Grab Your Popcorn (And Some Tissues!)

Movies — They move us to tears, laughter, and revelations alike. These movies have done just that for me.

All Time Favorite - UP 

UP stole all of our hearts when it came out in theaters in 2009. It was a movie that everyone loved; there was a humorous dog, sad love story, and a beautiful friendship that healed our broken hearts in the end. Over the years this has stayed one of the movies I can call a favorite.  

Favorite from 2013/2014 - The Great Gatsby

I was unable to pick a movie from the past year that really stood out to me, so I picked one from 2012. After reading the book for school, I was a bit skeptical about the movie, and was pleasantly surprised. The way they scored the party scenes was very interesting to me: they used popular songs and artists from our generation to show the energy and excitement of the parties versus music that would have actually been played at a raging party in the 1920s. 

Travel Teen Magazine

*cover art credit: Blake Boles*

Name: Travel Teen, for the independent adventurer

Concept:Travel magazine/guide for independent teens looking to travel globally. 

Readers: Both girls and boys, ages 14-18, there is no emphasis on ethnicity or class.

Competitor Magazines: Travel Girl, Teen Ink, and Homeschooling Teen. Teen Ink and Homeschooling Teen do not focus 

solely on traveling for teenagers, they touch on travel occasionally, but are aimed at the "independent teenager" demographic. Travel Girl is aimed at a different demographic: the girl in her young twenties, but does focus on traveling safely as a woman on her own.

Advertisers: REI, Indiegogo, Air Europa, Unschool Adventures, Girl Scouts

5 Articles: 

• Talking to Your Parents About International Travel...Without Them. Here, we would show a template for how to pitch the trip to them, and what their main concerns will be. There will be a list of all the research you need to do before talking to them, and resources for the parents.
• How To Book You Eurorail Trip! This article would focus on how to successfully figure out which countries you want to visit, the best B&Bs, and what activities you'll want to do there. It will also have tips on how to hold yourself and speak as a minor, in order to receive the respect and safety you need in an unfamiliar place.
• Mission Trips: Are They Your Best Opportunity For Travel? This will talk about different opportunities for travel within the organizations you're already a part of. Where to look, how to get involved. There are scholarships, ambassador programs, gap year programs, and even just summer camps in other countries. It would briefly touch on exchange programs and how to get involved with those as well.
• Navigating an International Airport for the First Time It will be a shorter article, and will mainly consist of activities to do during layovers, how to check into your flights, and stay relaxed.
• Crowdfunding, Is It Morally Right? A list of reasons why crowdfunding is a wonderful tool for minors with a goal, and an explanation to what is really is. There will be instructions on how to use it and write your pitch to draw in the most people and how to reach your goal fastest. Examples will be included of wildly successful campaigns made specifically for travel goals.

BOOKS!

As a homeschool student, books were my best friend throughout my childhood. I initially HATED reading (as many of us did), until my mum tricked me into reading the Harry Potter series at age 8. I was hooked after the first paragraph, and I haven’t stopped reading since. Books are a wonderful source of entertainment all the time, but specifically when you’re trying to detox from all of the media and screens around you. 

Influential books for me include the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, and The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. They all have one common theme that’s stood out to me: empowerment. 
Hermione kicked butt in the Harry Potter series, and sexist views were defied. It was also my introduction to the wonderful world of the written word.
It’s Kind of a Funny Story inspires people to look beyond the temporary sad thoughts and see all the beauty in the world with Vizzini’s story of his time in the psych ward on suicide watch. I found this extremely helpful my freshman year of high school; it was my first time at public school and terribly overwhelming. Sadly, Vizzini committed suicide in December of 2013, and I am still unclear on how to process it, to be honest.
The War of Art is focused around defying “Resistance” (procrastination) and releasing the artistic abilities inside of yourself. This book is one that gave me an intense wake up call to everything I could be doing, that I wasn’t doing. Since reading it, I’ve enrolled here at De Anza, and am looking into different internships and jobs within the field I’m interested in.
I’ve gone back and re-read each of these books at LEAST 3 times, and get more out of them each time. 

It can be really hard for me to keep reading as I get busier and busier. I’ll admit to falling into dry spells where I won’t read for a month or so, and damn, those months weigh the heaviest on me. Regardless, books are one of my favorite forms of mass media.