Mrs. Ho's AP Lang - 11

  Last week, Vikings running back, Alexander Mattison,  had an awful game. Only 8 carries for 28 yards and he fumbled the ball. Many people who are invested in the game were upset with Maddison to some degree. Obviously, your starting running back, in fantasy or in real life, having 28 yards isn’t a great thing. However, some fans took this disappointment to an extreme. Maddison revealed multiple racist and disgusting DM’s out of the 60 he got from fans that showed how little NFL fans care about the player underneath the helmet. Nobody realizes how painful DM’s like these are. Imagine 60 plus people writing you hate messages because you played a bad game of football. Welcome to the delusion of fans. Fans don’t realize the athletes they see on their screen have lives or kids. They don’t realize what being an athlete entails. Many of them are just normal people with extraordinary gifts but fans don't realize that. Another example of this is the Nick Chubb injury. Last Monday nig...

     Stop rebooting shows and re-making movies! Please, they are all terrible. Most of them suck. I don't think there is a single live-action remake of a Disney movie that wasn't either hated or debated. Why? Just for the money? Okay, actually that makes sense. But please just make new movies. I think there's a new Disney movie called Wish. Do more of that, Disney! Seriously, what is happening? Has anyone liked any remakes or sequels done recently?      These movie executives, or whoever green lights these remakes, needs to be stopped. I know there have been plenty of good movies lately but everything based on something or a sequel of something. At least the significant ones. Or the ones that I watched, because this is my opinion and I don't have to give any facts. The point is: where is the originality? Where is the completely new idea. I mean I know it's hard to make original anything. There's probably a saying about ideas never being original, but to kno...

Rylan Frydman - Week Four : Kanye West's Antisemitism        Kanye West, also known as Ye, is a very unique, controversial artist. His talent is one of a kind, one of which no other artist will be able to recreate. However, Kanye has said many anti-Semitic statements, many of which the most die-hard fans can not defend. Many have implied that his awful acts are results of Ye being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, yet nothing can excuse that fact of what he said.      Kanye has said multiple anti-s emitic statements. One of which was that Jewish people are not the real Jews. Ye has explained that he believes in what is called the Khazarian Hypothesis. It basically goes against the origin of Ashkenazi Jews and being the descendants of the biblical Israelites. It suggest that they descended from the Khazars, made up of Turkish speaking people, who then converted to Judaism.       Secondly, Ye goes on to say how the Jews control the m...

        If you haven’t seen Across the Spider Verse yet please go watch it because there will be spoilers. I recently rewatched the movie Across the Spider Verse and it is breathtaking on a second viewing. The characters, visuals, and view of the multiverse were all on point and the best I have ever seen! It’s crazy that this movie is my favorite animated movie of all time and it doesn’t even have an ending yet.       ATS displays Spiderman better than all the live action movies because of its focus on Miles not just Spiderman. Although many Spiderman movies completely overlook that Spiderman is just a high school student, ATS shows that struggle. The opening scene of Miles is the first to show this as he is late with his meeting with the college advisor because he is fighting Spot. This theme is reinforced when he is late to his Dad’s promotion party, because he was fighting, and ends up disappointing his Dad and embarrassing himself. Many spider...

    Rylan Frydman - Week Three: Football  Injuries      Football is one of the most exciting, popular, sports played. The thrill of scoring a touchdown or making a big catch just makes the sport that much more amazing. However, with football comes injuries, many many injuries. Every week, different players get hurt, some better and some worse. Injuries truly ruin the game of football and every other sport played.  These past couple of weeks as football has begun, I have had an amazing time watching and cheering on the teams and players. Yet I have witnessed multiple injuries that just make you feel terrible for the players. For example, in Week 1 of the NFL, Aaron Rodgers had a season ending injury that will keep him out until next year. If you didn’t know, Aaron Rodgers is an NFL quarterback of 18 years in the NFL, and he was going to play his first game with a new team and on the first drive, about 1 minute into the game, he suffered a season endin...

  I sit on my bed, watching maybe the tenth episode of the show I've been binging for maybe 2 weeks at the most. I look at the clock. It's 1:30. Where has the time gone? Well, might as well not stop now. This mindset has plagued many binge-show watchers for generations, me being one of the victims. Did you know that binge-watching shows have been linked to addiction, sleep problems, sedentary behaviors, and psychological distress? Did you know one more thing? Why is Suits so good?  That's the constant question in my mind. Is it worth it? I understand the links of binging and the risks previously mentioned, but I REALLY want to watch Suits . This destructive behavior is not unique by any means. It can be applied to anything; Some people play video games, scroll social media, or shop in excessive amounts akin to my own problem.  These socially acceptable addictions, as I like to call them, plague this generation.  It's a dilemma we all grapple with. On one hand, we al...

       What better way to have a good time, see all your friends, listen to your favorite music, and have the most fun of your life than to go to or throw a party? I absolutely love parties! I am a very social person and going out is one of my favorite things to do. Not just the actual get-together itself, but the preparation and excitement for it is what I look forward to. Doing hair, makeup, finding the perfect outfit; it all prefaces the night to come! Plus, I have a lot of different friend groups so the opportunity to see them all at once is perfect for me. Not to mention themes make the event ten times more amusing. The best of all is Halloween costume parties, that's where people really get creative.       However, not everyone likes parties. Some are more inclined to stay home with a friend or two, or maybe chill in bed by themselves. I myself am like this half the time, depending on my mood. I honestly don’t understand the people who are a...

      This past week I went on the college tour to UF and FSU. The University of Florida has been my dream school for my whole entire life. My father attended UF, and I grew up rooting for the Gators. The University of Florida is getting better every day as they were just recently named the number one public school in the nation. Everything about the school is amazing, and there is a reason why the University of Florida is called the Swamp.       Ben Griffin Hill stadium. One of the best stadiums there is, and not because it fits 100,000 people, but because the fans and atmosphere make it one of the best. My dad told when he was there the stadium got so loud it was like it was shaking, and when I heard that I had to see it for myself. I went to games myself, one of them was against Alabama which is known to be dominant and the stadium was louder than ever. It was so cool to experience Gator life.      This weekend the Gators hosted the Tennes...

    Growing up I have always been a Hurricane.  My Dad was a hurricane, my aunt was a hurricane, my other aunt was a hurricane; I am a hurricane through and through.   Unfortunately, the University of Miami's football program has been really struggling in recent years.  I mean it's hard to root for a team when there aren't enough fans supporting.  You would think that the university located near the prime location of Miami would get the attraction, but that is just completely false.  UM is a small school, but that does not make up for the fact that UM is a great football school.  I mean the school produces a ton of NFL talent players, and continues to do well in the recruiting system.  Each year they are able to get at least a few 5 stars to commit which is not usual college football.  So far this year, UM is 3-0 and ranked top 20 in the nation, and still managed to have one dollar tickets selling for the Bethune-Cookman game at home las...

     Over the weekend, I watched Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. A little confession about me is that I like watching romantic movies, but this film was not what I expected. It was incredibly deep and poetic and tackled complex thoughts. Often, when we think of sci-fi movies, we don’t think of love stories, but this movie elegantly combines both genres and uses them to their full potential and advantage.      B efore I give more of my thoughts with spoilers included, I deeply recommend trying this movie. It is worth it and will leave you with a newfound appreciation for life, love, and companionship.      T he movie takes place in the near future and centers around a man named Theodore who works for a company called Beautiful Handwritten Letters, which provides a service where professional writers write meaningful letters for people who struggle to do so themselves. The irony in this situation is that although he can so...

    This might be the wrong audience for this topic, but I think the best motivation for anything is just acting like you're in a movie. That sounds weird, but I don't mean giving the Jim face to the wall, I mean just pretending like your life is perfect and you're following the plot of a movie. Maybe not even pretending like you're in a movie, but like your life is more put-together than you actually are. Like, convincing yourself that you could be those put-together girls on Pinterest who wake up at 5 a.m. for their run. Well, I guess most of you don't aspire to be those girls, but you get the idea. Like, I do this by playing music, drinking coffee, and pretending like I'm Rory from Gilmore Girls (I haven't seen the whole show but I get the vibe, probably). I feel like doing this just makes the work more tolerable, and gives you motivation to start. I'm not even exaggerating, every time I know I have a lot of homework to do, I say to myself that I am e...

       Social media comes in many forms: scrolling through videos, looking at pictures of others, talking to friends, sending pictures to friends, and more. However, it is one of the biggest problems in society today. Not only is it a massive distraction to people, but it also can lead to anxiety, overthinking, ADHD, bullying, depression, and in the worst cases, suicide.      Social media is consuming kids' youths and adults' free time. Social media thrives off of these teenagers getting addicted to their platforms and scrolling for hours without even realizing it. Ever since society went into lockdown due to the pandemic, people's screen time, which is directly related to social media use, has drastically increased by over an hour a day according to an article posted by Forbes. This leads to a lack of productivity. Furthermore, according to legacycommunityhealth.org, the additional use of social media has made people 53% more likely to experience ADHD...

 This week I have had the privilege of being able to visit both the University of Florida and Florida State University.  I have never visited either of these schools even though they are my top 2 options for college.  It was also my first time touring a college in general.  Before the trip I have always had University of Florida as my number 1 option, but after visiting the 2 schools, I understand how some people can make the case that they would rather go to Florida State.  While University of Florida is a higher ranked university academically, there are many other factors that should play a role in the decision making of which college to attend.  I have always thought that no matter what go to the best school you get into, but I have learned that the most important thing is how you fit in.  For example, when I arrived on the UF campus I was struck with the beaming sun of Gainesville, and I realized why they call it the swamp.  The tour was great...

  Name: Rylan Frydman Week 2: FOMO In today's world, we have a constant need for popularity and excitement in our lives.  FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out, is a feeling most of us have felt before. It is that voice telling you that someone is living through that thrillful, amazing experience, while you are solely missing out. With everyone attached to social media, we begin to compare ourselves to others. Everyone wants to live someone else's life and become unsatisfied with the life they have. People feel the need to live the life of partying, going out, and attending every social gathering and event, and yet leave no time to themselves. I for one have felt FOMO. For example, I was home on a weekend and started scrolling through social media. I saw people I know going out and having an exciting time. In that moment, I felt as though I was wasting those prime years of my life by myself, doing nothing.  Through days of being by myself and not constantly looking for a moment...

     As I get older, whenever I go to a family gathering, the first question that I am bombarded with constantly is: where do you want to go to college? Although I may have ideas of where I want to go at this point, I still have many problems with this question. The first (and biggest) of which being that I have been hearing it since freshman year. I just always felt as if it put a lot of pressure on me to have everything figured out at such a young age which can lead to a lot of stress. I hear so much about college and the future that I forget that I still have 2 whole years left of high school to finish.       Adults put so much pressure on teenagers by asking them all these questions about where they see themselves as adults that they forget to live in the moment and enjoy their teenage years. Every now and then I think it is good to just take a step back and realize how much time I actually have left. I understand that what comes next is important,...

            Football season is back and this means multiple things for guys of all age and i can explain it in one word. REDZONE. What this does for guys is that they don't have to worry about missing something big in one game while watching nothing happen in another. This is because it is a subscription based channel that shows you every big moment of every game going on at one time.  But Redzone is not just watched to pay attention to every single game at once. There is this thing that mostly every boy in school will be glued to his phone. And I will Agree that i do this also. And this one thing is called fantasy football. This is a game that users draft a team filled with NFL stars and the stats that they put up in the game correspond to the points they put up in the virtual game. I myself am in 2 Fantasy Football Leagues. One of which is filled with people from this school, and my other is filled with kids from my old school in New York. ...

There are many things that people are embarrassed about for no reason. I think it's the one thing everyone can relate to. Even if a few people are only embarrassed about things that make sense, as much as any emotion can make sense, I refuse to believe those people actually exist. I don't like the idea that there might be someone out there who feels nothing while sneezing or burping in public. That's just creepy. I thought of this while trying to think of a topic to write about and only thinking of seemingly dumb topics. This is partially due to the fact that I am fighting the urge to write a 1,000-word essay about whatever show/movie/celebrity I'm obsessed with that week. That might be an actually sensible reason though, because I can't really think of a way to start a conversation with how the cast of The Bear connects to the cast of the Willow series. So that would probably be a normal thing to be embarrassed about. Anyways, there are some things that seem comple...

     INCOMING SPOILER ALERT! If you plan to watch the new Blue Beetle movie, maybe read this another time. This past weekend I watched DC’s newest superhero movie, The Blue Beetle. Now, I am not the biggest superhero movie fanatic, but I do enjoy watching them, especially Marvel! Though this was not a Marvel character the trailer made it seem super funny and interesting, so I decided to give it a chance. The general plot of the movie is that there is a Mexican boy Jaime, who just graduated from college, and is going back home to his family. Sadly, his family is going through some financial problems, so he and his younger sister seek out janitorial jobs at a huge company named Korp that owns half the city. The owner of Korp, Victoria, is evil and wants to turn the company into a military weapon business with the help of an ancient alien technology (in the shape of a scarab) that holds the power to turn anyone into an indestructible fighting machine. Her niece is trying to ...

  Before you attack me for this “blasphemous” take, understand the number one team last year in the country, Georgia, and the number two team in the country, TCU, played in the National Championship game last year. The National Championship game is the biggest college football game of the year and is the equivalent of the college football Superbowl. With the two best teams in the country playing on the biggest stage, the game must be good. Right? Well if you like blowouts it was the best game in history.  TCU lost to Georgia 65-7. A 58 point differential between the top two teams in the country. Never in NFL history has a superbowl has a team been beaten that badly. You might think this is a super rare occurrence but it's not. Just this week, LSU beat Grambling State by 62, Penn State beat Delaware by 56, FSU beat Southern Miss by 53, and  Oregon State beat UC Davis by 48. The talent of college football is too spread out for many teams to be competitive so most games ever...

     To continue on last week's topic, this week, I want to talk about aging and, more specifically, growing old. Many people fear aging because of all the things it symbolizes. Getting older means having a deteriorating body that can’t do all the things it used to do. Cosmetic brands use this to their advantage by targeting products to make people look and feel “young.” Celebrities are criticized and ostracized for aging and wrinkles, meanwhile, staying young and looking youthful is what all these companies tell us is most attractive. Instead of embracing our natural progression, we are told to do anything we can to prevent it.     A ging also means our days are numbered, time is running out, and the clock is ticking. Any way you word it, it's depressing. But there is beauty in age; growing old means growing in general. Old people have experience, wisdom, and a perspective on life that others can’t understand. They have been through life's highs and lows and ca...

SPOILER ALERT!!!      I just watched the movie The Imitation Game  starring Benedict Cumberbatch and it blew me away. The movie follows the main character, Alan Turing, on his journey from professor to war hero. It focuses on Britain's struggle to break the extremely complex Enigma code used by Nazi Germany in World War II and how it was broken.       Turing, played by Cumberbatch, was a fellow or researcher at Cambridge University when he wrote his paper answering a question: Can a machine think? This paper, titled The Imitation Game, established himself as a respectable genius and also gave him credibility. He was later broached by Commander Denniston about joining them in decrypting the Enigma Code as World War II was starting. Despite Denniston's doubt, he brought Turing on board. This was the best decision of his life. For 2 years Turing worked endlessly on his machine to crack the code used by the Germans. His life's work, can machines think...

      Football has never been the main sport I play, but I still enjoy the game. The fresh-cut grass and thrill of the game always got my attention. Despite Donna Klein having a flag football team, the game is pretty much the same to tackle. Yes tackle is more intense, but no one can rule out the fact that flag football is also intense.      I play the position of the quarterback, and the quarterback is the leader of the offense. Much pressure is put on the quarterback, and I must perform to almost perfection to win games. In Flag Football you generally only have one blocker to save some time before the rusher is about to pull the quarterback's flag. This means I only have a couple of seconds before I need to throw the ball to one of my receivers. I need to scan the field in almost no time and pick the right receiver who is the most open. If a mistake is made, the defense can take advantage of that and intercept the ball which puts them on offense and incre...

      Rylan Frydman - Week One: Finally, Fantasy Football!        As football approaches, hundreds of thousands of fans begin to set into gear. Excitement arises as the days come closer and closer until the first kickoff begins. And as many football fans may know, when football arrives, so does fantasy football. For those who don't know, fantasy football is an app which allows users to serve as owners of selected professional football players. Each participant takes turns in a draft, selecting any NFL player at choice, until they have created their team. You watch as the players you picked pass, catch, run, and score touchdowns, all adding points to your team. Matched with someone else in your league, whoever has more points by the end of the week, wins. Me and my friends have just finished our draft. Some may think it is a small part of our lives, a little game to add some more excitement to the games, well they can guess again. Fantasy football ...

               Over the summer, I spent 8 weeks at camp Ramah Darom. This summer, I belonged to the oldest division and every year, the oldest division plans color war. We spent the majority of the first session planning all day every day. we did everything from choosing a theme,  to building decorations,  to writing cheers, etc. we spent most of our lives going through all the fun programing of camp without fully understanding what kind of effort goes into designing all the fun activities we enjoyed as children. This summer we really learned how much goes into making camp happen for kids, and it was even more rewarding when we got to see the kids faces light up with excitement at breakout. What else do we take for granted as kids? In what other ways can we learn how much effort goes into entertaining kids?

      I spent this summer going to camp. In it, we occupied ourselves with activities called electives, which were essentially us choosing whichever pastime we wanted. When I was picking these, I saw a peculiar-looking activity; Improv. Not knowing what else to pick, I chose it to be my elective that week. My first time at the Improv period was interesting, to say the least. The first thing I learned was the "rules" of Improv. These rules were: No Cheez-Its No Left hands No props To get out of the scene, you somersault  To get into the scene, you cartwheel Any rule violation will be punished with crabwalks Minion (the person running it) was the top dog Freeze when Minion says so, and unfreeze only when he says so     That was my first exposure to this, and I loved it. Over the course of the weeks I chose Improv as my elective, and we played many games. One of my favorites was "dating game." In this game, we had one bachelor/bachelorette, who would...

       The kicker is known to be the least valuable position in the NFL, but their impact on the field cannot be understated. A kicker's only job is to kick field goals and extra points and yet some kickers are unable to do that. Whether it be the pressure or them just not being good enough, kickers train their whole lives for one job although they fail over ten percent of the time. A common opinion is that field goals and especially extra points aren't important, but that is completely false. One missed extra point can impact team morale as well as the strategy of the coach throughout the game. Going for a two-point conversion typically doesn't even cross the coach's mind unless their team misses a field goal. Kicker's are clearly important in a negative way but if their whole job is to not mess up, why even have kickers at all? The most important reason is game-winning field goals. The thrill when the offense, consisting of the top athletes in the world, gets off ...

  Warning: Contains spoiler for the Willow series (even though it's canceled and can't technically be watched on any streaming platform)   It came as no surprise to me that the Willow TV series, which came out in November of last year, was canceled and completely removed from Disney+. Not because I didn't like it, I was very disappointed actually, but I knew it wasn't very popular, especially among fans of the original Willow movie. It definitely had a different tone than the first movie, changing some dynamics with the new characters, taking a more serious turn with the plot, and bringing in more of a modern humor. And the queer storyline might have bothered the older fans of the movie, but I doubt that was a significant factor in its cancellation. The point is that I understand why it was canceled, the views were low, but I disagree with most backlash it received from viewers.     Instead of a compilation of different reviews or taking different points of view in...

  Mia Garaz, Week 1 I Love Holidays This past week, I enjoyed a nice, relaxing, long weekend since there was no school on Monday. Why you may ask? Well, because of labour day of course! And while I am not the most patriotic American, the holiday made me realize how much I love America, its’ people, and its holidays. The whole reason why we have this holiday is in the name of freedom and respect. The American people wanted to be shown appreciation for their hard work and contributions to society as a working nation by being given a federal holiday. What screams freedom more than a day off from work/school? I think that I should fight for a federal holiday that would leave every American home from school on the day I choose, in dedication to the years we kids spend slaving away in school. Just think about it, there would be no one working in these jobs that “contribute to society” without going through the primary school years of at least K-12. I believe that if we all stand up t...

 Josh Matheson - Week 1; A College Football Era Ended       College football is finally back! Yesterday was an exciting  day, since I was able to just sit back and watch football, there is nothing I would rather be doing.  However, what I have recently noticed is that a lot of teams are switching out of divisions and joining new ones.  The history and tradition of these conferences are going to waste.  For example, the Big 10 now has 18 teams, the Big 12 has 16 teams, the SEC has 16 teams, the ACC has 17 teams, and the PAC-12 only has 2 teams.  These moves are going to be put into play in 2024, so my advice to you is enjoy one last year of pure and authentic college football, and  don't take the rich history for granted.  College football is never going to be the same anymore, I mean to be honest I still will enjoy it, but it is never going to be the same.  My favorite thing about college football is the intensity of the games ...

          This prior week, I watched a TV show called "The Summer I Turned Pretty". While I really enjoyed the show and found it very entertaining, something that someone said stuck out to me: "In order to grow, you have to put yourself in uncomfortable situations." While this quote is very literal, it has a deeper meaning. It is important to take that leap of faith and do something new - explore new things. While sometimes it may be easier to hide in your shell, it is good to branch out. By putting yourself in uncomfortable situations, it allows you to grow as you become comfortable with the uncomfortable. Therefore, you can always be on your toes and be ready for anything. It also gives you a sense of experience that you may not have had before. Additionally, it gives you a new sense of confidence so you never feel uncomfortable in those situations ever again.      Sometimes I too struggle stepping out of my comfort zone. I used to prefer t...

     Babies are something very unique. They represent one of humanity’s most significant weaknesses. Whether a baby animal or a baby human, they always evoke strong emotions and make us act in ways we usually wouldn’t. We all have that random baby voice we make when we talk to one or the uncontrollable smile that fills our faces. Their happiness and laughter is infectious, and when a baby is sad, all you want to do is make it happy (maybe you just want to shut it up, but who am I to judge).      Being a baby has many advantages; if I told you that you had to save either a grown man or a baby, most likely, you would pick the baby without hesitation. Time after time, people will always strive to help babies or children. Babies will always be anyone’s top priority, whatever the personal reason. They are incredibly vulnerable and must always be looked after. A grown man can, hopefully, save himself, but who will save the baby?      Babies embody ...

      For my entire life, I have attended Donna Klein Jewish Academy just like my two older brothers. It seems like yesterday when I was in kindergarten getting M and Ms from my teacher Ms.Forster. I reached a point in my life where I carry much more responsibility than I ever had. I'm studying for SATs, taking AP classes, and playing sports for our school, and it feels like every day is just a nonstop grind. I'm starting to feel more like an adult and it scares me. The thought of going to college is something I am not willing to accept right now, but the reality is I am going to have to learn to grow up on my own and adapt to my environment.       Junior year is supposed to be the toughest year of high school. It is the year when you have to start thinking about where the best fit for you is. I don't know where the best fit for me is. My whole life I have been fantasizing about going to the University of Florida. The sports there are amazing and so as...