Being original is something that our society struggles with despite everyone claiming they want to be their own person. The staff from two years ago decided to be original by taking unoriginal language in the form of clichés and making it their own in the form of original content. From topics relating to sex, drugs and alcohol to uncommon diseases, Sequoits in prison and everything else in between, the staff from two years ago found a way to make those broad topics original again. The Tom Tom makes a conscious effort to be original in what we write and not only did the staff from two years ago achieve this, my staff is starting to make the same effort again.

This semester, the Tom Tom has decided to start producing thematic feature magazines again instead of the news magazines we presented our school with first semester. In order to be different than everyone else, we decided to theme our magazines based off of books that you read throughout high school. While the stories in this magazine are not surrounding the plots of the different books you read, they are about the key ideas that are intertwined in these classic stories. We wanted to make this second semester original in our own way by taking the things that students dislike the most and making them into a creative and thoughtful pieces; we chose to show the student body that those stories they felt had no connection to their everyday lives can be found right here in Antioch, Ill. The stories in this magazine are based off of the book “Lord of The Flies,” a core text all of our sophomores read. In this magazine, we decided to focus on topics such as savagery, betrayal, greed and more.

Throughout your years in high school, you are forced to find symbols, imagery, main ideas and anything else that your teacher tells you to look for while reading. This repetitive action has made students dislike reading during class because the fun of reading and enjoying the book, as many students put it, is taken away. The Tom Tom has decided to say that it’s time to start being original again and we can’t wait for you to see what we have been working on—in this case, breathing new life into stories many felt were dead and gone. Throughout the process of switching back to thematic feature magazines, our staff has seemingly become original in their own way based off of what they are producing. We hope that through these pages of our magazine, you see that this is not another book to read during school but rather stories that are enticing and relevant to an audience today.

In our first issue for 2019, junior editor’s Alessia Rivera and Sarah Smith go head to head on doing things for the greater good versus not doing things for the greater self in “Peace vs. Piece of Mind.” In our lifestyles section, Tom Tom staffer Kara Galarneau looked at public influencer’s fashion style and gave our readers cheaper alternatives to their looks in “Dress For Less: Celebrity Edition.” Our lifestyles section also features a review of the newest Mary Poppins film by sophomore staff Lena De Vore. To start off our feature section, Tom Tom staffer Shannon Price talks about how bad leaders outweigh the good and what a good a bad leader may look like. Tom Tom staffer Kaitlyn Howe writes about the effects that malnutrition and poor hygiene can have on the body. To end off our first thematic magazine of the year, Tom Tom staffer Beatriz Warnes shares her experience with being a “littlun” in this generation. As always, thank you for reading the Tom Tom, we hope that you find our spin on a classic piece of literature enticing enough to chant and cheer around a Lord of the Flies of your own.