Beyond the Palette

  November 8th, 2025 Outside, it's 36 degrees F. In the news: Russia launches missiles and drone barrages against Ukraine, resulting in power outages and casualties. Police officer shot and killed in North Carolina hospital .  This saturday, HOSA regionals took place in Troy High. Music. Lights up. Classroom. Dimly lit. Filled with students.  Jayden (handsome asian boy with a chiseled face), luscious hair. He has a crowd of girls behind him, all wanting to get with him. Students sit in their usual seats, having small talk before class starts, Mrs. Valentino (AP Language teacher) sitting comfortably on her rolly chair. The bell rings. Mrs. Valentino: So, did everyone do their homework? Class falls silent and everyone slyly glances at each other in nervousness. Jayden has a smug expression on his face and raises his hand high. Jayden: Of course I did Mrs. Valentino. In fact, I believe I found a really great allusion that even relates to Sweat.  Mrs. Valentino: That sou...

Quietly sitting in my usual seat, I wait as Mrs. Valentino starts to slowly pass out the vocabulary quizzes to everyone. Of course, with my luck, I get the quiz the very last. Nervous, I look down to take a peep at my vocabulary quiz and one big. ugly word flashes through my mind: "Shit." How did these sentences relate in any way to the definitions that I had studied? Did I study the wrong terms? Did I study the wrong set of vocab words? Did I just.... happen to forget? The scenario I just described is very realistic to many people that had to take any form of a memorization based quiz (not me of course since i'm the ultra mega handsome cool super buff Jayden Paik). You study your butt off the night before, only getting a couple of hours of sleep, but then you walk into the test your teacher hands out and all you see is what can be considered equivalent to a caveman looking at calculus for the first time.  No matter how hard you study, you always somehow forget the one to...