Category: Creative Writing and Opinion

Everyone has their comfort person…

Comfort Person by Lucy Kelly

Everyone has a comfort person that helps elevate their days. A Smile, a laugh or a hug will do to lighten up the weight. The pressure of life is a heavy load that grows trial by trial and its funny how that load can be lightened by a person for a while. The person you call late at night, the whole world on your case. That person that can pull you back with a just warm embrace. Someone you can trust and cherish that lasts through everything. The person that turns the cold winter into Joyous spring.
Sometimes your person decides to move on, to start a new at life. So far away your light has flown leaving nothing but strife. Though you love them and owe them the world and wish them all the best, that never stops the sharp pain deep within your chest.
The feeling of loss and sadness, merely hours away. What do I do now that my light is gone, there’s nothing more to say? So, my comfort person left me and I don’t know what ill do. So, I wish them the best and pray they’re blessed, receiving all they’re due.
I’ve grieved, cried and laughed through the pain, now our lives begin to start again.
However, through the darkness a wondrous thing, with eyes like the sky and a smile like spring. A soul that sings through the slightest grin that gives me hope for what’s bound to begin. Safe, loved and heard, like chimes in the breeze. feeling happy once more begins to come with ease.
So, I thank God for you above all,
Because Stars shine the brightest through darkness after all.

Getting Creative

Inktober by Ellis McQuillan 

‘Inktober’ is an art challenge that take place in the month October. Throughout the month you are given a list provided by the Inktober company; some make their own list specific to their interests or they choose a theme like Halloween for example, as the challenge is held in October. For each day there is a word that is intended to strike your creative thought process. You’re encouraged to post your drawings on social media to get your work out there and get feedback. This can help you move even further on your creative journey.  

“Inktober is a challenge not a competition”

 

Any form of art is allowed: drawing, digital art, calligraphy, typography and lettering etc. The only restriction is to if possible, only use black- as if you are using ink!

It was created by Jake Parker in 2009, he wanted to give people the opportunity to improve their skills and mindset in art; to discover new up and coming artists; and grow an audience for your work by being tested by said challenge. The company reiterates that Inktober is a challenge not a competition, “It’s a challenge to see how much you can improve your art in a month.” 

Though October has already past, you can start anytime. You are the one in charge of the challenge. There is always a chance to participate, as there are various drawing challenges based on the same ideas as inktober or you can get ready for next year’s list to come out and start then. 

 For more information- https://inktober.com/faq 

This year’s prompt list

Lockdown: A time to reflect.

“Shower ” by Lucy Kelly

 

Hey, you’ll never guess what I’ve done. I showered today! It might not a big deal to you but it is for me. What’s so special about a shower? New bathroom? New shampoo perhaps?

 

What could possibly make that exciting?

 

Well, to me, it’s a symbol of progress. During the first month, everything was chaos and uncertainty. The second was when my energy started drifting away. By the third month, I couldn’t get out of bed.
It had all suddenly caught up with me, the loneliness and emptiness, the isolation. I slept all day and stared at the ceiling all night.
what’s the point?
I can’t do anything right, I can’t even get myself dressed. I’m done. I  give up.
Then something strange happened.
A beam of light in the form of a text message. A picture to be exact. It was me, I was smiling stood In front of a building with the words ” HAPPINESS…. IS A POINT OF VIEW” plastered across it.
I couldn’t shake those words from my mind that night. Was I really in charge, could I really decide how my life would go?
I woke the next morning and got out of bed for the first time in three days.

By that Friday I got properly dressed for the first time in a fortnight.

 

You know, that sign was right. Happiness is a point of view. A point of view that starts with you taking care of yourself, and if that means forcing yourself to get up, showered and dressed then that’s what you do.
So, you’ll never guess what I’m doing tomorrow.
I’m going for a shower.

A Little Touch Of Heaven

In part one of Zara Crawford’s creative writing, we get to know Savannnah and her tantrums!

Savannah Goldsmith was spoiled, and by spoiled I do not mean winey and petty I mean the extremely rotten mean and winey type of spoiled. If you looked up the word spoiled in a dictionary you would find a picture of Savanah because she is the definition, anything Savanah wanted she got and if she didn’t get it at that very moment she would boil into such a rage and scream and rant until her parents would give in and get her what she demanded. Unsurprisingly I think I know how you are imagining Savanah a short cute six-year-old with blonde bunches and a gap tooth wearing a pretty pink print dress with pale pink patient shoes. Well you are very very off; Savanah is a tanned seventeen-year-old girl with chestnut brown hair that reaches right down to her waist with chocolate brown eyes that just make you melt that wears tight skinny jeans and skin-tight t-shirts with high heeled boots as white as snow. When you are six it is normal for you to have a tantrum occasionally, but when you turn a certain age it is no longer counted acceptable, Savanah has long passed that acceptability mark and is now a young adult with the mind set of a six year old. Unsurprisingly Savanah’s parents know she is a brat she is spoiled and ungrateful but can not change her mind set they have tried many things but can’t get her to change, so they have accepted that this is the way she is and always will be so they continue to give her everything she wants and exactly when she wants it, until one day they tried one last thing that would change Savanah’s life forever.

 

‘’Savanah, dear, come downstairs there is someone I want you to meet!’’ said mum ‘’is it the Queen?’’ I hollered ‘’No sweetheart’’ said mum her voice wavering, I heard her apologising to someone. I sighed heaved myself out of bed and quickly washed and dressed in record time I thumped down the stairs and through to the parlour, to see a little boy with the expression of an angelic cherub. My expression changed from tired to confused and back to tired in less than five seconds. ‘’What’s the kid selling?’’ I demanded, ‘’well… this little boy needed somewhere to stay for a couple of months and your Father and I both decided that it would be a good idea…if he…could stay here?’’ Mum’s voice sounded so scared so afraid. She paused to see what I would do next I kept quiet, so she continued. ‘’This is Jackson he is twelve the two of you have the type of personality so you’ll get along great’’ Mum was gabling now trying to get all her words out before I stopped her. I put my hand in her face to get her to shut up. Mum held her breath with a look of fear creased on her face. ‘’its fine Mum you and Dad can leave’’ I then gave one of my famous baby face smiles; we will get to know each other! My parents left the room with hopeful yet frank smiles the door closes with a BANG! I looked at Jackson with the biggest glare I could muster, but then the most curious thing happened Jackson began to cry. My parents practically flew into the room and started asking Jackson what was wrong he then pointed his finger at me and started ‘sobbing out a story than was all lies about how I told him he was useless and no one wanted him and he was only here in this house out of

pity. Then suddenly my parents looked at me with the look of fury in their eyes. Then my Mum flew at me with steam coming out of her ears spittle on her lips and anger in her eyes she then grabbed my arm and began to haul me up the stairs but just before my head was nearly thrown off my shoulders I seen the flicker of a smile on Jackson’s face…To be continued.

Check the school website next week to read the second part!

Thought for the Week

After visiting an elderly family friend, I realised that in a world of new connectivity people are being left behind. We have social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram. We have all of these things yet there are people who are still disconnected from society.

For example the woman me and my family visited, she has Facebook but no one has shown her how to use it! Imagine having nobody to talk to for hours on end every single day, and thinking no one wants to visit because you have trouble hearing.

“It just goes to show that with the right help, people can overcome loneliness and reconnect with society”

You can’t go anywhere because your legs don’t work anymore, being alone with all of those thoughts. Then imagine how happy you would feel if someone came to visit you once in a while, imagine how much impact we could make if we tried harder to care for our senior citizens. Doing things like helping them work technology getting them a newspaper heck even just sitting down and having a chat could help so much with the mental health of the elderly citizens in our society.

I interviewed a fellow pupil and she had this to say ‘My gran was in her house on her own with nobody to talk to so she fell into a depression, but with the help of the doctor me and my family’s support she was able to overcome her depression and become a more sociable and happy person’.

It just goes to show that with the right help, people can overcome loneliness and reconnect with society.

Are you Notre Dame’s next top journalist?

Notre Dame Now is looking for contributors!

Do you have a story? Get in touch!

Do you want to write about anything that interests you? Come and join us!

Games, sport, politics, short stories… if you want to write about it, we want to publish it in our paper.

Monday lunchtimes in  Mr MacDougall Jr’s room

Speak to Miss Blyth or Mr MacDougall.

Brexit: can we ever find our Happily Ever After? 

Exclusive News Feature: S3 News Writer, Lily Green, digs deep into the mystifying world of Brexit: analysing the news so far, the elections, the rejected drafts, the resignations; she takes her own polls; interviews the leaders in her own institution to gain an in-depth perspective; and then shares her own thoughts and insights on this momentous, evolving political event.  

By Lily Green : Brexit Correspondent

Brexit is still a mess. Recent European elections have given a new perspective towards the public’s stance on Brexit and given the major parties (the Conservatives and Labour) a massive reality check, with major losses incurred across political divides.

Notre Dame’s Head teacher Mrs Couttie is disappointed about our turbulent political situation and supports Theresa May’s decision to step down as Prime Minister. Speaking to Notre Dame Now, Mrs Couttie voiced her concern that negative messages surrounding Brexit are likely to cause young people even more anxiety in an ever-changing world.

With Britain’s official exit from the European Union potentially delayed until October 31, there’s still a mountain to be climbed. Theresa May is still trying to persuade Parliament to support the deal, despite all of her early draft attempts being repeatedly rejected. Both major parties are bitterly divided, and nobody is certain about what we should do next or what the future holds for Britain.

Will we have a soft Brexit, a hard Brexit or no Brexit at all? Will there be another Referendum or a General Election? No one seems to know. Theresa May is also under a lot of pressure from the country to please everybody and stick to her stated timescale, however the departing leader has already taken steps to extend the Brexit process.

Most Britons find themselves supporting one of the four Brexit ‘groups’: remainers, soft Brexiteers, hard Brexiteers and those in favour of opting for ‘no deal’ with the EU. The problem seems to be that nobody can compromise and come to a decision. Not only that, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MPs – who have been in a coalition deal with the Conservatives to keep Theresa May’s party in power since the 2017 General Election – are now refusing to support the PM if Northern Ireland is treated differently post-Brexit in any way compared to the rest of Britain.

To see if I could find some Brexit answers for myself, I decided to organise a poll of local people’s opinions on the issue and the results were interesting. I had an amazing response and over one hundred people submitted their views. Overall, 77% voted to remain in the EU, while 19% voted to leave the EU and 4% remain unsure.

A recent petition on the government’s .GOV website has skyrocketed, receiving nearly 6 million signatures – more than the population of Scotland! The petition called for the UK Government to Revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU – basically cancelling Brexit. This has become the most popular petition on the site, overtaking the petition to hold a second EU Referendum, which shows the strength of feeling about this issue.

In Scotland meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon has published a bill for a Second Independence Referendum since Scotland voted overwhelmingly, in unison, to remain part of the EU. However, Theresa May has already firmly stated that she will not give permission for this vote to take place, with many of her potential successors echoing her firm stance.

Notre Dame’s leader, Mrs Couttie, supports another referendum on Europe, pointing out that much of the regeneration she’s seen Inverclyde benefit from has come from EU funding sources. Mrs Couttie also expressed concerns about the way the public were informed about the issues surrounding Brexit and explored its implications for her in terms of Scotland’s future in the UK.

“I think that a lot of the regeneration in Inverclyde all happened because of the funding from Europe. We need to make sure that our politicians make the right decisions. Another referendum would be a good step, I think that when they first made the suggestion I think a lot of people in England made the decision to leave based on things like immigration. I don’t think that there was enough information given about it at the time, that the advantages and disadvantages were not clear,” said Mrs Couttie.

The Head Teacher even says the whole process has caused her to re-think the debate on Scottish independence, saying “I didn’t vote for independence the last time myself. However I’d have to say that, if we were faced with Brexit and independence gave us a way back into Europe, then I would change my mind and support it.”

On May 23rd, the European elections took place with shocking results that meant the leading parties – Labour and the Tories – suffered major losses because of their confusing stance on Brexit. Before the results were even announced, the PM jumped ship and declared that she was standing down on June 7th.

Scotland’s election results bore stark contrast to the picture in the UK as a whole. The SNP enjoyed another major victory, securing first place in 30 of Scotland’s 32 councils, winning 37.7% of the vote share and half of Scottish seats in the EU Parliament.

Meanwhile, in the UK as a whole the losses suffered by the two main parties benefited an array of smaller parties, including the newly formed Brexit Party who won 31.6% of the vote and 29 of 73 of seats. The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party also enjoyed major gains with the Lib Dems receiving a 20.3% vote share and winning 16 seats (compared to 1 in 2014). The Green Party, meanwhile, received 12.09% of the vote share and won 7 seats (compared to 4 in 2014).

Needless to say, it is a confusing story. With that in mind I spoke to my Modern Studies teacher, Mrs Mileham, to see if she could clarify the confusing tale of Brexit for me.

“It’s a mess,” she said. “Nobody seems to know what’s going on. Nobody really knows what they want. The EU are laughing at us. I’m quite worried about it. Socially, we can already see the effects of it. There’s a massive divide between those that wanted to leave and those that wanted to remain. There’s also been an increase in racial hate crime since the vote went through and that’s a concern.”

Asked about what we should do next, Mrs Mileham urged leaders to take more time over the historic issue, saying, “I don’t know if there are any guarantees that, if we have another referendum, that the results would change. We’re at that stage now where the government aren’t able to make a decision on it; I’m not sure whether the people can either, but trying is better than not doing anything. We should extend the process, definitely.”

After looking at the politician’s opinions, asking the public myself and speaking to both a Modern Studies Teacher and the Head Teacher, I am one of many left feeling thoroughly frustrated at the lack of clear answers on this issue. It’s a scary thought, but if things go to plan (fingers crossed, everyone?), by next Halloween, we’ll be out of Europe, the good guy will defeat the bad guy, the witch will fly off on her broomstick to some far off land, and – abracadabra -  we’ll all live happily ever after. The End?

Notre Dame Voices: “You’re you – not everyone else”

Notre Dame Voices is a special feature as part of Notre Dame Now, which allows a pupil, staff member or anyone who is part of our wider school community, to speak anonymously about an issue that’s been affecting them.

In our first ever instalment, an anonymous S1 pupil speaks bravely and passionately about the struggles of forming friendships groups after arriving in Secondary school from Primary.

I’m a first year pupil at Notre Dame High School and it wasn’t exactly easy to get to this point in life. There were times that I thought I wouldn’t get here but I came to a few realisations: firstly, that not everything is easy; and, that we do have people who will listen and who will be able to help us through really challenging times. I’ve also been able to see that, sometimes we just get so caught up in stressful situations in our lives, we don’t think anything or anyone can help. But there’s always a way out of even our seemingly impossible struggles.

In my case, my stresses and struggles existed because of me – me choosing to be around and hang around with the wrong people. I did think that I was making the correct decision for me, but that was just my head manipulating me into thinking it was the right thing to do – when it definitely wasn’t! I thought by doing this – by compromising on who I really am and on what I really value and regard as important – that people would like me. Silly me. I think it was silly of me to think that because you really can’t force someone to like you – ever – and especially when you’re changing yourself completely to please others.

This may sound familiar to those of you who may have already gone through this time period in your own lives, switching from Primary to Secondary school. It’s totally normal to think this kind of stuff is important but sometimes you do need to face the truth – even if that does mean losing some people. Your true friends are those who are willing to stick by you and support you through these types of situations.

If you find that you’re changing yourself to be part of a certain friendship group, then that simply shouldn’t be the case. You shouldn’t ever need to change yourself for people to like you. If someone doesn’t like you for who you are, that’s fine. Don’t bother with them. Why? Because you’re you – not everyone else. You’re your own person and no-one but you should get to decide that you’re going to change.