Alma

             Snow fell down like confetti all over Oslo, Norway, covering almost every single inch of pavement. Alma was a little girl, about 5 years of age, wearing a vest, long sleeves and a beanie to protect herself from the harsh Norwegian weather. Alma was walking to buy groceries and instead of using the usual route, she chose a shortcut she'd never used but had heard about: an alley. This alleyway was grayscale and considerably shady, narrow in width. Alma's friend told her about this route after she and her friend were racing each other to see which route was the fastest. Alma waited at the other end of the alleyway but her friend never came out. She hadn't seen her friend in months. Maybe she had to go home, Alma thought, Maybe she moved away without prior notice.

             After walking down the alleyway for some time, she suddenly stumbled upon a wall, scrawled with names, seemingly written by children. She thought maybe it was cool to write names on that wall, so she did write her name on that wall. Detracting her chalky hands from the cold wall, she turned around to go about her business, with groceries being one of two things on her mind, the other being the names. Suddenly after turning around, she saw a facade with a large oblong window. Right there in the middle of the window, she noticed a doll, wearing clothes for the cold. Alma walked closer to investigate what the deal was. Maybe this doll store had a good deal for dolls.
             Wait, it is wearing my clothes!, she thought. As she walked closer and closer, the angle of her view caused the fog to cover the doll. She wiped the fog away, only to find that the doll was gone. She decided to investigate even further, thinking that it wouldn't take that long. Now she had several things in mind: The names, why the doll was wearing her clothes, and where the doll went. Groceries was now the last on the list of her mental priorities.
             She attempted to piece everything together but could only think it was a little game a kid was maybe playing. Wanting to find who's doing it, she walked into the dark and vacant store with a grin on her face. Then suddenly, the doll was on the table!  She looked around the store to try and find who is doing it, but that was to no avail. Looking back up at the doll, she found that it was now on the shelf, lying among all the other dolls.
             "Wherever you are I will find you!" shouted Alma into the empty store. Like a game of tag, Alma ran and climbed the shelves to try and get the doll, but this time the doll wasn't moving. Maybe after she got the doll the culprit would reveal themselves. Her hand inched closer and closer to the doll, and Alma's regrets were nowhere to be found. Closer and closer her hand went. Now it was millimeters away. Touch.
             After a period of darkness, Alma opened her eyes. She tried to move, but her body was still. Everything she saw was through a fisheye view. Alma looked around the abandoned store and then found that she was the doll. Her soul, her mind was trapped in the jail cell that was the doll. Another doll appeared behind the window, this time around wearing red and having brown hair. The store and wall are waiting for their next victim.

My Lincoln Pledge

Lincoln is our school. It is our school, but sometimes the perpetuated stereotypes of Lincoln make a handful of us feel ashamed that it is our school.  This school has been in hot water many times, and it was us, the students, who helped the school out. If we can push our school away from stereotypes just like we did with budget cuts and teacher layoffs, we can keep Lincoln alive.

Here are the stereotypes about our school: Lincoln students are dumb. Students at Lincoln do not care about education. It is a rough school. I've told people that I was going to Lincoln, and most of them were like, "You sure you want to go to that school?" I told them I wanted to succeed. But the stereotypes are just not true. These are the kinds of stereotypes that drive support away from Lincoln. There are kids that want good, high quality education, but without support that would be impossible. And support comes from good reputation.

That's why I pledge to be a good student, get a 4.0 GPA, always arrive on time, participate in school activities, and go to college. Long story short, I pledge to succeed. I pledge to succeed to become one of the students that will prove the stereotypes wrong, and if we all can do that, we can give Lincoln a new reputation.

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