Stressful Break?

Written By: Emma Stawicki

During spring break people look forward to having fun, sleeping in, and just relaxing overall. I interviewed a few people to see what they had to say about their spring break. The one person I thought was most interesting was my mother. Me and my mom spent all of spring break with each other, we both had different versions of how we thought spring break went.

During spring break my mom had to take me to practices, competitions, and tournaments. Sunday we went to Houston for my cheer competition and we had a lot of fun. We went to The Rustic for dinner with my coaches and just had a really good time overall. Monday was my competition day for cheer. Tuesday, we went back to San Antonio and we stopped at a lot of food places and experienced a lot of new things together. Wednesday, we cleaned up our house a little then my mom took me to cheer practice later that night. Thursday, I had volleyball practice. Friday, I had a cheer party for placing 1st overall and getting grand champions at the competition. Saturday was my first day with no practices, so me, my mom, and my brother went to Main Event and had a really good time.Then, Sunday, I had volleyball practice and right after had to go to cheer practice, with no break for me or my mother. I never realize how much my mom does for me, well she does a lot when you put it all together. She’s a big help for me in my life and does a lot for me in general.

My mom told me that out of all the places we went during our spring break her favorite was when we went to Main Event. She said that overall she had a good time with her family and stated that she thought we all got a better bond after having fun together that day. She said when at Main Event she loved bowling with us. She said we were being silly and funny which made her have an even better time when we were there. Overall, my mom said that she had a fun and relaxing spring break.

If I didn’t ask my mother about how she thought her spring break went, I would have never known that she had a so much of a good time. I thought that my mother had a stressful weekend and that she felt unrelaxed during it. Turns out, I was wrong and all I had to do was simply ask about her opinion on how she felt about it.

Although my mother’s spring break may have been a little hectic with everything she had to take me to, she had a good time even with all the ubering for me. My mom showed me that even if you are super busy, you can always make and or find the time to have fun, and just make the best of your situation no matter good or bad.

Spring Vacationing

Written by: Luciana (Arrow) Guzman

I’m sure every school here in America goes on a holiday somewhere in March. This ‘holiday’ is called spring break! This March, I interviewed a few of my peers to show how there are many people that did different things on spring break. Some of these people had a very relaxing break while others had a very eventful break where it sounded like every day was a fun one! 

  • Going to new places! 

When I interviewed people, most of them had a lot to do. For example, my friend went downtown San Antonio to check out the Riverwalk mall. She also checked out an arcade called Dave & Busters. She went after the riverwalk and ate food/played some cool arcade games at Dave & Busters. Trying new things is really fun! Especially when you are in a place you never lived in before.

  • A Boring Break…

Another spring break a friend of mine had, sounded quite boring. He himself said it was boring too, “yeah, I did like nothing!” All he did was sleep, eat, visited grandparents house for a day and sleep. Yeah, that’s understandable. Sometimes, you and your family haven’t planned anything or they just don’t know what to do. 

  • Doing a lot of fun things!

I interviewed another fellow peer who did a lot of eventful things! They went shopping for a house because they were going to move to a different house! That sounds really exciting, I’m sure they are excited and a little nervous. They also went to the movies to see a movie with Tom Holland and went to a restaurant they had never gone to before. At the end of the spring break, they just stayed in bed. Something I would do too when I had a long week.

Conclusion

I’m glad that these people I’ve interviewed had a good week. Even if their spring break was a little exciting or boring, I’m sure they had a fun break. Not everyone has the same experience with vacationing, even if you are in the same family or sharing the experience with a friend. Everyone’s a little different.

All Aboard Among Us

By: Vincent Wentink

Ever heard of Among Us? Of course, you have, this game racks up 68 million daily players, and has 100+ million downloads. Why is this game so popular you may ask? People find the gameplay very exciting; it gets lots of influence from celebrities and youtubers, and it’s available on different gaming platforms. One thing that can make a game popular is the type of gameplay infused within it. People love Among Us because it’s almost like a murder mystery, and there are different strategic ways to play the game. You’re either the Impostor or the crewmate depending on what the game gives you, and you work with it to pull off the victory. Not only that, but the game contains different accessories including pets, outfits, and hats that you can use for your avatar.

The game is so enjoyable, it even attracts celebrities such as our own US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who streamed herself playing. It gets even more hype from Youtube sensations such as PewdiePie, Mr.Beast, and Ninja. This attracts viewers on different streaming platforms like Twitch and Youtube. In fact, Among Us averages around 80 thousand viewers on Twitch a day.
The reason why the game has hit the number of players that it has is because of its availability. Among us is not only available on PC, but a platform also where millions of gamers play every day. But it’s available on IOS and Android which are owned by over 300 million people in the US today. This makes it much easier to get its hands on and the reason why we see so many people playing this game.

As the game has seen a slight decrease in popularity, there’s still a very good chance that it will flourish due to the exciting gameplay, celebrity influence and the availability. I feel Among Us will stay a popular game and continue to thrive as time goes on.

When the Challenger Changed a World

By: Katarina Rendon

January 28th, a day that may seem like any other, but in 1986 it was a day that marked tragedy for America. NASA, widely known for its greatest advancements in aerospace research and for being at the forefront of space exploration, is the company behind the Challenger mission. Anyone could have predicted the success NASA would accumulate, but no one could have predicted this failure that would shake the country.

Monica Rendon, now mother of two, recalls the event as it came undone right in front of her. The forty-nine-year-old recalls the event as devastating, “…I remember just feeling shocked about what I was seeing. I couldn’t believe that it was real…”, also mentioning the faculty at the time had wheeled in portable televisions tuned into the news channel. The scene could be described as unsettling and stomach wrenching. Other eye-witness accounts deemed the event truly heartbreaking.

Compared to teenagers then, teens today may not know what the Challenger Disaster was. The late Challenger was worked to fill in as a basic test article for the space shuttle program. A lighter orbiter was NASA’s main goal during the years in which it was being fabricated. Because of this, the guinea pig flight was expected to guarantee that a lighter airframe could deal with the pressure of space.

Although hopes were high, the seventeen percent of the population watching was ultimately crushed when, after seventy-three seconds, Challenger suddenly exploded. This was due to a malfunction of O-ring seals used in the shuttle. These seals were not designed to handle the unusual cold temperatures that existed during the launch. Thus, the Challenger broke apart midair and disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida. With it, taking the lives of all seven crew members, including high school teacher Christa McAuliffe.

The effects of the explosion were different for many. However, for Monica Rendon, it changed her whole perspective about news TV. AT the time, she recalls how much of a bore it was to watch the news channel, but since the crash she has changed her mind stating, “It made me want to watch the news more often in the days after that because I wanted to know why and how it happened, and how the families were doing…”, from that day on, she has always been tuned in. Even though most Americans’ hearts were broken, they continued to beat, leaving the country to heal together as a community.

Family Guy: Funnier than Ever

By: Emiliano Cantu

It’s impressive how one show managed to stay alive for more than 20 seasons and counting, with the same formula. Somehow the show still manages to stay relevant. How do they do it? Well, you’re about to find out.

Seth McFarlane, the creator of the show, does this by spending most of the shows time making fun of the classic sitcom elements. There are three elements that are always used no matter the show. Those elements are the introduction, the problem, and finally, the resolution. But Family Guy takes the whole formula and rips it apart and makes it its own. The show brilliantly glides from scene to scene with its cutaway gags, which are one, hilarious, and two, takes out the stress of having to connect the story with every little detail.

The story focuses on the Griffin’s, a working-class family from Quahog, Rhode Island, who tackle “real” American problems such as politics, love, racism and in one episode, they even blow up the world! So, yes, American stuff.

Family Guy is filled with the most outrageous cast of characters who always feel oddly familiar and relatable. Whether it’s the silly dad, Peter, or the family dog, Brian, who also seems to know everything about everything, and everybody can tell it is not true, the characters are all guaranteed to keep you laughing.

Even if the show feels aggressive and offensive to others at times, it still makes me laugh. So, I’m not going force you to watch it, but if you really want to laugh, how about you give the show a shot.

Mean Girls 2: Unrelatable and Unrealistic

By: Saiba Alam

On 4.30.04, “Mean Girls”, starring Amanda Seyfried, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, and screenplay by Tina Fey, hit theaters, and that too with a bang. Grossing over $129,000,000 at the box office, it quickly became a cult-classic. Based on the musical of the same name, it was funny, relatable, realistic, and appealing to the teenage eye because, like I said, it’s really relatable.

On 1.23.11 Mean Girls 2 was released to the public, and considering the popularity of it’s big sister, Mean girls, it had a lot to live up to. It racked up a shameful 31% on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to its sister which had a 66% rating. According to people who watched the first one and loved it, the second was an abomination, in comparison to the far superior Mean Girls.

According to the actress who played the equivalent of Cady Heron in Mean Girls, Jo Mitchell, the movie was shot in 20 days, which to me, mirrored the quality of the overall film. Another bad thing about the movie is that the realistic level is extremely low. For example, in the movie they dress the “Plastics” as if they are coming straight out of Justice. In the scene where they all walk in a line, Mean Girl 2 producers made it so no one was around them, and what made the Mean Girls version much better was the fact that there were people around them, thus making it very normal and realistic.

Lastly, a very big and noticeable flaw in Mean Girls 2 is that there is no originality story or actors. The story is relatively the same as the first one, (but worse) girl comes to school, girl hates popular girls, girl tries to ruin them, but becomes like them.

In conclusion, I personally think that the Mean Girls 2 is (as I said it in the title) an overall trash movie that shouldn’t exist. I honestly think the movie producers should make genuinely good movies, instead of horrible sequels for movies that are already good on their own.

JOKER: Calling Out Today’s Society

By: Kariña Varela
A cinematic masterpiece, with words leaping off the page onto the big screen for the world to be in awe of. Joker. A one of a kind film shown to the best of us, created for the worst of us. No amount of words can describe the emotional and psychological impact that a film such as this had around the globe. Joker, is written to perfection, shot beautifully, and infuses real-world problems we would otherwise shy away from.
The screenplay for this film, which was written by Todd Phillips and Scott Silver, is absolutely fascinating. The cinematography alone tells of the tragic story but the dialogue adds a whole new layer to the characters. A single sentence could spark a million conversations; we think differently and due to that, we are more aware.
But words can only say so much, and that is where visual representation takes its course. Describing the physical beauty of this film in a few words would be as much of a crime as choosing the favorite child. Joker succeeds in bringing us back to simpler, yet dark time period where respect and kindness cease to exist, a theme that is crucial to the movie’s plot.
We are always told to be kind to one another, but how many times does a person truly act upon this request? Sadly, only a few ever do. In Joker, the main character, Arthur, is met with a series of unfortunate events that many can relate to in modern day circumstances. The realistic aspect of Joker hits close to home to those who feel a lack of representation or ill will towards another. And that is a powerful force many have failed to push upon their audience.
People have said that Joker left them depressed and afraid of today’s politics, but while that may seem dreadful, it is exactly the type of mark that this movie wants to leave in our heads. Today’s society fails to acknowledge our wrongful actions taken towards each other, but Joker addresses it in such a way through such a defining character that we cannot do anything but listen. Then again isn’t that the problem? We never listen.

“Is it just me or is it getting crazier out there?”
~ Arthur

Future “Bush News” Anchors

The BBNN held open auditions Thursday and over sixty students showed up to showcase their talents. Mr. Wickwar commented, “We selected twenty students who will be anchors sometime between now and the end of the year.” The BBNN would like to thank everyone that tried out. Check out the future BBNN anchors by viewing the slideshow.

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Bush’s Holiday Sweater Contest Gets Ugly!

Bush’s annual “Ugliest Sweater Contest” seems to have gotten uglier! Bush’s faculty and staff participated proudly in this BBNN sponsored event. Mrs. Hopkins took first place followed by Coach Flagg and Mrs. Caroll respectively. Honorable mention was earned by Mrs. Freedman, Mr. Marcus, Mrs. Hirst, Mrs. Walls, Ms. Starkweather, and Ms. Thurston. A huge thank you to all who participated.

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