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A New Reality

A New Reality

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A new reality is something we hear all the time whether it is in the news or in everyday conversation, but we don’t really know what it is. Is it the way we are living now? Social distancing? No one knows. But, our current actions and decisions will decide what reality will be like for us very soon and it will be up to us to decide how we want to live each day moving forward. 

There are already so many changes that we see around us. Aside from schools not being open and large amounts of businesses being closed, there are small things that have become a new part of our lives. Without realizing, we have saved so much on our gas bills and allowed the Earth to breathe. However,  it is undeniable that this can be hard to get used to for many people.

Recently, there have been more and more photos and ideas popping up on the internet, suggesting numerous ways that people can distance themselves from one another to prevent the spreading of Covid-19. For instance, many places have incorporated a circle design where people are supposed to stay within the circle while doing things like waiting in line or hanging out at the park. But how many of us are willing to stay in that circle? Is there a way for us to have a sensor on us that will give a kindly reminder when too close to someone? 

Lets invision facilities we used to use on a daily basis. The local cafe, the grocery store, the bus stop, the schools, the parks and more. So many of these places have been affected by Covid-19 that it feels to us that even when we do step outside, there is no where to go and nothing to do. But at the same time, we should also remember the true reason why. We are trying to put a stop to Covid-19 and the only way for that to happen, is if everyone strictly abides by the policies. However, there could be many permanent changes that could become a new part of our life, and we can’t help but imagine what life will be like once economies do restart and it is safe to carry on with the life we put on pause. Will there be drive-thru groceries, virtual classrooms, temperature screening devices all around, handwashing stations, and limited bus seats? No one has an answer, but the most important thing is that a new reality is not something to fear and know that the future is in our hands. If everyone can stay in their circle and think of why we are doing this, we can fight Covid-19 faster. Let’s do this together! 

A Letter to Covid-19

A Letter to Covid-19

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Dear Corona,

US-China spar over coronavirus origin | China News | Al Jazeera

110 years ago in northeast China, your name was the Great Manchurian Plague. You were born from the fur trade of the Tarbagan marmot hide making its way across the region by rail. Your birth brought worldwide virologists together while agriculture and fur trapping was put on hold in the Chinese, Russian, and Japanese communities of Manchuria immediately. Railways and ferries were halted at once and turned into quarantine facilities. Mass cremations and burning down contaminated lodging was routine. Dr. Wu Lien-teh initiated the deal breaking face masks while politicians examined you from a medical standpoint. There was no one playing childish games or pointing fingers at you.Too bad for you, Chinese New Year was fast approaching and your time was running out like sand in an hourglass. In early 1911, your time was up. In less than a year, you took away the lives of about 63,000 and we all thought that you taught the world a lesson. The International Plague Conference in Shenyang was held on your behalf where world health leaders were determined to find out how rigorous restrictions and collaborations confined you to one region and made you go away in less than a year (French, 2020). 

But you came back. You’re still a respiratory disease attacking the lungs (French, 2020). Except you’ve changed this time. You’re like a misbehaved child who likes to play and doesn’t discriminate. The frightening thing is that you’re not the only one that changed. The world changed. It’s not the world you used to know. It’s been almost half a year since you were born from “bats in a Wuhan seafood market” and your birth has brought racism and attempts to open the country on your 5-month birthday. We’ve finally been trapped in the confines of our homes away from the bustling 21st century, realizing that it may be too late. Airlines are being limited and subways are being sanitized. Why is it that the world is letting you grow before disciplining you? Masks, sanitizer, gloves, and self-isolation are slowly becoming the norm and to tell you the truth, there are still people who refuse to admit that masks can make a difference. Families are struggling to put food on the table while kids are making memes about toilet paper. Doctors are working endlessly trying to put you to sleep while politicians are playing the blame game. To this day, you’ve taken almost 350,000 lives and have made over 5.4 million realize the importance of air (“COVID-19 Map”, May 25, 2020.). When will your time here run out Corona? I wonder where you will go next. 

Sincerely,                                                                                                                       

2020

Cites Used:

“COVID-19 Map.” Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center,        coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html.

French, Paul For Cnn. “In 1911, Another Epidemic Swept through China. That Time, the World Came Together.” CNN, 19 Apr. 2020, edition.cnn.com/2020/04/18/china/great-manchurian-plague-china-hnk-intl/index.html.

The Secret Life of Toys

The Secret Life of Toys

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Chapter 1: The Secret

All was dark in the house. Tick, tock. There was not a sound to be heard except the sound of ticking clocks. You may think that all is asleep but you are incorrect. Creak! That was the sound of a toy box opening. Who is opening the toy box you may ask. Is it ghosts? Nope. It’s not. It is actually the toys in the box themselves. People think, “Oh! They are just toys, they are not real”. But little do they know that they are alive. When all are asleep, the dolls and stuffed animals that have been thrown on the ground and put back in the toy chest will come to life and complete their mission before it is dawn.

Chapter 2: Their Mission

Slowly, each toy will come out of the chest and tiptoe out of the child’s room and will carefully walk out the door. Sure, kids feed them and give the food to eat but they can’t actually consume the food although they would like to but they cannot let humans know that they are real. So for the day, they are hungry. At night, they will quietly run down the stairs and have a feast of food that they can find in the giant kitchen below them. Humans will of course notice the missing food but who would suspect it to be a group of teddy bears and rag doll? No way! They usually find things to eat from crackers to leftover ribs! If humans get education, shouldn’t they be able to get education too? After all, everybody needs an education of some sort. Of course they have school! There is one school in this house that all the kids go too. It is called McNight’s School for All Toys. It is open from 12:00 at midnight to 4:00 in the morning. It is only four hours but for toys, it is enough. You learn everything from tiptoeing classes to hiding classes. These are all subjects you will need to be a toy! You’re probably wondering, where will the adults go while their kids are a school? Well, there are many programs offered for adults too. There is cooking class with plastic food and a heatless stove when there are guests over in the real kitchen, movie night with a stolen IPhone. Hey! An IPhone is like a giant television to them. There is also exercising class which for them is the giant treadmill with dozens of seats tied to them.

Chapter 3: Danger Awaits

This may sound like a lot of fun, but at 5:00 in the morning, it is the time that the toys fear the most. The humans will start to wake up for a bathroom break, a nibble of food; get ready for an early morning exercise or what not. At this time of hour, the television is usually put back where found or have the volume turned down, the treadmill is closed, the pots and pans will be put away to prevent clanging and the school is closed and will furthermore resume tomorrow night. When they see the tip of dawn, they will slowly and carefully climb back into the toy chest and look through the crack in the box. Click! The light switch in the mother and father’s bedroom switches on. The door slowly opens to reveal the tiniest daughter of the family. She toddles over to the chest and reaches them. The toys are now ready to be thrown around and yet they cannot do a single thing about it because they cannot reveal their deep, dark secret. Being a toy is hard work!

A Day In Minecraft

A Day In Minecraft

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Chapter 1 Where Am I?

Ouch! My back was hurting. My bed was so soft, how could my back hurt? Something was definitely not right. Then I turned to find myself on a hard wooden bed with a red blanket with white linings over my body. All around I could hear farm animals. The sun was shining brightly in my eyes. Then it occurred to me that I was in Minecraft, my absolute favourite game. Was I dreaming? I pinched myself hard on my leg to see if I was just dreaming. Ouch! Nope, I wasn’t having a dream, this was reality! Although I do want to see what it is like here.

Chapter 2 Adventures Galore

My bed was stationed in a little wooden hut with a furnace, some chests and book shelves a lining the wall. Light flooded through the large windows of the house. The floor of the hut was made out of dirt. I crawled out of bed but I wasn’t in my pajamas anymore. I was wearing a turquoise short sleeved shirt and dark blue pants. It was the outfit of Steve, the character you are when you play Minecraft. I was starting to get hungry when I realized that at the foot of my bed was an inventory . The place you get the things you want to use throughout the game. I didn’t know how to cook, so I got a cake from the inventory. It was the only thing in Minecraft that you could actually eat. Although I had no idea what it would taste like. I brought my cake over to my bed and started to eat. Honestly, it was the best thing in the whole world. It was a two layer cake with fresh strawberry filling and strawberries placed on along the top. The rest of the cake was lined with vanilla whipped cream. Yum! After I finished, I headed outside. Outside, the sky was blue. There were few clouds and the sun shone brightly across the land. Farm animals roamed around.

Chapter 3 Kind of an architect?

I decided that I should make a barn for these cute creatures. Apparently, my inventory was dragging along behind me so I could retrieve my tools easily. How helpful! I started with the pigs. I made a square out of large tall fence. Inside, I dug another little square and filled it with water for the pigs to drink. The final touch was to actually add the pigs inside the pen. Talk about challenging! To save myself some time and make my life easier, I went to my inventory and got some pig eggs. I planted them in my pen and your pig pen is done. Along with the pigs, I did cows, sheep, wolves, dogs and mooshroom. If you don’t know what mooshroom is, it is a cow like mushroom kind of creature. After I made pens for all of them, I circled the pens with brick walls so the animals won’t escape because they tend to be naughty. I made a big black majestic roof and added a door. My barn was finished! If the animals had a good place to live, I think I should too. I decided to build myself a large Victorian mansion. Several hours or so later, my house was complete. In Minecraft, there is really no sense of time, but it sure did feel like hours. The sun was starting to set and I was hungry after all that hard work. I was thinking of cake. No, I couldn’t have cake again. I needed some fruits and veggies. An idea sprung into my head. That’s it! I will make a little veggie farm. I planted wheat, beets, carrots, pumpkin and melon. To make it, I had to dig up lines of dirt. I dug up every other line. In the dug up lines, I filled it with water since plants need water to survive. Before I put the plant seeds in, I hoed the dirt with my handy dandy hoe and placed the seeds. Along with the veggie garden, I also planted a tulip garden because the beauty of them were irresistible. I was really hungry by now but you’re probably thinking, how can you eat your veggies if you just planted them a few minutes ago? It would take days, let alone hours. But in Minecraft, crops grow much faster than the real world so by the time I finished planting my many coloured tulips, the melon and carrots were ready. I quickly washed them and brought them inside. Since I couldn’t find a knife of any sort, I used a sword to cut the fruits. I ate all of it because I seemed to have a bigger appetite here in Minecraft. I was still kind of hungry so I rewarded myself with cake. Hey, I deserve it ! When I was finished that, I climbed up the stairs and headed to bed. Despite the hard work, it was a great day I thought! Would I still be here tomorrow? It was so much fun! Oh, I forgot to tell you that you can fly in Minecraft! Anyway, got to find out tomorrow morning when I awake!

Chapter 4 In The Morning

It was morning again and this time I was back in my own bed back at home. My mom said I slept for the entire day yesterday. Thank goodness it was Saturday or else I would of missed school. Yikes! I guess I pinched myself in my dream. I really wish I could go back but I’m not saying I don’t like it back at home. Sweet dreams!