Taylor Swift is an extremely popular and talented musical artist. She is my favorite artist and many of my friends love her as well. So, what are their opinions on Reputation (the best Taylor Swift album)?

Reputation is my favorite Taylor Swift album. It is by far the most iconic, and best comeback in music history. She went against everyone’s expectations of her and made this sort of dark and heavy album. It involves love, karma, and finding yourself. The lyrics and beat, all the way down to the tour outfits, make this album the best of all Taylor’s albums. The song “Ready For It?” really shows just how heavy and dark this album is. As the opening track, it draws listeners in to see everything Swift can do. 

Skyler Rose, a sophomore at Carter High School, is a huge “swifty.” We definitely relate on the topic of Taylor Swift. When asked, “How do you feel about Taylor’s album Reputation?” Skyler says, “It’s one of her best albums but part of that is just the comeback and the songs are all bangers! “ Clearly we both agree on this one. Reputation is just so iconic and amazing. 

Kloie Powell, also a sophomore at Carter, is a “swifty” as well as one of my close friends. We both feel very passionate about our love for Taylor Swift. When asked, “How do you feel about the album Reputation?”, Kloie says, “I love it. I love the outfits, the comeback, the lyrics, the beats, just everything about it.“ Kloie and I both love the album and believe it is truly the best. Then again though, Taylor swift can never have a bad album or song. Well, except for “ME!” but that’s a story for another time. So, Reputation just has to be the best album made by Ms. Taylor Swift.

First album that Why Don’t We released.

Title: Only the Beginning
Artist: Why Don’t We
Record Label: Atlantic Records
Release Date: November 25, 2016

Only The Beginning is an album from one of my favorite bands, Why Don’t We. It was their first album that they released as a band. The genre of the album is pop, so the songs are pop music. Taking You is the first song on the album and was the first single that Why Don’t We released.

Only the Beginning was the first album that Why Don’t We released as a band and it was released on November 25, 2016 which is also, Corbyn Besson, one of the band members birthday. The EP was announced over the span of November 13-17 2016, with each band member holding a sign indicating the name and release date. It was available for pre-order at midnight. They additionally have put track-by-track videos of each song over their Instagram account. Why Don’t We held performances on December 2nd in Philadelphia and on December 4th in New York to promote their EP.

Cell phones appear to be a desecration for most students. Teachers do not let them have their phones in class.

Students like to have their phones in class whenever they want but students should only have their phones out as long as they have every assignment for that class done and the teacher is not talking.

Students should be allowed to have their phones in class as long as they are finished with all their assignments for that class or if it is an emergency.

I say that students should be allowed to have their phones in class because it can help students have a brain break from their class. While phones could distract students from learning; it is good for students to have a brain break.

Allowing students to have their phones in class helps some students let them focus on their assignments. For example, in Mr. O’Malley’s Journalism class I like to listen to music while I work on my assignments.

Students should be able to have their cell phones with them in the event there is an emergency at school.

Some people would disagree with me by saying that students having their phones in class does not educate their child or student. I would agree with that but I still think that students should be able to be on their phones in class because it could help them relax after working in class.

By allowing cell phone use in the classroom, students learn how to use and manage their cell phones as a digital resource as they should outside of school.

In conclusion, some students say that students should be able to have their phones in class if they have nothing to work on. I agree with students being able to have their phones but I also believe that students shouldn’t have their phones out if they are doing something for the class.

Carter offers many different meals to its students: cheesesticks, nachos, chicken nuggets, hamburgers, and more. But only one meal can truly be called Carter’s favorite. This article compiles numerous student opinions, excerpts, and values to decide the overall best meal, entree, side, and extra. Now to start, I asked numerous students what their favorite side dish was. Of these, the contenders (2+ votes) for Carter’s favorite side dish, included tater tots, waffle fries, and “slop,” (a spinach and cheese dish). After asking 11 different students, many coming from differing backgrounds, it was decided that the winner of Carter’s favorite side dish, is Tater tots! winning in a landslide, Tater tots had 7, while both slop and waffle fries both ended with only 2 votes. A quote from Timothy Leopin , Carter High School senior  and Avid Tater tot fan: “I mean, it’s just unparalleled, nothing can compare to those golden nuggets.” Next, I asked about students’ favorite extra (nontraditional items that cannot be considered a side dish, but are not entrees, such as fruit cups, icees, salads, doritos, or cookies). Of these, strawberry fruit cups, and doritos were the two final standers. Doritos are served only with specific dishes, such as ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken patties, etc. whereas strawberry fruit cups are served seemingly at random on various occasions. Of these two contenders, it seems that the student favorite is strawberry fruit cups, narrowly beating Doritos 6-5. Dorito fan, Collin Abbott, a Carter junior, comments on his narrow defeat: “I mean yeah, I guess strawberries are okay, but I just think Doritos are better.” Finally, I inquired about Carter’s favorite entree. The contenders were nachos, chicken n’ rice, and cheesesticks. These entrees must be thoroughly loved, because there was a 2 way tie between cheese sticks and nachos, each receiving 4 votes, while chicken and rice only received 3, this was surely a close call on the entree, but in the end, it seems that nachos and cheese sticks are equally loved as Carter’s favorite entree item. It seems to have been a difficult decision, as one Junior comments, “ I really like chicken and rice, but I had to vote on cheese sticks, they are consistent. Chicken and rice can be hit or miss, but it beats out both nachos and cheese sticks on a good day.” Thus, from these results, it is apparent that the ideal Carter High School lunch meal consists of cheese sticks/nachos, with a side of tater tots, and served with refreshing strawberry fruit cups. 

Product: Butterfly By Vera Bradley Backpack

Company: Vera Bradley

Cost: $87.50 on Amazon

Do you have the best backpack? If yours is one made by Vera Bradley then you do have the best one. If you’ve never had one of these, then you’re missing out on the space, comfort, unique designs, and fantastic durability of these backpacks. In 1982 Barbara Bradley Beakgaard and Patricia R. Miller was traveling and noticed all of the black luggage in an airport. They later went through colorful fabrics and sketches and finally came up with the Vera Bradley idea. The purpose of Vera Bradley is “To make the world a brighter place.” Their mission is “To connect and empower women and girls in their unique and remarkable journeys.” Their vision is “To build a world wide community that shares beauty, spreads optimism, and inspires joy.” Butterfly By is a lovely Vera Bradley made backpack. It has two holders for drinks, seven zipper pockets, washable and durable long-lasting material. The Butterfly is what it is called, a butterfly design on a backpack. The butterflies are designed from the inspiration of vintage scarfs. My experience with Butterfly By is that it holds everything I need for school. I could fit tons of things like notebooks, folders, chromebook, pens and pencils, and other items I needed. Most backpacks I’ve had before never felt comfortable when I had all of these things. The straps never hurt when I filled it up. The cute design is what made me get it because it was butterflies. There are many backpacks that have butterflies on them but not all of them were as special as this one. There is one thing that can be disappointing, and that is that it gets dirty fast. Every backpack can get dirty, but this one tends to get really dirty on the bottom. A simple fix to it getting dirty is putting it in the washer or manually clean it. If you’re looking for a backpack for you or someone else, give Vera Bradley backpacks a try because they have really good ones.

Book by: Stephen Chbosky 

Publication date: 1 February 1999

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Book Review: This Book was a Voice for the Loners of the 90s. 

Dear friend, I am writing this because of things I have taken from this book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The way the story is shaped is good with how Charlie starts it off with each letter dated between 1991 and 1992 beginning with “Dear friend” and ending with “Love Charlie”, but I’ve always wondered who this unnamed friend is. Is it his mom, dad, or maybe even a friend? One theory that has stuck with me is what if the whole time he is actually writing to himself. With the letters, a thing Stephen Chbosky got absolutely right was for us, his readers, to feel like we are reading a letter sent to us or I sometimes felt while reading this I’ve found all these letters in a box somewhere and here I am now reading about another teenager’s life and it sometimes makes you feel like you know more than you should about Charlie. One thing that will stick with me after writing this review is: “ You see things. You keep quiet about them. You understand. You’re a wallflower.” I have always considered myself to be this so-called “wallflower,” which is probably why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. I have not finished high school, but I understand how it is to be alone at times and how depressing it can be so I know the loneliness and hopelessness Charlie feels throughout the book. He says “ I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like that. That you wanted to sleep for ten thousand years. Or just not exist. Or just not be aware that you do exist. Or something like that.” The sad thing is I actually know what Charlie means by this and I kind of wish I didn’t.  You at times feel really bad, and then it goes away, and you don’t understand why. When I’m finally feeling good for some reason I remind myself that this happiness will not last so preserve every good detail so when the bad days come I will be reminded of the happiness that I once had. The whole book was a voice for teenagers in high school in that era of time because nowadays it’s normal to hear stories like Charlie’s but in the 90s it may have happened but was not as much talked about which is why I also think that is the exact reason why the book is so known till this day.  Charlie went through a lot of ups and downs but what I truly think is even with the down’s he was grateful for all of it. The hate. the love. Feeling dead. Feeling alive. The hugs. The fights. The overall book was amazing, but one of my problems was the perks. The drug use is realistic, but the smoking was always shown in a not-so-best light. Another issue that I first had was I thought “Charlie is too nice to be a main character.” But I was mistaken. His view of things makes a way more intriguing story than others which also makes this a story you’ll always remember which I have. Lastly, “And in that moment I swear, we were infinite.” Love Asia.

Title: Far Cry 6: Lost Between Worlds 

Publisher: Ubisoft

Starring Sean Rey, Nisa Gunduz

Developer: Ubisoft Toronto

Release Date: December 6th, 2022

Available: Xbox one, Xbox Series S/X Playstaion 4/5, PC

Far Cry 6 came out on October 7th, 2021 In Far Cry you play Dani Rojas as they help the revolution take down Anton CatIilo the dictator of Yara using their vast arsenal of weapons and throwables. There are 116 base game weapons, some of which can be customized to your play style. The game also offers you unique gadgets and special abilities referred to as Supremos.  Far Cry 6: Lost Between Worlds DLC to Far Cry 6 that came out on December 6th, 2022 you continue your journey with Dani as an alien ship crashes near them and a giant orb comes out as Dani shoots it, causing it to explode. This leads to a rift that you cannot leave and an alien Fai explains that you must find five crystals through damaged portals also known as rifts that view you as a threat. After every crystal, you get a new gadget (grappling hook fractal bombs and rift keys) and new pieces of gear. After collecting all five you fight a boss fight where you are swarmed by enemies and must shoot weak points on the boss. For purchasing this DLC, you gain all weapons and gear gained while playing the DLC. Fai is a very strong point in this DLC with her witty comments throughout your journey. She and Dani have a constantly changing relationship from the start just working together by force but by the end, they are friends as Fai saves Dani from the boss and the end from exploding. The items you gain are nothing special if you already completed the base game but useful if you aren’t far in. The weapons look really good but the gear looks very strange. The concept is really interesting but the rifts can vary from very boring to only pretty fun. The gameplay gets boring after a little bit of playing with very few Diverse types of enemies. Overall if you really enjoyed playing Far Cry 6 it’s worth playing, but if you didn’t enjoy it a whole bunch or did not play it entirely it’s not really worth playing.     

Red Dragon
By Thomas Harris
Published October 1981

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris is a psychological horror that revolves around former FBI profiler, Will Graham. After catching the “Chesapeake Ripper”, Hannibal Lecter, Will Graham went into retirement where he met his wife Molly. Jack Crawford, Will’s old boss, returns and disrupts Will’s peace to get his aid in catching an enigmatic serial killer who is known as the “Tooth Fairy”. 

Thomas Harris is a very well-known author for writing Silence of the Lambs, a book set after the events of Red Dragon. His first book ever was Black Sunday, released in 1975, which Red Dragon followed – being released in 1981. Silence of the Lambs (1988) and the series of Hannibal (1999-2006) that follows tend to overshadow Red Dragon, despite being in the same universe. Red Dragon is set to be in 1980 and 10 years later we meet Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs. All these books, minus Black Sunday, revolved around Hannibal. This famous character, Hannibal Lecter, brought movies and shows revolving around these stories. In 1991 Silence of the Lambs was released as a movie and in 2002 Red Dragon was released as a movie. 2013-2015 was when the Hannibal show aired, its last season being the same events that took place in the Red Dragon book. 

Thomas Harris himself is an amazing writer. One thing that sets Red Dragon apart from his other books is his main character Will Graham. Will Graham is a very complex character, but Thomas Harris still keeps him realistic and relatable. His other characters are easy to understand and get to know while Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter have such bizarre traits that it is almost impossible to see the motive behind their actions. Not to mention, Thomas Harris creates a nice balance in his book by adding some comedic lines and scenes. Thomas Harris is not one to shy away from curse words either and neither are his characters. His writing style is beautiful and easy to follow. 

However, Silence of the Lambs does do a few things better – which is expected considering it came out after Red Dragon. Thomas Harris has written no book about Hannibal and Will Graham’s relationship and he has given almost little to no background on it. The only way one would know general knowledge on it is if they watch the show or movies before reading – which ruins the fun of reading. Silence of the Lambs lets you meet the main character, Clarice Starling, as soon as the book starts and everyone knows about Hannibal from Red Dragon. The whole book is based on Will Graham returning to the workforce after he was forced into retirement because of the mental toll trying to catch Hannibal took on him. It is hard to understand their relationship dynamic when there is very little background on what happened to them. It is almost like Thomas Harris just assumes his audience already knows. 

The book, all in all, is most definitely worth the read. It is better than his others and Will Graham is a fantastic character to get to know. Not to mention, Thomas Harris gives such immense details it almost feels as if you are in the scene with everyone. I do not regret reading this book and I plan to read it again.

Title: Outer Banks

Director: Jonas Pate

Starring: Madelyn Cline, Chase Stokes, Rudy Pankow, Madison Bailey and Drew Starkey

Release Date: February 23, 2023

Available: Netflix

Outer Banks is a really good show and I would recommend it to people to watch. I think that the show has a lot of interesting details in it and it is easy to get hooked on to. The actors actually portray the characters very well. It reminds me of summer in general and also most of the characters are around my age so I feel like I can relate to them more.

Outer Banks is about five teenagers that are looking for gold, and they have to go through all of the obstacles they go through. They have to find new ways to get through the obstacles and find the gold. 

I think whats good about Outer Banks is how it’s summer, and they all basically have a significant other. They are mostly happy and its all around a really good show.

I don’t like how there is really strong language and a few episodes are boring and hard to sit through and watch.

I think the show is worth watching at least once because it’s a good show and its interesting. I give it a very good rating and I would definitely watch it again.

Video Game Review

Title: Hogwarts Legacy

Developer: Avalanche Software and Portkey Games

Release Date and Available:  PS5, Windows, Xbox X/S; 10 February 2023; PS4, Xbox One; 4 April 2023; Nintendo Switch; 25 July 2023

Ever since the first Harry Potter book came out, fans have longed to join and experience all that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has to offer. Now they can with the new Hogwarts Legacy video game. 

Players have the choice to be a witch or a wizard and can customize them to be like them or however they want. There are many ways to dress up your character, you can buy gear in Hogsmeade -a village right next to Hogwarts-, collect gear from chests, and, if needed, change your hairstyle in Hogsmeade. Your character is different from the non-playable characters, you possess the ability to harness and use ancient magic. It is different from the other characters’ magic talents. This is where the story takes place, dark wizards and goblins are after you because of your powers after two people are murdered. 

Hogwarts Legacy was developed by Avalanche Software which also introduced the Disney Infinity games a few years ago. I have played all of the Disney Infinity games and they are very open and you control what happens. However, given the time it was released, the graphics are decent but not as good as recent games. Portkey Games from the Wizarding World was also in on the game, and they came out with Hogwarts Mystery. This game is close to Hogwarts Legacy but still very far away from it. Graphics are amazing in Hogwarts Mystery and the story is very long like Hogwarts Legacy. The only bad thing about Hogwarts Mystery is that the game requires a lot of waiting time unless you use money, and some nice features are only available if you buy something. Hogwarts Legacy, on the other hand, is a one time payment with optional additions that do not affect gameplay.

This game’s graphics, voice acting, story, and side quests are top-tier. The developers have outdone themselves with this game. It is very addicting like many other games that have great stories. Each quest leaves a question, and you must pay attention to other quests and the world. The environment is huge in this game and requires over one hundred hours to explore. 

The only bad thing about this game is that there are no relationships that you can build. Yes, your choices can determine how close you are to a character, but there is nothing official about the relationship. There are no levels or extra activities you can do with an NPC. Especially in dating, many people are upset they can’t date their favorite characters which may be a problem for some but not everyone. Many people are also complaining that there is no Quidditch, the sport in Harry Potter played on brooms, but it said at the beginning of the game it is banned, so it is a part of the lore behind the game. I think that it could be added via DLC, an addon, later on, because that sport would be very hard to play in a game like this one.

All in all, Hogwarts Legacy is a great game and can be compared to the greatest games of all time. This game gives players hours of gameplay with an exciting story and side quests that unlock new parts of the game. I highly recommend this game to people who love Harry Potter and who would love to be a witch or wizard at Hogwarts.