Opinion Writing

What role have books played In your life I remember when I was young, probably just learning to read, a time when my dad and I were reading Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham .  It must have been contraction day at school or something, because each time, without fail I would replace "do not" with "don't." "I don't like green eggs and ham, I don't like them Sam-I-Am." And, without fail, my dad would make me go back and restart the page until I got it right. "I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam-I-Am. I remember the summer before sixth grade when we had to choose a summer reading book. They all sounded boring, so I chose to read Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief . A few months before, I had tried to read this book, but I couldn't get past the first line. I thought it said "Look, I don't want to be half bloody."  And internally, I was like 'this sounds gross.'  But, I picked...

The Effect That Young Female Athletes Are Having On The Sports World Caitlin Clark. Trinity Rodman. Sydney McLaughlin. Coco Gauff.  Even though these women all play different sports, they all have one thing in common. They are all under the age of 25 and they are doing amazing things within their sport.  (Transition) 22-year-old Caitlin Clark, 6'0" forward for Iowa, has changed women's basketball. She has packed out stadiums and broke records. She recently broke Pete Maravich's record for most points scored in a D1 college basketball career. Maravich had 3,667 points and Clark currently has 3,771, and she still has games left to play.  Clark is already up there with some of the best female basketball players of all time, with Kelsey Plum, Brittney Griner, Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird, but she has done so much more economically for this sport then they ever have.  She is famous for her "logo three's." As soon as she passes half court, she needs to be guard...

Each day with a mental illness is a rollercoaster ride. Will I wake up happy or sad? Motivated or sluggish? Social or not? I could wake up every morning and stand in the mirror and tell myself to be happy, but what good would it do if I felt like I was bullying myself each day? In middle school, I made the executive decision to go to therapy. It wasn't my parents choice, but mine. I wanted to talk to someone without the fear of judgement.  When I met my now therapist, I knew it would work for me. Her name is Cecelia and she has cat like glasses and really comfortable chairs in her office. Each appointment, I would hug a pillow and spill my guts. I've gone to her on and off since then. She was the first therapist I "tried out." Not many people get as lucky as I do. After the first session I knew that this was the woman I wanted to talk to. These sessions focused on my anger issues, but later focused on other things, like anxiety and depression. I was the second daughte...

Someone you love. We went to elementary school together. I had always known the name. Jayden. In fact, when I heard the name, I always thought of his mom (Marie and I are good friends now.) She was always the tallest woman in the room with puffy, curly grey hair and a voice that could travel down hallways.  So whenever I thought of him, his mom wasn't far behind. I hadn't thought of him (or his mom) for years, until we had 9th grade Composition together. We sat alphabetically, his last name is Amirault and mine is Brussard, so naturally we were next to each other. His best friend had the last name Carr, and so I was sandwiched between them. If I wanted to get through that class, I would need to learn how to interact with those two. When we were allowed to switch seats, him and I sat a few seats away from each other, but in the same group of people. I don't know how it worked out, but he and I became good friends.  We would send each other videos on Instagram and would text ...