If You Liked "The Fault In Our Stars"... (Dani)

...then you'll love Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. While all of us Tappy girls freak out over the release of the trailer for the upcoming movie of John Green's young adult favorite (If you missed it, watch it and cry here), let me point you towards another book I have found shockingly similar for the following reasons:

• Both have amazing complex heartbreaking CHARACTERS who while falling in love aren't just falling in love. They are more multifaceted and strong and going through life. Not just a book about love.
• They are just so REAL. Eleanor and Hazel have real insecurities and are so so afraid of love. And the boys have insecurities too. (Cool difference: Eleanor & Park is from both perspectives, so you get to see inside Park's mind too)
• Both make me cry
• I always want to reread both...always.
• Both hilarious. GREAT WRITING.
• Okay? Okay.

Their takes on eyes:

TFIOS: 

And yet—I cut a glance to him, and his eyes were still on me.

It occurred to me why they call it eye contact.  

I walked into the circle and sat down next to Isaac, two seats away from the boy. I glanced again. He was still watching me. 

Look, let me just say it: He was hot. A nonhot boy stares at you relentlessly and it is, at best, awkward and, at worst, a form of assault. But a hot boy . . . well.

E&P: 

He closed his eyes and shook his head, like he was embarrassed.  
"I … just really don’t want to say goodbye to you, Eleanor. Ever."
He opened his eyes and looked straight into her. Maybe this was third base. 

The three words:

TFIOS:

I'm in love with you," he said quietly.

"Augustus," I said. 

"I am," he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.”

E&P: 

"I’m just saying… I love you. And I can’t imagine stopping…" 

She shook her head. "But you’re twelve." 

"I’m sixteen…" he said. "Bono was fifteen when he met his wife, and Robert Smith was fourteen..." 

"Romeo, sweet Romeo..." 

The parallels are uncanny. 

Quick, let me explain: in the last one, she's making fun of him like she made fun of Romeo and Juliet in school because she thinks they are too young and immature and spoiled to actually feel lifelong love for each other. Throughout the book, she's trying to give all of herself but she has to hold herself back because she can't foresee herself getting to be with him for real because of her stepdad.

So anyway, before you blame me for a very incomplete assessment of the book, here's a little more on what Eleanor & Park is all about. Set in 1986 to the music of The Cure and Joy Division (I absolutely recommend listening to them for what admittedly was my first time while you read not just for the vibe but also since they pretty much founded the alternative genre), the novel depicts two kids who change each other's lives as they try to deal with all the issues of fitting in and standing out and Eleanor's horrible abusive dictatorial drunk of a stepdad. They're pretty cute; they read comic books together on the bus. And you can take a break from crying about The Fault In Our Stars to cry about something else for a change. 

I also recommend Rainbow Rowell's other YA novel, Fangirl, about life and love from the perspective of a girl who is famous for writing online fanfiction and has a twin and is starting college!

Stay fabulous and submit to Tapestry by February 19!
Dani

Childhood Friends and Memories

I'm willing to bet that anyone reading this had a favorite stuffed animal when they were younger. Maybe you still do. I definitely do, and her name is Penelope. Penelope is a black and white pig about the size of a loaf of bread. She's been with me since I was five and has been pretty constant in my life. 

It turns out that when my mom bought Penelope for me, she actually bought two of the same pig. I didn't receive -- let alone know about -- the second one until sixth grade. Which is the year I had Swine Flu. I know right? My mom was powerless in the face of the irony. I named "new Penelope" Lydia and even though they're the same stuffed animal, Lydia still hasn't replaced Penelope. Penelope is worn and soft, whereas Lydia is silky and smooth. Penelope has been to Maine, Georgia, Florida, Colorado, and Massachusetts; Lydia has never left the house. For these reasons, Penelope is so much more important to me. It's strange, considering she's not really real, but our "shared" experiences make her so comforting.

To be completely honesty, I was a bit hesitant about writing this. Maybe because this is a part of me that is slighting more private, or maybe because it seemed like a childish topic. But then I realized: as high-schoolers, we want nearly nothing more than to be able to revert to our childhood. So here's hoping that this post will remind you of your favorite stuffed animal and possibly even inspire you to find that plush friend, take a moment, and remember an easier and more relaxing time of your life. 

Best wishes for your snow day,

Maria

Food Is Always On My Mind

I want to share this incredible piece of artwork by Ibon Mainar with all of you.  The painting is of In & Out Burgers and when I came across it while blogging earlier today, I thought that the the resemblance was uncanny.  I've never been to In & Out Burgers before, which is something that really needs to change within the next year or two.

So today, I was feeling extra hungry.  I woke up this morning after about 9 hours of sleep (a record on a school night for me guys) and had chicken soup that my mom had made the previous night.  Usually, I have a bland breakfast, consisting of a dry bagel washed down with a glass of orange juice, and then about an hour later I grumble about how hungry I am and how badly I want to go to lunch.  But today, I took my sweet time eating breakfast, the crisp celery, carrots, and chicken really hit the spot for me!  I was in bliss after such a wonderful breakfast that I went through 1st and 2nd period without a rumbling stomach.  During A lunch, I enjoyed a peanut butter sandwich (yes, only peanut butter, I hate PB&J) and a chocolate chip cookie (shout out to Faith Kim for buying it for me).  3rd and 4th period drained me out and surely enough when I got on the bus, I announced to a friend, that I was ready for a snack.  But a snack for me, isn't actually a snack which is defined as a portion of food smaller than a meal; it's another meal!  I bounded through the door, ready for my snack, and grabbed a bowl of steaming hot chicken soup.  After that, I enjoyed a bowl of low fat strawberry Yoplait yogurt and followed that up with a bowl of pineapple chunks.  Now, I am craving a small pizza from Upper Crust and some fudge brownie ice cream... ugh why is food always on my mind? 

Until Next Time, 

Sarah

Dear Class of 2015

Last week my english class turned in our last journal review for the year. There was relief and panic in the air as some rejoiced the last of the essays and the others made frantic corrections at a last minute attempt to save their grade. One of the journals written by Nicole Fallert struck me particularly hard because of how accurately it captured the general ambiance of junior year. Even though it is addressed to the Class of 2015, I believe any high schooler can identify with the qualities described.

Dear Class of 2015,

Just a few weeks ago, we were assigned an essay in AP English that would need to be completed the same weekend many of us were to take the SAT. Upon hearing the news, my classmates and I frantically scribbled upon weathered agenda pages, exchanging weary eye contact and exhausted sighs. Mr. Kirk explained the upcoming due date as hushed whispers panicked.

“But I have an AP Bio test too!”

“Ugh, I’m going to FAIL!”

Wild, animal-like students covered their faces with their hands, shrieking like birds in a tropical rainforest, the humid air hanging with anxiety. Pawing for mercy, the classroom fell prey to what seemed like a death sentence at the malignant whimsy of a teacher.

Although we no longer trail the gawky smell of freshman and sophomore years, we juniors carry a cloud of caustic, competitive stink more putrid to the senses than any other hormonal fume. It seems as if this year, the smartest people I have come to know have learned to engineer all conversations so that they orbit around the topics of college and junior year.

We have accepted our new lifestyles of high paper consumption and little sleep with few doubts in a dehumanizing system. Our robotic, competitive conversations never ponder why we respond to the physical and mental pressures of high school with mental self-destruction in the face of a challenge.

If the number of students who frequent the word “fail” when regarding their school work were actually failing school, there would be a significant amount of eleventh graders attending an extra year of high school. We adapt a feigned sense of incompetence that fails to recall any sense of self accumulated over the course of the past sixteen to seventeen years. Too many times during a school day, students mope and sigh at school work, referencing inevitable futures at community colleges and minimum wage employment because of a series of world-ending B plusses. Denial of our self worth does not display our ambition, but rather serves as an unfair assessment of the value of both ourselves and each other. It seems that all I hear are conversations programmed to discuss the topic of THE FUTURE (I write this phrase in capital letters as to emulate God, whose voice, perhaps second to that of Morgan Freeman, seems fitting enough to capture the significance upon which juniors place the years after high school).

Just like no one wants to hear the skinny girl say she’s fat, no one wants to see the smart kid act stupid. Peers are not here to nurture insecurities. Rather than downplay yourself in an effort that begs for reassurance, own up to the fact that if a result is undesirable, you are not a machine, but a living person who is capable of learning and changing.

Also, when having one of these typical junior conversations, take note of the reactions of your peers when someone decides to announce that he or she “looves SAT math!”  Faces will be twisted with annoyance. If you rock at math, all the more power to you. I know you’ll go far and surround yourself with people just as loud as you are, while I sip my tea in silence, counting my millions, admiring my Pulitzer Prize because I was good at SAT writing.  We will all take standardized tests and receive scores that are suited to our abilities. If you are the comparing type, silence to your calls of self- importance! This is not Candy Crush. There’s absolutely no need to study scores.  

Unheeded, competitive appetites have taught us to watch others succeed and to feel sorry for ourselves. The reality prevails that the only way we will ever savor life is through the creation of our own rewards from our failures. We must not fear unworthiness, for the value of our characters is determined by our ability to abandon a battle for perfection that is inevitably lost to our own humanity. We must stop attempting to become one another, for there is no singular image that defines the “right” way with which to encounter the future. Competition exhausts us, and we are left forgotten fruits, who in their effort to create the perfect future, failed to realize the sweetness of the present.  

Sincerely,
Nicole Fallert

--Jaagrit

P.S.- Thank you to Nicole for letting me use this splendidly written piece and I hope you enjoyed it!

Math Ideas

Hi everyone! Finals are basically over, and I hope you've all survived.  Through my countless hours of studying math day after day, tediously solving problem after problem, I've found I seem to have to best ideas while studying for math.  I also think this has something to do with the fact that my brain desperately wants to focus on anything other than the quadratic equations in front of me.  All the sudden, I'm close to finding the root of another problem and an amazing idea for a screenplay/film hits me. Awesome. Now what do I do?  Well usually I have to wait.  Instead of getting an entire scene, I get a glimpse.  I single scene part of a way larger story that I don't quite know yet.  I never think of words either.  When brainstorming I usually feel people sometimes build up their idea with facts (the year 1954, a blue house with peeling paint is struggling to pay bills, an overworked mother slouches over a sink filled with dirty dishes,) but when I truly get something I like to think about, it's ingrained on the back of my eyelids and it never leaves. It unfolds on it's own and I'm merely a bystander.  But then still don't know exactly what's going on. I feel like someone's throwing puzzle pieces and I won't be able to tell if it's a beautiful picture of a 3rd grader's failed art project.  When i finally have somewhat of an idea I make a bit of a story board with words, piecing what I know into chronological order. Sometimes it's crap, but hey, if you're afraid to create you'll never get better.

-Emma

curly hair adventures

Hey everyone! I hope those of you taking finals this week are surviving. Only THREE days to go and I know you can make it! 

I am posting a short snapshot/image of a memory I have from when I was little. This is an excerpt of a journal that I wrote for my English class. The journal prompt was "write about the history of your hair," which was quite the perfect prompt for a girl with curly hair.

I am bundled up in a lilac coat on a tractor ride in autumn. My hair is rolled in tight, spring-like, youthful locks in such juxtaposition around my small five-year-old face. There is a glow in my eyes that reflects the state of my hair, tangled and excited, from the past event of walking aimlessly through a cornstalk maze and from my future plan to pick the perfect round pumpkin. I’ve never been to a pumpkin patch before and when I see it, it looks like a picture. There are so many pumpkins- orange, cream, yellow, round, oval, and misshapen. After hopping out of the wagon and brushing the golden strands of hay off of my blue overalls, I walk around with my other wide-eyed friends in search of an eligible gourd. I choose the pumpkin that is the most round with the greenest stem; a stem that is sturdy so that I can hold it in my kindergarten hands that are only good for painting and playing with toy dinosaurs. After choosing it, I brush the light dirt off of the pumpkin’s sides and it is mine. I hold it tightly against my coat and my mom lifts me back into the tractor where my friends and I giggle and compare our new treasures.

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful day!

- Emily F.

A few words from Jessica Server (guest speaker) 

WHY write about food?

1) Food is ubiquitous – everyone eats, and eats frequently.

2) BUT food is also specific. How your grandma made pies is just as

important as what pies she made or the fact that she made pies at all.

3) Food is personal.

4) Food is sensory. You can talk about color, texture, smell, taste, the sound

of onions frying…

5) Food is central – family, friends, relationships all gather around food and

food ritual.

You can follow my food columns here:

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER – OFF MENU

City Paper Off Menu

You can check out my chapbook here (PS, a chapbook is a small collection of

poetry, generally no more than 40 pages, that often centers on a specific theme):

Sever the Braid

If you haven’t read Wendell Berry, he’s one of my favorite food writers.

If you want to buy one book that will give you a comprehensive overview of food

writing, try American Food Writing, edited by Molly O’neil. It’s fantastic and spans

a century.

When you’re stuck for something to write, think about food. Trying to move a

short story forward? Take your character out to dinner or to lunch at his mother’s

house. Need a poem idea? Think of a food you feel connected to, then think of

the first time you experienced it. Or write another recipe. It can be a recipe for a

dish, like we did in workshop, or a recipe for something non-food related, like an

apology.

BE CREATIVE. BE ADVENTUROUS. AND REMEMBER, WE CAN’T TASTE

“DELICIOUS.”

It's the little things....

There are many things I struggle with. Precalc, cursive, and parallel parking are all things I could use some work on. But there are also many things I'm pretty good at. I can write a quality essay in less than 45 minutes, make some pretty great brownies, and I've learned to manage my time pretty well. This has been especially important since I have started Junior year. Between AP classes, SATs, musical, volunteering, learning how to drive, and a myriad of other activities (such as blogging of course) it has been hard to find time for myself. However, I have started using a system of "rewards" for completing things like homework. These rewards are things that make me happy and relaxed but don't take a lot of time away from important activities (AKA: studying).

Here is my list of "me-time" activities (all 20 minutes or less):

• Read a chapter of your favorite book (assuming you are a fast reader this shouldn't take long)
• Put a tray of cookies in the oven. This is a treat for now and later! 
• Pre-made cookie dough is ideal to so you don't take time to clean up
• Make a mix-cd for a friend
• Watch 3 military reunion videos on YouTube to make you smile
• Side note: Ellen Degeneres has a TON on her station 
• Set a timer and spend some time catching up on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook posts
• Go to this link and read about a theory that says all Disney Pixar movies are from the same universe, then proceed to sit in shock. 
• http://www.buzzfeed.com/spenceralthouse/this-theory-on-pixar-movies-will-blow-your-mind
• Actually Buzzfeed is just an awesome website in general! So many cool articles on their website. But make sure you set a timer or else you'll spend hours reading Buzzfeed instead of taking notes. 
• Take a 20 minute power nap
• Send a free virtual bouquet online and send it to a friend. It will totally make them smile.
• Make a video at http://www.jibjab.com/ with your friends faces and laugh
• Re-read your favorite childhood picture book
• Look through a photo album or old yearbook

Now take a nice deep breath and get back to work!

----Rachel 

New Year, New Blog Schedule!

Hey Tappy staff, Emily here! I hope everyone has a wonderful snow day tomorrow; they're always a pleasant surprise. If you get tired of sitting at your computer and watching Netflix (I mean doing homework and studying for finals), you can start brainstorming for your January blog post! Check out the new schedule below and remember to blog on your day (:

January 10 - Rachel
January 11 - Stephen
January 12 - Emma
January 13 - Emily F.
January 15 - Dani
January 16 - Sarah
January 17 - Jaagrit
January 18 - Che
January 19 - Faith
January 21 - Adlai
January 22 - Bailey
January 24 - Emily K.
January 25 - Marisa
January 27 - Juliet
January 28 - Maria
January 30 - Habiba
January 31 - McKenna

Why is Winter Break Coming to an End ALREADY???

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 

Yay 2014!  I apologize for my super late blogpost everyone.  I hope you all had a wonderful winter break and wow we go back to school tomorrow this is so exciting (not).  I got about 12 hours of sleep every night (so sad that's going to come to an end), ate a ton of delicious food (holiday food.. yum), and watched a bunch of great movies.  Usually over any type of break we have, I binge watch a TV show and stay at home every day, but this break I watched movies like no other.  I was never a huge movie fan before, but I couldn't resist seeing Anchorman 2, Frozen, and American Hustle.  I recommend ALL of them oh my god they were fantastic.  If you want a stupid but funny movie, go see Anchorman 2 because Will Ferrell was absolutely hilarious.. I was laughing so hard throughout the entire movie, I had tears streaming down my face.  Frozen was so so incredibly cute as Maria talked about in her blog post and the music was perfect.  Let It Go was beautiful and if you haven't heard it yet, you MUST listen to it ASAP and go out and see the movie!  I'm not sure what my final thoughts are about American Hustle because the plot was a tad bit confusing for me, but Jennifer Lawrence was amusing so, if you want to see a drama, then go for it!  Oh my god, yesterday I had the best filet mignon guys... Okay, I'm getting a little side tracked from what my real blog post is about.

Here are 6 of my Winter Break Favs.

1. Pumpkin Spice Candle: PUMPKIN SPICE RULES.  This is the greatest smelling candle that you will ever come across!  Unless you smell a Christmas cookie candle, because then those win...but every time my mom and I would go candle shopping I would make her buy me a pumpkin spice candle.  At night, when I light the candle, I feel like my room instantly warms up and it feels so much comfier than before.  

2. Fuzzy Socks: These are a requirement for a cold winter day.  Walmart has a huge section of fuzzy socks in the women's clothing section for a pretty decent price!  I bought myself a pair of green socks with blue polka dots and I can't stop wearing them- in fact I have them on right now.

3. Brownie in a Mug: This recipe should be memorized by every teenager out there.  I don't care how early in the morning it is, I will make myself a brownie in a mug while still wearing my PJs and eat it for breakfast.  That is how damn good it is.

4. Sleeping In: Enough said.

5. Midnight Memories by One Direction: I know a lot of people don't like One Direction's music, but if any of their albums can change their mind, this would be the one.  Midnight Memories is a mix of indie rock and pop rock.  My three favorite songs off of their album are Happily, Right Now, and Story of My Life.  Happily is really light and bouncy and makes me want to dance every time I listen to it.  Right Now is kind of slow, but I've listened to it 108 times over the past week so... it's amazing.  Story of My Life is GREAT, the boys performed this on SNL a couple of weeks ago and it was breathtaking.

6. Cup O Ramen: I had my first cup o ramen this winter break and it was wonderful.  Chicken is the way to go.  I definitely recommend this so much over regular Ramen packages, because at least with this- you have assorted vegetables and all you need is some hot water AND also not to mention, the fact that it's already in a cup for you.

Alright, well enjoy the last day of break guys!

-Until next time, Sarah