Why I recommend Reading Short Stories, by Kavin Sivakumar

 Why I recommend Reading Short Stories

Kavin Sivakumar

Short stories are pieces of writing that are only a couple of pages long, and are made to be able to read in one sitting. Short stories have a main plot, a couple of characters, one area where the story takes place, and one important theme that is seen throughout the entire story. In addition, short stories usually have a twist or surprise at the end which makes reading the book really interesting since you never know what is going to happen next. I believe that short stories allow people to see things in a different way, and this will allow them to be a more understanding and sympathetic person.

One of the main reasons I recommend reading short stories is because it can be used to reduce your screen time. I believe that many people my age and even some adults rely too much on their phone. In addition, most people my age use their phone for unnecessary purposes such as watching Tiktoks, instagram reels, etc and I believe that we can replace this screen time by reading short stories. Short stories offer an engaging way to spend your time, and they also tell important lessons that can change the way you see certain things. Social media might seem like the better option, but it is actually worse because it is addicting, it can affect the way you view yourself, and you can gain FOMO from always being on the app (Dalomba). On the other hand, short stories can help you better yourself and the way you look at yourself and other people. Also, short stories require you to take some time to process what you just read before jumping into the next story, which means you won’t waste your time by reading too many short stories.

Another reason I recommend reading short stories is because it gives you the opportunity to see the kind of genre that you are interested in. There are many short stories in many different genres, and if you are exploring different genres short stories are a great place to start since you can finish reading them in one sitting to see if that specific genre fits you. Reading novels will take multiple days, and if you don’t like the genre you have wasted your time since you read a book you weren’t interested in. However, if you read a short story to find the genre you like you can then find a novel in that same genre, and you can be certain that the novel you picked will keep you engaged.

Overall, I believe short stories are great to read if you have some free time or are interested in finding a genre you like. The pacing, length, and lessons that are found in all short stories make them interesting and engaging to read. Also, short stories are a great way to reduce or replace your screen time since they aren’t as addicting as social media. All of these factors are what make short stories amazing to read.

       Work Cited

Dalomba, Frances. “Pros and Cons of Social Media.” Brown University Health, Brown University Health, 1 Mar. 2022, https://www.brownhealth.org/be-well/social-media-good-bad-and-ugly. Accessed 13 Aug. 2026.

Importance of Music By: Sujal Mirchandani

 Importance of Music

By: Sujal Mirchandani

I don't think people realize how much music can change your mood. Sometimes even when you are having a good day, listening to the right song can make your day even better. 

I listen to music when I'm driving, working out, doing homework, or just sitting around. Sometimes I don't even care what I'm listening to. I just like having something playing in my ears because it lets me ignore whatever is going around in the background.

One of the things that I like about music is that it can be nostalgic. There are songs that remind you of certain times in your life, and when you listen to that song, you start to recall your old memories. For example, if you listen to a song that you used to listen to as a kid, you can still feel the emotions that are tied to that song. 

I think that's one of the coolest things about music. You don't have to explain why a song means something to you. You just know that it does. 

Sometimes I also listen to the same song like 20 times in a row. I know I'm probably going to get tired of it eventually, but for some reason I just don't care.

Music doesn't solve all your problems, obviously. But sometimes you don't need it to. Sometimes you just need something that makes a boring day feel a little less boring.

And honestly, that's enough for me.

High School Years By: Sujal Mirchandani

 High School Years

By: Sujal Mirchandani

Back in my youth, I thought that high school would take a long and stressful time to finish. At that time I believed that seniors were just adults who had already planned out what they wanted to do in life.However, since I'm now approaching senior year, I realize that I have no conception of what I'm doing. 

It's as if I've just begun high school. Initially I was concerned about making friends, getting good grades, and not getting lost, but now people are discussing college, graduation, and the kind of careers we want to have. As for me, I have none of that figured out. 

I believe that we spend too much time hoping for the next thing—freshmen hope to become sophomores, sophomores hope to become juniors, juniors hope to become seniors, and then seniors just want to graduate. We are always looking forward to something rather than simply enjoying what is going on at the moment.

I most certainly do have this flaw. Every single school year,  I've just wished that school could be over already. Yet when one considers the matter, I'm likely to miss certain aspects of it. Specifically, I'll miss sitting with my friends, laughing over silly things, complaining about our homework, and getting extremely excited whenever a teacher announces that class has been cancelled.

At the moment most of them seem rather dull, but I think they're the ones I'll end up remembering.

High school isn't always wonderful. There will be stressful days, annoying assignments, awkward situations, and exams that make you wonder why you went to school at all. Yet there are also occasional instances that make the entire experience worthwhile.

My idea is that we should give up on trying to do everything as quickly as possible; we'll eventually graduate, so there's no point in speedrunning it.

One day we could actually miss those silly little moments, and honestly that's rather crazy to consider.

Red String , a poem by Rishi Patil

 Some say

That there’s a person you were meant to meet

Not your sole mate

But a person tied to you by an invisible ‘red string’

Someone that you have or will have met

With no guarantee that you will have a happy ending

Someone who will have an impact on you

But there’s no surefire way to say that it’ll ever be good

And you probably thought of a person as you’re reading this

Your ex

Or someone that you used to know

So just know

That the opposite happened in another timeline

And I’m sure

That regardless of how it seems

That this timeline really is the one you would rather live in

It’s okay to miss them

But it’s not okay to let your grief engulf your personality and your life

Acceptance comes when you realize that you would be better off without you two ‘working out’

Clouds, a poem by Rishi Patil

Clouds, a poem by Rishi Patil

Why is that nothing we do can make it last?

Friendship, romance, any of it

I’ve given up in soulmates

It’s all temporary

If you’re too eager

To excited to text them

Then they’ll get creeped out and leave

But if you aren’t obsessed with them

You’re seen as vain and ungrateful

And it all ends the same

They drift away like a cloud

When you realize they’re leaving they’re too far away to reach

All you can do is watch

Watch them leave

Watch yourself obsess

And watch yourself realize that you should’ve cared more

And the cloud comes back around

Only for you to fail again

And again

Book Recs from Samhita Adapa

5 Book Recs

After coming off from a HUGE reading slump, I went to Barnes and Noble a while ago and spent almost 200 on a huge load of books and even though I’m still getting through them today, here are 5 books that I read and really enjoyed recently 

1. The Martian by Andy Wier 

This is going to double as a film review because it’s just as great as the novel. I wanted to read this novel for a while but after watching Project Hail Mary, I decided I needed to bump it up my list of priorities(Hail Mary was insanely good, by the way, everyone should go watch it). The Martian is about botanist and astronaut Mark Watney that gets stranded on Mars after he is presumed dead. The book follows his struggle to survive alongside NASA’s mission to get him back to Earth. This book is great if you like science and I found the botany aspect of it especially interesting. Though a lot of it was advanced, I felt like it was explained pretty well. Another thing I really liked was Mark himself. His radical optimism was so contagious and the dude is just hilarious in general. No matter how many bad situations he got into, his humor stayed intact and I had a blast reading his chapters. The movie is just as good because I think Matt Damon perfectly encapsulates Watney’s charisma and humor, and is so great as him. Ridley Scott does a great job of adapting the book and film does take a few liberties compared to Project Hail Mary, which I feel was very close to a 1:1 adaptation of the novel. 

2. There is No Place For Us by Brian Goldstone 

This book won the Pulitzer prize for non-fiction last year and in my opinion, it was absolutely deserved. Goldstone follows 5 families in Atlanta and tackles the secret, underrepresented class of homelessness, those who have jobs but are constantly undermined and sabotaged by society and the circumstances they are in. This book at times had me tearing up because it’s so emotional and at times, a rough read because no matter how hard these women tried, things did not seem to get better. I saw a lot of my own family in the families represented in the book and it goes to show how easy it is to end up in the same position. It’s important to have empGoldstone also explains a lot about our government and the history of homeless laws that were passed. He also goes over the predatory practices of rental offices, which definitely opened up my eyes. This book made me rethink and definitely made me more grateful for the life that I have. 

3. Empire of AI

This was a great read, especially if you aren’t that knowledgeable about the ramifications and origins of chatgpt. I was pretty surprised to learn how far back the development goes, though chatbots seem like a relatively new thing. After reading this, I not only hate AI more, but I am also an educated hater. The book covers Open AI, but also the different players and how they all came into competition with each other to monopolize on this rapidly growing industry. Reading through this, you can tell that Hao put a great ton of effort into this book, with extremely thorough research and great tone. My only gripe with this book is that it felt extremely long and definitely could have been shorter. Nevertheless, it was a great and informative read. In my opinion, a staple if you want to learn more about Chatgpt and AI in general. 

4. Fire and Blood 

With the new House of the Dragon season airing right now on HBO, I decided to read the book to keep up. It is surprising how much this book reads like a textbook. It genuinely feels like I’m reading through a history textbook with dates and people to memorize. It definitely isn’t a chill, easygoing read, though. There were times where I had to write names down to keep track of who is who and when things were happening. However, the book was extremely engaging and not boring at all. One aspect I really liked about the book was that it very much had sort of an unreliable narrator. Many of the events were told through the perspectives of maesters, who probably rewrote history to fit into the boxes that they liked. You can see this particularly with how the book recounts and describes women. It’s insane how rich the history of Westeros is and it’s crazy to me that this isn’t even half of it. There is a planned sequel called Blood and Fire that is supposed to come out after Winds of Winter, which means it’ll probably be another 50 years till we see it. 

5. Heaven 

This book is no heaven, at ALL. The beginning is a little slow but as it went on, I started to get heavily invested. Fair warning though, it does get a little violent and is a bit tough to read in some parts.  Kawakami’s prose is very simple but extremely intimate. I got super attached to the main character, like he’s my close and personal friend now. The nameless protagonist’s relationship with his only friend Kojima is devastating to say the least. Kojima keeps saying that the bullying is happening for a reason and that at the end there'll be a point to all this. It’s all an idealized version of her in her head, a way for her to cope with all that she’s been through. It’s both fascinating and sad to read about. There are lines that stuck with me after finishing the novel, “Listen, if there is a hell, we're in it. And if there's a heaven, we're already there. This is it.” One of the bullies, Momose, says this to the protagonist in a conversation. Later, the protagonist then thinks, “Everything was beautiful. Not that there was anyone to share it with, anyone to tell. Just the beauty.” Overall, this book was probably one of my favorite reads of the year and absolutely devastating. 10/10, would recommend.

I believe, a poem by Rishi Patil

 I believe

That everything happens for a reason

And that people

Eventually

Will get what they deserve

And this only strengthens my resolve to be better

Be kinder

Work harder

But at the end of the day

It’s so hard to believe

So hard to just trust that things will go right if I keep fighting for it

Because at the end of the day

There is no reason for me to believe

People suffer every day

No one deserves that

And people can live lavish lives without lifting a finger

They don’t deserve that

And in this world

With so much injustice

There is a kid

Claiming that everyone gets what they deserve?

It’s ridiculous

It’s stupid

It’s naive and it’s really just dumb

Why should I even believe?

And that is a question I don’t have the answer to

But I can do one even better

Why shouldn’t I believe?

What’s the problem in tricking yourself into being better?

I’m working hard and sometimes I’m still failing

Not every day is amazing

But if I can trick myself into thinking that I’m going to get better

Why wouldn’t I want to get even better?

Even kinder

Even stronger

Even smarter

And if you keep believing that it’s just a matter of effort

Then it’s really a self-fulfilling prophecy

Because you will become better

And your life will turn around

And you won’t need to trick yourself

When you’re back your feet climbing closer and closer towards success