By Raymond Tran

Addendum Editor

  I have always had mixed feelings about going back to school. On one hand, it inflicts great stress upon me, causes me to have an average of 6 hours of sleep a night, and is probably the root of my gray hair problem. On the other, I love school supply shopping. So I guess it evens out.

  Whether it is Target putting their selection of agendas on sale or Office Depot with their whole shelf dedicated to Five Star notebooks, there has always been some part of me that finds satisfaction in stuffing my backpack with useless stuff and using almost half of it only once during the whole year.

  Walking onto campus the first day was exhilarating. I had my binder in my hand and my notebooks in my backpack, I was ready to begin the new year. However, I soon realized that most of my work would be done online, which meant my ability to type in a timely manner was more of a priority. Nevertheless, I knew my five different colored highlighters were going to save me one day.

  Inside my backpack were only the essentials: my insanely thick AP Language book, my three different colored notebooks, two folders, three pencil boxes, my glasses case, at least three bags of snacks, and a pair of earphones.

  As the first few weeks of junior year raged on, I primarily used laptops and iPads to do most of my work. Even in Mark Mikasa’s pre-calculus class, we only had iPads to access the textbook. However, I have always preferred physical textbooks when working. I began to bring my home textbook to class each day.

  Additionally, I carried my AP Language book around. There was also an online version, but I, again, preferred the real thing.

  By bringing both books to school each day, I realized how many people have become uninterested in physical supplies. As for me, all I knew is that I was already under a lot of stress, and the last thing I needed was for Philip Zamora, my AP Language teacher, to call on me and for my Chromebook to glitch making me unable to see the text I am supposed to rhetorically analyze.

  From being afraid when Zamora called on my table to being referred to as “bok choy” by Mikasa, the old-school ways of doing work will always hold a place in my heart and in my backpack.