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Final Digital Edition 2023

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Book Reviews Entertainment Opinion

Review of Tender is the Flesh by Augustine Bazterrica

*Proceed with caution: this article contains spoilers and disturbing imagery*

I am an avid reader, so in the average year I read between 15-20 books. One book that has stuck with me recently is Tender is the Flesh. I think there is a lot to love about this book.

Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica takes place in a dystopian society where all animal life has contracted a virus that is deadly to humans. Now that humans can no longer eat animals, the government permits the breeding and slaughtering of humans for consumption.

The differences between the “special meat”, as they call them, and other humans are vast. The special meat is genetically engineered so that they age faster. They have their vocal cords removed after birth. They are raised in small cages, much like our real-life cattle. And they generally don’t have the same amount of consciousness as other humans, mentally they are about as intelligent as infants.

The story follows Marcos, a manager at a meat processing plant who experiences firsthand the barbaric reality of what slaughtering humans like cattle entails.

Marcos lives alone as he and his wife haven’t been on speaking terms since their infant son passed. So when a breeder for his plant sends him a human girl to raise and eventually kill, the same idea as raising chickens to eat. Rather than seeing the girl as food he sees her as company. He names her Jasmine.

There are multiple points in the story where we are exposed to just how gruesome this process is. When showing some new applicants around the processing plant, Marcos explains in great detail how the meat is killed and dissected. Later on, we see him observing a breeding farm where he sees just how the meat is bred and separated by quality.

Eventually, Marcos loses all grip and starts treating Jasmine like his wife, a difficult task when this very thing is known to be illegal.

I appreciate the realistic aspects of the story. It takes the slaughterhouse and the meat industry to an appalling level of gore, but this is important because in reality. It illustrates the same fate that billions of real-life animals face every year. This is comparable  to the way George Orwell’s Animal Farm depicts communism. 

The book puts these inhumane practices into a new light that makes us want to look away, causing us to feel sick to our stomachs. This is an incredibly important topic to make commentary on as the meat industry has used horrible practices and conditions for raising animals for decades.

Tender is the Flesh also touches on how capitalism will always favor profit over welfare. Where there is money to be made, they will make it, regardless of the trade off. Which in this book gets as absurd as eating another human being.

What I don’t exactly appreciate about this book is that toward the end, the relationship between Marcos and Jasmine becomes so inappropriate that I have a hard time rationalizing it.

The story skews away from a horrific commentary on capitalism to an upsetting “love” story between the two. While the point of the book is to say that we wouldn’t treat other humans the way we do to animals in the industry, Marcos begins to treat Jasmine in an inhumane way. In a gross sexual manner that doesn’t feel right for his character.

The ending of this story for Jasmine feels like all the progress Marcos makes in understanding the absurdity of this lifestyle has been thrown out the window.

My favorite part of Tender is the Flesh is the visceral detail that Bazterrica goes into. This book invokes incredible feelings for the reader, ranging from sympathy to utter disgust.

Some of the details the author included made me feel genuinely revolted, but for this story, I think it’s important that they do so. Bazterrica is not painting an abstract picture of the horror that is a slaughterhouse, leaving it up to you to decide how that makes you feel. She wants to make you feel a very specific way, because it isn’t abstract; that’s simply what it’s like in that environment.

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Book Reviews Entertainment Opinion

Spoiler Free Review of Holly Black’s The Stolen Heir

Holly Black’s new spinoff duology, The Stolen Heir, is set eight years after the Battle of the Serpent and tells the story of Wren and Oak. 

At the start, we see Wren as a child in the mortal realm living with her adoptive family. She has always felt very out of place among humans due to her bluish skin and bony frame. Wren is visited one night by Lord Jarel and Lady Nore, haunting creatures, who claim she is their daughter and the future queen of The Court of Teeth. 

She is taken to The Court of Teeth, where she is abused and treated horribly, but manages to run away and lives out the next few years collecting scraps from the streets and longing for her adoptive family to take her back.

The book flashes forward to Wren being chased by the Storm Hag Bogdana. She is suddenly saved by Prince Oak, the heir of Elfhame, but also the prince to whom she had previously been arranged to be married to. 

In the series The Folk of the Air, Oak is still just a boy, but in spinoff The Stolen Heir, he is now a knight. He needs Wren’s guidance to reach the Citadel and to gain control over her mother. Wren’s heart is hesitant to open back up to the boy she once knew. And she fears the consequences of returning to the place she fled as a child. As the story continues, we find out more about the twisted and horror-filled world of Elfhame.

As a fan of everything Holly Black does, I easily became very obsessed with The Stolen Heir. I fell in love with Oak, who gave off a perfect mix of Cardan and Madoc. He was super fun to figure out and see how he’s changed as an overall character.  

I really liked being in Wren’s POV. It felt refreshing to be learning things in present tense. Compared to Jude who analyzes everything in her mind before it even happens. Wren felt more realistic to me because I am also not very comprehensive when it comes to big plot twists. 

In summary, he whole book is about going on a journey, which sounds really boring, but it is actually what had my attention the most. There were so many things that could have been done with this world and Holly Black exceeded all my expectations. The writing was beautiful and made you want to fall in love with all folk things. Holly Black could write how much she disliked me and I would love it. 

What I would’ve really liked was to see more background of Wren’s family, but I think Holly Black did tease continuing that plot in the second book. Also would’ve loved for Jude to make an appearance. But I understand that it is not her book and it’s confirmed she will definitely be in the second. 

My favorite part of the whole book was the ending. I was on the edge of my bed screaming when everything finally came to an end. The fact I have to wait a whole year to get book two is insane . Overall I give it 4 stars because Jude wasn’t in it. I also think it’s necessary to read The Folk of Air before starting this duology. Without it, I would have been so confused by the side characters. 

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Opinion

Junior Prom: Was It Worth It?

Junior Prom was Saturday, April 29, and it took place at the Masonic Temple from 8-11 p.m. The theme for this year’s prom was “Enchanted Garden.”

Getting into the venue was not complicated at all unlike other dances where the lines feel endless. This time is was quick as our bags were checked at the entrance where they collected our tickets. To ensure safety students were scanned with a metal detector before going up the stairs. The venue was decorated very nicely and they had a table with a lot of different desserts and cute decorations. 

Up multiple flights of stairs, you entered the dance floor through an arc filled with flowers. The venue was pretty big and it had two rooms: a room with tables to sit down at that connected to the main room where the dance floor was. 

Halfway through the dance, they crowned the winners of Junior Prom Royalty on the balcony. CJ Romero won King, and Cynthia Romo won Queen. 

The only negative thing I would say about prom was that it was extremely humid, even though they had the air conditioning on. Because there were a lot of people, it was difficult to feel the cool air. The DJ could have been better because they played some good songs, but they also played some songs that a lot of people just didn’t know or couldn’t really dance to. 

Overall, I would say that junior prom was a good time and would say it was worth it. The venue portrayed the theme of “Enchanted Garden” and was super spacious. The dance coordinators set up a photo booth, snacks, sold drinks and giving water for free. The turn out in attendance was a good. Something cool that they did was give out LED foam sticks, so when people were dancing the flashing lights created a cool effect.

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High Schooler’s Guide to Dealing with Stress

High school is easily one of the most stressful times in a person’s life; between the workload, tests, and maintaining a social life, it can get overwhelming.

This is the first time in your life that you’re expected to act like an adult and are treated as such. It’s hard to expect anyone to go through these types of life changes and not struggle, almost every student does at some point. Especially when your entire future could potentially ride on these few years you’re here. So, here are a few tips and tricks on how to cope with stress in high school.

The first thing you can do is find an escape. This can be anything, but it’s important that it’s something you can  focus on solely. Some people work out, watch a TV show or movie, cook, play video games, etc. My personal favorite is reading. When you’re reading a book, you have to focus on the words and imagine the scene happening on the page. But what’s important is that this time is spent not thinking about school or homework or anything that is causing you stress. Though it is a balancing act, you need to remember that you can’t use escapism as a way to procrastinate. That only makes it worse. A way to prevent that mindset from setting in is to make specific times in your day times to escape.

Speaking of setting times, another great way to take some weight off your shoulders is to make a routine. Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time, from there you can plan out your day from when you’ll do your schoolwork to when you’ll have free time. Having six hours of your day already planned out because of school makes that easier. But don’t be too hard on yourself, remember that this is supposed to help you. If you feel like you need more time to do something, allow yourself the time you need. Routines are trial and error, and sometimes you’ll need to adjust to fit your lifestyle. Don’t compare yours to anyone else’s.

Keep up on your school work as best you can. I know that it’s annoying to hear this constantly, but it really is a great way to avoid the stress of time limits. Having your homework done before the due date just generally feels great; it’s one less thing to worry about. Try using a planner or setting reminders on your calendar of when your assignments are due. There is also a calendar tab on Google Classroom that tells you when the assignments posted are due and shows when one has been marked as missing. Keeping up with work is important but mental health comes first, so if you do fall behind make sure not to beat yourself up about it.

It can be hard to confide in adults about the struggle of being a student, it’s been a while since they themselves were in high school after all. So the people that are the most likely to relate to your struggles are your friends. I can guarantee that your friends are experiencing the same issues with school that you are. It can make a world’s difference knowing that you’re not alone in the feeling of being overwhelmed. Sometimes all you need is to vent with someone that understands.

Don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone is at a different comprehension level so there’s no point in thinking that you’re not as smart as someone else just because they understand one subject more than you. Some people are good at math and some are good at English, it’s hardly reasonable to think that everyone will be good in every subject.

FOMO stands for the “fear of missing out”, meaning that you are afraid that you’re being left out of activities. It’s expected of teenagers to have a booming social life but sometimes you just want to curl up in bed after a long day and take a nap. Don’t feel pressured to go out with friends or to parties if you’re not feeling up to it. It’s perfectly fine to want to spend time alone focusing on yourself; healthy even. It doesn’t mean you’re selfish or that you’re flakey. And don’t worry, there will always be more opportunities to go out and socialize.

Your education is just that, yours. If you don’t like a class or need to adjust your schedule, do your best to find a solution. It’ll take effort on your part but trust me, in the long run it’ll make your educational experience a lot easier. Talk to your teachers and counselor about your classes and explain why they aren’t working for you. All it takes is an email.

Take mental health days. There are some days when you just can’t make yourself get out of bed. On those days, don’t feel guilty about taking the day off to take care of yourself. When you’re in that mental state it’s hard to be productive, and being in a school environment may only make it worse. It’ll make coming back to school the next day much easier and more productive.

It’s incredible that mental health is being talked about more in schools and in society as a whole. There is no need for a stigma to surround it when everyone deals with it. As a student that has dealt with anxiety my entire school career, I know as well as anyone how important it is to make high school as stress-free as possible. There are an infinite number of ways to cope, and everyone does so differently. These are just basic tips for those teenagers who are struggling.