We Are Admirable

  Author's Note: This is my essay on Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter. Spoiler Alert: In this essay I mention who the "baby-daddy" is!      

      Imagine that you live in a Puritan Society, waiting for your husband to return, yet you remain young and beautiful. You have always been a good citizen, followed the rules set by God. And your reverend. You live a perfect Puritan life. Then, you commit a sin, you fall short of the expectations set for you to live by. Now you, and your child, are outcasts: underneath the shadow of your fellow adulterer, Reverend Dimmesdale.  He begs, and begs, for you to admit it was he, who had helped her commit this sin, but you refuse.  This is your punishment, and although the circumstances prove otherwise, you are an admirable person.

Imagine you are Hester Prynne, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter.

           Hester Prynne is an admirable woman. She is generous. She is bold. And most importantly she is a good single-mother. Hester is been all of these things, even seven years after the first time she wore the scarlet 'A' publically. Although, she is ridiculed constantly, she chose to stay near the town she had known for so long, but on the out-skirts of coarse. It was familiar to her, one of the only things left near her that couldn’t "ruin" her life.

           And because she had struggled in society herself, Hester sewed clothes for the poor. Being a fantastic seamstress, it was truly an act of kindness, especially sense she didn’t charge them. This was an act to repay her sins, with God and herself. It made her feel Godly. And like a good person again, until she remembered she bore a scarlet letter upon her breast.  The 'A' would never truly leave her. But the acts of citizenship masked the pain, the letter pressed. It lightened the load. It made her happy. It made her proud.

          Although Hester is proud of her donations, she isn't proud of the scarlet embroidery she must wear. Yet she continues to be bold, taking the ridicule, and speaking up when appropriate. As she walked from the prison door, she surely knew of what the gossips had said. Their stares burned into her cheeks, showing her embarrassment. Although, she walked quietly by them, not starting a dispute of any kind. On the other hand, when Governor Bellingham threaten to take Pearl, Hester's daughter, into the custody of another, Hester spoke of what the letter, and its shame, will teach her daughter and ends up keeping Pearl in her custody.

           Her fight for  Pearl proves that she is a strong single-mother. And that she allows Pearl to express her own opinion, whether out of fear or respect. Although, Hester had began to believe Pearl was of the Black Man (what Satan was referred to in the 17th century), she didn’t let that possibility change the affection she had for Pearl. Yet Pearl could be a pain. She always decorated the scarlet letter, and even kissed it at times. Even though, Hester repeatedly mentioned it was bad. Pearl wanted to know why, and like any child she wanted her way. But Hester knew better than to give her wildly-spoken child all of the information.

Go back to imagining you are Hester Prynne. An outcast. An adulteress. A generous yet bold woman. A strong mother. A role model. There is no need to imagine anymore. We are all Hester. We sin. We give. And we are admirable.

Roots

Authors Note- This is a "mini-essay" about technology in the United States, and how much we crave it. This also includes some references to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury- a genius author. Enjoy :)

Values in our country continue to worse, day by day, and year by year. New technology is the thing we most desire, we work for it. It buries itself deeper into our lives. Forming roots  deeper, needing more products to remain satisfied. Why do we work so hard, only to become weakened by our desperation? We are no longer focused on what used to be important? Books. Plays. Articles. Learning from life experiences.  Why have we gone so down hill? Why is technology so deeply rooted into our lives?

January 24, 1984: the date the Macintosh was released by Apple. This was the seed of our obsession. The thing that caused the roots to start to grow. This piece of technology replaced our writing notebooks, pencils, and pens. It made life easier, and inspired an era of new technology. If the Macintosh was not created- Apple would cease to exist, along with Dell.  Without these companies the U.S. would continue to research in books. Read them. Have more intelligent conversations. Things that are very difficult to do, when there are so many roots constricting you.

In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, which takes place in a futuristic United States, technology continues to be rooted in to everyday life. However,  the strength of the roots has overtaken human intelligence, brainwashing them into thinking books are evil. Televisions are more craved than before as well. Each household aspires to have four walls of TVs. Without these symbols, they are considered poor- outdated. They neglect the books they once knew, as the roots continue take money putting it towards selfish and foolish goals.

Ray Bradbury predicted what is to come, and what has become. This book was published in 1953-- 31 years before the Macintosh planted itself into our lives. He saw the 1925 version of television. He saw it would become a problem. He knew roots must be weakened. He did not want the United States to become too reliant.

 Unfortunately, we now are reliant on televisions. Computers. iPods. Everything that is not important. Everything that Fahrenheit 451 predicted. If we do not learn from his, accurate descriptions of what is to come- the roots will be stronger, making it ever so difficult to break free. We are deeply rooted in to technology, and it will only worsen over time. 

Pieces

A newly constructed house shines tall and proud, as its shadow covers its old, broken pieces. Pieces of all shapes and colors hide in the dark, fearing one would find them.  Then comes the light. It shines bright, and begins to see the ruins. Yet they still are not visible, causing them to be forgotten. The owner, has not forgotten though. The failures. The discouragement. The losses. The pieces are still there.

It had been a year since my father had died, and left me with my druggy of a mother.  He was the one who protected me. He was the one I told everything. He was the one who helped me through school. And he was dead. And no one knew why. The police had their suspicions: heart attack, brain dead, suicide. But nothing added up. After a while they were only left with one scenario -- murder. 

My mother had murdered my father. I was all alone. And this was the first piece of me to fall.

Naturally I was put into the care of my grandma. She lived in the hills of Orange County, a place which was all too expensive for my taste at the time. But it was better than nothing, or at least I thought. I ended up staying almost two years in OC, finishing my high school education . And every day I received more critics, but even more discouragement towards my aspiring writing career, and everything I did. I wasn't talented enough. I wasn’t dressed right.

I cut myself for the first time that year. And with every slit, another piece of myself fell.

After I graduated Fullteron Union High School, along with "esteemed classmates", I had a choice to make. College? Or begin working immediately? I wanted my writing career. I wanted it with a deep passion. So I applied to Hamilton, in New York. That was the school I had dreamt of going to, ever since I saw my dad's diploma. After weeks of waiting for a letter back, I received mine. My application had been rejected.

I was a failure. My father was great enough. I crushed my laptop, which contained all my writing. Another piece fell.

And another piece.

And another.

And another.

Thank You, Founding Fathers

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;  or the right of the people to peacefully assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

The first amendment, in the Constitution, greatly affected the history and future of the United States. It's allowed amazing speeches, theories, opinions, and petitions to have been made. Without these events, our country would not be progressing, therefore, we thank our founding fathers for their gift of rights which we have received.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of thereof;". This statement gives us the gift of believing what we wish. This portion of the first amendment allowed George Smoot and John Mather to prove the Big Bang Theory. If this right were not in place, the scientific field would still remain oblivious.

"Or abridging the freedom of speech, of the press;".  We have the ability to say what we want. Whether it's broadcasting your voice to the population of America, or delivering a speech which helped drive unequal rights into the ground. Either way, this amendment let Martin Luther King Jr., to give his famous "I have a Dream Speech" to the public. Without this America, would still be oblivious to how they treated others, leaving the African American still an outcast.

"Or the right to peacefully assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." .  We have the right to disagree with the government, and society. Thankfully, women's rights groups were able to petition the government, and earn the right to vote. Without this right this, I would never have the chance to vote.

What can you thank our founding fathers for? For the first amendment, or maybe their intelligence? Whatever it may be, everything they have done has greatly affected the United States. Therefore, the founding fathers, have affected not only the famous speakers and our country, but you as well.

It All Results in Death

Author's Note- This is my cause/effect piece, to be scored on the reading rubric. I tried to compare (or bring in) another book, to get a more advanced score. In this short description, I talk about My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, by Avi.

 Kate Fitzgerald was diagnosed with Leukemia at a very young age. And to make everything worse, Kate had such a rare blood marrow type, the chance of survival was even slimmer. But Sara and Brian, her parents made a very difficult choice, which would greatly effect their family. They had a child, with specially designed genes, to be Kate's donor. Ana is that child, and the middle kid of the Fitzgerald family. When she discovers this, she is outraged. And she decides to sue her parents. The lawsuit filed, is the climax of the story.  At this point in the plot, tensions build and nothing will ever be the same again in the Fitzgerald family.  Because when arguments become more intense, and emotions rise, people begin to be torn apart.

Brian and Sara begin to argue, even more so then before, due to the new fear of losing Kate. Even though, they love Anna, at first they both cannot see her point of view, which causes Anna to feel like an outcast. And when all the focus shifts to the lawsuit Jessie, the older brother, begins to act out, trying to get attention. His actions and words, along with Anna's lawsuit uncover a dreadful secret of Kate's: she wants to die, and she is fed up with all the medical treatments.

A book with a similar cause/effect is The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Although this book does not have anything to do with genetically formed babies, it faces the same effects as in My Sister's Keeper, since Charlotte has to deal with lawsuits caused by someone wanting to die. To sum it up, Charlotte is accused of murder. The crew forms against her, similar to Anna versus her parents, and it results in terrible lose.

And what does all of this lead too? Death.

A Cliché?

Author's Note- This is my conflict/resolution piece, to be scored on the reading rubric. Please comment if the conflict is clear!

Massie Block: alpha of The Pretty Committee, polished, rich, and absolutely flawless. Claire: the new girl from Orlando, childish, bangs galore, and living on The Block Estate. Claire constantly wants to fit in with The Pretty Committee, a clique, yet she wishes she could have normal friends, such as Layne. When she makes choices about who she's involved with Claire causes a lot of conflict. But the main conflict in this book is person vs. person.

The person vs. person conflict is between Massie and Claire, and is continuous through out the whole book. Although,  all of the conflict starts because Massie is fighting with her parents, about Claire living with them in the first place. But why would she hate someone she doesn’t know? . Couldn’t she make friends with them? Apparently this thought never occurred to her, because from the minute she met Claire, she was a jerk. Whether she pretended to forget her in the car, giving her false directions, or painting red splotches on her pants.

You'd think in the end of the this cliché, mean girls, novel there'd be a clear resolution. Unfortunately there's not. At the end of the novel, Claire and Massie are left in a mutual zone (in between friends and enemies). The paint splotches- never again brought up. The false IMS were forgotten as well. SO I guess in a way there is a happy, forgiving ending yet in the sequel the battle picks up, once again.

The Beast

This is my narrative/memoir piece. I really tried to focus on word choice! Please comment what you think!

 The tall, untamed beast seemed to have lured my friends into it's trap, and I had followed them. I was standing in the hopefully  never ending line, while horrific thoughts came to my mind. What if I fall out? Is the steep drop safe? At the time I didn’t know how much safety precautions went into roller coasters.

"What if the cart suddenly stops? The bar holding me in wont offer much support! I'll lean right over the edge and--"   

"Calm down Sarah!" said Tori. She waved her hand dismissively at my comments. "Raging Bull is one of the best rides here, especially if you sit in the front row. Or at least that's what everyone says. I've never ridden up front before..."

Tori was my best friend and still is.  Although, I began examining our friendship over the fateful hour in line. And found she always pressured me into situations that caused me to feel  extremely uncomfortable. But I know realize, I would still be so afraid of the inevitable future, without Tori and her somewhat mental ideas.

"Wanna ride with me and Christina?" I remember thinking: Great no backing out now, as Reynna offered me an invitation to my funeral.

The conversations between my friends and I  had seemed so imperative in the moment, at least to me. Why was I so afraid, as if I had just seen a ghost? Yet everyone around me was excited?

Tori tapped me on the shoulder, interrupting the train of thoughts that were circling my brain.

"Is that Alex Wahlgreen?"

This remark sparked conversation among the whole group. I was thankful for a change of subject.

As we emerged to the top of the line, Alex passed below us. He was smiling because he had enjoyed the ride, or maybe he had caught sight of Tori. I couldn’t tell.

Tori, Chloe and Morgan were the first pieces of life the beast took away. Just as my had begun to stop shaking, shrieks filled the whole ride.  Then the next acrt returned for Christina, Reynna, and I.

We stepped into the cart, very cautiously due to the height of the track.

As we began to higher, and higher my anticipation rose as well. Although the worst part of the journey on the beast was when we got to the very top, and I could see the downfall leading to my immediate death.  I closed my eyes. We began to flirt with the edge of the hill. And as we began to head down, my stomach dropped.st.

Retelling

Author's Note: I chose on of my favorite books, Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall, by Wendy Mass to demonstrate my understanding of retelling (on the reading rubric). Although most boys probably won't enjoy this book, it still was very interesting, and I highly recommend it.

A average high school girl is forced to make an important decision, in gym class: duck or stay standing? Her lack of judgment knocks her unconscious , and whisks her away to a form of heaven. There she finds significant objects, which represent events through out her life, and finally realizes the small sacrifices and choices she makes, effect her more than anyone else.

The "Comedian"

Voltaire's quote, "God is a comedian, playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh.", isn't necessarily about God. It's about use of power, which is trying to maintain a Godly image, without love and compassion. This persona often leaves the authority figure unquestioned, making what they say law.

The president of Panem, a post-apocalyptic country, supports a pageant that we know as The Hunger Games. This show is watched by many, and often stirs confusion, hurt, and excitement through Panem.Therefore President Snow is a perfect example of being a comedian, that has an audience so awestruck they can't enjoy this so called "entertainment". Although some may believe The Hunger Games is merely for a good show, others may say it's a chance for the capitol to show their utmost power.Who would question someone who had the power to kill them?

 I would question President Snow as soon as I had the chance. It's wrong for someone, besides God, to try to have unstoppable power over others. And even when they claim it's a show, this entertainment should not scare the audience. The bible says the Lord is with you wherever you go. That includes questioning the comic! Don't let the comedian frighten you, put fright in the comedian!

Rainbows

Author's Note: This piece involves some references to personal faith, even though the topic given was rainbows. I hope you will enjoy this piece, even though you may not share the same beliefs I do. I worked really hard making this piece "flow". Let me know what suggestions you have, because there's always room for improvement!

Genesis and Revelation: the first and the last books in the bible. These books, along with Ezekiel, have made references to rainbows, which are often over looked. Rainbows can be very symbolic. Noah saw a rainbow when he finally was of the ark, while a rainbow was seen (upon an angels head) in a vision, which was recorded as a bible book. Coincidence that rainbows are in the beginning and the "end"? I don't  think so.

In Genesis, there were many promises made to Noah, a man of older age. He was called to build an arc, and take two of every animal with him and his family because God had planned to flood the Earth. After this plan had occurred, a rainbow appeared to Noah. This symbolized a covenant between God and Noah, meaning it's a covenant between God and us. This rainbow symbolized that after the storm, God has promised to never flood, the whole Earth again. In my opinion, that is why rainbows appear after storms: a reminder to us all that the bad is over and a promise is kept.

In the book Revelation, an angel appears with a rainbow surrounding his head, and his feet like pillars of fire. For those of you who are not familiar with the "end" of the bible, you should know that it's basically a revelation of what is to come. I found it extremely thought provoking when I realized that rainbows are in the beginning and the end; this symbolizes a key concept for me.

Ever since discovering the rainbows, in the bible, I have found a new meaning to them. They symbolize a promise, a happy promise. When they appear after storms they promise a better day.

Clocks

Author's Note: This is another writing circle piece, even though it's not finished, I had to post it. Does anybody have any suggestions on what I should do? Maybe have the intro be like a "flash-foward" or something? Let me know.

 

I sit in the room undisturbed, except the clock mocks me with every tick. Tick. What have I done? Tick. I don’t deserve to believe alive. Tick. Are they coming for me? With every tick, my anticipation begins to rise, until I can not take it anymore. I pull the knife, covered with blood, out of my jacket and throw it. The clock no longer ticks, and I hear a knock at the door. It’s the police,  delivering the news I do not want to hear:”Ms. Hollen, you are out of time.”. I have no choice but to follow them, after all I was out of time.

                     

The Hateful Cycle

Author's Note: This piece is a writing circle topic. I haven't really participated in writing circles for a while, so I found it difficult to agree on a topic. But we we all agreed on the topic hate, I brainstormed and brainstormed and then I had an idea. I hope you enjoy this piece :)

Hate. Whenever this word is mentioned, many thoughts come to my mind, although one sticks out above them all: why we hate. “It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things. All things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get”, a quote by Confucius. Hate is bad therefore it's easy to get; love is good therefore it is difficult to achieve: simple logic. An average person will come across the feeling of hate, sometime in their life. And there are many theories of how and why, this event occurs. Is it caused by a feeling of emptiness? Or possibly due to envy? A huge cycle that never ends?

You’re empty inside but not because you starved yourself. You’re empty due to an overwhelming jealousy, that causes you to forget who you are. This jealousy soon will begin to brew into a deep hate, and will grow deeper overtime. But before this emptiness turns into hate, it becomes envy.

Envy. A feeling of discontentment or resentful longing (often for other’s possessions or qualities), in other words a deeper jealousy. If you have three new pairs of shoes, and your friends has six. Your family is struggling financially, meanwhile your aunt takes a big family vacation. Envy lurks: quietly yet it can be extremely harmful when it becomes hate.

Now we are back to the idea of hate. This pattern of brewing hate seems to be continuous, a cycle that never ends. Jealousy turns into envy, and then envy into hate. There is no escape, until we learn to do the difficult: love. Love is stronger than hate, no matter how hard it is at achieve. It will break the cycle. And you will be hate-free.

Playing In Burn

Author's Note: This is another piece I was not comfortable writing. But after some revision and advice from peers, I believe it deserves a spot on my blog. Once again, I was asked to work on "Literacy Devices". In this piece it's mostly metaphors, similes, and personification. Can you find them?

The sun is beating down on me. My already reddened skin, is beginning to scream. Its burn is getting to much to bear. The only thing that can save me, is the whistle shouting the game's end. Until then, I play through the burn, awaiting the whistle and hopefully a win.

Suddenly, I am interrupted from my thoughts, as the ball flies through the air; speeding towards me. I jump up in to the air, to greet the ball, with all my strength. I barley manage to stop the ball in mid-air. The ball drops to the ground. Within the few dribbles I take, I kick the ball down to the other team's goal side: to an open player. My hopes begin to rise, as time passes in a blur of excitement; a goal is scored.

Everyone quickly lines up again. We are ahead 2-1. Coach Cod commands us to play cautiously, to maintain our lead.With two minutes left, the anticipation is beginning to get to me. My burn is on fire and I am trying to remain cool. But due to my distractions a goal is scored; on us. The score is now tied, like our hands because there are only 30 seconds left on the clock.

And to everyone's dismay, the final whistle blows as loud as a cannon shot.We have tied and I am burnt. After skaking hands with the other team, my teammates and I gather. Even though the game is over, I wish it could continue. This burn is becoming to much to handle. I need relief yet all is done.

The Earth Was Good

Author's Note: I usually prefer to away from poetic styles of writing, yet I was inspired to write a meaningful piece dealing with the temptations we all face. I focused on including "Literacy Devices". Let me know if any are noticeable, and if you think I should write more poems. 

The Earth was good,
At least in God's eyes.
Yet the serpent came,
To tempt us,
And make us die.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,
At least that's what they say.
But every now and then,
The serpent comes to play.
Convincing and deceiving,
Every age and look
Until
There's self-hate brews among them
And begins to overflow

A husband and a wife,
A bond to strong to break.
They're a promise to each other,
Until
The cheating and the lying become open to all,
And their demons become visible to the big and small

It started out as a simple dislike,
After all she was rich and well off,
Until
The hate overtakes her to such a degree,
She breaks a commandment,
Murder has occured

We love the land, and the seas,
But that's not how it's supposed to be.
As a temporary home,
The world seems better
Although in reality we,
Until
Begin to forget this.
Once again,
Falling in to the serpents trap.

The Earth was good,
In the beginning before we learned to play,
The devils games.
Now we hate,
Cheat, and lie.
Wondering why such a beautiful place,
Can perceive its self as a pleasant hell.

Your Treasure

Author's Note: When I first read this short story, it made me think of someone who has helped me, Dr. Allison. But I also tried to focus on symbolic language, although it wasn't plentiful, there was still some within The Treasure of Lemon Brown. Even so, this piece I focused on my transitions, a lot. Please give me feed back!

Greg Ridley has always wanted to play on the school basketball team, yet he never got the chance. His grades weren’t high enough, and his dad was disappointed in him. However, in this short story, The Treasure of Lemon Brown, the main focus isn’t on basketball. This story also deals with having trouble with your parents, meeting someone who has changed your life, and the lesson of each man’s treasure.  Throughout each of these elements, the author also finds a way to use symbolic language.

Unlike Greg, I have been fortunate enough that I haven’t had any major trouble with my parents. While we both have struggled with math, there are still two major differences between Greg and myself. My parents would never consider taking away my sports privileges, or even threatening to do it;however, that seems to be all Greg’s parents do. The other difference between he and I is that he “ran away” from home, and that is something I would never even think about. Even though, I would never run away, I still recognized the symbolism written by the author. Running away from home, usually shows an act of rebelling, yet in this story it symbolizes running from your problems or even the truth. This author, probably incorporated this idea to show children there is always another way to deal with issues, something my third grade teacher taught me.

Someone who has greatly impacted my life was my third grade teacher, Ms. Allison, who is now Dr. Allison. She taught me to look at things differently and often encouraged me to think from a different points of view. The most impactful thing she has done for me, was allow me to realize what my treasure was, my family and my friends. This relates to Lemon Brown and Greg, because Mr. Brown made Greg think differently towards his situation, that involved his parents and his grades. Lemon Brown, symbolizes that person in your life, who often does something mentionable but is usually forgotten. His treasure, doesn’t have much symbolism to it,  yet it is something worth while to think about.

Lemon Brown’s treasure was an old rusty harmonica, that his son bought for him. Oddly enough, the neighborhood was shocked when they discovered what his treasure actually was. They assumed that the treasure of Lemon Brown would be “valuable” and would be worth something to everyone. Two men even tried to steal Lemon’s treasure. The robbers, trying to steal the treasure, teach the reader never to assume anything because everyone has their own ideas when it comes to an object’s worth. The author obviously wanted to use this idea because he wished to provoke the reader into thinking more deeply when they hear the word treasure.

The main focus in this book, when you aren’t analyzing it, would be basketball. Yet when I really thought about this story, I took so much more away from it, through the symbolism and the relatable situations.  I really focused on the treasure aspect of The Treasure of Lemon Brown, which is not to assume anything and to respect others’ treasures. Lemon Brown, a unique fictional character, is an amazing example of all of this. He helped others, much like Dr. Allison did for me. At first, I wished Lemon Brown would be in my life, and now I realize everyone has a “Lemon Brown” in their life.  Mine is Dr. Allison!

Things of the Past and the Present

Author's Note- I'm not going to lie, I struggled with this book analysis. Over the coarse of three weeks, I have written three different versions. Thankfully, I had peers and teachers to help me focus on a good topic and work towards some of my writing goals. For this piece I mainly focused on my vocabulary and conclusion. After focuses on those things I began analyze things such as; stereo-typing, gender discrimination, and racism. Hopefully, this piece allows you to remember the amazing things America has and the people who have worked to maintain this outstanding country.

The United States is a wonderful place. We have freedom to be whatever we want no matter what gender or racial backround. Although, America has not always been this lucky. Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, has captured the time before we were so privileged in America. This time was 1962, at time of racial and gender unfairness. Even though this novel reveals the truth of the past, it shines a light on the present, provoking the reader to think of the changes that have been made and who was brave enough to stop the horrors we are dealing with. Things such as; most stereo-types, most racism and most of gender discrimination.

In The Help, Skeeter, one of the three fictional women, was working towards getting a job in the local newspaper. Since she was a young woman, they at first rejected her. After some convincing, they gave her the housekeeping column. Women’s rights activists such as Susan B. Anthony and many before her have been working to prevent gender discrimination since 1848. Some other jobs women have struggled to get hired for, back then and still today, include; jobs in government, and many other high rated jobs. Yet, in 1962 up to today, many women still struggle to attain meaningful jobs which involve an authority role. Even so, women have struggled, and are currently struggling, many other issues have occurred in the United States.

Another issue, in The Help, is the stereo-typing of other races. Miss Hilly, a character in this book, is stereo-typing all African Americans. In 1962, many white employers forced their help to use separate bathrooms, even though these working women have cleaned their employer’s house for years. This was done because; people stereo-typed African Americans as “dirty” and “diseased”.  People like Martian Luther King Jr., have worked to prevent those racial actions. Stereo-typical actions and racial actions go hand and hand.

Racism is a terrible thing; a belief that one race is superior to another. It occurred in this book, and is occurring now, unfortunately. A lot of people in the United States still think things like, anyone from a Hispanic culture is involved with drugs or All African Americans are “ghetto”. None of these statements are true. Stereo-typing people and racism go hand and hand, and also have something to do with gender discrimination. Therefore, America needs to remember their role models.

In modern America, we salute all our heroes. Thanking them for standing up for others, and stopping racism, gender discrimination, and stereo-typing. This being so, there are still some of these actions occurring. To stop these actions it takes bravery from everyone. People like, Martin Luther King, Susan B. Anthony, and Kathryn Stockett, for allowing her novel to reach out to others, and not being afraid to write about difficult subjects.

A Rough Vouge

Author's Note: For my third piece, I chose to write a poem. Even though I am not a poet, this piece should symbolize the hard choices and the temptations that we face in life. I really tried to have a conclusion, although it was difficult referring to a thesis. Hopefully, you see a good conclusion, that suits the poem.


Sailing through rocky waters
So numb they almost sting
Which way to go
Is there land ahead
I am lost
Hoping to find my way
In this huge sea
With good fish and bad fish
Which one will I be
There are rocky waters up ahead
But soon follows land
Will I be a shell that's cracked
Or a dolphin swimming freely
Sailing through these water
Learning things and finding my way
Through an array of troubles
I will fight the sting and remain uncracked.

Good Bye

Author's Note- When I found this picture, thoughts popped in to my head immediately. I have really struggled with this  "creative piece", that I am required to write. I am really proud myself for persevering through this difficult writing process. Hopefully in this piece I have a really good paragraph transitions and an advanced conclusion.




It was the year after my mother died in a car accident and the year after my father left me. Now I am living with her grandma; both of us mourning, and praying somehow we could change the previous year's events.


Today is the anniversary of my mother's death, I walked down to the beach; clutching her old teddy bear. It is such a ratty old bear, but it still remains special to me because it had belonged to my mom. It's was the only piece she had of her, and yet on that gray, misty day I did the unexpected.


I always had Teddy with me, when I got home her grandma was puzzled.


"Hey Tessie, where's Teddy?" she asked.


"Somewhere in the world. We'll be together though, eventually" I answered.


"What do you mean?"


"When I die, I will see Teddy again. We'll embrace each other, and never let go." Tessa responded half crying.

All My Life

Author's Note- FYI, this is a writing circle piece and I am sorry it's late. Anyways, the topic that I had to write about is life. Having chosen this, with the help of my writing circle, the possibilities of ways to go were endless. I also worked on my word choice and transitions between paragraphs. Even though that's usually what I work on, I hope you see improvement in each piece. I also hope you take something away from this piece.


Life; the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter. This being so I believe that life is more than just a distinguisher, it's about why we are here and what we can offer to the world.


A lot of  people take life for granted, and offer nothing to the world; much else their community. It saddens me when I see someone, who is well-off, be selfish. I mean, my family and I aren't rich yet we aren't poor. Although, we donate to the church generously and help out neighbors. It doesn't matter how big your actions are, it matters why and how you preform them. But why are we here?


I'm know that there are many different theories to the question; why are we here? Although, I don't know the answer. And no one will until they join their Creator. Even so, what really matters is how you act.