wear a dress. It was terrible. I felt like something was choking my throat. It felt like I could not breathe, like I was in the wrong body. Which I am. I told my mom that my babysitter said my parents would be happy if I wore a dress. My mom said, ¨I don't care what you wear. You don't have to wear anything you don't want to.¨ I said "the babysitter made me wear those clothes". My mom said she understood, and that was not ok and that it should not have happened. Back when I was little, every couple of years, and only for a few hours, I would try to wear more girl-like clothing. I called it "girl mode". I thought I was being me, but I was not. Once in 3rd grade, I walked into the girl's bathroom and we had a sub. The sub said in a mean voice, ¨Hey! Youŕe using the wrong bathroom.¨ I was not in the wrong bathroom. Back then, I still went by the name I was given at birth and I still used feminine pronouns. But, after that, I never used the bathroom ever again at school. I still don´t. I only go at my house or a restaurant. In general, the bathrooms are hard when you are transgender. Imagine always being worried that someone was going to tell you you are in the wrong bathroom. How would you feel? The day I came out as transgender to my class, I was in 5th grade and I was so happy that day. I was also so very terrified. My mom told me to come outside with her for a moment, while Ms. Young was telling the class that I had something to share. So when I walked out into the classroom, I saw all the support and love and kindness surrounding me. It was amazing. And Ms. Young said, ¨Are you ready?¨ I said yes. I walked to the front of the class, and all the people were following me like….my parents, my sister, my best friend Ella and my other best friend Gabi, their parents, and so many more. It felt like I was so important that people wanted to hear my voice. I walked to the front of the room and said hi. My mom said he is transgender and going to explain. I shared about my new name, new pronouns, what transitioning would like for me, and my feelings. I explained that I would use puberty blockers and hormones to help my body develop in a way that matches my brain. And, I explained that it has felt like I have kept a lot bottled up, but that it was time to break the bottle and really be free. I also encouraged any of my friends who might feel like they are holding back parts of themselves to be brave and not to let anyone tell them not to be who they are. We should feel free to be free. Now, if people didn´t know me before 5th grade, they don't know I am transgender. I am just a regular boy. And that is the story of Spencer´s transgender journey. Story by Spencer K.  1. Red dead redemption 2-October 26th, 2018
Red dead redemption 2 is the sequel of the first red dead redemption. It is available for Xbox one and PS4. It was released by Rockstar Games, which is the same company that made GTA. The features to this game are just unbelievable. Here are a few:
2. Fallout 76-November 14, 2018 Fallout 76 will be one the newest Fallout games. This video-game is made by Bethesda Games. It will be available for Xbox one, PS4 and PC. If you want to play this game right when it comes out, you can head to Amazon or Best Buy, where you can pre-order it for $59.99. It will be the first online Fallout, so you can team up with other players (Or, they can troll you with nukes). However, it will still give Fallout fans the classic Fallout experience while roaming the wasteland. Bethesda has made Fallouts in the past, but by far, Fallout 76 will be the best. 3. Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!-November 16, 2018 This Pokémon game will be the first proper Pokémon game for the Nintendo Switch, pricing at $60.00. It will have updated graphics and customizable characters, including having your little Pokémon run around the map side by side with you. The game will also give Pokémon go fans the catching mechanic based on motion, yet the way you will fight other Pokémon will be the classic old school combat. In this game, you will not have the choice of one out of three starter Pokémon. Instead, you will be given a Pikachu, and your rival will have an Eevee. Speaking of the starter Pokémon in this game, they will not evolve. They will just run around with you right by your side. You can also customize them. You can change their gender and hairstyle, and you can even do this stuff to the trainer you will be; even being able to change their whole outfit. This game will only be available for the Nintendo Switch when it comes out, so if you really want to play this game when it comes out, you should probably buy a Switch. 4. Battlefield v-November 20, 2018 This game is looking like it will be a hit. It will be available for Xbox one, PS4 and PC players. It will also have a battle royale mode, considering that that is the most popular type of game right now. This game will take the series from the first world war to the second. There will be huge multiplayer battles and a single-player campaign mode. This game will also include character customization and destructible environments. By that, we don't just mean throwing grenades and breaking one fence. We mean driving tanks straight through houses. And if you break something above an enemy, the falling object can even damage them. Now, breaking forts is cool, but what about building them? Yes, you can repair damaged structures, plus being able to put down sandbags and barbed wire, and even build trenches. Some of the vehicles you can ride will be planes, tanks, buggies and maybe even more. Some of the maps will be a snowy one, a field, a forest, and more. This game really looks amazing, and the graphics will be great. This game will be for $60.00, so you should probably save up if you're a Battlefield fan. 5. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate-December 7, 2018 This super smash bros game will have every Nintendo character/crossover character in it; including Pokémon, Mario characters, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Splatoon characters and more. Nintendo said that this game will have a total of 69 characters when the game is officially launched. Nintendo also released an amiibo for every character in the game. Some of the classic characters, like Mario and Pac-Man, will have some in-game “boosts”, Like throwables and speed boosts. To use your smash, you will not only have to break open a ball called the smash ball, like normal, but players will have a bar that fills up the more you do. When that bar is full, you can use your smash. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will have the addition of an offline local multiplayer. For that, you can change the ruleset for the game, and the game will match you with players that have the same preferred rules, yet still matching you with other players in your region, so you won't get bad lag. All the characters in the game are:Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Dark Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Luigi, Ness, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Peach, Daisy, Bowser, Ice Climbers, Sheik, Zelda, Dr. Mario, Pichu, Falco, Marth, Lucina, Young Link, Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Roy, Chrom, Mr. Game and Watch, Meta Knight, Pit, Dark Pit, Zero Suit Samus, Wario, Ike, Diddy Kong, Lucas, Sonic, King Dedede, Olimar, Lucario, R.O.B., Toon Link, Wolf, Mega Man, Rosalina, Little Mac, Greninja, Palutena, PAC-MAN, Robin, Shulk, Bowser Jr., Ryu, Ken, Cloud, Corrin, Bayonetta, Inkling, Ridley, Simon, Richter, King K. Rool, Isabelle, Incineroar,Piranha Plant (pre-order bonus). This game will be the best super smash bros yet, considering how much characters it will have. Maybe more will come, too. These video-games are ranging from all-out warfare games to classic Pokémon adventure games. While they weren't in a particular order, those were the top 5 Video-games to come out soon, and they are going to have a lot of players. Story by Rowyn G. Esslinger  Summer is most kids favorite season, mostly because there is no school. Instead of school, most kids go to the pool, hang out with friends, chill at home, and go to summer camps. However, having a summer schedule opposed to year-round causes an educational gap over the long summer stretch. It also causes a food gap for lots of children in poverty. 22 million children in the US receive free or reduce breakfasts and lunches from school, and lunches and breakfasts aren't offered over summer vacation. So, why do we even have summer vacation? Is it in the children living in America's best interest to steal summer from them? These are some questions I asked myself, and I found some shocking answers.
Over summer vacation, most kids don't do any academics, and if they do, it is usually a small amount. Not learning for the 10-11 week summer vacation causes what a lot of people call “ the summer slump”. The summer slump is caused by not learning, and forgetting most of what you learned the year before, so academically it is harder to start off the school year. Basically, summer is making you dumber, but having a year round school schedule could help fix that. The traditional summer vacation calendar is unbalanced, unlike the balanced year round schooling calendar. You can see this on the graphs from The Wild Cat Times. “Supporters of the idea say they can stop a loss of learning and boost achievement,” says PBS News Hour on the topic of year-round schooling. Also, in the video, The Real Reason Why Children Get the Summer Off of School, Simon Whistler, said that, “ (Year-round school) will help students perform at the same academic level as students from other countries by allowing more hours of instruction.” The US doesn’t compare well with the rest of the world academically; the PISA did a study in 2012, involving 15-year-olds around the world, and they found that “the US ranked 36 out of most countries around the world on math scores in 2012.” The study also found that “one of the highest scoring states (in the US), Massachusetts scores were so low, it seemed they had 2 fewer years of mathematical education than the students in Shanghai (one of the highest scoring countries).” This information was shocking to me. How could our country compare so poorly to the rest of the world? A year-round school schedule could help students achieve more, and help the US rank higher academically. Aside from school achievement, the home lives of children in poverty over the summer is taken over by hunger. “1 in 6 children in the United States face hunger,” says nonprofit, No Kid Hungry. No Kid Hungry also says that “more than 13 million children in the United States live in ‘food insecure’ homes.” This means that over the summer, without school breakfast and lunch, children are going hungry! This made me wonder, why was the opportunity for hungry kid’s to become even more hungery over the summer even a thought? The video, The Real Reason Why Children Get the Summer Off of School had some answers. Simon Whistler said that “summer break was created because of the lack of AC in the 1800’s, so upper class and wealthy families could vacation to their summer homes.” Yes, the rich from the 1800’s decided our school scheduling. Times have changed, but our scheduling hasn't. To adapt to that, non- profits try getting food out to kid’s who need it like Feeding America. But these non-profits aren’t helping nearly enough children. “… 22 million children receive free or reduced-priced meals through the National School Lunch Program. When school is out during the summer months, however, only 3.9 million receive free or reduced-price meals… ,” says Feeding America. Having a year-round school schedule would help reduce childhood hunger, and it wouldn’t affect the upper middle class/ wealthy families from the 1800’s, because AC was created in 1902. What do you think, should summer fun be stolen for better academic results, and less children hungry over the long break? Story by Olivia Agan-Bedard  People have all different tastes. Have you ever had a meal with your friend? If you have, then you may have noticed that your friend did not like what you were eating. Let's say you are having soup with your friend, you had tomato soup with potatoes in it, and your friend has just potato soup. You offer your friend some of your soup and your friend says “no”. “You have to like tomatoes because I like tomatoes everyone does right?” You say. “But I really don't like tomatoes,” your friend says in a plain voice. You can't understand this; you love tomatoes and potatoes, why does your friend only like potatoes? The answer to your question is in your DNA.
When you are born, your feelings are born to. Your feelings and tastes are different from other peoples because you are different. DNA is in everyone, it makes up your genes. Not the common blue jean, but your genes in the body. Amino acids go together to make proteins, these all go together to make up the way we act and the reasons we like and dislike things. So, in conclusion, the reasons for likes and dislikes go deep within your DNA. Just to go over a little bit more, there are many reasons to why you have different likes and dislikes. So many pieces go into making you and that is why you are different from other people. You are like a recipe for cake or pie and you need that recipe so that you can be different. Story by Alana Bridger |
