Category Archives: Claire DeFrancisci

Claire DeFrancisci, Features

Family traditions help shape the holiday season

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By Claire DeFrancisci

Thanksgiving is a holiday that is known for enjoying time with family, eating plenty of food, and being thankful for what one has. As the holiday season approaches, so do the traditions that come along with it.

“I’m always with my family on Thanksgiving, and we always watch football. My favorite food to eat is always strawberry pie,” said junior Cody Cherry.

Traveling to see family is not an unusual trend during the holidays. Sophomore Jackson Bishop drives to western Kentucky to visit his grandparent’s every year.

“My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is the food and being off from school. What I don’t like is that sometimes when my family is all together they can be pretty annoying,” said Bishop.

Every family is unique in the way that they celebrate Thanksgiving. Some traditions are not as common and used by others. For example, sophomore Hannah Porter and her family kick off the holiday season by shooting rockets. Her brother-in-law’s family brought this tradition and it stuck.

“In the past five Thanksgivings after dinner we go out into a field and shoot rockets and whoever catches it gets $20. We usually have around 25-30 people at my house so it’s fun,” said Porter.

Every individual family has there own traditions and ways of celebrating. Whether it is eating foods that are not the average Thanksgiving delicacies, watching football all day, or even shooting rockets, the time spent with friends and family should not go unappreciated.

Claire DeFrancisci, Columns, Forum

‘Truth is…’ becomes internet cliche

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By Claire DeFrancisci

By Summer Haynes

Most teenagers that have a  Facebook have seen them. Many of those teenagers have posted them. The “truth is” statuses have invaded Facebook and now are essentially unavoidable.

 A “truth is” status is when a user posts “truth is” as their status and their friends can “like” it. As the status-poster sees someone has liked it they basically write memories and what they have always thought of this person on the person’s wall. This may not seem  obnoxious but don’t be fooled. When these build up in someone’s Facebook newsfeed it’s like reading the same monotonous posts over and over.

 These contagious posts come in many different forms. The “let’s be honest”, “3 facts”, and “rate you 1-10” are practically the same thing. My personal favorite is the “put a number and a question in my inbox and I’ll answer it as my status” post.  It is the exact same thing as simply asking someone a question (typically about how attractive someone thinks they are) and having him or her answer. These are worse because no one can see what the question was, only the answer.

 Reading this mindless Facebook graffiti is exhausting due to the fact that most of them are exactly the same thing. A typical answer goes like this:

 Truth is: I’ve seen you in the hallway a couple times.

Truth is: You’re so pretty!

Truth is: You seem chill.

Truth is: We should totally hang out sometime!

Although these posts can be annoying and repetitive, it is understandable why they are so popular. Who would not want to know what somebody thinks of you right? Unfortunately you are not getting the truth most of the time, it is mostly mindless and complimentary.

 My advice is instead of writing a short impersonal note on someone’s virtual wall, find the courage to come up and talk to him or her in person.

Claire DeFrancisci, Features, Uncategorized

FC Fashion Week: Freshman Mikaela Click displays her sweet floral look

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[slideshow]

By Bekah Landers and Claire DeFrancisci

Freshman Mikaela Click uses fun florals and cozy cardigans to show her style.

“I like to wear warm colors, but I go by whatever it is like outside,” said Click.

Click says that she effortlessly puts her outfits together in the morning, choosing whatever looks cute in the morning.

“I like to not worry about where I get my clothes. Basically, you don’t have to shop at designer boutiques to get a one-of-a-kind look. If I like something at Goodwill, I’ll get it. The store shouldn’t hold you back if you like it,” said Click.

Click tries to stand out amongst her peers, not worrying about having a designer label or 100 dollar shoes.

Claire DeFrancisci, Features

Cartoonist aspires to pursue hobby as career

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By Claire DeFrancisci

One of sophomore Emma Howie's finished cartoons. Photo by Claire DeFrancisci.
The sounds of a pencil working feverishly against paper fill your ears. Looking up, sophomore Emma Howie can be seen looking intently at her small sketchbook.Howie is a talented cartoonist who hopes to one day be a professional. Reading how-to books and practice has helped her become the artist that she is today.“Most of it comes from things I see in real life, like where shadows fall in different light. When I was little I used to draw my hand over and over again just to see how it looked every time I moved it,” said Howie.

To keep her skills fresh, Howie also takes Drawing I-II classes. She will continue to take drawing and painting classes throughout high school to keep improving.

“I like to draw cartoon people, but I’m going to take a paint class so I can get better at painting as well,” said Howie.

Not only does Howie draw her cartoons for pleasure, but she also makes a profit. She draws things for specific people like cartoon versions of themselves, pets, or even fan art from T.V. shows.

“People ask me to draw colored cartoons for them, but the pens that I use are so expensive that I charge them $5 depending on the size and difficulty of the drawing,” said Howie.

Howie said drawing is not just a phase, but it is something she would like to for the rest of her life.

“I really would like to be a cartoonist for Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, or Disney. Especially Disney, but that would be a hard job to get. I also would like to draw comics for Marvel or DC because those artists inspire me.”

FC is full of unique talents like Howie’s cartooning. Her talents show that anyone can pursue their dreams with a little practice.

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