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Throughout the pandemic, I have started both watching new shows and rewatching ones I haven’t seen in a while. Near the beginning of 2021, I started watching the Owl House, a Disney show about a girl who finds herself in the Demon Realm, one similar to the refuge she found in the books she read. While there, she starts to learn magic, believing she is the only human to ever learn how. She also finds something similar to another family while there. She is quickly taken in by Eda the Owl Lady, a wanted criminal. Initially, it is believed she is wanted for petty crime such as setting up her shops without a permit, however, as the show progresses, we learn that she is wanted because she is not part of a coven. The coven system was introduced by Emperor Belos, who was claiming that they helped tame wild magic, which the dead Titan, that the town is built over, resents. In the last few episodes, the show has been revealing that Emperor Belos is not who he claims he is, and that his intentions are not as pure as he says. In truth, Emperor Belos is actually Philip Wittebane, a fellow human who came to the Demon Realm in the 1600s. Belos is a witch hunter, and the sigils that are placed upon coven members when they join the coven is to kill them. The Day of Unity is coming up soon, and I believe that Belos is planning to kill every witch in the Boiling Isles on this day.

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This month, I watched The Batman, and it is currently one of my favorite movies I have ever seen. The complexity of the characters is beautiful, which is especially shown in The Riddler, whose real name is Edward Nashton. The movie allows you to see why The Riddler turned out the way he did, and it allows you to almost feel sympathetic towards him, even after he committed the gruesome crimes that he did. Additionally, Paul Dano’s acting as Riddler makes his character come to life even more. Behind the mask of this terrifying murderer is a man that you would likely just walk past without noticing in real life. Certain subtleties in Dano’s acting also make the film amazing. In the scene where Riddler is being arrested, he does from giggling to smiling softly when he sees Batman through the window, showing how deep his infatuation is with Batman, and making the Arkham scene more gut wrenching. The Riddler believes he finally had someone on his side, Batman, and he saw Batman as an idol, showing him what he could achieve with “some focused violence”. Riddler truly believed that Batman would join him, and the characters are almost exact mirrors of each other. Both characters are trying to change Gotham for the better, using violence to aid them. After seeing the movie, I decided to watch other films Paul Dano is in. Among my favorites were Okja, Ruby Sparks, and Little Miss Sunshine.

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The movie “Little Miss Sunshine” is about a dysfunctional family that goes on a roadtrip together to bring their youngest daughter, Olive, to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant.

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“Ruby Sparks” is a movie which revolves around the writer Calvin Weir-Fields, played by Paul Dano. Calvin became famous for a novel he published as a teen, but has had trouble writing anything else. Aided by his therapist’s recommendation, he starts drafting a novel about a girl he first sees in his dreams. He becomes absorbed with the novel he is writing, and sees himself in the main character, who falls in love with the girl, Ruby. One day, as he is about to leave the house, he finds Ruby in his house, who sees Calvin as the man in the story. The two start dating, and with his brother’s assistance, he realizes that anything he writes about Ruby becomes reality.

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“Okja” is a movie about a corrupt biotech company, Mirando Corp., which gives out genetically modified “super pigs” to local farmers worldwide in order to improve the company’s image. Mija, the granddaughter of one of the farmers, becomes attached to her pig, Okja, and tries to stop Mirando from her back to the company by teaming up with the Animal Liberation Front, an animal rights group headed by Jay, who is played by Paul Dano.

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In January of 2020, my family adopted our dog, Luna

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During the summer, I often played Minecraft with one of my closest friends, Nisa.

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My mother and I:
Me: “How did Covid make you realize… how you want to work, and what types of jobs you were willing to work?”

My mother: “Well, Covid made me realize I wanted to put my children in private school because I felt it was a safer and better environment for them. So, during Covid I reached out to some schools, and decided that I would go back to work in order to get my children at a… school I felt was better suited to handle the pandemic”

Me: “How did your previous teaching experience differ from this?”

My mother: “My previous teaching experience was preschool only. However, because of Covid, the preschool was forced to close down, and therefore we all lost our jobs. So while I was thinking about putting the children in private school, I realized that I should switch also in order to help with tuition.”

My brother and I:
Me: “How was your fifth grade graduation affected by the pandemic?”

Colby: “Ok, basically it sucked.”

Me: “Wow.”

Colby: “So, so instead of doing an actual graduation, they did like, a stupid drive through thing where you waited two hours for a dude to go ‘Colby Woodham, you’re graduating!” And give you like, this stupid plushie alligator that nobody cared about.”

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My life has changed tremendously since the beginning of Covid. Since then, I have transferred schools, and in doing so, I now have a new group of friends. The pandemic was what aided my parents into deciding to send me to private school, because it highlighted the academic advantages of AHS as compared to my previous school. Additionally, my mother was also impressed with the extensive safety precautions implemented at the school regarding Covid-19. Another way the pandemic has altered my life is by allowing me to explore new interests. During the summer of 2021, I bought an acoustic guitar and started to teach myself the basics through watching YouTube videos and looking up TABs to my favorite songs. Once school started, I took guitar as one of my electives, and practicing it is one of my favorite pastimes. The pandemic also gave me the time to watch new shows, such as The Owl House and The Umbrella Academy. I also watched many recordings of musicals such as Heathers, The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, Black Friday, and Falsettos. I likely never would have watched any of these shows if I hadn’t been in quarantine.

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As the Covid deaths began to rise, I was worried for my high-risk family members. I was also worrying about my friends and their safety. 😷

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When I first heard of Covid, I was appalled at the way people were reacting. While nobody knew how serious it was at the time, it still seemed wrong to me that people were making jokes about an illness that was affecting others. I believed that most people were underreacting. However, I did believe that those who were buying out the shelves in stores were overreacting, and thought that it was incredibly harmful for others to buy extra items that they already had, making it impossible for others who needed to buy it. This was mainly prevalent in the selling out of toilet paper, water, and masks. When school was cancelled, I was excited at the idea of getting an extended Spring break.

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I was nervous about what would happen when I returned to school because of the amount of cases in Florida. I didn’t want to risk becoming sick or getting anyone that I interacted with sick.