SHORT STORY: "How To Satisfy Your Parents Completely" By Ynden Lizardo

"How to Satisfy Your Parents Completely"

By Ynden Lizardo

All A’s and a sixty-three.

All A’s and a sixty-three.

Kevin Li sat on his bus and stared at his progress report in utter disbelief. If he was smart enough to receive excellent grades in the rest of his classes, then why was he struggling to pass calculus?

He never imagined his grade could ever be that low. His mom was a math teacher at another high school, but he never asked her for help because he didn’t want her to know he needed it. Why couldn’t he have inherited her “good at math” gene? A sixty-seven meant that Mrs. Li would make him do an hour of calculus practice every morning and night until he could raise his grade at least twenty points higher.

POETRY: "What Sounds Like Paradise" By Ynden Lizardo

"What Sounds Like Paradise"

By Ynden Lizardo

I look in the mirror and am disgusted

by the debilitated woman who stares at me

with lifeless eyes.

I loathe the person Age has turned me into.

PROSE : "Heaven" By Ynden Lizardo

"Heaven"

By Ynden Lizardo

I finally read “The Fault in Our Stars” after hearing others teenage girls rave about how wonderful it was. I groaned internally when the first two pages revealed it was going to be a cancer story. Those don’t typically end well. After the love interest was introduced, I wanted to stop reading. I didn’t feel the need to get attached to the characters and put myself through emotional turmoil when somebody died. Months prior to reading it myself, I read a haiku on that summarized one’s feelings throughout the story:

“Aww, hey this is cute

No no no no no no no

Why why why why why”

     I found it to be pretty accurate. I never ended up ugly sobbing, but I have to admit that my vision was blurred when I was reading about their beautiful date in Amsterdam. I liked it, but not enough to rave along with everyone else. Sorry John Green, but I thought the heroine could have been characterized more. Some of the attributes of her personality were more underdeveloped than Bella from the Twilight Saga.

POETRY: "It's Your Birthday (Bet You Didn't Know)" By Ynden Lizardo

"It's Your Birthday (Bet You Didn't Know)"

By Ynden Lizardo

You’re made of stardust.

Not the kind pixies throw around

to make you feel all giddy and good inside,

but the literal clusters of atoms made

within gases of burning light,

fused with other evanescent elements,

trillions of years ago.