He Giveth, He Taketh Away

292
Pink cake, pink dress, pink flowers; Kisha’s Quinceanera. On bended knee her father took her slippers off, and slipped on her silver high-heels shoes.
The noise of his car starting up, filled the garage at 10 o’clock pm, he was leaving work.
A silver crown was placed on Kisha’s head as if she has just won prom queen.
A gun raised to Mickey’s head as the word “drive” was screamed into his ears. He drove into the dark night crossing into D.C.
He picked her up out of her princess chair, smiled at her while the music filled the room as they began gliding across the floor.
“Park here”, he ordered. Thump was the sound Mickey made as he hit the ground face first. Bang, Bang, Bang was the sound that echoed through the air. Then tires screeching followed, as his car disappeared in the night.
We all joined in on the dance floor and danced the night away.
By the changing of her shoes and her first dance with her father, my cousin was now a woman. My cousin had transformed into a women while life for my other cousin was taken away.
Waking up the next morning to the phone ringing at 8 am was very unwelcomed considering, I had just went to bed about six hours earlier. My mom came running into my room. “Mickey! He is gone he is dead. ” I looked at her, felt my heart swell, and knelt at the side of my bed and began to pray.
My family partied while one of us was dying in a D.C ally. Just ten hours ago we were all celebrating Kisha’s entrance into women hood, and then in a matter of seconds, we were mourning.


Life is short and can change in a matter of seconds.

He Giveth, He Taketh Away

294
Pink cake, pink dress, pink flowers; my cousin’s Quinceanera. On bended knee her father took her slippers off and slipped on her silver high-heels shoes.
The noise of his car starting up, filled the garage at 10 oclock pm, he was leaving work.
A silver crown was placed on my cousin’s head as if she has just won prom queen.
A gun raised to my cousin’s head as the word “drive” was screamed into his ears. He drove into the dark night crossing into D.C.
He picked her up out of her princess chair, smiled at her while the music filled the room as they began gliding across the floor.
“Park here”, he ordered. Thump was the sound my cousin made as he hit the ground face first. Bang, Bang, Bang was the sound that echoed through the air. Then tires screeching followed, as his car disappeared in the night.
We all joined in on the dance floor and danced the night away.
By the changing of her shoes and her first dance with her father my cousin was now a woman. My cousin had transformed into a women while life for my other cousin was taken away.
Waking up the next morning to the phone ringing at 8 am was very unwelcomed considering I had just went to bed about six hours earlier. My mom came running into my room.”Mickey! He is gone he is dead. “I looked at her, felt my heart swell, and knelt at the side of my bed and began to pray.
My family partied while one of us was dying in a D.C ally. Just ten hours ago we were all celebrating my cousin’s entrance into women hood, and then in a matter of seconds, we were mourning.


Life is short and can change in a matter of seconds.

In the Blink of an Eye

Pink cake, pink dress, pink flowers; my cousin’s Quinceanera. On bended knee her father took her slippers off and slipped on her silver high-heels shoes. A gun raised to my cousin’s head as the word “drive” was screamed into his ears. He drove into the dark night crossing into D.C. He picked her up out of her princess chair, smiled at her while the music filled the room as they began gliding across the floor. “Park here”, he ordered. Thump was the sound my cousin made as he hit the ground face first. Bang, Bang, Bang was the sound that echoed through the air. Then tires screeching followed. We all joined in on the dance floor and danced the night away. By the changing of her shoes and her first dance with her father my cousin was now a woman. My cousin had transformed into a women while my other cousin’s life ended. Waking up the next morning to the phone ringing at 8 am was very unwelcomed considering I had just went to bed about six hours earlier. My mom came running into my room.”Mickey! He is gone he is dead. “ I looked at her, felt my heart swell, and knelt at the side of my bed and began to pray. My family partied while one of us was dying in a D.C ally. Just ten hours ago we were all celebrating and then in a matter of seconds ,mourning.
242
Happiness can be taken from you in the blink of an eye

Worst and Best Teaching Experience’s

Balls of paper flying through the air, people bobbing their head back and forth to music, and texting about forty words per minute is the scene you would see every day in Mr. Salahudin’s seventh period pre-cal class. Mr. Salahudin would stand at the front of the room writing problems on the board explaining to the few people in the front of the class who came to class prepared to take notes and learn something. My friends and I sat in the back everyday religiously. We would use this class period to talk about the latest gossip, no math notes!

I walk in the class room two minutes before the bell rings and I see everyone in the class seating down ready to take notes. Mrs. Greenberg has already put five problems up on the board to complete. I take my seat in the front row and begin working. No one is talking everyone is focused it is quiet, so quiet you can hear a pin drop. Each time I walked out of that class I have a clear understanding of what we learned in class for that day. Mr. Greenberg took control of the class and taught us efficiently.
200

Do What's Right!

The number one thing my dad asked of my sister and I was to never lie to him, to always tell him the truth. So whenever I feel like lying my dad voice enters my consciences which causes me to tell the truth, which is the right thing to do.

For tests in Biology at my high school I could have simply went to class and sat behind the smartest kid and just copy their scantron but I decided to study and pass on my own, which caused me to gain knowledge which is why we attend school. By me not cheating no one got in trouble and at the end of the day I helped myself learn. Not cheating is the right thing to do.

Doing the right thing can be the hardest thing to do at times, for example when a person confesses to a murder. This person’s confession would bring closer to the victims family, and allows them to move on. The suspect is now freed from a guilty conscience but know has to spend life in jail, and sometimes face death as their punishment.

My cousin is what you would call a “tree hugger”. She drives a hybrid, limits her shower time, recycles everything, is a member of Greenpeace, and celebrates earth day with her other tree hugging friends. But what she is doing is the right thing to do. She is trying to keep our earth clean for generations to come.

When you do something that will positively affect yourself and others around you have done the right thing which is a core belief in my family.

276

Let There Be Peace

The peace sign maybe used by many but it always symbolizes peace. What is peace, and why does this symbol represent it? Well peace is the unity of a community and group; these communities get along with each other, meaning no fighting.

In American culture this peace sign symbolizes the struggle for unity. The hippies were anti- war; they had protests in which they would display the peace sign. The hippies used the peace sign to show they opposed war and wanted unity. They were also nonchalant. They walked around barefoot. They wore the peace sign because it looks like an upside down chicken’s barefoot, which shows their nonchalant ways.

If you look at the peace sign it has three branches that lead into one branch. So the three braches show our differences, but then through peace we should try to blend together in order to become one. The frame of the sign is in the shape of a circle. Each part of a circle is connected. So with peace everyone will be connected and unified. The peace signs also come in all colors and sizes, but still all symbolize the same thing: peace. There are all kinds of people in the world, but we can all come together, and live in harmony even though we may have different beliefs.

The inventor of the peace sign is Gerald Holton, created the peace sign during the Cold War. He used the semaphoric combination of the letters N and D to create the sign, which stand for Nuclear Disarmament. During the Cold War countries kept making nuclear weapons, so Mr. Holton made this sign to promote peace through the ceasing of nuclear weapon production. The sign later moved to America where the hippies adopted it.

The peace sign is just like the peace sign with the ring finger and the middle finger held up. They both stand for and promote peace. When you look at these symbols you are expected to see unity, and togetherness which hopefully one day will lead to peace in the world.
349

Let There Be Peace

The peace sign has been used by people around the world to promote different views and ideas, which all tie into the purpose of promoting peace. What is peace, and why does this symbol represent it? Well peace is the unity of a community and group. These communities live in harmony, meaning there is no fighting; everyone gets along.

In American culture this peace sign symbolizes the struggle for peace and unity. The hippies were anti- war. So they had many protests in which they would hold up the peace sign. The hippies used the peace sign to show they opposed war and wanted unity. The hippies also were very laid back and chill people. They walked around without shoes. They wore the peace sign because it looks like an upside down chicken’s barefoot, to symbolize the fact that material things didn’t matter to them.

If you look at the peace sign it has three branches that lead into one branch. Peace signifies unity. So the three branches show our differences, but then through peace we should try to blend together in order to become one like the sign does with the one branch. The frame of the sing is in the shape of a circle. Each part of a circle is connected. So with peace everyone will be connected and unified. The peace signs also come in all colors and sizes, but still all symbolize the same thing: peace. There are all kinds of people in the world, but we can all come together, and still try to live in harmony even though we may have different beliefs.

The inventor of the peace sign is Gerald Holton, created the peace sign in 1958 during the Cold War. He used the semaphoric combination of the letters N and D to create the sign, which stand for Nuclear Disarmament. During the Cold War countries kept making nuclear weapons, so Mr. Holton made this sign to promote peace through the ceasing of nuclear weapon production. The sign later moved to America where the hippies adopted it.

The peace sign is just like the peace sign with the ring finger and the middle finger held up. They both stand for and promote peace. When you look at these symbols you are expected to see unity, and togetherness which hopefully one day will lead to peace in the world.
399

Airwalks vs. Vans

The pricing of shoes ,who wears shoes, and where they can be can bought, determines the “coolness” of them for example Airwalks vs. Vans . Vans are cooler. The term coolness can be described as what’s new and what is in. Airwalks shoes where founded in 1986 by Bill Mann, George Yohn, and Jess Laguna, Vans came along 20 years earlier in 1966. Vans shoes were created by Paul Van Doren. Airwalks can be purchased at Payless. Vans are purchased at Journeys, and other stores at the mall. Payless is seen as uncool because it is cheaper. The people you tend to see shopping at Payless are the older and younger generations not the teenagers. Growing up in elementary and middle school if you walked down the hallway with payless shoes on you were made fun of simply because your shoes were cheap and the brand may not have been a well known one for example Airwalks. However Journeys is seen as the cool store. Mostly teens go to Journeys where as older people tend to go to payless more.

Vans are seen as cool in today’s teen population. Skaters wear vans while they grind on rails and do tricks on their skate boards. In the hip- hop world vans are seen as cool too. There is a hip hop song named Vans were the artist, The Pack.”They slide in and out real easy like chucks. You can get different colors like rainbows.” This is a line from the song that explains how convenient vans are(they slide in and out real easy) and how cool they are because you can get them in all different colors to match your style. Cool also means to match. Vans also symbolize “coolness” because famous people wear them. For example the hip-hop artist Pharrell always wears vans to portray his skater look. You don’t see too many famous people walking around wearing Airwalks because they are referred to as the “fake me out” vans. Meaning Airwalks are the cheaper, fake versions of vans.

But what is the real difference between Vans and Airwalks? You can also get different color air walks and they slide on easy as well. They look exactly the same. The only difference between Airwalks and Vans is the name on the back of the shoes. But lately payless has been making a statement. More and more teens are starting to buy sandals from there. I think if this recession continues people will begin to turn to the cheaper store for their shoe needs. But as of today because Airwalks are cheaper and can be purchased from Payless so they have been stamped uncool.

449

The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Walking into Mrs. Jones first grade class was exciting and fun. I thought to myself this would be the year I would learn how to read. Now that I was going to learn to read I could open that book that sits on my bookshelf and read it to myself no more mommy coming to read it to me anymore. This book was The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. My mom would come into my room and we would read the book. Every time she opened it I had the same amount of joy and happiness it was like I had never read the book before. This book was full of colors. The caterpillars himself was very colorful. First the caterpillar ate through one apple then two pears and so on until it ate too much. Since I would read this book every night I had the words memorized so I would be mumbling the words while my mother read it. I would follow along the words with my finger. When my mom said a word I would trace over that word or what I thought was the word. Sometimes she would stop reading to hear me mumble the words after a while I would too stop because I needed her to guide me with her voice. But now that I was learning to read she would no longer need to be my guide. This book taught me many things not only how to memorize words but counting as well. On the first day the caterpillar ate one thing the second day two and the third three. So before I turned the page (turning the page was my job) I already knew how many things the caterpillar was going to eat because he ate in the order of numbers. Every day in Mrs. Jones’ class we would learn more and more words. We would get into small groups and read to each other. Each night we were allowed to take home and read other books to our parents. These new books made me forget my old one, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Until one night I happened to glance over at the bookshelf after I had read my class book to my mom, and asked if I could read her one more before bed time. I went over to the bookshelf grabbed the book and began to read it. This time when I read it I still traced the words but this time my own voice was the guidance for my fingers. When I finished I looked at my mom and smiled. I had finally achieved my goal I was able to read this book that mom used to read to me alone. After I finished reading the book I put it back on the shelf and went to bed knowing I could now read The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

My parents were born and raised in Bluefields, Nicaragua. My ancestors are Mosquito Indians. If you look at me you would think i am African American. I listen to Reggae,Latino,hip-hop& R&B,and country. My family and I eat Hispanic food such as Frito, rice and beans,tortillas,and Spanish white cheese. I am Moravian which is a type of Christianity. I attend church every Sunday when I am at home. I am a strong believer in God and his son Jesus Christ. My family is very tight and close knit. My great grandmother on my dad's side had 14 children and my great grandmother on my mom's side had 10 so my family is pretty huge. We celebrate holidays by going from one cousin's house to the next. As a family we enjoy listening to music and dancing. Every other year my family and I go to Nicaragua to visit my grandparents and other relatives. In Bluefields we speak broken English similar to Patois (Patwa) in which Jamaicans speak,and Spanish in the markets. I am not fluent in Spanish but my parents are. Bluefields is a very poor place but the people are very friendly.