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The Student News Site of Vel Phillips Memorial

Sword & Shield

Sword & Shield

Sword & Shield

The Student News Site of Vel Phillips Memorial

Ranking My First Semester Classes - Senior Year Edition

Ranking My First Semester Classes – Senior Year Edition

Max Knight January 1, 2025

Once again, VPM’s first semester is nearly coming to a close, which means that in keeping consistent with last year, it’s time to give my opinions on my classes. Unfortunately, all my fun electives...

Image credit: DreamWorks Animation Studios

I Hope Whoever Pitched The Live-Action Remake Of How To Train Your Dragon Falls Into A Very Deep Hole

Amalia Weix January 1, 2025

The live-action remake of How To Train Your Dragon all but spits in the eye of the original, promising to replicate some scenes fully shot-for-shot in ghoulish mimicry. This may sound overdramatic, but...

Image taken by Diego Cambiaso, and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Simplest Way to Make the Inauguration More Interesting

Amalia Weix January 1, 2025

There’s a lot of things that happen in January—the end of first semester, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it starts getting really cold—but the one that weighs most on my mind is Inauguration Day, when...

Logo reproduced in MsPaint by Amalia Weix, because & Juliet's press kit is unfindable.

& Juliet: A Fun, Fresh, and Fantastic Musical

Amalia Weix January 1, 2025

& Juliet is a Broadway jukebox musical that recently made an appearance at the Overture Center, with a plot centered on one question—what if Juliet hadn’t killed herself at the end of Shakespeare’s...

Image by Wonderlane

Who Hates Rudolph?

Amalia Weix December 1, 2024

This article is, more than anything, a cry to the masses. It isn’t a question I can answer, rather, it is a question I am asking. Please. If you can answer it, if you kind readers can bring me someone...

Image from Robink23

Why You Should Not Take ChatBot Therapy

Dona Nguyen December 1, 2024

Are you mentally unwell and wonder why life sucks right now? Are you thinking of taking ChatBot therapy? Well, in my opinion, don’t do it. Out of the risk, don’t do it! That's like saying I hate myself...

Photograph attributed to catAsmith

On the Importance of Children’s Horror

Amalia Weix November 1, 2024

When I was but a wee lad, I was utterly terrified of the undead. Zombies, ghosts, ghouls of all sorts—even vampires, which aren’t especially scary in modern day depictions—had me quaking in my tiny...

Photo attributed to Granny Enchanted

Why Does This Children’s Book Have So Much Eugenics??

Thomas Heinz November 1, 2024

Keeper of the lost cities. Some of you all may be familiar with the name, likely having read it in elementary school or middle school. I too was once like you, having been gifted the book by my grandparents...

Photo by mpclemens

NaNoWriMo, AI, and the Death of Process

Amalia Weix September 30, 2024

If you’re a huge nerd about writing, you already know what this article is about. But for those of you who aren’t, some context: on September 2, 2024, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, a nonprofit...

A Day at the Madison Comic-Con

Amalia Weix and Thomas Heinz September 30, 2024

The first-ever Madison Comic & Pop Culture Expo (MadEx) produced by Nerd Street—a prolific supporter of comic-cons across the country—took place on September 14-15 at the Alliant Energy Center....

The Atlas Six Atlas Sucked

The Atlas Six Atlas Sucked

Amalia Weix September 30, 2024

I read a lot of bad books. It's just a natural product of reading a lot of books—eventually, you hit one that isn't very good. Additionally, you can't really tell if it's a bad book until you read it....

Gleam Review

Gleam Review

Jocelyn Pfleger September 30, 2024

Each year, Olbrich Botanical Gardens hosts GLEAM, an event where glowing art is set across the 16 acre gardens. For the past 3 years, I’ve had the pleasure in getting to experience this event and it...

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