Category: KA Blogs

A letter to AMHS, from a 2012 Stanner

On By krisatienza45In KA Blogs

Dear Molloy,

I haven’t tried thinking about my time there in years because as much as it established a foundation for who I am as a person, I have ACTIVELY REPRESSED my memories of my time there in those halls. 

I wanted to survive high school, so I remained silent about what I saw and experienced. But my silence has gone on too long because apparently you have failed your students still. 

Today? I’ve got time and I’m gonna hold you accountable for once.

My name is Kris Atienza. I graduated in 2012, with many friends and treated as a leader in many after school groups. One lesson I’ve kept all these years is that I’ve got a voice and I should use it. So here I am.

Continue reading “A letter to AMHS, from a 2012 Stanner” →

It’s no mystery: the collective and individual importance of Scooby Doo’s animated movies and television series

On By krisatienza45In KA Blogs, Scooby Doo 101Leave a comment

For over 50 years, people have loved following the adventures of Mystery Incorporated and their beloved dog: Scooby Doo. This particular group of meddling kids have solved mysteries in various media over the long tenure of the franchise: five live action films, various comic book series/crossovers with DC Comics, 38 animated films and 14 animated television series. 

With hundreds of hours of material, it can be hard to fully appreciate and understand why all of it matters to the entire franchise. As wonderfully depicted in 2002’s live-action Scooby Doo, what makes Mystery Inc. so great is their collective strengths and weaknesses as a whole. 

Please note: Scooby Doo is owned by Warner Brothers. I do not claim ownership of this content, this is just an extensive analysis for fun that I made for my friends.

With such a variety of material to choose from, I have divided and created three separate universes that exist within Scooby Doo lore: the live-action universe [LA], the animated universe [A] and the Scoob! Universe [S] (Disclaimer: These have not been confirmed in the slightest, this is more or less my attempt to connect everything together.) There is no better place to start than with the beginning, so let’s discuss the individual and collective importance that the animated movies and television series contribute to the Scooby Doo Franchise in chronological order.

Let’s go gang. Kris-tery Inc is on the case!

Continue reading “It’s no mystery: the collective and individual importance of Scooby Doo’s animated movies and television series” →

Grief.

On By krisatienza45In KA Blogs

Coping is hard folks. As much as I want to happily write about the selling of my soul to Tom Nook, I think I need to just try to wrap my head around everything else going on.

It’s almost been a month since I’ve had to quarantine due to COVID-19 and living through a pandemic is a nightmare.

So here’s what you missed on [not] glee:

Continue reading “Grief.” →

You should probably care.

On By krisatienza45In Dungeons and Dragons, KA BlogsLeave a comment

If somehow you didn’t know, I absolutely love Critical Role (this will not be the last time I’ll be writing about them, probably.) I love staying up late on Thursday nights watching this amazingly talented crew tell stories through Dungeons and Dragons.

My passion for this show is far beyond my fascination with D&D. It’s rare that you’re able to see such creative souls have such room to weave a beautiful tale both individually and collectively. Yes, it’s great to see a group of friends who just so happen to voice a lot of things I love dearly, but that kind of collective trust among friends really allows for breathtaking stories.

These storytellers have really inspired me to aim bigger with my creations and not to be afraid to create a complex character who helps me face my own battles. And ever since I first watched episode 1 of campaign 2, I’ve just become enlightened to the value of a good character.

Continue reading “You should probably care.” →

I would like to RAGE

On By krisatienza45In Dungeons and Dragons, KA Blogs1 Comment

I’m no stranger to anger. (I always preferred dealing with anger than disappointment from family members.) For years, many folks knew that the strength of my anger was powerful and to steer clear of it. With the toxic mentalities I was around growing up, it felt like I was .5 seconds away from erupting into a raging storm of fury with the slightest provocation.

Anger was easy; Controlling it was hard.

With some natural personal growth, healing and therapy, I was able to contain my anger (and unfortunately a good amount of my emotions) pretty well. So when came an opportunity to become a new character for a new D&D campaign, I eventually found myself as the half orc Barbarian of the Storm – Brute.

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Roll for healing at advantage.

On By krisatienza45In Dungeons and Dragons, KA Blogs1 Comment

I love story telling.

It’s been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. Sure I remember hearing stories during bedtime when I was a smaller spud, but there is something truly amazing about the magical abilities of stories to this day.

Nothing was more devastating than when I temporarily lost the ability to immerse myself in this magic after I suffered a massive hit to the head that exasperated my anxiety to the point that I couldn’t write more than a sentence without experiencing the fun times that is a panic attack.

As someone whose entire purpose was communication in some capacity, this was hard to bounce back from. I genuinely didn’t think I would ever recover from it. But then, I was asked by my friend if I was interested in playing some Dungeons and Dragons.

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Touchdown Packers

On By krisatienza45In KA BlogsLeave a comment

In this last decade, I was finally able to complete a few sports related dreams of mine.

I’m a small fry that was born in South Philly, spent quite a few years in Queens and I’m currently located in Boston. Based on all of that, you’d think one of the locations of my sports bucket list would be in one of those cities.

Nope.

My sports dreams were made when I got to watch my first Packers game vs the New York Jets in 2018 AND got to make my way to Green Bay, Wisconsin to enjoy my first game at the historic Lambeau Field in 2019.

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Oop I’m back.

On By krisatienza45In KA BlogsLeave a comment

Well hell y’all. I’m writing again.

It’s been a hot second since I’ve been able to write. A concussion, undisclosed trauma and a whole lotta stress just made it near impossible for me to get the words to come back.

But here I am, not ya boi, back at it again, wishing I had a Krispy Kreme.

We’re about to enter a whole new decade with a lot of potential looming on the horizon. So I figured the best thing to try right now is looking back on some of the biggest events in my life of the last decade.

This is in no particular order because my brain is still trying to heal from the last three years. So with that, let’s start!

Continue reading “Oop I’m back.” →