December Edition︱Writing
Essay 2: When The Leaves Turn Brown | By Jack H.
I think I’m destined to always be fighting the tide. I hate musicals, but I attend LaGuardia High School, the home of young musical-lovers. I love the Celtics, but live in New York (I wouldn’t be safe in Boston either, I’m a Giants fan). And my favorite season is the winter. I know anyone reading this is twisting their faces incredulously, but before you overexert yourself on my behalf, please allow me to explain.
For many, winter is a painful period. They hate the cold weather, and the more cynical ones hate the stress of the holidays. Winter is a quiet period, with little to no work. When things are quiet, people get antsy, and want to go out and do things, but find themselves trapped by the weather or other obstacles. So they start fretting and become stressed, ruining their enjoyment of the season. Many people also ruin the holiday season by throwing guilt into the mix. They constantly, whenever they’re doing something fun, think about those who have it worse. And then they feel that they don’t deserve to have fun. And then they stop having fun altogether. Winter is full of different painful cycles like this, but all of them are self-inflicted. There is a way, I have discovered, to enjoy the holiday season.
The first thing one must do is lose the guilt. Yes, it is terrible that some people can’t enjoy the holidays the same way as others. I’m not suggesting we forget about them completely. But it’s one thing to be doing charity work, to really be helping, and it’s another to feel guilt. Often times, this guilt is hypocritical because the person feeling it doesn’t do anything to help those in need. They just stop having fun, and make themselves miserable. How is that solving anything? The needy can’t do anything with your pity, which ends up becoming another holier-than-thou Instagram post. Go help. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, or a clothing drive, if you’re really invested in your morals. If you aren’t going to actually help people, then why not live your life? I say it’s better to have fun than be randomly hypocritical and bored.
The second key to enjoying winter lies in embracing the weather. I love the cold, and I love when it gets dark early. I don’t mind being indoors, and not doing anything. I’m moving around the rest of the year, with varying degrees of productivity. Why not enjoy a period when I can just let go? Remove yourself from your human freneticism, and just be still. Listen to some lovely holiday music, watch some holiday movies, and be in the moment. The rest of the year, you are lost. If there was ever a time to “find yourself,” it’s winter.
If you achieve these two things, then winter becomes a wonderfully quiet and cozy time. To everyone at OWH, I wish you a wonderful winter period. Just enjoy yourself, and let go. It’s so easy to get trapped in our heads, and find the negatives, that we forget to let go, calm down, and enjoy this beautiful chance to be with our friends and family. Happy holidays OWH!
Remember December? - An Original Poem | By Kelly
Remember? Those cold and dark nights
Where darkness was filled with many frights
And there weren’t many lights…
Remember those nights never ending?
With people always spending
For food won’t last since it goes out fast
People crying and dying
Because of the freezing cold winter
Which leaves many in a splinter
For the flurry can block one’s sight
And the snow‘s height
Would be tall
Which could leave crops filled with snow and all
The Vast Past - An Original Poem | By Kelly
On these days, we celebrate, mourn and praise
The year’s low and high raise
With family who we love to embrace
Whether the holiday filled with trees with white laces
A celebration or get together with happy faces
Though the cold’s current past is very much surpassed
It used to be worse, after all it was the Earth’s curse
Which caused hunger and fear which left people in Death’s near
Thankfully we can now say, Dance the night away!
For we don’t have much to worry because our homes keep out the cold’s blurry flurry
The Ember of December - An Original Poem | By Kelly
December is a time of renewal not spite
For your evil doings may come back to bite
All your years dedication will come to an end through celebration
For the end of the year will mark a new start
Which brings about a test of heart
Whether to meet your goals
Or fill your holes
For your good and bad will matter
You might be punished or blessed and you’d want the latter
The end of the year will test your skill
So you better have a strong will.
Last -BER | By Kira
‘Berrrrr’, its cold out here. It’s nearing the end of the year.
September, October, November, December
School starts the part, all dread and bedhead.
Spooky, freaky and all fright will fill you with fresh delight
Be thankful for everyone and all
Merry, Merry Christmas to one and y’all
Winter Sadness | By Sabrina
Winter is a season which originally everyone hated,
A time where all the crops would freeze and are there would be was snow and no flowers would be there to brighten peoples day,
They would starve and be begging for food and tried to explain why winter was so sad,
To the point the Greeks said they came from the fact Demeter goddess of the harvest wanted her daughter, Persephone to be with her,
As Demeter cried and begged for hades half to be over she wanted all to join her sorrows so she neglected her duties,
Now when winter comes we celebrate in many fevesal during this time and now see as a month of giving,
We rarely go hungry or see a grinch,
The kids love it the most since the least days of schools,
Just like Jack Frost we either see him as a guy who is fun and brings snow days or a guy who is mean and cold and brings winter in to spite us,
Do you see winter as a season of giving or a season of sadness?