Just a Pen and Paper… And A Moleskine
By Daniel Garcia Reporter THE pen, the fine universal tool of the world to express your feelings on a fine crisp surface made by trees: paper. Personally, the best notebook anyone with the passion of self exploration can buy, is a Moleskine. What is a Moleskine? Glad you asked! A simple black rectangle with rounded corners, an elastic page holder, and an internal expandable pocket that hold the key to creation: The Moleskine. Moleskines hold the world in their pages. With every Moleskine comes a pamphlet that's securely held in place in a tiny pocket sleeve that holds “The history of a Legend.” This pamphlet tells the origin story of the notebook itself and its successors. Here's a thought for you, what would the world be like right now without Picasso? Or Vincent Van Gogh? Or Ernest Hemingway? Absolutely nothing. No culture. No art. All these artists owned and used Moleskines as their preferred tools to express their emotion! On Friday the 13th, I awarded two of Bushwick’s bests a Moleskine: student, Danny Medina and writing teacher, Leslie Reich. They both had the glorious opportunity to take home a Moleskine and let their imagination run wild. Ms. Reich, a great, amazing, wonderful, WRITING teacher who is probably reading this got the amazing opportunity to take home a Moleskine and work with it! With, all the excitement out, it's time to find out what she said. When I asked her about the book itself and whether she liked it or not, she said that its “smooth, sleek, and makes you want to stay organized.” Now yes, these Moleskines are made for creations of the mind but they can also be used as a tool to stay organized if you choose to. Or not. (Wink) And on a scale from 1 to 10, what did Ms. Reich grade it? A “10”! And like I said before, it is very inspirational and Ms. Reich said it was the type of book that made her “want to write inspirational quotes that I can reference when needed.” And not only Ms. Reich but the 8th grade student Danny Medina (not me) took one of my Moleskines to try it out! Normally Danny Medina isn't the type of person who actually writes but he shared, “the book in itself was the first piece of art that was to go in itself.” With smooth edges and a nice leather binding, when you hold a Moleskine, you feel like you're holding history. The books become a part of YOU, the pages are filled with YOU! 9Like Ms. Reich said, there's “something very powerful about creating something from nothing. You start with a black page and from it, you can create beauty. You can challenge the status quo, you can discover truths. There’s nothing more powerful than a paper and pen.” ~ Leslie Reich |
EOY-THE END OF AN ERA
By Leo Barrera Reporter AS our Middle School career winds down, we have a lot to reflect upon, our triumphs and our faults…. The 8th graders, well we did our time as many would say and we grudgingly say goodbye to our childhood. All of us have left behind a legacy… a memorable one I would argue. With only one month left, there is an unspoken excitement among the 8th graders and also an unspoken somberness. A lot of us grew up here and some of us Achievement First has been all we have known since kindergarten. It is hard to believe that graduation is a couple weeks away. The moment every one has waited for is upon us… let’s see who will fall walking across the stage first-- see me for bets. This class of 2024 was the 5th grade to first be introduced to laptops, and was the first class to give Mr. Bridges some gray hairs, and trust me that is an accomplishment, one of our proudest. This class of 2024 has been a part of two marches to speak and support the claim that charter schools are public schools. Some individuals on the basketball team were part of the first basketball team to make it into the playoffs and some were part of the first soccer team at AFBMS, myself included. We are the first class to get cap and gowns this year (yass), and the first class to help introduce the Student Senate, which has helped the student body drastically and has been our voice. We undoubtedly have had many faults, which we are working on or have fixed as they came, needless to say it’s been a balanced middle school career. Both a bit a fun and a bit a struggle; it happens with all experiences. Our 8th grade math teacher, Ms. Vasavada, was kind enough to speak about us and the impact of our class, and the impact she wants to have on us, as well as how we’ve changed from little angels to… devils…. To say the least, Ms. Vasavada taught us in 6th grade which was her first year teaching at AF and it’s nice to see from her perspective how we have grown as a unit and academically. She was surprised this year by the fact that a lot of students were able to break from “their shell and [find] their own sense of humor.“ I remember back then how many of us were scared to even ask a teacher for help and now look at us, we’re with different friend groups and we’re branching out. A lot of times, students do not learn until 8th grade or even high school or even adulthood, that we teach teachers as well, not academically, but emotionally. We’ve taught her more about the meaning of “ perseverance and personal growth.” |
Teaching kids like us, underprivileged kids can be a roller coaster and to Ms. V, she admires the fact that many students “have gone through and are going through such difficult and personal struggles,” but are still able to “come into school every day without complaint.” It takes a lot as an adult to admit that someone younger has taught them something, so to Ms. Vasavada, I say thank you.
Yes us 8th graders learn math from her, but she also wants us to take away something more. She wants us to “make the right choices not because of a consequence but because [we] know it’s the right choice.” It is something that we have been taught since day one and in school we see it in a small window, but in life… It is not going to be tha t easy of a decision.
Not only did Ms. Vasavada have something to say about us 8th graders, but a student did too. Mia Morales from Sotomayor, (Sotomayor HYPE!) who has been with AF since kindergarten, had some thoughts on the end of the year.
A notorious action or mindset that 8th graders pick up is to rebel against the teachers, to bite the hand that feeds them the apple. This is a preposterous mindset, but sadly one that influences us as growing teens. Mia, who does not exactly have this mindset, said that she will miss “ teachers being on our backs a lot of the time,” because even though many 8th graders do not realize it, the teachers ”deeply care about us.” In high school, the teachers will still care about you, but they will also teach us to be independent and giving us a preview of high school.
Mia was not just going to miss middle school, but also looking beyond. She, like most of us is “ super nervous to enter high school.” She’s worried about a lot of things in high school, but excited about the fact that we get a “ fresh slate,” but she also knows that this means that as students you have to put “ put 100% effort into every assignment.” Going into high school, the stakes are higher and the margin for error is so small that every choice you make has to be thought through up to four times. This might intimidate us, but we have to look at the final goal, we may we up late at night doing hw, but it is all so we have a more appealing resume.
Mia is a very intelligent and a model student, but it was not easy for her. She comes home every day very tired because she put “ put [her] all into that day.” She is proud of a lot her traits, but is most proud of “ [her] work ethic and my ability to obtain knowledge outside of school.” That is going to be very important for high school and it is great she is developing that now. Overall, she believes she had a great middle school career and is excited for high school.
This is a reflection not just for us 8th graders, but for the rising seventh graders and beyond. We’ve made it, and now we know how hard it can and what it takes to go into high school. I’m not saying we all are perfect now -we too have our imperfections- we just set a bar and it is up to you guys, the remaining classes to the future classes to the bar higher and higher year after year. Coming from me, the best piece of advice, is to make the most of your middle school career. Yes, you should care about the grades and your future, but don’t forget to be a kid. Make memories and have fun in middle school because at the end of the day we are growing up, so make the most of it.
Yes us 8th graders learn math from her, but she also wants us to take away something more. She wants us to “make the right choices not because of a consequence but because [we] know it’s the right choice.” It is something that we have been taught since day one and in school we see it in a small window, but in life… It is not going to be tha t easy of a decision.
Not only did Ms. Vasavada have something to say about us 8th graders, but a student did too. Mia Morales from Sotomayor, (Sotomayor HYPE!) who has been with AF since kindergarten, had some thoughts on the end of the year.
A notorious action or mindset that 8th graders pick up is to rebel against the teachers, to bite the hand that feeds them the apple. This is a preposterous mindset, but sadly one that influences us as growing teens. Mia, who does not exactly have this mindset, said that she will miss “ teachers being on our backs a lot of the time,” because even though many 8th graders do not realize it, the teachers ”deeply care about us.” In high school, the teachers will still care about you, but they will also teach us to be independent and giving us a preview of high school.
Mia was not just going to miss middle school, but also looking beyond. She, like most of us is “ super nervous to enter high school.” She’s worried about a lot of things in high school, but excited about the fact that we get a “ fresh slate,” but she also knows that this means that as students you have to put “ put 100% effort into every assignment.” Going into high school, the stakes are higher and the margin for error is so small that every choice you make has to be thought through up to four times. This might intimidate us, but we have to look at the final goal, we may we up late at night doing hw, but it is all so we have a more appealing resume.
Mia is a very intelligent and a model student, but it was not easy for her. She comes home every day very tired because she put “ put [her] all into that day.” She is proud of a lot her traits, but is most proud of “ [her] work ethic and my ability to obtain knowledge outside of school.” That is going to be very important for high school and it is great she is developing that now. Overall, she believes she had a great middle school career and is excited for high school.
This is a reflection not just for us 8th graders, but for the rising seventh graders and beyond. We’ve made it, and now we know how hard it can and what it takes to go into high school. I’m not saying we all are perfect now -we too have our imperfections- we just set a bar and it is up to you guys, the remaining classes to the future classes to the bar higher and higher year after year. Coming from me, the best piece of advice, is to make the most of your middle school career. Yes, you should care about the grades and your future, but don’t forget to be a kid. Make memories and have fun in middle school because at the end of the day we are growing up, so make the most of it.