Sunny Youth Journal

“The lottery’s almost starting!”

“Everybody! Let’s go!”

“Come on!”

As I peered out from behind some of Mrs. Hutchinson’s big bushes and trees, almost everyone else was already gathering in the center of the village. She was humming a cheerful song while scrubbing the dishes, but with a solemn look on her face, as if she was trying to cheer herself up. I watched for a few minutes, then decided to go and see what the other people were doing in the village center. My guess was the “lottery” they were talking about, but I would see for myself in a couple of minutes.

I quietly crept away, my back towards Mrs. Hutchinson. I was almost to the street when suddenly, Mrs. Hutchinson whirled around and spotted me.

“What are you doing? I know you don’t belong here.” She firmly put her hands on her hips. Trying to change the subject, I said,

“Aren’t you supposed to be in the lottery like everyone else?” I nodded towards the gathering of people not far off in the distance.

“Oh!” She frantically checked her watch, then the calendar on the wall of the kitchen. “My! It’s the twenty-seventh already! Oh, I simply cannot be late for the lottery. I hope Bill and the kids are all already there, and just waiting for me now!” She then swatted me away and scurried towards the silent gathering of people. I, curious, decided to follow along.

She glanced at me like I was crazy. “Where’s your father? Do you have a brother? Actually, do you even have a relative here? You can’t go without a person to draw for you!”

I shook my head no. She hesitated, then said, “Then if you want to come along, you’ll have to hide in the foliage again around the center and whatever you do, do not try to come out. They may try to stone you as well.”

We were almost halfway to the other villagers by now. Along the rest of the way, Mrs. Hutchinson explained the lottery to me.

“We worship a god named Little-Bunny-Foo-Foo. He is the one that makes sure our crops thrive and that we have enough food to last us the winter. Unfortunately, he likes human sacrifices, so we must hold a lottery each month to choose whoever is going to die an honored death for Little-Bunny-Foo-Foo.”

“But that’s terrible! Why can’t you just learn how to grow good crops my yourselves?” I asked, shocked.

Mrs. Hutchinson sighed. “You have no idea how hard it is without the help of Foo-Foo. Nearly half of our village died of starvation every year… and we figured losing twelve a year was better than losing one hundred and fifty.”

And at that point we arrived.

I quickly tiptoed around the center into a clump of tall plants and bushes. From there, I peeked through the branches of a magnolia tree and saw the lottery begin. I saw a man call out names, one after another, until about sixty people, scattered in the crowd of apprehensive villagers, were holding a scrap of paper, folded in half, in their hands.

Then, at the man’s direction, the sixty villagers slowly opened up their papers, and gradually, they all sighed a sigh of relief and smiled at the rest of their family. All except one… Bill. And I watched as a smaller lottery was held inside just Bill’s family and held my breath with them as they opened up their papers.

“It’s Mrs. Hutchinson.”

“It’s her… “

“It’s really Mrs. Hutchinson.”

And I watched as all of the rest of the villagers stooped down to grab the stones lying on the ground. And I couldn’t just let this happen. I couldn’t!

So I stepped out of hiding shouted at the villagers and I told them to put down the stones. I kicked the nearest one hard to make a point.

Silence.

“Stop! You don’t need to kill someone for a Little-Bunny-Foo-Foo! You–” I was cut off short by Mrs. Hutchinson.

“I told you not to come out! Why did you–“

“You know this intruder?” A man turned to look at her, raising his stone once more. Several others followed suit.

I started again. “Stop! I can show you how to plant successful crops! I know how to do it! Just follow me and let me teach you! Please! Don’t try to throw stones at one of your own when you are perfectly capable of getting food yourselves, without the help of this Foo-Foo Bunny!”

This time they peered at me with interest. They had gotten tired of killing off other families of the village just for some food. If there was an alternative, they were curious to see if it would work.

So they reluctantly let Mrs. Hutchinson go, as she was the one who let me follow her into the center.

And they all expectantly turned their attention to me.

I felt the lottery was a weird story. I didn’t really get the reason why they had to kill someone. I get that it was a tradition, but I don’t understand why it was a tradition. They were all greeting each other normally too, but they didn’t show any emotion when everyone was throwing rocks at Mrs. Hutchinson. Even her children joined in, which I didn’t get because I would think they would feel sad that their mom was gonna die, but everyone was just happy it wasn’t them that died. In modern times, there would be a lot of riots if someone was killed, but in the story, everyone would just move on to their normal life and not care. The ending was kind of random, and hard to understand. I felt the story was okay.

Contrary to past beliefs, Dr. Lara Boyd, A neuroscientist at the University of British Columbia claims several facts about the brain. One is that the brain never stops learning and adjusting depending on what it learns and what it doesn’t learn. This is called neuroplasticity. Before this information was discovered, many people believed that we learn everything as a child, and once a person is an adult, they are not able to learn anymore. If people are all able to find out that they can still become more knowledgable once they are adults, it can most likely encourage more people to go back to college if they dropped out. It can also make adults work harder since now they know that they can learn skills in this job and apply them to a better job later. This knowledge may only seem important to neuroscientists, but it should be known to everyone who cares about our future economy. 

Another fact Dr. Lara Boyd supports is that various people’s brains have different ways of learning new things, and it may be easier for someone to learn one skill but harder to learn another. Knowing this information can allow people to be more aware of others with learning disabilities. In addition, then, one may not be mad at him/herself if they are not able to pick up a skill that all their friends are able to do easily. I believe that anyone who cares about their future should research more about this topic in order to learn about their brain, and what can help them learn more information. 

A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape from it, similar to a vacuum. Instead of swallowing gobs of dust, black holes suck up stars, which is how some stars end their “lives”. The black hole in HR 6819, a triple star system, is one of the very first black holes found that do not interact violently with their surroundings and is actually black.  Currently, Astronomers have only discovered about twelve black holes in total, and finding one in a triple star system and is able to be seen with the naked eye is unusual and rare.

This black hole has a whole mass of 4 times that of the Sun. Astonishingly, one black hole at the core of supergiant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 has a mass of 7 billion times the mass of the Sun. Four times the mass of the Sun is already heavy enough, but seven billion times, that is way over the top!

If I was trapped in a black hole, what would I do? What would I bring? Well, it is common knowledge that black holes are the densest thing in the universe, and that if I was trapped in one, I probably would die in about a second, pulled apart by the immense gravity of the black hole. Moving past that though, if I was stuck in a black hole, and was immortal, I would have to find some way to live as there’s no way I could escape.

If I was trapped in a black hole, it would be pretty boring, as I’d be stuck in a place where no light escapes and where everything is crushed and compressed into nothingness. As there is no light, I probably wouldn’t be able to do any recreational activities, and even if there was, all my things would be destroyed anyway.

Assuming I could bring things that were indestructible, I would probably bring food, water, and shelter, because living malnourished, dehydrated, and exhausted is no way to live, especially when you live forever stuck in a black hole.

If I could do things, I might bring art supplies, a piano, and other things that might bring me comfort and happiness. I’d also bring an indestructible flashlight, because that’d be super useful, assuming the black hole doesn’t snuff out the light.

I may bring my family and friends, if they are also immortal, though I imagine that after a time they would become insufferable, and if I found them annoying, I’d be stuck with them for eternity.

I hope I could find some means of escape, but it would take a vehicle of immense power to escape a black hole, and I don’t believe one like that has been invented yet.

If I was stuck in a black hole, the hole would probably become my new forever home. I’m sure I would be able to have some other adaptations to my new lifestyle, as humans often adapt to new and unfamiliar situations. Perhaps my pupils would become larger, to take in more light, or maybe I would become able to go for long periods of time without food. I do not know.

I think it is safe to say that I do not ever want to be stuck in a black hole, and I sincerely hope that it will not happen.

Shirley Jackson’s short story called “The Lottery” is a dystopian story that teaches an important lesson about the society. A small town has a lottery every year, and one citizen is picked to be stoned to death by the other citizens. Jackson portrays through her story that rules or traditions should not be blindly followed just because they are traditions.

The ending of “The Lottery” was particularly surprising to me. I was taken aback when I found out that the assumingely “lucky” citizens was to be stoned to death. Since everyone was dressed up, and laughing before the actual lottery happened, it made me go onto the wrong track. However, there were things that I barely paid attention to until we brought it up in the group conversation. These things foreshadowed a ghastly ending.

The black box foreshadowed something evil hence the color black. Black is normally assumed to be the color of death, fear, and evil. Another thing was the strange name, Mr. Graves. This foreshadowed the death of one of our characters, who would brutally end up in a grave.

This story’s ending and way of illustrating the theme was very unnerving to me. It was almost unworldly that people would have the nerve to stone their loved ones and friends to death. However this made the theme a lot clearer, almost standing out. Jackson’s way of conveying the theme was a little harsh, especially the last phrase; “and they were upon her”. Still, this shows the consequences of blindly following traditions. This hits you hard when you read the story and it glues the theme to your head.

Overall, I think Jackson’s way of portraying the theme was very straightforward and quite dark, though very useful for emphasizing the theme. I was super surprised by the ending but it helped convey the theme. I really enjoyed reading this short story and the theme is going to help me in my future life.

Between the bridge of dream and reality

You wake up early in the morn

In your bed you soon realize

A new day is born

You get up from your bed

Sleepiness deteriorating

You open the window to see the sunlight

The day ahead is waiting

You go out for a walk

Nature calms your mind

Trees are thriving, grass is growing

An experience for a lifetime

You breathe, inhale and exhale

You meditate and relax and quiet

You learn, you read; you listen to music

You gain nutrients on a healthy diet

Today is mission accomplished

Your mind was fully engaged

Night is arriving very soon

Your good night’s sleep awaits

Most people have problems with their memory on some days and not others. When you are feeling alert, well rested and healthy, you are less likely to have problems with everyday remembering. But if you have been having a bad day, or are tense or depressed, you may experience problems with your memory.

Since memory is part of your thinking and learning process, it makes sense that anything that interferes with optimum brain function can affect how well you retrieve and store information. Both your body and your mind – hence your memory – are influenced by diet, medications, stress level, exercise, smoking, and relaxation.

Your mood affects your ability to remember. When you can’t remember something, you can get even more frustrated and create even more stress, which in turn affects your memory. Anxiety and depression are the two major causes of memory problems at any age. When you are deeply depressed or overstressed, you tend to turn inward. You do not record information the way you normally do and your thoughts are occupied with negative emotions. It is important to relax and de-stress so your memory function can get back to normal. Practice breathing and visualization techniques every day so that when you need them, they will be second nature to you.

Not eating a balanced diet can also have a negative impact on your memory, as it can impair the nervous system. Too many food additives and too much sugar contribute to memory malfunction. You need a healthy diet full of vitamins, minerals, iron, and protein.

You also need to drink plenty of water. Have you ever felt tired and disoriented in the middle of the day, and perked up after having some water? That is because dehydration can lead to confusion and other thinking problems.

Getting enough sleep is also essential for a good memory. This gives your brain some needed rest and relaxation. During certain periods of deep sleep that occur about every hour and a half, the brain disconnects from the senses and processes, reviews, consolidates, and stores memory. To interfere with this crucial time of sleep will seriously affect how your memory functions.

Alcohol, smoking, and caffeine are all memory inhibitors. Consuming too much of these will impair your ability to store new information and cause short term memory loss.

It may not be easy at first, but moderating your lifestyle and living in a healthy, balanced way can have a tremendous impact on you and your memory.

The Lottery is a story about a small town and their yearly ritual. Their “ritual” includes of drawing papers out from a vintage black box. Each man of the families would pick a slip of paper out from the box and the family with the black spot on their slip would be “chosen”. Then, each family member would draw again and the member with the black spot would be stoned to death by all the villagers.

As a reader of The Lottery, I presumed that whoever won the lottery would be given a sum of cash, as that’s what a lottery in our time period is. My opinion on this short story is,” I was taken aback on how the lottery was not just a raffle for cash, but a raffle to be stoned to death”. I personally do recommend this story to others, as it seems all sweet and innocent but in the end there is a very interesting plot twist. The theme of the story is sometimes, people take myths to another level. This is the theme, because in The Lottery, the villagers believed stoning someone would ensure them good crops.

The story starts of on a nice summer day, with the townspeople arriving at the town square to join in on the lottery. Mr. Summers brings in a black box with sheets of papers inside of them. When the lottery is about to start, Mrs. Hutchinson arrives late because she apparently forgot what day it was. The villagers laughed over her silly mistake and the lottery began. As Mr. Summers called out each family name, the man of each family began arriving to pick up a slip from the box. Once all had their slips, they soon discovered that Bill Hutchinson had drawn the black spot. Tessie soon became defensive and angry on how her husband did not have enough time to draw the slip. The members of Bill’s family, Bill, Bill Jr., Nancy, Dave, and Tessie soon drew slips from the box. All of the family slowly opened their slips, and eventually they discovered Tessie had the black spot. The villagers moved around Tessie and stoned her to death. In conclusion, many people will believe in traditions even though it may be unmoral.

In the short story The Lottery, roles are different for the two different genders. The eldest man is the one who picks out the slip for the whole family during the drawing of slips for the lottery. If it can be helped, women should not be the one to take the slip. Only if there are no more males over the age of sixteen, can the eldest woman get the slip. Additionally, the family name is inherited from the male parent, but that it also what happens in modern society.

Among the kids, boys are usually the ones to play with the rocks and mess around. Girls would stand to the side and talk amongst each other. The man of the family would come first, then the woman shortly after. The women would gossip around with each other for a little, and then join their husbands standing off to the side. Then the children would have to stop their play and go to their parents. Young women who recently married would be in the same family group as their husbands and leave their siblings and parents.