Student’s Writings

Inspiration by Lyric Avent

Inspiration—a topic each student approached with a unique blend of creativity and emotion.  LYRIC experiences it through the portals of the cartoon & movie multiverse.

Cartoon creators, voice actors, and movie actors really inspire me. I have always wanted to do voices of cartoon characters and act in shows and movies. I feel very inspired by how creative people can be when they make cartoons and movies. I want to be like them some day, creating cartoons, doing voice acting, and being a movie actor. 

I am specifically inspired by Disney and Nickelodeon voice actors. I want to be a Nickelodeon voice actor doing different voices from different cartoons, this is a dream job that I would never get tired of because I’m doing the things I love the most. But let’s stop talking about reality inspiration and get fictional. 

There I am in the cartoon and movie multiverse going through portal by portal, meeting the characters of cartoons and movie actors that inspire me the most. I ended up in the Guardians Of The Galaxy movie where I see the character I’ve been waiting to meet for decades. there he was! Drax, the one and only! He saw me and came up to me saying “What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be in space.” I told him the backstory of me being a multiverse traveler, how he inspired me to be an actor, and how cool it was when he used to be in the WWE before he retired. I had a good time since he was a very humorous kind of guy, and then I left. 

I was going portal by portal again, having the time of my life until I ran into something and fell on the ground. It was a big clock ticking with its long arrows. It took me a minute to realize that I’m running out of time in the fictional universe and reality. Here I am right now in a canon event of running out of time trying to write my story and have a fun time traveling through movies and cartoons. I never mentioned that I can do multiple things at one time like leaving my current human body, typing a story at school, and traveling in the multiverse at the same time. But I was still confused on why there was a big ass clock in front of me, there’s no time limit to traveling in the multiverse! What in the world is going on, why is this happening? I looked over to my right and saw this logo of a parent smiling and a child filled with rage. It was a parental lock clock! What was this clock here for? I’m too old for parental lock stuff. This is absolutely absurd. I pulled out a big gun and shot at the clock. It took a while to break it and that made me rage, for a long time. It finally disappeared as I saw the logo fading away. 

Screw this. I’m going back to reality where I have two damn minutes left to write my story before my time is up. Goodbye now!

Lyric Avent
2/14/25

Danger by Hector Rivas

The students were tasked to write about DANGER. Hector told of the frightening time his then 3-year old brother wandered out of the house to explore the neighborhood.

A three-year old was out and roaming the streets by himself. He had just learned how to walk and made sure to take advantage of this new found freedom. 

My mom had gone to use the bathroom for a second and left my little brother downstairs. I was upstairs, minding my own business. My mom called out for me and she asked me if my brother was with me. I said no because I thought he was with her. I walk downstairs and see the front door slightly open. My mom started to panic and she rushed outside to find my little brother. She was so loud that it caused our next door neighbor to come outside and ask what was going on. My mom said that my brother had run out of the house and she couldn’t find him. My neighbor ran out of her house barefoot to help look for my brother. We all took different routes and I ran around half the block screaming my little brother’s name. My heart was racing and, in that moment, I felt like I could run a whole marathon. 

I asked this man sitting on the porch if he had seen him and he said he’ll keep an eye out. I kept looking and it ended up on me now finding him. Defeated, I walked back to my house and found both my mom and the neighbor there. My mom was about to cry and she suggested that I call the police. I was about to dial 911 when we saw this woman and her child carrying my little brother. Thankfully one of my mom’s friends found him about to cross the street and recognized him to be my mom’s son. Thankfully, the lady grabbed him and brought him back. Now we make sure to keep all of the doors locked.

Danger by Kendall Curtis

The students were tasked to write about DANGER. Kendall writes about learning that an older & wiser friend “wasn’t nearly as smart” as she thought she was.

My whole life has been centered around danger… ever since I came out of my mother! My first interaction with danger was when I came into the world with a fever. They made me stay in the NICU for 16 days before I could come home. My mother stayed with me of course, but as my fever progressed, it started to become apparent to everyone that I would be in there for a while. As the days went on, my visitors list got shorter. Soon enough, it was just me and my mom. On night 15 is when my mom asked the nurses if I could sleep in the room with her rather than with the rest of the babies. This is the night my fever started to go down. Not only was my fever completely gone, it was the first night I slept soundly. 

When I was first brought home, my family didn’t make a big fuss or anything. No one came to see how my mom was , or how I was. It was just a normal day. Nothing stopped or started. They had apparently started selling some of my things because they didn’t think I’d be home at all. My life since then has pretty much been just that. No big fuss or anything. I mean I don’t mind now, but when I was a kid I couldn’t understand why my family hated me. Well , it felt like hate. I would have choir shows and none of my family would come except for my mom. Then I would go to my cousin’s school shows and our whole family was there. It made me sad at first. I felt like I had to work extra hard and be at every family event. 

After a while I started to feel like nothing was enough. That was probably one of the most dangerous points in my life. I started getting suspended, hanging with older people, and just doing things I had no business doing. I thought I was untouchable, like nothing bad could happen to me. Boy, was I wrong. 

While hanging out with my old best friend one day, she pulled out a pill. We were in 8th grade. Mind you, she was 15 and I was only 13. She broke the pill in half and gave me my serving. I was not a pill popper and neither was she, but her mother was. I used to listen to whatever she said because I thought she was older and smarter than me. I was only right about one of those. She popped her half and I put mine in my mouth, but something in my heart was telling me not to swallow it. I went into a stall and spit it in the toilet. I could pretend to act like I was high or whatever. We said we would meet each other at lunch to see how we feel. When lunch finally rolled around, I looked everywhere for her but she was nowhere to be found. I asked someone who was in her class before lunch and they said that she had to go to the hospital to get her stomach pumped. I don’t know if she took anything else or if it was the pill. Everyone in the school made fun of her for being a pill popper. They said she was slumped over drooling on the ground. Then that’s when I started to realize she wasn’t nearly as smart as I thought she was.

Danger by Khori Mitchell

The students were tasked to write about DANGER. Khori writes about how much fun waterparks can be…until they aren’t.

There was only one time in my life where I’ve felt true danger. I was 7 years old and it was my birthday. When I was younger, I would  spend my birthday going to waterparks because my birthday is in the Summer.  My family and I would go to a waterpark and, afterwards, have a party at my house. 

It was the same routine every year. Until my 7th birthday!From what I remember, everything was normal. My cousins were trying to drown me or get me on the big slides as usual. But I remember this waterpark was kinda different. This waterpark had a lazy river. For people who don’t know what a lazy river is, it’s a pool that moves around in a circle constantly pushing you forward. The point of it is just for you to glide with the water without having to swim.  I wanted to get in the lazy river so bad but my mom kept saying no because I wasn’t tall enough. I had to watch all my older cousins enjoy the lazy river without me. I was not going to let that slide. So I begged my mom constantly until she let me… but she told me I could only go if it was with her and my little cousin, Mason. So we walked down to the lazy river and she put me in first and she told me to hold on. Her goal was to put Mason in the float and swim with me. As she’s putting Mason in the float, she turned her back on me. Suddenly, I feel the water pushing me. I repeatedly told my mom that the water was pushing me but she was busy trying to put Mason in the float. Then I couldn’t hold on anymore. The water pushed me and I started to drown because I couldn’t swim. I kept trying to grab something but there was nothing in reach. Where’s the lifeguard? You may ask. He was on the side of the pool watching me drown. Instead of getting in the water and helping me, like a normal lifeguard, he just sat there with his glasses on staring at me and smiling at that which is actually insane. 

So, obviously, I’m panicking, which is making me more likely to drown. I was in danger and I kept trying to swim.  Then, I stopped fighting and panicking. I look up and all I can see is the sun. My eyes slowly closed and I couldn’t breath. After that, the rest of the story is kind of blur. I just remember someone grabbing me, most likely a lifeguard, or my mom and I just kept coughing uncontrollably when my eyes opened. My mom then signed me up for swimming classes and didn’t let me go back in a lazy river until I was like 11, which didn’t go to well either.

Danger by Jordan Smith

 The students were tasked to write about DANGER.  Jordan writes about a clown whose painted-on smile hides a mask of menace.

I’m sitting in an old diner eating a burger and fries with a drink. I’ve never gotten food here before, but I’m really enjoying it. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a figure in black and white. It looked like the figure was staring at me from across the diner. I didn’t want to show that I was uncomfortable, so I ignored the staring and finished my food. 

I put my money on the counter and left. I started feeling tired after eating so I decided to go home. On my way home, I passed by the figure in black and white again. I started to get really creeped out because this was the second time I saw this person. I turned around to see if he was following me and he was waving at me with a huge smile on his face.

I felt chills when I saw the figure waving at me. I’ve never felt this sense of danger before. My heart started beating at a rapid pace and my lungs ached. I started running because I felt like I needed to get away from this situation as soon as possible. I kept running until I couldn’t anymore. Coincidentally, I stopped just a few blocks away from my house.  

I get inside and lock all of my doors and windows. I got settled and turned on my TV to watch a movie. Maybe if I distract myself from this weird experience then it will turn out fine. Suddenly, the power went out in my house. The breaker is in my basement to turn it back on. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and go down the basement steps. I can’t see anything so I end up running into something.

The thing I bumped into feels like a human figure. I feel a tight grip on my neck and I’m forced to sit on a chair. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t. When I wake up, I see the figure that was in black and white again. I looked a little closer and it was a clown. He had a long nose with a small black dot on the end, black and white makeup,  a small black top hat, and a very large smile with yellow teeth.

He stepped aside to show me a slideshow presentation that he made. It said that his name was Art The Clown and that I was his next victim. After his presentation, he pulled out a large trash bag and began to dig through it.  He pops a confetti cannon and bits of black and white paper covers me and the floor. He then comically digs through the bag again and pulls out a specially crafted weapon. He waved to me like he did before and raised the weapon over his shoulder with that same smile on his face. The weapon came down and my vision went red.

Family by Mohamed Cisse

“FAMILY…functional, dysfunctional, uniquely personal.” – Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher

It was a typical Friday afternoon. I had just finished praying Maghrib and decided to watch some TV. My mother came downstairs all dressed up and said, “Let’s go.” I was confused at first, then quickly realized that we were supposed to visit the mosque and pray. I felt really tired from playing basketball so I tried to convince my mom to go without me. She wasn’t happy that I was trying to get out of going to the mosque so we had a whole argument about me not valuing my religion and culture enough. She got frustrated and left without me. I didn’t have to pray, read the quran, go to the mosque, or celebrate all the holidays. I felt like she was being unfair to me and unappreciative. I went to sleep early that night.

The next day, I woke up feeling bad about letting my mom go to the mosque alone so I decided to apologize. But before I could do anything, I found myself in someone else’s bed and it was way more stiff than mine. I got up and went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face to fully wake up. I looked in the mirror and saw that I had switched sides. I’m caucasian! I have straight long hair and my voice is different. What kind of voodoo magic is this? I rushed down the steps and found that my house is not my house. I entered the kitchen and found a lady making some breakfast. I asked, “Who are you?” in a concerned voice. She replied, “Stop acting stupid, Connor, it’s too early for this. We have to leave for church in the next twenty minutes.” 

Ok, so I have two concerns right now. One, why is this lady calling me Connor, and two, why the hell am I leaving for church? I asked her the question again,“ Who are you?” in an angry voice. She replied, “I’m your mother and if you don’t hurry up and get ready I’m not taking you to your tennis match.” I guess this was God trying to make me appreciate my religion from the argument I had with my mom. I’m not going to lie though, compared to what I went through with African parents, this will be a breeze. I went back upstairs and played along with this “test”. I put on the suit that was lying on the bed and the dress shoes I found in the closet. If I was going to do this, I gotta at least look nice.

I went back downstairs and had a full English breakfast and got in the car to go to church. (That feels so weird to say.) When we arrived, I was getting ready to pray like a Muslim but realized that I was a Christian in this test. Everyone was probably thinking what is this boy doing? After praying, we went back home. I was happy at the thought of eating Malian food, but remembered that I was about to eat some caucasian food. I ate some chicken and fries, and I kid you not, though I came into this with an open mind, the food had no damn seasoning. What torture.  

By this time I had to go to play tennis. I have had no experience except some time playing last year in Physical Education. I hope I have adapted to Connor’s skills in tennis or I will fail horribly. I took a tennis racket and the game started. I have never in my life had so many balls hit me in 45 minutes. I’m pretty sure they were targeting me, and my teammates gave me a wedgie in  the locker room. What bitc….. Let’s keep this PG now. I can’t stand this caucasian nightmare. Please god, I have had enough with this life, take me back. I learned my lesson.

                                                                                                                                                    Mohamed Cisse

                                                                                                                                                    10/18/24