A Writer's Wanderings

          With piles of essays to write, books to analyze, midterms to take, and studying to do, coffee is a quick fix for that 2 o’clock feeling! Why stop at one cup, though? You have to have one as soon as you wake up, another for the drive to school, maybe a shot of espresso during your lunch break, and a fourth serving to get through that late-night studying session. Sound familiar? We have all felt the need to consume every caffeinated drink available in order to pass our classes and stay on top of things, but it is important to monitor how much coffee you are really drinking! According to May Clinic’s article titled “Caffeine: How much is too much?”, it states that consuming too much caffeine can cause migraines, insomnia, muscle tremors, nervousness, and irritability. Drinking a huge cup of coffee right before a midterm may seem like a good idea, but in reality, it may cause more harm than one might think. I don’t know about you, but I certainly wouldn’...

Time. How often have we reached for the snooze bar once, twice, or multiple times when needing five more minutes of sleep? Time. We wake up 2 hours early, feeling on top of the world, homework is complete, ready for today’s exam, only to arrive on campus and lose an hour waiting for the next open parking spot. Time. We know we need to attend that observation for lab, have to work overtime to pay for tuition, and fine tune the two reports due this week. Time. Some of us are caring for ailing and medically fragile loved ones, or dropping off kids to the babysitter before next class, and haven’t had a good night’s sleep in ages. Time. Time. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, yet with so many vast responsibilities and commitments take time for self-care and moments of reflection. I know many of you are thinking right about now, “Who has time to take a moment to relax and reflect, I’ve got 100 things to do today?”  To which I would say from a place of compassion and care t...

I am very lucky to work as an English tutor in the Writing and Reading Center at Fresno City College. Every day I gain knowledge and experience something new. I enjoy our work environment each and every minute. It is my second home, because the work team is my second family. The supervisors are really nice and supportive because they always help us whenever we need help. It is my pleasure to help the students in order to improve their writing and reading skills. The students have their own unique way in which they express their ideas. I realize that every student represents a different world for me because they share their stories with me. I support them emotionally too because I am majoring in Psychology. When I encourage the students I feel they gain power to achieve more and more. Being responsible is the key to succeed in any kind of job.  Roubina Hamamijian, FCC Student, WRC Tutor

A Review of The Girl with All the Gifts In the book The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey, we see a young girl with an extraordinary talent. She is infected with a rare strain of Cordyceps , a fungus that first made itself present in ants by taking over its mental capabilities, driving the ant’s body to the top of the tallest leaf, and launching the ant over the edge so that the fungus would have a means of spreading. The strain seen in the book has mutated enough to take over human bodies, leading to a condition that one might compare to the stereotypical zombie. Melanie, a girl that has been infected with this fungus, lives her life in a jail cell, being strapped to a wheelchair every time she attends class or goes to the showers. It isn’t until her home, her prison, gets raided by an opposing group of survivors that she is able to break free and understand the world, and the people in it, as they truly are. This book is an excellent read! It manages to keep up a...