Bumblebees by Tiana Le

There aren't any polar bears in Russia, so I am going to discuss bumblebees. I’m going to discuss bumblebees and how adorably scary they are with their terrifying ZZZZing sounds that frightens my gentle ears. There are many attacking bumblebees in the world, there are over 250 known species out there. They are everywhere in the world but mainly in the northern hemisphere. Bumblebees have little tiny, itty bitty hairs on them that are the colour of yellow and black. I’m sure a lot of people are aware of that. People used to say that yellow attracts bees so if you ever wear yellow you will get stung! I hated yellow for the longest time until I believed that statement, was very untrue. Yeah, bees like their pollen, and if you mess with them and try shooing them away they will attack you! So be aware. It makes me sad how bees like pollen...or how pollen is in flowers because I now always have a small fear inside of me. A fear of riding my bike. I always fear I’m going to get stung by a bee, because I always happen to bike near a flowery-polenified bush and get really freaked out and end up going crazy and steering the other direction, which is very dangerous because a lot of the times the other direction is the road and I choose not to wear a helmet because usually a helmet that is available for me to use has been sitting in the garage for months and spiders, and spider webs tend to collect after awhile when you store things in your garage, and I’d hate to have spiders, or spider webs in my hair. I don't ever ever want anything to do with spiders because they scare me way too much, probably as much as bees.

>But now I’m getting, way off topic let us jump back in! People think incorrectly about the annoying buzzing sound that they produce. People seem to think that the buzzing sound is caused by the beating of their fragile wings, but really it is not. Kinda, but not really. The sound is produced by the vibrating of its flight muscles. for bees to be able to happily fly to get to those beautiful flowers and sting people because they are evil, they must have a warm body to get airborne at low ambient temperatures that I dislike, because I hate being cold, and shivering.>

>Well that is my short blog on bumblebees. I hope my small knowledge of bumblebees is now apart of your knowledge!

STFU by Michael Weintraub

This, is for everyone whose words are laced with ignorance, and unchecked hatred... Shut the fuck up.

Every crap ass poet talking about niggaz, cunts, and hoes, Shut The Fuck Up

The assistant manager at best buy, who follows me around the store as soon as I walk in and asks, excuse me, may I help you with something? No you can Shut The Fuck Up.>

John McCain, we’re gonna be in Iraq for as long as it takes my friends. Whether that be 100 years, or 10000 years, shut the fuck up.

The white gangster wannabe, daddy bought you a new BMW? Tell yo daddy to buy you some shut the fuck up.

CNN and Fox news shut the fuck up.

Mr. pretentious, think you know it all, read everything about racism, oh let me educate you, promising young child of the future, telling me my ideas are mistaken, shut the fuck up.

The Oakland police officer, who keeps pulling over my friends for being black, and tells them their lucky when he lets them go. Shut the fuck up.

The Hayward school teacher, who says gays are responsible for AIDs and 9/11 was God’s punishment upon our fag loving society, shut the fuck up.>

Administrators, supervisors, I want to tell the public education system, to shut, the fuck, up.

Because that’s what they’ve done to our loved ones in prison, right? They shut them the fuck up. That’s they did to Huey Newton, George Jackson, Asada Shakur, Stanley Williams, Rosa Parks, MLK jr., Mario Savio, there are over 2 MILLION PEOPLE IN US PRISONS, And I use the word people, powerfully, because our government does everything it can to make them as inhumane as possible.

This is what the state continues to do to any history that would empower people to create change. They shut it the fuck up, and shove a multiple choice test in our faces. Next time I get a scantron, Ima bubble in S-H-U-T T-H-E F-U-C-K U-P. MY NAME IS SHUT THE FUCK UP

We need to have a fucking holiday, call it: “politicians shut the fuck up day.”

SARAH PALIN!... keep talkin' dude, you be saying funny shit all the time. WMDs in Iraq, and all that crap.

The American culture, American dream, get the terrorists, get tough on crime, war on drugs, gays going to hell, illegal immigrants, nukes in Iraq SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Everyone else, friends, cousins, poets, activists, artists, workers, UUs speak the fuck up!

Anyone who hasn’t been on stage, but is smart enough to listen intently, anyone who’s tongues have been stamped silent by American exploitation, speak up.

Because our breaths carry planets and our words birth worlds. 

Becoming a Woman by Mia Shackelford

Growing up a teenage girl today is easy. Comparatively. But what’s hardest is something that maybe can’t be modernized out of existence. Maybe the hardest part is natural to becoming a woman in any kind of civilization.

It still hurts. As a little girl, I loved dressing up. I had crazy Turkish dancing outfits. I ran around naked, covered in colorful ink from markers. I wore tutus and fairy wings, my mom’s 80s coats, and blankets draped like togas.

I still love to dress up. I have a childlike fascination for seeing what something, anything looks like on my body. I like to test my identity against different outfits. Who am I when I wear fishnets? Flannel? A bikini, cat ears, a tutu, and sharpie?

I wish it was still as uncomplicated as it used to be. At the same time, I don’t. I’m ecstatic about being older. I’ve always been independent, always wanted to be a teen. But somehow I never thought I’d have to alter my favorite thing.

I go out in a beautiful black sweater and walk through the Haight with a boy. The homeless men start talking. A group of guys wolf whistles.

I’m at Caltrain, waiting for the 7:20 train.

“Hey, where are you going?” He’s in his 20s, leather shoes. It’s all I register, I don’t want to look too long.

“Um. San Jose.”

“Why?”

“Um. Friends.”

“What are you reading?”

I show him my book.

“You got a boyfriend?”

“No.”

“What, you don’t want to talk to me?”

“Um….”

“How old are you?”

“Fourteen.”

“Oh, fuck, sorry. Didn’t know.” He speed-walks away.


I’m getting dressed to go to Golden Gate Park on a sunny day. I have a cute plaid skirt and a blue sleeveless collared shirt. I worry. The skirt is short. I’m wearing mascara. Do I look like I’m dressed up like a “naughty schoolgirl?”

These are easy examples, but there’s so many more. And remember, I look around twelve. My more developed friends get five times this shit.

Maybe it’s my fault, for expecting to wear the same things I did as a kid.

Maybe it’s my fault, for roaming the city with friends.

I don’t want to restrain myself in fear. Little Red Riding Hood had fashion sense and an open nature, but that doesn’t mean she deserved to be gobbled up.

A review of city life? Wonder, excitement, and…fear. Nothing is as empowering as walking carefree with my friends at night. Wherever we want, not afraid to laugh. That is what i expect, what I want when I venture out, occasionally at socially unacceptable times of the night.

I can’t blame my parents for disapproving. It’s a dangerous world out there, I guess. But so much of what bothers me isn’t danger. There’s pepper spray and self-defense classes for that.

What bothers me is that I can’t be a person before being female. What bothers me is being caught off guard, ashamed, of something natural and freeing.

When i got my first period, my dad said “Welcome to Womanhood.”

As embarrassing and cheesy as that it, my real welcome was worse.

Very Pretty Rainbows by Casey Lynn, Kevin Deacon, Amelia Evard, and Torger Johnson

Swirling, endless colors blending together

In one rainbow of interconnectedness

Slowly, spreading over my thoughts

Leaving them slick and blank

Vermilion passing iridescent green

The richness is over whelming

I see thousands of people

Inspired by this flowing wonderment

They work together to harness it

To gain the maximum power that it has

It is a gift from Mother Nature

The earth gushing her bounty into

The sea of life around me AND NEVER STOPPING!!

Like vultures, some try to steal this splendid treasure

Soaking it up and delivering it to their saviors

The beaches bask under its thick blanket of radiance

The world sits back as slyly and slickly it

Covers the horizon

The sea kittens cry as the green turtles die

They don’t truly know how holy this gift is to us

This black gold is the idol of our country

We will always be slaves to this Texas tea

The essence of our nation’s nourishment

Our thirst for it thrusts our vision of

A bright and vibrantly hued future

Into an inky oblivion




P.S. I’m still in your closet, waiting for you to do something.