BAM! football season

 

The sun was still brushing out the mucus from his eyes as it was about to hit half time and the breeze felt so soothing when it hit my hot sweaty skin, the parts that shoulder pads, tight pants and a baggy shirt didn’t cover.

 It was our third game and the first two quarters weren’t going as well as I thought they would. We played like professionals that knew we were going to win. So we didn’t really put in a day after day, going home with ever muscle in our body aching and crying out “Please stop! No more. I can’t take any more”. With legs that wobbled at every step we took, we almost fell when we walked. We smelled like rotten chicken, mixed with rotten milk that settled in the sun for hours.

But we didn’t. So we got our wining plans shoved down our throats because every time we tried to run a play. They would stop us in our tracks with hits that hovered us in the air, and made us glide across the field. We had the taste of defeat and fake grass in our mouths it tasted awful. It almost looked as if they were on a mission to fracture rips, and knock off helmets. Every time we got hit mountains shifted. Once that last whistle was blown, we went home with grass stains on our faces, and with black, and blue bruises on our arms and legs. Some even went home with an arm wrapped in white tape. We had lost that game not only because we misread the other team, but also we all tried to fight for the M.V. P spotlight.

When we had our first game, our hands were sweaty, and we all had fear imprinted onto our eyelids. The funny thing about it was that we didn’t even get on the yellow school bus yet to get to our game. When we had finally got to our game and observed the new environment, we noticed that there weren’t any sunbeams, but we saw black clouds forming all around us. They began to cry tears from their soft and cozy looking eyes. Making it harder to catch the ball and making our hits more aggressive. Sometimes when we smacked against the other teams legs, they would get up and start walking with a limp.

Once we stepped foot onto the fake green grass field we knew that we weren’t going to let all our hard work and efforts at practice go to waste. So every time we did a play, we depended on the person right next to us or even right behind us to watch our backs. We depended on each other. The offensive linemen on my team would hold the defense in place, giving the quarter back a lot of time to rewind his arm and make a gold pass to the wide receivers. The wide receivers would move swiftly and smooth, making their route look as easy for a five-year-old kid could do with no problem. They had smoked who ever was sticking them. Our defense would penetrate through the line as if it was nothing, tackling their quarter back. So hard that every time he got hit he had to catch his breath before he got up. We were unstoppable. We had won that game of course.

The crazy thing was that the team we played in our third game reminded me of how my team was something like them.  For the first time I knew that it wasn’t just me on the field trying to put forth 100% of my effort into wining this game. It was all of us; we had worked like a unit. The deep understanding lesson that I had took away from this experience is that threw out life you can’t only depend on your self to get things done. Its good to have some help as you get through it.

             

 

 

 

Actions vs. Words

      It’s the third day of the biggest baseball tournament I have ever participated in. It’s a hot humid summer day and the sun is blazing on my face. I’m standing in the outfield waiting for my chance to pitch. I’ve been waiting for three days now for my chance to pitch. We are losing badly. The coach’s son has been pitching the entire game and many of the games so far. He has just let up the 11th run. Maybe it’s time for him to take a break? At least there is a nice view of the beach from where I’m standing in left field. In the past three days during a game, I’ve only touched a ball 3 times. That seems like a bad average, but most of the batters have been walked due to our stellar pitching rotation. I’m tired, thirsty and a little discouraged that I haven’t yet been called to pitch. It was, after all, promised to me when I signed up for this and I believed that it would happen.

     Suddenly, I see my coach call a time out. The only thing going through my head is This could be my break. I try to make out the words going between the coach and his son. I see the coach’s hand slowly rise above his head and he starts to wave me over. Excitement rushes through my veins. I start to jog over to the pitchers mound. I only get to throw five warm-up pitches, but I don’t mind because this is what I have been waiting for. All of that time waiting in the outfield is finally going to pay off. The umpire calls, “Batter Up”

I take a deep breath and throw the first pitch.

“Striiike”

I smiled inside. Second pitch.

“Striiike”

I breathe. Third pitch, the ball connects with the bat, my glove instinctually goes up and the ball is in the glove. 1 out.  I look over and see the coach heading towards me. I automatically think that he wants to tell me I’m doing a good job. Instead I hear the words

“You’re doing fine, but don’t get ahead of yourself”

 Huh? I think, Why are you treating me like this? I don’t get it. Instead, I calmly say

“Ok”

and he walks away.  Second batter comes to the plate. First pitch is fouled off. Strike 1.  The third baseman throws the ball back to me. As soon as I catch the ball I remember there is a runner on second base. I now make it my goal to exterminate him and pick him off.  I set myself and very quickly step off the mound, do a 180 turn to second base and fire it to second. I may be small and I may skinny, but I’m fast. They didn’t expect it, but I did it. The umpire yells,

“OUT”

Whoa, nobody has done THAT in this tournament. The third out is a quick pop up to center field. I walk off the mound to the dug out. I feel good. I feel proud and accomplished.  My teammates acknowledge me. The coach ignores me, but this is common behavior between the two of us.

    Our half of the inning at bat was uneventful. Next half of the inning I start to the mound, but I hear the coach calling me back. Once again my brain says Huh?

“You’re going to left field this inning.” He states.

I’m confused, perplexed, bewildered, and stunned. I go to left field but my heart is no longer in the game.

    I’m trying to think rationally, but only emotions are coming.  I can’t think of any reasons to not put me back in as pitcher. I play and replay the events leading up to and during my inning on the mound. If I pay attention to his actions over the years that I have known him, his behavior is right in line. It’s when I listen to his words that I get confused. A promise is just a bunch of words strewn together, and it only becomes real once it happens. Just because someone promises to do something, doesn’t mean they will do it. Obviously sometimes people favor people closer to them over someone they don’t know well or don’t want to try to get to know. The truth lies in the actions of people.

Shattered Glass

I heard the glass shatter. I realized that I shouldn’t have done that.

“Are you okay?” my brother, Josh, yelled.

“Ummmm,” I responded.

He then came running into the laundry room. He saw the broken glass of the back door. He looked at me, “What happened?”

“I was mad and slammed the door closed. Then the glass just broke.”

“You know you have to call mom, right?”

“I know. I’ll call her later.” I went upstairs to my room. I was still pissed.

All throughout my childhood I heard, “Think before you act.” I knew that I had to do this and I usually did, unless I was angry. If I was angry there was no stopping me. You couldn’t calm me down. I just had to find an outlet for my anger, and then be left alone. What’s worse is it’s easy to make me angry. So sometimes a little problem would set me off.

It isn’t always anger that makes me not think. One time when I was younger, my brothers and I were playing around. My twin Nick and I were trying to keep my older brother out of our room, I was having fun. My brother found a walking stick and put it in the space between the door and the doorframe. I should have stopped for a moment, to think it was a bad idea to close the door. I was having too much fun to think. So I pushed the door as hard as I could. The door snapped off of the hinges. Out of fear, we decided not to tell my father. He found out anyways and wasn’t too angry.

When I was 14 my brothers took a joke too far. This made me very angry. I walked out of the living room and into my laundry room. I didn’t know what to do, so I slammed my back door closed. The glass shattered. I ran upstairs to my room still very angry. I just had to be alone. Later I went down to clean up the glass. I told my mom later that day. She wasn’t mad; she just wished I had told her right away.

About two years ago I was wrestling with my younger cousins. They are both boys and were 9 and 7. They always liked wrestling with my brothers and me. We were having a lot of fun. I had the eight year old, Stephfon, pinned on the ground in a headlock. He called his brother for help. The older one, Jayfon, came over and hit me with his elbow in my lower back. I apparently have a weak spot in my lower back and it hurt, a lot. I stood up quickly. I didn’t really comprehend what I was doing. I picked him up and dropped him on his side to the ground. The ground was carpeted but it was still hard stone underneath. He screamed. He cried and ran to my grandmother. She asked what happened. I told her I got hurt and lost control. I couldn’t stop myself.

I have been able to stop myself when I’m angry more often lately. While at this summer camp I’ve been volunteering over the summer, we would take the kids to parks. One day we took the 6 through 9 year olds to the same place. They decided that they wanted me to chase some of them. Little by little more and more joined. It got to the point where there was 20-40 of them versus my twin Nick and me. They realized this shortly after I did, so the tables turned. They began chasing us, when they caught me they held my arms. One little girl hit me in my lower back as hard as she could. This made me angry, but instead of getting really mad I just told her to stop hitting me.

It took multiple times of being told “think before you act” before it finally stuck. I still don’t have full control when I’m angry. Most of the time my brother, Josh, holds me back until I shake loose and walk away. I am more understanding when the person I’m angry at is much younger than me. I now understand that even lessons that we learn as young children, aren’t always easy to follow.

The Quiet Girl

In the back of the classroom, silent, not raising my hand, and only talking to someone unless they are talking to me first. I am in 3rd grade at William Cullen Bryant Elementary School in West Philadelphia. The teacher Ms.Gelfond calls on me, and asks me to answer the question, I give the correct answer. The person next to me asks me a question I just look at them and turn back around. During grades 2nd to 5th, I was very shy and quiet, I didn’t have many friends, and I was very intelligent, had awesome grades and I had two best friends who were not in my class. I wanted to fit in, just not with the people who cheat, get into trouble everyday, who does not follow direction correctly and disobey the rules. Then the day came when something that was fun to do but it was not a very good idea.

            Sitting in the back of class reading my book “Judie B Jones: Goes to First Grade” then, 12 o’clock came around and the old fashioned golden bell on top of each door in every classroom rings throughout the whole school. It was time for lunch; I walk down the long narrow hallway, down two flights of stairs, and then into the lunchroom. I sit in between my best friends Niyree and Shaneka. The kids in my class were talking about what they were going to do at recess. Then one child suggested that they play football in the grassy yard behind the school, while the boys were playing, the girls were going to watch them and cheer the players on. This area was perfect for playing around and running, it had about 4 or 5 trees surrounding the perimeter, there were flowers growing in one section of the area. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to go to the back of the school because the lunch aids were not able to watch us behind there. My only two friend Niyree and Shaneka were going to go watch. They tried hard to convince me to go with them, and it worked.

            At the back of the school, the boys started playing football while the girls watch on the sidelines. The girls were talking to each other in a group of about 5-7 people spread out in different sections of the area we were in. Suddenly, the principal and the officer came out of the back door where we were. I was terrified and filled with fear of being caught. I started getting nervous, and my brain was not functioning properly. I knew my legs were moving as I ran, trying to escape to the gate, but I couldn’t feel them. The officer quickly went to block the gate so he could try to catch anybody trying to get back into the schoolyard. Everyone had gotten back into the schoolyard except for me, my friend Niyree, and two other girls. We had to go to the principal’s office, she called our parents and told us if we didn’t tell who else was there with us then we would have detention for a week and she would take away our recess for the rest of the school year. None of the other girls said who else was there except for me. I was the only one who told on the others, after all I didn’t know about the “snitches get stitches” saying and that I shouldn’t tell on my classmates if I want to fit in. So, I didn’t lose my recess but when it was time for recess the other kids did not want to play with me. They wouldn’t even talk to me unless they were calling me names such as, snitch, teller teller, and other names. Niyree and Shaneka didn’t want to be my friends anymore either. Once I came home from school that day my parents had yelled me at. My mom had the “disappointed” face on. She was really upset to have to get a bad phone call from my principal about me disobeying the rules, my dad had the same face on, but his was meaner than my mom’s. He was the one who put me on punishment for a month; he told me I am lucky I told who was there with me because then I would have had a longer punishment.

            That day, I learned to think twice about my actions and if I chose to do wrong then I must suffer the consequences. This was a time in my life when I realized that I have to make decisions for myself. If I didn’t let Niyree and Shaneka convince me to come with them then I would have never got in trouble with my parents and the principal. I also learned who were my true friends that day, which was nobody at that school because if they were then they would have never convinced me to do the wrong thing.

 

De La Alma

Yo vengo de los arboles y el río cafe 
Calles y corazones de piedra del adoquín 

Somos de la luna y el sol 
Pero una vida nueva es que queremos 
Dondé no hay casas almas y rotas 
y las almas no necesitan almas nuevas 
Porqué el sol es una día nueva y la luna es la noche
con las problemas de ayer 
¿Dondé está el paz? (2x) 

​Yo vengo de los arboles y el río cafe 
Calles y corazones de piedra del adoquín 

Hay almas muertas en el río y 
nadie sabe por qué
Hay almas muertas en tú corazón y 
nadie sabe por qué 

Pero, ¿Dondé está ellos ahora? ...

Ellos son en nuestra corazones

Yo vengo de los arboles y el río cafe 
Calles y corazones de piedra del adoquín 

Vengo de Filadelfia Oeste

Yo nací en fila, donde las calles son de oro

Todo el mundo es agradable y abro

Tiendas en cade esquina

Al oeste de fila allí para aina



My refrain talks about where I come from and how where I come I describe in detail on why I like it and my favorite parts of my neighborhood. 

No se


Refrán:
Mi gusta recordarme de que me hace feliz

What is your refrán supposed to communicate? 

De cosas me gusta mucho.

What are you especially happy about with your first draft?
Yo escribe correcto 

What would you like to improve about your refrán first draft?

Nada seguro 

What was difficult about writing your refrán?

Yo no sabia cómo empezar

mabintu and rugei

Share the first version of your refrán.

What is your refrán supposed to communicate?

What are you especially happy about with your first draft?

What would you like to improve about your refrán first draft?

What was difficult about writing your refrán?

Nosotros Africáno, más fuerte!

Nosotros Africáno,más fuerte!

Nosotros Africáno, Vamoso!

Africaaaaaaaaaa Nosotros Donte. Awooo!

Nosotros Africáno, ¿yo no oyes tu?

Nosotros Africáno, más fuerte!

Nosotros Africáno,más fuerte!

Nosotrosl Africáno, Vamoso!

Refrn

Familia en SLA, Filly y Mi aburido barrio
Tengo mi amigos junto a mi lado
Estoy les, ellos son me 


Family in SLA, Philly and my boring neighborhood. 
I have my friends by my side
I am them, they are me

1. The refrán has to tense, but the song is in past tense.
2. Si!
3. I think so. Maybe.
4. Yes! If it might be in English, but it's okay in Spanish too.

Ahorita.

Refrán:
Yo vivo en el silencio
Pero hablan
La cuidad hablan

It supposed to show the sounds of the city.
The three lines seem to flow, kind of like poetry.
Adding some more lines could help.
Creating it was easy.

De donde vengo yo

Soy de Puerto Rico pero naci aqui en Filadelfia. Lo que es un influencia de Puerto Rico es la comida y la musica. De donde vengo, todo es de respeto. Trata una persona con respeto y ello te respecta a usted. Pero, una falta de respecto y los hentes van reir de ti y ignorara ti.  



My refrain is suppose to communicate that Ricardito is from Puerto Rico also that he is ready to talk about where he comes from and how it’s like. 

Im kinda happy that I got to talk about the main thing that is Puerto rican.

 I would like to improve my details and the length that it is.

What was really hard was coming up what to write or what to mention.  



Refran

Estamos de dos uno cinco

Y dinero 

que vivimos, la respiración, y comer philly

porque esta es nuestra ciudad



- My refrain is supposed to communicate that I am from Philadelphia
- I am happy that I was able to come up with a good refrain 
- I would like to improve the fact that the whole thing is not about philly 
- what was difficult was trying to rhyme it 

CSheridan;MySong

Cyndi Lynn Sheridan

Español 3 – D

El 21 de Septiembre

 

La ciudad del amor fraternal,

Una lugar único y orignal.

Grande esperanzas pero suenos rotos,
Todos carreteras ignotos.

Yo llamo a este casa.

 

o   What is your refrán supposed to communicate?

My refrán is supposed to communicate that the city we live in is filled with a diverse group of people but all share one thing, challenges.

 

o   What are you especially happy about with your first draft?

Catherine and I are really happy with the quality of words we have because they are very descriptive and tell a story with a true meaning.

 

o   What would you like to improve about your refrán first draft?

I really wanted the refrán to be longer, but I am satisfied with how everything worked out.

 

o   What was difficult about writing your refrán? 

It was extremely difficult creating a phrase that rhymed with the previous one. Also, this was hard because we only had a set selection of words that did rhyme and made sense to what we were trying to portray.

 

Carolina Latorre Espaol-3

Vengo de Venezuela y yo vengo de Pensilvana ahora estamos junta cantando de Roxborough en donde vivimos. De día y de noche celebramos y cantamos se vaya. Ya..ya lo sabes todo en Roxborough todos son locos. Pero ahí tiempos que todos se cambian..silenció..oscuro..las calles vacías. Pero esto es Roxborough en donde vivimos.

  • What is your refrán supposed to communicate? 
    Where we came from and how Roxborought look in our eyes.

  • What are you especially happy about with your first draft?
    I finished it and at first it sound good.

  • What would you like to improve about your refrán first draft?
    I like to change what it's suppose  to talk about. what I want it to be is the view point/difference between venezuela and philadelphia.

  • What was difficult about writing your refrán? 
    Thinking about what it will be talking about.

Refran

Perdo de menos mi casa
la energía, la energía,
Nueva York
Un día volveré
Perdo de menos mi casa
el ruido, el ruido
música para mis oídos

  • What is your refrán supposed to communicate? 
    It's supposed to communicate what I love about the place I was born. Even though I live in Philly I consider New York my home. 

  • What are you especially happy about with your first draft?
    That it has good content and that it does resemble all those things in seven short lines. 

  • What would you like to improve about your refrán first draft?
    I would like to make it sound more musical and take a look at the rhyming words in spanish and try to incorporate that in to the entire song without losing the meaning that I want it to have. 

  • What was difficult about writing your refrán? 
    I don't think anything was particularly difficult about writing it but it's only my first draft and revising it is going to be the hardest part. 

Catherine Nardone - my song.

  • Share the first version of your refrán.

La ciudad del amor fraternal,

Una lugar único y orignal.

                          Grande esperanzas pero suenos rotos,
                          Todos carreteras ignotos.
                          Yo llamo a este casa.
    • What is your refrán supposed to communicate?
  • Our refrán is supposed to communicate that we live in the city of brotherly love, a place that's unique and original. A place where people have high hopes, but troubled dreams, where all roads are unknown. But, most of all that this is the place that we call home.
    • What are you especially happy about with your first draft?
  • Yes, we were happy about the first draft because of how we worded I think. It's deep, yet fun.
    • What would you like to improve about your refrán first draft?
  • I think that we would like to make it a little bit longer.
    • What was difficult about writing your refrán? 
  • The most difficult part was rhyming. We had a hard time doing that with only a limited amount of words that actually made sense with what we were trying to say and that rhymed well.

Refran

filadelphia es muy importante en mi vida

mejor amigos y muy actividades


What is your refrán supposed to communicate?

My Refran is supposed to communicate my feeling about philadelphia as my home as a whole.
What are you especially happy about with your first draft?
I worked on it so i know what i want to say, even though it's not complete
What would you like to improve about your refrán first draft?
More wording, As well as a stronger grasp of the spanish vocab and the question.
What was difficult about writing your refrán?
Before i wrote it down i wasn't sure how i was going to go about this project. Now that I wrote something it will be easier for me to revise.

Mi Refran

Refrán:

Mi nombre es Aiert,
Vengo yo Nueva Jersey,
No me gusta Nueva Jersey,
Mi casa es aburrido.
    • What is your refrán supposed to communicate? 
      I come from New Jersey and it was very boring there.
    • What are you especially happy about with your first draft?
      I tried explaining that my house in New Jersey was boring
    • What would you like to improve about your refrán first draft?
      Make it rhyme, I couldn't think of words and find some that rhymed
    • What was difficult about writing your refrán? 
      Thinking of what to put in my refrán.

De donde vengo yo?

​refrán: 
yo soy de un lugar
donde las cosas más simples son buenos
donde el amor es profundo
donde las sonrisas son amplias


  • What is your refrán supposed to communicate? 
    My refrán is suppose to communicate that even though things can be tough, theres still a few things that remain the same. 

  • What are you especially happy about with your first draft?
    I am happy about the words because I think they are strong words. 

  • What would you like to improve about your refrán first draft?
    I would like to see if I could write it in a different way or say something even more meaningful. 

  • What was difficult about writing your refrán?  
    I think it was difficult to write something meaningful that could possibly have rhythm. 

Alysha R. Ortiz refran


-what is your refran supposed to communicate?

a donde yo vivo y que yo gusta


-what are you espically happy about with your first draft?

yo lo hice


-what would you like to improve about your refran first draft?

tratar de limpiar lo que puede ser en una canción


- what was diffcult about writing your refran?

tratando de hacer una canción

Refran- Johan sebastian rosaro

refrán : me llamo es rosaro:
            y el nombre de me pero es dinero


my refrán is short and it communicates with the listeners because it is simple and those are the only two things needed to know about myself "Roasaro" i am happy with the attractiveness of my refrán. it pulls listeners in and makes the song interesting. i would like to check the spelling and maybe make my refrán longer. the thing that was difficult about writing my refrán is thinking of the correct way to say what i want.