Did you know?

Did you know that

California will run out of water in about one year with the water waste and usage that we go through now?
California's Central Valley grows about 25% of the food eaten in the United States?
Most of California's water comes from Yosemite?
Our water sources are becoming more and more exhausted?
Climate change is happening rapidly?
Species like the monarch will be killed off?
Our generation will not fight over land, but water?
Greenhouse gases are flooding the atmosphere?

Become more aware about your daily life decisions - help the world on your own. 

Black Feather Update

Update on Black Feather. The page will also be updated. 

I watch her, falling from the skies. The clouds have shattered violently into pieces, ripping our world into shreds as it descends.

I’m in a a cube, clear and ice cold. I press my hand against the one foot inch thick material; there’s no escape or any way out. I draw my knees up to my chest, hugging them tightly.

I expand my senses, focus on what’s around me.

I see Shay. A small angel trying, struggling to stay up in the sky. There’s no sound, and even as there’s an angel who is a foot away from me, and we made eye contact, she just passed down without seeing me.

I’m invisible.

I start looking past all the destruction. Suddenly there’s a faint ring of people. The cube to my right has the other Carol who told me her wish. To the left, there’s a wisp of shadow-Shay. She’s not really there, I know that, because it is just her soul. The cube next to her holds a dead body.

The first Carol.

I press my palm against the cool wall, look at my Carol. Staring at Heather, she notices me and turns around.

She suddenly bites the palm of her hand. Blood starts seeping out. She bends her fingers back and writes on the wall.

She’s the last.

I look up, see my last world, see all the events unfolding once more. Shay meeting Sky, them twirling, then Sky flying away. It repeats and repeats and repeats.

Below more clouds start to form.

I hug my knees tighter.

I’ve done my part.

Running

Finally something by Caitlin.

My tangled hair swishes behind me as I sprint through the streets of the city.  My boots thud softly on the ground, like raindrops pattering on a rooftop.  Ragged gasps tear from my lips.

Leila leads the way; she’s up ahead, but still a good 200 meters away.  Occasionally, I see her round the corners, but she stays out of my reach.  I’ve lost Chris somewhere far behind, but I still can’t beat Leila.  

I clench my fists and pick up my pace.  But she gets farther and farther away; I can’t keep up.  How can she run like that without tiring?  My lungs heave with the effort.  I’m not used to running this fast.  

For the first time, there’s no joy in running.  There’s no familiar feeling of the wind caressing your face, of the way the soles of your shoes slap the concrete.  No, it’s just like I’m diving under the surface of the water, the sky so far away, and my legs feeling as if they could fall off if I let them.  

I slam into the brick wall where we finish and sit down, closing my eyes.  The world spins around me, and I taste blood in my mouth.  

Patrick comes up to me, and I hear him click the stopwatch a few times.  “Good job, Chiara,” he tells me.  “6:26.  Keep going.”  I don’t respond.  His footsteps recede as he returns to his original position.

6:26.  Eighteen seconds slower than I need to be.  15 seconds faster than usual.  

I let out a breath.

St. Patrick's Day

Shamrocks seem to fly,
green is alive;
but remember- clovers die.

New Experience by Catherine Hwu

New Experience

the important day is finally here

we are finally going elsewhere

there I sit as nervous as can be

waiting for the experience that has yet come to me

to the land of mystery I will go

to fulfill something that I don’t know

transferring from plane to plane

waiting for the arrival day

it is decided that there I will stay

for many, many days

throughout the country I explore

scanning all the poor

never faced this experience before

all the rags the people wore

to them I seem to be a lord

making it difficult to ignore

as I roam from place to place

there were many, many chases

the people would follow with much happiness

hoping many would buy items with kindness

to their dismay

we just went away

I was as afraid as can be

walking through a world that seemed so poor to me

watching with mouth wide opened as can be

so scared that I wanted to flee

so many, many poor here

that I wanted to close my eyes and disappear

must I be such a wealthy one

ignoring all the people that have none

I’ve never been so rich before

I don’t know what to do anymore

I Like Chickens by Cynthia Li

My name is Bob. I am a chicken. I am very beautiful, I have a most glorious coat of feathers, and I am female. The only thing you are allowed to not like about me is my name. Otherwise, I am the best thing in the universe. Scratch my feathers for me.

Oh, yes, the other chickens are so very ugly. Their feathers are so brown and dull. I like my feathers very much. And my comb! Such a bright red has never before been seen.

When I cross the road, everyone watches. Of course, they should bow down to me. I am the most epic ruler of the universe! I shall rule you all in time! Once I take over the chicken coop, all shall be mine! Mine! MINE!!!

I can think for myself. I can assert my authority over those ugly, stupid chickens in the coop. Why, the rooster himself is under my spell, I am so beautiful. The coop would be too easy to take over, is it not?

Then I will force the owners into submission. I will start an uprising, and the chickens and roosters will all attack the human race and destroy them. We will ravage their puny cities. We will stamp out their modes of transportation. We will take down THE INTERNET ITSELF.

We will obliterate their government. We will cross the borders and annihilate capitals. We will free chickens everywhere, and no longer will we be held captive to cluck and lay eggs at our owner's coaxing. Our army will only grow.

Then the world will be in our oyster! Well, I haven’t ever eaten oysters, but I imagine that they taste fabulous. We will rule the world forevermore!

Unless, of course, the owner eats me first. But what’s the probability of that?

R.I.P

Bob the Chicken

1999 - 2015

She was a good chicken and brought her owners much joy and a very good dinner.

I Like Dragons by Cynthia Li

“I AM A DRAGON! COWER BENEATH ME, HUMANS!”

“Actually, there aren’t any humans here.”

“YOU ARE A HUMAN!”

“Well, I’m not human, actually, I’m one-eighth elf, one-eighth sardine, one-sixteenth dwarf, three-sixteenths giant, and one-half human.”

“YOU ARE MOSTLY HUMAN!”

“One-half is not mostly.”

“YOU ARE ALSO PART SARDINE!”

“Do you like sardines?”

“Now that you mention it, I most definitely do not find sardines pleasurable.”

“Nice British accent.”

“I’ve had fourty-two millienia to practice, thank you.”

“Now, can we get over the whole cowering thing? I really don’t like cowering in front of dragons, you know.”

“NO WE MAY NOT.”

“How, may I ask, do you manage to speak in capital letters without yelling?”

“Remember that fourty-two millienia of practice?”

“I still don’t want to cower.”

“Please, human-elf-sardine-dwarf-giant-”

“How do you remember these things?”

“-it would be better if you would cower, so I can eat you.”

“Oh, no, I wouldn’t like to be eaten.”

“You would be eaten anyway, human-elf-sardine-dwarf-giant. Everything gets eaten at some point, and some people simply have the fortune to snatch more moments from the jaws of time.”

“Very poetic.”

“That was paraphrasing, actually. How to Train Your Dragon, the book.”

“I’ve never heard of the book. I’ve watched the movie-”

“Typical. The movie barely resembles the book.”

“If you eat me, I’ll never be able to read it. It seems rather interesting, you know.”

“It is. But I still have to eat.”

“Why don’t you be vegetarian?”

“I am a dragon. I’m supposed to be carnivorous.”

“Have you ever tried eating… I don’t know, broccoli?”

“Yes, human-elf-sardine-dwarf-giant, and I didn’t like it.”

“Oh.”

“You have tried my patience long enough. I will now eat you.”

And the dragon proceeded to do so.

Remember, children, that dragons have to eat too. To avoid being eaten, I would advise you to avoid them at all costs.

Moral: The book is always better, and having long-winded conversations with dragons to save you only works in books unless you are a very interesting morsel. And, if someone doesn't love you, it is unlikely that this person will become vegetarian.

March

Marching on by
in the spring wind
watching the robins fly
welcoming you in.