Jacky Brian: "The Individualistic Artist"

A photo of Jacky. Photo courtesy of
Faith Staley.

Oh my goodness, it’s Jacky Brian. A dear friend of mine who I’ve shared many experiences with. Like the time we went to the beach! Okay it was a flooded baseball field, but it was still a blast! Anyway, Jacky is a fantastic person to be around and will fill you with laughter.

In Jacky’s free time she partakes in the following: writing in her ever so large journal, drawing awe-inspiring sketches, painting magnificent pictures, and of course listening to her endless music collection. She loves to express herself through many variations. And of course (like every other teenager these days) she watches Orange is the New Black regularly. She simply states that it’s basically her life.

Relating back to listening to music, Jacky’s biggest inspiration is the lead singer for one of our favorite bands: Green Day. She says that she loves how Billy Joe Armstrong is abnormally big on individuality and not conforming to society's ideals. She believes that is most likely the coolest thing ever and a fantastic lesson for life.

Jacky’s favorite memory (and also mine) is when we celebrated our friend Faith’s birthday. It was a day full of surprises that will last in my mind forever. I believe that we started at Jacky’s house and made piping hot cocoa and put the toasty liquid in a thermos. Then we walked the short distance to City Park and found a well-deserving spot next to Poison Creek and drank our hot chocolate with huge grins. Then Faith and I (being the hippies that we are) saw cans of beer in the creek. We both were determined to “save” the cans and recycle them. The first can was easy to reach in and frantically grab. But the second one was a different story. So in this particular spot there was a tree in the center of creek with very little land surrounding it. And right below that tree was where the disastrous can was located. So we came up with this innovative plan to hang on to the tree and reach for the can. I went first, but since I had no success Faith went next. Now remember that this was her birthday. She hung precariously from the tree and extended as far as she could. And then terror struck. She basically plummeted into the bone-chilling water. There is an ever so embarrassing video on Jacky’s Instagram if you want to check that out. Happy Birthday Faith!

Jacky is terrified of the future and has no clue about what she wants to be when she’s older. But she does know where she wants to live, Michigan. I don’t know much about Michigan but I hear that they have breathtaking cross country skiing. Lastly a word that Jacky would use to describe herself is individualistic. And let me tell you she is quite the individual. I have never seen Jacky cave into the status quo here at TMJH. She is truly unique and you won’t regret becoming friends with her.

An "artsy" photo of Jacky in a library hallway. Photo Courtesy of Faith Staley.

Faith Staley: "Give Peace a Chance"

Image Courtesy: Faith Staley

Ah Faith Staley, the hippie feminist. A friend of mine who has a unique persona. We met in seventh grade in our social studies class. We had a teacher named Mr. Sanderson who made us do a mormon pioneer project. Well Faith took charge and invited our group to her humble abode and made me act as a girl for the project. We basically got an A+ on that project. 

This last summer Faith and I decided to spend one of the last days of summer throwing vegetables off of a mountain. So that’s what we did. We started from Faith’s house and rode to the grocery store to buy vegetables. I believe we bought an eggplant, two tomatoes, candy, and some peace tea. We then biked to PC hill and hiked to the top where we experienced some soaring hang gliders. We then started dancing to the Beatles and began to throw the organics. First we splattered some tomatoes which was quite satisfying. And then Faith viscously ripped open the eggplant and we threw it off. It was a pretty spot on day. 

A picture I took from the day we threw
vegetables off of PC Hill.

She uses coconut oil for everything and is a sucker for ballet. Faith is a Harry Potter fanatic and listens to the Beatles religiously. An interesting fact about Faith is that she has tea parties on roofs. Yes we have climbed onto her roof with tea and water bottles and danced to Wavin' Flag while waving to her neighbors. She attends environmental movie festivals and has even gone to congress with a petition against fracking. All in all, she is exponentially determined to get what she wants and will not stop at a simple no. Faith also started a blog about the sexist dress code at our school. Check it out here: Dresscoded.

Faith also has a weird fascination with ice skating. Like once we were just sitting around and all of a sudden she had an outburst about how badly she needed to go ice skating. This went on for weeks on end until she finally went ice skating. Let’s just say that she was way too happy.

Faith partakes in the Park City Dance Academy and was recently given the role of Raggedy Andy in their version of the Nutcracker. So go Faith! But seriously though, she is an awe-inspiring dancer and is truly amazing. I personally can not wait until I can go see Faith kill it in the Nutcracker.

My final story for Faith is the time that we got stuck in a ball. It was a sunny afternoon near the end of eighth grade and we were at Faith’s house with two other friends. We were having a blast having a tea party until the tea ran out and we ran around her house. I walked into Faith’s garage and saw a deflated hamster ball type thingy. It looked like this: hamster ball. Anyways, someone had the brilliant idea to get inside of it. So one person got in and we eventually all squished up inside of it. Let me tell you that it was super painful and uncomfortable. But we still laughed our heads off. No matter what, you will always have a blast with Faith.

Jeff Pack: "Cher's Ultimate Fan"

Jeff and his sister. Photo courtesy of Jeff.

I recently interviewed one of my closest friends: Jeff Pack. I have known Jeff for an extremely long time. I'm talking like at least twelve years. We basically grew up with each other. I vividly remember having playdates at his house watching Scooby Doo and the Lochness Monster. I also have a memory where he came to my house and we got into an epic controversy about a puzzle and whether or not the picture was of a tractor or a dumpster. Or the time when I tried my first diet coke at his house and we both spat it out.

But a couple of years of ago we wanted to watch Jaws. Being the multi-taskers that we are we also had to make Ghirardelli chocolate brownies. On the box it asked for one and 1/3 teaspoons of water. Well being the idiots that we were we thought that it was eleven thirds teaspoons of water. So we put eleven teaspoons into the mix. It became incredibly watery and we asked Jeff’s mom about it and she just bursted into laughter. I guess you could say that that is the reason why we have to take a math class everyday.

Jeff really loves Cher. I mean he really loves Cher. He is so obsessed with her that when ever I go to his house we listen to his endless Cher CDs or we watch his DVD copy of Cher's Farewell Tour. I also am convinced that he knows the lyrics to every Cher song ever. Here is one of our conversations earlier. I asked him: so why do you love Cher so much? His response: "She is the greatest singer and actress in the history of the world! I mean obviously." That was literally his exact response.

But besides for Cher, Jeff actually does karate and is currently two belts away from a black belt. He loves a double double at In-n-Out Burger and a cold diet coke. An interesting fact about Jeff is that he is friends with Mr. Macias. Yep the burly math teacher that we have all come to love. I have personally heard Jeff and Mr. Macias talking about me and other fellow classmates. They kind of have a strange relationship. Like how Mr. Macias will tell Jeff all about his upcoming jokes that he will tell in class. (weird right.) Jeff loves to talk about Cher. But no matter what you do, do not think that he is talking about Cher Lloyd. I have personally made that terrifying mistake.

Cher. Photo courtesy of Jeff.