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High School

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 It literally feels like just a few days ago, I was writing about starting my second semester during senior year, and I am already almost at the end. These past years flew by so quick and each year was filled with such amazing memories. Freshman year. The first thing that comes to mind when I think back to my freshman year is the first day I officially became a high school. It was during freshman orientation. It had been 15 minutes and I was still struggling to find my first hour classroom. Luckily, a senior saw me struggling and kindly walked me to my class while explaining how fun high school is. I still remember that day like it was yesterday because it was the day I stopped being scared and became excited to see what high school will bring. Sophomore year was not really that interesting, I guess. This was the year I started getting used to high school and started preparing for the hardest year of high school, 11 th grade. Junior year. Oh boy, this is easy to identify. I wa...
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Cultures and Rituals

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 I was reading an article when I came across this topic. There are many cultures throughout the world. With different cultures come different traditions and rituals. These rituals can be seen as practical and helpful, but they can also be weird and painful to others. For example, the Malagasy people of Madagascar celebrate Famadihana, a funerary tradition where the Malagasy people bring the bodies of their ancestors out of their crypts or dig them out of their graves and wrap them in new cloth. Families then carry the bodies through the streets and dance with them with live music. Famadihana might be a ritual that revolves around the dead, but it is actually as a joyful family gathering. The Madagascar people believed that the dead only completely joined the spirit world of their ancestors when their bodies decomposed completely. Since some bodies were not completely decomposed, they were believed to still be with the living. Some people might think this is weird or unsanitary beca...
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My name

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Shivani is a name that is not really that common but also pretty common. In my life, I have probably met 10 or 11 different Shivani's. I think that Shivani is a beautiful name. It means "life or death." Shivani can also be referred to as Goddess Parvathi, the wife of the Hindu God, Lord Shiva. I really could not find a meaning for my last name, Anandhasenthil, but Anandha means "joy or happiness," and Senthil refers to Lord Muruga, the son of Lord Shiva.  According to the website "myfirstname.rocks," I am a pioneering spirit that is achievement-oriented. I can confidently agree with this statement. I tend to focus on getting my school work finished on time and doing my best in my extracurricular activities. I like trying out new things and pushing myself past my limit to see what I am capable of. It also says that I tend to want recognition for my efforts, and I could not agree more. I like having that reassurance and knowing that my actions have a pos...
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Photography in our Lives

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 Photos have been around for almost 200 years. They're used all over the world to capture significant events and re-live beautiful moments. Without photography, we wouldn't be able to hold on to important moments and cherish them forever. Why do we need photography? Photos tell us what's important to us. We take pictures of certain events, like birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, because they're important and we want to hold on to those memories. Photos show our personal story and the things we love. Photos are also a part of our legacy. A picture can outlive the people in it and it can resurface anywhere many years later. Because of the picture, we can look at Grandma and Grandpa's wedding picture or Mom's first Christmas. We can also show how traditions came to be in a family. Pictures help us show the joy of celebrating the tradition and moves us to pass it down from generation to generation. Photography is a complex language. As the saying goes,  a pictu...
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Ugh, Quarantine!

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This week's blog topic was so easy to write about. We had to complain about something that has been bothering us, and I am pretty sure that the first thing that came into your mind is also COVID-19 and quarantine. There are literally so many things to complain about when it comes to quarantine and this past year, so let us break it down. First up, EVERYTHING IS FROM HOME. School for students, work for most parents, virtual celebrations for birthdays and other special events. Oh please, don't think that I miss going to classes because I SO DO NOT. I cherish those 15 min naps between each class cause I really do not think I would have survived zoom school without those breaks. However, thinking about not being able to walk with my friends to classes and eat lunch with them makes me really sad, especially since it is my last year in high school. This might be the last time me and my friends will ever be in the same school, and not being able to have a typical senior year with them...
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Tishani Doshi: "The Deliverer"

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 Tishani Doshi is an Indian poet, writer, and dancer. Her pieces of literature are usually about violence, aging, religion, and female bodies. Let us look at one of her popular poems, The Deliverer . The first part of the poem describes a conversation between a mother and a sister, also known as a nun. They are talking about an orphanage that consists of children who were abandoned by their parents for either being disabled, being too dark to be accepted by Indian society, or just for being born a girl. The author uses brutal imagery to describe how violently these children and disposed of, including being buried alive. The last sentence tells the reader what the poem is about. The speaker and her mother are visiting the orphanage and plan to bring a child home with them. The second part of the poem is about bringing the girl home to America. When Doshi says, "they are American so they know about the ceremony," she says it in a mocking tone and the reader assumes that the par...
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1000 Piece Puzzle

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 It was during the beginning of quarantine. I was bored because school was all asynchronous, and I had finished my homework for the week, so I decided to do a puzzle that I found lying around at home. I had done this 1000 piece puzzle before many times, but it was years ago, so I decided to challenge myself and finish the puzzle without looking at the picture on the box. It was really hard, but I somehow finished it in 4 days. I started off by picking out the corner and side pieces. The only challenge with those pieces was to figure which pieces connected with which because half of them were green while the other half were blue. Then I picked out all the blue and white puzzle pieces that represented the sky and cloud and put them together. Figuring that out took more than 2 whole days, oh boy! I then sorted out the green pieces that represented the grass and put them together. This was not too bad because I could figure out where each piece went based on the sun and whether there w...
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