Cougar Collection: 2021 Spring Issue

Christian Academy's Literary Magazine PREMIERE ISSUE SPRING 2021 Life Back To School Photo By: Mrs. Amy Pixcar C.A.G. Layout By: Grace Miller, 9

An official The theme \"Life Back to School\" won the vote of themes suggested in the Creative Journalism class, high school elective. Each submission was a personal interpretation of the theme through Publication writing, photography, or artwork. Three entries per person maximum allowed. Entries were open to our whole community of students, parents, and teachers/staff. It is great to have our community come together through this Literary Magazine, published each semester. This is the Premiere issue created and publsued in Quarter 4, 2020-21.

Table of Contents Pages Name 12 4, 7 Harold Brubaker 2, 8 David Byeon 21 20 Ms. Sheri Cordes 15 Sangun Cho 20 Min Ji Choi 17 Lily Davis 21 Nicole Fisher 12 Gahin Han 17 19 Seo Yun Hwang 18 Soohoon Kim 9, 10 Thomas Larimer Jonathan Loveall 1 Robert Loveall 18 Mr. Gregory Malczewski 7 Grace Elena Miller-Roulet 6 Marcela Miller 18 Cora Nelson 15 Johnny Park 2 Joseph Park 8 Min Kyu Park Front Cover Mrs. Tressa Patton 5, 11, 13, 14 Santiago Perez 11 Mrs. Amy Pixcar 16 3 Izzy Pixcar Back Cover Ilim Song Zhu 1 Urim Song Zhu Rebekah Suh Ms. Michelle Vallar Alejandra Venegas

HOPE IS 01 THERE Hope is everywhere Writing by Grace Elena Miller-Roulet 9th Grade Everything you touch Art by Alejandra Venegas 10th Grade Everything you hear Layout by Min Ji Choi 10th Grade And smell And see And think And believe Hope is there It is in the sound of laughter Drifting through the halls In the smell Of freshly fallen rain In the overlapping voices In a classroom In the quiet recesses Of your mind In every word you read And every thought You jot down Hope is there Hope to have fun Hope to grow Hope to learn Hope to contemplate Hope to create Hope is there

27 02 I Hear CAG Singing: A PARODY I hear CAG singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of students, each one singing his as it should be cheerful and strong, The elementary student singing as he swings on the swing, The custodians singing as they make ready for work, or leave off work, The administration singing what belongs to them in their school, the teachers singing in the classroom, The students singing as they sit at their desks, the gate guard singing as he stands at the gate, The volunteers’ song, the administrative assistant on their way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the high school student, or of the school at work, or of the elementary student playing or learning, The day what belongs to the day - at night the party of getting ready, homework, lunches, projects, singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs. Writing by Mrs. Tressa Patton Pictures were taken by Ms. Sheri Cordes Layout by Min Ji Choi 10th Grade

Never Forget 03 WRITTEN BY. REBEKA SUH, 10 Where is this virus That torments us? Where is this virus That creates such a fuss? I cannot see it I cannot feel it But somehow it is there Coming back to school Has made me forget its peril The very excitement of being with fellow students and teachers Has made me ignorant of the devil The laughters, teachings, jokes, debates, and conversations have somehow managed to make everything look normal But, We should never forget The tears shed We should never forget The lost privileges We should never forget The wrinkled, swollen hands Of those at the front line And most of all, we should never forget The lost lives Although it is exciting to be back Although this virus does not seem to even exist We should never let down our guard On the virus that lives in our midst Layout by. Rebeka Suh, 10

04 Photo by. David Byeon, 11 Photo by. David Byeon, 11 Layout by. Rebeka Suh, 10

05 THE DAY BACK, THE DAY GONE, AND THE DAY YET TO COME written By. Izzy Pixcar , 8 Waking up. I know what's ahead. The day back, social again. My thoughts twisting, over and over again. Something x equals six-teen. Don't forget the period at the end. Back and forth I go, class to class feeling so slow. A heavy stash of books in tow. Yet, as it goes on, it's not quite as bad, as I thought it to be. Not sad, as far as I can see. As the day is gone, the feelings of doubt, fade away. As I happily await, the next school day. Layout by. Rebeka Suh, 10

06 Photo by. Johnny Park, 10 Layout by. Rebeka Suh, 10

07 UPON RETURNING TO SCHOOL WRITTEN BY. CORA NELSON, 6 Being back to school is great, even if we have more work  It's better than watching the movie storks. Before the pandemic I wanted a break and now I would rather lose a couple hundred debates! Even when school is confusing  I'm so glad im there, being back at school definitely brings happiness  to the air. Photo by. David Byeon, 11 Layout by. Rebeka Suh, 10

PICKLES AND 08 PRAYERS Layout By: Grace Miller, 9 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything ,PHOTO BY: SANTIAGO PEREZ, 11 that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. 1 John 5:14-15 NLT When I order a hamburger I always ask for no pickles. I like them, just not in or on anything. One day at a famous fast food drive through, I ordered my hamburger, sans pickle. Got home, opened it up, and there was only a pickle and a patty on it and nothing else! I was disappointed. But I took the pickle off, added some condiments and ate it. A few weeks later, I returned and ordered it again. Hey nobody is perfect right? Upon arriving home, I discovered the same thing! A few weeks later I once again returned and ordered with hopeful expectation, but this time I explained what happened the prior two times. They apologized profusely, but when I got home, you guessed it, again, only a pickle and a patty! Now, I just take off the pickles! I am not sure if it was the person who listens on the headset or the person who makes the burger, but I learned I couldn’t trust them to hear what I ordered and then make it correctly. Praise Jesus, we don’t have the problem with God! 1 John 5:14-15 promises us that we can be confident that God hears us every time we ask for something! And when we ask Him for something that pleases Him, we can be sure that He will give us what we ask for! So rest assured, He hears you! And if you are getting “pickles” from your prayers when you didn’t ask for them, better rethink your “order.” Maybe you are “ordering” the wrong thing! BY: MS. SHERI CORDES

9 Diversion or Devotion? John 17, 4/14/2021 One advantage to teaching is learning. I was showing high school students how to force their minds to slow down and think about a passage of Scriptures. Oh. Sorry! I mean, I was showing them various Bible study methods. Consider John 17. We noticed that our ESV Bibles conveniently provided paragraphs at verses 1, 6, and 20. We observed that the three paragraphs had Jesus praying for himself, his apostles, and future disciples. Jesus prayed to the Father in the first paragraph. Verse 1, Jesus asked for the Father’s glory so that Jesus might glorify the Father. Verse 2, Jesus had the authority to give life to all flesh. Verse 3 tells us this is “eternal” life. I see Jesus glorified the Father on earth by giving eternal life to men. Called “work,” Jesus was showing his followers the true God who gives eternal life. Here is a “work” that gives life rather than seeks it. As we reread the paragraph, I decided to delay a verse by verse study and look more closely at “glory.” It and “glorified” are used 5 times in as many verses! I highlighted these “glories” in a conspicuous yellow. Then I scanned the rest of the chapter hunting for the “glory” word. But I wanted to be sure that I got all of them. There are plenty of zippy concordances on the Internet. My students now know that if you enter “glor*” as a search term you will find every form of the word. I was soon sure I had all of the John 17 glories including verses 10, 22, and 24. After some more glowing yellow, we found glory appears in all 3 paragraphs. Intriguing! I guessed that there might be a connection. CONTINUED...

10 By: Gregory Malczewski In paragraph two, Jesus said that he was glorified by his apostles in verse 10. They received the truth and believed that the Father had sent Jesus. Just as the Father sent Jesus into the world to manifest the true God and eternal life, Jesus sent these apostles into the world. They continued the same work that Jesus had begun. They received glory from Jesus. We find our next “glory” in paragraph three with Jesus and future disciples. That included you and me, today. Jesus prayed in verse 24 that we might be with Jesus and see his glory. Our “work” today is proclaiming the gospel of eternal life through Jesus Christ. We do the same work as Jesus and the apostles. We receive the same glory the apostles had with Jesus. All this started in a classroom of high school students. Had we continued an Internet only classroom environment I doubt any of this would have been realized. My diversion turned out to be a worthwhile distraction. I pray that you consider sharing the good news of eternal life in Jesus Christ. This is the “work” that Jesus began and we continue today. Study suggestions intentional. Highlight key terms. Make connections with your word studies. Bible programs online you might find helpful: https://www.blueletterbible.org/ https://www.biblegateway.com/ https://biblehub.com/ Layout By: Grace Miller, 9

Emotions angered my stressed head. 11 Thoughts of the day filled me with dread. Books beamed up at me, Friends smiled with glee, back instead. So then, I smiled 8 By; Izzy Pixcar, Photo By: Ilim Song Zhu, 3 The Day Back to School Layout By: Grace Miller, 9

ART BY: SOOHON KIM, 11 Layout By: Grace Miller, 9 12 ART BY: HAROLD BRUBAKER, 9

13 A Friend for School Cathy Perez twisted the ponytail holder around her fingers again and again until her fingers were pale. She focused on the pain, hoping it would keep her mind from wandering into what the day would be like. Transitioning from online school to in-person school was not easy. Even after a few weeks of \"social\" school, she wasn't liking the social part of it. When the disease called COVID_19 had hit, she didn't mind since she had next to no friends at school nor at home. If she went to school and even tried to make friends, it didn't go well, and… here she was again, thinking about school. She pulled the ponytail holder over her fingers and tied it so tight that she winced in pain. She glanced over at her clock and almost winced again, seeing the time. She only had twenty minutes to get ready for school. She would have to go to her classroom and see people and- \" Ouch!\" she said aloud because she had tightened her grip on the ponytail holder without realizing it. Warm liquid ran over her hand. \" Great,\" she said to herself. She hadn't meant to cut herself, but the thoughts of school probably caused her to tighten her grip on the ponytail holder in just the right way to cut herself. Oh well. She couldn't wait forever. She reluctantly released the ponytail holder onto her bed and went to the bathroom to clean her cut and bandage it. She took her brush and brushed her black hair till it was smooth. She got dressed, then she went to her wall and found a black mask and very slowly, as if it were a bomb about to go off, slipped it on. She didn't like the mask part of school any more than she liked the social part. But rules were rules, and she wasn't about to be the one to break them. Breakfast went by in a blur, and soon it was time to get in the car. By the time the car arrived at school, she had finally gathered up enough courage to enter the doors. Kids all stood in the hallways talking, laughing, solving rubix cubes, reading books, trying to get through the crowd to find their locker, and even trying to climb on top of the lockers and sit on them. She knew what to do. She kept her eyes down and swerved in and out of the crowd of kids. She knew some of them from last year, and some seemed to be new. But she left them alone and thankfully, they did the same for her. She finally made it to her locker, did the code, and started organizing her things. When she closed it she turned around so fast to get out of the hallway of kids that she didn't even notice the kid standing right behind her, waiting for his turn to the lockers. She ran right into him and books and papers went all over the floor. \" Whoops! I'm so sorry. I never look where I'm going. Here, let me help you, \" came a boy's voice from above her. She looked up and saw a boy that looked not much taller than she was. He had a light shade of brown hair and a pair of innocent green eyes. He wore a light brown shirt with some jeans. She tried to decide if he meant it or if he was just trying to be annoying like most boys she met. But his expression looked genuine enough. He leaned down and started to help her but she waved him off. CONTINUED...

14 Written By: Izzy Pixcar, 8 \"It's okay; I can manage,\" she tried to tell him. He picked up a book and handed it to her anyway. Not to accept it seemed rude so she nodded and took it from him. After the mess was cleaned up he decided to speak up. \" Well, I know you're not mute. Do you have a name?\" \"You're correct. I'm not mute. My name is Cathy. Cathy Perez.\" She searched his eyes for any sense of teasing but found none. She couldn't tell from under the mask, but she thought she saw a brief smile, but not a mean one. \"My name is Peter. Peter Houstan. Nice to meet you.\" \"Nice to meet you too,\" she replied. Awkward silence. She hated these. \"I'm new here,\" he broke the silence.\" Are you?\" \"No, I've been here for awhile,\" was the only answer she gave him. He seemed to not realize the awkwardness, which was fine by her. \"So... I can't decide if the new enrichment teacher wants the job to take a nap or to actually supervise us,\" he said with a light little laugh. She had to let out a laugh too because she thought of their supervisor Mr. Roham always sleeping on the job. \"He probably got too tired teaching the first graders and lept for the job,\" she said in response. \"I guess so,\" he laughed. After a few moments of silence she sensed the conversation was over and turned to leave. \"I guess all the girls were wrong. They all say you're so boring,\" he said. This caught her attention. She never really cared about what other people thought about her, but hearing what they said about her was totally different. \"I think I'm pretty interesting if I do say so myself!\" she spat out at him. \"Hey, chill. I never said I thought you were boring,\" he held up his hands as if to protect himself. \"Really?\" she asked sarcastically. \"And what do you think I am?\" \"Uh, what if I said you were boring?\" She scowled at him. \"Well, I guess that's the wrong answer. I give you my word, you are interesting,\" he said, smiling. \"Friends?\" He stuck out his hand. She thought about it and suddenly realized how nice it would be to have a friend. \"Friends,\" she responded. And they shook on it. Layout By: Grace Miller, 9

15 Art By: Lily Davis,6 Photo By: Minkyu Park, 9 Layout By: Grace Miller

16 What is procrastination? We know for a fact that this is something that affects the daily APBRLOECSSRIANSGT, IYNEATTAIOCNU:RSE lives of most of us. As a matter of fact, this essay is most likely going to be written almost last minute as a result of procrastination. However, do we know what causes this procrastination, and what effects this seemingly simple and relatively harmless “disease” has on us? According to the Good Therapy, procrastination is defined as “the tendency to avoid unpleasant or stressful tasks that are often very important and replace them with less important, less stressful tasks.” The word stems from the Latin word pro crastinus, which roughly translates to “for tomorrow.” This is a mindset that many of us have, even the best of us…. Well, maybe exclude Elon Musk from this category, but the majority of us enjoy putting things off for the next day, whether purposefully or not. This is often correlated with poor time management, and although that may sometimes be the case, oftentimes, there are bigger things at play than just time management. Procrastination is often denoted with a very negative connotation, because far too often, procrastination causes us to lose a lot of time - this I am speaking from personal experience. However, research suggests that procrastination is a result of attempting to cope with a high stress, high pressure society. This is the benefit that procrastination offers. It helps us maintain our sanity even during high stress situations. However, and that is a big “however”, the problem occurs as people sometimes spend too much time in this stress alleviation state called procrastination. Of course, procrastination is not just spending too much time enjoying the flowers that are sitting on our drawers. It can also be a result of mental health issues, such as ADHD, depression, or anxiety. Research also suggests that procrastination is closely linked with mood. Procrastination has the ability to yield some benefits, however, as it is commonly known, too much of anything is harmful. This applies to the act of procrastination as well. This action can lead to chronic stress, difficulty with school and/or work, heavy feelings of anxiety, poor physical health, and more. “How should I fix this? I don’t want to be sluggish 24/7!” Great question - thankfully, we do not have to find the answer ourselves, as scientists have already found solutions to this problem. There are four basic steps to this solution, which I will give in the acronym, AFFS, or ask for these four steps. These are, according to Good Therapy: address what is triggering the problem, find accountability, trust and forgive yourself, and start small. Story, pictures, and layout by: Urim Song, 111th grade

THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME 17 I was confident that things were going well. Yet, here I am, desperately clinging on to the frame of the back window in classroom D15, narrowly avoiding what could potentially be a painful and horrific death. It all started on January 8, 2029, the eighth year anniversary of my best-selling novel “Boundaries”, which I wrote back in my senior year of high school. I could lie, and say that it was a self-motivated passion project, one that I had worked on by myself, but it wasn’t. It was a project initiated by my favorite teacher at the time, Mr. O’connor. He was the one who made my senior year of high school memorable. The one who got my book published, the one who took care of me when no one else would, and the only one who believed in my potential as a writer. “Where is he?” you may ask. Well… he’s dead. He died on the day that my book was published, and although I’ve learned to tame my grief, I’ve found it quite difficult to control my emotions on the day of the anniversary—this year being the worst. In a blind fury, fueled by grief and frustration, I sat on my Photo by: Gahin Han, 9th grade apartment living room floor, surrounded by dozens of journals, Photo by: Thomas Larimer, 11th grade diaries, and yearbooks that were scattered across the dark, hard- wood floor. I wrote about all of the adventures I had as a kid, I wrote about my time in high school, and more importantly, I wrote about Mr. O’connor—his books, his lectures, his hilariously unfunny jokes, and his compassionate spirit. The ticking from my bedroom clock, the blaring honks of LA traffic, and all of the other familiar sounds that lingered throughout my apartment slowly faded away until I found myself sitting behind a desk, in the back of Mr. O’connor’s classroom. “WHAT THE [redacted]!” I shouted, pushing my seat away from my desk. Violently, the back of my chair slammed into the wall behind me, prompting everyone in the class to whip their heads in my direction. Mr. O’connor, who stood in the front of the classroom, looked up from his copy of “Wuthering Heights”, revealing his horned-rimmed glasses, and salt-and-pepper beard. “Tae-Sung?” he said in a startled tone, “what are you doing?” Mr. O’connors was wearing what most people would consider a typical English teacher’s outfit: a grey sweater over a baby-blue button- down shirt and khakis that were held up by a coffee brown belt. Seeing him again, filled me with an odd mixture of confusion, regret, and utter sadness. “M—Mr. O’connor…?” I muttered under my breath, my hands trembling from shock. “Tae, is something wrong?” CONTINUED... Layout by: Grace MIller, 9th grade

Photo by: Robert Loveall, 11th grade 18 Photo by: Marcela Miller, 11th grade I tried my best to respond but could only muster up a few disjointed words, “I uh— yeah, sorry I erm—” Mr. O’connor then opened his mouth to speak, but as soon as he did, the bell rang. Immediately, the students around me filed out of the classroom, pretending as if nothing had just happened. “Don’t forget to read chapter 5,” Mr. O’connor said, his concerned expression still fixated in my direction, “there’s going to be a quiz tomorrow”. Once everyone was gone, Mr. O’connor leaned back against the whiteboard and crossed his arms. “Tae-Sung.” he said firmly, “Is this about your book? The agent said they’re going to finalize the publication by tonight so there’s nothing to worry about.” At first, I felt incredibly lost and could not comprehend any of the words that came out of Mr. O’connor. How is Mr. O’connor alive? What book is he talking about? These thoughts raced through my mind filling me with an intense urgency, until I finally understood the situation. Somehow, someway, I had traveled back in time to January 8, 2021, the day of Mr. O’connor’s death. My body erupted in chills as the realization set in and I violently stood up, startling Mr. O’connor. I tried to be as calm and normal as possible, but I just couldn’t help it. Worried, Mr. O’connor stepped forward, “is...” he paused and gently placed a hand on my shoulder, “is this about your parents?”. “N-no this isn’t about my parents” I responded, and quickly shook my head. “It isn’t?” “No…” “Then…?” he asked. I contemplated telling Mr. O'connor the truth but ultimately decided against it, not because I didn’t think he’d believe me, but because I knew he would. “you were right, I’m just really nervous about my book...” Mr. O’connor narrowed his eyes suspiciously and stood there in silence his expression clearly one of disbelief. “I promise, I’m okay” I blurted out with a fake smile plastered on my face. “Alright,” he nodded defeatedly “you can always come and talk to me whenever you want, okay?” “Thank you Mr. O’connor” Mr. O’connor walked back to his desk and picked up his brown briefcase, “I have a meeting right now, but we can talk more later.” he smiled and gave me one last pat on the shoulder before walking out of the classroom, leaving me alone in the empty room. Now, at that moment I could have done a lot of things. I could have crawled onto the floor to sob, I could have screamed at the top of my lungs, or I could have told Mr. O’connor the truth. Instead, I stood frozen as a newfound motivation seeped into my heart. I was back at school. I was given the opportunity of a lifetime to change my past, and save Mr. O’connor. Story by: Joseph Park, 12th grade

Glad to be Back19 Just like in my previous dreams, it’s cold. There’s a constant jarring sound that pierces my ears and leaves me disoriented. The room I’m in is not my room, or at least it’s unrecognizable. I strain my eyes to attempt to In the next moment, the walls shatter, and a make something out of my surroundings, and as I blinding light fills the room. I look up and see take a breath I feel pain in my nostrils and silhouettes of many people, but I cannot make them constriction in my chest. In my attempt to sit up, I out. I look back to where the shadow dweller was notice chains weighing my body down. My breathing previously standing, but there is no sign of it. I look speeds up, and I start hyperventilating. Panic ensues back at the figures, and one of them looks right back and my vision starts to blur. Suddenly, my vision at me. With a blank stare, they say, “Wake up.” snaps to a silhouette in the darkness. My eyes are I jerk myself awake. As I take my blanket off I, my drawn to the slight glow in the shadow’s eyes. I start body feels a chill as my fan blows its air toward me. Its to relax, but my vision remains glued to those buzz fills the room and is the only recognizable thing captivating eyes. around me. It’s too early in the morning and my room I feel a sudden urge to run, to fight, and I notice is pitch black. I take a deep breath and mentally tell the figure start to approach me. Tap. A smirk forms myself to air out my room the next day. I check the on his face, it seems to be enjoying itself. I feel a chill time on my phone, taking a few seconds to let my eyes go down my spine as I sense danger approaching me. adjust to the sudden light. I finally surrender to the Tap. At this point, I can start to make out some of its urge to go back to sleep. features, but what sticks out to me are the horns. Its I walk out my door. Today was the first day back to skin is almost transparent like it was made of shadows school. I could hardly sleep the night before, so I was and darkness, but I also notice its long, sharp nails, struggled to stay awake and converse with my father and dark pointy teeth. Tap. My heart is racing, I call as he drove me to school. On the way we encounter for help. I scream at the top of my lungs, but I cannot traffic, and the anxiety I felt took over my thoughts. break eye contact. No sound can be heard as I My heart began to race and my breathing became attempt to call for help. My voice is gone and I can’t sporadic. Suddenly, I remember the dreams I had move. I feel like giving up, the temptation to fall throughout the previous months, and I wanted to run victim to this other-worldly creature is hardly away and give up. But these thoughts were resistible. Tap. This is the closest it has ever gotten, interrupted by the image of the people who rescued and I lose hope. I manage to break eye contact, and I me. slump as I accept the outcome of the situation. A tear A walk up the stairs after signing in to the office. I wells up in my eye as I remember those who are was late on the first day back to school, my luck was important to me. I want to see them again. the worst. I open the door to my classroom, and I am met with many smiles. I look up to recognize some faces as if I had just seen them. These people saved me, I thought to myself. I looked down at my shoes, held back my tears, and said under my breath, “Thank you. I’m glaSdtotroybbey:bJaochkn.”ny Loveall, 12th grade

20 Art by: Min Ji Choi, 10th grade Art by: Nicole Fisher, 5th grade

21 Art by Sangun Cho, 10th grade Art by Seo Yun Hwang, 10th grade



Photo by Ms. Michelle Vallar, Faculty Cougar Collection Staff Editor-in-Chief: Urim Song Managing Editor: Jonathan Loveall Layout Team: Min Ji Choi Grace Miller Rebekah Suh Alejandra Venegas An official Mrs. Jackie Davis, Adviser Publication You may message our Managing Editor or Editor-In-Chief if you have any questions or feedback. Please, DO NOT share any portion of this Literary Magazine online or anywhere unless you have permission from the Artist, Author, or Photograper. Thank you