Interested in music and want free tutoring? My high school has a weekly after school program on Thursdays from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm that offers music tutoring for elementary, middle, and high school students in the Capistrano Unified School District at no cost.
The goal of this student-led program is to inspire more students to keep practicing their instruments. Students are not required to have prior musical expertise, but they must bring their own instruments. Additionally, the students perform on a wide variety of band and orchestra instruments. Similarly, the mentors represent all instruments and grade levels. The students receive free lessons, grow closer to their mentor, and become more enthusiastic about music. As a result, the mentors build their confidence in their own teaching and playing skills while also gaining experience in mentoring. The mentors receive community service hours as an added incentive to participate in the program.
My brother volunteered as a musical mentor tutor for around four years and he passed the baton to me. Through this, I’ve learned how to teach and break down concepts for my students. Depending on the level of my students, I customize the lesson plans to meet their needs. This can include working on scales (fixing pitch and tone quality of the notes) and practicing how to count notes. Subsequently, I spend about an hour working with my students on songs that they need assistance with. Afterward, with thirty minutes remaining in the session, all students gather to practice rhythmic skills and prepare for our annual concert. At the end of the year, we host an annual concert that helps students become accustomed to playing in front of an audience while also providing parents with a chance to see what their children have learned.
Overall, the program helps our mentees develop a greater understanding and appreciation of music, increase their motivation to play their instruments, and work toward improving their musical skills. Musical Mentors is a beneficial and satisfying experience for parents, children, and mentors. I love teaching students, as I find it incredibly rewarding to connect one-on-one and expand their knowledge of music. I plan to continue mentoring for the rest of my high school career.
I know this is a loaded statement, but I truly believe it. I recently had to read and perform one of his plays, Gruesome Playground Injuries, for an acting class. This play was my introduction to Joseph’s works and it is astonishing to see how his brain works. His plays are normally short, only a few scenes, not typically exceeding one hundred pages. He is able to develop characters so emotionally complex within that short span it will leave readers so invested and attached that they linger in their brains. At least, that is what happened to me.
My most recent read was a play of his called Guards at the Taj and it was nothing short of mind-altering. The play has four scenes, consistent with Joseph’s concise style, however, it is nowhere near lacking in volume. The play is set in Agra, India, in 1648. Everything, excluding the language, is accurate to the time period.
The first scene opens with the only two characters in the play, Babur and Humayun, two imperial guards at the Taj Mahal. Humayan is very rigid and regimented in his ways. His father is the head of the imperial guards and I believe him to have a mindset of success in quantifiable measures. Babur severely opposes this; he is philosophical in his beliefs and mindsets and sets emotion and abstraction to be prominent ways of his ways of thinking. The two talk a lot about beauty: what it is, who appreciates it more, where it can be found, and what can and cannot be beautiful. Babur accuses his friend of not knowing beauty as he does, but when the two of them see the Taj Mahal for the very first time, the men begin to weep, they drop their swords and hold hands.
The second scene opens with the men standing in two feet of blood. Babur clutching a sword, and Humayan blinded. The gore depicted on the stage is usually what is only alluded to by playwrights. Joseph takes this standard, crumples it up, and throws it out of the window to be found by a lion who rips it to shreds. The stage Lining the stage are barrels of 40,000 hands (the hands of the 20,000 men who created the Taj Mahal), all of which had been severed by Babur and Humayun. I believe that the gore was necessary to the point Joseph is making: what is real will happen and be seen. The reality of the play was that nothing that Humayan claimed he had talked about that would get the men out of their current standing situation (as low-class imperial guards) or even the conversation he said he had with his father (claiming to beg at his feet not to kill Babur when Humayan sold him out). None of it was pictured. What was shown was Humayan severing and cauterizing the hands (and his relationship) with his best friend, Babur, and I think Joseph was determined to make all of the gore and messages in his scenes undeniable.
I believe that this is a piece that everyone needs to read. I really hope to see it performed one day. It stands relevant to so many different situations and in so many aspects of relationships, social hierarchy, and the search for beauty, and the feeling of reading it for the first time cannot be encapsulated in words. And all of it in 45 pages. Rajiv Joseph is a genius.
Whether it be heartbreak, sorrow, joy, or any other feelings, the music beautifully enchants and expresses people’s emotions through the lyrics, melodies, instrumentals, rhythms, and other factors. Often, after listening to a song, a person is moved by these beautiful aspects of music. One of my favorite albums that invoke this type of feeling is the album This is How Tomorrow Moves by Beabadoobee, a Filipino-British singer. This album is truly beautiful and full of emotion as it expresses Beabadoobee’s feelings about her struggles and her journey to healing.
This is How Tomorrow Moves was originally released as an EP by Beadbadoobe, but it was soon released in August 2024 as an album consisting of 14 tracks: “Take a Bite,” “California,” “One Time,” “Real Man,” “Tie My Shoes,” “Girl Song,” “Coming Home,” “Ever Seen,” “A Cruel Affair,” “Post,” “Beaches,” “Everything I Want,” “The Man Who Left Too Soon,” and the main feature, “This is How it Went.” This album expresses the artist’s experiences post-heartbreak and her journey to self-healing, conveying her struggles with her youth and identity. Each track transmits different meanings, but they all are beautifully made to create a memorable album.
Personally, I think this album is one of Beabadoobee’s best albums and one of my favorites. Every single song on the album is beautifully created, and despite the contrasts between some songs, I love every single song on the album. Two of my favorite songs on this album are “Beaches” and “Girlsong,” which grabbed my attention from the first listen. “Beaches” by beabadoobee is about the artist’s self-journey to heal, which is strongly expressed in the lyrics “Cause days blend to one when I’m on the right beaches.” To me, this song is extremely enchanting, not just through the melodies but also through the lyrics. My other favorite song on this album is “Girl Song” because of its touching lyrics and the meaning of the song in general. This song contrasts with “Ches” since “Beaches” is about being “at ease” when finally getting on the right path, while Girlsong’s meaning is more about the struggles of a person due to insecurities and self-doubt.
Furthermore, this album provides a variety of types of songs, such as “Coming Home,” which has an upbeat tone and calmer vocals and instrumentals, which is pretty similar to “This is How It Went,” which similarly has an upbeat tone. However, “This is How It Went” has more inflection in the song, as the song has some shifts between soft melodies and louder melodies. Also, other songs stood out to me in the album, such as “Post,” which is a loud song as the instrumental dominates the songs, and “Tie My Shoes,” which has such emotional lyrics.
In conclusion, This is How Tomorrow Moves by beabadoobee is such a great album in many aspects, and it captures her personal experiences and her own journeys with heartfelt emotion. This album is a must-listen for anyone who feels they relate to any of the meanings of the songs or the lyrics, or if you just want to listen to music that speaks to the soul.
To be completely honest, this book gave me nightmares when I was 10. I tried reading it, I really did, but the incredibly detailed explanations of the monsters freaked me out. I then proceeded to hide the book under my bookshelf, because if I put it under my bed: the book would come alive and eat me. So yeah, don’t read if you get spooked. However, now as a high schooler, this book is THE BEST. I still think that the monsters are a bit creepy, but this novel is absolutely spectacular.
To start, let me give you a short-ish summary.
16 year old Jacob Portman has always loved his grandfather’s stories about his childhood and his childhood orphanage. He talked about monsters and magical, or he would say peculiar, children. Later, when his grandfather mysteriously dies, Jacob swears he saw the monsters of those stories. However, everyone knows that monsters are not real so his parents put him in therapy. While the thought-to-be-crazy Jacob goes through his grandfather’s old belongings, he finds letters to Miss Peregrine, one of the main characters in those old stories. He convinces his father to take him to the address on the letter (an island off the coast of Wales), but he doesn’t find any trace of her.
Somehow, he ends up finding his grandfather’s old friends, but they aren’t old like his grandfather was. He then learns that he traveled into a loop, which is one day on constant repeat forever. This loop is kept by Miss Peregrine, the headmistress of the orphanage (also the book title). There, Jacob learns that he is peculiar too! Except, his peculiarity is to see the monsters. Those horrid, children-killing, eyeball eating, soul sucking, purly wretched monsters. Only he can see the monsters, they are invisible to everyone else. All the while, Jacob sparks up a little romance with a girl named Emma, a fire wielder who also happened to be in love with his grandfather (that’s a whole nother level of ew, but that might just be me). Anyways, Jacobs life finally seems normal and right. Until the loop gets raided. The monsters, which are called Hollows, find the loop and steal Miss Peregrine. The children and Jacob then rescue her. In the end, they learn that other loops are being raided and go on an adventure to help cure Miss Peregrine, who was hurt by the wights.
I really liked this book. I thought it was super cool how throughout the book the author included vintage black and white photos. The photos directly show what’s happening in the book. I read more about it, and it turns out that the author based some of his characters off of pictures, which I thought was interesting. The book was originally supposed to be a picture book, but Ransom Riggs changed his mind.
There is also a movie, directed by Tim Burton, that came out in the early 2010s. Although the movie definitely strays away from the book, I still like it. I would rate the book a 9/10, just because I’m still creeped out by it a bit. I definitely recommend that if you like Coraline or The Mysterious Benedict Society, you should read this book.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is available for checkout at the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Libby.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favorite books by J.K Rowling. In it, Harry Potter starts his 3rd year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and finds out that a killer named Sirius Black is out on the loose.
During the train ride to Hogwarts, the dementors come and check the train for Sirius Black. I think the concept of them is excellent since they are able to suck happy memories out of you and make you cold. One of them got so close to Harry that he passed out. At school, dementors are stationed everywhere on campus.
Harry also get a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Professor Lupin. Lupin then turns out to be a werewolf. I think that was an excellent plot twist since it was so unexpected.
After Harry’s best friend Ron’s pet rat runs away, they follow him into the stump of a tree, where a vicious wolf-like creature comes out and takes Ron’s pet rat away. The wolf-like creature is actually Sirius Black as an animagus. An animagus is someone who can turn into an animal at will. I think this is really cool since you can sneak around places without anyone being suspicious. On top of that, Sirius turns out to be Harry’s godfather! With all of these plot twists and a lot of magic, I rate this book a 5/5.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Libby.
This interview dives into the behind the scenes of the writing and illustrating process of creating a book with Cat Wiessbrod. Cat Wiessbrod launched her first children’s book, Honk! in 2020, and from there, she has expanded her brand and created even more children’s books including Honk! In The City, and A Celebration Of Polar Bears. In this interview, Cat will allow us a window into the process of creating as well as self-publishing a book.
Natalie: So, first of all, I was wondering if you could explain what first sparked your interest in writing and illustrating children’s books?
Cat: I’ve always loved writing and drawing ever since I could remember. I also was an avid reader as a kid. I loved studying the illustrations in the books, scouring every detail. I think Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was the book that really sparked my interest. That book has so much detail in the illustrations as well as a unique story.
Natalie: I know that inspiration is hard to come by often, and it is difficult to find a good story-line, so, where exactly do you get ideas, and more specifically, where do you get ideas when you are having writer’s block?
Cat: I’m often inspired by what’s going on around me. Honk was a book my husband and I wrote together inspired by our own run-ins with geese. I also wrote What Should We Do based off of activities I did with my own children. When I have writer’s block I like to take a walk. Often, my mind gets cleared when I take a step away from what I’m writing.
Natalie: So, one question that is very popular and that I, too, would like to know the answer to, is, where do you even begin if you are interested in creating and publishing a book?
Cat: I think that the process to publishing a book starts with a story, and those stories come from ideas. My advice is keep a little journal or notebook to jot down your ideas that you can flush out into a story. After writing the story if you are also illustrating the book, you can then storyboard your story where you can conceptualize how to lay out your illustrations and text throughout the book. If you’re working with an illustrator, then you can work together on these storyboards.
Natalie: I know that the writing industry is highly saturated, as there are many people eager to write books that will be seen. How is it possible to stand out a sea of people who are all aiming at the same goal?
Cat: You’re right. This is a challenge to stand out in a sea of choices. I think that in this day and age though, that you can really use social media to get your name out there. Social media is a great way to reach audiences you may not usually come across because of geography. I had a group from Scotland reach out to me if they could use my book for their story time, which was super cool. They found me through social media.
Natalie: I do know that when you wrote your books, you opted to self publish, rather than go through a publishing company. What factors played a part in this decision?
Cat: This was a joint decision between me and my husband since he and I write many books together. We wanted to retain more control over our books and how they get marketed. We wanted decisions such as the layout and size of the book, the cover, etc. to be ours. This is kind of a double edged sword though since being self published means that all of the editing, formatting, and marketing would also be our responsibility.
Natalie: Lastly, do you believe that in the future, authors and illustrators jobs will become irrelevant due to the rapid improvement of artificial intelligence which has the capability to carry out the tasks which authors and illustrators do in a significantly shorter amount of time?
Cat: AI is a tool that many people currently use to make books nowadays. But I think that human creativity is something that AI cannot replace (at least currently). I like to inject a lot of myself into the stories I write and the pictures I draw, so unless the AI algorithm is specifically tweaked to have my set of life experiences, it would be nearly impossible for it to draw or write in the way that I draw and write. And that holds true for all other writers and illustrators. That’s what makes stories so magnetic to people, is the human element and soul behind it, and that’s what will always shine through for writers and illustrators. And that is something that AI cannot replicate.
Natalie: Thank you so much for sharing your writing and illustrating experience and diving deep into the writing process with me! I can assure you that this will prove a captivating interview for many teens or young adults who have aspirations to write or illustrate a book!
Cat: Of course, It was my pleasure! I greatly enjoy seeing people in the next generation who have an interest in writing or drawing, or maybe both!
Honk! andA Celebration of Polar Bears by Cat Wiessbrod are available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library.
On a spring day in May, in the year 1940, German Nazis stormed the Netherlands. The persecution of Jews quickly escalated, forcing many Jews to evacuate or go underground. One family, the Franks, went into hiding like thousands of others. Anne Frank is known for writing a diary that captured the horrors of World War II and her experience underground.
Reading this book, or diary, was exceedingly somber. In her diary, Anne highlights the constant fear, boredom, hunger, and threat of living life as a Jew. Despite the seriousness of the situation Anne is in, readers notice how cheerful and clever she is. Although she is put in the worst situation possible, Anne continues her fight for life in her ambitions to learn and become a writer. Even though she died as a young woman, she is a significant symbol of life, dreams, and the future. After reading this novel, I’ll admit that I was humbled to take everyday life for granted. Anne Frank’s Dairy is a wonderful commentary that is filled with her amusing, inspirational, and courageous thoughts that touched the hearts of millions.
November 1, 1944, was Anne’s last journal entry; the reason for the discovery of her family is kept as a long-lost mystery. One of her lasting passages reads, “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart,” showing the depth of her optimism regardless of her circumstances (Frank).
Anne Frank’s Diary is a masterpiece that everyone should read once in their lifetime.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is available to checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.
My all-time favorite band has got to be My Bloody Valentine, and during the winter their dreamy tone feels just right with the cold weather. While looking for something new to listen to, their EP Tremolo caught my eye due to its interesting composition of the cover and choice of colors.
Since I already knew I enjoyed both their older and more recent albums, I thought listening to their EPs would be interesting and I could possibly gain a new favorite. My Bloody Valentine is very instrumental-oriented and might not be for everyone, but if you’re a fan of experimental and hazy music I would definitely recommend giving them a listen if you haven’t already. A good album to start off with is Loveless. It is their most popular album and could be appealing to a variety of music enjoyers.
To Here Knows when
First on the EP is To Here Knows When. What I noticed immediately about this track is that it was also featured on the album Loveless. Overall there are no major differences between the two releases besides a 30-second extension on the recording. This extension adds to the outro of the song with a peaceful and serene mood with the usage of a synthesizer and a variety of sampled instruments creating diverse tones. Generally what I find most appealing in the track is the humming and peaceful vocals in contrast to the louder more convoluted instruments paired in the background.
Swallow
The track Swallow is extremely unique. It was unlike any other track I had heard up until this point and the samples used in their piece are incredibly unique. When further researching the samples used in the song, I learned that the unique sound of percussion and wind instruments came from a Turkish Belly dance song that the band members had found on a cassette tape. Overall, this song comes off to me as tranquil and I find the versatility admirable.
Honey Power
The track that stood out to me the most and ultimately became my favorite from the EP was Honey Power. The strong, layered, loud guitar paired with the usage of drums gave a fast, yet appealing tempo and sound. This combination is what I found captured me during my listening. The shift from rough instrumental to quite gentle vocals during the verses provided a contrast that is overwhelmingly appealing to my own personal taste. As I’ve gotten to experiment with different genres of music over the years I’ve found that songs with stark contrasts are almost always my favorite. The ending of the song is also very peaceful and relaxing with soft vocals and a soothing background.
Moon Song
Ending the EP is Moon Song. With a slow tempo in both instrumental and vocals, it serves as a very good closing of the tracklist and fits the dreamy tone that is present throughout the EP. The messy guitar and chimes truly represent a state between reality and dream, while simultaneously giving a shimmery image to the song. The initially confusing composition is tied together with the percussion, giving a somewhat tropical feel to the song. Concluding, the unique sound of the track and the variety of sounds used to convey a soothing feel is remarkable.
Conclusion
This EP really shows the creativity and flexibility of the band when it comes to instrumentals, which can be seen from the variety of samples to the unique usage of guitar by vocalist and lead guitarist Kevin Sheilds. In the future, I plan to look into more of their EPs and singles throughout this winter season and find my perfect winter song. I would most definitely recommend those who enjoy shoegaze, alternative rock, noisy instrumentals, enchanting sound, and fuzzy music to give Tremolo a try.
Over the summer, I read a classic, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It remains a pioneering work in American literature. The story captures the 19th-century era with detailed and rich storytelling, showing Tom’s childhood adventure as a young boy who loves to get into trouble.
As we examine this classic, it’s crucial to recognize the evolving cultural context of the era and how social norms have changed since its publication.
When I read this in class, our teacher asked us to read it out loud, and some of the wording still made me uncomfortable saying it.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published in 1876, and the societal attitudes and values of that time were so different from those of today. Twain’s portrayal of 19th-century American life is charming, engaging, and revealing, a world where language and cultural norms differ from today. He wrote the terms and phrases that might have been commonplace or acceptable then but would be frowned upon if anyone wrote them today. The most memorable part of this book was the terminology and racial references that he used, which were appropriate for then but not today. We counted the racial slurs in the books, which were more than 100 words.
Even though it was a classic, many students in my class weren’t happy to read it. There were many stereotypes and racial prejudices, but if we consider the era or the 19th century in which the book was written, it’s understandable that a good writer would make it very life-like and believable, and Mark Twain is no different. At that time, such language was embedded in our culture’s fabric, and its use was not questioned as it is today.
We have come a long way since then, understanding the harmful effects of stereotyping and racism. Modern readers and critics usually grapple with the discomfort of such languages in classic literature. Still, it is good for us to understand and see the change and growth in our society and what we deem acceptable and not acceptable.
I still like reading Tom Sawyer because it’s a classic, and it shows that our society has evolved and grown into something much better than the classics we read. The discomfort of encountering outdated language shows the positive changes in societal attitudes and how our society has grown and aspect more empathy, respect, and understanding from people. Despite the controversial language, this book offers a human experience and captures youth’s essence. Tom, with his mischievous personality and also his struggles to do what’s right even though he seems to attract trouble.
Finally, while The Adventures of Tom Sawyer provides a snapshot of a 19th-century era, it is a reminder of the ongoing journey toward cultural sensitivity and social justice. So, the next time you read a classic, examine it critically and see how societal norms and language use differ and evolve from one century to the next.
Happy Reading!
Bella H.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a PG-rated movie that came out in late December 2024. The movie follows up on the events of the second film in the trilogy, which introduces one of the main villains in the third film. This villain is named Shadow, voiced by Keanu Reeves, who causes numerous problems for Sonic, who Jim Carrey voices. I watched it at the Regal Theater at the Spectrum with one of my close friends. We both left the film satisfied with the time we had just spent watching this film
The movie begins with Sonic and his two friends, Tails and Knuckles, facing up against Shadow, who has been in captivity for decades. Ultimately, Shadow escapes from the trio because of Sonic’s ego. As the film continues, Shadow meets up with the other main antagonist, Dr. Robotnik, to execute a world-threatening plan. As the movie progresses, the audience sees Sonic grasp the concept of teamwork. However, he is only able to fully understand what it means to work as a team because of the significant issues that Shadow brings, leaving the audience with an encouraging message.
Overall, this movie is a great option to watch. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has some great themes such as the value of friendship when Sonic can learn what it truly means to be a team, allowing the world to be saved. The movie also excels with its characters that are easily likable. I also enjoyed the action sequences that happen throughout the movie, which are very attention-grabbing. Although, this movie may include parts that might be childish for some. For example, the plot is predictable and nothing special, giving off the feeling of boredom as you watch it. Despite that fact, I recommend this movie to anyone who finds interest in the characters and can tolerate the dull plot.
In conclusion, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 can be an enjoyable watch if you can put aside its childish aspects. If not, I believe that you won’t be able to enjoy it as much as it was intended to. My favorite part of the movie was the unique and iconic characters, which include the long-awaited Shadow. Another notable part of the movie was the many action-packed scenes such as multiple astonishing fight scenes between the main characters. While Sonic the Hedgehog 3 might have childish aspects, it can be really enjoyable if you can put them aside.
Mission Viejo Library Teen Voice 