"November" by Tyler L.

November
Eleventh month of the year
Bare skeleton trees dancing in the wind
Mushy pumpkins on the step
Thanksgiving and turkeys near
Curling smoke in the air
November

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney: Review by Caroline H.

What would you do if you saw your face titled as “MISSING” on a milk carton? For Janie Johnson, it would be to tell her boyfriend Reeve Shields. In The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline Cooney, Janie recognizes herself in five year old form on a milk carton from her best friend, Sarah Charlotte. The carton calls her Jennie Spring, who lives in New Jersey and was kidnapped almost twelve years ago. Janie begins to have flashbacks, remembering random tidbits of what she believes to be her former life. The dress she wears in the picture, the shopping mall where she was taken. But her parents are nice and kind, a little on the old side maybe, but she could never picture them coldheartedly stealing a child. Finally she can’t take it anymore and gets Reeve, in the grade above her, to drive her down to her former parents house. She arrives just in time to see four kids, with the same thick, red hair as herself, get off a school bus and walk into a house. Janie is scared as more and more of the memories haunt her, and she realizes the Johnson’s have no pictures of her from five years and younger. As she explores the attic in search for pictures of herself, she finds a trunk marked “Hannah”, she looks in and sees a baptismal gown and pictures of a blond girl. This awakens new fears that her parents had stolen her in order to cope with the loss of another child. Unable to stand it any longer she asks her parents, Frank and Miranda Johnson, about Hannah. This exciting page turner will keep up at night, and the answer to Janie’s question will completely blow you away. If you like this book, I would recommend the sequels, Whatever Happened to Janie?, and The Voice on the Radio. Caroline Cooney is a well known and accredited author writing many other books, with suspense romance, horror, and mystery for teenage readers.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM CMS!!

People Are Awesome.

Enough said. You should seriously watch this video. It's...awesome.

PEOPLE ARE AWESOME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvFjHTWzJrc

Important Announcement

Shadow a student day. Some like to refer to it as “Stalk a Student Day”. But I consider it as a fun* time for parents to live the “school-kid dream”. In otherwords, I think “Shadow a Student Day” is a great day. Remember, this coming Tuesday is the day, so prepare to be stal…erhmmm…”shadowed” by your parents.

-This news brought to you by J.T. Corp. (Jay and Taylor)


*any reference to “fun” in this article is purely sarcastic

MysteryGuitarMan: YouTube Find of the Week!

Guitar: Impossible -- check it out!

found by lit mag staffer Taylor W.

"Merrowvista" by Tyler L.

The long dusty road that led to fun
Was a winding one under the sun
Once there we got our group
With really nice leaders to boot

The first day there we climbed the wedge
Later on we found the cabins
And learned the dinner route

Day two was fun with an option block
Up the mountain we went for a walk
Breathtaking views at the top

We did team building on the elements
They were very hard
Involvement was key
Now we were on to day three

Up nice and early ready for fun
Off to build bridges
Blindfolded none the less

Bus rides away back to school
Merrowvista was very cool.

new year...new challenge!

With the dawn of a new September (actually, October, but that's ok) the Lit Mag is starting up again! We are welcoming back all our staff members and new rookies, too. We're still recruiting, so if you show up at a meeting, you're more than welcome. :)

Literary people often engage in word games, so we thought we'd start off this year with a challenge. We're going to list a bunch of words, and it's your job to create a poem or paragraph or piece of art involving all these words. By you, we mean anyone who reads this blogs: students, teachers, parents, and anyone else in the CMS community. Submissions should be emailed to cmslitmag@gmail.com, and in by Halloween. (hint: maybe a spooky theme?) We will publish some selected work on the blog. Happy creating!

Word List:
-jack 'o' lantern
-specter
-thrill
-shadow
-nocturnal
-feline
-luminous
-masquerade
-blood-curdling
-sweet

Hehe. Have fun, no pressure :)

China! by Madeline G.

I'm going to attempt to condense 12 days (and one extensively detailed, long journal!) into a single piece- which may be interesting, so here goes! We woke up bright and early Thursday morning to meet a school bus at Sanborn. I was sad but excited as I said good-bye to my family. Following a short plane ride to Newark, we had a 13 hour one to Beijing! It was long, but it definitely helped that there were about 300 free movies on the plane! Finally, we landed. As we stepped off the plane, we were still processing that we were in China! After a long international line, we found our tour bus and main guide (Cool) and his assistant for just Beijing (Ashley). We went straight to dinner- our first one in China, but it unfortunately was only decent, not spectacular- then walked around a park. We went to a kung fu show which was a slightly bizarre mix of singing, dancing, and kung fu (obviously!), and elaborate costumes, all with a plot. It definitely wasn't Broadway, and could have been seriously condensed. The fact that I fell asleep kind of proves my point. Then again, it had been a 40-hour day.

The next day, we left the hotel and immediately went to the Summer Palace, which is basically the imperial family's vacation house: but very, very, very big!! It was amazing, elaborately beautiful and obviously ancient. It had the longest corridor in the world! But I don't remember how long it was. At this point, I was beginning to become an expert at refusing vendors, who can be very persistent. You have to say "Bu Yao!" (I don't want) in a very firm voice with no eye contact. The prices are cheap to match cheap goods. We then went to a cloisonné factory where we also had lunch. Cloisonné is beautiful and very cool. After that, we went to the Great Wall! It was extremely fun though it was very misty and chilly. It was on the wall that I think I finally began to process that I was in China! It was really cool. We then went to Olympic Park, where we saw the Water Cube and the Bird's Nest. I had no idea how big they are, especially the Bird's Nest, which is actually much larger than the Water Cube. After that, we had a duck dinner (I discovered that I really dislike duck!) Several people on the trip are a vegetarian which sometimes is easy but sometimes is difficult.

On day two, we checked out then went to the morning exercises at the Temple of Heaven (really interesting) then the Temple of Heaven itself. It’s amazing and very beautiful, with 9 brilliantly colored layers stacked on top of each other. All the Chinese people wanted pictures of us! We then got to go to the pearl factory, which was very fun. It had gorgeous, expensive pearls and gorgeous, inexpensive pearls- but was insanely well priced. After lunch, we went to the Forbidden City. My main impression is that it is huge! There are 999,999 rooms- a baby could sleep in a room for every night of his life, and would finish when he was 27! We then saw an older, poorer part of Beijing, a part that is beginning to be replaced by big modern buildings. We then went to dinner, which was disgusting mainly because we were right next to a room with smoking allowed. We went to the train station next, ready to board a soft sleeper train (overnight) to Xi’an. The train was very cramped but actually fairly easy to sleep on.

After leaving the train on day three, we had breakfast then went to a museum that is a little like a lesser known, smaller terra cotta warriors place. Next, we went to the school. The lunch there was amazing! They have their own noodle chef, and I got to try stretching noodles. After hanging out on the playground area, we got our host students. My girl's name is Yang Chen, and I also met her mother. Their apartment was very small but clean- it had a little kitchen, a bathroom with a Western toilet (Chinese ones are holes in the ground) two bedrooms, and a living/tv room where we ate dinner. Yang Chen also had two other people she didn't tell me about (grandmother and aunt?) and I was a little intimidated by their fast Chinese as they jabbered on and on to each other. This was the first time that I felt homesick, and I was pretty sad when I went to sleep.

The next day, I walked to school with Yang Chen, because she lives very close to the school, which is called Sunshine Middle School. She went to class, and I met up with the other people from the trip to visit some classrooms. We went to an art classroom where they were learning Chinese calligraphy and an English classroom where they were learning about describing people in English. We then went to the factory where they make the genuine reproduction terra cotta soldiers (that weirdly means the real fake ones). It was cool, and we were still thinking about it when we went to the genuine terra cotta warriors museum and pits after lunch. It was absolutely huge, and I was astounded when we got to actually look at the main pit. It was so cool and I was very impressed, not to mention being amazed that I was seeing this in person. After visiting a nice, relaxing tea shop, we went to a dumpling dinner and Tang Dynasty show. The dinner was, for the most part, delicious (though I accidentally had a bite of shark fin dumpling) and the show was interesting and, I must say, a little odd. I fell asleep (like the majority of our group) towards the end of the show but I did enjoy what I saw- though it was all a bit repetitive. I then met Yang Chen at the school and went home to her house for the night.

After walking to school, we started day five at the jade factory. It was very cool and the jade was all beautiful and well priced, like everything in China! We went to an art museum, which was interesting, but not spectacular. Two girls from our group stayed on the bus to sleep because they were feeling sick- we were all fairly worried and hoped nothing too bad would spread. Lunch was very good, and after it we went to a mosque. It was very ancient-feeling and beautifully old. We then went to the much-anticipated bazaar. I must say, it lived up to all my expectations and more! Bargaining was insanely fun, and I think I got pretty good at it. Most of the stuff was pretty cheap, but it was still really fun to buy. We then went back to Sunshine, weighing several pounds heavier with our many new items. This night, we had dinner with the host families, which was pretty good. After dinner, Yang Chen took me to the park around the Wild Goose Pagoda, where we met up with some of her friends and their American homestays- so I was able to enjoy speaking English while also interacting with the Chinese students. We were planning to see the water show, but it was canceled because people were mourning due to the earthquake: so we made plans to go the next night! Back at the apartment, I saw Yang Chen's mother again and a few other family members. I'm still not sure who lived where in her family, and I think she might live only with her father because I only saw her mother the first night and that night.

Day six had okay breakfast, but not spectacular. We didn't leave the school, and instead went to what I think was a gym class. It was pretty fun, and we did a long series of exercises that I'm pretty sure were some type of martial art. I wasn't very good at it! We then visited a math class. It was really confusing, but I think they were learning about probability, maybe. The teaching style is very different in China- the teacher just talks loudly and the students listen. After briefly watching morning exercises, we went to the auditorium to rehearse our show. Every year, the students use the once a week classes after school before the trip to develop a performance for the students at Sunshine. Our show was pretty complex: lots of dancing (including a tap number and a jazz number), singing (in English, in Chinese, in South African!, and assorted miscellaneous performances (from piano solos to skits in Chinese). We had a delicious lunch at the school then performed! I think they really like us, but they have an odd habit of randomly clapping in the middle of performances- this became more than slightly annoying, especially as I'd expected everyone to be very quiet and perfect. After watching their performance, we hung out before heading back with our host families. My homestay (host family) is friends with some of my friends’ homestays, so we all went out together to KFC (2nd time in my life) and then the Wild Goose Pagoda water Show. The show was an astounding display of various fountains shooting up into the air with jets of water and glowing colored lights. The whole time, music was playing. The effect was Disney but free (and in Chinese!). We then went back to our homestays and fell asleep.

Day seven started with (after walking to the school) a half an hour bus drive to Pangliu, which is a very small farming village outside of Xi'an. It was so different from the city- everything was small and shabby and old looking, without much technology or anything. At the small school, all the young children lined up and clapped and sang to us as we walked through- I felt very famous! They performed for us, and were absolutely precious. Unlike the Sunshine students, they didn't clap in the middle of our performance! After teaching some classes (I played a bunch of simple games with very young children, who adored it) we split into three groups and went to different farmers' houses for the most delicious lunch of the entire trip! Back in Xi’an, we went bicycling on the Xi'an city wall. It was very fun, but the 9 miles of uneven, bumpy, ancient stone was very difficult to bike on with such bad quality bikes! We went back to Sunshine, and then I went to my homestay's house. Before falling asleep, I gave her and her father my gifts for them, which they loved. They especially loved my photo scrapbook I made, and where overcome with joy when I gave it to them. In return, they gave me a book of papercuts for my mom and a HUGE gorgeous wall of cherry blossoms.

The next morning, I woke up early to a delicious noodle breakfast before heading off to Sunshine. I was really sad to say good bye to Yang Chen and her father, and it was weird to think that I might never see them again (though I don't know whether or not Yang Chen is coming to America in the fall). We went to the airport and had a short flight and then we arrived in Shang Hai! We went to a very fun but overwhelming museum, then a very fun boat ride around a river canal. We could see lots of incredibly tall buildings, including the second tallest in the world! After dinner (which was one the 18th floor of a nice hotel) we went to an acrobatics show. It was absolutely amazing, though it hurt me to watch the acrobats stretch in seemingly impossible ways! We went back to the hotel, where my roommates and I watched animated Cinderella on the hotel TV (in Chinese, which was very interesting) before going to bed.

A wake up call woke us up the next day, and we rolled out of bed. After a nice breakfast buffet, we went to the Shanghai Zoo. We saw TEN new young pandas! They were absolutely adorable, and I literally could have stared at them all day! But we were dragged away to go to the silk factory, which was also extremely fun. Learning how the silk was made was fascinating, and the gift shop was huge and amazing. We went to a cool embroidery place and then lunch. After that, we visited the Shanghai Jewish museum, which was about Jews who went to Shanghai during World War Two. It was small, but very interesting. After that, we went to an ancient garden which was very pretty and interesting. We then went to the Oriental Pearl Tower, which was incredibly tall and thoroughly awesome. We lay down on a glass floor which was exhilarating, because cars looked smaller than ants! We then bought gelato (surprisingly delicious!) before walking around the city, which was fun because there were many lights. Shanghai is so green! It's really clean and modern- I really liked it a lot. We then went to a late dinner- our last! It was sad, but we quickly fell asleep when we went back to the hotel.

We had an early start the last day, and I felt really disoriented about the fact that we were actually leaving. Before the airport, we had some last minute shopping which was really fun. We had an incredibly emotional lunch- it was our last meal- and I started getting really sad but excited. At the airport, we said good bye to our guides then boarded the plane. We arrived at the right time for our flight and it went smoothly: we arrived in Newark right on time. It was nice but weird to hear English that wasn't accented, and to see signs that had no Chinese! Our flight to Boston was quick, but we were some of the only people in the airport as we got back very late. I was so excited to see my family, and one of my friends had her dad bring us all pizza- it was so good!

On that note, I will end this article. Overall, China was incredibly fun, and I eventually recovered from the jet lag. I had a great time, and, even though I was happy to come home, I really miss being there and having fun with the chaperones and my friends. It was a really awesome experience and I'm glad I got to share it with you- however belated that may be!

nirrimi photography

Wouldn't it be great to be seventeen and already have a career? Nirimi Hakanson is a blossoming photographer who started off taking pictures of her sister and "never stopped." Visit her website at http://nirrimiphotography.carbonmade.com/. Here's one of her pictures.

Six Flags by Sophie J.

Last weekend the 7^th and 8^th grade chorus, along with the orchestra, Treble Chorus, and Acapella Chorus from CMS went to Six Flags for Music in the Parks. It was a very eventful trip, complete with two sixth graders getting “lost” and a bus hitting a truck! One of the chaperones got confused and forgot that she told two girls to go on a different roller coaster than the other people in the group. She started panicking and her group searched the park for the two girls, only to find out that it was just a misunderstanding. But all in all, it was a ton of fun. Concord won 5 trophies and a medal, and the Acapella Chorus won best chorus of the day! At 6 Flags everyone had a great time riding roller coasters like Batman and Bizarro. At the end of the long day was the award ceremony where one of the members of the 7^th and 8^th grade chorus, Mickey V-H, won a medal for best soloist of the day. On the bus ride home, when the busses were still in the Six Flags parking lot, bus number two backed into a pick-up truck, but nobody was hurt. By the end of the day everyone was exhausted, but we all had a great day.

Annie Review by Isabel F. with help from Sarena S.

The overture may have lasted a little long, but the CMS production of Annie was nothing if not amazing. I saw opening night and the closing Sunday matinee, and both were equally impressive. Vocals were strong, dancing was exciting and the actors did a great job of tying the audience into the emotional aspect of the show. This could sound cheesy, but I think people will understand when I say I felt chills when the orphans sang “It’s a Hard-Knock Life.” Their faces were animated and you felt like this privileged group of Concord kids transformed into plaintive and deprived orphans. It was kind of ironic, how convincing the orphans and the Hooverville-ites (hobos) were in their “Depressed” states.

The ensemble worked hard to create the mood and pulsing background of this production, while the leads brought feeling and skill to every detail. Annie was played by Ana F-C, who showed us that a 6^th grader can do just as much as any older kid with a main role. She was spunky and tender at the same time, and really seemed to connect with the other characters, especially Warbucks, who was played by Joe V-H. He was the soul of the show, rotating from singing to dancing to acting to carrying Annie around. The original show didn’t have as many dance numbers, in fact, the only original dance number was Hard-Knock Life. Mr. Shancady and Jen Jarvis (the choreographer) changed the show a lot by adding a Rockette tap-dancing in N.Y.C.

Almost every song had some choreography, which definitely helped the scenes a lot. Elana I. was perfectly preposterous as Miss Hannigan, the evil orphanage lady who with her criminal brother and his equally immoral girlfriend, Lily St. Regis (played by Jeremy S. and Hannah S-D). Before intermission, they performed their fantastic number, “Easy Street.” In the song, this sneaky group of characters announced their plan of how to become rich. Towards the end of the play, there were several very touching scenes and songs. The audience was enamored by the heartfelt acting by Warbucks and Annie, and the comical impersonations of Lily and Rooster. When the curtain closed for the final time, there was a collective sigh as the audience and cast alike savored the last moments of Annie, CMS’ fabulous production that blew the roof off of every performance.

NJ 6th grader kills "Paparazzi"

So there's this kid named Greyson and he's insane on the piano and at singing. Watch this cover of the Lady Gaga song! WOW...

PAPARAZZI

CUPCAKE CANNONS!

YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO WATCH IT!

CUPCAKE CANNONS VID

Justin Bieber: Not So Bad By Julie N. and Isabelle N.

Red Sox or Yankees? Jacob or Edward? These are huge decisions. Now there is an addition; Justin or Anti-Justin? Although many people think that Justin Bieber is all hype and has a voice that is too high pitched and inexperienced, I believe many people will follow my opinion on the celebrity. First of all, I don’t believe in criticizing celebrities. It’s no different than criticizing each other, for, as Lily said, “They’re just like regular people…” which they are, in some ways, but in other ways, they are celebrities for a reason. Sure, some got lucky. However, others earned it. Justin Bieber started his career on YouTube, just making videos for his friends and family. He was not expecting fame or fortune from these videos, all he wanted was for the people close to him to see him sing. Justin couldn’t control the number hits the videos happened to get, and the result went from tens to hundreds to thousands.

You have to admit that the base of Justin Bieber's career was not similar to those pop celebrities you see on tv and hear on kiss 108. Bieber's first step on the escalator to fame was simply raw talent. Sure, maybe he doesn't use it in some of his music videos, but he has it. And although high pitched, his voice is very pure and goes straight into the hearts of many adoring fans. The incredible looks, well, they're just icing on the cake. I'm not one of those shallow people who just goes with the opinions of the majority. In fact, there are many unnecessary haters out there. You may be one of them. See, I think that there is simply no reason to hate Justin Bieber. If you simply have to hate him, hate him quietly and to yourself. He has a great voice, mad dance skills, and natural talent. So why hate him? He's annoying? Well, what did he ever do to you? So you don't love his songs, don't listen to them. It's not that complicated. I do understand those people who just don't really like him. What I don't understand is the intense things people will say and do just to get others to hate him too. It's no different than seeing the glass half-empty.

His songs. I will admit that the quality of the lyrics is low, but Justin did NOT write them. He was given a song and asked to sing. He performed this task well and with a lot of emotion. So maybe they're not the best songs in the world, but they sure are catchy. And I feel that they are just pleasing to listen to, all very cheerful and romantic. They give you hope for you and the person you have a crush on. His songs aren't the best for interpretation, but if you just want a song to get stuck in your head and dance along with your friends, well, Justin's your guy.

So give the guy a break. He is talented and very famous even though he didn't control the fame he got; he earned it. And if you still don't like him, just keep it to yourself. What if the same thing happened to you? You posted up videos for your family, got famous, and suddenly everybody hated you for no reason whatsoever? Join the Justin Bieber team and you'll score the winning goal.

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month! If you go to Poets.org and sign up you can get a poem sent to your inbox each day for free. April 29 will be Poem in Your Pocket Day, where you can carry a verse around in your pocket, share, and trade with others.

A Poem A Day- Get Them HERE

Am I A Single Lady?

This adorable but sad video is of a little boy singing "Single Ladies" by Beyonce in the car with his older sisters. When informed that he is not a single lady, the kid has an averse reaction. :-)

SINGLE LADY DEVASTATION

Poem by Sam W.

The Last Supper before I go to bed

A Starry, Starry Night above my head

Pearl Earring clutched in my hand

I sneak out to the Café Terrace at Night, across the land

A Scream in the dark, the sound of a fight

Campbell’s Soup spilled in the fright

American Goths surround me

But a Blue Boy comes and sets me free

I Gogh back home

And paint a picture.

Saving Earth Part 2 by Isabel f. and Meg Y.

"Lindalia, we need to discuss what is happening to the earth,” stated the magnificent god Zeus.

“As we all know, we appointed you the goddess of all things made of mankind, but we have noticed you slacking on the job. The earth is unhealthy and full of pollution. What do you have to say for yourself?"

”Well, Great-Uncle Zeus, the humans have been polluting this earth for many thousands of years, and I have only been around for 3658." I squeaked. Even thought he is my great uncle, I was still greatly intimidated by him.

I shuffled my sandal-clad feet nervously as Zeus's powerful voice booms out over the council.

"Lindalia, you are to take a break from grammar corrections, and start working to repair the human habitat. I presume you are acquainted with the goddess of spring, Persephone?" I nodded quizzically. "You are to work closely alongside her during this assignment. Am I understood?" I nodded again, mutely. "The council is dismissed."

Ugh. This was going to be a nightmare. I better go find Persephone. Maybe Pan can help too. He would be really mad about this though. I scuttled out and mounted my transportation device. In 5 1/2 seconds, (rather slow, I must get Hepatitis to fix it), I was at Persephone's cloud and tripping on my toga to get to her.

"Persephone!" I screeched, "I was just at the Council of the Gods. And now we have a mission to fulfill." I quickly recapped what had occurred at the council.

"No!" whimpered Persephone, “I need to finish getting ready for spring and summer."

"Well, it will have to wait,” I stated, a little harshly. “Now here is what we have to do."

Crossing her arms in a huff, Persephone sat down on the cloud, obviously nettled at my bossiness. I continued triumphantly: "You know how for the last thousand years or so I have been slightly-just slightly- neglecting my duties as goddess of all mankind?" She nods, looking slightly-just slightly- bored out of her beautiful skull. "Well, Zeus has requested for me to reorganize my priorities, give up the grammar, and save the human environment!" I raise a fist in the air heroically. Persephone yawns." And I come into this.... how?"

"You are the goddess of spring, Persia! You grow trees, help the animals, and plant everything under the sun!" I sigh, with just as much desperation as exasperation. "Persephone, you are the only one who can help me."

" Am I really the only one who can help you? There is no other god or goddess who would suit the job just fine? What about.... my mother?"

"Persia!!! How could you say that?” I gasped in despair, knowing that she could help," Your mother hates me! Ever since I stole her seed pouch. And that was for you!"

" We were just 300 years old. She won't care. And I can ask her about it if it makes you feel better,” sighed Persephone wearily.

With an overdone flurry of colored smoke, she poofed out. "That's not good for the environment!!" I shouted in a huff.

I moved like a cheetah to my transportation device. Who am I kidding? A slug could have beaten me to it. Remembering the earthworms that flew out of my desk the last time Persephone told me to do something and I did not, I picked up the pace. Well, I was off to see Greek mother and corn (grain) goddess associated with the earth, vegetation and agriculture, Demeter.

Did I mention she is also the goddess of death?

Project Runway by Meg Y.

It seems to be that many people find themselves at a point when they are sitting in front of the TV and they don’t know what to watch. I have come to resolve the problem with the best show EVER, Project Runway. Project runway is a reality TV shows where designer compete for prizes and money. It’s dramatic, and I believe it is more real than shows like Dancing with The Stars or Survivor, because these people have been working on design all their working lives, or have a huge dream, their not celebrities dancing around and breaking their legs. On this show, the designer creates works of art, and has incredible challenges. On one episode, they had to make outfits out of trash bags, in another they had to base their clothing on sections of NYC, like Harlem and the Upper East Side. This show runs on Thursdays from 9 to 10 pm, so it maybe a little late for some people, but if you have OnDemand, the new episodes are posted the day after they air, so you can watch on Friday night at 8. I hope you watch and enjoy!!