A long, long time ago, when dogs talked instead of barked, and snakes had legs instead of none, we the human beings on earth had a narcissistic moon. The sun came and went as it should, and so did the moon. Now, our moon loved himself. He loved himself so much that he thought he was the most beautiful thing in this world, up until now.

One night, as the sun was setting, and the moon was rising, the turtles began to crawl up the shore. Their radiant shells glistened under the moonlight, catching the moon’s attention. “Well, hello there, Ms.Turtle,” the moon spoke. “What a lovely night we are having, aren’t we?”

“Why, yes it is, Mr. Moon,” the turtle replied as she was searching for food.

“Oh, and how marvelous my reflection is on this bright blue ocean floor!”

The turtle rolled her eyes but reluctantly agreed. Suddenly, a glimpse of the turtle’s shell caught the moon’s eye. The moon became envious of the slow-walking turtle. 

“Oh my, Ms. Turtle, your shell is so bright and beautiful, I wish I had a shell just like yours.” 

Ms. Turtle shook her head. “Be happy with who you are. Appreciate what you’ve got. There’s only one you, and not another.”

But the moon was caught up in his own little world and ignored what the turtle said. The turtle started to descend back to the ocean. As the moon stared at his reflection, wondering what to do, he said out loud, “I’ll change myself and become more beautiful too!”

As the night grew, the moon morphed himself to look like the turtle’s shell. The sun rose, the moon set and the cycle repeated all over again. The moon was admiring his new shape in the reflection of the ocean, when suddenly the water splashed and made a commotion. “Why hello good dolphins. Do you like how I look? Cause I sure do,” the moon said.

The dolphins giggled and laughed. “Honestly, you look kinda fat. Turn into a crescent like us. You’ll like it.”

The moon thought for a minute. What the dolphins had said consumed his thoughts. The moon thought, “I shall take their advice and change my shape again.” Outloud, the moon came to his conclusion and announced, “I shall look more beautiful just like my old self again.”

 So as the next night came, it was the moon’s time to shine, when a sassy slithering snake slid by. “You’re ugly! What happened? Just go away, no one likes looking at you.” That really hurt the moon’s feelings. He got depressed. He disappeared, just like the snake said.

 As the time went on, the moon didn’t show. He was thinking about what the snake had said. He realized he should ignore him, and listen to what Ms.Turtle said. He should try to love himself again. Slowly, he became a full moon again, but he was still insecure. Over time he tried to pull himself together, to make his mind and heart become whole again.

There are too many emotions to count in this world, there are the simple ones like happiness, sadness, anger and anxiousness. What about the ones we hide? The ones we don’t like to show or talk about because we’re too afraid of what people may think or say?

The little flower opened its petals and saw the sunlight, when all of a sudden, a storm cloud formed. It was still in its growing stage so it wasn’t strong enough to withstand the winds and heavy rain and it immediately broke down. Then a few weeks later, there had been some rain but it was lighter, more like a drizzle, and the little flower was able to grow. It spread its petals again and reached towards the sun and smiled. The little flower was then greeted by another flower who was brightly colored, perky and looked like she didn’t know what a “hard time” was. Not knowing why, she started to cry. She was confused and began to ask herself, “Why don’t I look like that?”

When the bright flower walked away, she fell down and suddenly became overcome by a feeling of defeat and sadness. It began to rain again and she broke down. Admittedly, it took her awhile to build herself up again, she still managed to grow tall, but was a little bent from all of the pouring rain. But, she was happy that she was finally almost as tall as the other flowers in the garden. So she smiled at all the other flowers, and they didn’t smile back.

She didn’t feel so good after that. She wanted to hide but she couldn’t let them see how much it hurt her so she just stayed there, silently. She knew what she was feeling wasn’t normal, all the sadness and breaking down. She wanted to talk to an adult flower because she was scared that if she opened up to someone her age, they might judge her. She remained shy and quiet, but all of her emotions piled up after months and months of staying quiet and holding in. Little by little her petals fell apart, she wished that people around her would ask her to talk, even assure her it’s okay to have these feelings but it’s also okay to talk about them. 

 A few years later, a new flower grew in the same spot, although this time there was no heavy rain, no bright flower that was better than her, but she still had her bad days. She realized how tall she had grown and how strong she was. In fact, she was the bright, strong, beautiful flower in the garden. She found it hard to believe but knew that this came with taking sometime to grow and not letting other flowers, herself or anything on planet Earth destroy her. All she needed was to vocalize how she felt, even if it was to herself, to always feel as confident as she did when smiling at those other flowers. She was appealing to her own eyes and that’s all who she cared about impressing. 

Apex Legends
Fed up with “Fortnite?” Not particularly pleased with “PUBG?” Bored of “Blackout?” If the battle royale genre has been starting to wear out, prepare to fall in love all over again with Respawn Entertainment’s “Apex Legends,” released earlier this year.  A sequel of sorts to the sleeper hit, “Titanfall,” this new take on battle royale pits you and your three-man team of unique heroes in a battle to separate the losers from the legends.  Apex Legends is free to play on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

“Shameless” meets “X-Men” in Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy.”  Based on Gerard Way’s Eisner Award winning graphic novel, “The Umbrella Academy” is a high quality watch for both die hard Killjoys and newcomers alike. Rather than seeing capes duke it out with a maniacal villain, our protagonists are an emotionally-stunted family, reunited to prevent the apocalypse.  Complete with time travel, ghosts, and a killer violin solo, the unbridaled weirdness tied with the oddly relatable characters will draw you into the most bingeable show of 2019.

Everyone loves a night at the cinema, and the summer movie season is fast approaching. First there’s “Captain Marvel,” the Marvel cinematic universe’s first woman-led solo film, out March 8. Then, “SHAZAM!,” DC’s debut of  “Earth's Mightiest Mortal,” hits theaters April 5, and “Detective Pikachu,” featuring Ryan Reynolds as the titular Pokemon, follows on May 10. 

You know what’s never-ending? The love for “Ponyo,” “Spirited Away,” “Howl’s Moving Castle,” and countless other cult favorites animated by Hayao Miyazaki. The man behind the screen has retired, but he still harbors his love for animating. Follow the life of Miyazaki through a free screening of a 2016 documentary about his life, “Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki,” at the Museum of Science. 

Impatiently waiting for more anime? Anime Boston, an annual three-day event hosted at Hynes Convention Center, comes to town this April. Find art, key charms and manga at booths, attend cosplay events, and jump from panel to panel. Feeling in the mood to dance? Buy a $4 ticket to the Imperial Ball— profits benefit the Central New England chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Surely you probably don’t like waking up in the morning for school, but you should definitely attend the annual Wake Up the Earth festival this May. Learn more about the ground you walk on, eat delicious food from local farmers, engage with local nonprofits, and march through the neighborhoods of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. It’s a great day to make budding friendships with humans (and dogs) in your neighborhood.