Category: Events

Friendship: a poem

I wrote the poem for my WITS writing camp with the prompt “Choose an abstract feeling and use concrete words to describe it”. Here is my poem.

Friendship is your favorite ice cream on a hot summer day
a tasty and welcome treat
delicious.

Friendship is being yourself.

Friendship smells like a warm ocean breeze,
inviting you in.
It smells like citrus,
calming and relaxing.

Friendship feels cozy,
It feels like you are cuddled in fleece,
cozy and just for you.

Relax and just
be happy,
with ice cream,
next to the ocean,
or at home,
You’re with your friends

The Mint Girl’s Thoughts on Quarantine Rules

Lately, like most of the kids around the world, I’ve been having online lessons instead of going to my school. We created some online essential agreements and I started thinking about some of my previous in-person classroom rules and how they have changed. Last week, our teacher assigned us a few questions about the new situation we are in. I decided to share them here.

What are some rules that you think are important for us to follow as members of the community?

This one required some careful thinking, but I came up with a few rules that I hope everyone follows. 1. Take care of others and realize how your actions could affect them.
2. Think about how we can help or hurt others before we do something.
3. Realize that some people have different rules or different strengths/ weaknesses.
4. Have fun together no matter where you are in life and what’s happening around you.
5. Be kind to yourself and to others.

Do you view rules positively or negatively?

I view rules positively, but they can make me feel negative sometimes. I think rules are good, but sometimes they can feel annoying. For example, I’m not a fan of the social distancing/lockdown rules, but I know that they are being kept to protect us and keep us safe during the quarantine. Most rules are made to keep us safe or keep us in order. These rules might feel constricting, but they are made for our own good.

What is a rule that is hard for you to follow?

A rule that is hard for me to follow is going to bed on time. I always want to keep reading, or drawing, or playing instead of going to sleep. I don’t like sleeping and it takes me a while to go to sleep, so I usually lie in my bed until I drift off. This time for me is very boring.

Compare and Contrast rules at home to rules at school.

At school, I find it much easier to focus and pay attention, but through online learning, many people are talking, there’s background noise, and people could be texting you. It’s much harder to focus and that is very annoying if you’re trying to work on a project or an assignment.

What are the rules of Social Distancing and how have they affected you personally?

Since we have to be 6 feet away from each other, I miss hanging out and playing with my friends. I can text them, but it just doesn’t feel the same. One good thing about this situation is the online learning. I think it’s fun and I like being able to stay at home without driving too far for some of my classes. I also like having Lunch Bunch and hanging out with my teacher and my friends.

Rules can be good or bad, but they’re there for a reason. As community members, it is our duty to follow them as much as possible. What are some of your quarantine rules?

Mint Girl Meets Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi

On 3/13/2020, I attended Blue Willow’s Meet Jason Reynolds session. It was about his new book Stamped. The book is about racism and how it spread. The format was easy to read and understandable. It made talking/reading about race much easier.

Jason Reynolds answered many inspiring questions asked by Ibram X Kendi, kids, and adults. The whole topic of this meeting was what inspires race and how can we stop it.

The book Stamped is a shortened version of Stamped From The Beginning which is written by Ibram X Kendi. The Jason Reynolds version is much easier to read and makes more sense to kids.

I haven’t finished reading it yet but I hope to over this extended spring break. Stay Healthy!

Mint Girl Sees The Diary Of Anne Frank Play

On February 16, 2020, I went to see the Diary Of Anne Frank play. It was a haunting story about two families forced to go into hiding as not to be killed and about the people who risked their lives to save them. We watched this play at Match Theater and it was presented by Main Street Theater.

As most people know, Anne was a real person and her diary is our connection to her. We now know about her life and her feelings. We know how she coped in rough times and how she felt in the good times. The Diary Of Anne Frank is a sad play about love, hope, and finding the beauty in things you think can’t be beautiful anymore.

It was very different from reading the book as the whole diary came alive. The characters came alive when they stepped on stage. They reacted as though they were really Anne and her friends and family .

I was impressed by the quality of the play. The actors knew their lines and reacted just as I thought the real families would. This play helps us see Anne’s life and how she felt. This play was very useful as I am a visual person and it helps me to understand the book.

MLK Day

This MLK Day, I read a poem about Martin Luther King. Then I thought about how the world could be a better place.

The world would be a better place if we could all just sit down to talk instead of fighting. The country’s leader and a few representatives of his or her choice should go.

If we only fight, we’ll lose many of our citizens. Those citizens can be very useful in our nation and their families. If we lose too many volunteers a nation can fall. Families shouldn’t have to lose one of their members just because of war

Millions of people flee their homes and native land to get away from war. Families separate and lose their precious belongings. I don’t think anyone should have to lose any item that they loved and start over in a place they don’t know.

Countries can waste a lot of money on war. Stocking up enough weapons to fight back strongly takes a lot of money. If we could talk it out , it won’t cost anywhere near that amount of money.

This is my idea of a better world. Please tell me how you think the world would be a better place in the comments. Just like MLK, I have a dream.

Friendsgiving Party 2017

In 2017, I hosted a Friendsgiving party. All of my besties came . We played games, ate delicious food, and had tons of fun.

I treasure all of my friends greatly and I wanted to have a party / play date with all of them. Thanksgiving was coming up soon and I wanted to do something fun with all of my friends. Then I had a great idea. Why not smash the two together and have a Friendsgiving party? I explained the idea to my mom and she agreed. I was going to host a Friendsgiving party!

My mom and I brought decorations way ahead of time. We bought some orange and silver tassel curtains, photo booth supplies, and a cute sign that read “Welcome Friends”. We decided on colors for the party would be blue and orange. I got a very fall-ish attire. A blue dress with fall leggings and a fall scarf.

We decided to do a mix of Indian and American foods. We had apple cinnamon pie poundcake bites,And muffins, mini colored idlies (an Indian food), and turkey cranberry pecan sandwiches. We had apple juice cider and apple pie punch to drink. All of the food was good and my friends and I couldn’t stop eating. Finally, we all went upstairs to play games. After about an hour, everyone’s parents came to pick them up. I’ve always remembered that day as the best day of my life.

RE International Festival 2019

I go to Roberts Elementary (the best school in the world) in Houston, Texas. Every year, we have an International Festival (the best event in the world) where different countries set up booths and have games and samples of their native foods. 

This year I performed a semi- classical Indian dance. It gives me an opportunity to showcase my skills and share my culture with my friends. When I perform solo, I get much more confidence and I’m ready to perform solo on other occasions.

The International Festival helps me understand how other cultures work, why they’re important, and how I can tie in with it. It broadens  my perspective of worlds I’ve never traveled to.

The International Festival is about being open minded and respecting other people’s opinions and cultures. That is one of the reasons my family goes to the International Festival at Roberts.

This year we had 30 countries being represented and tons of volunteer parents and staff.

The Tweens Read 2019

On Saturday, October 19, I attended the Tweens Read book event.
It was held at Pasadena Memorial High School.It was hosted by Blue Willow Bookshop. It was my second year attending and I always look forward to these events.

I really enjoy these events because I can learn more about the authors.I can learn about their inspiration, the writing process, and what you can do if you get stuck. These things are really important as I feel they help me with my writing.

This year I attended the Art on the Page panel (Which featured Lincoln Pierce, Matthew Holm, and Remy Lai)The authors talked about their books, read some of their books, and answered questions. Next I attended the creative writing workshop. Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson were the authors for this event. They taught us how to brainstorm and how to crowd-source when you’re stuck.Then I went to the Shelf Stuff workshop from Harper Collins. They taught us how to advertise our books. Then they asked us for our advice and which apps would be the best to advertise on.We gladly came up with a few suggestions.Finally, we went to the Do the Write Stuff workshop. Varsha Bajaj, James Riley,Robbi Behr, and Matthew Swanson were the speakers for this panel. The setup was the same as the first panel but the things they talked about were completely different!

Interacting with these authors inspire me to work harder on my writing and to go above and beyond with it. I always want to be a great writer and by going to these sessions, I am motivated to become one. Going to the tweens read and also exposes me the tons of new middle grade fiction. My pile of books to read always increases with each visit to the Tweens Read.I would love if in the future I could interact with these authors: Kelly Barnhill (author of The Girl who Drank the Moon), Colin Meloy(author of The Whiz Mob and The Grenadine Kid), and Christina Uss( author of The Adventures Of a Girl Called Bicycle).