Some Thoughts On The Matter

     Lately, I've been pretty fascinated with rewatching media that I would watch when I was younger to see the different significance it holds to me now, many years later. Sure, the nostalgia trip is  pretty comforting during some boring nights, but mostly I've been really surprised by all of the themes and messaging that went over my head when I was younger. I might have just been a slow kid, but it feels like almost every cartoon I remember watching when I was in elementary school and middle school carries a new meaning that I don't remember processing, like advice on healthy and mature relationships, or how to deal with grief or trauma.     One of these cartoons was Adventure Time , which infamously was not  liked by my mom. I vividly remember her complaining about how all of the cartoons looked like acid trips and that the showrunners were all on drugs, but beyond the trippy visuals and goofy characters, I realized just recently how much effort an...

      Finally, another semester of my work at the Kudzu Review has come to a close. I've talked about my experience working during my first semester in another blog post, but this semester has felt like a completely different experience in all the right ways!     On the work side of things, I feel like I've really found my voice as an editor for the fiction department in Kudzu. I think I've zeroed in on what makes a "good story" in my opinion, and I've gotten better at voicing exactly what I think a submission does well or does poorly, which has helped me become a more active voice during the meeting discussions. I've always had a harder time voicing my thoughts aloud as opposed to writing them out, since I've preferred writing out my thoughts with more precision and control over my wording instead of fumbling over words and feeling too shy to jump into the middle of a conversation. However, this has really changed this semester. At first most of my co...

     I'll keep this blog post very, very  short since I'm still recovering from writing those super long Spring Break posts. It seems that despite my optimism about having my battery recharged following my return from Blueridge, I actually had the inverse effect. Instead of coming in refreshed, ready to tackle new challenges, I had instead overwhelmed myself very suddenly as I realized exactly how many responsibilities and expectations I had placed on myself in an effort to be the best me I can be.     It's not something I'm super excited to admit, but these stressful thoughts led to a lot of anxiety, so much so that for most of this week, I had trouble sleeping more than 2-3 hours each night, since I couldn't clear my mind from all the thoughts and worries that swirled around in my head. Finally, at around 4 AM one night, I got out of bed (since I wasn't sleeping anytime soon anyways) and started jotting down every thought and worry I had on my mind on sti...

    Here it is, the final blog post chronicling my Spring Break adventures in Blueridge, Georgia. Let's jump straight into it, we're on the home stretch!     After the second day of caving on Wednesday, we had once again stayed up very late partying, watching movies, and gaming. After all, what more would you expect from a bunch of college kids in a secluded cabin? However, it seems that we didn't learn our lesson from the other day, and we ended up sleeping through almost the entire day. Still, I was unwilling to let a day slip by us without going on some sort of adventure, so I convinced a few friends to hop in a car while everyone else was asleep and we drove over to a nearby Amish store. Unsurprisingly, there wasn't really anything that caught our attention, but there was a very sweet old Amish woman who offered us some free food at her store for showing interest in her culture. It was here that I tried "bacon cheese," which, shockingly, tasted exactly lik...

      Hey! Since I'm assuming you're reading all of these blog posts at once, let's ski[ the introduction and get straight into the action!      On the morning of Monday, March 10th, the gang had woken up egregiously early in order to get a head start on the day's adventures, which almost felt like we overestimated how much we would be able to do in just one day. Regardless, after piling into a few cars, we had driven 90 minutes across state borders to reach Chattanooga, Tennessee. Our first stop on the agenda was a place called Ruby Falls, which was a guided cave system tour that would conclude with a beautiful underground waterfall.     I've never really considered myself particularly claustrophobic, but I must admit, there was something about having my ears pop from the pressure change as our elevator dropped us deep within the earth, revealing how far we were from the open sky, that unnerved me a little bit. What's more, it REALLY didn't help ...

 Hey! I know it doesn't feel like it, but it's actually been a while since I've posted on this blog. Where have I been? Deep in the mountainous woods of Blueridge, Georgia. For the last week, I have been whisked away to a cabin at the start of the Appalachian Mountains with some friends, enjoying my first ever Spring Break away from home. But before I get too far ahead of myself, allow me to recount the days leading up to this nature getaway first!     The plans to spend spring break in the woods had been pitched months earlier, all the way back in October. Back then, as we sat watching some movies, my buddy Tyler had mentioned renting a cabin for spring break, and maybe having a few friends to relax with. I agreed that this was a nice idea, but when he asked me directly about joining the trip myself, I was a little unsure, since it would be my first time being a part of a big trip with friends that I wasn't  planning, and it also meant I'd be giving up a chance to ...

      Continuing from the INVINCIBLE hype from my last blog post, I wanted to do a quick blog about my thoughts on the latest season finale from this show, since I feel like there was a lot to talk about! Spoilers ahead for all of Invincible (obviously)!     Starting off with what's freshest in my mind: The Conquest Fight. After having this fight with Conquest hyped up for months, I am pleased to report that it was indeed worth the wait. As a fight that was referred to as "the best fight in the comic" by many of my comic reader friends, the expectations were set sky-high for this episode. Luckily, this episode benefitted from one of my main critiques with this season: the animation. In many other episodes, the animation is much lower quality than it was in the first season, with several errors bleeding into the final product. However, it seems that all of the animators' attention was on this fight, as it was not only flawless, but also in a vastly different qual...

      Hey! With the upcoming finale of Season 3 of Invincible coming up soon, I figured I'd write about one of the most impactful scenes from the show, all the way back in Season 1's brutal finale. Before I get into that though, I'm aware that some people may not be familiar with Invincible or its story, so I'll give a quick recap of the show's first season to contextualize what makes this scene so powerful. Spoilers ahead though!     Invincible is an Amazon Prime animated superhero show that was based on a comic book of the same name, which was written by Robert Kirkman. It follows the story of Mark Grayson, son of Omni-Man (the most powerful hero in the world) as he gains his powers as a teenager and navigates the action-packed, brutal world of superhero-ing. However, in the background of Mark's story, a darker murder mystery is being solved by some of the other characters- the mass murder of the Guardians of The Globe, this show's replacement for superher...