The Small Place Full of Big Memories

“Those little things can add up to make a big difference.”

- Tim McAvoy

    Everyone has a place that is special to them. One place that is special to me is the worn down couch in my basement. It is a place for me to go when I am happy, sad, or when I want to relax. It is 5:15 on Friday, and I had just gotten home from soccer practice. I walked in the door, and right away I ran down to the basement and leaped over my sister's dolls on to the worn down couch. I was tired from soccer practice, and I wanted some alone time to relax, play some “Fortnite,” and watch some “YouTube.” First, I opened up “YouTube.” I lay down with my head on one arm of the couch and my feet up against the other. I checked out if there were any new videos, and watched a couple of them. After I watched a couple of the videos, and relaxed from my stressful day at school full of tests and quizzes, I walked up to my Xbox and turned it on. I grabbed my controller and headset, and logged in to “Fortnite.” I invited Harry and Fru to the Xbox party, and we played a couple of games, always arguing about who was the best. Any time one of us died, the others would yell through the mic, but we knew that it was only in good fun. Even though the tan, worn down couch in my basement may seem like a small part of my life, it means a great deal to my life. Whether it is relaxing after a tough day at school, or having fun with my friends, this couch is a placate that is special to me. There is no rule on where your special place is, it just has to be somewhere important to you.

Getting Through a Devastating Injury 

“Difficult roads often lead to beautiful definitions”

- Anonymous

    There is no success without hardship. One hardship that I have been through in my life was when I had to miss six months of sports because of an injury. I had never broken a bone in my life, but that all changed when I heard the news that I would have to have surgery on my left knee. I walked in to the doctors office for an MRI. I had hurt my knee a couple days prior in basketball practice, and I just wanted to get it checked on. My dad said that it would only be some growing pains, in which case I would just have to rest for a month. When the MRI came back, though, I did not get the news that I wanted to hear. I was going to have surgery. One of my biggest fears was having surgery, and I was devastated. Little did I know that this wouldn’t be the worst part of the doctors appointment. I was barely listening when I heard the doctor say, “We are looking at around a 6 month recovery time after the surgery.” I didn’t even know what to say. I was going to miss spring and summer baseball. After the surgery, it felt like I was in pain 24/7. Even getting up to go to the bathroom hurt like someone was stabbing a knife in to my knee. The worst pain, though, was the fact that I didn’t get to do what I love—play baseball. Even though this was devastating, it also taught me to like new thing, like reading and playing board games with my family. Also, my friends were always willing to help me, and that made this injury a lot less difficult to get through. Although this was a hard time for me to get through, I helped me figure out new passions of mine, and it made me a better person. Before, I never would’ve wanted to go through this type of hardship, but it helped me in many ways. Although hardship may be devastating, if you learn from it, the hardship can be a good experience.

Timmy Smith

Literary Analysis

Mr. Fitz’s Class

10/22/18

 The Primordial Beast Within

“He was beaten (he knew that); but he was not broken.”

[Chapter 1, The Call of the Wild, Jack London]

  Bang! Buck dropped to the ground. The club struck his head with such force that Buck could barely hear the man in the red sweater roaring like a raging Lion. Buck was on the ground, but that man would not break him. He had to survive. In The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, Buck has to bring out his primordial beast in order to survive. This book was a great experience to read, and it taught me lessons I can use in my life.

Passion is What Makes you Unique 

“Passion is oxygen of the soul.”

- Anonymous

     You are not truly living without a passion. One passion of mine is playing basketball. Even if it is just putting up some shots in my driveway, there is nothing I would rather do than play basketball. It was 8:00 am on Saturday, and I was sitting outside on my porch. I looked at the dew, sparkling on the grass, and I knew it was going to be a good day for basketball. I went in to the garage, grabbed my basketball, and jogged outside. You could only hear two sounds: the ball bouncing on the pavement, and the light sound of birds chirping in the distance. I started out with some warmup dribbling drills, and then I practiced my jump shot. The steep hill behind my gorilla hoop stole my ball a few times, but that is something that makes me even more driven to swish the ball. By the end, sweat is dripping from my forehead, and I feel like I am dying. I was ready to go in, but I knew that I must keep going if I ever want to improve. When I am finally about to go in, I challenge myself to make three straight shots from a difficult area. This time I got lucky and did it on my first try, but sometimes it can take me up to 10 minutes. It is not something that I actually have to do, but it is a ritual that I do every time I play basketball. Basketball is fun even if I am only shooting by myself, and that is what makes it one of my passions. I always look forward to playing games, practicing, or shooting around with my friends. No matter what I am doing, if it is related to basketball, I always have a good time. Passion: it makes your life worth living.

The Little Things Matter

“Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.”

- Michael J. Fox

    The little things are what makes a family great. My family means everything to me, and I cherish any moment that I get to spend with them. Even if it is just sitting on the blue, worn down couch, eating dinner and watching Survivor, I look forward to every moment I get to spend with my family. I dragged me feet as I walked in from the car. It was Friday, and I was as tired as ever. Fenn Varsity Soccer had just lost to Fessenden 5-1, and even though it was the start of the weekend, I was not in a good mood. I sprinted up to my room, ready to see the new daily challenges on Madden Mobile, when I barely heard my mom say, “Get down here, Survivor is on!” I got up so quickly that my head felt like it was spinning it circles. I sprinted down the stairs, and slid in to the family room. I unwrapped my Burrito, and stared at the TV screen in front of me like a five year old looks at his gifts on Christmas. The show went by, and our whole family laughed and talked through it. I got yelled at once or twice for talking in an important part of the show, but we all knew that it was all in good fun. Then tribal council started, where one person on the show gets voted out. We all sat on the edge of our seat, and all gasped when we saw who was voted out. My entire family has a great time watching Survivor, and it is always a great way to start our weekend. Even though watching a TV show may seem like a little thing, it is something that my family, and I am sure that many other families, cherish. It is time that is spent with laughter, bonding, and family time that will not last for the rest of your life. Cherish every moment you spend with your family—you’ll regret if you don’t.    

Timmy Smith

Literary Reflection

Mr. Fitz’s Class

10/14/18

A Journey From Cover to Cover 

“Every man has a wild beast within him”

-Frederick the Great

    There is no hiding from the Primordial Beast inside of you. In the book, The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, Buck finds a side to himself that never knew was there. He realizes that inside even him, a privileged dog, there is a Primordial Beast. Using the example of a dog, Jack London is trying to show the reader that, even if you are rich or privileged, everyone has a Primordial Beast somewhere inside them.

^{A Resource ... Run Out}

^{By Timmy and Andy}

“Dude, my power won’t turn on.”

“Same, I tried turning on my Xbox for like an hour and nothing was working.”

“I don’t know, it could just be one of those mini power outages, but what if it’s worse.”
“If it is worse, I don’t know if I could even live.”

“With no Fortnite, no iPad, and no College Football on Saturdays, I’m not sure I could live, even for just a week.”

“What are we going to do? Read books? Bike to each other's house? It’s not the 1980’s.”“Wait, shh, I think I hear my parents talking about it upstairs.”

“Did they just say what I think they said?

“Did they just say… No that can’t be right.”

“Shh be quiet.”

“No no no, I can’t live like this!”

“Dude, what stuff doesn’t use technology?”

“I can’t even think about that right now!”

“Does gas equal technology?”

“Does that really matter right now? What really matters is that I can’t watch the Patriots game tonight.”

“No. What really matters is that we don’t have heating. I heard it goes down to 40ºF tonight.”

“Since when are you a science nerd, all I care about is my video games.”

“What about my ramen? I’m pretty sure I need electricity to make that.”

“What about my artichoke? I need my artichoke to be refrigerated.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“But seriously, what happens to all the food in our refrigerator?”

“Let’s just eat it all real quick.”

“What happens when we run out?”

“Maybe we could eat the bananas.”

“What about when the bananas run out?”

“I don’t know about food, but how will we get around? Don’t cars have technology?”

“I mean we could ride our bikes, but where would we even need to go.”

“What about our parents jobs? Don’t they need technology to drive to work?”

“Don’t they need technology to actually do work?”

“I don’t know, how will the world even run with no technology?”

“Yeah, how are we going to get news? How am I going to able to call Halmoni? She lives in New York!”

“What’s a ‘Halmoni’?”

“That’s what I call my Korean grandmother.”

“I call my grandmother ‘Grandma’.”

“All right, enough of this tomfoolery, let’s get back to the fact that we have no technology.”

“Like what are people going to do? What did people do before big Benny flew that kite?”

“I don’t know, watch other people fly kites.”

“Also, what happens when it gets dark?”

“Use a candle.”

“What kind of weirdo just has a bunch of candles laying around in their basement?”

“Wait and also to light a candle, don’t you need a lighter which uses technology.”

“You could also use a match.”

“What about when you run out of matches? How are you going to drive to buy more matches?”

“I’m still just worried about watching the football game tonight.”

“Wait a second, a thought just popped in to my head, doesn’t everything important in the world need technology”

“Bruh”

“No way”

A Journey Through the Summer of 2018

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony”

- Mahatma Gandhi

I sprung off the diving board screaming, “Dibble!” The shiny, white bottle cap stood out in the murky water, and I was the first to see it. I hit the water with a slap, my hands curling around the bottle cap. When I came up, Teddy, Christian and Austin were staring at me, looking with despair when they see me stick my hand up with the bottle cap in my hand. Then we all started laughing with joy, and realized that summer has officially started—a summer filled with hanging out with friends that I don’t see very much, working at Star Camps, and going on a fun family trip.

An Unmatched Experience

“Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.”

- Michael Jordan

    There are some opportunities at The Fenn School that you cannot find anywhere else. Recess basketball is one of those things that nothing compares to. There is no activity more thrilling, fun, and popular among Fenn students than a game of pickup basketball from 11:00-11:15.

The Fenn Ninth Grade Trip to Camp Belknap

By Timmy Smith

“It is never too late to make new friends”

-Anonymous

    The Fenn ninth grade class finally arrives at our destination. 26 rowdy and excited ninth grade boys ready to get off the bus that just carried us 111 miles all the way from Concord, MA, to our home for the next three days: Camp Belknap. All of us are dying to get off of the old, musty bus, and get to the green, wooden cabins. We were all ecstatic, but little did we know that this camp would give us the opportunity to become better leaders, make new friends, and make new memories.