Opinion: "Those Who Need Our Help" by Abigail Kolesar

Imagine this inside your head: You are walking with your guardians on a peaceful calming walk.  You get to a neighborhood and you come across a house with an ear-piercing, shrieking animal in the house.  Your guardian takes your arm and he/she yanks you to the other side of the road and you continue. Finally you see a dog get choked by his/her collar and the owner puts a throat choking chain around the dog’s neck.  You have a million questions inside your head. Two months after you come off the bus stop and you can spot a dead dog on the sidewalk with the same leash and the same fur.  

This is called animal abuse. A lot of people don’t know what animal abuse looks like, and, more importantly, what they can do to prevent it. 

Do you have a small pet such as a bunny, rat, guinea pigs, mice, etc.?  Or do you think they’re just plain old adorable? If you think of any of the above, then this will pierce your heart.  People who produce makeup products test their products on animals to make sure that the customers enjoy what they buy. This is truly devastating and their injuries can lead to death.  

If you want to stop this, then stop buying makeup products that are tested on animals. You might like makeup, but they don’t.  Stop letting people experiment on them.  

Do We Really Consider Them “Man’s Best Friend”?

This is obviously a big problem that doesn’t really JUST involve dogs, but also many more pets.  It’s called animal abuse. People put them under houses, tied to tight chains, begging for food and water, and wanting a new home.  You might find this disgusting, but some people chop their tails off, ears, etc. Why do people do this? Because they are ignorant of their pets’ pain.  Do we really deserve them? Some of the easiest things you can do to prevent this is to be kind and responsible to your dog. Report animal cruelty if you see it happening.  Inform people you know to learn more about animal cruelty and how much it effects animals, and work to create stricter laws for animal protection.

These are just a few things we should do to prevent animal abuse.  We need to make this stop. Will you help?  

Top 10 Halloween Costumes that will Make You the Life of the Party by Addy Franklin and Delaney Shaha

It’s finally FALL! But as a child, most of my free time is spent figuring out my Halloween costume. I can usually think of ideas that for some reason don’t exist. “Why world, why?” And some years, I’m more lazy than others. But this is about to change. Here are this year’s Top 10 Halloween Costumes.

10. Child Headless Costume: Everybody loves this costume! But the only two problems are that one, everybody wants to be one, and two, kids prefer to be new characters from new movies instead.

9. Disney Princess: Every little girl wants to be Belle or Cinderella. But sometimes different is better. Why not be Maleficent?  Or Ursula? The Wicked Stepmother? Mix it up!

8. Animals: Lots of kids dress up as tigers and kitties, but they don’t even look realistic! Isn’t Halloween supposed to look like something and get candy?

7. Creepy dolls: Why? Just why? I personally hate this costume. But people are always seem to like this.

6. Nintendo characters: You always see Mario and Luigi, but in the past few years, I've seen a lot of Yoshi’s.  This is a good way to go!

5. Superheroes: People love Avengers and DC so much, no other company dares to make more super heroes (except Captain Underpants). But let’s face it, people, you might want to  dress up as superheroes who died in the last movie (you know the two I’m talking about in Endgame).

4. Clowns: I guess being a clown is fun, because, one, it’s creepy and 

people can run away without their candy, and two, because it’s creepy. Did I mention it’s creepy? 

3. Cartoon Characters: People love dressing up as their favorite characters 

from their favorite TV show. Use your imagination, and make it happen! 

2. Ghost Face: This costume is so popular, that it was in a movie (Wonder). Ghostface is a fictional character adopted by multiple characters of the Scream series.

1. DIY!!! Every year, you see kids/teens who made their costume. They make their perfect costume, that’s also custom.   

Who knows, this might be the year you find your new favorite Halloween costume. Hope you like this!  If so, give us heart. And read more news by us!

Paris Times by Addy Franklin and Delaney Shaha

Bonjour! Have you ever wanted to see what’s happening in Paris? Well, if you do, this is the right place! In this article we will be looking into the Eiffel Tower! We used the Google Earth App to access the Eiffel Tower!

In 1889, Paris wanted to celebrate the French Revolution. Many artists planned for a monument to be built in the middle of Paris.  A man named Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel decided to help with the tower. Everybody thinks it was Alexandre’s idea, but it was one of his employees. The man was Maurice Koechlin. Koechlin was the one who came up with the concept. He had also helped with the Statue Of Liberty. 

The problems were that in 1909, the Eiffel Tower was almost torn down. Another time it survived was September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945. Can you guess what was happening? World War 2! Hitler initially ordered to bring down the city’s most cherished symbol, but the command never came to life. Something the men had to do was cut the elevator cables so people couldn't go to the top and get hurt. 

The Eiffel Tower still lives today, but it’s slowly losing inches. There are so many lights on it at night. If you ever get the chance to see the Eiffel Tower, take it! Or go to Google Earth App and find the Eiffel Tower by searching “Eiffel Tower.” Thanks for reading, and please go back to PFMS times to find another article.

Wisdom Teeth by Jessica Wallace

Every year, around 5 million people have to get their wisdom teeth removed for a number of reasons. Wisdom teeth are also called third molars. Molars are the four teeth that grow in the back corners of a person’s mouth. Most people’s wisdom teeth come in at ages 17-25, and problems usually occur as the teeth are coming in during teenage years. Some of the problems can include:

Jaw damage - Cysts can form around your wisdom teeth as they come in, and if they go untreated they can cause a lot of damage to the nerves.

Sinus Issues - Untreated wisdom teeth can cause pain in the sinuses and cause congestion.

Inflamed Gums - Tissues around the gums can get irritated due to misshapen and out of place teeth.

Cavities - Swollen gums can create pockets between your teeth which causes cavities and bacteria to grow.
Alignment - One of the most common reasons to get your wisdom teeth removed is alignment. A lot of times wisdom teeth come in at the wrong angle and cause issues with the alignment of your other teeth. 

Now that you know some of the reasons to have your wisdom teeth removed, what is the process of getting your wisdom teeth removed like? In a lot of cases, your annual dentist will tell you that you need to get a second opinion, so they recommend making an appointment with an orthodontist. If your orthodontist recommends getting them removed, usually the removal will occur at a time based off of the urgency. 

The day of your appointment to get your teeth removed has finally arrived, I’m sure you have a lot of questions about the process. Will it hurt? How long will it take to recover? One thing you must have is a ride. During the surgery, you will be given anesthetic, which afterwards makes you feel dizzy, and see things that aren’t actually there. You are in no state to be driving after surgery, and will need someone to drive you home. When you get there, you will be put in a comfy chair for the surgery, and the surgeons assistants will start giving you medicine that will make sure there is no pain, and that you are asleep. One of the most famous forms of medicine you will be given is laughing gas. Laughing gas makes sure you aren’t stressed out, and helps you to relax. When you are given the medicine that makes you fall asleep, a lot of times people recommend counting down from 10, and seeing what number you get to before you have fallen asleep. 

When you wake up, it will feel like no time has passed. You won’t feel any pain, but you may feel nauseated due to the medicine. You can’t eat any solid foods for a while, and you’ll have to eat things like ice cream and yogurt. Due to the laughing gas, you will say a lot of crazy and strange things, so be careful what you say! You will need a lot of rest, and need someone to drive you home. 

Getting your wisdom teeth removed can be a scary process. I am getting my wisdom teeth removed soon. When I’m scared, I just remember that I will never have to get my wisdom teeth removed again.

Fears and Why We Have Them by Massimo Ragonese

There are about 103 named fears out there. That doesn’t mean that because they aren’t defined, the aren’t real. The main question about fears is where they originated. But to understand where they originated, we need to locate exactly what fear is.

Fear is the firing of nerves in our body with reaction to a place or object. The source of fear is like an instinct. Like a certain survival instinct.

There are many fears that you might not know about, such as:

 - Hpnochrophobia -The Fear of Diseases

 - Glossophobia - The Fear of speaking in front of crowds 

 - Cynophobia - The Fear of Dogs

 - Ephebiphobia - The Fear of teenagers

 - Aquaphobia - The Fear of Drowning

The are these fears but there are many common fears like Arachnophobia or Clausastraphobia. This brings us to the origination of fear. There are four classifications of fears. The natural environment, animals, medicinal treatment, and Situations. Most fears originated from a memory, good or bad. There are many ways to counteract these and medicine.

Sources

https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/phobias.html#catnutrition

https://www.doitbest.com/pages/americas-most-common-fears

https://www.verywellmind.com/list-of-phobias-2795453

Plastic - The Killer of the Ocean by Anabelle Morales

Imagine our descendants looking back at our time. You know how there was the bronze age and the stone age? Well, the age we are living in right now could be known as the plastic age by our descendants. And what is causing this? Plastic. The estimate is 150 million metric tons of plastic. It is killing over a million seabirds and marine animals and studies show that in the year 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. 

A lot of people aren't even aware of how much plastic they are using. Some plastic isn't even used for more than five minutes, this includes the chip bag, the fruit roll up package and so much more. Some maybe a few days. Companies make plastic that will only last their client maybe an hour to a few days. Companies think it is “nice” to have individually wrapped things. But they are not aware of one thing: that they are ruining our environment one plastic wrapped food at a time.

What can we do to help prevent even a small percentage from going into the ocean? Instead of buying a plastic water bottle, use a reusable water bottle and when possible, “Take It From The Tap!” (and the water fountain). Use reusable containers when you pack lunches from home. Bring your own To-Go containers at restaurants and ask for glass reusable cups, not the whole fancy-schmancy throwable cups that everyone seems to love these days.

Save the environment!

Did We Really Need Thomas A. Edison? by Massimo Ragonese

Thomas Edison has been argued to be one of the greatest inventors of all time. However, He has been argued to be one of the biggest frauds of all time, as well. These claims have some evidence behind them but many researchers can’t really decide between each claim.

Thomas Alva Edison was born of Samuel and Nancy Edison on February 11th, 1847. He had six siblings that were all older than him. Many have suspected that at a young age, Thomas not only had scarlet fever but also had many ear infections. The abnormal amount of these caused Thomas to have a defective hearing. Many have also speculated that his poor hearing was due to an accident that involved a train. He worked at a train and railroad line. While working at the railroad line he was able to save a three-year-old boy on the tracks. 

He was home-schooled at the age of eleven by his mother that caused him to not learn as much as others. He worked a night shift at the Associated Press in Louisville, Kentucky that allowed him to read and do many things that advanced his education. This reach of different books even allowed him to learn morse code. He was able to become a far more advanced human being. These studies made him become an inventor.

The hearing-impaired inventor later grew up to create many things. He created the phonograph and an array of moving picture films. However, the real reason many people believe that he is a fraud is the lack of information we have on his work on the light bulb. 

Joseph Swan was an English inventor that invented the carbon-based light bulb as opposed to platinum-based bulbs. He illustrated a working, standing lamp according to Smithsonian. “Like earlier renditions of the light bulb, Swan's filaments were placed in a vacuum tube to minimize their exposure to oxygen, extending their lifespan. Unfortunately for Swan, the vacuum pumps of his day were not efficient as they are now, and while his prototype worked well for a demonstration, it was impractical in actual use”, according to LiveScience. Edison and Swan worked together to improve the design.  They broke off their Swan-Edison agreement when Swan found an electrical company in England. Many people rely on this fact that Edison actually took his work from Swan. There were also two Canadian inventors in 1874 that filed a patent for an electric lamp with different sized carbon rods that were unsuccessful,l but were later bought by Edison.

As you can see, there were many claims that have led people to believe that Edison was a fraud. But the question is, do you believe them?

Homelessness by Ella Doby

Most people never think about the people in this world who don't have the privileges they do, and who pretty much have nothing, mentally and physically. Some people don't have clean water or sanitary food and can’t even access a bathroom or even a place to live, and most people just don’t think about it! Those people are just happy with their lives and that’s all they need. The people that suffer through this are homeless people. Homeless people are just what they sound like, people with no secure home or place to live. I believe that people don’t care about homelessness because of the sheer number of citizens who are homeless, and the lack of support for those who are homeless to get proper mental and health care. 

There are thousands of people in the United States, and millions more around the world who are homeless, and if people cared more there wouldn't be that many. There are 554,000 people who are homeless, including 58,000 families with kids in just America alone!? In Los Angeles, about 31,516 homeless residents were identified there in 2017.  It's estimated that no fewer than 150 million people are homeless worldwide, or about 2 percent of the world's population. However, about 1.6 billion, more than 20 percent of the world's population, may lack adequate housing. Not many people know that there are charities that support homeless people. If more people decided to put money into the charities they could be the change in this world wide problem. More and more homeless people are “arriving” in America and in this world in general. 

Health and sanitation issues are also created by the large number of homeless people in our cities and towns. This is a recent topic that people have been noticing walking in the streets of LA and other big cities such as New York. Because the people living on the streets don’t have a bathroom they can constantly use, it is spreading diseases. The diseases that are going around can possibly be deadly, if you don’t know you have it or don’t know how to handle it.  People usually catch hepatitis by getting the virus in their mouths, often because they eat food or drink water that has been contaminated by human waste. So homelessness can easily cause death to common people and the homeless people themselves.

Another troubling statistic is that many families WITH kids have to live on the streets and give the kids a very unstable and unhealthy life. 15,492 homeless families with children in the U.S. are homeless. There are 22,938 homeless children. It makes me want to cry on how many children are living through that and us children who have a privileged life probably don’t even know the sad amount of kids who are homeless.

The people who are on the other side of this argument could think, “Well, why should I care if they’re homeless? I’m not, so why does it matter?”  I'm saying that those people are wrong. My argument for this is, “What if it were you?” Would the people who are on the other side really like to be homeless and have everyone walk by not really care about them? A quote from Google says, “According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's Annual Homeless Assessment Report, as of 2017 there were around 554,000 homeless people in the United States on a given night, or 0.17% of the population, Homelessness emerged as a national issue in the 1870s.” It shows that the homeless rate has gone up quite a bit and as you can see has become a worldwide issue.

In conclusion, there are millions of people who are homeless, and if people cared more, the numbers would be lower. If more people cared about people in this world, people would not suffer the indignity of using the bathroom on the sidewalk but would instead have privacy. Too many children and families experience homelessness every year. Homelessness is an inhumane problem. Please consider this quote by Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” and consider the ways in which you can help to change this problem.

Are Popular Choices Clouding Our Minds? by Katy Schmeck

“Senorita” by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, “If I Can’t Have You” by Shawn Mendes, and “Sucker” by the Jonas Brothers are the top 3 pop songs according to, https://www.ranker.com/list/best-pop-songs-2019/ranker-music. 

But, according to, http://www.popvortex.com/music/charts/top-pop-songs.php, “Truth Hurts” by  Lizzo, “Senorita”, and “You Need To Calm Down” by Taylor Swift are the top 3 songs. 

I asked some people what they thought were the top three and only gave them 5 songs to choose from. But, I mixed it up a bit. The songs I offered “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish, featuring Justin Bieber, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi, “Old Town Road” by Lil’ Nas X, and an older song, “Pump It” by the Black Eyed Peas. 

Abigail K and Cassidy G. both chose “Senorita”, Edna W. picked “Old Town Road”, Lacey S. chose three, “Senorita”, “Bad Guy”, and “Someone You Loved.  Lily G. chose “Bad Guy”, and Payton C. picked “Old Town Road”, Jeada K. decided to pick “Bad Guy”, Indy O. chose “Someone You Loved” or “Bad Guy”. Finally, Zeke C. chose something I didn’t even say, he chose “Ransom” by Lil’ Tecca.

It had me thinking, everybody else chose what I said except Zeke.  Pop Vortex and Billboard take their information off how people viewed, liked, or disliked videos or songs, but, only the popular choices seem to be clouding our minds. I asked 10 people which song was the best, telling them that they were the top songs but, actually they weren’t. Nine of those people said one of my options, but one kid stuck to his gut. People need to stop trying to be popular, or trendy, and just be themselves.

It’s better to be yourself in the first place because, after all, fake friends don’t really last, and it will be harder to make new friends if you’re not yourself. So, if you stick to being your genuine self, you won’t have to go through all that drama. 

Be yourself. People don’t have to like you, and you don’t have to care.

Be Kind, Be You.

The Way We View the World by Massimo Ragonese

Humans are as unique as a fingerprint. We have a way of expressing how we feel. Many people have opinions, even if they keep them to themselves. Whether they exploit their feelings on objects or people or hide their opinions, they express it. We need a way of showing ourselves to others.

The human mind can sometimes explore itself in a way not previously thought of. Even before humans developed tools and plans to create buildings, there were those who had architectural views of the world that some couldn’t possibly imagine. In the modern era, Frank Lloyd Wright was an architect who, not only thought outside of the box, he completely destroyed the box. According to Biography.com, “Frank Lloyd Wright was an architect and writer whose distinct style helped him became one of the biggest forces in American architecture.” He used his artistic view on the world to show that even if your looking through a keyhole your whole life, one day, the door will open.