The Cats’ Contribution By: Ashley Lasko

Before going into the majority of my blog, there’s is a few things I need to make known. I have a love, almost an obsession, for cats, and love each one I happen to come across. I have a cat at home which I admire everyday, and I try to bring cats into every aspect of my life possible. My infatuation with cats is what largely what inspired this blog.

Many walks of life are embedded in famous works of literature, humans and animals alike. As evident by my opening paragraph, I choose to focus on one of the most influential animals (my personal opinion), cats. Cats have played significant roles in literature, including famous stories such as “The Cat in the Hat”, “Puss in Boots”, and the novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. There are also cats in other writings, such as book series like Warriors, Chronicles of Narnia, The Hunger Games, and Harry Potter. There are many other stories that at least mention cats, showing how cats have greatly impacted literature today.

Of course, there are a many other animals that have impacted literature, including the casts of “Winnie the Pooh”, Animal Farm, and Charlotte’s Web. Cats are one of the many creatures that have placed their mark in literature.

However, while some stories have felines playing major roles or even starring as the main characters, such as Warriors, other stories introduce cats for only a chapter or two, such as in The Hunger Games. Nevertheless, these cats can play important roles, whether through symbolism or an appealing characterization. Felines such as Aslan, Buttercup, Bluestar, are strong characters in their respective books; despite the difference of the size of the roles they play, they still guide the story along. The paw print cats have pressed into the world of literature will continue to deepen as the body of cats in literature continues to grow.

Admittedly, not everyone will change their lives or look at things in a new light because I pointed out what cats have done in literature. In fact, I’m sure a few readers despise cats and will disregard my blog post entirely. However, despite what animal is the superior species, the point stands that cats, as well as animals in general, have impacted literature on a scale that can arguably be compared to that of notable human characters.

Desks are important too! By Owen Welsh

      Desks, everyone uses them, and if you're like me, then you want the best desk possible, preferably one next to a heater or with some sort of beautiful view of nature, you get the picture. So naturally both my curiosity and interest were piqued when Mrs. Kopp mentioned new desks were arriving, my mind dared to hope for one of the new whiteboard desks. Acquiring one of these new desks was merely step one to achieving ultimate comfort while in my English class. Three more factors had to be considered; people, location, and view, allow me to elaborate on each of these. First we have people, which mainly boils down to who will be with you at your desk or in close proximity, I would want to stay near to the people I started out sitting with, as they don't smell badly and I can't confirm that for any of the other students. Moving onto location, this is simply where the desk will be placed, there are three good locations for a desk; by the door, by a window, and by a heater. Each of these three locations offer their own individual services for your pleasure, being by the door means being the first one out when the bell rings, usually a very critical thing to have, however I don't have to travel far for my next class so it doesn't really matter. Next on the list is having your next located near a window, it seems like a no brainer to have that beautiful view of the Sparta High School parking lot,    but I maintain that it would be a distraction in the long run, so being by a heater is my preferred option for those cold winter days. Finally the last factor is view, so what constitutes a good view of the teacher, and the board at large? Well there is a few things to consider, such as distance and the height of people in front of you, ideally I would be at the centre back, not too close to be constantly called upon, not too far to able to properly see. After considering all these factors, I realized that the perfect location was to the west as I walked into the room, now this desk already had inhabitants and the new desks had already been placed elsewhere, so I'll have to settle with taking the best chair in the room and sitting at my normal, whiteboard-less desk.

 A picture of a beautiful, whiteboard-less desk.