Hello! Welcome to the 2022 Arrow – Hackley Middle School’s Arts & Literature Magazine. Stay tuned for more posts to come over the next few weeks and then keep an eye out for the hardcopy, published version coming soon.
Charlie W. ’29
A Breakup Letter to a Most Annoying Orange
by: Kubrick C. ’28
Dear Rotten Annoying Orange,
I have decided that you and I just cannot work. I decided this when I watched your latest video and got chronic dabbing syndrome. This was only stopped after 5 hours straight of watching Dog with a Blog. I then realized why this happened: You peaked in high school and are just trying to ride that previous success. I don’t feel one bit sorry about this decision. I had to go into dab rehab for weeks because of you. I fell in love with you for your amazing ironic sense of humor, but now, Orange, all you do is pass gas and make everyone’s life a living hell.
This relationship can no longer work. As I stated, I fell in love with you for your ironic sense of humor, competent voice actors, and the ability to realize you were a show about a citrus fruit that everyone hated. Now, you aren’t ironically annoying, you’re just annoying. About the aforementioned voice actors, they now sound like they are being strangled by a pencil sharpener. I hate how you pushed all the semi-funny characters to the sidelines. Nude Dude, gone since 2017. Lou the tick, you forgot about him back in 2015. You’re fanbase as well; it used to be fine. Now it is a cesspit of toddlers on their mother’s iPad. It seems you have embraced your fanbase’s collective IQ of -420 by making your humor even more mind-numbing. Your characters have been slenderized beyond belief. Little “McPuny shrimp” apple used to be a nuanced character: he was not only short but a talented driver, illiterate and innumerate. Now he’s just HAHAHA funny short. Pear was one of the only people who was patient with you. He would be annoyed with you, yes, but he cared about you and you were good friends. Now, he just hates you but stays around for some reason. All he does is hate you with no layers. Overall, everything consistently around you has deteriorated. Notice my use of the word consistently. Now I have to get into your final problem. You always act on trends. Half of your newest videos are just about trends. The other half are you trying to capture lightning in a bottle again with you making sequels to popular videos and more song covers to try to replicate Fry-Day’s success. Goodbye and have an awful day.
Your former admirer,
Kubrick C.
Zihou D. ’29
Santa’s Secret (monologue)
by: Henry P. ’26
(Lights up on Santa sitting in a chair in his workshop in the North Pole) Being Santa is not as fun of a job as you may think. (Pause) I get bored sometimes waiting for Christmas Eve to finally come around. All day, every day, all I do is sit up here in the North Pole making and loading up present after present. Writing and writing lists upon lists separating the nice and the naughty. Just waiting and waiting for the one day when everybody knows my name. The one day when I leave this old place and see the world. (Pause) Every country, every city, every house, every street, every chimney, and even every fireplace. But, it gets boring all the other 364 days with little to do except sit up here and plan for Christmas Eve. Even on that day, I get bored because I realize that less than 24 hours later, I will be back here, doing the same thing I always do, hanging around the North Pole. All I do for 99.7% of the year is care for reindeer, write lists, write names, and write on my map. So much writing, I have to write almost 7.9 billion names each and every year. I have to look at every single person, checking every aspect of their life. Until I can finally make the decision if they have been naughty or nice. Then I have to do that 7,899,999,999 more times (sighs). But there is only one thing that keeps me motivated to do this job (pause) joy. I love to see the children by the tree, the families gathering together.
Then, the moment finally comes when they open my present. When they see what they have been wanting and desiring for the last year. The excitement and the happiness that appears on their face, almost as if put there by a spell. So, whenever I question if it is worth it in the end, I think of that joy and that keeps me going. Plus, if I stopped, who would take up my job? Definitely not the elves, I have to constantly watch them, checking to make sure they aren’t breaking something or forgetting a wish. They definitely couldn’t handle the monumental task of going down each and every chimney in less than 12 hours. So I guess in the end, I sort of have to do this. But I don’t like to think of it that way. I view it as wanting to help make people happy.
Noah H. ’28
Seeing climate change
by: Isabelle G. ’28
I
The ocean
As blue as a sapphire
High expectations for what’s underneath
But under the surface
It is dull
Once vivid coral, now decayed
And not a fish insight
Just one of the sights of climate change
II
Australia!
What a beautiful place
Home to kangaroos, koalas and so much more
The hottest country in the world
But with the bitter heat
Comes blazing bush fires
15 million + acres burnt to a crisp
If only we could have helped those animals
III
It hurts
My home being torn apart
I do my part
But it’s never enough
Is it worth it?
By the time I’m old enough
Will there still be tigers and elephants and bees?
IV
40 years
That’s how long it will take for all of Antarctica to melt
The earth is overheating
Suffocating itself in gasses
Too much coming in
Not enough getting out
V
There is an island in the middle of the pacific ocean,
3 times the size of France
Its 1.6 million square kilometers
and it’s all made up of trash,
the colorful stench of the plastic can be detected from miles away
VI
It is sad
But we did this to ourselves
We let our planet go into this state of disarray
The human race
The most advanced and the most destructive
There are no words to describe the tragedies
Except “it’s our fault”
Noah H. ’28
Twelve Ways to See a S’more
by: Kendell J. ’28
I have multiple colors like khaki beige, white, and dark brown
That is just the outside
But there is more to me than what meets the eye
I am not just one thing; I have multiple layers
The graham crackers represent me being strong
Like the outer crust of the earth
The silky sight of the melting chocolate
represents that I am sweet
The squishy sight of the marshmallow
represents I can be sensitive
Because i am fragile like glass
Now that you heard what is inside
I hope now you know there is more to me than what meets the eye
Jackie R. ’28
Birdseye
by: Lola F. ’27
Think before you talk.
You’re looking from another angle,
high up like a hawk.
But if you land on the ground,
and see it from our view,
you’ll see the lingering effects
of all you say and do.
Just because you have
a different past
doesn’t mean you need to hide
your fate is set in stone.
Now, prepare to hear your lies.
You call us big and mean
and ignore the facts you have.
You use your friends as backup,
say sorry once,
then continue with your wicked ways.
Calliope Y. ’26