Anything can happen over time, but it’s interesting to think about if teenagers are simply dating for now or dating for the future. Just the thought of “for now or for later” can be both confusing and frustrating to young people. The decisions teens make now can change the way they approach life and love in the future. 

Thinking about what the future has in store may not always be clear, however, with a partner who supports talking about dreams, goals and hopes – there is so much possibility for growth. 

Many adults date to find life partners and spouses, but in high school this isn’t always the goal. A healthy conversation about dating should include the discussion of why one is even attempting to date. 

“I have that mindset that I shouldn’t date someone now if I can’t imagine a future with them” Cedar Hill sophomore Anna Taylor explains. “Overall, I would hope that person can develop into I can grow with and maybe even marry someday.” 

 There are so many factors one needs to consider when dating as a teenager. Relationships should be fun and both parties should work to be supportive of one another. A couple should consist of two individuals who want the best for the other person. A partner should not just serve as a distraction. 

Obstacles will always be present. The opinions of others will always show up. And of course, it’s human nature to have doubts and questions. A healthy relationship is what all teenagers should aspire to have while in high school. It shouldn’t just be about showing a relationship off to the world.

Last week, the government went through with getting TikTok banned because of the app being a national security threat to the United States. The threat was supposedly derived from the Chinese government getting information about the US from the app’s database. Millions of Americans use the app constantly and technology firm ByteDance that made TikTok is based in Beijing – where the Chinese government has access to the company. 

On January 18, 2025 TikTok was temporarily shut down for 24 hours which sent the internet into a frenzy, due to the thought that TikTok was gone forever. TikTok was removed from the app store along with two other popular apps that are closely associated with TikTok. 

At the time, it appeared the government determined that removing the app was in the best interest of the privacy and safety of all American citizens. 

TikTok is one app that teenagers and many others engage in frequently because of how it entertains and informs them in their free time. The idea of losing the app doesn’t sit well with many students, and adults who have made careers on the platform. 

“I feel like TikTok getting banned is too much because TikTok is basically another level of education for us,” said Ni’keria Lowery. “That’s where we learn so much.” 

While TikTok returned to the phones of millions of American users the next day, a potential ban is still very much on the table. 

Not only does the app provide education and entertainment to its users, but it also affords many an additional source of income. The lingering effects of a permanent ban would impact so many people in this country.

Coronado, affectionately known as “Jio” is a professional theater actor and he recently starred in The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley JR.

“I have been in theater since I was in sixth grade,” Coronado explains. “I’ve done over twelve shows, and I just prefer musicals because I think they’re so fun.”

When he was in sixth grade, Coronado recalls watching a show at Casa Mañana called “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” It was that production that ignited a fire in him that he just couldn’t put out. 

“I knew I wanted to start doing just that, so I could be in something just like that,” he jokes. “At the end of my sixth grade year, going into seventh grade – I began at Theater Arlington and Casa Mañana Theatre.”

Coronado is a self-described “free spirited individual,” who enjoys his line of work and takes great pride in performing in plays. 

“Every moment has been great – I love theater; I love to sing and dance,” Coronado continues. “Flat Stanley JR was my first show at  Theater Arlington and it was so much fun.”

While Coronado is just beginning his high school journey, he is beyond excited about the opportunities to expand his career in theater. He is bold, daring and has quite the infectious personality. 

“I have no idea how far I can go with my theater career,” Coronado says. “But I have no plans to stop. My road to success is under construction.”

The book begins in the present day where Matt is feeling like he’s stuck in a slump about life itself. He goes on to analyze his surroundings and where he fits in. As Matt is overanalyzing his life, his friend Scott interrupts his train of thought and invites him to go get pizza. Scott is not only his friend but his boss too. Along the way, Scott suggests that Matt should check out this woman who works at the pizza shop and as a courtesy it will count as a business expense in hopes that this will take Matt out of the darkness he’s been in. 

On their way to lunch, they decide to take the subway to the pizza shop and as they’re waiting, Matt notices a woman and he is completely drawn to her. This woman steps off the platform and into the train and when she turns around, her and Matt lock eyes and he notices it’s a familiar face which caused him to go down memory lane. As he tried to approach her before the doors closed, it was too late and she was gone in a blink of an eye.

The woman that he saw is Grace, they met back in college which took place fifteen years ago at New York University. She holds a very special place in Matt’s heart because he always felt like she was the one who got away. In that split second, Matt wished he would have been quicker on his feet. He wondered what her life was like after the years passed. 

In Grace’s point of view, she felt the same way of wishing she had noticed him prior to her entering the train. If only, she had a few more seconds to at least say hello. You definitely could tell that there is still chemistry between them. 

After their encounter, Matt arrives back at work and tries to search her name up on the internet but unfortunately he could not find any useful information. He made many attempts with no avail. 

Matt could not stop thinking about Grace, he thought about her on a daily basis and even went to the extremes of searching for her at their old hangout spots and also riding the train everyday after work for a whole month. Thankfully, Scott knew about these online ads on Craigslist by the name of “Missed Connections”. On these ads, anyone can post about their experience with someone in public that they would like to get in contact with to form a connection. 

As insane as it sounded Matt was thinking about giving it a try but he wondered deep down was she married? Does she have kids? Would he be intruding? Was the spark still there on her end? 

This book takes you through the ups and downs of each character’s lives and what their future holds. 

I highly recommend this book because it’s an attention grabber and it gives you hope for second chance love. It will definitely tug on your heart strings and make you want more. 

Did Matt write the Missed Connections Ad? Read “Before We Were Strangers” to find out.

Lana had an amazing show and the crowd was so pumped up to see her perform live. The whole environment was electric and comforting. 

The concert had a rough start due to a heavy thunderstorm but not even the rain can keep fans away from seeing her live. She was very interactive with the audience and also cared about their safety. 

She started the concert off with a well known song which had the crowd cheering and singing along. Lana’s energy made everyone feel welcomed and loved as she kept thanking the crowd for being there and all their support towards her. 

Lana even took a moment to address the standing room only crowd near the stage by taking items that the fans brought her. In particular, the famous red heart shaped sunglasses that she references in a few of her songs for example, one of them is called “Diet Mountain Dew”. It was a special moment for a fan when Lana took their glasses and tried them on. She eventually gave the glasses back but it was still an experience of a lifetime. 

The music that she sang came from various albums that she created. Hearing her live was truly a life-altering experience. It felt like the crowd was floating on clouds and hung onto every word she sang. 

Everyone had an amazing time no matter the circumstances. Lana is a very spectacular artist and her voice is one of a kind. She is an incredible and caring human being. 

This concert exceeded my expectations and went beyond anyone’s beliefs. It was truly a blessing to see her sing all the fan’s favorite songs. She unfortunately wasn’t able to sing the last two songs due to another storm coming in. Fans were upset but understood her concern for everyone to make it home safely. 

In the end, she made a loving speech towards her fans and thanked them for everything they have done for her. I would highly recommend seeing her in concert. 

This competition took place all day, but the call time for Lamar students was approximately 2:15 p.m. In front of judges, students performed to receive scores in a variety of categories that  ultimately determined their placement at the competition. Theater Coordinator Patrick Holcomb primarily wished to accomplish a good performance to the best of everyone’s ability.

“We had seven minutes to set up our stage, 40 minutes to do our show, and seven minutes to do our strike… and if we go over that at all we get disqualified,” Holcomb said. “So for us, it was the experience of going there and conquering those things. Like doing the seven, 40 and seven minutes… and then doing it successfully. That’s a lot of it.”

Although placing at a decent level was an achievement, it wasn’t  the main focus of the event.

“Advancing was wonderful but that’s not why we did it,” Holcomb said.

Other students, such as Rafael Payne who plays the lead character in the play, did hope to place while also hoping to receive recognition for his and everyone else’s hard work. 

“I wanted our accomplishments to be recognized,” Payne said. “I wanted our hard work to be recognized and to have something to prove for all these hours that I’ve put into the play.”

Junior Daziah Knox played Aunt TP, a strong-willed woman who doesn’t submit to men. When she learned of her team’s advancement, she was completely startled.

“When we first got there, there were like all these schools and it seemed kind of intimidating.  Their sets seemed bigger than ours and all these things,” Knox said. “But toward the end, we all had to pull our part and luckily we did, I’m so happy that we did,” Knox said.

Naturally, this required much preparation, and Knox is no newcomer when it comes to one-act plays.

“I’ve done one act-play before. I did it last year so I kind of already knew what to expect when I went into it,” Knox said. “I think we were very prepared set-wise. We would go over how to strike the set, how to put up the set, back to back with no breaks. We had rehearsals every single day, we were very prepared. It just came down to everyone putting in their part and doing their part.”

The film provides plenty of adventure throughout Raya’s quest, as she’s trying to save her country from this apocalyptic looking world created by the Druun and factions. The soundtrack also did a good job in adding to the adventure, as well as more sentimental feelings for emotional scenes. When her father is turned to stone, I cried like I would with any parent’s death in a Disney movie. The overall plot of the movie seemed kind of predictable to me, which is kind of understandable given that it’s a Disney princess movie. Even still, I enjoyed watching the beautiful connections she made along the way, as well as seeing how she dealt with trusting others, and how it took time to learn to trust again.

I appreciate that one prominent theme in this movie was trust and how it can be difficult to handle at times. Considering their young audience, this is a good lesson to implement. Raya’s trust is quickly broken by Namaari at the beginning of the movie, and from then on, it’s difficult for her to lend out her trust to others. Each time Raya and Sisu encounter a new friend, she is very wary about them. I like how they showed the difficulty in learning to trust others after being burned. However, I think I would have liked to see Namaari apologize for breaking her trust. I think she should have earned Raya’s trust back, rather than Raya having to be the better person and sacrifice herself, without being healed with Namaari’s apology. Even then, I think the lesson of being a better person than how others might treat you is still a decent thing for younger audiences to learn, and is a good reminder for more mature audiences as well.

While some details can be connected to multiple Southeast Asian cultures, there are others that are more unique to one, like those of Cambodia and Vietnam. The movie gives off the impression that they’re all the same, and that they’re exactly like this movie. Each of the Southeast Asian cultures that influenced this movie still have their own individual qualities that differ from one another, and it would have been nice to see an accurate representation of one of them, rather than having them all melted together for one movie. Especially since a major target audience of the film is impressionable children, who most likely still haven’t learned about other cultures, the mixed representation of these cultures can send the wrong impression.

Seeing that there are more East Asian actors rather than Southeast Asian actors is a bit disappointing, considering the movie is based on Southeast Asian culture. It’s always best to have accurate representation.

Overall, the movie is still beautifully done and fun to watch. As long as viewers can come to understand the struggles of trusting others and the reality of diverse cultures within Southeast Asia, I think it is a great movie.

The game came out and millions of people on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC have gotten so many glitches, bugs, game crashes and even the game running at 15 frames per second. The game showed it wasn’t close to ready as many players demanded refunds which everyone was granted till December 21. the game was so bad that PlayStation took the game off their PlayStation Store which hurt CD Projekt Red.

I was one of the people who pre-ordered the game and played it on a PS4 Pro, and spent over 100 hours on the game, in my experience I had more than 20 bugs and and 5 game crashes throughout the whole game. In the start the game they let you create your character named V customizing everywhere of his or her body literally. Then you get to choose a three life paths a nomad who you live outside of the huge city making you know little about it, street kid who you lived in the city all of your life and knows the city very well, and finally corpo who you always worked as a greedy corporate worker which your know how to negotiate for your benefits. Now all three have different unique intros showing the world of Cyberpunk 2077, the game remains the same the all for lifepaths expect with only one or two different side quests and different dialogue choices. Now before the game came out Cd Projekt Red said that every choice you make with always have consequences to the world this later was false as more than 98% of all dialogue choices have no effect whatsoever.

But how’s the world of the future, it feels pretty empty. The world looks beautiful with the futuristic looks and tons of corporate advertisement some that are wild, but the world is empty the tons of stores that are in the game are closed when it looks like its open, most side quests and gigs most are rinse and repeat. The some side quests that are unique is when the game shines that is if your console or PC and run the game.

The main story was interesting when it work the game was beautiful and immersive, the likable supporting characters that have deep stories themselves if you spend time with them. So the story goes after a robbing gig of a chip that V puts in him or her head. After V’s fixer finds out he kills V but the chip saves V with a cost that in the chip you meet Johnny Silverhand who is played by Keanu Reeves, a terrorist who nuked a whole corporation, his soul is trapped in the in chip and tries to take over your body killing you. The whole game is V finding a way to take off the chip without dying.

The story is well voiced acted and a interesting story that can get you hooked, but as of right now the game is not ready to be played its badly broken, most of players are going to play this with the past generation of consoles which barley run the game. I recommend to everyone to wait for this game to get fixed from frame rates to game crashes, but if these problems didn’t exists the side quests and gigs should be reworked to not being copy and paste. Its a 4/10 of the broken futuristic game it tried too much it can handle.

Campaign

This game finally brings campaign back than its last game Call of Duty Black Ops 4, but this time it brings back old fan favorite characters from the original Black Ops game. Taking place in 1981, it introduces new characters along the way. For the first time the campaign allows you to create your character and what type of abilities you can have, from being a CIA agent to being a spy. The twist with this campaign, compared to others, is they allow to you to choose whether or not you would want to decode items to a floppy disk to find spies that lurk in the country. This is not easy and gave a challenge to the player on doing CIA decoding. The missions are incredible without spoilers Treyarch brings back story choices from Black Ops 2 which gives off three endings in which all give a shocking twist. This campaign is up there with the old classic Call of Duty campaigns.

Multiplayer

Now with this mode this might be loved by old veterans to the series but not so much for new comers. When I mean that is that Treyarch took the multiplayer to its old form of way to fight in the varieties of modes. The gunsmith is back from Modern Warfare (2019) and is given so many attachments to make your guns better. The new modes that this game gives are VIP Escort where you have to escort one player to escape to a chopper, Dirty Bomb where you have to place toxic gas bombs to win, and Combine Arms a 12 v 12 fight. As of right now there are only 12 maps. The sad thing about it is that most of them are way too big for a normal team deathmatch and some of the maps are too good for campers to enjoy the game. As of right now the multiplayer needs content for players to come back as Modern Warfare (2019) did with their modes. This game will get additional content for free good for players but as it stands but for now I would recommend this for all veterans of the series.

Zombies

With a new story and a new refresh map mixing it with the first ever zombie map from Black Ops “Nacht der Untoten” the new map is called Die Maschine. This time the zombies mode doesn’t bring back the old four favorite characters from the past 4 Black Ops games. This time you choose your operator and just follow the story, where you go to a abandon Nazi Lab which the Soviets tried to start again where they ended but failed and caused dimentations and the undead to rise. Now the map is a little complex with the main attraction being the original “Nacht der Untoten” map inside this one, the wonder weapon in this map is really cool and in which you can upgrade while doing the easter egg. As of right now with only one map, this mode needs multiple as the nostalgia hits hard with returning gun the Raygun, but its a solid map fun with friends of long lasting rounds of zombies.

Conclusion

With all the modes available to PlayStation and Xbox players, the game is very good to both generation of consoles. The hold back is the for the new consoles the game is $70 dollars and it’s only to play on the new generation of consoles, faster loading time and slightly graphic improvement. I say it’s unnecessary because I played this on the PlayStation 4 and it was as good as if you were playing on the PlayStation 5 but of course with those benefits. So I give is game with all it has right now an 8/10. It has great campaign, an old-school multiplayer, and new fresh zombies mode.