Third Place

Journalism is Dead

I have a theory about the twenty first century. Everyone says it's the "worst year" and crime is crazy and death and blah blah blah. I disagree, I think it's always been bad but now there's an immediate way to see it with social media and tweets and deaths are becoming hashtags instead of a headline.

I've been listening to a lot of podcasts recently, mostly Psychobabble by Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl, looking past the pop culture and turtle talk that had one quote that stuck with me (well two, they also said Franklin the Turtle was the first queer icon) and I feel like it is getting more true as 2016 continues.

"Journalism is dead."

And recently I think it's true, in all honesty if I want to find news on things I look for what's trending on Tumblr, Twitter or whatever my favorite podcasts talk about. I know the election is a mess, Charlotte is falling apart, and Harry Styles might be doing a solo album. What a time to be alive, honestly. But before most of this it was the first day of high school. I'm a sophmore and I think that is the most interesting high school experience. Like freshmen you're just starting and everything is crazy dude, but then sophomore you're like "Been there done that like what now?"

It was the first day of school and my morning started with the words "Is it still me that makes you sweat?"

Fantastic.

My alarm is Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off by Panic! at the Disco, and trust me that song will wake you up because trust me you don't want your parents to hear when it gets to the chorus.

So I woke up quickly and took an unhappy breath looking at my room. It was still dark outside which is the worst thing to wake up to. I feel like waking up you want to see sunlight peering through window shades and birds chirping but no high school just sucks.

My pajamas are so basic and the definition of a teenage cliche but also not. I wear navy Hollister sweat pants and my shirt will switch from my Dan and Phil Tour shirt to my Panic! at The Disco Tour shirt.

My thick brown hair in a collapsing pony tail because it's finally stretched out the pony tail holder, rip buddy you held on.

I tightened my ponytail (slash basically put it back into a ponytail) and then change into my clothes, a grey t-shirt and my jeans. I walked into the bathroom and started to brush my teeth when my sister walked into the room.  She was wearing a carrot onsie and looked tired and unhappy.

"Wow, Hannah, you're looking lively this morning," I commented.

"Shut up, Gwen," she muttered angrily, making me roll my eyes. Hannah, despite her being 5'5" and weighing more than me, is ten years old and looks like my polar opposite.

Despite the obvious size difference, Hannah also has light hazel eyes while I have borderline black eyes, her hair is fine and blonde while mine is this and brown. All of my friends thought she was adopted until they saw my mom that basically looks like my sister but adult and ginger.

She's also homeschooled and gets to spend her days laying around our living room on her computer. She started brushing her uneven teeth and glaring at her reflection. I gave her a weird look and then pulled out my phone and left the bathroom.

I opened up my message app and opened up a conversation to text my best friend, Ash Noble. I have texted her every day this summer because she's kinda my only good friend I continuously text. My problem is that I'm not really anyone's favorite. Last year in ninth grade we were in a group of three and a half. Ash, Cassie and then a boy named Jason who is a completely other chapter.