Thank you for your replies to last week's thought question! Several good points were raised regarding whether students should be taught writing or composition!
For this week, I would like you to discuss our readings from the book. In David Sedaris' narrative "Ashes," he describes what his family was like. I would like you to use this space for the week to describe an especially strong memory you have of either a parent, friend, or anyone that your life has touched.
Avoid cliches. Be specific. Describe this person. Briefly describe a moment spent with this person. Make it complex. Perhaps you might describe a moment when someone that you admire did something unexpected and not admirable. Maybe describe a moment when someone that you did not like did something likeable. Search for paradox and contrast.
I am really looking forward to these posts! Thanks!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
Mark Jennings (27 years old)is a man who has touched my life in countless ways. One particular time we were walking around in Manhattan and some guy sitting on a bench gave Mark the birdie and then proceded to swear him out and wished Mark to a happy life in HELL! Mark then replied with,"Hello" and walked over and sat on the bench with the guy and talked with him for over 45 minutes. It turned out that the guy had just been busted for being a drug dealer and he had a whole lot of other junk going on in his life that he wasn't happy with. By the end of the conversation that guy had apologized to Mark for swearing him out and alowed Mark to pray with him before we left. To see Mark's reaction of love and compassion rather that hatred was a call for me to look inward and ask myself if I would react the same if I were put in Mak's place.
I was at my Grandma's house. I was eating breakfast with her she had just fixed eggs, ham, and toast. We were both sitting at the table eating. I knew I had to tell her something, but I was waiting for the perfect time to do it. Im getting baptized this sunday Grandma. The look on her face was unforgettable. She just stared at me for a while. Then she smiled. It was that smile knowing that she was standing beside me no matter what.
My family... is not normal, far from normal, probably as disfunctional as it gets, family time if any usually ends up in fights. But ever since this summer when there was a golf kart accident where my brother flipped a kart, cut his leg open and had to get stiches, sounds harmless right? well he ended up having to go back to the hospital due to infection from the Iowa river he had been tubing in before, they tried many different antibiotics, nothing was working the infection kept growing, and they feared he might lose his leg. My mother and father never left his side for two weeks, I had never seen anything like this, my Father, who usually just came home, lit up a cigarette and mixed a bloody mary up, stopped, for the two weeks this was going on, sure he would come home to get a drink every now and then but I think that he had realized how precious life is and how much spending time with his family really means, ever since then he always tries to set up these dates to hang out with us indivually, as akward it is it still means a lot, at least he's trying now.
Coaches have been a large influence in my life considering sports consumes much of my life but one coach stands out from any other. Jolissa Ohrt, my high school volleyball coach. She was a very hard coach, always made us run, criticized everything. If you made a mistake you were going to hear about it. During the state championship game last year I was struggling and expecting to get yelled at coming out the court, but instead coach took me off to the side and said “Brittney you can do it. Just relax and you are going to be fine. I have confidence in you.” Hearing those words reassured me that I can do it and rather than her yelling at me to do it she stopped and talk to me about it normally.
My cousin Troy has always has been someone I looked up to. He was a football player for the Nebraska Cornhuskers all throughout college. I always told me friends how cool he was and that he played for the team. I had this feeling that my friends didn’t believe me that he played for them. I told me cousin that I didn’t think that people believed me that he played for the team. So one day, when I was in fourth grade, my cousin Troy showed up with lunch for me wearing his jersey to show everyone that he played for the team. Everyone kind of looked at me in amazement and hurried over to meet him. Looking back on that day makes me think how much my cousin means to me. If he would have not showed up that day everyone would still think that I was not telling the truth. I think he is a great guy and means a lot to me.
At first, I didn’t like my sister’s friend Jen. She seemed very snotty and short with me. It didn’t help that she was the reason my sister was barely home and I couldn’t spend time with her anymore. When my sister and Jen went to a movie a couple of weeks later Jen invited me to come along with them. I wanted to spend some time with my sister so I tagged along. Jen surprised me how outgoing and fun she was. This changed what I thought of her completely.
An old friend of mine, Joel Burr, had a great impact on my life.After I graduated high school he asked me to move in with him. He was married and had two children. He was doing me a favor by letting me move in, because I had a lot of problems back then. I was a very angry young man, who had problems with drugs and alcohol. He really helped me to work through those problems and to understand the causes of them. After I lived there for a while, his wife ran off with the next door neighbor and left him with his girls. The way he handled that situation was very inspiring. He just moved on with life and kept trudging along, never speaking poorly about his wife and always staying strong for his girls. He did have moments when he would break down,but never in front of his girls. His handling of that taught me that the world isn't all about me and some people needed more help than I could ever possibly need. If ever I could handle a situation like that with the amount of grace and dignity that he did. I would be justified in taking any sort of pride in myself.
When I joined the military I chose not to tell my parents until it was fianl. So after I had signed all the paper's and was approved to become and MP for the Army Reserve, I called my dad. I was expecting them to be angry with me and try to talk to me out of it like they had in the past. But to my surprise, both of my parents told me that although it is not what they would have chose for me, they were proud of my decision and would support anything I chose to do and any direstion I chose to take as long as it was for the better.
My Grandmother means everything to me. People would always say I looked just like her when she was younger and I acted the same way. She made me a baby blanket the first one she had ever made, which she didn't do for any of the other grandchildren. I was the oldest granddaughter.When she died it was like a piece of my heart was ripped out. Being only nine years old I didn't really understand why she had to get cancer and suffer as much as she did. When I later on asked my mom all those questions a young child has all she told me was that, "Grandma will always be with you right here!" My mom then pointed at her heart and then mine.
My Grandmother spoiled me and when you asked no matter how you asked she gave in to you. She would watch my dances when no one else could and she would let me stay the night and sleep in the same room as I was when I got scared. To this day I can feel her with me where ever I go.
My brother has had a big impact on my life. Growing up I spent most of my time getting beat up and arguing constantly with him. After he graduated and I entered high school our relationship changed. Instead of fighting we were able to talk and actually get along. Now that I have graduated high school and entered college, the relationship has changed again. He is now married and is rarely around home. Now it is difficult to have a conversation because we have very little in common these days. He is more of a father-figure instead of a big brother. I don't like the new change, but some day I might.
My parents have had the greatest impact on my life. They gave up their successful careers back home in Kenya so that we( my sisters and I) could have a better life in America.They are both going to school, raising a family and working two jobs each just to support the family. One moment that stands out in my family is when my mom decided that we needed to move to America. She literally pulled out a map and blinded folded picked Iowa. It was crazy. I don't think I could ever have the courage to do that. Courageous that is the best adjective to describe my mom.
My daughter has made the best impact on my life. Before I got pregnant with her, I had a life I wasn't proud of. It's not like I was a bad person or anything. I just wasn't going in the direction I grew up with the capabilities to have. I was living in a shack of a house, working 50 hours per week supporting my boyfriend through college (because he refused to work eventhough he didn't go to half his classes, and I had to do his homework). My boyfriend had a terrible temper. He would abuse me both physically and mentally. When I was 5 months pregnant with her, we got into a fight because he was't home nor answering his phone at 2am. He came home as I was walking out the apartment, ready to leave him. he pushed me back into the house and body slammed me to the floor, picked up my head and bashed it into the ground. I wanted to leave him but didn't have the will power. I was scared. Scared of what he would do, and scared to raise a child on my own, and scared of being alone.
Then I had my daughter. I loved her so much. I then realized I couldn't let her be subject to the same abuse I was. She gave me the strength to leave him. She made me realize I had the capabilities to do it all on my own.
My son Justin joined the air force in 2001. Two weeks after graduating from high school we watched him get sworn in for duty and fly off to San Antonio Texas for basic training .After 16 weeks of basic training and 12 weeks of addiontal training he was stationed in Montana to guard the nuclear missile silos. Three years later he was one of the few chosen to guard the president.
During his short time in the air force he set many goals for himself. He reaches the rank of staff sergeant, commanded a convoy in Iraq and was sent back to San Antonio as a trainer. He also was chosen to be one of an elite few to have national security clearance
As a parent I do have bragging rights but there is more then having bragging rights. The goal he set for himself and reached in such a short time has inspired me to a goal I have set for myself many years ago
Not even two years old and my brother Tyler has touched my life and made be a better person. Tyler was born with Down's Syndrome and spent his first 51 days in the hospital fighting for his life due to a lung infection at birth. Not knowing how to deal with a Down's baby our family started to get stressed and try to prepare, but once Tyler was finally home it didnt even matter. Tyler has been through it all and still he smiles, laughs, and enjoys life as it was given to him. Seeing Tyler fight showed me that i can handle all of lifes problems that are push at me.
Hello, I could not figure out how to post a new weekly topic, so I'm putting it here.
This week we talked about color in writing and how it can affect the reader,so I would like to have everyone write about sometime in their life when color affected their mood. For example: When it is winter and all the trees are bare and the grass is all brown it is kind of depressing. Then when it snows and everything is covered in a blanket of snow it is very beautiful. Try to use metaphor and simile in your writing. Thanks
Post a Comment