Mrs. Ho's AP Lang - 10

  With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I thought that it would be a good idea to write about it to some degree. However, it became apparent that I don’t do much of the usual traditions. Yes, I eat dinner with my family and say what I’m thankful for, but there are many traditions that I don’t do. We don’t usually invite over family, and the dinner, while bigger than usual, isn’t huge and extravagant. So this made me wonder, what percentage of people actually do these Thanksgiving traditions. Firstly, what percent of America celebrates Thanksgiving at all? Well, from what I found, the answers vary greatly. One source I found states 90%, while another states 79%. Some answers are even higher/lower, but something I can say with certainty is that it’s well above half. This is no surprise, especially with how much of a commercial holiday Thanksgiving has become. However, I then decided to dive deeper. About 37% of people expect 10 or more people to eat with them at Thanksgiving dinner....

In 1620, the Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic Ocean on the Mayflower searching for freedom and arriving in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The first Thanksgiving was held by the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians in 1621, and was a feast to celebrate their successful harvest. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every November and the president of the United States pardons a live turkey every year.  Who doesn't love thanksgiving; Kids get time off of school, adults get time off from work, everyone gets to spend quality time with family, and the infamous Macy's Thanksgiving day parade is on TV. Plus, who doesn't love eating a delicious meal filled with an extensive variety of different foods and on top of that, the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday and is one of the biggest shopping days with the best sales possible. Did you know that an average Thanksgiving meal consists of 3,000 calories and that turkey wasn't even on the menu at the first thanksgiving.  I...

     Dreams are a big part of our lives. We dream for about two hours every night, whether we’re aware of it or not, and when we remember these dreams they can sometimes be strange, funny, or even frightening. Whenever I remember a strange dream, I like to tell my mom about it and she almost always tries to find meaning in it. I agree that some dreams have meaning or symbolism that stem from your life, but most of my dreams seem to me as simply a big mesh of my interests made into a non-coherent story of poppycock. I’m just saying I don’t think a bunch of characters from my favorite shows fighting over a KFC bucket in slow motion with Take on Me playing in the background has any meaning to it. But, maybe I’m wrong. Do dreams have meaning?      A famous psychologist, Sigmund Freud, introduced a concept in his psychoanalytic theory stating that manifest content is a censored version of the latent content in a dream. The manifest content is what happened in ...

  'Tis the season for the debate on which holiday the Nightmare Before Christmas truly belongs to, Ol Hallows Eve, or Christmas. While some argue for The Nightmare Before Christmas to fall into the Christmas movie category, I am a staunch advocate for the opposite. I firmly believe that Tim Burton's classic tale is a Halloween movie, so let us delve into why without further ado.   The aesthetic:  There's no denying the movie's spooky resemblance to Halloween. The landscape occupied by ghosts, ghouls, and goblins pays a great homage to the Halloween spirit and design. The dark and gothic tones of the animation style and the town's buildings pay homage to the style that we typically think of as that of Halloween, in a way no Christmas movie ever could. The Pumpkin Kings Quest:  At the core of the movie sits the Pumpkin Kings Quest, which sends Jack Skellington on a misguided journey to take over Christmas. However, Jack's fascination with Christmas seems to stem f...

  NFL fans will always debate who the top dawgs at the Quarterback position is. For the past few years, that conversation has been a mix of Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Aaron Rodgers, and Josh Allen. One of those signal callers, however, clearly doesn't belong. That player is Josh Allen. Josh Allen is a turnover machine. Since entering the league, Josh Allen has the most turnovers by a Quarterback by far: 95 total and counting. For comparison, Aaron Rodgers has 114 total turnovers in his entire career; his career is 18 years long, and counting. Allen also has failed to meet playoff expectations repeatedly. For the past 2-3 years specifically, the Bills have been hyped up all season and projected by a majority to win the Superbowl, just for Allen and his superteam to fall short in the divisional and conference championship rounds. For comparison, Joe Burrow, drafted in 2020 with the first overall pick, has already been to 1 Superbowl and 2 AFC championship games. Jal...

A few weeks back, I had an operation on my foot. A foreign object somehow made it’s way deep into my big toe near the nail, and was already beginning to get infected. The doctor we went to used sharp needles and dug around the inside of my toe, which is most likely the most pain I’ve ever felt, and wasn’t even able to do what the shot intended, that being to numb my toe. They eventually just separated the left side of my toenail from my toe, which was almost as bad as the shots. Just my luck that not a week later, a foreign object gets stuck in the same place on my other toe. Now that I knew how much it hurt, I was far less willing to go back. I entered the office just expecting a check up from a different doctor. However, the new doctor made it clear that this was urgent, and if it wasn’t taken care of quickly, the infection could spread to my bone. I was presented with four options: Do it raw like last time, go under twilight (basically taking a drug to calm me down) or try the numbi...

This week, my sister will be having her Bat Mitzvah. Religiously, this means that she is an adult and can now make decisions for herself. As well, all her actions and following the commandments will now be counted, according to the Jewish tradition. On the other hand, in today's world a Bat or Bar mitzvah is just a reason for the whole family to gather and to have a huge party. This begs the question, are B'nei mitzvahs outdated? We all know that turning 12 or 13 does not make you an adult and you should not have full responsibility at that age. So, why does the Torah say that we turn into adults when we have our B'nei Mitzvot? In biblical times, most people only lived for 20 something years, making 12 and 13 half of their lifetime. Furthermore, this is the age that our bodies start being able to reproduce. With this, we can see why the age was set. Nonetheless, it is not relevant and it should be changed so that people have it when they are ready and mature enough to have ...

We all know that male seahorses carry the babies for the females, eventually giving birth after the eggs have been fertilized. But what most people probably don't know are the processes that go into the way seahorses give birth.  Truly a wonderful natural phenomenon, seahorses are majestic creatures, who unfortunately can also be labeled as deadbeat parents. They have a 'survival of the fittest' mindset for all of their offspring, essentially shooting them out into the wild to fend for themselves. How have seahorses not gone extinct yet, you may ask? Well, that is where nature starts to lay its part. Seahorses are one of the pieces where the male gives birth, but that is not to be confused with the fact that male seahorses get pregnant. they don't/  It's actually the female that, once with the egg, transfers them over to her current male partner for fertilization, before going off to find another mate to further their species' population. Honestly, good for her....

      In my lifetime, I have lived in both a city and in the suburbs. I grew up in Manhattan and moved to Florida in 8th grade. I loved city life. I would walk to school every day since it was just seven blocks away. I also never needed to worry about getting my parents to drive me anywhere because if there was anywhere I wanted to go out of walking distance, I could get a cab. This gave me a lot more freedom; however, one could argue that once you learn to drive yourself, that wouldn't be an issue anymore, but it is still not ideal since driving anywhere in Florida takes at least 15 minutes. In addition, even though the strip malls in Florida are nice, I loved walking around the city with friends and finding the best little cafes and shops.     My memories of living in New York are great for the most part, but things have really gone downhill in the last couple of years since the pandemic. Now, you can walk into any store and steal just about whatever you want ...

Netflix or Prime Video? Netflix and Prime Video are streaming apps where you can watch all your favorite movies and TV series. However, which one is better, and which one should you subscribe to? Prime Video is owned by Amazon and has over 200 million users. A Prime Video subscription is 14.99 dollars a month and 139 per year. Prime Video has various popular movies and TV shows like Spiderman, The Menu, and Batman. All the movies and TV shows are categorized by their genre; they have horror, romance, comedy, and every other great genre you can think of. New content is uploaded almost every day to Prime Video, which can ensure that newer media can come out. Although Prime Video has all these qualities, is it better than Netflix? Prime Video still requires extra purchases to watch all movies and television. Prime Video has a larger selection than Netflix; however, Prime Video is not inclusive. Netflix is a popular streaming company that has a large selection of movies, TV shows, and shor...

   The Ideal London Trip       London is a beautiful city located in the United Kingdom. It has gorgeous museums, art galleries, historic landmarks, and a unique culture. I highly suggest everyone visit the great city of London at least once. London is such a diverse melting pot where history, language, cuisine, and other outstanding qualities blend together. Let's create the ideal London trip where you can fully explore the city and also experience its many attractions within a week. The Bulgari London Hotel, located in London city center, is a 5-star luxury hotel that is in close walking proximity to all restaurants, shopping centers, and more. After exploring the city, you'll find Chinatown, a part of the city that sells ethnic or traditional food. From pastries to meals, this will surely be something you'll find appetizing. If Chinese food isn't exactly your taste, walk a few blocks to Soho. Trendy Soho London will enlighten you with entertaining nightl...

    Fortnite battle royal, has 500 million registered users, have generated a revenue of over $26 billion to date, and continues to hold its position as one of the most popular battle royale games. It was created in 2017 and has grown exponentially until now. The company that created this game, along with many other games is Epic games. I used to love playing Fortnite when I would wake up late at night. It was so fun connecting with all my friends and all of us playing and talking together from different gaming consoles. I originally started playing on xbox, and then Nintendo, and then keyboard and mouse.          Last weekend, Fortnite brought back the old map, all the old weapons, and it was a blast. They had the largest number of players they have had in a while. For example, me and all my friends who haven't played the game in over a year, all decided to redownload the game, log online, buy the battle pass, and play together all weekend.  ...

  For the first time in the history of the dolphins, at least since I can remember I believe the Miami Dolphins have a real chance of making it to the superbowl. This year they have a great roster with an Amazing QB, skilled Wide Receivers, and impressive offensive and defensive lines. The coaching this year has also improved, with Mike McDaniel having his kid, I believe he has become a better coach, take this quote as example "Being a dad is very much like being a head in that you're constantly concerned about the well-being of other people, and I know for a fact I couldn't be any of the things that are the most important things to me - father, husband, man, and then head coach - all of those are a consequence of wanting to be something for someone”. The chemistry of this years Dolphins is also nothing to laugh at, something this year, I dont know what it is has increased the cohesiveness of the team as a whole, they are communicating better, and Tua seems to share 1 mind...

      Over two years or so, there has been a lot of movement in the ownership of houses in my area. There are eighteen houses, and eight of them have been sold and bought over the last two years. The man who lives across the street from me bought two of them. At the time, this caused a lot of gossip in my area since he went about this abnormally. He bought one house and then went to the next-door neighbor and asked if their house was for sale. They originally said no, but he persisted and eventually asked them to name their price, so naturally, he acquired the house. The original residents of that house then bought the house next to mine so that they could stay in the same area. All this was so the man could knock down the two houses to make one excessively large house.       The house has been under construction for a long time, and they have just started decorating this month. A mote surrounds the house, with a waterfall off one of the walls and...

    For the last couple of days there has been no school in honor of parent-teacher conferences. I, like many others, have definitely enjoyed taking a break off from school. As we all know, school life can be stressful. Dealing with multiple classes, completing all your assignments, making sure that your grades are high, and so much more. This goes without saying all the stresses that we have to simultaneously handle in our home lives. Many students participate in sports and extracurricular activities, have jobs, or have a lot going on with their families. Therefore, having a few days here and there to give us a break and let us breathe for a bit is really nice.     The covid-19 pandemic had a huge impact on the mental health of kids and teenagers. This is why already twelve states have allowed mental health days. These are days that let students miss school without having any absences. Many people say that this is a great opportunity for students to t...

      The other day, my mom asked me what I was listening to and I told her about the true-crime podcast I like to listen to every once in a while. This got us talking about all the different true crime shows and podcasts we like to listen to or watch and it made me think why people even enjoy listening to these shows. Some of them are just sick and to think they're all real crimes that people have been victim to is even more unsettling, yet me and many others sit in and listen to these shows eager to hear about the next. So, what's there to like?     I've always found true crime interesting and it piqued my interest to know how morbid some people can be and the farthest extent someone can go when committing a crime. Behavioral scientist, Coltan Scrivner , says that the reason that true crime is so popular is due to "our mind's thirst for knowledge about proactively aggressive people." Proactive aggression is a more calculative type of aggression compared to ...

  The Miami Heat have long been a relevant team in the NBA, and are widely considered one of the better teams in basketball. However, many fans do not mention them as a direct contender in the title race today, largely due to the flashy moves other teams have made this offseason, such as the Bucks acquiring Damian Lillard via trade, and the Celtics adding Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday in deals as well.                  The Miami Heat are not the team that will wow anyone. They aren’t a big time, high scoring, flashy team. However, they are the “Hardest Working, Best Conditioned, Most Professional, Unselfish, Toughest, Meanest, Nastiest Team in the NBA”. Not only is this the moto they have chosen to put on their alternate courts and uniforms, it is something they exemplify in ...

Most people have heard of the art of dance, and, as is the case of most demanding physical activities, dance has its fair share of dangers too. Ranging from lower back injuries to sprains or fractures in their feet, dancers have a lot to watch out for.  However, there are some forms of dance that could be seen as more dangerous than others. For example, fire dancing . Precisely what this style of dance's name sounds like, fire dancing is just another way of expressing oneself through dance, just with fire.  A style that goes back many centuries, stretching back to even the celebrations in the Second Jewish Temple , fire dancing has continued to stay relevant to many people throughout history. However, if dancing with fire is so dangerous, why do people still perform with hot flames? Well, fire dancing can carry much cultural significance, though people also dance with fire for entertainment purposes (think: circuses). Fire dancing is usually seen as a mysterious and dangerous...

          Halloween was always one of my favorite times of the year. Regardless if you consider it a holiday or not, who doesn't enjoy dressing up in costumes and getting a bunch of free candy. I always loved dressing up as my favorite superheroes and characters as a kid with my friends. It's fun having the opportunity to express yourself through a creative costume and the only thing limiting what you can do is your imagination. Plus, there's universal horror nights, haunted houses, corn mazes, costume contests, and a bunch of other fun activities to partake in. Additionally, who doesn't love carving pumpkins with their friends and families and creating jack-o-lanterns, and watching Halloween themed movies and shows.      Halloween was always packed and crazy in the city of Santa Monica. There were these three huge mansions on the corner of 17th street that were owned by this ex-movie producer. He would spend hundreds of thousand dollars d...