I love to write. When I write I feel like I could show my readers who I am without even meeting them. When I put my pencil next to a blank piece of paper, it feels like magic. My hand just starts to write what I am feeling. As I keep going, I can picture what I am writing. It is a feeling that I cannot explain. I write about many different things: my parents, my daughter, my husband, my past, my future, the world, my culture, and so on.
There are times where I could hear my parents’ voices and how they always tell me that it is better to live your life the best way you can. They tell me that it is always better to tell the truth because a lie will soon come out. To always follow the rules and be a good citizen. To do my best in school and become somebody great, the person they know I am. I write for them and what they have taught me. I write to tell my parents how proud I am to be their daughter. To show them how much I love them with a thousand words.
I write for my daughter to show her who I am now and who I want to become. I write to tell her how much I will always love her. To show her that ever since I found I was pregnant I have become a happier person. That no matter what happens I will always be proud of her. I write to leave her a part of me when am gone, a part of my soul, and my memories. To let her know my past and everything I have been through. Therefore, that one day she learns from my mistakes and does not have to suffer as I did. I write to let her know I am here by her side and that I will be on her team no matter who are opponents are.
I write for my husband that I love with all my heart. To tell the whole world how much I love him and that I would die if he were not by my side. To tell our story and how it all started with a simple, “Hey.” How everything changed when we found out, we were going to be parents. I write how I plan to spend the rest of my life with him. How I picture us when we are eighty years old. I write about how I want our wedding to be and how we want our lives to be in ten, twenty years. To tell everybody about our adventures when we were in high school, we would ditch to his house, and all those times we spent together. To show through my writing how he always takes care of me in every way that he can.
I write to be a better person inside and out. To thank my parents for everything they have done for me. To have a better future for my family and I and to show them that they mean the world to me. I write to scream to the world what I am feeling. To always show my true colors. I write to show my ethnicity, culture, intelligence, braveness, strength and love.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
"Count on Yourself" by Chris Douglass
When you are in a life or death survival situation sometimes you will not have someone there to rescue you. In those moments don’t give up or just sit there and not do anything, there is still hope. The only thing you need to know is the five basic survival skills to stay live. If you do these five skills correctly you will save your life when a survival situation happens.
Before you go anywhere make sure you carry a backpack with items that will help you in a survival situation. The following things is what I have in my backpack.
• Waterproof lighter/matches/flint
• Metal cup
• Gloves
• Cold Gear like coats, heavy shirts, and heavy socks.
• Knife, saw, hatchet
• First Aid kit
The first skill is fire, it is the most important skill you need to know without it you will live in darkness, will not be able to drink water, you will not keep warm if it is cold, and you will be more likely to be attack by animals. There is a many ways to start a fire but I will tell you a one that will never fail you if you do it probably. You take something metal like a knife or even another rock against a rock or striking stone into your pile of wood kindling or shaving. If you do it right you will get embers that then blow on them or fan them with something which can make that ember into a flame of fire.
The second skill which is very important to know when you are in a life or death survival situation is how to make shelter. Without this skill you will be open to the elements, be an easier target for wildlife, and you will also not be able to keep warm from the weather. There are many styles of shelters you can make but the simplest form of shelter you can make is called a lean-to. To build this shelter you will need to first find tree or trees that have a low branch that is strong. Then find or cut a thick piece of wood about 4 or more inches in diameter that will be your canter beam. Then you built the foundation of the lean-to now to make the roof. You can use branches that have leafs on them or pieces of wood or a tarp. If it is colder you can make your roof thicker with another layer of cover. If you learn how to do this skill and build a good shelter you will make your life easier in a survival situation and save your life.
The third skill is signaling because if you don’t do that then you want to be lost which is not a bad thing when you want to be. There are two types of signals they are ground level or close by and far way signal. Smoke from your fire is a great way to signal for far way help. A signaling method for ground level are sign that would not be normal in nature like moving rocks in an arrow to point in the direction you are going or make marks in trees to show other you have been at that spot.
The fourth skill is food and water which falls under the energy category. Yet these are to hard things to find and get when you are out in the wilderness. It is very important to find food and water because it will save your life. For water you want to find a running water source like a river which will be the cleanest out there because the flow with a combo with the rocks allows it to not get thing that can kill you. Get some water and put it in a metal cup or metal container and boil it to make clean water that you can drink. To find food the best bet is to look around water source because animals and plants which you can eat need water too. You want foods that are high in proteins and carbohydrates; fish is a great source of protein and carbohydrates also it will make your brain work better too. So you can knock out two birds with one stone if you find a river because you can get water and food.
The fifth skill and the one skill you really don’t want to use when you are in a survival situation is first aid. But it is a skill you still need to know because the wilderness is a nasty place to get hurt; there is really no outside help for a couple of hours or more and if you don’t treat it you will make it harder for you to survive. Cuts and little things could turn to worst things like broken legs if not taken care of. So in your First Aid kit to carry band aids to cover cuts and things like that, a big roll of ace band aid to wrap sprains body parts and other things like that, hydrogen peroxide wipes to clean cuts. If you do come to use this skill I hope you now know what to have on you to save your life when a situation like this happens.
Another tip that can save your life is having good common sense. If you do one thing wrong that is a bad choice it could cost your life. One thing most people don’t think of when they first know they are lost is stop and ask this question: The question is, in the area I am in right now has all of the five skills but most important wood, water, food, and cover. If yes you need to stay in that area if you are lost for more than a day. If you answer no, you need to find an area with those four things around it, if you are lost for more than a day. By having good common sense you will keep yourself alive longer to be saved or find your way out.
There are a billion situations that could happen when you are lost but what I have told you will help you in all situations. The biggest thing that you need to do is believe in yourself that you can save yourself because you are the one that you have to count on all the time. By mastering and know the five skills and have good common sense you will increase your chances of surviving in a life or death situation greatly.
Before you go anywhere make sure you carry a backpack with items that will help you in a survival situation. The following things is what I have in my backpack.
• Waterproof lighter/matches/flint
• Metal cup
• Gloves
• Cold Gear like coats, heavy shirts, and heavy socks.
• Knife, saw, hatchet
• First Aid kit
The first skill is fire, it is the most important skill you need to know without it you will live in darkness, will not be able to drink water, you will not keep warm if it is cold, and you will be more likely to be attack by animals. There is a many ways to start a fire but I will tell you a one that will never fail you if you do it probably. You take something metal like a knife or even another rock against a rock or striking stone into your pile of wood kindling or shaving. If you do it right you will get embers that then blow on them or fan them with something which can make that ember into a flame of fire.
The second skill which is very important to know when you are in a life or death survival situation is how to make shelter. Without this skill you will be open to the elements, be an easier target for wildlife, and you will also not be able to keep warm from the weather. There are many styles of shelters you can make but the simplest form of shelter you can make is called a lean-to. To build this shelter you will need to first find tree or trees that have a low branch that is strong. Then find or cut a thick piece of wood about 4 or more inches in diameter that will be your canter beam. Then you built the foundation of the lean-to now to make the roof. You can use branches that have leafs on them or pieces of wood or a tarp. If it is colder you can make your roof thicker with another layer of cover. If you learn how to do this skill and build a good shelter you will make your life easier in a survival situation and save your life.
The third skill is signaling because if you don’t do that then you want to be lost which is not a bad thing when you want to be. There are two types of signals they are ground level or close by and far way signal. Smoke from your fire is a great way to signal for far way help. A signaling method for ground level are sign that would not be normal in nature like moving rocks in an arrow to point in the direction you are going or make marks in trees to show other you have been at that spot.
The fourth skill is food and water which falls under the energy category. Yet these are to hard things to find and get when you are out in the wilderness. It is very important to find food and water because it will save your life. For water you want to find a running water source like a river which will be the cleanest out there because the flow with a combo with the rocks allows it to not get thing that can kill you. Get some water and put it in a metal cup or metal container and boil it to make clean water that you can drink. To find food the best bet is to look around water source because animals and plants which you can eat need water too. You want foods that are high in proteins and carbohydrates; fish is a great source of protein and carbohydrates also it will make your brain work better too. So you can knock out two birds with one stone if you find a river because you can get water and food.
The fifth skill and the one skill you really don’t want to use when you are in a survival situation is first aid. But it is a skill you still need to know because the wilderness is a nasty place to get hurt; there is really no outside help for a couple of hours or more and if you don’t treat it you will make it harder for you to survive. Cuts and little things could turn to worst things like broken legs if not taken care of. So in your First Aid kit to carry band aids to cover cuts and things like that, a big roll of ace band aid to wrap sprains body parts and other things like that, hydrogen peroxide wipes to clean cuts. If you do come to use this skill I hope you now know what to have on you to save your life when a situation like this happens.
Another tip that can save your life is having good common sense. If you do one thing wrong that is a bad choice it could cost your life. One thing most people don’t think of when they first know they are lost is stop and ask this question: The question is, in the area I am in right now has all of the five skills but most important wood, water, food, and cover. If yes you need to stay in that area if you are lost for more than a day. If you answer no, you need to find an area with those four things around it, if you are lost for more than a day. By having good common sense you will keep yourself alive longer to be saved or find your way out.
There are a billion situations that could happen when you are lost but what I have told you will help you in all situations. The biggest thing that you need to do is believe in yourself that you can save yourself because you are the one that you have to count on all the time. By mastering and know the five skills and have good common sense you will increase your chances of surviving in a life or death situation greatly.
"Spar and the Squirrel" by Dominique Gonzales
The other day I got board and decided to go outside in the front yard. It was such a nice day for being October. The sun was out shinning around a blue sky with only a couple of clouds in sight just to the west. There was a slight breeze in the air just enough to make the trees branches sway just a little making the leaves that were left on the branches fall to the ground, and on the ground tumble around making a scraping noise followed by the crunch of the leave when they broke form being dry.
I looked around to admire everything and noticed that there was a brown and black face staring at me through our front window. I laughed as Spar sat there with a sad look ok on her black and brown face, her light brown hair on her back stood up as if she was wondering why I had not let her out, and her tail was wagging like she knew I was going to let her come in the front with me. But the reason I had not let her out in the first place is because all though she is a very good dog and listens she is also very wild and hyper. She cant help but jump on everyone, and chase everything. Even though she don’t leave the yard people walk around our block and some are old people I didn’t want her to go at them fast. Her size could hurt someone if she’s coming at you.
I opened the door and let her out. She ran straight for the leaves playing and jumping in them. Laughing at her I had a seat on the front step and decided to just watch her as she played and had fun. But when I didn’t expect it she seen a squirrel out the corner of her eye. For some reason I knew she would go for the squirrel because they look like rats with fur and anything with fur she goes for fore sum reason. So sure enough as the squirrel looked at her she did. She sprinted with excitement towards it. I knew she would not get it because squirrels are pretty fast, but she might give it a run for its life. The squirrel ran right to the only tree we had in our yard and she was right behind it trying to get up there but she couldn’t. After jumping up the tree making scuff marks with her nails all on the trunk for about 5 minuets, she decided not to leave but to relax and sit right at the bottom of the tree waiting for the squirrel. I felt so bad because the squirrel had no where to go and it just looked at Spar and Spar just lay on the broken leaves on the ground looking up at the squirrel. It seemed like she was just taunting the little squirrel. And the squirrel didn’t want to move it seamed afraid of what might happen if it was to fall.
After another couple of minuets spar took her eyes off of the squirrel got up walked over to the stairs where I was sitting and sat on her back legs right next to me. I looked at the tree with very few leaves on it and seen that the squirrel had noticed she had moved. Will the squirrel come down now? I wondered. It made its way gently and as quietly as possible. It came straight down the trunk and was still looking to see if Spar was looking, she wasn’t. But as soon as the squirrel touched the grass Spar took off again at it knocking me on the ground in the process. The squirrel took off to the other yard as fast as it could with Spar right behind it but as it passed the driveway it was in the clear. Spar had stopped knowing she could not go beyond that. I sat there laughing as Spar turned and had a frustrated look on her face. I said “ Well better luck next time girl.” But I knew that that squirrel was grateful that she didn’t get it. I was too, because she could have got sick. But it was just one of the funniest things I have seen my dog do.
I looked around to admire everything and noticed that there was a brown and black face staring at me through our front window. I laughed as Spar sat there with a sad look ok on her black and brown face, her light brown hair on her back stood up as if she was wondering why I had not let her out, and her tail was wagging like she knew I was going to let her come in the front with me. But the reason I had not let her out in the first place is because all though she is a very good dog and listens she is also very wild and hyper. She cant help but jump on everyone, and chase everything. Even though she don’t leave the yard people walk around our block and some are old people I didn’t want her to go at them fast. Her size could hurt someone if she’s coming at you.
I opened the door and let her out. She ran straight for the leaves playing and jumping in them. Laughing at her I had a seat on the front step and decided to just watch her as she played and had fun. But when I didn’t expect it she seen a squirrel out the corner of her eye. For some reason I knew she would go for the squirrel because they look like rats with fur and anything with fur she goes for fore sum reason. So sure enough as the squirrel looked at her she did. She sprinted with excitement towards it. I knew she would not get it because squirrels are pretty fast, but she might give it a run for its life. The squirrel ran right to the only tree we had in our yard and she was right behind it trying to get up there but she couldn’t. After jumping up the tree making scuff marks with her nails all on the trunk for about 5 minuets, she decided not to leave but to relax and sit right at the bottom of the tree waiting for the squirrel. I felt so bad because the squirrel had no where to go and it just looked at Spar and Spar just lay on the broken leaves on the ground looking up at the squirrel. It seemed like she was just taunting the little squirrel. And the squirrel didn’t want to move it seamed afraid of what might happen if it was to fall.
After another couple of minuets spar took her eyes off of the squirrel got up walked over to the stairs where I was sitting and sat on her back legs right next to me. I looked at the tree with very few leaves on it and seen that the squirrel had noticed she had moved. Will the squirrel come down now? I wondered. It made its way gently and as quietly as possible. It came straight down the trunk and was still looking to see if Spar was looking, she wasn’t. But as soon as the squirrel touched the grass Spar took off again at it knocking me on the ground in the process. The squirrel took off to the other yard as fast as it could with Spar right behind it but as it passed the driveway it was in the clear. Spar had stopped knowing she could not go beyond that. I sat there laughing as Spar turned and had a frustrated look on her face. I said “ Well better luck next time girl.” But I knew that that squirrel was grateful that she didn’t get it. I was too, because she could have got sick. But it was just one of the funniest things I have seen my dog do.
"What a Night!" by Maritsa Gracia-Meza
My cousin and I were going with two brothers, Daniel and Edgardo. One was my boyfriend and the other one was hers. Our dads are really jealous of their older daughter having boyfriends; they don’t let us go and hang out with them or just even talking to them on the phone. It was getting on my nerves: why would we want a boyfriend if we can’t even see them if talk to them.
One day my cousin had a great idea; if our parents don’t let us see them then we are going to see them the hard way without them noticing. My cousin has a big house with three doors to get out of the house one on the front of the house, back and one that takes you to the garage. Her idea was to sleep over and hang out like usual. When it was time to go to sleep, sneak out from the back door and come back in trough the garage door. We had everything planned out, we told boyfriends the idea they loved it.
There was a Quincenera on a Saturday January 15, 2007. My cousin and I love to dance so we decided that was going to be the day to try our plan. The day of the party I asked my parents if I could sleep over at, Erica’s house they said yes I was super happy it was going to be my first time seeing my boyfriend. So I get to my cousin’s house acting like everything is normal, taking about what we were going to wear how we are going to do our hair. We both called the boys to see if they had everything planned out. They both said yes. It was getting dark closer and closer to try our plan. I was nervous and scared. I kept thinking to myself what if my uncle wakes up and sees us going out the door all dressed up. Bad thoughts were running through my head.
It was 10 o’clock p.m. we acted as if we were all sleeping in our pajamas, but we had on our dressy clothing underneath. Me with my short purple dress and Erica with black shorts, a red and white strapless shirt. While we were waiting for the guys to come, I was so scared it was my first time doing something behind my parents back.
Our boyfriends came at eleven o’clock. It was time to do the plan we walked down the stairs tiptoeing really quietly. While going through the back door I tripped and broke a glass cup making lots of noise and while laughing it was not going good. We made it outside safe; we got in the car and drove to the party.
While in the party we were all dancing and having a good time. I totally forgot about the time it was two o’clock. My cousin and I were scared. I asked her “How in the world are we going to get in the house without waking your parents its super late.” We told the guys we need to get home fast. They took us back in a flash. We gave them a good bye kiss and a hug.
I was shivering of how nervous I was. I kept imagining my uncle with his belt just waiting for us to get in the house and yelling at us. Erica tries to open the back door but it was closed which was weird because she took off the lock. I was about to cry, how were we going to get in. All the other doors closed so my cousin was like “The back window is always open lets try and get in through there.” We had no other choose but to clam up a chair and jump through the window. We made it in the house without making any noise. Got to Erica’s room took off our party clothing and put back our pajamas. We were taking how fun it was to be dancing with our boyfriends all night. What I night we had.
It was nine in the morning time to wake up, for some reason I had five missed calls from my dad. Which was weird Erica and me go downstairs all of sudden I see my dad he was all like “What were you thinking? Do you think your uncle is dumb and would not notice you both left.” My dad yelling at me so loud I stated to cry and explained why I did it. He took my phone for two weeks; I could not go out with Erica anymore for a mouth. I learned my lesson, to never leave the house without permission. I never knew how they found out, but now we know why the back door was closed.
One day my cousin had a great idea; if our parents don’t let us see them then we are going to see them the hard way without them noticing. My cousin has a big house with three doors to get out of the house one on the front of the house, back and one that takes you to the garage. Her idea was to sleep over and hang out like usual. When it was time to go to sleep, sneak out from the back door and come back in trough the garage door. We had everything planned out, we told boyfriends the idea they loved it.
There was a Quincenera on a Saturday January 15, 2007. My cousin and I love to dance so we decided that was going to be the day to try our plan. The day of the party I asked my parents if I could sleep over at, Erica’s house they said yes I was super happy it was going to be my first time seeing my boyfriend. So I get to my cousin’s house acting like everything is normal, taking about what we were going to wear how we are going to do our hair. We both called the boys to see if they had everything planned out. They both said yes. It was getting dark closer and closer to try our plan. I was nervous and scared. I kept thinking to myself what if my uncle wakes up and sees us going out the door all dressed up. Bad thoughts were running through my head.
It was 10 o’clock p.m. we acted as if we were all sleeping in our pajamas, but we had on our dressy clothing underneath. Me with my short purple dress and Erica with black shorts, a red and white strapless shirt. While we were waiting for the guys to come, I was so scared it was my first time doing something behind my parents back.
Our boyfriends came at eleven o’clock. It was time to do the plan we walked down the stairs tiptoeing really quietly. While going through the back door I tripped and broke a glass cup making lots of noise and while laughing it was not going good. We made it outside safe; we got in the car and drove to the party.
While in the party we were all dancing and having a good time. I totally forgot about the time it was two o’clock. My cousin and I were scared. I asked her “How in the world are we going to get in the house without waking your parents its super late.” We told the guys we need to get home fast. They took us back in a flash. We gave them a good bye kiss and a hug.
I was shivering of how nervous I was. I kept imagining my uncle with his belt just waiting for us to get in the house and yelling at us. Erica tries to open the back door but it was closed which was weird because she took off the lock. I was about to cry, how were we going to get in. All the other doors closed so my cousin was like “The back window is always open lets try and get in through there.” We had no other choose but to clam up a chair and jump through the window. We made it in the house without making any noise. Got to Erica’s room took off our party clothing and put back our pajamas. We were taking how fun it was to be dancing with our boyfriends all night. What I night we had.
It was nine in the morning time to wake up, for some reason I had five missed calls from my dad. Which was weird Erica and me go downstairs all of sudden I see my dad he was all like “What were you thinking? Do you think your uncle is dumb and would not notice you both left.” My dad yelling at me so loud I stated to cry and explained why I did it. He took my phone for two weeks; I could not go out with Erica anymore for a mouth. I learned my lesson, to never leave the house without permission. I never knew how they found out, but now we know why the back door was closed.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
I'm SICK!
So sorry, I guess the semester caught up with me. So I won't be in my office today to collect portfolios. You can go ahead and leave them in my mailbox in Room 313 or I'll be back all day tomorrow and Wednesday if you want to see me in person.
Thanks,
Nancy
So sorry, I guess the semester caught up with me. So I won't be in my office today to collect portfolios. You can go ahead and leave them in my mailbox in Room 313 or I'll be back all day tomorrow and Wednesday if you want to see me in person.
Thanks,
Nancy
Saturday, December 4, 2010
"The 'Princess' Story" by Natalia Kotenko
My grandmother’s name is Vera, which from Russian language means, “to believe”. She is almost 90 years old. She does not really like to tell the stories of her life or where she is from, or who her parents are. All those secrets that grandma kept in silence made us, younger generation, imagine some fairy stories, like as my elder brother once said about her: “Our granny is an escaped Romanov‘s youngest princess, who doesn’t want to undercover her emperor’s roots.” Of course, we laughed, but the nickname stuck for our grandmother. I was much luckier than my siblings or cousins. Being the only granddaughter and the youngest one, I had many privileges, including countless hugs, kisses and candies. I could talk my old wise ‘princess’ into conversations to which my cousins did not have any access. Once I told her, when I was eight: “Grandma, we love you very much, but we have the right to know our past. Your past is ours. It does not matter how sad it was. We have the right! ” She smiled and she finally spoke up. That brought the sadness and sorrow into the air from the moment she closed her eyes as to bring herself back into almost a hundred year old story.
Vera was born the youngest in the family alone with one more sister Katya, who was nine years older than her and three middle brothers. The kids were born in Kazakhstan. Her family lived in an old wood house somewhere in the middle of the Kazakh desert, close to the cleanest, clearest and as they will later discover, dangerous river, named Amudarya. The neighbors’ houses were located too far from each other. It was a happy fulfilled family, where the parents loved each other endlessly and where the kids respected and obeyed the parents and their efforts to give them everything they needed.
Vera was thirteen when World War 2 started, and it did not started with the fascism bombing over the USSR or radio announcement. No! It was a neighbor who signaled the misery, murder and crime in the country, preparing the family to pay a high price.
Vera’s father was a friendly and fair person, who never refused to help anybody who deserved it. It was May of 1941, a month before the war. Vera’s father invited a male neighbor to hunt with him on horseback, who pleasurably agreed, already feeding an evil thought in his head. That morning Matrena, Vera’s mother, was cheerily humming something while preparing lunch for her husband, whom she would never see alive again. The neighbor never came to Vera’s family to explain why their father disappeared. After two days his body was found shot somewhere next to his dead horse. Nobody went after the murderer, nobody. The woman was left with five kids alone without any help around. The death afflicted the family, when a couple weeks later Vera’s youngest brother went to fish in the Amudarya River with his old horse. The horse came back that evening, leaving the slim young body drowned in its deep blue water.
The two losses made the family forget for a long while how to laugh or even smile. Vera’s mother turned to be gray-headed, and she spoke rarely. Matrena made a meal with her head down, putting food in plates along with sadness and desperation.
In several months after the World War against Germany began, two Vera’s last two brothers left for battle. Vera was alone with her mother and sister. Nobody said a joke or a silly thing that would make the family smile. They forgot how eyes could narrow from a deep laugh.
The hardest time came when there was not wheat or meat left. The harvest that year was terrible. It seemed like nature was protesting since the war began refusing to give anything to people.
It was March of 1942, when Vera with her sister and mother received a letter, informing that the older son was killed. After Matrena had read the letter, she placed it on the table. She sat for one more minute in silence, then stood up and walked to her bedroom. Where behind the door Vera could hear nothing that would usually remind a cry or sob.
In April, the same year the women got finally good news with the letter where the middle son points out a day and time, when his command in a military train would stop at the station, which his mother and sisters could reach easily by walk. They would be able to see each other for about 10 minutes again. The delight of the coming date made Vera dance on the bare wood floor and she could not stop herself. Her mother and sister looked at her silly movements and smiled followed by Matrena’s tears. Vera stopped right there, ran to her already old and tired mother, sat on her lap and hugged her so tight, that nobody could tear them apart at that moment. Her sister stood up, took a glass bowl that a year ago would contain a main dish of a table, around which Vera’s whole family would gather, and Katya put the letter gently with her bony fingers inside. She came to her mother with Vera and hugged them protectively.
That day finally came. The hungry skinny ladies put on their nicest dresses and went to the train station, where they were supposed to meet at three pm the only male left in the family; a son and a brother at the same face.
It seemed very strange for them: it was already four pm, and the station was empty. Vera tried to keep her mind busy with anything else except bad thoughts about the train. She looked at her mother, who was sitting on her right. The hiding sun behind the sandy hills lit her mother so well, that now she could see, how unbelievably old Matrena looked, even though she was only approaching her fifties. Three of them were sitting quiet. Vera then noticed an old man crossing the long train station. Her mother stood up without an effort to straighten her back, walked up to him and asked him something so quietly, like being scared to hear the answer she was asking for. The old man grabbed Matrena’s left shoulder and said the words that we already knew, but refused to believe: “The train passed earlier yesterday, my dear, take your girls and go home, there is nothing for you to wait for!”
The train station for Vera gave an impression of an Island, within the dust ocean, where the trails looked like two endless canals from the past to the future, from life to death, from happiness to misery, and from laugh to cry. She looked at the man’s back, how he was walking away from the train trails.
Her mother stood at the same spot for a minute. She did not even glance at Katya and Vera, when Matrena turned her dry body and faced the end of the “canals”, which ends, from Vera’s imagination, would face something the most miserable on this Earth. She stood at the same frozen position for a minute more, than moved from that spot, like an old weak swan, that tries to fly away from the ground. She did two steps parallel to the trails, than tried to run, but she could not. Her feet refused to obey her; she fell down, moaning, like a wounded wolf over its dead pub. Matrena then stood up again and ran, and ran. Katya was running after her. When she caught her, they fell down on the sand this time together. Katya raised her mother and the women now walked home.
Vera’s mother never recovered after what had happened. In a week she died, leaving the girls behind. In a month after Matrena’s death, Vera and Katya received another letter, where it says how the last brother died.
The girls survived. They moved to Uzbekistan, where fifty years later I was born.
At the end of the story, my “princess” told me: “My dear, you will see how short the life is; how fast the train of your destiny will take you from one end to another. Do not look at that last end, do not eager to face it, but be aware of it and not scared. Be careful whom you travel in that train with, whom you choose as a company for the whole destination. Never forget and leave those who love you behind, because one day they may choose a different train that will not bring them back to you. Color you train in the colors of happiness and humanity, that will attract kind people into your world. Moreover, when you come to the end do not be afraid, but smile, because, who knows, and another train may come to pick up your happy butt again.”
Vera was born the youngest in the family alone with one more sister Katya, who was nine years older than her and three middle brothers. The kids were born in Kazakhstan. Her family lived in an old wood house somewhere in the middle of the Kazakh desert, close to the cleanest, clearest and as they will later discover, dangerous river, named Amudarya. The neighbors’ houses were located too far from each other. It was a happy fulfilled family, where the parents loved each other endlessly and where the kids respected and obeyed the parents and their efforts to give them everything they needed.
Vera was thirteen when World War 2 started, and it did not started with the fascism bombing over the USSR or radio announcement. No! It was a neighbor who signaled the misery, murder and crime in the country, preparing the family to pay a high price.
Vera’s father was a friendly and fair person, who never refused to help anybody who deserved it. It was May of 1941, a month before the war. Vera’s father invited a male neighbor to hunt with him on horseback, who pleasurably agreed, already feeding an evil thought in his head. That morning Matrena, Vera’s mother, was cheerily humming something while preparing lunch for her husband, whom she would never see alive again. The neighbor never came to Vera’s family to explain why their father disappeared. After two days his body was found shot somewhere next to his dead horse. Nobody went after the murderer, nobody. The woman was left with five kids alone without any help around. The death afflicted the family, when a couple weeks later Vera’s youngest brother went to fish in the Amudarya River with his old horse. The horse came back that evening, leaving the slim young body drowned in its deep blue water.
The two losses made the family forget for a long while how to laugh or even smile. Vera’s mother turned to be gray-headed, and she spoke rarely. Matrena made a meal with her head down, putting food in plates along with sadness and desperation.
In several months after the World War against Germany began, two Vera’s last two brothers left for battle. Vera was alone with her mother and sister. Nobody said a joke or a silly thing that would make the family smile. They forgot how eyes could narrow from a deep laugh.
The hardest time came when there was not wheat or meat left. The harvest that year was terrible. It seemed like nature was protesting since the war began refusing to give anything to people.
It was March of 1942, when Vera with her sister and mother received a letter, informing that the older son was killed. After Matrena had read the letter, she placed it on the table. She sat for one more minute in silence, then stood up and walked to her bedroom. Where behind the door Vera could hear nothing that would usually remind a cry or sob.
In April, the same year the women got finally good news with the letter where the middle son points out a day and time, when his command in a military train would stop at the station, which his mother and sisters could reach easily by walk. They would be able to see each other for about 10 minutes again. The delight of the coming date made Vera dance on the bare wood floor and she could not stop herself. Her mother and sister looked at her silly movements and smiled followed by Matrena’s tears. Vera stopped right there, ran to her already old and tired mother, sat on her lap and hugged her so tight, that nobody could tear them apart at that moment. Her sister stood up, took a glass bowl that a year ago would contain a main dish of a table, around which Vera’s whole family would gather, and Katya put the letter gently with her bony fingers inside. She came to her mother with Vera and hugged them protectively.
That day finally came. The hungry skinny ladies put on their nicest dresses and went to the train station, where they were supposed to meet at three pm the only male left in the family; a son and a brother at the same face.
It seemed very strange for them: it was already four pm, and the station was empty. Vera tried to keep her mind busy with anything else except bad thoughts about the train. She looked at her mother, who was sitting on her right. The hiding sun behind the sandy hills lit her mother so well, that now she could see, how unbelievably old Matrena looked, even though she was only approaching her fifties. Three of them were sitting quiet. Vera then noticed an old man crossing the long train station. Her mother stood up without an effort to straighten her back, walked up to him and asked him something so quietly, like being scared to hear the answer she was asking for. The old man grabbed Matrena’s left shoulder and said the words that we already knew, but refused to believe: “The train passed earlier yesterday, my dear, take your girls and go home, there is nothing for you to wait for!”
The train station for Vera gave an impression of an Island, within the dust ocean, where the trails looked like two endless canals from the past to the future, from life to death, from happiness to misery, and from laugh to cry. She looked at the man’s back, how he was walking away from the train trails.
Her mother stood at the same spot for a minute. She did not even glance at Katya and Vera, when Matrena turned her dry body and faced the end of the “canals”, which ends, from Vera’s imagination, would face something the most miserable on this Earth. She stood at the same frozen position for a minute more, than moved from that spot, like an old weak swan, that tries to fly away from the ground. She did two steps parallel to the trails, than tried to run, but she could not. Her feet refused to obey her; she fell down, moaning, like a wounded wolf over its dead pub. Matrena then stood up again and ran, and ran. Katya was running after her. When she caught her, they fell down on the sand this time together. Katya raised her mother and the women now walked home.
Vera’s mother never recovered after what had happened. In a week she died, leaving the girls behind. In a month after Matrena’s death, Vera and Katya received another letter, where it says how the last brother died.
The girls survived. They moved to Uzbekistan, where fifty years later I was born.
At the end of the story, my “princess” told me: “My dear, you will see how short the life is; how fast the train of your destiny will take you from one end to another. Do not look at that last end, do not eager to face it, but be aware of it and not scared. Be careful whom you travel in that train with, whom you choose as a company for the whole destination. Never forget and leave those who love you behind, because one day they may choose a different train that will not bring them back to you. Color you train in the colors of happiness and humanity, that will attract kind people into your world. Moreover, when you come to the end do not be afraid, but smile, because, who knows, and another train may come to pick up your happy butt again.”
"Happiness?" by Chinh Vong
"Happiness is a journey, not just a destination?"
A slanted small fire-eye, slightly smiling with white-milk-teeth on a lovable face, holding an ice cream stick in little hands which is the picture of a happy child. An image of slanted eyes which is accompanied with tears rolling down cheeks. They are not tears of the pain of losing something; instead, they are tears of happiness when a mother greets her son who just came back from the battlefield. There are two different kinds of emotion. To children, happiness is very simple in a moment they are satisfied by a demand such as ice cream stick or toys, etc... On the other hand, the happiness of a mother is spirit passion satisfied after many days looking forward to her son. Therefore, we have many ways to perform our emotion, but what are happiness and its quality in our life? When do people feel happy? How does it play a role in daily life?
Happiness is a state of emotion or feeling of humans when they satisfy a demand that carries abstract features. It is a high form of emotion in humans only. Happiness and satisfaction are two synonym words that imply comfortable feelings once you have achieved a goal, or a favorable outcome. However, the difference lies in the tangible or intangible result of achieving a purpose. For example, love, fame, freedom, success bring happiness; luxury, comfortable, and wealth living bring satisfaction. Thus, happiness is much related to mental state, and satisfaction is highly related to human instinct.
According to biology, recent research of German scientists and professors, Bruce Headey from Melbourne Institute of Melbourne University, showed genetic factors affect about 50% of happiness; the external factors influence it at equivalent levels. In addition, the evolution of perspective offers an alternative approach to understand what happiness in life is about.
In social approach, people in wealthy countries often identify that they are happier than do people in poorer countries; nonetheless, in a certain society, a rich man usually feels happy, yet this society may not be delighted if everybody is rich. Moreover, happiness contributes a significant role to define the character and culture of a society. Happy index (HI) is the key to assessing the satisfaction of a group of people in a certain society. It substantially contributes to economists in building the proper business strategies. Besides, since happiness has congenital factors, economists worry that the macro- and micro-economic policies will not be able to impact on the individual in the long term. However in some aspects, this will help economists evaluate the subjective satisfaction of the consumers without relying on the rate of consumption.
At different ages, the satisfaction level of happiness is different. Normally, kids are easy to make happy by meeting a specific demand. For those of working-age, the index of happiness is quite low because they concentrate more on substance and desired factors than the happiness factors. Furthermore, they rarely realize happiness because the elements of work, lifestyle, and working time have taken away their feeling of happiness. Meanwhile, elderly people simply are fulfilled with happiness. They are concerned with spiritual elements rather than substance ones. They feel happy, for instance, if their grandchildren come to visit frequently. Besides, happiness depends on other important factors such as lifestyle, hobbies, or personal choice. For example, people who always laugh or play sports will feel happier and pass life peacefully because when you laugh or do some positive activities, your stress and depression will be blown away.
Even me, I usually “ask” myself “what is happiness?” and try to figure out an answer. “Happiness is a journey, not just a destination.” “Happiness is beloved.” “Happiness is giving up, not keeping tight…..” There are many, many thousands of responses that already answer this question. However, I did not find an answer for myself until a day in an unexpected moment; I have “discovered” the meaning of the word “happiness.” That was the day I left Vietnam to immigrate to The United States (US). I realized I was really sorry for missing the happy time with my family and friends which I didn’t notice in my life. In the moment of saying “good bye,” I knew “happiness is respecting what you have.” Let do the good things and remember the lucky moments in life which makes you will feel happier.
A slanted small fire-eye, slightly smiling with white-milk-teeth on a lovable face, holding an ice cream stick in little hands which is the picture of a happy child. An image of slanted eyes which is accompanied with tears rolling down cheeks. They are not tears of the pain of losing something; instead, they are tears of happiness when a mother greets her son who just came back from the battlefield. There are two different kinds of emotion. To children, happiness is very simple in a moment they are satisfied by a demand such as ice cream stick or toys, etc... On the other hand, the happiness of a mother is spirit passion satisfied after many days looking forward to her son. Therefore, we have many ways to perform our emotion, but what are happiness and its quality in our life? When do people feel happy? How does it play a role in daily life?
Happiness is a state of emotion or feeling of humans when they satisfy a demand that carries abstract features. It is a high form of emotion in humans only. Happiness and satisfaction are two synonym words that imply comfortable feelings once you have achieved a goal, or a favorable outcome. However, the difference lies in the tangible or intangible result of achieving a purpose. For example, love, fame, freedom, success bring happiness; luxury, comfortable, and wealth living bring satisfaction. Thus, happiness is much related to mental state, and satisfaction is highly related to human instinct.
According to biology, recent research of German scientists and professors, Bruce Headey from Melbourne Institute of Melbourne University, showed genetic factors affect about 50% of happiness; the external factors influence it at equivalent levels. In addition, the evolution of perspective offers an alternative approach to understand what happiness in life is about.
In social approach, people in wealthy countries often identify that they are happier than do people in poorer countries; nonetheless, in a certain society, a rich man usually feels happy, yet this society may not be delighted if everybody is rich. Moreover, happiness contributes a significant role to define the character and culture of a society. Happy index (HI) is the key to assessing the satisfaction of a group of people in a certain society. It substantially contributes to economists in building the proper business strategies. Besides, since happiness has congenital factors, economists worry that the macro- and micro-economic policies will not be able to impact on the individual in the long term. However in some aspects, this will help economists evaluate the subjective satisfaction of the consumers without relying on the rate of consumption.
At different ages, the satisfaction level of happiness is different. Normally, kids are easy to make happy by meeting a specific demand. For those of working-age, the index of happiness is quite low because they concentrate more on substance and desired factors than the happiness factors. Furthermore, they rarely realize happiness because the elements of work, lifestyle, and working time have taken away their feeling of happiness. Meanwhile, elderly people simply are fulfilled with happiness. They are concerned with spiritual elements rather than substance ones. They feel happy, for instance, if their grandchildren come to visit frequently. Besides, happiness depends on other important factors such as lifestyle, hobbies, or personal choice. For example, people who always laugh or play sports will feel happier and pass life peacefully because when you laugh or do some positive activities, your stress and depression will be blown away.
Even me, I usually “ask” myself “what is happiness?” and try to figure out an answer. “Happiness is a journey, not just a destination.” “Happiness is beloved.” “Happiness is giving up, not keeping tight…..” There are many, many thousands of responses that already answer this question. However, I did not find an answer for myself until a day in an unexpected moment; I have “discovered” the meaning of the word “happiness.” That was the day I left Vietnam to immigrate to The United States (US). I realized I was really sorry for missing the happy time with my family and friends which I didn’t notice in my life. In the moment of saying “good bye,” I knew “happiness is respecting what you have.” Let do the good things and remember the lucky moments in life which makes you will feel happier.
"Walking on Sunshine" by Paola Cortes
On a gloomy, gray morning. Sitting at the doorstep waiting for the excitement to show some face. The weather is cold and as the strings of icy winds slap the surfaces of all other objects, I look up at the sky and start to flash back on the good old days worry free of the upcoming days. From this day, forward nothing will be the same all has to change, to have a new motive to continue on living. I have to break free of the chains that have me sink deep within the bottom of my icy heart. I got a mind full of hatred and evil thoughts, it time to get a reality check. There can be no more waiting, no more wanting, but more of make it, wanting it. A completely new reason to have a big bright smile that makes the sun sunshine look more heartwarming and welcoming to bring life. I open my eyes and thought I saw the small puddle smile at me. I look up and there is a rainbow with a long road up ahead, opening a new door. The star that keeps us alive has finally brighten up my heart, with a warm feeling glowing inside my heart I stand up and walk on the sunshine road leading to new horizons up ahead.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
"Oktoberfest in September" by Bryce Wakefield
This German festival is about celebrating a great tradition and heritage of the German people. Most people who go to this festival have some kind of German heritage in them. The festival this weekend is in Breckinridge, Colorado, a perfect place to celebrate Oktoberfest.
The temperature is like a mixture between hot and cold. The warm sun heats you up like a summer day; as the cold breezy shade makes you shiver in the cold fall air. The mountains allow you to experience the fresh air that only the mountains can provide. I can breath very well, that I feel like there are air fresheners on every corner of Main Street.
As I walk down Main Street, I notice the street is filled with people dressed up in German attire. Old men are wearing there short shorts with suspenders, even though they probably shouldn’t be. The women are dressed up in dresses that traditional to German culture. German’s are known for their passion for beer and bratwursts, and you can see clearly that Main Street is covered with tents of beer and brats. It’s almost eleven o’ clock Saturday morning, and everyone who can drink is in line to get a stein. As I watch these grownups wait anxiously for there turn in the front; is like when the small children wait in line to see Santa at Christmas. If you were to count the amount of people in Breckinridge who didn’t have a stein and have been drinking would be a lot easier then if you counted who did. The street was packed with binge drinking; but it is a German festival.
Closed for the event, Main Street was overly packed with tents of various items. Walking through Main Street was like walking through the food court at the mall. There were so many options of food and beverages to choose from. Stands varied from beer to schnitzels to ice cream. If you had a craving for something, you could find it at this festival. In the center of town, there was a German band performing for the crowd. People were dancing like they were on soul train. Most people probably didn’t even understand the German band but no one had a complaint. Everyone who came to this festival was just looking for an escape from the real world and party like a German for a weekend. There was so many people there, and have been drinking since eleven, that you meet so many new people. I think that’s what’s so great about this German tradition. The people are fun, the festival is fun, and the surroundings couldn’t get any better. The bright blue sky with the green bay packer colored trees surrounding the entire town. There isn’t one thing wrong with this day at all.
The temperature is like a mixture between hot and cold. The warm sun heats you up like a summer day; as the cold breezy shade makes you shiver in the cold fall air. The mountains allow you to experience the fresh air that only the mountains can provide. I can breath very well, that I feel like there are air fresheners on every corner of Main Street.
As I walk down Main Street, I notice the street is filled with people dressed up in German attire. Old men are wearing there short shorts with suspenders, even though they probably shouldn’t be. The women are dressed up in dresses that traditional to German culture. German’s are known for their passion for beer and bratwursts, and you can see clearly that Main Street is covered with tents of beer and brats. It’s almost eleven o’ clock Saturday morning, and everyone who can drink is in line to get a stein. As I watch these grownups wait anxiously for there turn in the front; is like when the small children wait in line to see Santa at Christmas. If you were to count the amount of people in Breckinridge who didn’t have a stein and have been drinking would be a lot easier then if you counted who did. The street was packed with binge drinking; but it is a German festival.
Closed for the event, Main Street was overly packed with tents of various items. Walking through Main Street was like walking through the food court at the mall. There were so many options of food and beverages to choose from. Stands varied from beer to schnitzels to ice cream. If you had a craving for something, you could find it at this festival. In the center of town, there was a German band performing for the crowd. People were dancing like they were on soul train. Most people probably didn’t even understand the German band but no one had a complaint. Everyone who came to this festival was just looking for an escape from the real world and party like a German for a weekend. There was so many people there, and have been drinking since eleven, that you meet so many new people. I think that’s what’s so great about this German tradition. The people are fun, the festival is fun, and the surroundings couldn’t get any better. The bright blue sky with the green bay packer colored trees surrounding the entire town. There isn’t one thing wrong with this day at all.
December 1, 2010
You're almost done!
Have fun reading all the great essays below.
Final Portfolios are due by Wednesday, December 8 at 3:00, either in my hand or in my mailbox. I will not accept portfolios after 3:00, and I will not accept them by email.
My mailbox: South Building Room 313
My office: South Building Room 230
I'll be in my office during our regular class times both Monday and Wednesday of next week.
See you then! Have fun with these--you've earned it. Congratulate yourself on all your hard work and progress this semester. I look forward to reading them all!
Nancy
Have fun reading all the great essays below.
Final Portfolios are due by Wednesday, December 8 at 3:00, either in my hand or in my mailbox. I will not accept portfolios after 3:00, and I will not accept them by email.
My mailbox: South Building Room 313
My office: South Building Room 230
I'll be in my office during our regular class times both Monday and Wednesday of next week.
See you then! Have fun with these--you've earned it. Congratulate yourself on all your hard work and progress this semester. I look forward to reading them all!
Nancy
"It's Your Life" by Beautiful
Everyone is different and that’s what makes us unique, but we do have one thing in common, we all have to make choices. I know that sometimes it’s hard, but we all have to do it. Employees, employers, students, teachers, parents, everybody. Successful students usually make choices that will get them farther to where they want to be. Those choices consist of getting up and getting to school on time, doing their work, and being involved in class. Successful students ask questions that they don’t know the answer to or if they aren’t sure if they should do something a specific way. They take advantage of opportunities and resources, even time. Employees make a choice on whether they’re going to go to work or stay at home. Choices are just a way of life, our future depends on the decisions we make in the present. We have to remember that we are the only ones to blame if our future doesn’t come out like we want, because of poor choices. We make choices every second and usually we make them based off of opportunity costs.
"Rap Music" by Regina Pizarro
In my life I’ve come to find that rap music has played a major part in my life. I listen to it when I’m sad, happy, mad. Rap music is poetry in its rarest, rawest form. It comes from ones heart. It flows into your heart, mind, body and soul. The beat reminds me of drums from a Northern Arapaho powwow that I have heard on my reservation so many times before.
The words are of a poet. They come from personal experience, they come from laying your woman down and loving her oh so gentle ( or rough), pain, struggles. They come from ones first love, the streets. It must be appreciated, respected, and understood. Rap music is the epitome of good music.
Theres been times in the world when it has been misunderstood. Although there happens to be some explicit rap music out. People tend to define Rap music as that’s all that music is about. Theres Rap artist’s such as Eminem, Tupac, Ice Cube that has been ridiculed for there music. Although Tupac had a short life,. He has left a huge impression on a lot of peoples lives.
There is a imaginary line between soft rap and hardcore. It has been greatly misunderstood. As I write this paper I want people to have an open mind when they hear the music that came from the streets where I’ve been and lived. Listen to the poetry.
“Bass so deep, I can’t even seem to feel my feet
Times change, but the music it remain’s the same
I hit them with the music from the slave
Oh my goodness, what my ancestor’s gave
They taught me how to reach deep down and touch the
Soul, Without my Music where would I be, You taught
me how to cry and I still remain a “G”………………………..
Music and Me go together in Perfect Harmony………..
-Nate Dogg
Then we have Tupac . He has made a major impression in everybody’s life.
Listen to the poetry in his Rap Music……………………
Come with me, Hail Mary
Run quick see, what do we have here
Now, do you wanna ride or die
La dadeada, lalalala
I ain’t a killer but don’t push me
Revenge is like the sweetest joy to getting pussy
Picture paragraphs unloaded, wise words being quoted
Peeped the weakness in the rap game and sewed it
Bow down, pray to God hoping that hes listening…………………..
-Tupac
These are the words of a great man, a poet. Someone that was misunderstood.
Was it because he was a black man that came from the streets? Or is it because he kept,it real and shared with the world that life is deeper than what people seem to think.
Theres so much that we as people chose to stay closed minded about.I insist that people open their minds, and stop being so judgemental. This is from a child, a young lady, a woman that has lived a life of struggles and pain,from the streets. This is from a woman that does not want pity, she doesn’t want no one go through what she had endured. Very few come back from this kind of life. This is,from a woman that wants people to stop stereotyping people. Stop being so
closeminded…………………………………..
The words are of a poet. They come from personal experience, they come from laying your woman down and loving her oh so gentle ( or rough), pain, struggles. They come from ones first love, the streets. It must be appreciated, respected, and understood. Rap music is the epitome of good music.
Theres been times in the world when it has been misunderstood. Although there happens to be some explicit rap music out. People tend to define Rap music as that’s all that music is about. Theres Rap artist’s such as Eminem, Tupac, Ice Cube that has been ridiculed for there music. Although Tupac had a short life,. He has left a huge impression on a lot of peoples lives.
There is a imaginary line between soft rap and hardcore. It has been greatly misunderstood. As I write this paper I want people to have an open mind when they hear the music that came from the streets where I’ve been and lived. Listen to the poetry.
“Bass so deep, I can’t even seem to feel my feet
Times change, but the music it remain’s the same
I hit them with the music from the slave
Oh my goodness, what my ancestor’s gave
They taught me how to reach deep down and touch the
Soul, Without my Music where would I be, You taught
me how to cry and I still remain a “G”………………………..
Music and Me go together in Perfect Harmony………..
-Nate Dogg
Then we have Tupac . He has made a major impression in everybody’s life.
Listen to the poetry in his Rap Music……………………
Come with me, Hail Mary
Run quick see, what do we have here
Now, do you wanna ride or die
La dadeada, lalalala
I ain’t a killer but don’t push me
Revenge is like the sweetest joy to getting pussy
Picture paragraphs unloaded, wise words being quoted
Peeped the weakness in the rap game and sewed it
Bow down, pray to God hoping that hes listening…………………..
-Tupac
These are the words of a great man, a poet. Someone that was misunderstood.
Was it because he was a black man that came from the streets? Or is it because he kept,it real and shared with the world that life is deeper than what people seem to think.
Theres so much that we as people chose to stay closed minded about.I insist that people open their minds, and stop being so judgemental. This is from a child, a young lady, a woman that has lived a life of struggles and pain,from the streets. This is from a woman that does not want pity, she doesn’t want no one go through what she had endured. Very few come back from this kind of life. This is,from a woman that wants people to stop stereotyping people. Stop being so
closeminded…………………………………..
"Music" by Lena Nammari
Music is important to a lot of people. It can mean a different thing to each person. Each person likes different genres of music. People also like listening to music in different ways, like stereos, headphones, musicals, operas, or concerts. Concerts are a great way for people to listen to their favorite music, see the artist with their own eyes, and get a new and enhanced feeling from that same music.
I have been to a few concerts. The most recent one was on September 5, 2010. It was probably one of my favorite concerts so far. The reason it was one of my favorites was because I love the band, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, that was playing. It was an amazing experience. I have seen them in concert two other times, Warped Tour 2007 and Big Gig 2009, but this one was the best. It was a little better than the other concerts because they were the headline act and it was in a smaller location. Having it at a smaller location made it more personable, made it feel like you were closer to them. They were playing at the Marquis, which is no bigger than the main lobby of CCD. The stage was rather small, too. It was triangular shaped, the front was rounded with speakers lining the front. There were speakers at the back of the stage, as well. Above the stage there were colorful lights that lit up the stage beautifully. The drummer (Jon) was in the left corner, the lead singer (Ronnie) was in front, and the three guitarist (Duke, Matt - lead, and Joey - bass) were behind Ronnie. Ronnie and Joey moved around the stage a lot during the performance and the other three stayed where they were basically the entire concert. The type of music they performed was alternative/rock. They also had a couple of slower songs that were a little less like rock. I love all of the types of songs that they sing, so I enjoyed everything.
The doors were suppose to open at 7:00 but I was running late, because I was at the lake with friends before hand. I was so nervous that I was going to be late, I did my make-up in my friends car on the way home. When I finally got home I ran into the house and threw my clothes on, a pair of dark washed cropped jeans and a white tank top with black stars. Then I threw some gel in my hair, because I didn’t have time to straighten it, and ran back out the door. I finally got to where I needed to be and I met up with my friend and his three friends. When we got in we found out that the concert didn’t even start until 8:00. There were two bands going on before The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, so we had plenty of time, after all. While we waited, we had a few drinks. There was a bar inside the lobby, it was on the right side of the stage. There was a wall partially separating the bar area and dance floor area. We had one Washington apple shot and about three PBR beers.
When it came time for The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus to perform, we made our way to the area right in front of the stage and we were about seven rows back. We were right behind the mosh pit so my feet got stepped on a lot and I was wearing flip-flops! I got ran into and elbowed, but I wasn’t too upset because its a mosh pit and everyone expects to get hurt. I thought seven rows back was great, but then my friend pushed me up a few rows, and I was now only three rows back! I was no longer behind the mosh pit so it was nice to not get run into anymore. It was also nice to see the band even better. By the end of the concert, I was in the very front. To be that close to my favorite band was absolutely amazing. They sounded incredible. They were loud, but not over powering. There were so many amazing sounds; I heard the loud rock music from the band, and from the screaming fans. The band sang all of my favorite songs.
At the end, I got a high five from two of the band members, Ronnie and Joey. I couldn’t have asked for any better ending to a great concert. But, it didn’t stop there, one of my friends got a guitar pick from the band and handed it to me. On the way out of the building they were handing out the bands new CD, EP The Hell or High Water, for free. When we were outside the drummer came out there and was on his phone and I got a high five from him, too. Not only did I leave with a guitar pick and free CD, but I got some amazing pictures with my phone. It was an incredible concert and fabulous night.
I have been to a few concerts. The most recent one was on September 5, 2010. It was probably one of my favorite concerts so far. The reason it was one of my favorites was because I love the band, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, that was playing. It was an amazing experience. I have seen them in concert two other times, Warped Tour 2007 and Big Gig 2009, but this one was the best. It was a little better than the other concerts because they were the headline act and it was in a smaller location. Having it at a smaller location made it more personable, made it feel like you were closer to them. They were playing at the Marquis, which is no bigger than the main lobby of CCD. The stage was rather small, too. It was triangular shaped, the front was rounded with speakers lining the front. There were speakers at the back of the stage, as well. Above the stage there were colorful lights that lit up the stage beautifully. The drummer (Jon) was in the left corner, the lead singer (Ronnie) was in front, and the three guitarist (Duke, Matt - lead, and Joey - bass) were behind Ronnie. Ronnie and Joey moved around the stage a lot during the performance and the other three stayed where they were basically the entire concert. The type of music they performed was alternative/rock. They also had a couple of slower songs that were a little less like rock. I love all of the types of songs that they sing, so I enjoyed everything.
The doors were suppose to open at 7:00 but I was running late, because I was at the lake with friends before hand. I was so nervous that I was going to be late, I did my make-up in my friends car on the way home. When I finally got home I ran into the house and threw my clothes on, a pair of dark washed cropped jeans and a white tank top with black stars. Then I threw some gel in my hair, because I didn’t have time to straighten it, and ran back out the door. I finally got to where I needed to be and I met up with my friend and his three friends. When we got in we found out that the concert didn’t even start until 8:00. There were two bands going on before The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, so we had plenty of time, after all. While we waited, we had a few drinks. There was a bar inside the lobby, it was on the right side of the stage. There was a wall partially separating the bar area and dance floor area. We had one Washington apple shot and about three PBR beers.
When it came time for The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus to perform, we made our way to the area right in front of the stage and we were about seven rows back. We were right behind the mosh pit so my feet got stepped on a lot and I was wearing flip-flops! I got ran into and elbowed, but I wasn’t too upset because its a mosh pit and everyone expects to get hurt. I thought seven rows back was great, but then my friend pushed me up a few rows, and I was now only three rows back! I was no longer behind the mosh pit so it was nice to not get run into anymore. It was also nice to see the band even better. By the end of the concert, I was in the very front. To be that close to my favorite band was absolutely amazing. They sounded incredible. They were loud, but not over powering. There were so many amazing sounds; I heard the loud rock music from the band, and from the screaming fans. The band sang all of my favorite songs.
At the end, I got a high five from two of the band members, Ronnie and Joey. I couldn’t have asked for any better ending to a great concert. But, it didn’t stop there, one of my friends got a guitar pick from the band and handed it to me. On the way out of the building they were handing out the bands new CD, EP The Hell or High Water, for free. When we were outside the drummer came out there and was on his phone and I got a high five from him, too. Not only did I leave with a guitar pick and free CD, but I got some amazing pictures with my phone. It was an incredible concert and fabulous night.
"The Smile" by Andrew Solano
Next stop Union Station! It was just another typical day on the 120x bus, people frantically enter the bus at central station on Sixteenth and Market St.. Everyone is doing their own little thing, voiding out the world and going in to a complete state of daze. There’s a middle aged business like woman that stood before me listening to her new Ipod Touch, she avoids everyone that walks by, acting like she owned the world. The woman seems to be in a pissed off mood focusing on her Ipod like it’s the last grain of rice on earth.
An older aged hefty Latino woman dressed in a housekeeping dress enters the bus carrying a wide array of items she held a water bottle, a book, a purse, and a backpack. It was hard for her to contain all these items because of her oddly shaped body. Bam! She drops her water bottle under the seat of the business lady. I ask the hefty lady, “ Do you need help .” No answer. Just a smile of despair, she most likely smiled because she spoke no English. This smile had to mean something though. It was a universal way of communication.
I reached under the business women's seat in front of me to grab the hefty Latino ladies water bottle, but couldn’t reach. The business ladies high end Coach purse, and Chanel coat lied in my path. The business woman seems to be tempered by me reaching under her seat. Her eyes roll back and forth and body stiffens up as a dead man lying in a grave. Shoving her pampered hands and fake acrylic nails under the seat she grabs the water bottle, an uncontrollable magnitude of anger is released. The business woman shoves the water bottle into the Latino women's hand, and gives a snobby head throw.
You’d think someone would offer to help this woman by picking up the water bottle for her but everyone just stares at her in awe. People on the bus seem to have no care towards one another, it’s like we all speak a different language. The Latino woman gathers all her belongings and grabs a seat. I look up at her and she gives another cheerful smile.No words spoke just a smile, it was a universal way of saying thanks. I look in front of me and I notice the business woman look at me. We make eye contact but pretend like we never saw each other. We look up once again make eye contact again, I smile. She sees my smile and she gives a obscene smirk. I then look back behind me to see what others are doing, I see nothing but people texting or listening to music. I question myself asking have I also been transformed into one of these dazed and disgruntled beings; that try to avoid the outside world by entering into a sort of trance. I think to myself no it can’t be.
The bus starts to roll again to the next and final stop. I look at the bus driver and he shakes his head, I believe the shaking of the head was a sign that we were taking off. He pops some BBQ sunflower seeds in his mouth and drives to the final stop. The final minutes of the ride are relatively bumpy I keep looking foreword through the windshield, not wanting to look back at the self centered people on the bus, but when I do I smile just like the Latino Lady did. The power of a smile is great, it could mean a million things. We hit a major bump and I bounce out of my seat, I see the Latino woman, this time she is counting her change to pay for her bus fare. She still has that smile on her face, it was delightful. She taught me that, even if we don’t speak the same language we can communicate greatly with our expressions. The business lady communicated she was self centered by her chagrin looks, the Latino Lady communicated she was delighted by life with her smile, the bus driver communicated he was more interested in eating than his job. A cycle of communication with no words.
An older aged hefty Latino woman dressed in a housekeeping dress enters the bus carrying a wide array of items she held a water bottle, a book, a purse, and a backpack. It was hard for her to contain all these items because of her oddly shaped body. Bam! She drops her water bottle under the seat of the business lady. I ask the hefty lady, “ Do you need help .” No answer. Just a smile of despair, she most likely smiled because she spoke no English. This smile had to mean something though. It was a universal way of communication.
I reached under the business women's seat in front of me to grab the hefty Latino ladies water bottle, but couldn’t reach. The business ladies high end Coach purse, and Chanel coat lied in my path. The business woman seems to be tempered by me reaching under her seat. Her eyes roll back and forth and body stiffens up as a dead man lying in a grave. Shoving her pampered hands and fake acrylic nails under the seat she grabs the water bottle, an uncontrollable magnitude of anger is released. The business woman shoves the water bottle into the Latino women's hand, and gives a snobby head throw.
You’d think someone would offer to help this woman by picking up the water bottle for her but everyone just stares at her in awe. People on the bus seem to have no care towards one another, it’s like we all speak a different language. The Latino woman gathers all her belongings and grabs a seat. I look up at her and she gives another cheerful smile.No words spoke just a smile, it was a universal way of saying thanks. I look in front of me and I notice the business woman look at me. We make eye contact but pretend like we never saw each other. We look up once again make eye contact again, I smile. She sees my smile and she gives a obscene smirk. I then look back behind me to see what others are doing, I see nothing but people texting or listening to music. I question myself asking have I also been transformed into one of these dazed and disgruntled beings; that try to avoid the outside world by entering into a sort of trance. I think to myself no it can’t be.
The bus starts to roll again to the next and final stop. I look at the bus driver and he shakes his head, I believe the shaking of the head was a sign that we were taking off. He pops some BBQ sunflower seeds in his mouth and drives to the final stop. The final minutes of the ride are relatively bumpy I keep looking foreword through the windshield, not wanting to look back at the self centered people on the bus, but when I do I smile just like the Latino Lady did. The power of a smile is great, it could mean a million things. We hit a major bump and I bounce out of my seat, I see the Latino woman, this time she is counting her change to pay for her bus fare. She still has that smile on her face, it was delightful. She taught me that, even if we don’t speak the same language we can communicate greatly with our expressions. The business lady communicated she was self centered by her chagrin looks, the Latino Lady communicated she was delighted by life with her smile, the bus driver communicated he was more interested in eating than his job. A cycle of communication with no words.
"Fuels" by Jacob Gasiorowski
Man, we are the dominant species on our planet Earth. Humans can even control the earth’s climate its self sadly this is something new and at first we didn’t know what was causing it. A few years ago man had its answer to what was changing the climate it was us the very fuels the we use to power our way of life was doing our civilization had finally grown so large it was affecting the earth’s its self, the only question is now what can be done to fix the problem?
The most common fuel we use is fossil fuel or commonly known as oil. We use oil to make gasoline which we use to run a great many machines most especially cars. Cars come in all sizes but 99% of all the cars today are still run by gasoline. The very machines we use as transportation to run our very way of life are literally destroying our planet and something must be done.
The simple fact is the as long as we use these fuels to run our cars we will continue to poison and destroy our world. There is a solution though there is other cleaner fuels that put out very little pollution or even none at all. How ever for any of these fuels to help they must be used world wide in unison with all other countries.
The problem with using another fuel is that it’s more expensive to make the other kinds of fuel such as ethanol or the electric car. In my opinion large corporations don’t make these fuels because the auto makers have not made enough cars that can use these fuels. The federal government should force these auto makers to begin making cars that use these fuels. If the auto makers begin to make cars that can use other fuels then the prices for those fuels would go down because the market has gone up for them such as oil did when it was first introduced.
The most common fuel we use is fossil fuel or commonly known as oil. We use oil to make gasoline which we use to run a great many machines most especially cars. Cars come in all sizes but 99% of all the cars today are still run by gasoline. The very machines we use as transportation to run our very way of life are literally destroying our planet and something must be done.
The simple fact is the as long as we use these fuels to run our cars we will continue to poison and destroy our world. There is a solution though there is other cleaner fuels that put out very little pollution or even none at all. How ever for any of these fuels to help they must be used world wide in unison with all other countries.
The problem with using another fuel is that it’s more expensive to make the other kinds of fuel such as ethanol or the electric car. In my opinion large corporations don’t make these fuels because the auto makers have not made enough cars that can use these fuels. The federal government should force these auto makers to begin making cars that use these fuels. If the auto makers begin to make cars that can use other fuels then the prices for those fuels would go down because the market has gone up for them such as oil did when it was first introduced.
"Mary" by Kathryn Reilly
It was not always easy being a part of Irish catholic family, but I always enjoyed hearing my Mom’s stories about growing up. One of my favorite stories was about her father who died when we were still too young to remember him.
She told me once, “I was born in a strict Irish catholic family at the height of the
Depression fall out. My Dad worked many odd jobs to keep our family afloat. Although there wasn’t much in the way of food and clothing he always provided for us.”
When I was in my twenties, I worked at Nordstom and my Mom loved sharing stories about her retail years.
“I worked at Walker Scotts,” she would say, “in the men’s department and they were such pigs! They would pull the men’s dress shirts apart and just throw them back on the table, so I was con-stantly refolding and pinning them back together. That’s also where I met your Daddy! Some mutual friends set us up. They brought him by the store after he was off work, and he was a mess from working all day!” She said she was a little concerned about how he would show up but her fears were put to rest when he came wearing a suit and tie. They were married a year lat-er.
There were many other stories and life went on. I got married and moved to Denver. My parents came to visit and she said she was losing weight and was healthier than she’d been. We talked, went shopping and went to dinners. It was just like old times. A couple of months later I received several urgent calls from my brother in-law, saying that my mom was in the hospital and had had a stroke. I had never felt more fear and sadness in my life!
Immediately, I went see her. She had lost most movement on the right side of her body and she couldn’t swallow well. When she spoke it was not her voice--she sounded like a toddler, but she still had a story to tell me. I crouched in beside her on the left side when she said “I dreamed there was a break in the rehab hospital. I was so scared they came in to rob us and I couldn’t move.” I smiled and gave her a big hug! It’s been years since her stroke, and she doesn’t tell her stories any more. She mostly sleeps and when I do speak to her on the phone it’s a very short conversation. The last time I saw her she was sitting in a wheelchair surrounded by her loved ones. She still has short, silver, permed hair with bright blue eyes. She is hunched, straining to sit up holding her left arm under her chin with her right to hold her head. It is hard to see her so frail but I always have her stories to cherish.
She told me once, “I was born in a strict Irish catholic family at the height of the
Depression fall out. My Dad worked many odd jobs to keep our family afloat. Although there wasn’t much in the way of food and clothing he always provided for us.”
When I was in my twenties, I worked at Nordstom and my Mom loved sharing stories about her retail years.
“I worked at Walker Scotts,” she would say, “in the men’s department and they were such pigs! They would pull the men’s dress shirts apart and just throw them back on the table, so I was con-stantly refolding and pinning them back together. That’s also where I met your Daddy! Some mutual friends set us up. They brought him by the store after he was off work, and he was a mess from working all day!” She said she was a little concerned about how he would show up but her fears were put to rest when he came wearing a suit and tie. They were married a year lat-er.
There were many other stories and life went on. I got married and moved to Denver. My parents came to visit and she said she was losing weight and was healthier than she’d been. We talked, went shopping and went to dinners. It was just like old times. A couple of months later I received several urgent calls from my brother in-law, saying that my mom was in the hospital and had had a stroke. I had never felt more fear and sadness in my life!
Immediately, I went see her. She had lost most movement on the right side of her body and she couldn’t swallow well. When she spoke it was not her voice--she sounded like a toddler, but she still had a story to tell me. I crouched in beside her on the left side when she said “I dreamed there was a break in the rehab hospital. I was so scared they came in to rob us and I couldn’t move.” I smiled and gave her a big hug! It’s been years since her stroke, and she doesn’t tell her stories any more. She mostly sleeps and when I do speak to her on the phone it’s a very short conversation. The last time I saw her she was sitting in a wheelchair surrounded by her loved ones. She still has short, silver, permed hair with bright blue eyes. She is hunched, straining to sit up holding her left arm under her chin with her right to hold her head. It is hard to see her so frail but I always have her stories to cherish.
"Who Am I?" by Ashley Hurtado
Sometimes people get lost in this big world and forget who they are. They get so
caught up in other things and try to keep up with the pace of life. People keep fighting an
uphill battle with themselves just to be themselves. They think they lose their true
identities in it all, but really nothing ever changes who you are. It’s always been you and
will always be you till the end.
I know me. I know my likes and dislikes, my thoughts and dreams. I know who I
am and where I’m going in this life. I’m a daughter of two hard working parents, who
have always been there to support me and love me with all they have. I’m a granddaughter
to four different individuals, who all came from different backgrounds. Two have since
passed, but with their love left me with a legacy and heritage that I can be proud of and
pass on some day. I’m a older sister to my little brother and a younger sister to my older
siblings. I know I got to grow up in a household full of love and patience. I know I never
went without anything, and that’s a blessing in the world today. I know that I have a
family that will do anything for me, and will always be there.
I know who my true friends are, and who just pretends to be. I know that when
your on top a lot of people want to be around, but when you fall only true friends will be
there to catch you. I know this because of past situations, and who cared enough to be
there or to find out where there was. I know who I can depend on for whatever reasons,
who would drop everything to help me not thinking about what’s in it for them. I know
that I would do the same for these real friends.
1
I know what love is suppose to be like and feel like. The real feeling of loving and
being loved by a man. Having that one person in your life, who can make everything else
seem so small. One of the greatest things a person can ever be fortunate enough to
experience is love. I know I have someone who loves me for me, the real me and not the
me I get so confused in. Someone that will hold me and I will hold them, someone I can
imagine growing old with. I know what love is.
I know how much I have to be thankful for, and how lucky I have been in this life
to experience and feel things that most people never get to. I’m a saint and I’m a sinner,
I’m a loser and I’m a winner, I am steady and unstable, I am young but I am able. I know
just where I stand, its all a part of me, it’s who I am. And now I ask you, “Do you know
who you are?”
“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment”
-Lao Tzu
caught up in other things and try to keep up with the pace of life. People keep fighting an
uphill battle with themselves just to be themselves. They think they lose their true
identities in it all, but really nothing ever changes who you are. It’s always been you and
will always be you till the end.
I know me. I know my likes and dislikes, my thoughts and dreams. I know who I
am and where I’m going in this life. I’m a daughter of two hard working parents, who
have always been there to support me and love me with all they have. I’m a granddaughter
to four different individuals, who all came from different backgrounds. Two have since
passed, but with their love left me with a legacy and heritage that I can be proud of and
pass on some day. I’m a older sister to my little brother and a younger sister to my older
siblings. I know I got to grow up in a household full of love and patience. I know I never
went without anything, and that’s a blessing in the world today. I know that I have a
family that will do anything for me, and will always be there.
I know who my true friends are, and who just pretends to be. I know that when
your on top a lot of people want to be around, but when you fall only true friends will be
there to catch you. I know this because of past situations, and who cared enough to be
there or to find out where there was. I know who I can depend on for whatever reasons,
who would drop everything to help me not thinking about what’s in it for them. I know
that I would do the same for these real friends.
1
I know what love is suppose to be like and feel like. The real feeling of loving and
being loved by a man. Having that one person in your life, who can make everything else
seem so small. One of the greatest things a person can ever be fortunate enough to
experience is love. I know I have someone who loves me for me, the real me and not the
me I get so confused in. Someone that will hold me and I will hold them, someone I can
imagine growing old with. I know what love is.
I know how much I have to be thankful for, and how lucky I have been in this life
to experience and feel things that most people never get to. I’m a saint and I’m a sinner,
I’m a loser and I’m a winner, I am steady and unstable, I am young but I am able. I know
just where I stand, its all a part of me, it’s who I am. And now I ask you, “Do you know
who you are?”
“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment”
-Lao Tzu
"Drifting Over the River" by Maggie Fuentes
I tagged along with my older sister to Noah’s Ark white water river rafting. It was my first time encountering the adventures of rafting. As I step out of the bus the blazing rays of heat scorches my face, making me crinkle my face like a pug. The sky was light blue with no sign of any scowling clouds. I begin to feel a sense of fear overtaking my body, not wanting to participate in the activity. We arrive to the chocolaty cabin where they instruct us on how to river raft. They hand us our damp wet suits and give us a faded orange life jacket.
My heart begins to beat fast as we get near the actual activity. I can hear the roaring water flow rapidly down the raging river and hit the massive rocks. I arrive with my pumped up group at the worn out orange rafts that are set aside on the rough gravel. I hop in the raft and I sit at the edge almost falling over, the skilled instructor demonstrates the proper way to sit. I tuck my feet under the white tube on the floor to keep me from falling backwards. There’s a twisted rope on the edge that keeps me from falling out of the raft. I grab my plastic yellow paddle and wait for the voyage to begin. Everyone is settled in and we head down the stream. We stroke our paddles forward and let the ravishing water carry us to our destination. The bright golden sun beams its reflection in the shimmering water. The motion of the raft is bumpy and hard to steer. I feel the light breeze of mist sprinkle over my face. Up ahead I can see our first rapid of waves, I can feel the tension in the air rise. The water glides over and around the rocks. My trembling hands grab a hold of the thick rough rope and I dig my feet under the tube. We enter the rapid and I am drenched in water from the waves. The water is freezing cold my body begins to shiver, I can hardly see which direction we are going towards. The rapids make the raft feel like a rollercoaster ride going up and down. We are paddling faster and faster so we do not hit any big and hazardous rocks. My arms become fragile from paddling so much, trying to fight the rowdy rapid. The rapid settles down ,the water becomes calm and gentle, now the raft is flowing smoothly down the river. I can see the tiny drops of water dripping down my group’s faces. We come to a stop and the instructor allows us to jump in the chilly water. Only a few people decided to jump in the cold water. They do cannonballs and splash into the water. The real struggle of this was getting them back onto the raft. I remember trying to pull the person in but it was just to hard. The instructor told us to push them in the water and then pull up. We listened to his words and at last the person was back in the raft. We got back on track and on to the next rapid, the water was brawny and I almost lost my balance a couple of times. I was beginning to enjoy riding over the rocks and listening to the water crash into the raft. We get to our final stop and I am sad to hear that our wonderful adventure has ended. I get off the raft and I realize taking this risk has led me to overcome my fears and a new insight on the wonders of rafting.
My heart begins to beat fast as we get near the actual activity. I can hear the roaring water flow rapidly down the raging river and hit the massive rocks. I arrive with my pumped up group at the worn out orange rafts that are set aside on the rough gravel. I hop in the raft and I sit at the edge almost falling over, the skilled instructor demonstrates the proper way to sit. I tuck my feet under the white tube on the floor to keep me from falling backwards. There’s a twisted rope on the edge that keeps me from falling out of the raft. I grab my plastic yellow paddle and wait for the voyage to begin. Everyone is settled in and we head down the stream. We stroke our paddles forward and let the ravishing water carry us to our destination. The bright golden sun beams its reflection in the shimmering water. The motion of the raft is bumpy and hard to steer. I feel the light breeze of mist sprinkle over my face. Up ahead I can see our first rapid of waves, I can feel the tension in the air rise. The water glides over and around the rocks. My trembling hands grab a hold of the thick rough rope and I dig my feet under the tube. We enter the rapid and I am drenched in water from the waves. The water is freezing cold my body begins to shiver, I can hardly see which direction we are going towards. The rapids make the raft feel like a rollercoaster ride going up and down. We are paddling faster and faster so we do not hit any big and hazardous rocks. My arms become fragile from paddling so much, trying to fight the rowdy rapid. The rapid settles down ,the water becomes calm and gentle, now the raft is flowing smoothly down the river. I can see the tiny drops of water dripping down my group’s faces. We come to a stop and the instructor allows us to jump in the chilly water. Only a few people decided to jump in the cold water. They do cannonballs and splash into the water. The real struggle of this was getting them back onto the raft. I remember trying to pull the person in but it was just to hard. The instructor told us to push them in the water and then pull up. We listened to his words and at last the person was back in the raft. We got back on track and on to the next rapid, the water was brawny and I almost lost my balance a couple of times. I was beginning to enjoy riding over the rocks and listening to the water crash into the raft. We get to our final stop and I am sad to hear that our wonderful adventure has ended. I get off the raft and I realize taking this risk has led me to overcome my fears and a new insight on the wonders of rafting.
Monday, November 29, 2010
November 29, 2010
Welcome back! Have fun reading all the fun essays below!
So Wednesday is our last meeting. So make sure to bring your completed journals, and one rough draft copy of your entire portfolio for in-class workshopping. Final Portfolios are DUE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8 BY 3:00 (there was a date error in my handout).
Journal #24: Advice to a Young Writer (this was from Wednesday, November 17)
Now that you’ve read Stephen King’s essay from On Writing, I want you to imagine what kind of reading/writing advice you would give to a young writer, or maybe even a younger version of yourself.
Journal #25: Write an Intro/Conclusion to your Portfolio
Try your hand at either introducing your collection or concluding your portfolio written to your potential reader. Think about your process, themes that emerged, etc.
Journal #26: Revisiting your Creative Monster
Go back and reread your initial Creative Monster story--it was the first thing we wrote in this class. You can reread the initial prompt on the blog. I want you to revisit that story--has it changed? Does it have a different ending? Beginning? Is the monster totally different? Is it a dragon you have now slain? Have you sold your soul to it and now have to retrieve it? Whatever it is, write your Creative Monster story again...but better.
So Wednesday is our last meeting. So make sure to bring your completed journals, and one rough draft copy of your entire portfolio for in-class workshopping. Final Portfolios are DUE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8 BY 3:00 (there was a date error in my handout).
Journal #24: Advice to a Young Writer (this was from Wednesday, November 17)
Now that you’ve read Stephen King’s essay from On Writing, I want you to imagine what kind of reading/writing advice you would give to a young writer, or maybe even a younger version of yourself.
Journal #25: Write an Intro/Conclusion to your Portfolio
Try your hand at either introducing your collection or concluding your portfolio written to your potential reader. Think about your process, themes that emerged, etc.
Journal #26: Revisiting your Creative Monster
Go back and reread your initial Creative Monster story--it was the first thing we wrote in this class. You can reread the initial prompt on the blog. I want you to revisit that story--has it changed? Does it have a different ending? Beginning? Is the monster totally different? Is it a dragon you have now slain? Have you sold your soul to it and now have to retrieve it? Whatever it is, write your Creative Monster story again...but better.
"Lucky to be Unlucky" by Jenny Le
News Eve 2009. Like ever new years my mother and I went to the temple to pray for another safe year. When you enter the temple there's a place where you go to find out your fortune for the upcoming year. I picked up the cup full of fortune sticks and shook it until a fortune fell out. I took it to the monk so he can translate for me because the fortunes are always so confusing. The monk looked at me and he told me to sit down. He said,” My child. You're born the year of the monkey and this year the stars are not on your side. You must be very careful and be prepare for anything that comes your way. This year will be hard, this year will be a very unlucky year for you.”
At that moment I didn't really care for this Buddhist talk, after all I am half Catholic. Boy was I wrong. A week after, my boyfriend of the time cheated on me. And that relationship got worst and worst as the year progress.( I still think back to that relationship today and wonder why I was so foolish to stay and be with someone that treated me like that, maybe it was bad luck that I was so blind or maybe it was my stupidity.) Heartbroken, I went to my best friend of 6 years for help. Instead of helping she told me lies and made the situation I was in bigger than it really was. It soon became an episode of Jerry Springer. Tired of the drama I cut them out of my life.
My mom, the Buddhist in the family, always reminded me that this wasn't my year and that I must be careful when I go out and prepare for any accident. I just laughed at her for being so worry over nothing. But I should have listened. Two days after I got my license my car broke down, a week after I got my car fixed someone hit the back of my car, homecoming weekend I got a ticket for an expired parking meter, and then the day of my birthday it died again. I thought,” No way this is not because I'm born the year of the monkey. No one else has this bad luck except me.”
The week before my birthday, my friend Nhan Ngyuen past away. Two weeks after I got together with a group of friends to mourn for our lost, that's when I realized I'm not the only one to have this bad luck. My friend Peter, who is only 3 months older than me, was arrested because some one threw a rock at his sister's car and he threaten those people with a bat trying to protect her. Then my friend Linnhy got into an accident and had to go to the hospital. But it wasn't until the day my parents kicked me out that I accepted unlucky fate. My parents and I got in a fight about me staying out so late one night. My mom was screaming about how I'm a horrible daughter and that I don't work as hard as other Asian kids she knows. Then in that moment of anger she told me to get out and never come back. She screamed,” Get out! You can't live with out me. I want to see how will you live without me. When you step out that door tell me and I'll go order a grave stone that said you're dead so everyone knows I don't have a daughter like you any more.”
I was frighten and lost. I didn't know who I could count on. I sat on the corner of the park, crying in fear of not knowing where I could go and in anger for my unlucky fate god/ Buddha gave me. Just then Hung called.
“Hello” I answered.
“Jenny?”
“Yeah.”
“What's wrong? Why are you crying?”
“I'm not.”
“Don't lie. What's wrong?”
“I got kicked out.”
“What? Why?”
“Cause I came home late last night.”
“That's retarded. I'm sorry I shouldn't have kept you out so late last night.”
“It's cool. It's already done with.”
“Where are you? I'll come get you OK? It'll be fine I'll take care of you Jen.”
I told him where I was and he speed to the park in minutes. The first thing Hung did was hugged me tight and told me that thing will be fine. Hung was the best thing that happen to me this whole year I thought. Four days after I got kicked out my dad called and told me to come home. When I got home my parents acted as nothing had happen. And they even gave me a bit of freedom to go here and there with out blowing up.
Now it's November and looking back to the unlucky fates and I found that there are luck laying with in them. Linnhy, my friend who got in the accident, went to the hospital and when she went to get herself test they found out that she has a breast caner cell and they killed it just in time. Our friend Nhan, who passed away, was in pain when he was alive so it was right for us to let him go (even though it was hard for all of us). Finally, me... Within my unlucky fate I lost many friendships but I found out who my real friends are. I found the people who will walk in when the rest of the world walks out on me, without me calling. And I found the person, who I know that if the the sky falls he will always be there to hold it up for me. Like in Pandora's box they found hope, in my unlucky fate I found Hung Pham.
At that moment I didn't really care for this Buddhist talk, after all I am half Catholic. Boy was I wrong. A week after, my boyfriend of the time cheated on me. And that relationship got worst and worst as the year progress.( I still think back to that relationship today and wonder why I was so foolish to stay and be with someone that treated me like that, maybe it was bad luck that I was so blind or maybe it was my stupidity.) Heartbroken, I went to my best friend of 6 years for help. Instead of helping she told me lies and made the situation I was in bigger than it really was. It soon became an episode of Jerry Springer. Tired of the drama I cut them out of my life.
My mom, the Buddhist in the family, always reminded me that this wasn't my year and that I must be careful when I go out and prepare for any accident. I just laughed at her for being so worry over nothing. But I should have listened. Two days after I got my license my car broke down, a week after I got my car fixed someone hit the back of my car, homecoming weekend I got a ticket for an expired parking meter, and then the day of my birthday it died again. I thought,” No way this is not because I'm born the year of the monkey. No one else has this bad luck except me.”
The week before my birthday, my friend Nhan Ngyuen past away. Two weeks after I got together with a group of friends to mourn for our lost, that's when I realized I'm not the only one to have this bad luck. My friend Peter, who is only 3 months older than me, was arrested because some one threw a rock at his sister's car and he threaten those people with a bat trying to protect her. Then my friend Linnhy got into an accident and had to go to the hospital. But it wasn't until the day my parents kicked me out that I accepted unlucky fate. My parents and I got in a fight about me staying out so late one night. My mom was screaming about how I'm a horrible daughter and that I don't work as hard as other Asian kids she knows. Then in that moment of anger she told me to get out and never come back. She screamed,” Get out! You can't live with out me. I want to see how will you live without me. When you step out that door tell me and I'll go order a grave stone that said you're dead so everyone knows I don't have a daughter like you any more.”
I was frighten and lost. I didn't know who I could count on. I sat on the corner of the park, crying in fear of not knowing where I could go and in anger for my unlucky fate god/ Buddha gave me. Just then Hung called.
“Hello” I answered.
“Jenny?”
“Yeah.”
“What's wrong? Why are you crying?”
“I'm not.”
“Don't lie. What's wrong?”
“I got kicked out.”
“What? Why?”
“Cause I came home late last night.”
“That's retarded. I'm sorry I shouldn't have kept you out so late last night.”
“It's cool. It's already done with.”
“Where are you? I'll come get you OK? It'll be fine I'll take care of you Jen.”
I told him where I was and he speed to the park in minutes. The first thing Hung did was hugged me tight and told me that thing will be fine. Hung was the best thing that happen to me this whole year I thought. Four days after I got kicked out my dad called and told me to come home. When I got home my parents acted as nothing had happen. And they even gave me a bit of freedom to go here and there with out blowing up.
Now it's November and looking back to the unlucky fates and I found that there are luck laying with in them. Linnhy, my friend who got in the accident, went to the hospital and when she went to get herself test they found out that she has a breast caner cell and they killed it just in time. Our friend Nhan, who passed away, was in pain when he was alive so it was right for us to let him go (even though it was hard for all of us). Finally, me... Within my unlucky fate I lost many friendships but I found out who my real friends are. I found the people who will walk in when the rest of the world walks out on me, without me calling. And I found the person, who I know that if the the sky falls he will always be there to hold it up for me. Like in Pandora's box they found hope, in my unlucky fate I found Hung Pham.
"Obesity in the United States" by Loic Manga
Obesity is one of the biggest issues in the United States society. Mostly people think that it is related to the lack and cheapness of fattening food. However, fattening food is one of the reasons, but there are others different reasons such as free time, parent’s education and other reasons that people do not talk about. Low-income-parents do not have time for themselves and they cannot afford to buy expensive healthy food. Some questions can be asked here such as: ‘’ is the United States the only place where people eat fattening food and why its population is so different from the rest of the world?” The only way we can avoid to be obese is to change our life style and behavior.
We all need free time to be able to take care of ourselves, and free time is missing in the United States society. A big portion of the United States population has two to three jobs; some of them are working and going to school. People like parents usually do not go to school but they spend their time off with their families or they go out for a dinner, eating fattening food again. Imagine how a parent, who wake up early in the morning to rush to work and come back only at night when children are sleeping, is going to spend his days off. They sometime stay two to three days without having a free time with their children. They do not even think about exercising on their days off all they care about is spending some time with their children. College students spend weekends doing their homework, partying and hanging out with friends. Everybody wants just to enjoy himself but social groups like low income families do not have time for their own. Most of them are always working and doing their best to improve their families’ way of living.
Low-income families do not really have the chance to choose their food. They just eat whatever they can afford to buy. They do not really care about the quality of the food but quantity. Somebody who makes $7.28 to $10 an hour with a family of five members will not be able to have access to healthy food, as he would like to. The United States is different from the rest of the world when it has come to talk about nutrition. In America, fatten and junk food are for low-income families and healthy food for wealthy families, while in others countries it is completely the opposite. In places like Africa, people think that if you are obese it is because you are feeding yourself well and that you are from a wealthy family. I have to say also that technology have an issue in this issue because most people in the United States walk less than a half mile a day. People use their cars to go anywhere they want to go, even if it is a couple blocks from their homes.
In some cases, we can say that children obesity is linking to parents’ behavior. Usually people are obese since they were little. I feel sometimes, as parents do not really care about their children health. A children is someone who does not care about his health, he will never get up one day and decide to jog around the neighborhood to burn some calories. Therefore, parents should help their children with it. I am talking about exercising but it is not something that you going to initiate in your life at an adult age. Parents should put it into their children life, sport is something that you practice since a young age. They need to get their children use to working out. They need to bring exercising in their families live, take it as a family hobby. Children spend hours and hours playing videos game and it cost a lot of money. Why not get your child a bike or a soccer ball. It is cheaper since you will not have to buy a new one every month or two months. Just get him something that he is going to work out and have fun with it.
The problem about parents’ reckless behavior remains principal. Many obese parents have obese children, and I ask myself, why give your children the same kind of food that has wrongly affected your life? Obesity is not only an American issue. If we look deeper, it is also a worldwide issue. However, why Asians are the skinniest and most fit people, is it because they eat less or because they are more athletic than the rest of the world? In fact it is because they meals are mostly constituted of vegetables. They practice a bunch of different martial arts, and it is transferred from parents to children. This is good way to keep your family healthy.
We all need free time to be able to take care of ourselves, and free time is missing in the United States society. A big portion of the United States population has two to three jobs; some of them are working and going to school. People like parents usually do not go to school but they spend their time off with their families or they go out for a dinner, eating fattening food again. Imagine how a parent, who wake up early in the morning to rush to work and come back only at night when children are sleeping, is going to spend his days off. They sometime stay two to three days without having a free time with their children. They do not even think about exercising on their days off all they care about is spending some time with their children. College students spend weekends doing their homework, partying and hanging out with friends. Everybody wants just to enjoy himself but social groups like low income families do not have time for their own. Most of them are always working and doing their best to improve their families’ way of living.
Low-income families do not really have the chance to choose their food. They just eat whatever they can afford to buy. They do not really care about the quality of the food but quantity. Somebody who makes $7.28 to $10 an hour with a family of five members will not be able to have access to healthy food, as he would like to. The United States is different from the rest of the world when it has come to talk about nutrition. In America, fatten and junk food are for low-income families and healthy food for wealthy families, while in others countries it is completely the opposite. In places like Africa, people think that if you are obese it is because you are feeding yourself well and that you are from a wealthy family. I have to say also that technology have an issue in this issue because most people in the United States walk less than a half mile a day. People use their cars to go anywhere they want to go, even if it is a couple blocks from their homes.
In some cases, we can say that children obesity is linking to parents’ behavior. Usually people are obese since they were little. I feel sometimes, as parents do not really care about their children health. A children is someone who does not care about his health, he will never get up one day and decide to jog around the neighborhood to burn some calories. Therefore, parents should help their children with it. I am talking about exercising but it is not something that you going to initiate in your life at an adult age. Parents should put it into their children life, sport is something that you practice since a young age. They need to get their children use to working out. They need to bring exercising in their families live, take it as a family hobby. Children spend hours and hours playing videos game and it cost a lot of money. Why not get your child a bike or a soccer ball. It is cheaper since you will not have to buy a new one every month or two months. Just get him something that he is going to work out and have fun with it.
The problem about parents’ reckless behavior remains principal. Many obese parents have obese children, and I ask myself, why give your children the same kind of food that has wrongly affected your life? Obesity is not only an American issue. If we look deeper, it is also a worldwide issue. However, why Asians are the skinniest and most fit people, is it because they eat less or because they are more athletic than the rest of the world? In fact it is because they meals are mostly constituted of vegetables. They practice a bunch of different martial arts, and it is transferred from parents to children. This is good way to keep your family healthy.
"A Friendly Companion" by Marcos Garsia
On the bed of my room lays a happy dog, a gift that was given to me on my birthday from a close friend. A big furry dog, wearing multiple colors on his magnificent coat, with a big white spot on his chest that makes him look very elegant. The feel of his furry coat feels like a stuff animal, soft, warm, and makes you want to hug it. The smell of his breath lingering around my room, a musty smell, a fishy smell that you despise and never want to be around it. The smell is so bad but yet so good. The fact that every day you come home you know he’s there waiting for you and it makes it all worth it just to see him there wagging his tail to greet you. The happy cries of joy whenever his friend comes home as if he hasn’t seen you for years and greets you with a lick and a occasional trick that involves him lifting his paw and trying to give me a high five, as if to say finally your home. Then the sad cries of sadness whenever I leave, as if I was going to leave him and never come back, the low pitch cries I would hear as far away as a block from where I take the light rail to school. The sad sound of a dog pouring out his heart out for his friend, the protective companion that will always be by your side and never turn against you. The angry, scary dog that gives out warning growls to alert the person, follow by an angry to the unfortunate person that gets close to my room. The carnivore dog that eats like a lion. Every bowl of food that lays there would be demolished by him. The way he eats with a passion as if he’s eating his last meal. The way he licks his nose and lips to get all that yummy taste in his mouth. The taste of ground beef makes him happy and gives him energy for the rest of the day. A cherished gift from a good friend. This amazing companion that always greets me whenever I get home. No matter what mood I come in he will make me smile. He’s the best friend that you cannot replace, and a friend that you could always trust and never worry about him talking back or hurt you. I will always treasure him.
"Why to Take the Bus" by Mason Vidick
While on the bus the bus there are two people trying to figure which is better driving to school or taking the bus. For many of us driving is the choice that we find to be the fastest but is it the best way to get to school. Many would argue no and that the bus is the best way.
Driving to school does have its benefits such as it being faster and allows you to not be restricted to cretin times of arrival and departure. Along with this you’re able to leave from anywhere and not have to wait at the bus stop. But there is a down side, taking your care means someone has to pay for gas and that someone is you. Along with this you actually have to have a car and insurance which then leads to having a job that allows you to make payments on the car, gas, and insurance. While on the other hand your Metro or CCD id is a free bus pass that is already paid off from your tuition bill. The bus also is cheap saves the environment and saves you the pain of driving every day. Although many see the bus as a pain to wait for it at a stop or area for it to arrive, simple planning a head could make it easy to finish all of your tasks downtown or where ever and still make it to the bus on time.
Taking the bus is more than just cheap and painless way of transportation it’s also a type of study hall. The bus is slower that can’t be denied but instead of sitting there doing nothing you could work on homework from today’s classes. Many times when I take the bus people rarely talk to you and it’s fairly quiet, allowing for some good one on one time with your homework. So the bus is more than just a cheap ticket home but it allows you to work on school and hopefully get you that A in class.
Though many see the bus as a slow means of transportation I see it as a way to work hard in my studies and keep my cost for school down so I can focuses it to that loan or bill coming up for the new semester.
Driving to school does have its benefits such as it being faster and allows you to not be restricted to cretin times of arrival and departure. Along with this you’re able to leave from anywhere and not have to wait at the bus stop. But there is a down side, taking your care means someone has to pay for gas and that someone is you. Along with this you actually have to have a car and insurance which then leads to having a job that allows you to make payments on the car, gas, and insurance. While on the other hand your Metro or CCD id is a free bus pass that is already paid off from your tuition bill. The bus also is cheap saves the environment and saves you the pain of driving every day. Although many see the bus as a pain to wait for it at a stop or area for it to arrive, simple planning a head could make it easy to finish all of your tasks downtown or where ever and still make it to the bus on time.
Taking the bus is more than just cheap and painless way of transportation it’s also a type of study hall. The bus is slower that can’t be denied but instead of sitting there doing nothing you could work on homework from today’s classes. Many times when I take the bus people rarely talk to you and it’s fairly quiet, allowing for some good one on one time with your homework. So the bus is more than just a cheap ticket home but it allows you to work on school and hopefully get you that A in class.
Though many see the bus as a slow means of transportation I see it as a way to work hard in my studies and keep my cost for school down so I can focuses it to that loan or bill coming up for the new semester.
"Who is Isaura" by Giovanna Giner
Isaura was a beautiful twenty- year old woman with an hourglass figure, average height, brunette long hair, pretty brown eyes, and caramel skin color. She was an active person that from a young age started working with her mom on the field. It was important for her to work on the field because according to her parents she needed to become an adult by being responsible and take of her of her smaller brothers and sisters. Even though she enjoyed school her parents forced her to dropout to help out with the bills. For Isaura, she thought this was an acceptable situation because her parents were in need and she wanted to help out financially and to physically be there for her younger brothers and sisters.
At the age of twenty-five she got married to an older man who was thirty-five. Her parents weren’t happy with the idea because he was older than her. Isaura convinced her parents to be able to marry the guy since she had been with him for three years. His name was Ruben; he was tall, had black short hair, brown eyes, dark skin and, little chubby and, had a decent job as a taxi man. He lived far from her, but in his breaks he would go visit her and communicate with her parents so they would get to know him more. He did this to gain the trust of her parents, and for them to realize that he was a good guy for her. He loved her very much and would take good take care of her. Ruben decided to one Saturday night to go talk to Isaura’s parents so he could marry her and have their final say and their full permission. The parents agreed to let her marry with the guy who they knew as the “taxi guy,” but to Isaura it was not just any taxi guy, he was the love of her life.
Isaura and Ruben married and had six children but unfortunately their first baby died; it was going to be a girl that Isaura was so excited to name Isaura. After their unexpected loss they tried having more kids. Finally, they had five other kids: four boys and one girl. The four kids had their different attitude, the first boy was named Ruben he was a troublemaker and was always out with his friends and cousins he didn’t like school. Cruz was also the troublemaker but the difference with Ruben was that he was more into girls and more rude to his parents. Sergio was a good boy, and was really quite, and shy, and he would do what his parents told him to he was really respectful. Jorge was the outgoing and flirty, was into sports and really liked girls just like Cruz. Their girl was named Janette she was the nerd and the girly girl she was the baby of the house and had more attention from the parents. Her brothers would not pay much attention just because they knew she was into girl things and wouldn’t play with them, but they still loved her very much. Isaura’s and Ruben’s family were a loving close family and trust on each others. Their kids grew up and went to school, but none of them decided to go college they all decided to work right away and liked the idea of starting to earn their own money and not depend on their parents. Ruben became a taxi man just like his father and Janette moved out of town where one of her brother’s was living to work as a waitress.
A few years after that, shocking news was revealed to the family that their dad was very sick .He was diagnosed with a heart problem they hoped he would get better, and he did but it was not long before he passed away. Isaura’s family and the father’s family were there to support each other and get past his death. They were all very sad and couldn’t get past his death for a few months.
Now Isaura was a widow and she would still remember her husband’s death. When he was sick she became really close to him because she was the one there to treat him with good care and gave him all the love he needed. Since her husband was the person that she would be there for, she couldn’t be there for any one else because Janette and all her sons were all grown up, so she asked to move in with her because her mother was blind. She now wanted to be there for her mother and take care of her because she lived at Isaura’s sister house, and wouldn’t give her the attention she needed. Isaura has always been a strong. Kind loving, and hard working woman, and that is why I am so proud to call her my grandmother.
At the age of twenty-five she got married to an older man who was thirty-five. Her parents weren’t happy with the idea because he was older than her. Isaura convinced her parents to be able to marry the guy since she had been with him for three years. His name was Ruben; he was tall, had black short hair, brown eyes, dark skin and, little chubby and, had a decent job as a taxi man. He lived far from her, but in his breaks he would go visit her and communicate with her parents so they would get to know him more. He did this to gain the trust of her parents, and for them to realize that he was a good guy for her. He loved her very much and would take good take care of her. Ruben decided to one Saturday night to go talk to Isaura’s parents so he could marry her and have their final say and their full permission. The parents agreed to let her marry with the guy who they knew as the “taxi guy,” but to Isaura it was not just any taxi guy, he was the love of her life.
Isaura and Ruben married and had six children but unfortunately their first baby died; it was going to be a girl that Isaura was so excited to name Isaura. After their unexpected loss they tried having more kids. Finally, they had five other kids: four boys and one girl. The four kids had their different attitude, the first boy was named Ruben he was a troublemaker and was always out with his friends and cousins he didn’t like school. Cruz was also the troublemaker but the difference with Ruben was that he was more into girls and more rude to his parents. Sergio was a good boy, and was really quite, and shy, and he would do what his parents told him to he was really respectful. Jorge was the outgoing and flirty, was into sports and really liked girls just like Cruz. Their girl was named Janette she was the nerd and the girly girl she was the baby of the house and had more attention from the parents. Her brothers would not pay much attention just because they knew she was into girl things and wouldn’t play with them, but they still loved her very much. Isaura’s and Ruben’s family were a loving close family and trust on each others. Their kids grew up and went to school, but none of them decided to go college they all decided to work right away and liked the idea of starting to earn their own money and not depend on their parents. Ruben became a taxi man just like his father and Janette moved out of town where one of her brother’s was living to work as a waitress.
A few years after that, shocking news was revealed to the family that their dad was very sick .He was diagnosed with a heart problem they hoped he would get better, and he did but it was not long before he passed away. Isaura’s family and the father’s family were there to support each other and get past his death. They were all very sad and couldn’t get past his death for a few months.
Now Isaura was a widow and she would still remember her husband’s death. When he was sick she became really close to him because she was the one there to treat him with good care and gave him all the love he needed. Since her husband was the person that she would be there for, she couldn’t be there for any one else because Janette and all her sons were all grown up, so she asked to move in with her because her mother was blind. She now wanted to be there for her mother and take care of her because she lived at Isaura’s sister house, and wouldn’t give her the attention she needed. Isaura has always been a strong. Kind loving, and hard working woman, and that is why I am so proud to call her my grandmother.
"Chinggis Khan" by Nominlkham Oyunbaatar
Every country has their heroes and heroines. They can be political, religious, military leaders, and actors. They serve as decent leaders by whose examples we can follow in our quest to live lives of excellence. My country’s hero is definitely the great Chinggis Khan, but foreigners call him Genghis Khan, don’t know why.
He was born in 1162 in Khentii aimag. His real name was Temujin, Genghis Khan was his title of honor and respect. His father, the great warrior, Esuhei was assassinated by Tatars. His death left Temujin’s family in a vulnerable condition, but his mother was a savior, and she is considered as heroine. She kept her family together, even most of her slaves left, after her husband died. She was the one, who taught Chinggis the basic skills of survival in desert. After all those years, he became a powerful tribal chief.
After rising to power in 1185, Chinggis experienced many victories and also some setbacks. He was successful because of the alliance with his father’s brother. He was the king of the Keraits, which were another powerful tribe. With his help, Temujin became so powerful. By 1206, Temujin dominated Mongolia, and taken the title Chinggis Khan, which means a “universal ruler”. The years between 1185-1206 were the toughest years of our king. Even he had vast areas of lands, he didn’t stop there. After that, he conquered and founded an empire, which concluded in itself parts of China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He was known as the one conqueror, invaded more territory than any other conquerors during his lifetime. He was strong-willed, brave and fully motivated to reach his goals.
Chinggis Khan also had a reputation as a brutal monster. I think it is one of the false thoughts about him. He always fought without any fear. His military was strong and organized. In his lifetime he killed thousands of men, but it was all for his desire to build a great empire. Even he had this reputation, he was a kind man. Once, he loved the beautiful princess, named Burte. Due to countless wars, he made a lot of enemies. The enemies from Tatar tribe took away his loved wife. At that moment, he didn’t have enough strength to stand against the enemy, but he fought with them for his queen, and won.
In 1227 after his battle with some tribe, he was returning home. He was quite old, he was in bad condition. Despite this, he went to fight. After returning home his body couldn’t move. Chinggis Khan was exhausted and ill. Eventually, he died in front of his children and wives.
Even today, after all those years, he still remains impressive for us, Mongolians. As an organized genius, he created the most highly organized effective armies in history. Also, he introduced writing system based on the Uighur script. He had many victories, but the priceless gift he gave to us was a presence of Mongol nation and our culture. We, Mongolians are proud of him and always will be. He is like our father, who founded our beautiful country, Mongolia.
He was born in 1162 in Khentii aimag. His real name was Temujin, Genghis Khan was his title of honor and respect. His father, the great warrior, Esuhei was assassinated by Tatars. His death left Temujin’s family in a vulnerable condition, but his mother was a savior, and she is considered as heroine. She kept her family together, even most of her slaves left, after her husband died. She was the one, who taught Chinggis the basic skills of survival in desert. After all those years, he became a powerful tribal chief.
After rising to power in 1185, Chinggis experienced many victories and also some setbacks. He was successful because of the alliance with his father’s brother. He was the king of the Keraits, which were another powerful tribe. With his help, Temujin became so powerful. By 1206, Temujin dominated Mongolia, and taken the title Chinggis Khan, which means a “universal ruler”. The years between 1185-1206 were the toughest years of our king. Even he had vast areas of lands, he didn’t stop there. After that, he conquered and founded an empire, which concluded in itself parts of China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He was known as the one conqueror, invaded more territory than any other conquerors during his lifetime. He was strong-willed, brave and fully motivated to reach his goals.
Chinggis Khan also had a reputation as a brutal monster. I think it is one of the false thoughts about him. He always fought without any fear. His military was strong and organized. In his lifetime he killed thousands of men, but it was all for his desire to build a great empire. Even he had this reputation, he was a kind man. Once, he loved the beautiful princess, named Burte. Due to countless wars, he made a lot of enemies. The enemies from Tatar tribe took away his loved wife. At that moment, he didn’t have enough strength to stand against the enemy, but he fought with them for his queen, and won.
In 1227 after his battle with some tribe, he was returning home. He was quite old, he was in bad condition. Despite this, he went to fight. After returning home his body couldn’t move. Chinggis Khan was exhausted and ill. Eventually, he died in front of his children and wives.
Even today, after all those years, he still remains impressive for us, Mongolians. As an organized genius, he created the most highly organized effective armies in history. Also, he introduced writing system based on the Uighur script. He had many victories, but the priceless gift he gave to us was a presence of Mongol nation and our culture. We, Mongolians are proud of him and always will be. He is like our father, who founded our beautiful country, Mongolia.
"Love" by Carla Vital
Love is defined in the dictionary as an intense emotion or affection, warmth, fondness, and regard towards a person or a thing, but it does not explain why we love. Love is a complicated feeling that is hard to describe. Many people experience different emotions, some people feel depression, joy, and others frustration. It is always different for everyone. How do we love? What do we love? When do we love and why? We all ask these questions.
We show love in many forms. For a mother maybe it could be when she prepares lunch for the kids or when she goes to work every morning. For a husband it could be how he stops a bad habit or when he watches “The Notebook” and comforts you afterwards. For a kid it could simply be giving you his favorite toy or sharing an apple juice. We all show and express love in many different ways. Even in many different cultures, they have their own way of showing love. For example in the Irish culture, when a man went away for awhile to go to war or to another place, he gave a women a ring called Claddagh Ring, which was a sign of faith and love. In the Japanese culture, there is a special origami, which creates the lover’s knot. This origami seals a message tightly within, by writing or making a brush mark on the outside so it could be told if anyone else tried to read it because it could never be folded to exactly match afterwards.
In high school, our class had a project about love. The teacher asked many questions about the topic, one of them was if we could love a thing, immediately we answered no. A girl raised her hand and said:
“It is impossible to love a thing, maybe you like it but you can’t love it”
Then a person said,
“Yeah, you can love a thing. Like Oh I love my iPod!”
Then the entire class started arguing about the topic, some said you could only love people because they are living things and have feelings but an object is just something material without any meaning. Others had different opinions, they said maybe you could love something because it belonged to someone special. So, what do we love? Do we love people? Things? Places? Or do we just simply love the feeling each thing gives us?
Often you hear adults say, “You don’t know what love is, you are too young”, but who says what is the right age to know what love is? People fall in love at all ages. When you fall in love at a young age, people say it is not real love because the majority of relationships at a young age do not last long, but there are also many cases in which high school couples have lasted many years together. Therefore, there is not a right age to fall in love.
Why do we fall in love? Scientifically explained, it is because when you fall in love, parts of the brain, which are linked to the reward system that can cause a drug addiction, light up, but there are still many questions about it, which can’t be easily answered. If you ask people, some will say because we need to find somebody to relate to, others because we need the feeling of having security or stability, and others as a way of escaping in to a different world. People are in love with love. An example of this, is how you see on T.V. many dramas based on this controversial topic. Also many songs are inspire by this feeling like, “Nature Boy” By songwriter Eden Abhez, that includes the famous quote “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be love in return”. This complicated feeling is what inspires some of the most amazing creations like songs, paintings, sculptures, etc.
In conclusion love is indefinable. It is a different experience for everyone. People are so intrigue with this feeling because it is something we all feel. Love does not discriminate against race, religion, culture or beliefs. It is something we all experience in many different ways. It can’t be defined by the dictionary, science or religion, because love is complex.
We show love in many forms. For a mother maybe it could be when she prepares lunch for the kids or when she goes to work every morning. For a husband it could be how he stops a bad habit or when he watches “The Notebook” and comforts you afterwards. For a kid it could simply be giving you his favorite toy or sharing an apple juice. We all show and express love in many different ways. Even in many different cultures, they have their own way of showing love. For example in the Irish culture, when a man went away for awhile to go to war or to another place, he gave a women a ring called Claddagh Ring, which was a sign of faith and love. In the Japanese culture, there is a special origami, which creates the lover’s knot. This origami seals a message tightly within, by writing or making a brush mark on the outside so it could be told if anyone else tried to read it because it could never be folded to exactly match afterwards.
In high school, our class had a project about love. The teacher asked many questions about the topic, one of them was if we could love a thing, immediately we answered no. A girl raised her hand and said:
“It is impossible to love a thing, maybe you like it but you can’t love it”
Then a person said,
“Yeah, you can love a thing. Like Oh I love my iPod!”
Then the entire class started arguing about the topic, some said you could only love people because they are living things and have feelings but an object is just something material without any meaning. Others had different opinions, they said maybe you could love something because it belonged to someone special. So, what do we love? Do we love people? Things? Places? Or do we just simply love the feeling each thing gives us?
Often you hear adults say, “You don’t know what love is, you are too young”, but who says what is the right age to know what love is? People fall in love at all ages. When you fall in love at a young age, people say it is not real love because the majority of relationships at a young age do not last long, but there are also many cases in which high school couples have lasted many years together. Therefore, there is not a right age to fall in love.
Why do we fall in love? Scientifically explained, it is because when you fall in love, parts of the brain, which are linked to the reward system that can cause a drug addiction, light up, but there are still many questions about it, which can’t be easily answered. If you ask people, some will say because we need to find somebody to relate to, others because we need the feeling of having security or stability, and others as a way of escaping in to a different world. People are in love with love. An example of this, is how you see on T.V. many dramas based on this controversial topic. Also many songs are inspire by this feeling like, “Nature Boy” By songwriter Eden Abhez, that includes the famous quote “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be love in return”. This complicated feeling is what inspires some of the most amazing creations like songs, paintings, sculptures, etc.
In conclusion love is indefinable. It is a different experience for everyone. People are so intrigue with this feeling because it is something we all feel. Love does not discriminate against race, religion, culture or beliefs. It is something we all experience in many different ways. It can’t be defined by the dictionary, science or religion, because love is complex.
"God's Grace" by Jerria Williams
It was the night of March 5, 2008, my sister and I had a few friends over to celebrate me passing my finals. We were all having a good time laughing and dancing with one another until we heard some arguing coming from the courtyard of our apartment complex, we all went onto the porch to see what was going on. Directly across from our apartment on the other side of the pond was a group of men who seemed to be engaged in a dispute, “I heard one of the men say “c’mon bro this nigga aint even worth it!” We didn’t think anything of it and went back inside to continue the celebration. All of a sudden we heard a loud bang! We all looked at each other in question as to what the mysterious sound was, we heard another bang! This time along with it came the sound of glass shattering, we all quickly realized that the sound we were hearing was the sound of a gun being fired, as the gunshots continued we all scattered trying to get to safety, I ran forward toward my nephew who was standing in front of the TV., I yelled “get trillyin!” as I felt someone’s hand grab me by the shoulder and yank me to the ground. Ducked down behind the couch I heard “O GOD!” the words were louder than anything I’ve ever heard before, immediately panic filled my body I remember thinking o no! Someone is hurt! As the sound of the gunshots ended I heard my sister screaming “call someone! Call 911!” and at that moment I just knew my nephew had been shot. Scared and shaking I fumbled with the phone to call 911, as I put the phone up to my ear I looked over and saw my sister lying on the ground with blood all around her holding a towel to her head, that’s when I realized, it wasn’t my nephew who was hurt, it was my sister!, she had been shot in the head.
Froze in shock I hear one of my friends say “fuck that...the ambulance won’t make it here in time!”...I watch as they picked my sister up and ran out of the house with her, a few minutes passed and the next thing I heard was someone yell “come out slowly with your hands up!”, I knew it was the police and did as they asked, once they realized I was the victim in the situation they sat me on the couch and one officer asked, “ma’am can u please tell us exactly what happened?” I replied “my sister was shot in the head, a friend drove her to the hospital I need to know she’s ok, please find my sister and then I’ll tell you what happened.” The officer radioed to another officer I wasn’t real sure of what he was saying because he walked away as he began to talk, as I sat on the couch the events from moments ago played over and over again in my head, I remember thinking “god how could you let this happen?” I began to pray as I sat and waited for the news on my sister “god if you’re really up there and you can hear me, please let my sister be ok...please god!” a few minutes passed and the officer returned he said “your sister is fine, she is at university hospital, the doctors say she has been telling jokes since she got there.” The officer turned and walked away but before he was completely out of sight he turned and looked back at me with a grin on his face and a look in his eye as if to say everything would be ok. At that moment a feeling of relief swept over me and the only thing on my mind was getting to the hospital to see my sister. A few hours had passed and the sun was starting to appear, I finished answering all the questions the policed asked and a friend had come to take me to the hospital.
I could see my entire family sitting in the waiting room as I pulled up to the emergency room doors, as I got out of the car my dad walked up to me and wrapped his arms around and said “don’t worry Jerry, everything is ok.” He walked me back to the room that my sister was in, I walked through the door and as I saw my sister hooked to machines with bandages around her head, I began to cry, I walked over to her and she grabbed me and hugged me tighter than she ever had before, she said “don’t cry J, we’re ok.” And in that moment I knew god was real, and he had heard my prayer, for it was his grace that kept my sister alive.
Froze in shock I hear one of my friends say “fuck that...the ambulance won’t make it here in time!”...I watch as they picked my sister up and ran out of the house with her, a few minutes passed and the next thing I heard was someone yell “come out slowly with your hands up!”, I knew it was the police and did as they asked, once they realized I was the victim in the situation they sat me on the couch and one officer asked, “ma’am can u please tell us exactly what happened?” I replied “my sister was shot in the head, a friend drove her to the hospital I need to know she’s ok, please find my sister and then I’ll tell you what happened.” The officer radioed to another officer I wasn’t real sure of what he was saying because he walked away as he began to talk, as I sat on the couch the events from moments ago played over and over again in my head, I remember thinking “god how could you let this happen?” I began to pray as I sat and waited for the news on my sister “god if you’re really up there and you can hear me, please let my sister be ok...please god!” a few minutes passed and the officer returned he said “your sister is fine, she is at university hospital, the doctors say she has been telling jokes since she got there.” The officer turned and walked away but before he was completely out of sight he turned and looked back at me with a grin on his face and a look in his eye as if to say everything would be ok. At that moment a feeling of relief swept over me and the only thing on my mind was getting to the hospital to see my sister. A few hours had passed and the sun was starting to appear, I finished answering all the questions the policed asked and a friend had come to take me to the hospital.
I could see my entire family sitting in the waiting room as I pulled up to the emergency room doors, as I got out of the car my dad walked up to me and wrapped his arms around and said “don’t worry Jerry, everything is ok.” He walked me back to the room that my sister was in, I walked through the door and as I saw my sister hooked to machines with bandages around her head, I began to cry, I walked over to her and she grabbed me and hugged me tighter than she ever had before, she said “don’t cry J, we’re ok.” And in that moment I knew god was real, and he had heard my prayer, for it was his grace that kept my sister alive.
"Nickname" by Oahn Nguyen
When I am done all my works, I often open my Yahoo! Messenger and always status available to everyone with a status. And then I check with who is available and with the hope that I can see the light on of someone’s nickname…
I knew him from Yahoo! Messenger. At first we were just friends. However, after we talked so long time, we loved each others. We loved with long distance because he lives in San Jose and I live in Denver.
He often told me that he really liked to read my status. He said he felt warm and how tired from his works were lost. Furthermore, he felt that I always beside him like I am whisper in his ear. But, I always told him:
“Someone is crazy if they like my status because when I am sad or happy, angry or hate someone, I will bring up my status. My friends always complained that I was so weird when they read my status.”
“Maybe I am crazy, but I like to read your status”- He smiled.
Our love was normal. That was nothing called a "dramatic" as the emotional drama on the television or novels. We just talked, or sometimes he came to Denver or I came to San Jose that we took trip to go somewhere. That’s all we had.
Everything had passed away in peaceful as it should be so. Not a bit worried or bothered ripple of anger.
One day, Linh – my best friend told me
“You should create something that makes your love more interested”
“Why should I do it? Everything is ok right now”
“I know being quiet is good, but you should create dramatic situations to create the flavor of love instead!”
“How can I do it”- I asked her.
“You should create a situation to challenge him”
“I think I should not to do it because we absolute trust each other” - I shook my head
“No, this is not affected with trust or suspect. Simply determine the exact percentage rate that you own in his heart”- Linh shrugged her shoulders.
“How should I do?”
Linh whispered adjacent my ear. My face stretched in every word Linh said...
I started to create a sweet nickname and download software that I can use two different nicknames in Yahoo! Messenger to avoid his suspect. I added him with my new nickname and also wrote two verses that he liked in the status, and I was a bit nervous to waiting his acceptance. After two minute I received acceptance from him. I felt my heart is very tie. I did not believe my eyes. He told me that he just added people who he knows. And now, he added just because two verses in status.
I decided to stop, but I did know why I could not do that, and I kept talking to him with my new nickname. May be because I was so curious how is going.
Through the new nickname, I was so surprised about him. He usually used sweet words when he chatted to my new nickname.
“I was almost online whole night last night, I wished you be there.”
…
“I miss you”
…
“I miss you like crazy. Please give me a chance to meet you in real life”
…
“I was always thinking about you. I miss you”
…
I was crying when I read these. Clearly, he sent it to me, but I know it was not for me.
I told Linh about him. She said:
“Do not be sad. Most of men like that; it is not only your man”
“How should I do?”- I asked her with tear
“You should talk to him seriously”
I planned to talk to him when he came to Denver. However, when I was not talking to him yet, he saw the conversation about my new nickname and he when I chatted to him. I always saved the conversation with hope that will be evidence that he cheated me.
So now, I was very resumed my face when he read it. I stammered:
“I…I just wonder...”
He just walked away and said nothing to me. I tried to contact to him too many times, but everything was hopeless. I was online every night with the hope that he will be online and I will have a chance to talk and explain to him.
Day after day, I received nothing from him…
Four years ago, I have never seen his nickname on although just one time…
I am online everyday and have written the status with the hope that he can read it.
I still remembered last time he told me “When in love, they must trust your partner. Never ever use test people in love at all.”
I do not know who is in fault. He lied or I was stupid to challenge him. Right now I do not want to find out the answer.
I know too late apologize, but I still hope I can meet him and say sorry to him.
I knew him from Yahoo! Messenger. At first we were just friends. However, after we talked so long time, we loved each others. We loved with long distance because he lives in San Jose and I live in Denver.
He often told me that he really liked to read my status. He said he felt warm and how tired from his works were lost. Furthermore, he felt that I always beside him like I am whisper in his ear. But, I always told him:
“Someone is crazy if they like my status because when I am sad or happy, angry or hate someone, I will bring up my status. My friends always complained that I was so weird when they read my status.”
“Maybe I am crazy, but I like to read your status”- He smiled.
Our love was normal. That was nothing called a "dramatic" as the emotional drama on the television or novels. We just talked, or sometimes he came to Denver or I came to San Jose that we took trip to go somewhere. That’s all we had.
Everything had passed away in peaceful as it should be so. Not a bit worried or bothered ripple of anger.
One day, Linh – my best friend told me
“You should create something that makes your love more interested”
“Why should I do it? Everything is ok right now”
“I know being quiet is good, but you should create dramatic situations to create the flavor of love instead!”
“How can I do it”- I asked her.
“You should create a situation to challenge him”
“I think I should not to do it because we absolute trust each other” - I shook my head
“No, this is not affected with trust or suspect. Simply determine the exact percentage rate that you own in his heart”- Linh shrugged her shoulders.
“How should I do?”
Linh whispered adjacent my ear. My face stretched in every word Linh said...
I started to create a sweet nickname and download software that I can use two different nicknames in Yahoo! Messenger to avoid his suspect. I added him with my new nickname and also wrote two verses that he liked in the status, and I was a bit nervous to waiting his acceptance. After two minute I received acceptance from him. I felt my heart is very tie. I did not believe my eyes. He told me that he just added people who he knows. And now, he added just because two verses in status.
I decided to stop, but I did know why I could not do that, and I kept talking to him with my new nickname. May be because I was so curious how is going.
Through the new nickname, I was so surprised about him. He usually used sweet words when he chatted to my new nickname.
“I was almost online whole night last night, I wished you be there.”
…
“I miss you”
…
“I miss you like crazy. Please give me a chance to meet you in real life”
…
“I was always thinking about you. I miss you”
…
I was crying when I read these. Clearly, he sent it to me, but I know it was not for me.
I told Linh about him. She said:
“Do not be sad. Most of men like that; it is not only your man”
“How should I do?”- I asked her with tear
“You should talk to him seriously”
I planned to talk to him when he came to Denver. However, when I was not talking to him yet, he saw the conversation about my new nickname and he when I chatted to him. I always saved the conversation with hope that will be evidence that he cheated me.
So now, I was very resumed my face when he read it. I stammered:
“I…I just wonder...”
He just walked away and said nothing to me. I tried to contact to him too many times, but everything was hopeless. I was online every night with the hope that he will be online and I will have a chance to talk and explain to him.
Day after day, I received nothing from him…
Four years ago, I have never seen his nickname on although just one time…
I am online everyday and have written the status with the hope that he can read it.
I still remembered last time he told me “When in love, they must trust your partner. Never ever use test people in love at all.”
I do not know who is in fault. He lied or I was stupid to challenge him. Right now I do not want to find out the answer.
I know too late apologize, but I still hope I can meet him and say sorry to him.
"Promises" by Racheal Seifert
What is a promise? How many times have you heard that in your life time? All I have to say is that word can go far with people and I’m one of them that take that word to heart.
I have had many promises broken. Thankfully I have had only two heart break associate with them. Because honestly someone you don’t know can come up to you and promise you anything in the world. And all you think is “yeah… right dumb ass like am going to believe you.” But if it’s from someone you truly care about and you have given your heart to, it hurts. It can feel like the whole world is coming down on you when it really isn’t. This can go for friends and family as well. Take my best friend in the whole world. Natilie, if she ever had a problem I would be right by her side in a moment just like she would be if it was me. As a best friend or a girlfriend or a daughter or a sister I gave my oath to be there even if I didn’t agree in the situation. There are times that I could totally be mad at one of my siblings but lord knows if something ever went wrong, I would be by their side in a heartbeat. The reasoning for that is because that’s my job as a sister and a true sister has to promise to always be there.
You also can bring new hopes to people’s life when you say a word like promise. You can say “I promise to make it up to you.” And you never do, this can stick with people especially parents that do it to kids. I have seen it done several times and all I can think is, that kid will never forget when his dad isn’t there for his baseball game because he is too busy with his new girlfriend. Or how about when people say “I will be there forever I promise.” Boys are the king of that especially when their just looking for what’s in your pants. I think you can say many things and put promise in it for nothing but only good people actually stay true to the promises they make.
So when people ask me why I have a tattoo of Promise on my rib cage, you know what I say. I say “well why do you think I got promise on my rib cage” what does that word mean to you? Because it could mean several things like love, hope, friendship, family. Whatever you choose it to be basically. I have the word promise on my rib cage to remind me never to forget. Forget the ones who hurt me, the ones who actually cared and the ones that are still here by my side. Ask yourself what does promise mean to you.
I have had many promises broken. Thankfully I have had only two heart break associate with them. Because honestly someone you don’t know can come up to you and promise you anything in the world. And all you think is “yeah… right dumb ass like am going to believe you.” But if it’s from someone you truly care about and you have given your heart to, it hurts. It can feel like the whole world is coming down on you when it really isn’t. This can go for friends and family as well. Take my best friend in the whole world. Natilie, if she ever had a problem I would be right by her side in a moment just like she would be if it was me. As a best friend or a girlfriend or a daughter or a sister I gave my oath to be there even if I didn’t agree in the situation. There are times that I could totally be mad at one of my siblings but lord knows if something ever went wrong, I would be by their side in a heartbeat. The reasoning for that is because that’s my job as a sister and a true sister has to promise to always be there.
You also can bring new hopes to people’s life when you say a word like promise. You can say “I promise to make it up to you.” And you never do, this can stick with people especially parents that do it to kids. I have seen it done several times and all I can think is, that kid will never forget when his dad isn’t there for his baseball game because he is too busy with his new girlfriend. Or how about when people say “I will be there forever I promise.” Boys are the king of that especially when their just looking for what’s in your pants. I think you can say many things and put promise in it for nothing but only good people actually stay true to the promises they make.
So when people ask me why I have a tattoo of Promise on my rib cage, you know what I say. I say “well why do you think I got promise on my rib cage” what does that word mean to you? Because it could mean several things like love, hope, friendship, family. Whatever you choose it to be basically. I have the word promise on my rib cage to remind me never to forget. Forget the ones who hurt me, the ones who actually cared and the ones that are still here by my side. Ask yourself what does promise mean to you.
"Le Central" by Carla Vital
I usually get nervous when I’m driving to a place I am not familiar with and even more at night. My family and I were heading to a French Restaurant called Le Central; it was our first time going there. A friend of my mom worked there and so he invited us to go but he had to cancel at the last minute. My family and I decided to go anyway, just to experience something new. We were really excited about going to this restaurant. My mom told me it was in downtown so that made me even more excited because I thought all the restaurants in downtown must be fancy and serve gourmet food. When we got there, I realized it was very different from what I imagined. It was this little place; it sort of looked like a house. It looked nice not really fancy more like a very traditional little French restaurant. In my opinion, it was a very nice place to have a Friday night out with your family but it didn’t meet my expectations. I am sure it is not going to be my favorite place to go from now on because of certain reasons.
The restaurant is located in 112 E 8th Ave. It wasn’t hard finding the place, the hard part was being able to park. One of the things I did not like about the restaurant is that they have a very reduce parking lot. When we entered the parking lot, after going around the block two times because it was a one-way street, it was difficult to go in because there was a dumpster on the side, which was blocking our view to see if any cars were going out. It also made it difficult because it was taking too much space of the already small parking lot. On top of that, it said you couldn’t park there before a certain time. The good thing was that we got there thirty minutes past that hour. I understand it is a small place but at least they should move the dumpster to another place or figure out a way to make the parking lot bigger.
Another thing that I did not like was the service. Even though our waiter was really nice and even made a suggestion of a dish for my brother because he doesn’t eat vegetables, it seemed he was a little bit off. After he took our orders, when he came back with the dishes, he gave us the wrong plate. It was our first time there so we did not know what our plate looked like. After a second, he figured it out. Also, when my brother finished his soda and asked for a refill, the waiter seemed to have forgotten or was busy because he came back after a long time. We were only three people on our table and the place it is not really big. I know sometimes there are days when you are not feeling good or you have a problem. Maybe that is what happened to him, but when you are trying to give a good first impression you should be careful about those little details.
The last thing I did not like about the restaurant is the food. One of the most important things about a restaurant is the food. If the food isn’t good the restaurant won’t succeed based only on appearance. I took French in high school so I could identify some words on the menu. I ordered the Escargots Bourguignons, which is a dish of six escargots baked on a slice of brioche with garlic butter flavored with pernod. I ordered that because there were many seafood dishes and I hate seafood and also I didn’t have many other choices, so that sounded pretty delicious. Of course, I didn’t know what an escargot was so I was not completely sure. When I first took a bite out of it, I recognized the bittersweet taste, which I’m not a fan of. Also the smell was too strong and I didn’t like it. I was eating the little bun with vegetables on it but I was scared of touching the little dark balls. My mom ate one of them and told me “Don’t even think about taking a bite out of those, I know you are not gonna like them”. I trust my mom so I decided not to eat them when I was through with everything except the little dark balls I was excited about dessert. I ordered the Crème Brulee. The only thing I liked about the food was the dessert, which wasn’t that great, but it wasn’t bad. On top of all, it was a really expensive dinner, which gave it a nice little touch for a great night.
In conclusion, Le central French restaurant was in my opinion not my favorite restaurant so I wouldn’t recommend people to go because of a few reasons. The parking lot was small, the service wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either and finally and most importantly, I didn’t like the food. Of course, it had good things like decoration, dessert, vibe etc, but in general it didn’t leave me with a good first impression. People may experience something different from me maybe if they go on another day or if they order something different. Maybe next time I go I will have a better experience or maybe I’m just a person without a refined palette for gourmet food. If I had to rate it, I would give it a two out of five stars.
The restaurant is located in 112 E 8th Ave. It wasn’t hard finding the place, the hard part was being able to park. One of the things I did not like about the restaurant is that they have a very reduce parking lot. When we entered the parking lot, after going around the block two times because it was a one-way street, it was difficult to go in because there was a dumpster on the side, which was blocking our view to see if any cars were going out. It also made it difficult because it was taking too much space of the already small parking lot. On top of that, it said you couldn’t park there before a certain time. The good thing was that we got there thirty minutes past that hour. I understand it is a small place but at least they should move the dumpster to another place or figure out a way to make the parking lot bigger.
Another thing that I did not like was the service. Even though our waiter was really nice and even made a suggestion of a dish for my brother because he doesn’t eat vegetables, it seemed he was a little bit off. After he took our orders, when he came back with the dishes, he gave us the wrong plate. It was our first time there so we did not know what our plate looked like. After a second, he figured it out. Also, when my brother finished his soda and asked for a refill, the waiter seemed to have forgotten or was busy because he came back after a long time. We were only three people on our table and the place it is not really big. I know sometimes there are days when you are not feeling good or you have a problem. Maybe that is what happened to him, but when you are trying to give a good first impression you should be careful about those little details.
The last thing I did not like about the restaurant is the food. One of the most important things about a restaurant is the food. If the food isn’t good the restaurant won’t succeed based only on appearance. I took French in high school so I could identify some words on the menu. I ordered the Escargots Bourguignons, which is a dish of six escargots baked on a slice of brioche with garlic butter flavored with pernod. I ordered that because there were many seafood dishes and I hate seafood and also I didn’t have many other choices, so that sounded pretty delicious. Of course, I didn’t know what an escargot was so I was not completely sure. When I first took a bite out of it, I recognized the bittersweet taste, which I’m not a fan of. Also the smell was too strong and I didn’t like it. I was eating the little bun with vegetables on it but I was scared of touching the little dark balls. My mom ate one of them and told me “Don’t even think about taking a bite out of those, I know you are not gonna like them”. I trust my mom so I decided not to eat them when I was through with everything except the little dark balls I was excited about dessert. I ordered the Crème Brulee. The only thing I liked about the food was the dessert, which wasn’t that great, but it wasn’t bad. On top of all, it was a really expensive dinner, which gave it a nice little touch for a great night.
In conclusion, Le central French restaurant was in my opinion not my favorite restaurant so I wouldn’t recommend people to go because of a few reasons. The parking lot was small, the service wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either and finally and most importantly, I didn’t like the food. Of course, it had good things like decoration, dessert, vibe etc, but in general it didn’t leave me with a good first impression. People may experience something different from me maybe if they go on another day or if they order something different. Maybe next time I go I will have a better experience or maybe I’m just a person without a refined palette for gourmet food. If I had to rate it, I would give it a two out of five stars.
"Snowboarding" by Jing (Stephanie) Huo
Today is Wednesday; I am going to play the snowboarding with my friends. I am into snowboarding in a big way. In addition, I don’t like the ski, because use snowboard is more thrills. The weather in the morning is not too cold. So we think is not too cold today in the mountain. Last year we went to the key stone. But this year we want to try another mountain, so we go to the copper mountain.
When we get to the mountain, it is already 11:00. Therefore, we unable to hold our self back, then we run to the cableway and take the cable car to the top of the mountain. But I don’t know the car is different to the key stone. The cable car it doesn’t has windscreen, and from begin to the end needs almost 10 minutes. Oh My God!!
10 minutes later..
Finally, we are at the top of the mountain. Then we begin our snowboarding trip. But today is very cold at the mountain. And the snow is very soft, when I walk on the snow, my leg will fall into the snow. I don’t like this mountain. I will not come to this mountain anymore. I just play the couple times then go to the restaurant have a sit and wait my friends.
At last, we leave at four. I feel so tire today. So see u next week guys~~ Have a nice holiday!!
When we get to the mountain, it is already 11:00. Therefore, we unable to hold our self back, then we run to the cableway and take the cable car to the top of the mountain. But I don’t know the car is different to the key stone. The cable car it doesn’t has windscreen, and from begin to the end needs almost 10 minutes. Oh My God!!
10 minutes later..
Finally, we are at the top of the mountain. Then we begin our snowboarding trip. But today is very cold at the mountain. And the snow is very soft, when I walk on the snow, my leg will fall into the snow. I don’t like this mountain. I will not come to this mountain anymore. I just play the couple times then go to the restaurant have a sit and wait my friends.
At last, we leave at four. I feel so tire today. So see u next week guys~~ Have a nice holiday!!
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