Zach Royston
Thanksgiving day is the American holiday during which many people and families gather for a feast and pay tribute to all of the things they are grateful to have or be thankful for. I am thankful for the freedom of thought and choice in this country as well as the consumerisms I live with because of it. I’m also gracious for my parents, brothers and friends who I can trust to help me in school and soccer and all the other responsibilities I learn to deal with.
Daniel Delarosa
I’m thankful for the cherished break from school. It’s the nine days in which school work is a complete stranger to us. I’m thankful for the family time. It’s one of the few times I don’t mind a house full of obnoxious people. I enjoy how some households prohibit eating only one plate full of food. I’m thankful for the fact that I can wake up whenever I choose to, not before the sun rises to the sound of an alarm clock. I will continue to be thankful until the dreaded Monday when I return to school.
Michael Robinson
I am thankful for having the mindset, instilled in me by my parents, to know that I always have a home. You see, to me, a home and a house are two very different things. A house can be classified merely as an object; a testiment to someones overall wealth, similar to a car or other valuables. A home, however, is somewhere where your family awaits you every day. Somewhere where you know you always have someone there to lean on in tough times. Somewhere where you can laugh, cry, and scream at someone all at the same time. A home isn’t merely a house, it is a threshold of a family, a place where personal values are at their finest, yet you have no fears of simply being yourself.
For this, I thank my entire family, but especially my Mom, for without her I’m not sure where I would be today.
Briana Cardenas
Almost everytime I turn on the news, I hear about people losing their family members and being torn away from the people they love most in this world. I am so grateful to have my family with me, in good health. We are not perfect, but who is? I’m just happy to wake up and know they’ll be there.
I have a best friend. He is the kindest and most sincere person I have ever known and I appreciate every thing he does for me. I am so thankful our lives to have crossed one another. It’s comforting to know he’ll be there until the end. I thank God everyday for my wonderful family and friends.
Olivia Suarez (Editor in Chief)
It’s always during this time of year where I pay less attention to the things I have to get done, and instead focus on the true meaning of life and what it has brought me so far. While Thanksgiving has always been pleasant with mounds of mashed potatoes and other assorted sides sitting on the table, and the turkey gleaming like a beautiful centerpiece, it’s also one to share it with loved ones. This holiday I give thanks to the health that’s been present throughout my whole family, as well as the opportunity to have such wonderful kin in my very own life. If it weren’t for their encouragement and support for everything I’ve done, as well as the lessons I’ve attained through them, I wouldn’t stand with upbrought morals.
It’s of my best interest to say that I’ve been blessed with such solid friendships. During times of enjoyment and happiness, to resentment and sorrow, my friends have always been present. Whether our bond is tight-knit or fragile, the fact that I’ve been given the chance to know such people in my life is astounding; I don’t take it for granted. Recently, I dealt with the passing of a family member. Distrought and confused, I saw no way out. It was through the thoughts and prayers of those close to me that I found a way to break through such a depressing dilemma. It was through that love alone that I was reminded that there are good people in a moral-depriving world. So as I await for the next celebratory feast this upcoming Thursday, I’ll be sure to commemorate those who have and continue to make my life enjoyable. As four brilliant musicians once sang, ” I get by with a little help from my friends.” And as far as my life’s concerned, that’s the truth.
Estefania Lamas
There’s a lot of things in life that I’m thankful for, ie, the internet, Gossip Girl, great teachers, an awesome football team (Go Brahmas!) and a warm bed on a cold morning. However, while this holiday is generally a vehicle for being ‘thankful’, I’d like to take a step forward and be appreciative.
Appreciating family is a given. My parents have given their lives catering to most of my necessities, whims, and seemingly menial concerns. They’ve provided me with solace in every situation from my grandmother dying in elementary school to my most recent heartbreak, but this Thanksgiving, my appreciation will be mostly devoted to my four (debate) best friends: Alexis Kostun, Noreen Calin, Chris Leonardi, and Nadeem Farooqi.
Before I begin, I must explain the differentiation: I’m physically and mentally unable to decide and preference best friends, because amongst those will always be Tara Franklin, Zach Hernandez, Taylor Johnson, Lydia Orr, Luke Thacker, Travis Russell and Olivia Suarez. The segregation of these four individuals is magnified by their inherent knowledge of my present situation (which will remain undisclosed to the general public for many reasons), and their involvement in it.
Alexis Kostun: You were there in the most fragile and crucial moments of my development as a debater: my first debate round… but there’s no need to restate a story that’s engraved into our hearts (for fear of becoming redundant and meaningless, as every story loses spark every time that it’s retold), so we’ll keep it short just this once. You’ve been there for me at the most ridiculously high of moments, and in the lowest. Quoting (and rephrasing) some random person whose words I saw in an extraneous context, “you make the highs feel higher, and the lows feel lower”, except that in your instance, the quote would better serve being written as follows:
“You make the highs feel higher, and the lows feel lower lesser”
You always make me happy, in a way that only you can accomplish. Whether it be our fantasy football team (WHOOP EASTD’ALE!!!), muffins, juicy juice, fashion spams, or listening to me complain about the same thing seventeen different times in 14 different ways through 9 different methods of communication (Facebook (either wall posts, messages, or IMs), Texting, Telephone calls, Skype, Tumblr, Gchat, or Email), you always make me feel better.
And you don’t know how much I absolutely adore you,
how incredibly thankful I am,
or how much I fear that I will never be able to repay you.
You see, our relationship is parasitic. You are too wonderful and I try to steal any of it that I can, at any opportunity. Now I feel almost as if I was stealing words from AA, but he was significantly better spoken than I, so that’s okay.
The point is, I love you so much and it tears me apart that you feel like you come second to Noreen, because I will never, ever, ever love any of you more than I do the other. You can’t compete with each other, each of you is so amazing in your own separate ways, and I feel like a mother unwilling to state her preference right now, but like a mother I just feel so close to both of you that picking between either of you feels like I’m picking between the part of myself that likes to have hope, and the part that wants to destroy it all. Simply put: They’re both a necessary part of being alive.
I just need you both.
The end.
Noreen Calin: You’re my sister. It’s been decided. I hate you most of the time because you’re so inapropro and outspoken, but that’s exactly why I love you too. It’s sort of an enormous conflict of interests. Anywho, you’ve taught me so much in the time that we’ve been friends, but the greatest thing that I’ve learned from you comes in the form of this quote:
“and just live every conversation like it’s just that: a conversation, not a commitment”
The message that has brought to my life the ability to hope, to dream of even the wildest circumstances and most devastatingly unreal scenarios and their enticing possibilities. You’ve taught me that hope is indeed alive, and that there’s no reason I should never be a dreamer. I was once told that I was someone’s beautiful dreamer, and you definitely will get sixteen and three-quarters best friend points if you are able to tell me who said that. Hopefully you also understood the significance of the amount of best friend points being awarded!
That said, thanks for being there for me when I was boring, without you by my side (and in my heart) I’ll always just be that one really annoying debater with the really high pitched voice and determination to go far. Now people think I may actually be sort of cool… I blame you.
Chris Leonardi: The entirety of our friendship can be summed up in a word: “biffraft”. Which is technically spelled differently, but I can’t remember the original spelling, so we’ll just leave it at that. You’re basically the thing that keeps me sane and somewhat whimsical, and I’ll definitely attribute most of my sense of humor to you… except our love of ‘memes’ and ‘Hipster Hitler’, because I introduced you to both of those. What can I say, I love juice! I also really appreciate our sporadic middle-of-the-night philosophy conversations. Those are incredibly great.
Nadeem Farooqi: You’re a ball of sunshine. Every ounce of you makes up the most ridiculously high spirited, happy, hopeful, hilariously well put together, and sweet person that I will ever meet. From our late night conversations involving capitalism and regional hegemony, to trading stories about our love life, your ability to truly commiserate never ceases to astound me. You’re everyone’s best friend, and I’m incredibly lucky to be included in that group of people.
For lack of a better transition, all in all, I owe my current state of increasing happiness to the four of you. Although I still am fighting and finding my way through this rough patch, my friendship with the four of you has sure progressed my recovery… some would even call it speedy (as some call me ‘Speedy Gonzales’)!
I greatly appreciate each and every one of you for always keeping me and my emotional and intellectual needs in mind.
There is so much love in my heart for the four of you, in your own special ways. So much so that every time I think of you a smile flickers across my face and my heart is rushed with feelings of sheer happiness and unencumbered euphoria.
I’ll stop there, since the word count is 1,111, so make a wish, because you’ve made my wish of happiness come true.
🙂 <3
Much love, Estefania Lamas.
