It was a lovely summer evening, those were Sofia’s favorite. The sun was setting and the clouds looked smokey and dark. It was her favorite time of the day, in her favorite season, of her favorite day of the week… FRIDAY! Sofia had an older brother, whom she absolutely adored. He was 8 and she was 7 years old. Over the summer, they would spend their time playing Super Nintendo, board games, and racing outside on their bikes or their rollerblades. Every Friday during the summer, their dad Gio would come from work and say the magical words..” Let’s go play at the park!” All they had to do was help around the house, read, and practice their math during the day.
One day Sofia and Jason thought they could be sneaky. Being older, Jason already knew his multiplication tables. He convinced Sofia to not study her 4’s multiplication tables and play Monopoly and Uno for hours! When dad got home he decided to quiz Sofia! “What are we going to do?!” she asked in her squeaky nervous voice. “ I have an idea!” replied Jason in his little know it all voice. “ I will stand behind dad and show you the answers with my fingers! For example, when he says 4x2, you repeat it to give me some time to wave with my fingers before you answer. We just have to make sure that Mom is not in the room so she won’t catch us!” Sophia was PARANOID. She had no idea if this would work but there was no other choice and she knew Dad would be upset if he found out they did not follow the rules.
“Sofia, how did studying go? Did you memorize your 4’s multiplication tables?” Dad asked with a big smile. Sofia could not bring it to herself to hurt her loving and playful dad that looked so happy to see her. She answered, “Yes dad. I’m going to go use the bathroom and when I come back you can ask me and you will see!” Sofia ran to Jason’s room and told him Dad was about to quiz her so she needed his help! “Meet me downstairs in 1 minute.” She raced back downstairs to find her dad in the kitchen table sipping on a glass of orange juice. A few seconds later Jason sat behind him pretending to be playing with his Legos. “Ready Dad” she said. Sure enough Jason was waving answers with his fingers behind their Dad until Dad made it to 4x12. They were safe! “Good job Sofia, why don’t you and your brother go get dressed and we can head to the park in 20 minutes.”
At the park, Sofia and Jason decided to race their bikes around the playground. “Let’s make a race!” Jason said. “Let’s race from that slide to that slide.” The slides were on opposite ends of the playground. “Are you ready?” Sofia asked. “YES!” Jason yelled. Together they counted “1,2,3...GO!”. They raced to the slide and were making their way back to the finish line. Sofia was winning the race and wanted to see how far behind she had left her brother Jason. Since she was not paying attention she had no idea that a HUGE pile of rocks were right in front of her! Sofia’s bike hit the rocks causing her to fly off her bike face first on the concrete!!! All you heard was a loud scream. Jason ran to get his dad. Their dad came running to pick crying Sofia from the concrete to see her face covered with blood and a big fat lip.”Are you okay?!” he asked…. With tears in her eyes and barely able to speak Sofia still whispered out however she could..”No Daddy I am not okay. I’m sorry I lied about studying. I just wanted to play” “Oh Sofia, let’s go home and clean you up then we will talk about that later.”
She smiled and definitely knew that she had learned a tough lesson…. If you don’t tell the truth bad things can happen!
Bonfire Night The fifth of November, since I can remember. After being in England for less than two weeks, we figured we needed to participate in a local activity. We had barely acclimated to the change at this point. We were living with people we didn’t know, we were teaching a curriculum we were unfamiliar with in schools we knew nothing about, to children with very different experiences as our own. Everyone at school kept talking about “Guy Fawkes Night” and how it was a must see experience in the town of Lewes. Some of us decided to Google this tradition and found out it replaced Halloween in England and Lewes was the center of it all. The night is steeped in history. In the 17th Century, Guy Fawkes tried to take King James’s life, but he survived the attempt. Guy Fawkes was arrested and bonfires were started all over England to celebrate the King. This tradition grew and spread across Great Britain and were mostly associated with families and clans across the nation. In present day, celebrations have started to die down, but Lewes still goes all out for this night. Now, we were in a foreign country in 2004, so our cellphones were not working overseas. We all worked at different schools and just agreed to meet in Lewes at 5:00 pm. We were not used to not having contact at all times with the people we were meeting, and no way of contacting them. Somehow, we all showed up at the train station as close to 5 as possible. We started walking around the town and could not believe our eyes. The preparations were in full force. People running around everywhere in their traditional clan kilts, musicians practicing, fires being lit, people dressed as Guy Fawkes in black and white striped shirts. It was loud, it was crowded, and energy was high. I’m not sure exactly when the parade started, but it went through every street in the town; it didn’t just follow one parade route. Everywhere you went, there was the parade with bagpipes, trombones, and drums, people carrying sticks of fire, the crowd singing and chanting songs. I truly have never seen anything like it. Again, I’m not sure how we all stayed together in the mayhem, but we just kept finding each other again and again. The parades all seemed to be heading to the same place and gradually the crowd started following it. We ended up at the edge of the town looking up at a hill and looking down at another town. There were bonfires everywhere. Apparently the parade was the clans filing through the streets to their designated spot. Everyone was celebrating with music and laughter. After a while, the crowd started to climb the hill, so we did too. We found a spot and settled in, still not sure what we were in store for. Suddenly, a fireworks show started from down below. It was mesmerizing! The bonfires surrounding us, the fireworks show, the surreal feeling I had had since arriving in England for this adventure. I will never forget the feeling of wonder and amazement I had sitting on that hill on November 5, 2004.
Bonfire Night The fifth of November, since I can remember. After being in England for less than two weeks, we figured we needed to participate in a local activity. We had barely acclimated to the change at this point. We were living with people we didn’t know, we were teaching a curriculum we were unfamiliar with in schools we knew nothing about, to children with very different experiences as our own. Everyone at school kept talking about “Guy Fawkes Night” and how it was a must see experience in the town of Lewes. Some of us decided to Google this tradition and found out it replaced Halloween in England and Lewes was the center of it all. The night is steeped in history. In the 17th Century, Guy Fawkes tried to take King James’s life, but he survived the attempt. Guy Fawkes was arrested and bonfires were started all over England to celebrate the King. This tradition grew and spread across Great Britain and were mostly associated with families and clans across the nation. In present day, celebrations have started to die down, but Lewes still goes all out for this night. Now, we were in a foreign country in 2004, so our cellphones were not working overseas. We all worked at different schools and just agreed to meet in Lewes at 5:00 pm. We were not used to not having contact at all times with the people we were meeting, and no way of contacting them. Somehow, we all showed up at the train station as close to 5 as possible. We started walking around the town and could not believe our eyes. The preparations were in full force. People running around everywhere in their traditional clan kilts, musicians practicing, fires being lit, people dressed as Guy Fawkes in black and white striped shirts. It was loud, it was crowded, and energy was high. I’m not sure exactly when the parade started, but it went through every street in the town; it didn’t just follow one parade route. Everywhere you went, there was the parade with bagpipes, trombones, and drums, people carrying sticks of fire, the crowd singing and chanting songs. I truly have never seen anything like it. Again, I’m not sure how we all stayed together in the mayhem, but we just kept finding each other again and again. The parades all seemed to be heading to the same place and gradually the crowd started following it. We ended up at the edge of the town looking up at a hill and looking down at another town. There were bonfires everywhere. Apparently the parade was the clans filing through the streets to their designated spot. Everyone was celebrating with music and laughter. After a while, the crowd started to climb the hill, so we did too. We found a spot and settled in, still not sure what we were in store for. Suddenly, a fireworks show started from down below. It was mesmerizing! The bonfires surrounding us, the fireworks show, the surreal feeling I had had since arriving in England for this adventure. I will never forget the feeling of wonder and amazement I had sitting on that hill on November 5, 2004.
There once was a girl name Isabella. She lived in Chicago all of her life. Growing up she didn’t have a father but she did have two wonderful people to make up for that, her grandmother and grandfather (Papa). Isabella was a busy girl. During the school year she played volleyball and attended school events. During the summer she took swimming lessons and swam at the local pool every day. The two people that made this happen were her grandparents. Life for Isabella was great growing up.
Isabella started meeting friends as the year went on. She was spending time with these friends, taking time away from her grandparents. Even though she didn’t see them as much they were still there for her. They called her and still were actively involved in her life. They never stopped helping her.
One day, Isabella was at her friend, Erin’s house. Erin wanted to be on the volleyball team with Isabella but Erin’s mother said no because there was no way to get her to practice. Erin was devastated. All of a sudden Isabella thought about how lucky she was. She thought about how much her grandparents did for her. Her grandparents took her to every game and practice. They always found a way to keep her in sports. Isabella never thanked them! How could she be so inconsiderate to the people she needed the most? Will they ever forgive her? Isabella felt awful. She yelled out, “I am the worst granddaughter ever!” Emily said, “What are you talking about?” “I never tell my grandparents thank you!” “I’m sure they know” “I need to leave now!” Isabella left right away. Isabella decided she wanted to do something about it. She went over to her grandparent’s house and ran into the house with open arms. Isabella said, “Papa and grandma, I have been so awful! I have never thanked you for all that you have done. Will you forgive me?” Her grandfather said, “Isabella we always knew that you were thankful, even though you didn’t say it. We are just happy you have allowed us to be so active in your life. That is the biggest blessing of all!” Isabella and her papa hugged. From that day forward, Isabella decided that she would make more of an effort to tell her grandparents how thankful she was for them. She never wanted to take them for granted again.
Logan's post:
ReplyDeleteWhen it is yellow
I say hello
And good by
Yellow
Say hello
To yellow
Sun is fun
Sun is
So fun
Silence
ReplyDeleteMisunderstood
Mistaken for consent
Mistaken for acceptance
Sometimes overtakes
Sometimes paralyzes
Sometimes brings regret
To break the silence
To break the silence?
How to break the silence?
To Their Fathers
Father, father
Why can't you see
The pain you inflict,
the damage that you leave
The pieces of her life were scattered
when I found them on the floor
I tried to clean them up,
but everything just splintered more
I searched for a cure or a band aid
I wished could find the words
That could easily heal the anguish
But instead I tried to make sure he was heard
Silence
Misunderstood
Mistaken for consent
Mistaken for acceptance
Sometimes overtakes
Sometimes paralyzes
Sometimes brings regret
To break the silence
To break the silence?
How to break the silence?
To Their Fathers
Father, father
Why can't you see
The pain you inflict,
the damage that you leave
The pieces of her life were scattered
when I found them on the floor
I tried to clean them up,
but everything just splintered more
I searched for a cure or a band aid
I wished could find the words
That could easily heal the anguish
But instead I tried to make sure he was heard
Story: The Little Big Lie
ReplyDeleteAnali Guzman
It was a lovely summer evening, those were Sofia’s favorite. The sun was setting and the clouds looked smokey and dark. It was her favorite time of the day, in her favorite season, of her favorite day of the week… FRIDAY! Sofia had an older brother, whom she absolutely adored. He was 8 and she was 7 years old. Over the summer, they would spend their time playing Super Nintendo, board games, and racing outside on their bikes or their rollerblades. Every Friday during the summer, their dad Gio would come from work and say the magical words..” Let’s go play at the park!” All they had to do was help around the house, read, and practice their math during the day.
One day Sofia and Jason thought they could be sneaky. Being older, Jason already knew his multiplication tables. He convinced Sofia to not study her 4’s multiplication tables and play Monopoly and Uno for hours! When dad got home he decided to quiz Sofia! “What are we going to do?!” she asked in her squeaky nervous voice. “ I have an idea!” replied Jason in his little know it all voice. “ I will stand behind dad and show you the answers with my fingers! For example, when he says 4x2, you repeat it to give me some time to wave with my fingers before you answer. We just have to make sure that Mom is not in the room so she won’t catch us!” Sophia was PARANOID. She had no idea if this would work but there was no other choice and she knew Dad would be upset if he found out they did not follow the rules.
“Sofia, how did studying go? Did you memorize your 4’s multiplication tables?” Dad asked with a big smile. Sofia could not bring it to herself to hurt her loving and playful dad that looked so happy to see her. She answered, “Yes dad. I’m going to go use the bathroom and when I come back you can ask me and you will see!” Sofia ran to Jason’s room and told him Dad was about to quiz her so she needed his help! “Meet me downstairs in 1 minute.” She raced back downstairs to find her dad in the kitchen table sipping on a glass of orange juice. A few seconds later Jason sat behind him pretending to be playing with his Legos. “Ready Dad” she said. Sure enough Jason was waving answers with his fingers behind their Dad until Dad made it to 4x12. They were safe! “Good job Sofia, why don’t you and your brother go get dressed and we can head to the park in 20 minutes.”
At the park, Sofia and Jason decided to race their bikes around the playground. “Let’s make a race!” Jason said. “Let’s race from that slide to that slide.” The slides were on opposite ends of the playground. “Are you ready?” Sofia asked. “YES!” Jason yelled. Together they counted “1,2,3...GO!”. They raced to the slide and were making their way back to the finish line. Sofia was winning the race and wanted to see how far behind she had left her brother Jason. Since she was not paying attention she had no idea that a HUGE pile of rocks were right in front of her! Sofia’s bike hit the rocks causing her to fly off her bike face first on the concrete!!! All you heard was a loud scream. Jason ran to get his dad. Their dad came running to pick crying Sofia from the concrete to see her face covered with blood and a big fat lip.”Are you okay?!” he asked…. With tears in her eyes and barely able to speak Sofia still whispered out however she could..”No Daddy I am not okay. I’m sorry I lied about studying. I just wanted to play” “Oh Sofia, let’s go home and clean you up then we will talk about that later.”
She smiled and definitely knew that she had learned a tough lesson…. If you don’t tell the truth bad things can happen!
Bonfire Night
ReplyDeleteThe fifth of November, since I can remember. After being in England for less than two weeks, we figured we needed to participate in a local activity. We had barely acclimated to the change at this point. We were living with people we didn’t know, we were teaching a curriculum we were unfamiliar with in schools we knew nothing about, to children with very different experiences as our own. Everyone at school kept talking about “Guy Fawkes Night” and how it was a must see experience in the town of Lewes. Some of us decided to Google this tradition and found out it replaced Halloween in England and Lewes was the center of it all. The night is steeped in history. In the 17th Century, Guy Fawkes tried to take King James’s life, but he survived the attempt. Guy Fawkes was arrested and bonfires were started all over England to celebrate the King. This tradition grew and spread across Great Britain and were mostly associated with families and clans across the nation. In present day, celebrations have started to die down, but Lewes still goes all out for this night.
Now, we were in a foreign country in 2004, so our cellphones were not working overseas. We all worked at different schools and just agreed to meet in Lewes at 5:00 pm. We were not used to not having contact at all times with the people we were meeting, and no way of contacting them. Somehow, we all showed up at the train station as close to 5 as possible. We started walking around the town and could not believe our eyes. The preparations were in full force. People running around everywhere in their traditional clan kilts, musicians practicing, fires being lit, people dressed as Guy Fawkes in black and white striped shirts. It was loud, it was crowded, and energy was high. I’m not sure exactly when the parade started, but it went through every street in the town; it didn’t just follow one parade route. Everywhere you went, there was the parade with bagpipes, trombones, and drums, people carrying sticks of fire, the crowd singing and chanting songs. I truly have never seen anything like it. Again, I’m not sure how we all stayed together in the mayhem, but we just kept finding each other again and again.
The parades all seemed to be heading to the same place and gradually the crowd started following it. We ended up at the edge of the town looking up at a hill and looking down at another town. There were bonfires everywhere. Apparently the parade was the clans filing through the streets to their designated spot. Everyone was celebrating with music and laughter. After a while, the crowd started to climb the hill, so we did too. We found a spot and settled in, still not sure what we were in store for. Suddenly, a fireworks show started from down below. It was mesmerizing! The bonfires surrounding us, the fireworks show, the surreal feeling I had had since arriving in England for this adventure. I will never forget the feeling of wonder and amazement I had sitting on that hill on November 5, 2004.
Bonfire Night
ReplyDeleteThe fifth of November, since I can remember. After being in England for less than two weeks, we figured we needed to participate in a local activity. We had barely acclimated to the change at this point. We were living with people we didn’t know, we were teaching a curriculum we were unfamiliar with in schools we knew nothing about, to children with very different experiences as our own. Everyone at school kept talking about “Guy Fawkes Night” and how it was a must see experience in the town of Lewes. Some of us decided to Google this tradition and found out it replaced Halloween in England and Lewes was the center of it all. The night is steeped in history. In the 17th Century, Guy Fawkes tried to take King James’s life, but he survived the attempt. Guy Fawkes was arrested and bonfires were started all over England to celebrate the King. This tradition grew and spread across Great Britain and were mostly associated with families and clans across the nation. In present day, celebrations have started to die down, but Lewes still goes all out for this night.
Now, we were in a foreign country in 2004, so our cellphones were not working overseas. We all worked at different schools and just agreed to meet in Lewes at 5:00 pm. We were not used to not having contact at all times with the people we were meeting, and no way of contacting them. Somehow, we all showed up at the train station as close to 5 as possible. We started walking around the town and could not believe our eyes. The preparations were in full force. People running around everywhere in their traditional clan kilts, musicians practicing, fires being lit, people dressed as Guy Fawkes in black and white striped shirts. It was loud, it was crowded, and energy was high. I’m not sure exactly when the parade started, but it went through every street in the town; it didn’t just follow one parade route. Everywhere you went, there was the parade with bagpipes, trombones, and drums, people carrying sticks of fire, the crowd singing and chanting songs. I truly have never seen anything like it. Again, I’m not sure how we all stayed together in the mayhem, but we just kept finding each other again and again.
The parades all seemed to be heading to the same place and gradually the crowd started following it. We ended up at the edge of the town looking up at a hill and looking down at another town. There were bonfires everywhere. Apparently the parade was the clans filing through the streets to their designated spot. Everyone was celebrating with music and laughter. After a while, the crowd started to climb the hill, so we did too. We found a spot and settled in, still not sure what we were in store for. Suddenly, a fireworks show started from down below. It was mesmerizing! The bonfires surrounding us, the fireworks show, the surreal feeling I had had since arriving in England for this adventure. I will never forget the feeling of wonder and amazement I had sitting on that hill on November 5, 2004.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy Supporters
ReplyDeleteBy Melissa Potts
There once was a girl name Isabella. She lived in Chicago all of her life. Growing up she didn’t have a father but she did have two wonderful people to make up for that, her grandmother and grandfather (Papa). Isabella was a busy girl. During the school year she played volleyball and attended school events. During the summer she took swimming lessons and swam at the local pool every day. The two people that made this happen were her grandparents. Life for Isabella was great growing up.
Isabella started meeting friends as the year went on. She was spending time with these friends, taking time away from her grandparents. Even though she didn’t see them as much they were still there for her. They called her and still were actively involved in her life. They never stopped helping her.
One day, Isabella was at her friend, Erin’s house. Erin wanted to be on the volleyball team with Isabella but Erin’s mother said no because there was no way to get her to practice. Erin was devastated. All of a sudden Isabella thought about how lucky she was. She thought about how much her grandparents did for her. Her grandparents took her to every game and practice. They always found a way to keep her in sports. Isabella never thanked them! How could she be so inconsiderate to the people she needed the most? Will they ever forgive her? Isabella felt awful. She yelled out, “I am the worst granddaughter ever!”
Emily said, “What are you talking about?”
“I never tell my grandparents thank you!”
“I’m sure they know”
“I need to leave now!” Isabella left right away.
Isabella decided she wanted to do something about it. She went over to her grandparent’s house and ran into the house with open arms. Isabella said, “Papa and grandma, I have been so awful! I have never thanked you for all that you have done. Will you forgive me?”
Her grandfather said, “Isabella we always knew that you were thankful, even though you didn’t say it. We are just happy you have allowed us to be so active in your life. That is the biggest blessing of all!” Isabella and her papa hugged. From that day forward, Isabella decided that she would make more of an effort to tell her grandparents how thankful she was for them. She never wanted to take them for granted again.
Unbound, unchained, unhinged, unmasked.
ReplyDelete“Free At Last,” called out a King,
Bound now by debts, bound now by class,
By words and other things.
Oppressed, undressed, bought, sold and killed,
Till' Lincoln set 'em free.
Now J.P. Morgan chains them in debt,
From Sea to shining Sea.
No reparations, no deeded lots,
No cash, no land, no rights.
No opportunities, nor toys for tots,
Just tragic Chicago nights.
“Free at last” called King,
A call unheeded nigh,
Now it seems like no one calls, or shouts or sings,
Only turn blind eyes
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete