...December 31, 1999. I was in a hospital. I didn't know what has happening. The time was about 6:53 a.m. Oh, but one thing I left out was... I was about 2 seconds old. Apparently I was place in a family with an African-American dad, and a country white mom. Also, I have and older sister and an older mentally challenged brother. They were desiding what to name me, and it was between Mariah and Kaleigh. My dad actually desided to go with Kaleigh Joy on his way back from getting my siblings breakfast from McDonalds after I was born. So thats my name now. I mad that I didnt get a say in it, but what are you gonna do. I was 21 inches long, and I weighed almost 8 pounds. Big baby right? The next time I was in a hospital, I was almost 6 years old,...
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...What is important for us as parents is to give our daughter Alexis a well-rounded education, and a broader chance to meet and interact with young people from all walks of life. However, as we all know a simple word “well-rounded” is hard to define and give some thorough examples. First, Alexis is a kind and caring person, and she connects easily with others. At her current school, there is a program called ‘Building Bridges’ that reach out and engage to help children who need extra help and to support awareness of the different requirements for learning together. One-day Alexis asked if she could be a part of this, and we have been fully supported her idea ever since. It is such wonderful to see our daughter helping classmates as she interacts, reading, and playing together during sessions with a specialist. It is our hope that the embedded true meaning of this kind of experience last throughout entire aspects of her life....
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...My mother was diagnosed with sciatica back in 2004 after an accident at work, which caused nerve pain in the legs and back. My mother kept her pain in control for over ten years until a hike in Shenandoah Valley. Since then, she would bellow in pain at home. I would be afraid to be in the same room as her only because seeing her in pain would bring tears to my eyes. I was not able to help as well as my father did because I would be frozen in place seeing my mother howl in pain and have tears roll down her cheeks. I felt helpless for my remaining summer months, as I never left the house for the entire summer. I tended to my mother, as she was unable to walk, or even get out of bed. She collapsed many times out of sheer anguish. Eventually, we finally decided to take her to a surgeon. As of today, her physical health is stronger than ever before. Nevertheless, the days of her pain made me afraid to lose her. Yet, my mother is not the only one who suffers in the family....
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...The novel “Things Fall Apart” written by the author Chinua Achebe is a narrative about a well respected warrior named Okonkwo. Okonkwo was a warrior of the Umuofia Clan, whose cowardly father, Unoka, died in the utmost dishonor. He was in such disgrace with the village people because of his lack of providing for their every needs and unsettled debts. He showed no kind of interest in his community like he stepped up to do. For these reasons Okonkwo became a clansman, warrior, and family provider. Okonkwo figured that if he took over for his father he will conquer all visionaries of those in his tribe, including making sure his lazy son, Nwoye, will not fall into the footsteps of failure like Unoka. With that being said Okonkwo positions himself into doing things out of the ordinary which changed the village overall perspective on his character. This novel gives you a general overview on life and how bashful one can get once given higher power. It seems that Okonkwo is a stubborn, bashful, egotistic, and self centered man who wants everything his way or it does not fit at the moment. He feels as if he is the only one who has say so and if he does not agree with the matter than it will not transpire, no ifs, ands, buts about it. What bothered me the most was the fact of him beating his youngest wife, Ojiugo, during the Week of Peace. He severely beat her because of his accusations of her failing to exercise the care for a frugal person such as himself. He broke the peace of the...
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...Lake” and Judy Brady’s “I want a wife”, both authors write on personal encounters they experienced. The author chooses two different methods of writing styles. E.B. White utilizes a nostalgic reflective descriptive piece, whereas Brady uses a more sarcastic narrative. Arguably both writers do a great job in their story telling skills. Both stories are respected and pleasing, yet similar but different at the same time. The authors’ choice of writing style is what gives one story more of an advantage to the other. Though descriptive and narrative essay have identical intent – to tell the reader a story- narratives are more effective in capturing the audience because the uses of different voices, they bring ideas into perspective and they are relatable. There are special components that both style of writing possesses. Narrative writing usually does not stress adjectives to give the physical details of characters, setting or events in the story. Nothing like descriptive writing, narrative writings are written in the first person in order to convey the author's attitudes, beliefs and memories. Narratives are conventional, while descriptive writings content often emphases on a single event, object or place. Occasionally, writers utilize narrative writing style to tell about the past or the future in broad terms. A narrative often reflects personal experience, clarifying what happened during some sort of incident. Narrative essay topics include recounting an experience where the learned...
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...1001 Personal Narrative: Introduction Born and raised in San Diego my whole life definitely shaped who I have become. Having a love for the beach, the sun and most importantly Mexican food are all loves that have all come from my hometown. But it wasn’t until my sophomore year that I realized maybe there is more to life than just going the beach and getting tan. Maybe there are real issues in the world that are more important than who Sean is going to pick on the Bachelor. Maybe there are issues that are going on just forty minutes out of my picture perfect homeland. The sun beamed through my window as my eyes slowly opened. I dragged my self out of bed and went down stairs. My mom was packing up some clothes and putting it in a box. I asked her what she was doing and she explained that it was some clothes for an orphanage in Tijuana. I gently picked up the clothes in the box and noticed so many of the clothes had stains or holes. I asked my mom, “Who would wear clothes like this? They are disgusting!” My mom then began to explain that these children will wear anything that will cover their backs. They have nothing, so they appreciate everything. I didn’t think much about it and I went on my way to school. However, during the school day I couldn’t stop thinking that if they were so grateful for clothes we substitute as rags, how awful could there living conditions be? The more my mind raced through out the day, the more I felt like there had to be something more my family...
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...David Schleicher Narrative Essay 5/27/2014 Moving to America Transformed My Life In the past I came across many changes but leaving my country was the toughest change in my life. I had to learn how to live away from people I love and how to start a new life in a new country. Immigration is a life changing experience; learning a new language, adapting to the culture and lifestyle changes are all strenuous things that were thrown at me once I became a part of this country. Even though moving away from my family and friends was a difficult decision, it changed my live for a better. It taught me how to deal with change, how to become an independent and responsible person, and how to feel this country my home. I never imagined living in another country. I remember as it was yesterday when my mom said, “Daniela, I know you do not want to leave Colombia but I have to take you with me, you are my youngest child and I will not let you here” I started arguing with her, saying that how she could do that to me when I already had plans to start college and that I was happy in my country but at the end I gave up and decided to come to America. It was February 10th, 2010, when I left Colombia and was forced to leave my friends, my grandmother, my school, my language and culture to move to this big new country to start a new life. As I took my last look at my home, I remembered all the fun times I had with my mom and sister and friends throughout my life. Tears were running...
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...Narrative of Adolescence Years Abstract This paper is a narrative of my adolescent years from twelve to eighteen. I label these years of awkwardness and pain off a hit show from the early nineties called, “The Growing Pains.” Similar to the characters in the show I struggled creating a personal identity and had difficulty blending in with societal norms. As a result I suffered from much insecurity, false conceptions of beauty, and depression. Up until writing this paper I felt these ideologies and feelings were better left in the past. However, I now understand these experiences shape my current beliefs and will affect my identity as a counselor. Therefore I must address these experiences and deal with them emotionally. As I relive these moments I will correlate my development with the research of the following theorist: Piaget, Erikson, and Seltzer. By showing correlation of my development with their theories I will prove many of experiences as an adolescence were typical of an American teenager. Looking into the mirror I was frustrated. Why isn’t my hair pretty? Other girls wear their hair straight. Why did mine always have to be braided? Why couldn’t I have a relaxer to smooth out my curls? I shook my head in frustration and began to look for the hot comb. On my first day of middle school I was going to look pretty like everyone else. I was going to have my hair straight and laid to the side. My mother usually kept the hot comb under the kitchen sink...
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...Kristine Alpurado Professor Melodia English 100: College Writing 02/15/2016 Homework #1 “Looking for Work” p. 22 Engaging the Text, q. 1-5 1. The narrator is so attracted to the family life depicted on TV because they live a perfect life and that is exactly what he wants. One thing he feels that is wrong with his life is his family’s appearance. He believes if they improved their looks they would be accepted by others such as white people. This has little impact on his family because they realize life is not perfect and they are not in control of certain things. The family realizes they do not have to change in order to be liked by others as long as they have each other to love. 2. At first, the narrator goes looking for work because he wants to be wealthy. He believed that being wealthy would take away all his family’s problems. At the end of the story, the narrator starts to accept the fact that he cannot change the way his family is. The meaning of work has changed because he realizes he wants to work for the right reasons not just because he feels obligated to fix his family. 3. Soto’s family life was not perfect, but he lived in a stable household with people he loved. Soto’s thinking was wrong because he wanted more in life however, he failed to realize that he was lucky and fortunate enough to have the people he loves most close to him. For example, he wanted his brother and sister to wear shoes at dinner as if it were going to change things. Changing their...
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...to get away from the hardship and stress of their everyday lives. As for me, I saw the poverty of Nassau, Bahamas. Desperate people crowded the straw market and stared across the bridge at Atlantis where vacationers slept in Mahogany furnished rooms with luxurious bedding. Why did the residents have to live the way they do, sleeping on dirt floors? Into the night, the brilliant lights of Atlantis became a world miles away, but out of grasp. We approached the market eager to do some local shopping. Hundreds of vendors brought everything they created to start their marketing line. We live in the U.S., where items are ready-made and disposable, and, if something breaks, we buy a new one. I began thinking about my Michael Kors sunglasses that I had broken on the boat and how I was going to order a new pair when I arrived home. This venue, this world I walked into, was a world that required thought and imagination, of taking the very least commodity they had and turning it into a marketable item to sell, not for the latest technological device or new shoes, but to put food on the table. It humbled me immensely. Louis 2 I approached an elderly man, who looked to be about eighty years old. He dressed in modest clothes, dirty and completely barefoot, took the dried corn shucks from his field and weave them tenderly into beautiful flowers and intricate baskets. Endlessly, he laid each piece of corn stalk in its appropriate place, and I felt the pride he had in his work. It must...
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...The Qualitative Report Volume 14 Number 1 March 2009 61-80 http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR14-1/blanchard.pdf Lived Experiences of Adult Children Who Have a Parent Diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease Amy Blanchard, Jennifer Hodgson, Angela Lamson, and David Dosser East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina Little is known about the experience among adult children who have a parent with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). The purpose of this study was to explore, appreciate, and describe their experiences using a phenomenological methodology. Narratives were collected from seven participants who have a parent diagnosed with PD and analyzed according to Colaizzi’s (1978) phenomenological data analysis method. Seven thematic clusters were identified and an exhaustive description is presented to summarize the essence of their lived experience. The study indicates a strong sense of essential positivism from the participants’ stories, and overall, it seems PD has brought some degree of biological, psychological, socially, and/or spiritual meaning to their lives that they may not have otherwise noticed or experienced. Key Words: Parkinson’s Disease, Phenomenology, Biopsychosocial-spiritual, Adult, Children and Illness Introduction “The bond between mother and child is so deeply rooted in our emotions that we fear to discuss openly anything that threatens the bond” – Glenna Atwood (1991) Establishing links between chronic illnesses and family impact are not novel (e.g., Cooke, McNally...
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...Chapter Four Creating my embodied knowing In being a leader Chapter Four connects my learning from experience, the creation of my embodied knowing as a leader, my integration of ideas from the literature on leadership and my support for individuals to develop their capacities as I discover and manage resources to support visions of an improved educational system. I conclude by emphasizing the importance of my knowledge-creation in my professional practice as a Superintendent of Schools and by asking and answering the question: Why is there no simple or even complex answer to “what is educational leadership?” In the rhythm of the work, my efforts are often full of risk, sometimes disastrous, at which point I fall back, renew my energy and with my recognized tenacity, try another route. I will reveal as well how I carry that spirit, that life-affirming energy (Bataille, 1962; Whitehead, 1999) embodied in my whole being with a passion and internal power to effect good. Feminist Barbara Du Bois (1983) writes of "passionate scholarship" as being "science-making, which is rooted in, animated by and expressive of our values" (p. 113) (Belenky, et. al., 1986, p. 141). One of the reasons I can accomplish as much as I do is that the work and the relationships appear to be many and complex but because they are inter-related and connected they provide a synergy that produces results in numbers of seemingly different and unrelated focus areas. I find that as I am supporting...
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...Divorced, Beheaded, Survived - Robin Black The text "... Divorced, Beheaded, Survived" is a short story written by Robin Black in 2010. It deals with the theme death and specifically engages in how death affects close relatives. It contains mental and social issues connected to losses and the generational repetition of these. The story presents how a women's life was changed because of her brother's death and how she is still influenced as an adult. The main themes are depression and passiveness caused by bereavement. The following essay focuses on the narrator's mind and the themes through an analysis of the symbols, the language and the narrative technique. The story is about a 40-year-old-women, from whose point of view the story is told. She looks back upon an essential episode of her childhood when she lost her older brother. The story is significantly structured as it contains two stories from the same person's life. The narrator has lost her brother at the age of 10 and her son loses a friend at the age of 16. The likeness of the misfortunes and their undesirable consequences is apparent through the deliberate composition of the story. The main character, who is also the narrator, alternates between adult life and childhood in her narration. For instance she abruptly swaps to her own childhood when talking about her son: "His face was still sleepy, unwashed, his brown hair a little messy." "I don't know. Maybe Jeff Mandelbaum's mother saw a [...]". These two quotes...
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...Memoir My first memory of kindergarten was this: dozens of tiny, petrified 5-year-olds being dropped off at their first day of school, and dozens of exhausted, overworked mothers consoling their weeping sons and daughters. I remember it vividly because, despite the terror and chaos, a single thought pervaded my mind, the thought that “these moms are not as pretty as my mom.” I wasn’t entirely biased, either. By North American standards of beauty, I was correct. Here was my mother, a rail-thin, blonde-haired, blue-eyed statuesque stunner, among a sea of frumpy women with visible wrinkles and tangles of black hair. And here I was, the daughter of this perfect specimen, the proud owner of a mother who was more “feminine”, more “womanly”, and therefore, I naively deduced, “a better mother”. In fact, although my vocabulary was fairly limited at the time, I believed her to be the epitome of all mothers. She looked, I told her that morning, “like a mom was supposed to look.” In interviewing my mother, she said that this was my “first brush with what it meant to be a girl.” Throughout kindergarten, I was labeled “weird”. I dug for worms, collected Pokémon cards (which was deemed a “boyish” activity), and none of my friends were girls. My teacher, a young woman who had just recently graduated from university, was often concerned for me, and thought that my lack of female friends would be detrimental to my developing of social skills, so she would often...
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...Comics as Archives: MetaMetaMaus Hillary Chute | University of Chicago Abstract: In the view of some critics, the form of comics is a locus of the archival, a place where we can identify an archival turn. Art Spiegelman’s Maus first and perhaps most forcefully established the connection between archives and comics. His groundbreaking work documenting his father’s experience in WWII Poland, where he survived internment in Auschwitz, is a visual narrative based on oral testimony that consistently heightens our awareness of visual, written, and oral archives, and where they interact, overlap, or get transposed one into the other. Hillary Chute recounts and interprets her collaboration with Spiegelman in the process of assembling MetaMaus, a book compiling interviews and archival materials on the making of Maus. MetaMaus, argues Chute, reflects the tension between different kinds of extant archives—oral, written, photographic—and the cross-discursive work of (re)building new archives that motivates Maus. Its defining feature is that it shows the materiality of Spiegelman’s archive; it is about the embodiment of archives. The subject of Maus is the retrieval of memory and ultimately, the creation of memory…. It’s about choices being made, of finding what one can tell, and what one can reveal, and what one can reveal beyond what one knows one is revealing. Those are the things that give real tensile strength to the work—putting the dead into little boxes. – Art Spiegelman (MetaMaus...
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