Category: Student Life

Stories, Student Life

The Place That has Shaped Me Most

thelighthousetve

by Lucas David

The place that has shaped me most as a writer is a park where I have spent a lot of my time. It is a wide, open park with long paved paths winding around its large field, tall trees stretching over everything, and half-shaded benches where I can play UNO or simply observe the park breathing. Some parts of it, like the main cluster of benches or the play structure, are often loud and filled with people biking, playing, or having birthday parties. Other areas, like the far side of the park and the whimsical wildlife area, are much quieter, with its collection of plants and animals, including a vulture older than my parents. I have spent enough time at this park that its walkways, trees, and benches have started to feel stable and familiar. I have taken classes there, walked around it with friends, eaten there, played games there, and spent hours sitting and talking. Because I have returned to the same place so many times, I have accumulated memories there without really intending to. A particular path can remind me of a conversation, a patch of grass can remind me of a group of friends, and a bench can bring back an entire afternoon. 

The park is more than just a place where these things happened; over time, all of these experiences have become attached to the physical space itself. The benches are one of the clearest examples of this. 

They sit along the paths, usually beneath or near the shade of the larger trees, and I have spent countless stretches of time sitting on them after walking around the park. Sometimes I would sit there with friends and play Magic: The Gathering, spreading cards across the bench while talking between turns, while other times I would just sit and recover after a long walk. There is something different about sitting in a place where you do not have a rationalizable reason to be productive or continue toward some destination. The paths around you continue carrying people from one place to another, the trees sway, and the rest of the park keeps going, but you are temporarily at rest. That stillness gives me time to think without deliberately trying to think. If I sit there long enough, my attention starts drifting toward small things: the sound of footsteps on the pavement, the movement of someone walking in the distance, the shape of the branches overhead, or some random thought about a conversation I had earlier. 

When I am actively trying to create an idea, I can become focused on producing something and overlook everything around me. When I am simply sitting on a bench with nothing particular to accomplish, I become more receptive to whatever happens to catch my attention. The park gives me space to notice things without needing them to be important, and sometimes those insignificant things are what stay with me. One of the little things I noticed while I was visiting was this fluffy dog.

 It was an unremarkable event that did not affect my life in any tangible way, but somehow it has stuck with me. I might see this dog for only a few seconds, notice its fur or the way it moves, and then discard the experience without intention or regret. However, when I try to remember the place later, the dog becomes part of what I remember. Something ordinary becomes meaningful simply because I noticed it.

I think this says something about how memory works and how the self is constructed. Biologically, we are constantly being shaped by our environments. Every sound, smell, object, interaction, thought, and feeling gives our brains information that can influence the connections between neurons and the ways we respond to the world. We are not separate from our surroundings; our development happens through our interactions with them. Even things that seem unrelated or insignificant can become part of the enormous collection of experiences that make us who we are. The strange thing is that none of these pieces necessarily belong together. A fluffy dog, a conversation, a particular smell, a street we walked down, a song playing somewhere in the background—these things have no inherent connection to one another. But inside a person, they can become connected through memory. The self is constructed from fundamentally unrelated parts, assembled over time into something that feels continuous and coherent. In this sense, who I am is partly the result of what I happened to encounter and what my mind happened to preserve. 

Even memory itself is not completely stable. Each time I remember something, I am reconstructing it rather than simply replaying the past. Over time, the dog might become larger in my memory, its fur might seem fluffier, or the moment might feel more important than it actually was. The memory changes because I change, and because remembering is itself another experience that alters what is being remembered. Eventually, the dog is no longer just a dog I saw. It becomes part of a new version of the place, and by extension, a part of myself. And in this way, something completely separate from myself, which I will probably never get closer than a few meters to, has changed the story I tell myself about who I am.

The trees are probably the most imposing part of the park. They stand around the edges of the open field and along the paths, their trunks thick and uneven, with branches spreading so far outward that they sometimes seem to form the remains of a domed ceiling over the park. Up close, their bark is rough and patterned, covered in little cracks and grooves that make each tree look like it has been slowly decorated with its own unique history. The ground underneath them is usually darker and cooler, covered in patches of shade, fallen leaves, and small sticks, and made uneven by the thick bases of the roots. When I’m taking a break to write, draw, or just catch my breath on my own for a minute, I usually settle under one of these trees. Occasionally, a few of us would sit under one together and chat idly while waiting for whatever we were doing to start up again. Some conversations were stupid and forgettable, while others lasted for what felt like hours and seemed important in the moment. We would talk about classes, people, games, things we wanted to do, or ideas that probably would not have come up anywhere else. None of these moments were particularly dramatic, but that’s not what gave them value.

When I think about those conversations now, I associate them with the trees around us as much as I associate them with the people I was talking to. There is something strange about having a small, temporary conversation underneath something that has existed for so much longer than I have. The trees make the individual moments feel like parts of something much larger. Each conversation, joke, walk, and afternoon is tiny on its own, but after enough of them, they begin to accumulate into a history. In the same way that a tree becomes massive and ancient through countless small moments of sunlight, rain, wind, and growth, my relationship with the park has been built from experiences that were mostly insignificant when they happened. The tree does not become old because of one particular day, and the park did not become meaningful because of one particular memory. Both became what they are through the accumulation of countless small moments. When I stand beneath those trees now, I am not only remembering individual conversations. I am seeing the physical place where small parts of my life have accumulated over time, becoming something much larger than any one of them could have been on its own.

Taking classes at the park made the location a regular part of my life rather than somewhere I only glossed by on autopilot. I began seeing the same people, walking through the same areas, and noticing the same patterns and their variations. Some of the people I met became friends, and the place gradually became connected to conversations, jokes, and the smaller moments that happen when you spend a lot of time around the same people. Because of that,

the park itself started to feel more personal. It was no longer just a vessel for activities that I could do almost anywhere. In many ways, the place became more memorable in my mind than the memories themselves, as they all began to serve as parts of its memory.

Being there so often has also changed the way I pay attention to my surroundings. When you see the same place every week, you start to notice things that would otherwise blend into the background. I notice which paths I usually take, how the light changes throughout the day, which areas specific people tend to gather in, and how the same space can feel different depending on what is happening there. This has affected the way I write because it has made me more aware of details that are easy to overlook. Productive writing often requires noticing something that would

normally go unnoticed, and spending so much time in one place has given me more opportunities to practice doing that.

Ultimately, I do not think the park matters to me as a writer because there is anything inherently special about the park itself. It matters because I have spent enough time there to actually notice it. I have noticed the dog that I probably would have forgotten anywhere else, the benches where I have sat without any reason to be productive, the trees that have stood over conversations I have since forgotten the details of, and all the small changes that happen around them every time I return. Writing, in that sense, is not always about searching for something worth writing about. Sometimes it is about being willing to pay attention to the place you are already in.

Every small experience leaves some kind of mark, even if I never consciously notice it happening. A gust of wind bends a tree’s branches, sunlight changes the way it grows, rain settles into its roots, and pressure from the world around it slowly becomes part of its shape. No single moment is enough to explain what the tree eventually becomes, but all of them together are. I think people work in much the same way. The conversations, walks, games, strangers, animals, sounds, and countless other moments I have experienced at this park have gradually become part of me, even when I did not realize they were doing so. The park has become part of my memory, and through that memory, part of the way I see and write about the world. Maybe that is what makes a place meaningful: not what it gives us all at once, but everything we allow ourselves to notice while we are there.

Arts and Culture, News, Stories, Student Life

Love – A Creative Writing Collection of the Moments we Love in Life!

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Sunset by Sienna Griffey

Songbird is visiting me today.

I couldn’t be more excited.

I close up things in the library (putting away any lingering books, cleaning up the front desk, and doing a quick sweep of the floor), then I brush off my hands and head up the secret staircase to my living quarters atop the library. 

There wasn’t much to tidy up here, as I had already cleaned it this morning, so I just opened up my current read—one of the ones Songbird had recommended to me—sat before my window, and waited.

We loved to recommend books to each other, it was one of our oldest traditions. While I was slow to get to their suggestions, they never disappointed. They always found the best stories, and always knew which ones I would love.

After some time had passed, I paused my reading to open the window, something I had forgotten to do. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to get in. A cold autumn breeze swept into the room as I swung the window panes open. A shiver ran over me, but I was smiling, inhaling the crisp scent of evergreens and the tinge of brine from the nearby ocean.

This time of year also made me think of them: all warm reds and browns and golds, early sunsets, and honey-like sunlight—with cool and crisp breezes as invigorating and refreshing as their spirit.

Looking outside, I could see the clouds painted orange and pink, the sun beginning to fade on the horizon, coating the world in fiery orange and gold. 

This was the time of day that reminded me most of them. Not just energetically, but we always called and met up at this time. Our schedules worked out best for this, for me to conjure a communication spell for us to be on calls well into the night, the moon high in the sky by the time we finished. Then, on the rare occasions I was able to visit their river town, my wagon always got me there late afternoon or dusk. In my mind, this was their time of day.

With the natural light fading more and more, I decided to light some candles. Slowly making my way around my room, I set alight each candle I came across around the space.

Fire, which burned bright and lively, like Songbird’s creativity and humor. Fire, the element of the Sun, whose warmth was that of their words of comfort and care when my worries and fears arose. Fire, which lit up my room like Songbird lit up my day whenever we called.

The candles were all burning when the sky developed to deep oranges and purples. The Moon was showing herself more, now, sharing the sky with the Sun for a few moments. I smiled.

Sun and Moon, the ancient opposites. Yet, they danced in tandem, stories of old depicting them as siblings or lovers, but always connected—always tied to each other in some way.

And in that moment, looking up at the two celestial bodies, flashes of our history flitted before my eyes, in my mind, and in my heart.

The very first time we met, we were young and both in a class of storytellers, you always making me laugh during those meetings, you reaching out first, our first message to each other outside of the group, two years of learning and talking excitedly through just our words on paper about our favorite books and shows and movies. 

Our first confrontation, where I was so afraid of losing you but knowing we had to have that conversation or we could not move forward, things being even better than before after that, our first call after years of only messaging, feeling shy and nervous but oh so excited to talk with you—and before I knew it, a whole new door of our friendship was opened. 

To where we went beyond knowing our favorite books and shows, to learning about our siblings and them learning about us. To learn of our other friends, crushes, analyzed our social groups and each other. Listened and comforted and offered words of encouragement through heartaches and heartbreaks. Laughed over butterfly clips breaking and candy being left in the wash, fell in love with each other’s characters, and cried over our fears and insecurities.

An ebb and flow, light and dark and everything in between. Never a friendship that was all-consuming or obsessive, but instead soft and sweet and gentle and loving and beautiful.

I smiled to myself, tears welling in my eyes as the last of the Sun’s rays faded from the sky, feeling so full of Songbird’s warmth and joy, so full of gratitude for them being in my life, so full of hope and excitement for whatever our futures held and knowing that, no matter what, we’d always have each other through it all.

It was then that a songbird flew up and landed on my windowsill. It looked to me, chirped once, then twice, before dissolving into golden sparkles. The sparkles blew into the room on a breeze and Songbird materialized in a sunburst of light in the middle of my room.

“Hi!” Songbird, you, grinned, your aura golden like the sun on grassy plains.

“Hi!” I crushed you in a hug, and it was the reunion of the day and night.

Thank you, Songbird, for being the best friend the Moon could ask for. 

Strangers by Harper Smith

When I was eleven, my neighbor wrote me a poem. 

It was early afternoon, and it also happened to be my birthday. My mother and I were on our way down the driveway to our car, while the neighbor was watering her flowers across the street. I don’t remember where we were going, but it must’ve been somewhere very important, because I was decked out in my finest attire and skipping around like I owned the place, because of, you know, birthday girl privileges. We waved; she and my mom chatted a bit. I remember shouting across the street that it was my birthday, and then we said bye and got in the car and left. It was a small moment, a simple one, and one I most certainly would have forgotten if not for the fact that when I came home, my dad handed me a small piece of paper. 

Something I learned after that day is that my neighbor, the sweet old woman across the street always hunched over her garden, is actually a renowned local poet and creative. I’m serious, you can look her up, her name is Nina Serrano, and she’s one of the only people I know who has her own Wikipedia page. She’s an amazing writer and activist who’s published books, poetry collections, worked on films, and co-run a podcast, but I didn’t know any of that at the time. At the time, I was a child standing in my kitchen, clutching a piece of paper that read Poem for an eleventh birthday, and not realizing that this one small act of kindness would be the thing that carried me through many of my hardest moments. 

‘Strangers’ is the name of my favorite song, and it is also the title I was instantly called to when I found out about this month’s collection. It may seem like an odd title for a story about love, and maybe it is–after all, I’m sure I’ll find the rest of my peers’ pages detailed with heartwarming stories about grandmothers and pets and girlfriends, connections and friendships, rather than random people met on the street. Which, obviously, is fair. Love is generally categorized by closeness and intimacy, something that’s impossible to achieve with someone you barely know–like, say, an across-the-street neighbor that you’ve spoken to once in five years. But what if it wasn’t? What if the closest connections are actually the ones you make in an instant?

Love is in the little things. It’s how they know your coffee order without having to ask, how they’ll wrap their coat around you when they see you shiver out of the corner of their eye. It’s your best friend’s nickname for you, it’s your mom making your bed for you every day of finals week, it’s your little brother letting you spoil the plot of shows that he hasn’t even seen long past his bedtime. It’s platonic and romantic, singular and plural, it’s intimate and expansive. It’s being seen by the people who love you most, and loving the people you know well. So yes, it’s those things, a hand in yours, a secret shared, but it’s also the even littler things. Like the weary nod of solidarity between early-morning commuters on the subway, the face of the store grocer when you make her laugh as she loads your bags, the kind smile of the boy who bent down and handed you the pen you dropped. Let me ask you, have you ever been in a room where somebody is butchering something so badly that you were united in long-suffering eye contact with somebody you’ve never spoken to before in your life? That is it. That is love. Thanks to Jimmy C’s terrible choir performance in the ninth grade, you and a person you know nothing about were, for one moment, connected by something powerful: mutual understanding. 

In the world we live in today, it is so easy to forget that we are all the same, really. Well, okay, not really–I have blue eyes and you have brown, I can play guitar and you know piano, not to mention all the details and imprints of our psyches that will never resemble another’s in a thousand years, but you get what I mean. There’s so many labels and categories and different types of people you can be that it makes it seem like moments like the ones I described are meaningless in the flood of it all. But I don’t think it’s meaningless at all. In fact, I’d argue it means quite a lot. We all cry. We all feel alone. We all lie awake in our beds at night wishing someone would see us for who we really are, truly, and ignoring all the people who are right in front of us waiting to be seen as well. In the same vein, we all also smile. We all love someone deeply, with the depths of our hearts, and I’m willing to bet there’s not a person reading this who hasn’t laughed so hard they’ve cried at a funny cat video even once in their lives. Try me. We are all human, perfectly, imperfectly human. We blink and breathe and stare at the stars, and we are all so alike and so different at the same time, but when it comes down to it, we are one. 

It’s so easy to feel so hopeless. It’s so easy to convince yourself that nothing really matters, that your existence has no mark on anything at all, that maybe it would even be better if you vanished completely. But it does matter. You matter. If you were not here, the girl who you gave your extra piece of gum to on the train when you were twelve wouldn’t have that memory to cling to when things get hard. The people that watched you trip into a geyser at Yellowstone wouldn’t have a story to pull out at every family dinner over the years (even if that was your most embarrassing moment. I get it, trust me.) You have made a million marks on a million people that don’t even know your name, and they’ve done the same to you. Take a second and think about all the people you’ve met in your life. Take a second and remember those people who you will never see again, but who brushed up against you for one second in time and in that way, added the smallest stroke of paint to the canvas of your life. Let yourself find the strangers, and remind yourself that you are not alone. 

And sometimes, maybe your story isn’t over once you’ve exited someone’s life. I haven’t spoken to my neighbor Nina since probably 2021, after exchanging a few poems with her in an effort to repay her for the beautiful one she wrote to me. She told me I was an excellent writer–Nina, look at me now! I don’t remember what I wrote; I don’t even know if she still has them. But I still see her. I saw her yesterday, getting out of her car with her husband, and we waved. She’s about 92 now, and I’m about 16, and it’s been five years but I still have that paper in the same spot on my wall. Art has come and gone around it, even a whole loft bed has framed it at one point, but it is still there. A reminder to me that, no matter what, for one day I was what made someone write something beautiful. Do you understand how special that is? I haven’t ever told her all this, but tomorrow I’m going to print out this story and walk over to her house and give it to her, because she deserves to know. I have an amazing woman living right across my street, and I’ll be damned if I let my life go by without the chance to let her know how much she changed it. 

For Nina xoxo

The Cello – An Explanation By Iliana Kim

Did you know that before the endpin was invented, people had to hold their cello
between their legs? The cello is usually made out of wood and is shaped like a violin.
The thing is you could fit two or three violins in one cello. I was introduced to the cello
when my family started listening to the Bach cello suites. I was amazed by the deep,
mellow sound that it produced. I love the way the cello calms me down and I see that
other people are affected that way too. I like the several ways the cello is played, like in
solos, duets, and orchestras.


I think the sound of the cello can create a nice and calm environment for the
people who are listening. I really like the fullness of the sound and the level of volume
the cello has. The sound of a cello makes me feel like I’m floating and I think it’s very
relaxing. With certain songs people could feel happier, more energetic or stronger like I
sometimes do.


In the one and a half years I have practiced the cello, I have played in solos,
duets, and a few orchestras.The first time I played in an orchestra I felt it was easier
than doing a solo or a duet. Solos feel like one ant trying to make a rather large ant hill
all by itself with no one to help. But if you are doing a duet it’s easier because it’s like
making an ant hill with fifty ants. Then again it’s better to build with a hundred ants than
anything else.


I hope you and everyone who reads this will get to enjoy the magical sound of
the cello, whether in-person or online, as a solo, duet or orchestral performance.

Links to music:

Grieg Holberg suite (Orchestra)
https://youtu.be/kJ6AaBArhRw?si=5ztDP-Ud733CGjmf

Bach Cello suites ( Solo played by Mischa Maisky)
https://youtu.be/mGQLXRTl3Z0?si=6QH-zEV5AGhp8AU5

 Stray Kids by Sloan Correnti

Something I love is the band Stray Kids! Stray Kids is an eight member K-Pop boy group created by renowned music label JYP Entertainment! They were first discovered through a TV show called Stray Kids, on which many K-Pop trainees competed in teams for the chance to debut as JYP’s newest band. In 2017, Stray Kids won and released their debut ep I AM NOT, beginning their rise to stardom. 

The Stray Kids members are split up into three main units aka rachas; 3Racha, Danceracha, and Vocalracha. 3racha consists of Han, Bang Chan, and Changbin, and is responsible for producing and writing most of the band’s music! Dancracha is made up of the three main dancers, Lee Know, Hyunjin, and Felix. They choreographed some of the group’s dances, and Lee Know was even a back up dancer for super famous K-pop group BTS! Vocalracha is I.N and Seungmin, the main vocalists! Stray Kids used to have nine members, but their old lead vocalist Woojin left the band in 2018 for personal reasons. 

Since their debut, Stray Kids have released over 300 songs and have collaborated with many popular music artists like Charlie Puth, DJ Snake, and Troye Sivan! They have also won over 100 awards including the Billboard Music Award for top K-Pop album for their 2023 release 5-Star.  

Their latest project is The dominATE Experience, a movie about their dominATE tour.  It will be kind of like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie, but with more behind-the-scenes footage.  The movie premiers in theaters on February 6th, 2026!  I’m going to watch it in theaters on the 7th, and I’m so excited!  

Stray Kids is an awesome group, not only because of their fun and interesting music, but because of the members’ great personalities and kindness towards fans! I think they’re all amazing people, and I hope you do too. GO CHECK OUT SOME STRAY KIDS MUSIC!!!

From left  to right: Felix, I.N, Hyunjin, 
Han, Lee Know, Changbin,
 Seungmin, Bang Chan.

Thank you for reading this beautiful collection of works by these incredible guest writers and Lighthouse staff alike. We hope that their work has brought you joy in this season of love. We challenge you to openly admire and appreciate the things you love in life. The people, the places, the adventures and moments. The things that make you…you. Because, at the end of the day, love is what makes us, all gathered together in this lovely yet messy world…us. And as for the world, we must remember that we can never have too much love, understanding, and empathy for the people around us; our triumphs, our small moments, our shortcomings, those are what make us so human and those are the things that should be celebrated. So finally, say “hi!” to your neighbor, pet your cat, and treat others with the love that I know our hearts so deeply crave each and everyday. 

Sincerely,

The Lighthouse Staff 

“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”

The Beatles, 1969

Arts and Culture, News, Stories, Student Life

“For the love of…!” A Love Themed Creative Writing Opportunity! 

thelighthousetve

by Ava Amara Salado

‘Tis the season of love and growth. For many, that can be quite an unsettling thought. The continuous and often subconscious pressure that one must receive a box of chocolates, a neatly wrapped bouquet of roses tied together with shiny metallic ribbon, find yourself a dinner and movie date, etc. Although well intentioned the, at times, commercialized Valentines Day can be troubling. It can make the lead up to February 14 feel like a doomsday counter rather than a season that should be filled with appreciation and kindness. 

So, we at The Lighthouse wanted to offer a different perspective on the day. 

Romantic love is important, it’s wonderful, it has withstood the trials of time, giving us beautiful moments in history. Some say it’s what makes the world go round, shaping the most lovely parts of life. But there are other types of love too! And that’s what we want to hear about…

Come one, come all! We welcome you to write a short story, paragraph, or even poetry about something you love in life! It doesn’t necessarily have to be a romantic sorta’ love, it could be the love of one of your passions or hobbies, your pet or family member, your best friend, your rock collection, or even your favorite food! Truly, anything is welcome! 

Submit your work to thelighthousetve@gmail.com by February 4th, 2026.

All submissions will be posted in our February 6th publishing! 

We cannot wait to see all of the lovely things you incredible writers cook up! 

Much love,

The Lighthouse Staff

“What is done with love, is done well”

V. Van Gogh

Arts and Culture, Stories, Student Life

A Collection of Art & Poetry for Winter

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Poetry by Johnathan David

The Fire

As the thunder roared and the wind howled,
We see the light in the distance.
And as the fire raged and burned,
Comes the instance,
Where temper is unleashed, and thoughts are telled.
But the assistance is come,
Yet the cries are yelled,
And the mental resistance is held.

Where the Wind Walks

Come, we must go
To where the wind walks.
For there we can know,
To where it stalks,
And to where it blows.
For where the wind walks,
The leaves follow.
And don’t talk,
Until tomorrow.
But keep moving
Past the racks and stacks,
Through the trees,
And under the breeze.
On the seas,
But around the bees.
Because where the wind walks,
The seeds will follow.
And we need the seeds,
To feed our hungry,
Because our trades south have failed,
After we bailed,
And sailed,
To new land,
And in this land, We stand,
Hand in hand.
So come, lets find
Where the leaves follow,
And the seeds go.
Where the weeds sway,
In dying light of day,
To find what to say.
Lets go,
Where the wind walks
The night away.

Today

What are you feeling today?
Or would you rather not say?
I myself am feeling a bit under the hay.
So could you stay?
Because I may.
And I don’t know where to go anyway.

Art by Camden S.

Arts and Culture, Student Life

The Song of Our Hearts: Why Does Music Make Us Feel?

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by Harper Smith

Music has existed in human culture since very nearly the dawn of time. The earliest known instrument was a 60,000 year old bone flute, made from a bear femur and discovered in the caves of Slovenia in 1995. Percussion (music produced by striking something to create sound, better defined by modern instruments like drums and the tambourine) has been around for almost as long, and by the time civilizations like Greece and Egypt had emerged, the use of music for storytelling and cultural connection was hardly a new idea. Music became a craft, an art, and because of this, there was more thought devoted to the why and how of it all. Theory (the study of the principles and elements of song) was created and developed, and things like melody, harmony, rhythm and structure were conceptualized and studied. Musical notation (the way in which instrumental music is read, or “sheet music”–have you ever seen those little pointy blob things? This means those) was developed as well, and evolved over time. Through the inventions of records, radio, CDs, and eventually streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, music is now a part of most of our daily lives. It is used for relaxation, education, worship, or just to dance and have a good time! 

But because the influence of it all has spread so far, it means most of us have now experienced the same thing. The feeling of listening to a song–maybe your favorite song, or maybe just something on the radio–and letting it wash over you, filling you up with emotion, with thoughts and pictures in your head, until…are you crying? Okay, for a lot of you out there it’s probably not that extreme, but there’s a near-universal experience of having a song affect you in some way. Whether it’s in the form of sadness, joy or even anger, that’s the power music can have on us. And given how long it all dates back, it’s safe to assume that this power has existed since ancient times. But why? Why does this happen, and why can almost everyone relate? Why can one person think a song is the saddest thing they’ve ever heard, and another say it’s their go-to for a dance routine? 

There are a lot of theories, and their basis varies. Some use psychology, some use music theory, some use a combination of both, and still others go off emotional analysis or just, in formal terms, “straight-up vibes.” I’ll go through two of these now, and you can decide for yourself which best represents how you think of the phenomena. Note, however, that each and every one has a scientific basis behind them, and a framework supporting evidence and studies. I will link sources below for further reading–they’re very interesting, and provide deeper information than my brief overviews. 

Theory 1: Music composition and psychology. 

Here I’ve combined the content of several articles regarding the more scientific side of things related to music. Namely, the brain. Your brain (hopefully, at least) has several distinct areas, each for different purposes. When these areas are triggered, certain hormones are released, or certain reactions are triggered, that make us feel things like pleasure, fear, and fatigue. Scientists have found that nearly all of these systems light up when we perceive musical sound. The amygdala, the hippocampus, the limbic system and more all have expressed intense reactions to harmonic sound–and they are all centers of the brain associated with pleasure and reward. Music makes us happy on a psychology and physiological level. Being able to predict or anticipate the tempo, rhythm, and changes sends a positive charge to our brains when our expectations are met or surprisingly exceeded, and releases dopamine. Additionally, songs or sounds associated with certain memories (or even just songs we recognize) in our brains light up the reward system as well. 

(Sources: one, two, three, four.)

Theory 2: Empathy and connection. 

Another idea is less quantitative in the realms of physical biology, but has very real basis in history, psychology and human experience. In fact, that is the theory: that human experience is what leads us to connect and relate to music. I’m sure we all have songs, or even whole playlists of songs, that remind us of ourselves (I’m sure I do–looking at you, indie artist Searows and your songs that make me ugly cry.) But why can we still feel things at songs that have nothing to do with us? Some say that it really is that simple: empathy. The concept and practice of being able to share emotions with other people is one of the most important skills for us to have in life, and one that most everyone is able to cultivate over their lifetime. This skill is exactly what may cause us to experience emotional sensations when we hear certain songs. In fact, scientific studies have shown that more sensitive people show higher levels of connection when listening to “sad” instrumentals, and even find music more pleasurable in general than someone with lower levels. There are even studies that show that listening to music helps us grow our own empathy in general. Emoting at instrumental changes and lyrics can develop an individual’s sensitivity and enhance their ability to relate to others. This is because music is a highly personal art form that conveys a very intimate look at the artist’s feelings. As a songwriter and composer myself, I can say for certain that the process of writing songs is definitely one of the most soul-bearing activities I’ve engaged in. Artists communicate their pain, anger, frustration, love or joy in their songs, with the intention of their listeners coming to understand what they’ve experienced by the end of the track.  And despite what you may think if you’re only familiar with lyrical songs (as most people usually are), the same is true for classical or instrumental pieces. The act of creating music and using instruments and composition to reflect a theme or feeling is incredibly personal and unique, and sometimes can have even more depth to them than lyrical pieces. Either way, when someone’s heart is presented proudly in their art, we can see it. And in terms of music, we can feel it ourselves, too. 

(Sources: one, two, three, four.)

Now that you’ve read through both of these different ideas, which one do you think is true? Which one is the real reason behind this universal phenomena? Well, the answer is both! Both theories have accurate scientific groundwork in the scientific community, and are widely accepted as true. And there are even more reasons you may feel things at certain songs: your culture, background, past experiences, or even your music taste, all affect the ways you view the things you listen to! Every human on this earth is unique and has lived a unique life compared to every other, and we are all bound to see things differently. Maybe Shape of You is your favorite song because you think it’s romantic. Or you like the music. Or it reminds you of your traumatic childhood. Or maybe you hate it! (I wouldn’t blame you.) For each scenario there is someone here that can relate, and for each and every song, it is someone’s favorite and least favorite. Humans are so diverse and no two of us are the same, but the power of song has united us throughout the ages and continues to have an almost mystical effect in our daily lives. And for a species that can hardly ever see eye-to-eye–I think that’s pretty beautiful. Don’t you? 

Recommendations from the Lighthouse Staff and Friends! 

Olive Pea recommends the song ‘Wild’ by Woodkid! It makes her feel determined and motivated, like she can accomplish anything. The drums are like a military march, and the strings feel like looking at the clouds. 

Lydia Martinov suggests ‘7 Years’ by Luke Graham and ‘Time in a Bottle’ by Jim Croce. They make her think about the passage of time, and its effect on us all. 

Lucas David puts his stamp of approval on  ‘We’ll See You, Opal (Reprise)’ from the Jack Stauber musical short film “Opal.” It’s a claymation indie film that’s very cool and free on YouTube, go check it out! 

Aleena Hamior enjoys the songs  ‘Hellbent’ and ‘Royal We’ by Janani K. Jha. 

Kieran Smith said the song ‘Rule #4’ by Fish in a Birdcage is epic, and then said he thought epic wasn’t a fancy enough word. I told him it was, but we’ve agreed to disagree. Maybe he meant extraordinary? Inspiring? Monumental? Either way, this song makes him feel it. 

Fincher Smith, age six, tells us that ‘Bodies’ by Drowning Pool makes him feel “dance.” Who could argue with that? 
Harper Smith (that’s me!) recommends the song ‘Never Love An Anchor’ by the Crane Wives  for its lyrics and guitar style, and vibes that perfectly encapsulate fall. This song is one of their all-time favorites and always makes them cry, and they would love to have you suffer with them.

News, Student Life

Interview with DGC Director Ken Abrams

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by Lydia I. Matinov

Lights? Check. Audience? Check. Voices? Check! Next is the conductor! I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Ken Abrams, the artistic director of the Danville Girls Chorus. Since 1992, Mr. Abrams has been conducting singers of all ages, and has won multiple awards, as well as, competitions. I am very excited to share his inspiring story.

Why did you choose choral conducting and performing arts as your career?

I didn’t choose it at first. I chose to be a music major, and then, after I graduated, somebody said, “Hey, you’ve worked with my high school choirs, and you did really well. You should consider being a teacher.” That’s when I said, “Maybe”. Right after college is when I made the choice to do that.

What is your favorite part about your job?

My favorite part is getting the students prepared and working through rehearsals. Then, watching them soar in a concert.

What challenges have you faced throughout your career?

Many challenges. Financial is the first one. Not getting any money for my program, or my accompanist, and having to sell candy, and do everything possible to have a choir to direct. That was one of the hardest things. There’s been a lot of cutbacks in the schools over the years. They’re facing more this year.  That was always difficult, when they were laying people off, or told me they do not have a job. And three, sometimes just having a rotten-egg student can be a real pain. It’s the good ones that make it all worthwhile.

What was the most valuable thing you learned while studying choral conducting?

One of the things somebody said was “Expect, and communicate, and you will not be disappointed.”, and I’ve always remembered that. If you give them the expectation; tell them what you want, how to do it, and what you’re expecting, more often than not, they will come through with flying colors.

What advice can you give to anyone who would like to pursue a career in musical arts?

Just make sure you have all the training you can get. Musical arts is a big field, but if you want to be a teacher, learning how to play piano helps a lot. If you’re in musical arts, then you must try singing the absolute best you can and learning to read music. And, if you’re going to be in musical theater, add dancing to that, as well.

You have received many prestigious awards, and your choirs have won numerous competitions. Can you comment on your incredible success and have you ever imagined that you would be such a highly sought after artistic director?

Never. Never imagined that. It just kind of happened, and I got better and better the older I got, and I got Teacher of the Year for California. Two years ago, my choirs won many-many awards and competitions, but they had to work really hard to do that.

Can you share a funny or interesting story that happened sometime during your career?

There were a lot of funny stories. We did musicals every other year, and there was lots of fun stuff that would happen: a lot of silly things with kids falling off the risers, or sneezing, or fainting in the middle of a song.

Is there anything else you would like people to know?

What’s wonderful about being in a choir is that singing is something you can do your whole life. It’s something that you don’t have to have an instrument for. You can just do it by virtue of your body helping you accomplish singing. I hope that my singers with Danville Girls Chorus and the ones that I had in high school use it, value it, and continue exercising it their whole life long.

For more information regarding the Danville Girls Chorus, visit danvillegirlschorus.org.

The Danville Girls Chorus

Science, Student Life

The Psychology of Stress

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by Lucas David

Understanding stress is very important for a number of reasons, especially for teens, who experience comparatively high amounts of stress in their daily lives. For one, stress has a direct impact on your mental wellbeing, as it can cause you to feel overwhelmed or anxious, as well as causing difficulty concentrating, memory problems, and sleep changes. For another, it can affect your physical health by damaging your heart’s functionality, causing digestive issues, weakening your immune system, making it more difficult to sleep, and much more. It is also important to understand stress because it helps allow you to identify stressors in your life, recognize your bodies reactions to them, and develop methods to cope with them and manage your stress levels before they begin to affect your physical and mental health. Recognizing stress early on can help prevent you from developing health issues, and make them significantly easier to manage if they arise. This can lead to improved mental wellbeing, enhanced decision making, healthier relationships, greater productivity, and an increase in happiness overall.

Image made by Lucas David

So far we’ve talked a lot about what stress does, but what is stress, anyways? Stress is a natural response to threats or challenges that involves both the mind and the body. It can help prepare you for the future, but too much of it can negatively affect your health. Stress is caused by significant events such as moving to a new home, beginning a new job, going through trauma or an onslaught of homework or illness. Very often, it is helped along by a perceived lack of control, a feeling of social isolation, negative thoughts or beliefs or poor coping mechanisms.

However, not all stress is bad for you. Good stress, or eustress, is a short term challenge that can motivate you to succeed and help you develop as a person by building resilience, developing life skills, helping to focus your energy, improving your performance and enhancing your sense of accomplishment. Bad stress, also called distress, is long term and can damage your health by creating anxiety, confusion, worsening your concentration and lessening your performance. To help monitor your stress to make sure that the majority of it starts with an eu, we need to talk about stressors. Simply put, stressors are stimuli that trigger a stress response in an organism. By monitoring which stressors cause distress, and which cause eustress, we can develop coping mechanisms to help alter our stimuli to suit our needs.

Coping mechanisms are behaviors or strategies individuals use to manage the negative effects of spending time in stressful situations. Some common examples of coping mechanisms include exercise, relaxation techniques such as deep breaths or meditation, social support, positive thinking, journaling, and focusing on what you can control. Most types of coping mechanisms can be sorted into one of two categories: Problem based coping, which involves trying to sort out the real-life source of the stressor, and emotion based coping, which involves focusing on dealing with the emotions that spring from the situation. Perceived control can also have a huge impact on a person’s ability to cope with stress because when a person believes they have agency, or the ability to affect a situation, their ability to cope with stress from that situation increases significantly.

Managing our stress is one way that we, as humans, attempt to chase happiness. What is happiness? Happiness is a feeling of joy, contentedness, satisfaction or well being. It is a complex, multi-faceted emotion that is influenced by many factors, including social and cultural norms, and is highly subjective, meaning that what makes one person happy may not make another person happy. Flow, and whether or not a person regularly enters what could be considered flow, can also have an influence on a person’s happiness because it is a state of mind in which a person is fully immersed in an activity, and highly focused and enjoyable.

For teens, Psychology Today offers some tips to keep stress levels low. For one, it states that having smooth communication with parents can make a large difference. That means being open and honest with your parents about your life and emotions. It’s also important to set realistic expectations for yourself, knowing that not only is it ok to fail at things, but it in fact provides opportunity for growth. Personally, I suggest setting and enforcing your personal boundaries with yourself and others, to help keep you from being pushed too far from your comfort zone.s

In conclusion, we covered a range of topics relating to stress and mental wellbeing, including stress itself, good stress versus bad stress, flow and the pursuit of happiness. We also learned that managing stress and understanding your stressors can be vital to helping to keep from becoming overwhelmed, as well as how our use of various coping mechanisms can have a significant impact on our daily lives. Many of us, as teens, are often heavily exposed to all kinds of stressors, from social situations to academics to family issues, and we must be self-aware to stay happy and healthy.

Arts and Culture, Student Life

As We Walk Through the Woods – A Poem

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As we walk through the woods,
we try with all our might
to make memory of this beautiful night.
For we stand under the stars of the sky.
We talk til day has come,
and sun has risen.
As we walk through the woods,
I can’t help but grieve.
For it is a time of sorrow,
a time of loss,
a time of death,
a time to mourn with what’s left.
But the war is over,
the war is won.
We have battled the last battle
and we have won!
Peace has fallen, ground is regained.
Plants regrown,
buildings rebuilt,
as we walk through the woods

By guest author Jonathan David

Arts and Culture, News, Student Life

An Interview With Author Millie Florence

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by Meru S.

Millie Florence is the author of three middle-grade novels including Honey Butter, which she wrote and self-published at the age of thirteen.

Honey Butter is a simple yet vividly descriptive tale of joy and sorrow, lightheartedness and contemplation, anger and love. The storyline follows Jamie Johnson, a young girl with a passion for collecting paint cards, and her friend Laren Lark, who, at nearly thirteen, is several years older than Jamie. 

As I read this book, I did not notice a completely perceivable plot. Instead, I felt as though I had entered the lives of the characters and was observing the typical events of their days. Nevertheless, I was gently gripped by the book without the need for dramatic occurrences or twisted mysteries. 

Other novels by Millie Florence are Beyond Mulberry Glen, which will be released in early 2025 from Waxwings Books, and The Banter of Ashton Harper, published in 2023. 

Having read Honey Butter, I decided to interview the author of this book. I had heard that she was homeschooled, as am I, a fact that inspired me to email her with a few questions. 

What was your inspiration to write Honey Butter?

I got the idea for my first book, Honey Butter, while waiting for my parents in a paint store. Somewhat bored, I began reading the names of the paint cards.

Vivid jungle, cherry soda, bubble bath.

I was amazed how, with only two or three words, the titles painted a picture in my mind. I began to take the cards home with me until I had a small collection sitting on the edge of my bookshelf. Then I asked the first question:

“What if I wrote about a person who was obsessed with collecting paint cards?”

From this question, the character of Jamie Johnson began to take shape, and the story of Honey Butter slowly formed around her.

That’s how my ideas usually come about–a small spark of interest followed by a lot of questions. I find those sparks in paintings, overheard conversations, nature, history, the dictionary, antique shops, or a door-knocker on a house in Oxford that was shaped like a dragonfly.

I notice the world. I look carefully and pay attention to the things that interest me. Then I ask questions about them. A story is born from curiosity and good questions.

In Honey Butter, the protagonist, Jamie, has a hobby of collecting paint cards. Was that something you enjoyed doing when you were working on the book?

Yes! My collection got large enough that I kept it all in a shoebox, just like Jamie! The brand of the shoebox was “Piper”, and one day, while trying to think of a name for Erica’s friend, I looked over at the shoebox, which had “Piper” written across the top in big, pink letters, and I thought “That’s perfect!” 

Since the book has been published, people will often give me paint cards as gifts at author events. At one school visit a class gave me a box full of paint cards that they had all written on–thanking me for coming and telling me their favorite parts of the book. To this day it’s one of my favorite reader gifts.

After an idea for a storyline comes to you, what is the first step you take to begin writing a draft?

My writing process has changed slightly with every book. It’s always growing and evolving. I used to jump in headfirst as soon as I got an idea and write my first drafts without an outline. I felt as though outlines held me back and made my writing feel more unnatural. However, more recently I’ve discovered an outlining method that works well for me, developed by K. M. Weiland. It involves stream-of-consciousness journaling about your story idea, which I love, because it allows me the messy creative freedom I need, without requiring the massive structural rewrites to fix it later. I outlined the entire story of my current work in progress before I wrote a word of it, and it went very well!

So these days, the first step I take is to scribble down everything I know about the story so far, whether that’s a few disjointed scene ideas, a bit of funny dialogue, what I want the theme to be, or a long list of paint card names!

Do you have any techniques for overcoming writer’s block?

First of all, I don’t think writer’s block is as common as we writers would like to pretend. Much of the time, I think we can cry writer’s block when in reality we feel unmotivated or uninspired.

The trouble is, if I only ever wrote when I happened to feel inspired, I would write maybe five days a year.

Sometimes you need to take a break, especially when you’re tired or you’re genuinely not sure how to proceed with the story.

But a lot of the time, you won’t feel inspired until you actually start writing. There have been many, many days when I sat down to write, completely uninspired. But once I started writing, after about half an hour, suddenly I was excited about the project again. I started getting new ideas and really enjoying myself.

So what do I do when I feel uninspired? I write anyway. The act of writing in and of itself can be an inspiration.

That said, I did have major writer’s block for a year after my second novel came out. It sold more books in a month than Honey Butter had sold in a year. That was exciting but also terrifying. Suddenly, I was worried. None of my new ideas seemed nearly as good. What if I could never write something better than that? The thought was a bit irrational, looking back, but it’s hard not to get caught up in the emotions of the moment.

I harshly judged everything I came up with, writing drafts, and then discarding them. It was a very difficult time for me creatively. The way I finally found my way out was to stop putting so much pressure on myself and write because I loved it, not because of what other people might think–after all, that was why I started writing to begin with. That experience led me to write The Balter of Ashton Harper, which is all about finding joy in the act of creating.

The word Balter means “To dance artlessly, without particular grace or skill but usually with enjoyment.” But it applies to more than just dancing.

To fend off writer’s block, try to write artlessly, without particular grace or skill but usually with enjoyment.

When you publish a book, how do you celebrate?

Privately, the tradition has been to have a tea party with my family and friends! It’s no secret that I love tea, and baking, so I love to combine the two while spending time with the people I care about. Usually my family also buys me flowers.

I also celebrate with my readers all throughout the release with author events, live streams, giveaways… In many ways all the marketing I do for a release is just celebration!

I’ll be celebrating the release of my newest book, Beyond Mulberry Glen, on January 7th 2025. It’s already available for preorder, which means you can reserve a copy, along with some awesome pre-order goodies, inducing a signed bookplate. You can find out more on my website: millieflorence.com