My best back-to-school tip for any student of any grade would be to make new friends at school and maintain contact (if you can) with the ones you knew. Since there is no promise that the people you knew will share the same class as you this year or be going to the same school it is important to forge connections so you don't feel lonely. Additionally your new friends may help you discover things or help you gain a better understanding of things you thought you already new. Just don't put too much pressure on yourself to have connections. People are good at telling who is genuinely trying and those who are not. Instagram: @snowrose1137

One of the books that inspired me to get back in creative writing again after the pandemic was Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice. At the time I felt disillusioned with the vampire genre because of how repetitive the stories were with repelling vampires with crucifixes and characters more wooden than the coffin Johnathan Harker discovered Dracula’s true nature. So when my English teacher mentioned that we were reading Interview With The Vampire next, I thought this was going to be another novel where we would be mentioning the word “vampire” every moment and discussing the religious subtext of a scene despite the scene having multiple interpretations. I was proven wrong when I first started reading Interview With The Vampire. I was blown away with the writing and how Louis depicted his life in the vampire world by refusing to entirely let go of his human nature. This book also subverts multiple tropes in vampire stories when Louis says that vampires being repelled by religious artifacts is a myth and how vampires in Transylvania are more akin to zombies rather than the seductive, intelligent, and elegant picture of Count Dracula we have today. The explanation for this occurrence is that vampires in Transylvania had been buried when they transformed and in their thirst and desperation drove them insane when they broke out of their tombs. This inspired me to go back to writing and make my own stories subverting tropes. It also helped me realize the value of tropes being the structures for the building a story. They are not necessarily bad but instead are like a free-form instruction manual that writers can use to help them innovate in their stories rather than limit them.

One of my favorite books of all time is Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin. As a New Yorker one of my favorite parts of this book was how Levin described his surroundings through detail that brought New York City to life. It genuinely felt like I was in New York City despite only being there twice in my life. Like all my favorite horror novels, it had moments grounded in reality that made me laugh. Some of these moments were when the nosy Castevets would fuss over Rosemary and Don after Rosemary moved into her new apartment reminded me of how my own neighbors would check up on my mother and I after we moved into New York. It’s rare to find New York depicted as something other than gleaming skyscrapers and screeching taxis that it was a breath of fresh air for me. This also is what makes this book the most terrifying horror novel that I have ever read. Because of the way Levin manages to immerse you in his story through detail, you feel as though the story is actually happening to you. As you follow Rosemary through her pregnancy you get the feeling that something is off and is not quite right despite the fact that her life has seemingly turned around for the better. As she slowly realizes something sinister is going on the Castevets and her husband try to prevent her from fleeing and finding out the truth. This is what makes it so terrifying to see Rosemary slowly lose her autonomy through the emotional abuse others cause instead of the supernatural elements present in the story. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to other horror lovers (though you may need to keep the lights on at night a few days after finishing the book).

When I was in middle school, I remember feeling out of place and having no idea who I was. Since my mother could not be home often and my father felt miles away due to his job as a delivery driver in New York, I had no one to turn to but myself. It was then that I discovered my passion for psychology as a way to find out more about myself. While looking at oneself through a scientific lens might make someone feel small and insignificant (I felt that way myself when I first started doing this) it also offers an important perspective on how one compares to their peers. Depending on the psychology you look at you can either focus more on the collective or the individual. I focused on clinical psychology particularly because I was facing struggles with my own mental health and found that it helped me feel not as alone and gain a better understanding of myself. Through psychology, I learned that that are many ways that one can discover themself and my passion for psychology has blossomed into a desire to help others understand their own minds and gain a better understanding of themselves.

One of my simple pleasures that I experienced this spring was seeing the growth of a baby pigeon right outside my window. Despite finding pigeons all over New York, it is rare to see a baby pigeon because of all the dangers that the city poses to pigeons. So when my mother called me over to the window to see a nest with an egg in it, I became very excited especially when the mother flew down and sat on the egg. When the egg hatched at first we were worried that the baby was dead since it was unmoving (the mother had flown away) but I cannot compare the joy I felt seeing it move after a few tense moments. As the days went by, the baby slowly grew bigger and soon started flapping its wings more often or walking around for short periods of time. Even though these are developmental norms that every baby shows regardless of species it still is amazing to watch. It reminds me that even though you may see the sunset thousands of times there is no reason you shouldn’t enjoy it over and over again.

When I was little, I remember never leaving the television much to my mother’s chagrin. I was too immersed in the world of Dora the Explorer and Spongebob Squarepants to step outside the house, let alone crack open the treasury of fairy tales my parents hopefully offered me. However, when I was five and the television sputtered and sparked one day and never turned back on, I begrudgingly began to take up reading as an alternative pastime. When I first opened the treasury of fairy tales that my mother gave me, I saw how wrong I was to dismiss reading as “boring” and “something that took too much time.” In that book, I was with Cinderella as she danced with the prince and preservered despite her harsh circumstances. I felt the cool breeze against my face as I waited with Rapunzel in her tower for Mother Gothel to come again. I felt the sharp prick of the spindle as Sleeping Beauty placed her finger on the spinning wheel and fell into an enchanted sleep. Time evaporated and all mentions of cartoons and “Eliana, your dinner is going cold!” turned to dust. Fairy tales in my library soon faded to tales of haunted houses and zombies. But sooner or later, I would always find myself going back to fairy tales one way or another. New titles would appear when I searched for new fairy tales out of nostalgia such as “The Red Shoes” and “Big Claus and Little Claus”. My love for books inspired me to start writing my own stories as a way of thanking the writers whose stories helped me get through all my trials in life. I hope to one day become someone whose stories will help others get through tough times as well.

During the COVID-19 pandemic I found a book that became one of my favorites of all time and inspired me to take charge of my own mental health: “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine” by Gail Honeyman. Honeyman is able to combine the banality and comedy of real life and the struggles of being a lonely woman into a realistic portrayal of struggling with mental illness. Unlike many portrayla of mental illness, Eleanor Oliphant, has hobbies, a job, and over the course of the novel becomes friends with Raymond, a coworker at her company. Despite seeming outwardly functional, it is clear that Eleanor has troubles as she often defers to her narcissistic mother’s opinions without question and displays a lack of self-awareness over how she comes across to others. Since I am only limited to three hundred words and do not wish to spoil the entire book, I will say that Eleanor’s dry wit, sarcasm, and awkwardness make her feel like a real person. Her reluctance to seek treatment for her depression is something many people with mental health issues face because of social stigma or the refusal to acknowledge something is wrong. However, once she does receive help, we see her slowly blossom into a much happier person. This book presents a very realistic take on mental health. Because I could relate to Eleanor’s denial of her own issues and how socially isolated she became because of her inability to communicate with others, this book inspired me to take care of my own mental health and build relationships to better facilitate my communication skills. I would wholeheartedly recommend “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine” to anyone who is struggling with mental illness to remind them that progress is slow but sure and but it is better than perfection any day.