From The Author:
I’m Yassin El Abbassi. I’ve been trying to make my mark on this school since freshman year. I’ve learned it is pretty hard to do that. However this year, I still wanted to give back to my friends and MCSM family, yet I couldn’t figure out how. After taking Photography Class with Ms Wang, I found a love for photography which pushed me to take more pictures. One day I took a picture of my friend Curtis which came out pretty nice. I posted it as the first picture of Seniors of MCSM, and from there my project blew up. Although still on hiatus, I hope you enjoy it.
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Curtis Beatty: “Man, I’m tired.”
“Why?”
“Got work to do, and can’t think of anything as of right now. Just write Yukneh Applesauce”
Keidy Matos: “Everyone asks how I do it all; school, soccer, work, friends and family. Well I honestly don’t know, It gets hard sometimes but I somehow manage to get through it all. Take this bottle for example, let’s say that it represents my life and I have to make sure I keep it steady in order to achieve a purpose. Yeah, I’m able to balance it, but not for long, and that’s one thing that discourages me. Everyone has a breaking point and I believe that mine is when I’m no longer capable of having control over my life.”
Maesha Shonar: “Freedom is being free spiritually, mentally, and physically. We live in a cycle of social constructs and we are conditioned to abide by social norms. However we shouldn’t enslave ourselves in this cycle if it isn’t truly how we want to live. Our path towards what we want to achieve in life does not have to be the same as everyone else’s. Be extraordinary and be free. Do as you please.”
Hader Avais: “There’s not much wrong with moving to the United States to be honest. But, the cold is atrocious, the MTA is a slow, unreliable piece of sh**, and the food sucks.”
Kris Susic: “To be honest, there wouldn’t be anything that I would change about myself. I like the way I am now. I haven’t been happier.”
Kayla Teair: “Ummm I don’t like this question, I need to throw some shade. LMFAOOOO.”
Karla Carino: “I wouldn’t know what to say to him other than curse words… if I run out of them, I’ll make some up. Then I’ll tell him to shove his presidency down his throat, and watch me graduate from high school and college.”
Saud Bukhari: “You bounce back from taking an L the night before by sucking it up and moving on. There’s really no other trick, you wake up in the morning and by the night you will be counting stacks.”
Haimid Alrobaye: “I don’t like procrastinating and staying up until 2-am doing school work, but I do it anyways. I always tell myself I’m going to change and I manage to do the same thing the very next day. I thought that was just high school, but I’m sure I’ll be doing the same thing in college.”
Priom Mouri: “Under President Donald Trump we’re making a history of arrogance, fear, and alienation of illegal Americans. But we’re also headed towards reform and standing up for our fellow Americans. Yes, things change gradually but we as Americans will continue to fight, as nothing can silence us. If it takes someone like Trump to bring so many people together then surely anything is possible.”
Daniel Reyes: “Putting a smile on someone else’s face makes me smile because you never know how much of a difference you could be making in their life at that moment.”
Yefferson Tejeda: “It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery. But there is some seed of savagery in me I am not conscious of.”
Adriana Andino: “I like being Puerto Rican with my loud family and good food and stuff, but I also like Bengali culture bc they look sooo pretty in their dresses and stuff. I wanna be able to dress up all pretty like that for family occasions. We dress so reg. It’s boring.”
Genesis Molina: “I guess I like talking about food because I can’t get enough of it tbh. It’s like all I talk about is the new food that I want to try out and stuff. That’s really all I talk about.”
Abdel Ngouloure: “For the second semester, I’m really looking forward to not having [two particularly demanding] classes anymore cause it was like taking two freaking AP classes. But honestly, I just want to relax and enjoy the final moments of high school with every single one of you guys because class of 2017 truly is the best.”
Darlin Estrella: “I am not planning to act different this semester. I’ve been here for four years and I’ve developed into what I am now, which I am comfortable with. I plan to get into my college priority choices and stay doing what I have been for the past 5 months.”
Jordan Perez: “Dope is anything you think is cool but it all depends on how you execute what you’re doing to make it dope. For example people think wearing designer is dope, but it’s how you wear it that makes it dope.”
Rohan Afflick: “I don’t like being alone with my thoughts, I think way too much. One topic leads to another very easily in my head. It’s almost like when you’re on Wikipedia and you keep clicking on random links, between articles that are totally different.”
Jaquelin Rodriguez: “I don’t think you can ever avoid change. You can try to slow it down but eventually you have to change and I prefer to change for the better. I change my hair color all the time because it’s a way to get rid of a time period in my life. So every time I change my hair color, I end a chapter in my life and I move on to the next.”
Mya Moreno: “I’m not too fond of New York but my favorite thing about New York’s culture is the fashion. People rarely get judged for their style and it’s great to be able to express yourself through your own style.”
Hamza Rashid: “I’m the best hazoozoo because I’m cool with everyone and don’t cause any problems. I like to make people laugh and have good times with my Yuknehs”