8th Grade Closure Piece

authors note: In this piece it some what describes what my middle school life has been like, and now looking back on it I finally have time to analyze what I should bring with me through high school or just leave behind.

   You arrive nervous, unprepared and scared. It seems like such a long stride going from 6th to 7th grade but the biggest leap of all still has yet to come. The year passes and with relief the summer comes, next year you will be in charge as you now enter the highest point in middle school. Finally 8th grade year is coming to a close and you look back with time to remember the memories you've made, all the stupid drama seems so pointless now. We've matured so much, grown, succeeded,  no one knows what the future holds but the feelings of fear for freshman year are just like all the stupid drama, pointless. The realization of growing up is scary but the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

   Middle school was just the beginning of becoming an adult, high school is when we will truly learn to become independent. The unknown is what we really fear, it's a leap of faith to grow up and be who you strive to become. Memories of yesteryear, the laughs, the gossip, the late nights staying up because of homework have made us who we are. We may be scared to go where we've never been but with every end there is a new beginning and with every new start there will be new memories.     

   These past two years seemed like an eternity, and now here we are anxious for summer, for gaining our independence within the next four years. We're all scared of what lies ahead, but when we take time to look back on how much our academics have grown and how much new knowledge we have to carry on with us we are thankful for the ones taking time to give us a good education. This time should be embraced because this will only happen once in our lives.

District Assessment

authors note: This piece I don't particularly like because it was written on a topic without a lot of meaning and I wrote it as if it was an assignment not because it had real meaning. The topics I wrote about were that we strive to please others and determination. 

The Hundredth Dove

                The usual cycle of nature rings in your ears, birds chirping, streams flowing, and trees swaying in harmony with the wind. You patiently wait for your prey to come, silently sitting anticipating the perfect moment to pounce. The time comes and you leap in the air then wrap your net around the beautiful doves, but something seemingly impossible happens, an angelic white dove flies out of the silk net. Determination to catch the bird hits you like a ton of bricks, and you will not give up until you have served your king well. The short story The Hundredth Dove by Jane Yolen proves that in life our goal is to please others, it also shows that we will go to great lengths to make ourselves feel important.  

                Hugh the fowl hunter was stunned when he saw how gorgeous Lady Columbia was, instantly he felt the need to impress her, this shows that he would do whatever it took to show that he was the best hunter in the land. The hundred doves needed for the wedding seemed like a simple task but little did Hugh know that it would be nearly impossible. The dove is a symbol of peace, when Hugh finally caught the white dove it wished no more than to be let go without harm, but still Hugh needed the hundredth dove to please not only the king but his fiancée as well so he brought it to the table, dead. Since the wedding was not held Hugh killing the dove seemed like it was a mistake this shows that he made a bad decision as we all do in life.

                Determination to hunt the white dove showed that Hugh would not give up until the bird was served at the kings wedding. Keeping a positive attitude was a large part of Hugh’s hunting experience but it started wearing down as he failed to catch the bird. Waiting and waiting for the bird to show seemed like an eternity but for him it was worth serving others. As the dove spoke in a velvety tone Hugh really considered not killing it but thought that his job was more important than the bird’s life. There is a fine line between doing what is right and wrong, Hugh crossed the line and ended without any glory or fortune.

                Life has many opportunities that test who we are as a person. Hugh took this chance as time to show that he truly was the best but ended up without anything to show for. Serving others may bring us happiness but we are serving them for the wrong reasons we have to learn that the actions we perform might not be worth the consequences we might receive. Sometimes we need to make our decisions wisely and choose what is right or wrong; we learn from our mistakes and eventually will learn how to make the right choices in life.  

Truman Show 2nd Post

authors note: This is my second post to the Truman Show movie and I wrote it from Truman's perspective. It describes what I think he thought of how far he had come in his life from birth to being free in the real world.

Life

Throughout my life I never noticed how people were told to walk past me carrying a basket of flowers or ride their bike past my home or come up to me and ask a question at a specific time. I never considered for a second that my whole life since birth was a fake. The big man running the show never suspected that I would ever find out about the real reality, but here I stand tall and free. I quickly responded to his plea for me to stay with my common goodbye, "In case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night." Finally I stand on the streets a free man, allowed to make his own choices, allowed to love whoever I may choose. Now I realize how far I have come and the large weight of lies has finally been lifted off my shoulders.

The Truman Show

authors note: This piece was written based off of the movie "The Truman Show". I felt that everyone that cared about him really didn't, and that they were lying just for other peoples entertainment. During this whole movie I really wanted Truman to find the truth and at some points, all hope seemed lost. Once he figured out that his life was a lie and set off to sail the last three lines of the poem describes what I thought he might have felt.


 Everything you thought you knew,

has been proven false.

The truth has finally come out

Your thoughts on life have all been altered

 and the real reality awaits you.

Your fellow co-workers,

Your best friend since birth

All of it were lies.

Your one true love waits for you on the other side of life.

The end is near and as you sail through the sea,

Victory is hear.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Lies, Life, and, Truth


   My name is Christopher, I am 15 and autistic. I have a very different perspective on things such as lies and life. Throughout my fifteen years I've noticed that people's lies are either a cover up of their feelings or a way to prevent confrontation. Life is different for me than most people, I  never lie, I don't like to be hugged or yelled at, and I love maths. I have a hard time reading peoples emotion based off of their facial expressions because you can never tell if they are telling the truth. I am very different from most people and have been treated differently my entire life because of my condition. The novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon shows people a different perspective on life, lies, and the effects of autism.

   The question, "Is lying wrong?", has been commonly asked but the answer is never the same. Some say that it depends on the situation you're in but others say that is completely wrong. Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time never lied although his entire life is filled with lies, his father has lied about his mother and about the murder of the dog, both to protect him. He describes a dog as loyal and faithful, in this situation he is truly describing himself. The real reason people lie is to hide how they feel or to prevent confrontation because they are afraid, although in reality the only thing we should fear is fear itself.

   In society we have been taught to embrace those that are different from us. Christopher has been treated differently his whole life because of his autistic condition. His thoughts are unique, from his emotions based off of colors or his ability to not lie. Throughout this novel symbols of life are shown in the dog, loyalty and love are all large parts in life, also truth is consistently shown. Autism by definition is a communication disorder including a short attention span and inability to treat others as people. This definition does not describe Christopher, a highly intelligent boy with unique thoughts and actions.

   Throughout this novel the author describes truth, life, and autism. Christopher is writing a mystery novel but ironically it is about truth and lies; he cannot tell a lie but everyone he loves is lying to him. His father, the most important person in his life, lies about his mother, another important figure in his life. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time  was an inspirational novel that shows what life is really about.

Owl and the Pussycat Imitation

author's note: In this poem I tried to imitate the  style of Edward Lear, which is childish with a deeper meaning. It is about a some what forbidden love between two animals that just don't go together. In some ways I feel that I took this too literally when we were supposed to imitate this author's writing but overall I think I did a pretty good job.

The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are, you are,
What a beautiful Pussy you are."
Pussy said to the Owl "You elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing.
O let us be married, too long we have tarried;
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows,
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling your ring?"
 Said the Piggy, "I will"
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon.
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand.
They danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

The dove and the tiger walked over land
Carrying a beautiful  wagon in their hand

They took some clothes covered with a few holes

Wrapped in a red polka dot bandana

The dove gazed up to the sky above

And sang to a quiet chirp

"Oh beautiful tiger, Oh tiger my love,

What a gorgeous tiger you are, you are

What a gorgeous tiger you are."

Tiger said to the Dove, "You graceful bird,

How enchanting you chirp."

And the dove replied

"Oh let us be wed, for too much time we have wasted;

They went hand in hand, to the edge of the land

And frolicked under the rays of the sun, the sun,

They frolicked under the rays of the sun.

El Alcazar Poem

author's note:  This poem was inspired by the stream of consciousness we had a while back. El Alcazar Castle looked so dark and gloomy I decided to write something the complete opposite of  the usual fairytale. 

El Alcazar

When we think of castles it's always the same

The fairytale prince and princess who lived happily ever after.

Not this time,

This castle gray and stiff

covered in moss bricks and a swirling staircase of doom

held evil prisoners, trapped souls, and

convicted murderers, blood covered knives.

The sky turns from blue to the darkest shade of black

When the heavens see their lips curl into the sickest smile.

Dungeons capable of driving a man insane,

lock their doors so they can't get in.

Punishment seems to be the only answer.

Whips crack, and blankets are taken,

now, does this sound like the happily ever after?

 

Stars and Sky

Author's Note: This poem didn't really have a inspiration to it but I felt like writing about the night sky. The punctuation for this is weird and I wrote this in about 3 minutes but I think this is a pretty good poem.

 Stars and Sky

Through the night

The stars and sky

Come together, illuminating the darkness.

The magic of the stars floating in the sky ,

Keep you wondering about our life.

How can something so magical, bring such fear?

The beauty of the stars,

And the darkness of the night,

Come together forming one.

There I sit and gaze among the night

Wonder, Hope, and Truth are the words that enter my mind.

So, there I sit among the stars,

Wondering, "Whats up there?"

A shooting star passes overhead,

And now I know, life is precious,

Never wasted.

Infinity Box Poem

Authors Note: This poem reflects how I felt as I stepped into the Infinity Box at the Milwaukee Art Museum. It made me feel like this was unreal and couldn't be possible.

Glass reflects like a thousand mirrors

Feeling fear, tranquility

Weightlessness and freedom at the same time

Looking up and down

You gaze upon the millions of stars

This feeling is phenomenal, it swallows you

Then nothing but your thoughts surround you

Everything just seems to be muted

"Is this a dream?" "Could this be possible?"

As  you open your eyes it becomes reality

Your lips curl into a smile and yes, it's true

You know now that everything you felt is real,

Everything you thought you knew is true

Then as you step back into this dark world

Nothing will compare to what you experienced

Stream of Conciousness

Standing on a street corner, in a cold rain...

        Standing on a street corner, in a cold rain.  The street light inluminates the night making everything seem brighter. With your hood up, preventing you from getting wet, and the drops  of coldness hitting your nose the world has a different perspective. It seems darker, more  depressing and you feel alone. You realize that nothing is perfect and people shouldn't expect it  to be, they shouldn't expect to much out of one thing because in the end they will just end up  sad and disappointed. The wind howls and you figure you should get going, continuing on your  journey home.

Halloween Poem

Authors Note: I wrote this poem because of the Halloween holiday and because when I was walking my dog late at night I got a creepy feeling which was the inspiration for this poem.


Halloween Poem

The full moon is shining brightly behind a wall of clouds

You hear a wolf howl and a black cat scurry and remember the stories…

The stories of ghosts, goblins, and ghouls

Vampires, werewolves, and the lurking boogy-man

As you walk through the graveyard with your friends,

One hides behind a tree and yells “Boo!”

You scream then suddenly you hear creepy laughing,

Laughing that didn’t come from your friends.

Everyone bolts, running as if their lives depend on it,

because it very well could.

You turn to see who is chasing you

And as soon as you regret it,

 This thing, this green slimy thing, drags you under.

And you think “This is it”

But suddenly it releases you and you make a break

As you return home and your mom asks

“How was your time?”

You respond

“It was… interesting.”

Veteran's Essay

Authors Note: In this essay the topic was "Does Patriotism still matter?" My opinion is that it does still matter and that there are many ways of showing your love for our country besides fighting in war. The inspiration for the style of writing in this essay was my families trip to New York this past summer and our trip to Washington D.C. which was full of our countries important documents and memorials.

The date was September 11, 2001; people were walking the crowded streets of New York City when suddenly a plane hijacked by al-Qaeda crashed into the World Trade Center. People watched in terror feeling helpless as the building burned. The remaining men, women, and firefighters in the building were true patriots, stopping by every one of the 110 floors searching for survivors. So now the question “Does Patriotism still matter?” is pondered. My answer is yes, because without patriotism life in our country would be unbearable.

Everyday men and women in the 5 branches of the military risk their lives to keep our country safe. With each day soldiers miss their families more, miss not having to worry about being killed, and miss not watching their children grow up. These men and women go through intense training where you either succeed or be worthless, these people are incredibly courageous to even attempt to be part of America’s  military.  We owe each person serving our country a huge thank you because without them we wouldn’t be, or feel safe.   

Although many brave men and women of the military can proudly say that they have served for our country, war is not the only way you can show pride in America. Patriotism by definition is love and devotion to one's country, so you could show your support for our country by cleaning up your community, volunteering, or doing a race for a cure. A patriot goes beyond that definition, throughout good and bad times a true patriot will help and support people through everything, they think of the glass half full not half empty and they go the extra mile to be a better person.  People become stronger and more educated when in the presence of a Patriot, they learn from their mistakes and figure out how to be a better person.

Patriotism is vital to our country so the answer to the question “Does Patriotism still matter?” seems obvious. Without Patriotism our country and world would be in chaos.  There are so many dangers awaiting us in this world but there will always be someone looking out for us.  True patriots are roaming every street and sidewalk, doing good for others and their country.