...Imagine waking up to sounds of boxes being moved around and your parents telling you to help put stuff away because they are kicking you out of the motel. Having a stable life with my parents was unheard of; until my mother passed that my brother and I moved with my older sister. Once I moved with my sister it was like a whole new world. The change to a stable environment transformed my life. Most children would brag about their parents’ great job and how they would get whatever they pleased. I was nowhere near proud of their occupation. My mother and father would go around Miami knocking down coconuts from trees and selling them to shops illegally. The money they’d receive would be spent on drugs. Not having enough money to maintain an apartment; we would usually stay in motels. Every night I’d pray to god to make sure my mom won’t get beat so we would not have to call the cops again. My mother getting beat wasn’t anything new, until one night that we left to my grandmother’s house after the beating that we last saw my father. My mother kept her breast cancer a secret, it had spread to the rest of her body; she dead two years after she got diagnosed....
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...anyone, nor do they remember me. I’ve developed anxiety and an exaggerated fear of death. I cry in bathroom stalls and forget to pay attention in class. I meet my best friend. My mom gets sick. She spends her days in and out of hospitals, vomiting and crying. I spend mine waking up for school. I’m fifteen years old when I call 911 for the first time. I finish my freshman year happy, despite my mom’s health, because my best friend is someone who has changed my life. We start sophomore year together and it feels like we’re on top of the world. We attend our first school dance. A month later, I move. I finish sophomore year alone and angry at the world. I refuse to participate; my mom is still sick, and I spend most of my time worried about her life. Over the summer, I watch as she deteriorates. Junior year, I meet an English teacher that changes the way I think. He forces me to recognize my faults but does not rush me to fix them. I become more interested in literature than ever, I begin to fight through my anxiety, and I yearn to improve. I begin to trust my peers. I forgive the world. I move. As I’m writing this, I am seventeen years old and a senior. I’m getting ready to graduate with my best friend. I’ve spent my life jumping from county to county, house to apartment, and getting ready for Christmas alone. I have witnessed abuse and experienced life with only enough money for one more night in a hotel room. I have learned from this life: I have learned to work hard...
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...Life is all about learning. Learning from your mistakes, failures, or even successes. AVOID SENTENCE FRAGMENTS. You don't just learn from your own experiences though, AVOID COMMA-SPLICE RUN-ON SENTENCES you learn from those around you. The biggest challenge in my life was when my parents got divorced. Being only five at the time I didn't exactly grasp what was going on or why. One day my dad just moved out and didn't come back. There was no big family meeting to discuss what was happening or what the future held. All I knew is that suddenly I went from seeing my father everyday to seeing him for an hour or two sporadically throughout the month. My parents separating hit me hard but it hit my older brother much harder. He was thirteen when my dad left so he...
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...will need to be follow to improve student’s writing. I feel my writing has improved due to the help of the writing process and all the writing assignments I experienced. I was able utilized each of these components this semester. I wrote various journals and two essays, which were very challenging to me. The first essay I was asked to write, was a Narrative essay about an experience in which later I questioned my actions. At first, I was very nervous due to I have never written an essay before. I did not even know where to begin. I struggled during the whole process of writing the essay. My biggest problem of all was putting my thoughts in order so I could make sense of what I wanted to say. I brainstorm for days trying to figure out a topic. With the help of the eLearning text information on module 2, how to choose a topic and develop a working thesis I was able to come up with a topic. I finally came up with, Moving away from Friends and Family. Thanks to Module 3, Introduction to Narrative Essay, and the examples that were provided, I was able to start developing my essay. This essay meant a lot to me due to this was a hard decision that I have been living with for a very long time. This essay was about the time I was rushed to make a decision to move from New Jersey to Key West, where I did not know anyone. I had to leave my friends and family behind and deprive my children for growing up around their family. Even though it was not...
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...However, the essay mainly goes in depth with details of her experience being fostered into a community in New Jersey diversely occupied with other Spanish natives, and her family's reaction to such drastic shift in régime. Amongst her interpretation of the transition to life in the United States, she incorporates a depiction of a silent film she created, which illustrates an assembly of other Spanish natives she comes across at a get-together in her home. The film concludes with a five-minute episode of the visitors dancing in complete silence, unveiling a sense of serenity Ortiz Cofer feels whenever there is a lack of speech in this part of her apologue. Whenever there is a conversation in the essay, it tends to be of spiteful topics. Ortiz Cofer writes of one of her aunts and her father's uncle, who are the sole two people she goes in depth when describing their speaking. She portrays her dad's uncle as a withering alcoholic and he is deteriorating because of his drinking problem. She continues to describe a dream she has about the uncle also dancing silently, but recesses and approaches her to speak with her; she then refuses to converse with him telling him she doesn't want to hear what he has to say. Her aunt then...
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...Thompson, Manny Dr. Hansen English 101 15 March, 2014 Writer checklist: With each essay submitted, a Writer checklist must be included. This checklist should be submitted in the same document as your essay. Writer’s Checklist for Writing a Narrative 1. Is my title and introduction enticing? Yes 2. Is my thesis effective? Yes 3. Have I included enough details so the reader can visualize my experience? Yes 4. Are the events presented in a logical sequence? Yes 5. Have I used transitions to help the sequence of events flow smoothly? Yes 6. Have I used dialogue (if appropriate)? Yes 7. Have I used a consistent point of view and verb tense? Yes 8. Is the point of my narrative evident? Yes 9. Have I ended the story satisfactorily? Yes 10. Have I proofread thoroughly? Yes 11. Does my introduction clearly state my thesis and give the reader an indication of the direction my essay will take? Yes. 12. Are my topic sentences and body paragraphs clear and well developed? In paragraph number three, I would not start a topic sentence with because. Perhaps a simple reword would give a stronger statement. 13. Have I fully supported my thesis with ample supporting details and examples? In paragraph two, I would put a sentence before the quote, drawing the correlation between internal faith and the basis of drawing faith from multiple religious sources. 14. Have I used a sufficient...
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...Quintin M. Bass Mr. Mahoney WRTG 101S E131 January 30, 2016 Narrative Essay on my Family The essay topic I choose was family, Family is something that is very interesting to me and something that I love to talk about. Having a good family structure is a good foundation that not many kids today have. I was born in Pittsburgh, PA on January 19, 1989. I am the youngest of three my sister is 42 years old and my brother is 35. Unfortunately, My parents divorced when I was three years old. At six years old my mother, brother, sister, and I all packed up the car and moved to Philadelphia, PA. Growing up in Philadelphia was tough but it made me a stronger person. After my family and I minus my father; Moved to Philadelphia he followed shortly after. My father would drive from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia to see me and my brother just for the weekends. I always looked up to my brother he played high school football. He was the star running back for Abraham Lincoln high school. Every friday night my family and I would go see him play. He got scholarship offers from all of the nation’s biggest universities. He would go on to break all of the high school’s running backs records. He ended up going to Shippensburg University to study Criminal Justice. My sister went to high school in Pittsburgh; But went to college at La Salle University in Philadelphia where she studied law. She started to have trouble in law so decided to switch her...
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...responsibilities and a search for freedom, or maybe it is just because they are in that age where they are open to all kinds of experimentations. This is what the main character Ellie is facing, in the short story “A Gap of Sky” written by Anna Hope in 2008; Ellie is wandering around in the streets of London and in her own mind as well. Her walk around London’s streets becomes a walk through her own mind. Crisis, confusion, changes, responsibilities and fear, are the main components of a short story by Anna Hope. A story which is intriguing, and will take you one step closer, to understand what a ‘typical’ teenager can go through. In this essay I will analyze and interpret Anna Hope’s short story A Gap of Sky. I will characterize the main character Ellie, and analyze her behavior as a teenager. I will also focus on the narrative technique in the short story and the importance of the city sitting. Though an analysis I will conclude upon my discoveries and determine the theme of the story. The main character of the short story, nineteen year old Ellie, is a university student and lives in London. She has...
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...Classical conditioning shapes many of society's common, everyday tasks. Whether we know it or not, many actions we do numerous times a day are a direct result of classical conditioning. To better understand why we act the way we do in society, classical conditioning must be defined and described. Classical conditioning is defined as: a process by which a previously neutral stimulus acquires the capacity to elicit a response through association with a stimulus that already elicits a similar or related response. Discovered by Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning is a form of learning. Pavlov revealed this trait when experimenting with dog's amounts of saliva in response to meat. He started noticing that after many repetitions, the dogs were salivating before the meat was even introduced. Pavlov concluded that some other stimulus that was repetitively associated with the meat was triggering the salivation. This simple concept describes how many actions are carried out in society today. Many times classical conditioning is not something that is purposefully done, but rather an incidental outcome. Conditioning may take a variable amount of time to occur. For example, humans are not born associating red with stop. As we grow, and ride in cars, we begin to consciously or subconsciously figure out that when a stoplight is red-you stop. Stop signs are red, stoplights are red, and brake lights are red. All of these things symbolize stopping. Yes, when you turn sixteen and you get your...
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...A Gap of Sky The short story A Gap of Sky is written by Anna Hope in 2008. It is about youth and everything that comes with it, such as school, high expectations and drugs. It is about a young student called Ellie, who lives in London. She has a paper due the next day which she has not started on because she was out partying and doing drugs the night before. She goes for a walk in the heart of London to clear her head and figure out what she is supposed to do with her life. Ellie is nineteen years old and is a student at a university in London. It seems that she is living in a dorm on campus, since she describes how she has to walk down a hall to get to the bathroom. Ellie is no taking her education seriously. She has gotten a warning from the university saying that if she does not start taking school seriously, she will be kicked out. Therefore it is very important that she hands in her essay, which she has not started on yet, and is due the next day. Ellie is very stressed out and she escapes from it all by taking drugs and going to parties. Instead of taking responsibility for her actions and choices, she blames her parents. “It was their fault she was doing this bloody course in the first place.(p. 2, l. 65-66)”. When Ellie stops at Russell Square, she sees a glove on a spike, and this brings out a feeling of freedom and hope in her. She feels completely free and instead of continuing to look for a printer shop, she enters the British Museum. Later she stops at a shop...
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...Might Approach Vivian Maier’s Photography Imagine a black and white photograph overlooking a New York City street circa 1953. The Chrysler Building dominating the background skyline, you notice a group of commuters waiting on an El train platform looking down below as people congregate near shops and restaurants lining the street in the foreground. This might be an adequate insight into a Vivian Maier photograph. Although accurate, the description feels lifeless, and lacks the amazing nostalgic detail Poet Laureate Charles Simic might put on it. Simic, the author of the essay “The Life of Images” might ask himself questions like: “Where are the commuters going? What is the group of women doing by the hardware and appliance store?” Maybe Simic has eaten at Joe’s Restaurant (large signage in Maier’s photograph), and that brings back a flood of memories. It wouldn’t take him long to weave a detailed story about what these people in the photo were doing, or even conversations they might be having. Simic writes, “A photograph…, where time has stopped on an ordinary scene full of innuendoes, partakes of the infinite” (576). I feel Simic would approach Maier’s photographs the same way he approached Berenice Abbott’s photos, referenced in “The Life of Images”, breathing life and imagination into them. First I should give you a little background on who these three people are. Charles Simic is a writer, most notably as a poet winning a Pulitzer Prize in poetry and earning an appointment...
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...enthusiastic reviews from critics and readers all over the world, nominating him the unofficial title of ―American Tolkien‖ [9]. In 2007 Martin agreed to collaborate with cable network HBO‘s writer-producers David Banioff and Daniel B. Weiss on the adaptation of his epic novel series to TV under the name Game of Thrones (GoT) [14]. Its narrative features the medieval fantasy world of Westeros, in which five noble families struggle to seize the all governing Iron Throne, and, with a complete broadcast of three seasons, the result has led TV critics to hail the show as one of the pinnacles of quality television narrative [21]. The show has also obtained an exceptionally broad and international fandom. The series has won numerous awards and nominations. It is the most recent big-budget media franchise to have contributed to the popularity of epic fantasy genre in mainstream TV. This essay will analyze the transmedia storytelling strategies applied to promote the TV series Game of Thrones. Transmedia storytelling is understood as a story told throughout numerous media platforms, with special content pointing back to the main narrative, working as a potential new audience entry-point. ―In which way transmedia storytelling is involved in Game of Thrones commercial success?‖ is the research question proposed. To answer this question, I intend to refer to the concepts of paratexts in relation to core text, as it is essential for transmedia storytelling. It is worth mentioning...
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...James Baldwin’s story is about two brothers who came to understand each other, the two sides of the African American experience, as well as their relationship at various points in their lives. Sonny’s Blues opens as the narrator learns from the local newspaper that his younger brother, Sonny, has been arrested for dealing drugs, heroin to be specific, which is a addictive drug that caused millions of deaths in America only. The narrator and his brother Sonny’s childhood were filled with rage and darkness.(Lovalerie,Scott,2000). The narrator assimilated into the white society deeply but is still saddened by the racism and placed restrictions to be found upon his opportunity. Sonny, the main character channels his suffering into music, Jazz music that is, which was and still is very popular especially in the African American community. The story also has biblical implications, which relate to the Holy Bible, Baldwin’s style of writing is a poetic style, not meaning that the story rhymes, but poetic in a way that the writing is very lyrical and beautiful, such as this passage “As the singing filled the air the watching, listening faces underwent a change, the eyes focusing on within; the music seemed to soothe a poison out of them; and time seemed, nearly, to fall away from the sullen, belligerent, battered faces, as though they were fleeing back to their first condition, while dreaming of their last.” The paragraph seems to be very musical as the way he puts his sentences together...
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...interpretation towards the victims of the "Stasi" she does not glibly provide simple answers, but she does perhaps re-emphasise both the dangers of forgetting and the dread of remembering the past – the tyranny and fascism of Nazi Germany and the East German totalitarian regime which supplanted it - "to remember or forget— which is healthier? To demolish or fence it off? To dig it up or leave it in the ground?” Chapter 5: The Linoleum Palace: Funder has been touched by Miriam’s story. Returning to her Berlin apartment, Julia, her landlord, is removing more of her possessions from the linoleum-floored rooms.Many buildings in this area are aging and clearly neglected. It seems self-evident that the current government are not clear about what they should do about them. Funder wonders: ‘To remember or forget—which is healthier?’ Does changing...
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...Introduction In this essay, I will discuss my experience of interviewing a family and constructing a genogram guided by their narrative. For this task, I purposely chose a family that is very different from my family of origin in terms of their cultural heritage. I will reflect on differences and similarities between our families as well as my prejudices and hypothesis that I inevitably constructed before and during the process. To identify this family, I had to approach some colleagues proposing to them to participate in the interview. Fortunately, one of them introduced me to her friend. Francesca had an interest in psychology, and since she was free and not much committed, I did welcome her with a cup of coffee to share more about the interview. After I formally introduced myself to her, I laid down to her the framework of the interview, and she agreed to participate with her husband, Matteo. Family context The family I interviewed comes from Italy, but they moved to the UK 3 years ago. I noticed that knowing these few details I was already constructing hypothesis based on stereotypes. I was dreading the interview because I was expecting to have difficulty in stopping them talking since I was concerned about getting enough information to construct the genogram. I also hypothesized whether being new to the UK makes them consider participating in projects like mine to increase a sense of belonging. Another hypothesis where I imagined them to have very firmly attachments to...
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