Author Archives: theatala

Leaf-like thoughts  flutter and fall as I forget  But to the soil they go  Enriching the ground  From which new trees, and leaves, will grow. Alan Mathew is a high school senior at PPCHS and an aspiring writer. Plagued with cluelessness and clarity in unequal measure, Alan continues his effort to find the shapes of important ideas throughContinue reading “Leaf-Like Thoughts”

talk to me in the tone that only i use tell me i’m like the penny in your change and that i’m worthless unless i change talk to me in that tone do it just like how i say i’m nothing more than the lumpy stone that keeps cracking in the driveway say it theContinue reading “say it like i do”

The first morning I awoke under your roof, it was March, and I ventured into your garden for a stroll over installed stepping stone paths, towards cold, stony-faced statues to tend to flower beds in full splendor reclining like nudes in the sun while you, rigid, clothed, sat between busts of dead men over aContinue reading “Pushing Up Lilies”

 Carolina Calonge has been in NEHS for two years now and enjoys reading historical fiction. She usually uses physical mediums such as ink to create her art, but created this piece digitally as cover art for the atala’s inaugural issue.

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood’s use of the fairytale motif as a framework for the novel critiques our innate desire for archetypes, exposes the innocuous nature of oppression, and highlights the flaws of cruel optimism. Atwood subverts the innocence of predictable, archetypal tropes in fairy tales to call into question the concept of a hero.Continue reading “The Collective Unconscious, The Death Drive, and Cruel Optimism: Pessimism as a Framework for 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒅’𝒔 𝑻𝒂𝒍𝒆”

Marcella Lesmes is a junior at PPCHS and enjoys making art. She has been doing art for about 7 years. Although she usually uses acrylic paints, in this piece she went with watercolors and pens.

The sun went missing today. There were no rivers of blood or plagues of locusts, first-born children did not fall ill, nor did frogs descend on the cities. It was quiet. The black hole stood stagnant. We could only watch and wait. My friend Joseph says the aliens are coming. That they will treat youContinue reading “Boyscout Camping Trip on the Eve of the Apocalypse”

This issue of the atala was designed, curated, and edited by Editor in Chief Samantha Lowe, Editors Samantha Villafane and Logan Saenz, and NEHS Advisor Ms. Sarah Phelps Please click on thumbnails below to view each featured work:

“If I were a flower I would be a dandelion.” I turn my head and feel the sharp blades of grass scratch at my cheek. She is there beside me, blonde hair twisted against the green foliage, a dandelion dangling from her grasp. The spring wind ruffles through the trees and blows a stray seedContinue reading “Petals Rain from the Sky”