Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Middle School


Author’s Note: As the year rapidly comes to a close, I wanted to think about how the last 2 years have affected me.
                                                          

My heart was pounding and my hands were shaking at my sides as I stepped through the doors. The hallway seemed never ending as I maneuvered my way through crowds of people. When I saw the door to my first class it felt like I found the light at the end of a tunnel. Picking up my pace I rushed through the door and sighed a sigh of relief as I sat down and realized that this wasn’t going to be so bad. Now looking back to that first day in 7th grade, I wish I would’ve known that middle school would be the most memorable 2 years of my life.

It seems like just yesterday I was desperately asking my sister for advice on how to survive middle school. But somehow, in the blink of an eye, here I am at the end of 8th grade, getting ready for high school, trying to put into words how much fun I’ve had in middle school. Ever since I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be older, or taller, or smarter. But as I’ve gotten all these things, I find myself missing the past. With less than a month left of middle school, it feels almost as if my childhood is ending too. Once high school starts, there are more expectations and everything is taken more seriously. Middle school is thought of as the transition school which makes me wonder, are we transitioning into high school, or out of childhood?

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both” (Frost). This famous saying is from a poem by Robert Frost. As I thought about this piece, the first thing that popped into my mind was this poem. To me it means, there’s two paths to choose in life. You can only pick one. As of now, I have a choice too. High school or childhood. The decision is mine.

As I look for closure of the past 2 years here at Asa, I remember all the reasons why I began to love middle school in the first place. All the teachers, classes friends and even the drama that affected me in the past 2 years, formed the memories that will stay with me for a lifetime.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Not Fair


Author's Note: This is a combination of a summary of a book and an informative essay. I just read Safe Haven and it really made me think about woman abuse. This is what came out of that.

I’d been running for over an hour but I still felt too close. Too close to him, too close to what just happened, too close to the punishment that I knew would be waiting. My adrenaline was still surging as I burst through the doors of the bus station. Too scared to be within 100 miles of this town, I bought a ticket to the farthest place they would take me. Stepping up the stairs of the bus, I turned around one last time and thought to myself, “time to start over.”

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks is about Katie who is a 27 year old girl that lived everyday in fear. Her alcoholic husband didn’t approve of anything she did and her punishment would come through the form of bruises all over her body. At first, she thought it was her fault and that she needed to try harder to be a better wife. But eventually even small things like forgetting to wipe down the counter would result in a black eye. As he began to drink more and more, Katie realized that he was going crazy and if she didn’t escape soon, he would end up killing her.

Katie’s not the only one though. Everyday millions of women all over the world are beaten by their husbands too. Some aren’t as lucky as her though and don’t get the chance to escape, some don’t even want to. More and more Americans started realizing this so now we have a Woman’s Center for women like Katie to escape to. Because at the end of the day, everyone deserves to have a place that they can call their Safe Haven.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Never Forget

Author's Note: As it gets closer to summer, alot of last summer's memories come to mind and this one comes up alot. My main goal in this creative piece was to include some dialogue. 



The sun was blazing hot; I could feel the sweat start to trickle down my neck. Fanning myself, I desperately try to cool down as he hands me a skateboard. I reached for a water bottle and took a huge sip. My throat felt like a glacier as I screwed the top back on. I had hoped that the whole skateboarding lessons had been a joke but as he walked towards me with a helmet in his hand, I could tell he wasn’t kidding.
His purple beanie didn’t hide the fact that his fiery red hair was sticking up all over the place. It made me smile as I strapped my helmet on. He demonstrated where my feet should be and when, how to balance and most importantly, how to stop. I tried to take it all in, but he made it look so easy. He saw my panicked expression and started to laugh.
“All you need to remember is how to not fall off,” he said with a wink.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” I replied as I hesitantly stepped onto the board.
I pushed off and before I realized it, I was sailing down the road at an uncontrollable speed. I noticed I was on route to crash into a stop sign but as my brain skimmed through what he had just explained, I couldn’t remember how to stop.
“TJ!” I scream, “I can’t stop!”
I tried to duck under the sign but that just made the fall worse. I flipped backwards and hit my face on the pole. All I could see was blurs of color as I fell to the ground. The last thing I saw before I blacked out, was TJ’s face laughing hysterically above me.
Now instead of his carefree smile, I was staring at his blank expression. His body was motionless and  it hurt to see him this way. No matter how hard I tried,  I couldn’t bring myself to look away. My eyes started to burn and my throat tightened as memories kept washing through me.  I wanted to remember him, but not like this. Warm tears started to fall as I realized that the happy laugh, cheesy grin; even the purple beanie were all gone. Gone forever.
The life that was just about to begin, wasn’t there to live anymore. The hopes and dreams, all shattered just like the glass. The future was ruined, just like his car. And my heart, was broken just like his ribs.

“All you needed to remember, was how to not fall off”, I whispered as I looked at him one last time. When I turned to walk away, my emotions finally caught up to me; I was consumed in gut wrenching sobs.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The Last Day

Author's Note: I just watched a movie about a lock down so for this creative piece, I decided to put myself in the shoes of someone living through one. I tried to imagine how scary it would be, how everyone else would feel, etc.

Food was flying everywhere and the whole class was laughing. Time had flown by so fast; it was hard to believe that it was the last day of school. The celebration was in full swing until the principal’s voice came onto the loud speaker. My teacher turned the music down and gasped as his voice echoed clear as a bell.

“We are going into lockdown mode.”

When the shock went away and my teacher’s face regained it’s color, she herded us like cattle into the back corner of the room. My stomach was doing somersaults as we all silently crawled under a table. I was really uncomfortable, but so scared that I didn’t dare to move.

We all flinched as the doorknob started to slowly turn. When it opened, all you could see was the darkened hallway. We all heard our teacher inhale deeply as his figure came into focus. The first thing I noticed was his eyes. They were blue; cold as ice. His gaze swept the room and when he landed on us, he started to smile. Too scared to look at him anymore, I quickly glanced in my teacher’s direction. Her face was ghostly white; I saw her hands trembling.

He crossed the room and sat down in a desk. The chair groaned its objection, but I could tell he didn’t care. The silence was broken by a loud ring as the phone awakened. When he stood up I could see the pistol glaring at me in it’s holster. Almost as if it were daring me to speak up. My best friend reached over and grabbed my hand. We made eye contact for barely a second, but I could still see my emotions reflected in her expression.

When he hung up, he quietly put the phone down and turned towards us. A smile slowly spread across his face as he reached for his gun. Twirling the gun, he started to pace. He turned his back to us and stared at the board for what felt like forever. Suddenly he turned around so fast that none of us had time to brace ourselves.

The gunshot echoed throughout the classroom and I instantly went numb. I started shaking and blinked back tears. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Then all of a sudden, a cop burst through the door and tackled our intruder. My teacher jumped up and pushed us until we were all running out the door and down the hallway.

I was still shaking when my mom jumped out of the car and ran towards me. I collapsed into her arms and started to cry. I couldn’t help it though, I was still so scared. I heard squeaking behind me and turned around to see a stretcher being wheeled into the ambulance behind me. My heart sunk when I saw the familiar shoe of my best friend sticking out the end of the blanket.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Forever is Never



Author's Note: This is a creative piece that focuses on a flashback. Pay attention to how there isn't very much dialogue, but in this story there doesn't need to be. 

The day was almost as cloudy as my mood. He walked out of his room in his cap and gown; my heart sunk. He could tell how I felt by the expression on my face. Crossing the room he stood in front of me and stared, willing me to meet his eyes. Reluctantly I looked up at him and saw the same cheesy smile that had made me smile a thousand times.

Sitting down next to me he said, “Hey, don’t be sad. I’ll be around forever.”
 “Promise?” I asked, finally meeting his eyes.
“Promise.”, he responded; I smiled knowing he meant it.

As that memory dissolved into the picture of him I was carrying, I continued walking down the grassy path that I knew by heart; I felt the familiar sting behind my eyes as I neared my destination. As I saw it in the distance I stopped, gathering the courage I knew I needed. Steeling myself for the pain, I continued on. His face, his smile, his laugh, all echoed in my memories as I made the final steps to where I was going. The tears instantly began to fall as I stared at his grave. “Forever”, I whispered.


Thursday, January 24, 2013

Broken Hearted

Author's Note: This is a point of view piece. It's based on the song "Easy" by Rascal Flatts. Pay attention to how the girl and boy have the same point of view on the break up.

Smiles from cheek to cheek, so many butterflies you could fly to the moon, laughs so merry even Santa would be jealous. All of a sudden transition to tears that fall so rapidly clouds can’t even keep up. Pain so severe you can feel your heart breaking, sobs so loud not even your pillow can drown them out.

In “Easy” by Rascal Flatts the boy is going through a tough breakup and is trying to pass it off like he doesn’t care, but the little things that remind him of her make the pain worse. Like he says in the song “What she don’t know, is how hard it is to make it look so easy”, this just proves that although he’s smiling and acting normal, on the inside he’s falling apart and is having a hard time getting over her.

"The truth is, I miss laying in those arms of his. But I won't, ever let it show."

He’s not the only one suffering though. This is a line from the girl's point of view in this song. If this entire song was in the girl’s point of view it would be similar because she said she basically feels the same way. 

With both of their point of views in this song, it’s very easy to relate to because at one point or another we all go through a tough break up. In most songs there’s just one point of view but this one is more relatable in the way of having two different perspectives to relate to. The song would be changed drastically if one of them didn’t feel the same way though. I personally think the song would be more interesting if for example the girl didn’t feel the same. The boy would be hurting and the girl would be moved on and ready to start a new chapter in her life.

When the sobs stop; the pain subsides, look for the bright side. Everything happens for a reason; now you just have to find it. Don’t stay in the past, move into the future. There’s a reason our eyes are in front of heads and not the back, don’t look back. It might not be easy, but it’ll be worth it.