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Descriptive Essay: The Day I Met My Little Brother

Posted by Symone Mc Collum in English 2 - Block on

I always wanted a baby brother or sister because being the only child got lonely sometimes. I always sat there in my room, playing with my Barbies, but always wanted someone to play with. Of course I had friends my age, but “they couldn’t live with me,” my mother repeatedly told me after my crying sessions when they left. I wanted someone to mess with and blame things on. If I took the last cookie off the plate, I couldn’t blame anyone. It was clearly me. I mean, I loved being spoiled by both of my parents, but my dad wouldn’t want to sit down and have tea parties with me and my stuffed animals, and my mother got tired of it after an hour or so. So where did that leave me? Alone with Mr. Penguin with his overstuffed white belly, and my favorite pink bear with the bright yellow hat that I can’t remember the name of now.

It was hot. Well maybe it wasn’t, but that’s how I felt. I tried to hide the tears that were about to come down by smiling. That always worked. “Cool,” I said. My dad could see that there was some subliminal message that I wasn’t telling him, but he went along with it. I stared into the baby’s big brown eyes, complemented by long eyelashes I envied. He looked back at me and smiled. “Hi Legend, I’m your big sister.”

It was a regular day after school, but I decided to go over my dads for a little while before I went home. My dad picked me up from Broad & Olney and on the ride to his house, he blasted some good ole hip hip in his oversized truck. When we reached a parking spot, he stopped me.

“Symone, I got a surprise for you.”

“What is it,” I said eagerly.

I wasn’t used to surprises from my dad, better yet ones that followed through. He continued into the house, and I followed behind him. The ten step passage seemed like a flight of five stairs due to my excitement. I was cheesing, thinking my surprise was something nice for me. Money, or a new phone. You know, what most kids my age looked forward to. My face immediately dropped.

My step mom was sitting there with a baby in her arms.

“Who is he?” I asked. It came out harsher than I expected.  

“This is Legend, he’s your brother. That’s your surprise.”

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if I should yell at him for having ANOTHER kid without me knowing or if I should pretend to be happy. I didn’t know what to do right then and there. I was thinking about his stupid wife for giving birth to the baby without telling me, and him for lying to me. The day my “little brother” was conceived was the very same day my dad cancelled plans with me. Now I could see why.

“Oh,” I finally got out, “how old is he?”

“Three months,” my step mom replied. Then, silence.

I hated my dad. Well, I didn’t exactly hate him but I was really upset and hurt. This wasn’t the first time he left our hut to make a village with another family. I had a little sister too who was one years old. I didn’t meet her until after her first birthday and even meeting her wasn’t intentional. This wasn’t the first time he let me down and this wasn’t the first time I was left disappointed. But I couldn’t play the victim. I had to come to terms that I now had a one year old sister and three month old brother that I had to take care of. That I had to be around because it wasn’t their fault that they’re here, and had to make sure that I was a good big sister to look up to. I’ll never forget that feeling.
I used to think of disappointment as losing one of my Barbie dresses, or Barney getting turned off when it was time to watch football. But I realized that disappointment can stem from the person you love the most. I realized that I can’t play the victim when things go wrong because you’ll have to deal with it eventually. I don’t dislike my little brother and sister till this day. They’re still my little superstars and I hope I can be a good enough big sister to them. I don’t blame my dad repeatedly for the situation, because his reasons for not telling me could go further than what my age is suppose to know. But I love them all. Victims will always stay victims unless they realize that at the end of the day, you have to get over it.

Project Reflection

Posted by Merrik Saunders in American History - Jonas on
​What surprised you most about this information?
It surprised me how so mank people want to come to the US but when people first started coming to America they pushed the Native Americans out of there land.
What seemed quite obvious about explaining this data set?
When ever the US is doing good they let people in but as soon as things start going bad they want to kick immigrants out.
Looking at the overall trend and incorporating what you know about the US presently, predict and defend the immigration trend for the next two decades.
I think that if things start to get better then the US will be willing to hold more people from other countries.  I think that for now they won't let in to many people.
Describe how you made a decision on how to visually represent the information.
Well since it was a time line we decided to make it in that format.  What ever we wanted to talk about was right there ready.  All we had to do was click on what we wanted and talk about it.
What parts of group work were challenging?
I don't think it was that hard to work with my group. 
What would you do differently if you had this project to do over?
I would try to find more things that would effect the population.  I was hard finding more things on immigration especially in the earlier years.

reflection

Posted by Brandon Mangum in American History - Jonas on
​
  • What surprised you most about this information? I would say the biggest surprise i seen was when the population of immigrate decreased to 500,000 in 1940. i knew that it would be less people because of all the things that were taking place at the time. but i would of never thought it would go down that far.
  •  What seemed quite obvious about explaining this data set? the population of immigrate are shattered, there is not a steady rate in which it moves.
  • Looking at the overall trend and incorporating what you know about the US presently, predict and defend the immigration trend for the next two decades. i would think that the immigration rate will increase in the next to decades. the reason i say this is because right now our country does have much reason for people not wanting to come to the country. there is no war, the country is still an democracy and the economy is pretty good. these reason along with other will make immigrate want to travel to the U.S.
  • Describe how you made a decision on how to visually represent the information. we decided to make a google presentation powerpoint because everyone in the group can access it and it is one of the best form of presenting.
  • What parts of group work were challenging? i cant say we had a challenging but we could of worked better with communicating with each other.
  • What would you do differently if you had this project to do over? i would find more information about the date and see if i missed anything.


    https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/presentation/d/1KKM8c1tQc4xmcnJpJWbk4SqKjZFAmAffBDsfDhkgF8A/edit#slide=id.gfdfe30f_9_0

Emergency Rush

Posted by Jennifer Perez in English 2 - Block on
​I was about the age of 6, small and young stuck in a dreadful hospital filled with sick children all around. The halls were filled with silence and cold from what I remember. Everything was different. Boys and girls in my same age group, should be ponder with their imagination or go out having fun, I wasn’t so lucky to be like them. Usually not many people remember what happen during the age of 6 or younger, my mother actually told me what exactly happen that day.

I was 6 years old, tiny and short. I woke up one morning with a cold but my parents didn’t worry because nothing serious was going on or that’s what I thought. Minutes and hours passed , it was around 7pm from what I have been told my sickness got worst. My fever rose, I was burning like fire and I felt like the sun coming after me, if you touched me. You’ll feel the heat going threw my skin but what I really felt was coldness going threw me. I was freezing to death, cold as ice. My face was pale, like if I was frighten by a ghost. I also had a sore throat, it was bothering me badly, I barely couldn’t eat anything. My parents decided to take me to the hospital. My fever got worse by the minute. In the car, on the way to the hospital, I couldn’t take it no more, I started to burst out crying. I was sore and worried about what is going to happen.

We arrived and I was rushed into the emergency room, I was small so I didn’t understand what was happening. I never realize that I would be so sick that my parents had to rush me to the hands doctors and nurses. Scared and nervous, bursting out crying. They told my parents I had to stay at the hospital for a while because something serious was going on. It was a sickness that I wasn’t allow to go out and if I do, A infection would spread and it will go straight to my blood and cause a serious issue. I didn’t know what it was exactly and i’m still not sure what it was till this day, but all I know it was close to death. My parents never taught something could happen to me this bad. My mother prayed and my father worried. It was about midnight when the doctors left, leaving me in a cold room with my parents, I was exhausted from crying. I was halfway asleep but I was realizing that how could something this bad could happen to me? I started to bring silent tear to my face.

I remember waking up in the morning, realizing the sunlight morning filled up the whole room, I notice I had IV attached to my arm, hearing the beep coming from the weird machine beside the bed. I was scare and started to cry. My dad came up to me and told me “Everything is going to be okay”. The nurse came in with breakfast and took records of me. The nurse told me there was a playroom that I was invited to go later so I won’t be bored. Hours past, my mom finally arrive at the hospital, with a angel bear in her hand and a mcdonalds kids meal, while my dad had to go out. My mom made me feel happy when she arrived. After a while, my mother and I went to the playroom together, I remember I met this girl, the same age as me. She was philippine with long black hair, like mine. She was my hospital buddy back then. We always used to meet up at the playroom and play monopoly board game together with other sick children and a nurse. We also ate macaroni and cheese together and visit each other rooms. I remember telling me her story, she was sick like me. Last time I seen her was when they took her away to surgery, I was in front of the room standing with my mom, she was laying down on the bed being pushed by doctors and nurses, we waved at each other saying goodbye, wishing her a good luck. I soon realized I wasn’t the only one.

Hours and days past, I was stuck in the hospital friends and family visited me everyday. I finally released from the hospital on the weekend. We went home on a rainy day, I was glad to be home because I knew I was safe and sound. One thing that I was curious about was wondering what ever happen to my friend from the hospital, Did she make it? Is she okay? Hopefully shes safe. I still wonder still this day and I will never forget her. I am blessed that I am better now and that I am healthy. Till this day I am shock because I was really sick and was going threw a lot of things when I was little and its not normal but now everything is okay.

Descriptive Essay

Posted by Stephen Eager-White in English 2 - Block on


Stephen White
Iron Stream,

I’m so excited. Today’s the big day. I’m at my grandmother’s house in the pool when my Aunt greets me with a surprise. ‘Are you ready?” she asks as she sips her daily cup of black tea. “Ready for what?” I ask in surprise. “For your first driving lesson.” “Of course” I reply confidently. I scarf down my lunch like I haven’t eaten in days then I dash to my room to slip on my nikes and throw on a plain old button up shirt. I slipped my nikes on so hastily that  I didn’t even bother to tie them and then I dashed down the steps and we head out the door.


I’ve been waiting years for this day to come. So we get into the car and she goes over the basics. “Make sure your mirrors are good,  put on your seat belt, and turn the car on.”  I turn on the car and put the car in reverse. I’m not even at the end of the block when she starts screaming at the top of her lungs “TURN! TURN!”  I slammed on the brakes as we were inches away from the curb. I had to catch my breath as I put the car in reverse to try the turn again. “I’ve been driving since I was 10 it’s not that hard” she says. I mumble under my breath as I grip the wheel and grit my teeth to make the turn.

I’m in an empty school parking lot learning how to drive near my Grandma's house. My interest in driving started when I was 12 and we went to the car show at the convention center and saw all the new cars. Seeing the car’s doors shine off the lights, breathing in that new car smell, and being able to sit in the drivers seat I could envision myself on the road. It was then that my interest in driving grew. As I complete the turning section of my Aunt’s homemade driving test we take it to the streets as I drive back to my grandma’s house. I was doing well as I turned back into my grandma’s driveway.

I get out of the car and immediately start receiving criticism. “You have to slow down” “you're not a pro” “both hands on the wheel” she said. “Alright, alright” I say annoyed. I just drove a car for the first time I still had the jitters and her telling me what I was doing wrong wasn’t what I wanted to hear right now. At this point, I wasn’t listening to anything she was saying. All I was thinking about was getting back in the car and back on the road. It was exhilarating driving on the roads I finally was old enough to drive I’ As I made my way in the driveway of course everyone asks hysterically “are you ok?” “how’d you do?” “Yeah I saw you swerving down the street a little bit.” I know they mean well, but give me a break it’s my first time. “Yes I’m ok” “I think I did pretty well” I reply aggravated. A little practice and I’ll get my permit and then my license, I think to myself. When I’m allowed to start driving I doubt I’ll be in the house at all unless it’s necessary. I’ve been looking forward to driving since I was a toddler playing with my toy cars.

Now I’m studying for my driving test that I will take in about 9 months. I took a practice  driving test thinking that I wouldn’t need help on it. When I saw the horrible results of the test I then decided to finally ask for help on driving. I knew I couldn’t do it on my own. When I got some help on the test I got a higher score the second time. It turns out that I didn’t know everything I thought I did about driving.


I also learned that asking for help and accepting criticism isn’t a bad thing. Even some people of higher power can accept some help and criticism in running their government. Even the mighty United States need some help. Even though our problems aren’t as big as third world countries we’re so in debt that we’re borrowing money from other countries and getting deeper into debt. Another domestic crisis is our ability to keep jobs in the country. And finally probably the healthcare crisis that affects a great amount of Americans.

Me and some dictators have some things in common. Neither of us take criticism well. Countries ran by dictatorship are usually ran by leaders who are in charge of everything and won’t accept help from any citizens. The citizens have no voice and maybe if the citizens were able to speak their mind and vote the country could rise. Most countries ran by dictators are not doing well at all and thats a fact and just need to accept help thats given to them sometimes like me. I think that all countries should be ran by a republic or a democracy. The United States is ran by a republic and the citizens get a say in who comes to power.