CARPE DIEM
Decatur High School 310 N. McDonough St. Decatur, GA 30030
carpediem@csdecatur.net
OR CURRENT RESIDENT
NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE
Decatur GA 30030 PERMIT 680
PAID
By Hannah Reiss | Illustration by Olivia McDavid InTHEIR Olaf London words
The season is here – are you feeling the cheer? IN A NUTSHELL
Simply put? No. Not at all. As a beard bearing, flannel wearing, indie-music- loving free spirit, I cannot embrace the mainstream holiday season. It’s just so conformist and capitalistic.
SHRUBBERY
I’m ashamed to admit it, but I dig ornaments. Te trees down the street are sold by a church, and the proceeds go to homeless shelters or something. I’m conflicted about buying a tree because that church has some people in it who support the Tea Party. My money’s not going to them. Plus, you know, trees are expensive. I spent my last paycheck dealing with the infection of my septum piercing, and if I want to have enough money to spend at Urban Outfitters’ upcoming flannel sale, I need to save up, and that means no tree.
AN ALTERNATIVE
So I grew a bonsai. It was actually kind of nice because I noticed something sprouting out of my organic-only compost late this summer. A few weeks ago, I managed to wrangle the sucker out from between the egg shells and pomegran- ate skins.
ODORS AND OOZE
I had a bonsai, but now what? It smelled a little off from months of occupying my decomposing produce. I had to infuse it with a desirable odor. I really like peppermint, but I don’t want my friends to think I’m cliché, so I’m going to tell them it’s a scent I made myself from tea leaves and essential oils. I had just pro- cured my odors when I noticed the worms in my indoor compost had escaped!
EMBRACING THE IMAGE
If I were your typical wuss, I would have freaked out, but the wormy image was actually really rad. If I’d had my iPhone on me, I could’ve totally snapped a pic- ture and posted it on Instagram. But I didn’t want to step on any worms going to find it, so I drew the scene on my thigh for documentation.
LIFE GOES ON
But I couldn’t dwell in the moment. I had things to do! I always give my parents gifts to stay on good terms with them to keep receiving trust fund money. But I’m so broke right now. I turned on some Reptar and scrounged out this lame do-it-yourself candle kit. I wrapped the candles in Trader Joe’s paper grocery bags, put them under the bonsai and called it a night. With all this excitement, I just had to update my Tumblr, even without the worm picture. Maybe the holidays aren’t so bad after all.
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