Whats all the bubbly about bubble tea? By: Melissa Iachetta
Whats all the bubbly about bubble tea?
Bubbly tea has taken a sip up in popularity. The drink which consists of a coffee/tea base is mixed with different flavors such as peach, green apple, and even violet. Milk is added if desired, and then the words are asked, “would you like tapioca?.”
Invented in Taiwan in the 1980s, the tea drink first spread to nearby East Asian countries, and migrated to Canada before spreading to Chinatown in New York City. Its even reached various spots throughout the West Coast of the United States.
This drink is called bubble tea because of the marble-sized tapioca balls, pearls, or boba’s that are present and sit at the bottom of the cup. These chewy balls, although having little flavor, are sucked up through large wide straws and are consumed along with the drink.
Today you can find shops entirely devoted to bubble tea, similar to the juice bars of the early 1990s. Some cafes use plastic dome-shaped lids, while other bubble tea bars serve it using a machine to seal the top of the cup with plastic cellophane. This allows the tea to be shaken in the serving cup. The cellophane is then pierced with an oversize straw large enough to allow the pearls to pass through.
Tapioca balls great and small are the most popular chewy aspect of bubble tea, but a wide range of other options can add an equally delectable texture to the drink. Green pearls have a small hint of green tea flavor and are chewier than the traditional tapioca balls. Jelly is also used in small cubes, stars, or rectangular strips, with flavors like coconut jelly, konjac, lychee, grass, mango, and green tea. Rainbow (a fruit mix), has a crispy consistency. Red bean or mung bean mush, also used as a toppings for Taiwanese shaved ice, gives the drink added flavor as well as texture. Aloe, egg pudding, sago, and taro balls can also be found in most tea houses to complete the perfect cup of bubble tea.
Bubble tea cafes frequently serve drinks without coffee or tea in them. The base for these drinks is flavoring blended with ice, called Snow Bubble. All mix-ins that can be added to the bubble tea can also be added to these slushy like drinks. A negative to Snow Bubble is that the coldness of the iced drink may cause the tapioca balls to harden, making them difficult to suck up through a straw and chew. To prevent this from happening, Snow Bubble must be consumed more quickly than bubble tea.
Quickly a popular bubble tea hangout in Flushing has lines out the door on any given day.
WJPS junior Adriana Crotty comments on her love for bubble tea, “I would totally wait on a line that was outside a door for some bubble tea. It is so awesome. It’s a really good drink, sometimes I go with my friends after school and we get bubble tea together, Quickly has this special price for students so that’s a bonus.”
So the only question is…wanna sip?
Modern Art Or False Fiction By: Andy Hua
Today’s bestselling authors appear to flood the market with modern day masterpieces but are really soggy lamentations of classic writings
Ever wonder if today’s bestsellers are really bestsellers? I’m pretty sure you have. Today bestselling authors write books with plots that were literally copied off the great classics of the 20th and even 18th century authors and getting the credit for it. It’s simply disgusting. After all they are writers. Doesn’t it make you think whether bestselling authors deserve to be bestselling authors? I’m pretty sure it does
Jane Austen v/s Stephanie Meyer
Twilight, the bestselling book about vampires, is the one of the New York Times’ bestselling books. Yet if anyone knew anything about writing people would realize that Stephenie Meyer copied the plot of Twilight off of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The plot line of Pride and Prejudice is that the late Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet fall in love with each other. Yet the personality of the late Mr. Darcy do not work out with the Bennets nor does Elizabeth‘s personality work out with the Darcy’s. And the sisters of Mr. Bingley who have taken a liking to Mr. Darcy and work to get rid of Elizabeth Bennet in order to get Mr. Darcy for themselves.
In Twilight the plot is that Bella and Edward love each other but because Bella is a human and Edward is a vampire they cannot be together. Notice the similarity? The two stories both revolve around one basic plot. Two characters fall in love while and outside influence keeps them apart. In Pride and Prejudice the barrier between the two main characters is the difference between the different personalities. While in Twilight the barrier between the two character is the difference between the two with one being sort of a monster and the other a normal human(or so it seems).
Yet the only difference between these two books is one is a modern day bestseller and the other is simply titled a classic. It is awkward how the new version of Pride and Prejudice or Twilight as it is titled became more popular than the original. And plus what makes it even stranger is that the author Stephenie Meyer even said that she herself was a devoted Jane Austen fan. How could it be that a devoted fan got her version of Pride and Prejudice more popular than Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in the modern world? Could it be that teens are becoming more addicted to trendy books? Who knows!?! Or do we?
Holmes v/s Mitch Rapp
Vince Flynn, New York Times’ #1 bestselling author, created a character known as Mitch Rapp. Mitch Rapp is introduced into the story as the CIA’s most deadliest assassin or in other word the deadliest human weapon employable by the CIA. Yet once again if anyone knew anything about literature everyone would realize that Mitch Rapp’s supposed assassin instincts was simply a modernized version of Sherlock Holmes’ science of deduction. The science of deduction is basically observing things that an average person would overlook. For example skin color and the expression on ones face. In Conan Doyle’s story of the Greek interpreter the tan and expression on a man’s face helped Mr. Holmes and his brother Mycroft with identifying that the man was a soldier that was recently discharged from the ranks.
In Vince Flynn’s Act of Treason, Mitch Rapp uses what he knows and his own opinions to formulate his theories. And just like Mr.Holmes Mitch Rapp put himself in the place of the criminal and thinks of what he would probably do. Yet in Vince Flynn’s novel he engages in a wild goose chase instead of Conan Doyle’s style of luring the suspect into his own arrest. Because Vince Flynn employs such a way of chasing the criminal the story sort of drags on and very often the only thing that holds the reader’s attention is the cursing and gun play. Yet compared to Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes never is there a time where the reader is bored out of his mind or hanging on to the book by a thread. Looking at Vince Flynn’s writing style now shows that there is nothing special. Yet why people buy this sort of stuff? I really don’t know.
Modern Day Writing V/S Classic Literature
The Classic Literature of the 1800′s today are disappearing rapidly. Nowadays you can ask someone who Sherlock Holmes was and you’d probably get a response like this: “Isn’t he that famous detective or something?” Or something like this:”Wasn’t he in a movie or something?” This is purely insulting! Then you ask someone about Twilight and you’d probably get something like this: “OMG, that book is so GOOD! I can’t even put it down! I love vampires. And like Edward Cullen is like soo cool!” and so on and so forth. Geez does anyone in this world know a single thing about classics!?! I mean think about it. Today’s authors copyright, sue and write about topics that are simply horrible. Every book written by modern day authors with the exception of nonfiction books contains something about love, sex, war, and dying. Half the plot lines in today’s books are simply those of the past simply changed around to fit today’s society. Take Twilight for example, as you already know Stephenie Meyer simply took the plot of Pride and Prejudice and changed it around to fit something that today’s teens and young adults would like. From the 1800s to the late 1900s writing has changed and developed of course. That is understandable but is it changing for better or for worse? Bradbury copied lines from Shakespeare yet still wrote books worthy of recognition and came Stephenie Meyer who took from Austen.
She wrote a book that only gained popularity from the movie. Even J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter gained fame from the movie yet the difference in the book’s basic plot affected the quality of the work. Rowling’s writing even before the movie was a well-written work of art. Meyer’s writing was failed and emphasized on things like love and sex in order to keep the reader interested.Though my search to find the reason behind the rapid disappearance of classics has failed so far it has not been entirely completely inconclusive.
Though this may cause much anger, theoretically, today the average person knows little about the basic foundations of a good writer and the great writers of today are slowly disappearing as writers who care little about quality but more on money take over. Yet as a conclusion from interviews if people were told that many of the bestsellers that they loved were simply soggy knockoffs of old classics people may look back at them to search for the truth themselves. This probably could the new way to motivate people to read classics. If this works people obviously would begin reading more and more classics boosting popularity. But this is only a theoretical conclusion and prediction. No one knows what the future holds for classics. In conclusion, although classics are not popular today they still and always will hold their proper place in history and literature.
Newspaper: anywhere but here.. By: Munpriya Nahal
WJPS, newspaper class has successfully reached its four volume of edition in four years. Although, there are students who enjoy this class, it is hard to understand why others don’t. Journalism classes such as newspaper have gotten students who transfer out because many cannot understand the subject or handle the work as it is too hard for them.
An anonymous students said,” The class is boring and it is insanely hard. My mind cannot process so much work. there is too much pressure on me because of other subjects and i cannot handle all the extra work in this class. “
The class is divided into 6 parts- sports, fiction, entertainment, opinion, news and layout. Each section has its section leaders, monitored by Ms. Sackstein. ” Acoording to me, the hardest section is Opinion because you have to state your opinion and opposing sides view. You also need evidence and appropriate words to support your article.” said, junior, Shazia Rahaman. Other students have their own opinion as Jamie Torney, junior, said, ” I think feature is the easiest section as it is more of a free topic and you can be used anytime you want to and it is more easy to write.”
This class is all about writing articles but it also has the responsibility to layout the paper. Students who work in this section of the paper say that it is fun. Ariana Medunjanin, junior said, ” Layout is never boring and it is challenging. There are many ways to layout newspaper to catch readers attention.”
Others who write articles may have an entirely different opinion. Tanya Castillo, junior said, ” I don’t like newspaper class because I don’t like writing articles and its too much work with current events and articles, but I have to do what i have to do because I don’t have any other choice. ”
Ms.Sackstein said,” I think that journalism classes in general teaches students many skills to make them successful in life. How to research, gather information and talk to people. It teaches them how to write and revise and make what they reverent for an audience, which would be useful in their other classes too. Because the products are public, students learn about how to make it ready for that and then how to take criticism when others read it. It also teaches responsibility and how to budget time as deadlines are essential. “
Students like Livianette Cabrera, junior, believe that the class is challenging and it helps her to grow as a learner. She said, ” I have learned how to write different types of article and I know it will help me in future. Ms. Sackstein challenges us and when I need help, she truly helps me to the fullest extent.”
“Writing articles is hard. It is a different kind of writing than they are used to and it takes a lot of practice. Each section requires something different and this is not a 5 paragraph essay writing, this is why many of my students transfer out because I have high expectations. Students expect newspaper because it is an elective to be easy or that they won’t have to do anything. Once they realize they will be doing a lot of work, they are turned off. “, said Ms. Sackstein.
Some students work hard on their articles but end up in disappointment. ” The class is okay, I understand that it takes a lot of time to make something perfect but every time I am submitting articles for the paper, it seems to never be laid out correctly. There are always either no indents or there are spaces where it shouldn’t be, making it look like I am illiterate. ” said Ashley Liszka, senior.
Mr. Lumetta agrees with Ms. Sackstein. He said,” The class has interesting work but it is difficult and many people may have the desire to work but in reality they are not willing to make the sacrifice for the work and the time it takes.”
Newspaper is not that hard as it might seem. It is a class of teamwork and it takes a lot of hard work, time and patience to get this subject. But it is the class for those students who love to write.
Letting go can be for the best By: Erica Castagliola
The thin walls of our rooms could only protect so much. The sounds were still there, and the words that were said were still heard. Slamming doors were not anything new to us, and with a loud slam of the front door, we knew the yelling would stop. Everyone was well aware of what was going to come next, and the thought of divorce didn’t startle us.
Children often feel sad, angry, and frustrated about their parents divorce and are uncertain about what their life will be like after divorce. Some kids may even feel relieved when their parents divorce, especially if there was a lot of fighting between their parents during their marriage.
From Hollywood to Bollywood By: Divya Desai
The mold has been set for years now, Hollywood releases a movie, and a few years later Bollywood (the Indian film industry) makes a “similar” one. Basically it’s the same movie, with a different title, a different cast, and slightly tweaked dialogues in a different language with a few dance sequences, much like the “Jai Ho” in Slumdog Millionaire.
In late 2009 Bollywood released the movie “Blue” about a group of people searching in the deep seas for treasure, a plot which may seem similar to a movie released in 2005 starring Jessica Alba, “In to the Blue.” Being as creative as possible so to not face the possibility of a lawsuit the heads of the production company in stealing the movie dropped the “Into the” part and renamed the movie simply “Blue”.
“I usually don’t watch the movies that are copies of American movie, cause I usually know the endings. I feel instead of copying an American movie, Bollywood should focus on the Indian culture as it has so much to it, it’s very interesting.” Stated senior Angela Osmanzai.
This was not the first nor the latest, in a long procession of “similar” movies. One movie that stands out in particular is the 2002 “Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai”, the direct translation of Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai is My Best Friends Wedding. Sounds familiar right?
Well that’s because it’s the title of the 1997 movie starring Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz and Dermot Mulroney. The only differences are that instead of it being two girls fighting over a guy, it’s two guys fighting over a girl and in the end the Best Friend comes out on top, but besides that every minuscule detail is the same. Including the friend that posses to be the best friends love interest in order to make the one getting married jealous.
“I saw both movies and in their own way both were good. They actually weren’t the same as they had different endings, so it wasn’t like watching the same movie twice”Roslyn high school student, Aesha Patel stated.
Another “similar” movie is “Partner” except it cannot even be called a trans-formative piece as it is a total rip-off “Hitch” starring Will Smith. There’s the Lover Doctor savvy and wise in all things women, the one girl he cannot have who is a journalist out to get him, the pathetic loser who is in love with a girl way out of his league and the the out of he league girl who despite it all fall for the loser.
Lisa-Maire Ludford, senior commented ” In my opinion Partner is a better film that the Will Smith movie Hitch that it completely ripped off from. Partner is fun and funny and the dance sequences were the best part of the movie.”
“Though many feel that the “similar” movies are nothing but bootleg, many feel they are not. “It’s not really stealing. There are many people in that part of the world that don’t understand English, so it’s not really stealing if they translate it in a different language. And besides, they (Bollywood) buy the rights.” stated senior, Shanza Khushnood.
Khushnood goes on to say “I think that the Indian movies are becoming better and better by the year and the subtitles are actually starting to make sense. And while it looks like all the Indian movies are Bollywood rip-offs, they actually are not, many of them are very original.”