Dreams

          "One coffee, two donuts, table seven, comin' up," I heard over my iPod, interrupting my fantasizing.

"KaLee, this one's for you sweet pea," Ella motioned towards me.

"Ok. Be there in a jiffy." Yeah right. Like I was gonna leave this perfect world of mine to be greeted by little demons scurrying 'round trying to get coffee to their customer before it became warm instead of hot, loosing the extra 10 cents from the customer's tip. Pathetic. The only person I like in this world, and who actually likes me back is Ella. Ella is an African American and is by far, the nicest one I know. She understands my feelings and respects them, and for that, I have respect for her. Ella is the only person I have love for, I think of her as my mom, seeing as my real mom died on my third birthday and my dad is a you-know-what and an abuser at that. After I get home from work everyday, I am greeted by his scowl and his mean and nasty words telling me I missed a spot on a dish I dried, or I didn't use enough laundry detergent to clean his polo, and don't forget those muscles that wrap around me as if they are cobras attacking the prey, me.  Not only does he hiss long lines of swears at me, or pound me to bruises, he takes my daily earnings and takes them away, using them on something stupid, like new cologne to impress his girlfriend or taking a trip to get a tan, when I am saving up for something amazing something that will change my life. I want so badly to become a dancer on Broadway, and then I would actually have a life, I could get away from that you-know-what of a dad and I could maybe have a chance at getting somewhere I wanted to get to-but my dad was just a roadblock in my way. I focused back to "Don't Stop Believin'" by Glee I couldn't bear to think of these thoughts in my wonderful world.

          Born and raised in south Detroit,

          He took the midnight train goin' anywhere.

          Street lights-people,

          Livin' just the-

"KaLee! 'Comon! These donuts are getting' stale!"

"Fine." I grumbled and pulled my ear plugs out of my ears.

"Here 'ya go. That'll be $12.70. Thanks." I walked back to the kitchen and through all of the sweaty bodies back there, I found Ella. "Ella, Ella!" I raced towards her. "Ella," I panted, trying to catch my breath.

"What's up honey?"

"Ella-I forgot to tell you- I'm trying out for Footloose today! There are auditions at mall near the capitol!"

"I'm glad you have dreams baby, but how are 'ya gonna pay for that?"

"I've saved up all my money- I only give dad my tips, but he wouldn't know that! He thinks I'm just a waste, I can't do anything right- so it doesn't surprise him that I only give him a little portion of my money."

"That's great sweetie. I'm so proud of you." Ella sweeped her bangs away from her sweaty forehead.

We stood there in silence for a moment, then Ella exclaimed "Well, you better be on your way, your shift ended 8 minutes ago.

"Alrighty then!" I pulled Ella into a big bear hug. "Thanks Ella." I whispered.

"Anything for you tootsie."

"Now go on, you don't wanna be late!"

"Bye Ella!" I shouted and walked out the door, let the snow fall on my face, and strutted out into my new life.

          Driving in the car, I played my iPod again.

Hidin' somewhere in the niiiiiight

Don't stop believin'

Hold on to that feelin'

Streetlights, people

Don't stop-

All of a sudden, a red Mercedes came speeding at me.  I jerked the car to the right, and just in time too, the car had missed my by a few inches. I put the car on brake, but the gears just kept turning, under all of the ice in the road, my car had no traction. I swerved to the left and "Bam."

The last thing I saw was glass shattering in front of me. It wasn't just the glass though, it was my life, my dream.

Character Analysis-- Big Henryk

Big Henryk. A stupid kid, says "Yes," to every question that people ask him. Why should he be heard? All he says is "Yes." Big Henryk doesn't get much attention except for when he is the center of attention when "the kids," ask him stupid questions only to find an even stupider answer. It seems as though the only word he knows is "Yes." In my perception of Big Henryk though, he is just faking his stupidity, because underneath, he is the one who knows it all. In my eyes, Big Henryk is thinking of escape plans, to escape the grasp of Hitler and Himmler. He is the one. That hero that will come to save the day thanks to his smarts. Underneath, Big Henryk is a hero but the other orphans are too busy making fun of him to see underneath that stupidity that shows. In order to be a hero though, you can't be afraid to show your beliefs and opinions and speak up for yourself. Even though Henryk doesn't do that- I think that secretly he has his own beliefs- angels. It seemed to me that in the graveyard, Big Henryk was with Misha all along, believing in angles too, but was put down by the comments given to Misha for believing in such a thing. His secret belief fuels him to secretly be smart. To be the person that he is underneath. A hero.

If...

If I had let her  stay, none of this would have ever happened. If had let her stay , I wouldn't be feeling the pain of sorrow and guilt grasping around my heart. If I had let her stay, she would have been living a life of misery and drudgery. My love for her was too strong to watch her living an unbearable life. My love for her came over me like a storm at sea would have crashed on the shore.  My love for her grew and grew like a red rose blossoms in the summer air, until it was unbearable for me. She had to go. She deserved to be living the high life, a world where there is no hatred, a world as magnificent as heaven. Instead she was stuck here, in the exact opposite of worlds. She had to go. A girl as perfect as she was had to go. Someone had to do it. That someone was me.

Patriot's Penn Essay

Patriot’s Pen Essay

We've been through so much. So much that marks our place in history and reminds us of a place in time. So much that we reminisce about, whether it gives us bursts of joy or floods of sorrow. So much that leaves us with waves of pride or regret tugging at our hearts. There is so much that we have accomplished that leaves us with many feelings; confusion in our head, churning in our stomach, emptiness inside, but above all pride for our country.

            The Civil War. World War l. The Great Depression. World War ll. And most recently, 9/11.  All of which we should feel sorrow, pain, and grief when we think about them, but through these tough and tragic times, there was always a spark of hope. The flicker of faith that soars above us giving us the message we have been looking for; Believe. Believe in yourself. Believe in your neighbor. Believe in your country, because there is a way out of this disaster. And for those people that saw this spark and did believe- thank you- because we wouldn’t be here without you. These flashes of allegiance helped us overcome our fears and helped us accomplish all we did-helped establish the country we are today- one that can feel proud of our past.

            When the word “pride” comes to mind, my chest swells with confidence. When I think about our freedom here in America, I feel the same way- absolutely confident. We are so lucky to be able to choose our clothes, our jobs, our spouses. To be able to choose our religion and education. To have the privilege to vote. When we say the Pledge of Allegiance everyday- this is what we are honoring. Look at our flag- that is who we are, what we represent- freedom. Not only should we feel thankful, we should feel proud.

So, when you see the crimson-colored valor and hard work, the purity of the white innocence, and the patriotism of the blue justice, that waves in the wind, you can feel what you would like; tears pricking your eyes, a hard rock settling in your stomach, or a bright ball of joy warming your heart, but, rising above all, should be pride.

Release

           When we think of death, we think blood, guns and knives, end of the line, pain; but death is a lot more. At least, it should be. In our world, death is equal to mourning, a release of nothingness and no sorrow in another.

            In The Giver, “release” doesn’t come through blood, suffering, or weapons instead it comes through a needle. There is no death here, instead just stabbing someone with a syringe, hoping for the best. It is something known in our world as murder, killing someone who supposedly doesn’t deserve their life. There is no love, no feeling, the community does as they are told.

Now imagining the unimaginable, let’s reverse, move back to reality and brace ourselves for what is coming next. We are not that much different from the community in The Giver at all. We are all offended, can’t agree with what is being said. Think about it. Think hard…  euthanasia. Death penalties. Abortion. Ending life support. Murdering. You may be saying that this isn’t true and it’s not fair, etcetera, etcetera, when in all in all, we are worse. We have love here. We kill and murder and try and push through love. Love just comes back to haunt us though through sorrow, guilt, and pain.

There is only one question remaining. One question that I don’t have an answer to. One question here that we still visibly see through the fog and clouds of sorrow, pain, and love. Why?

Hook

            After sprinting outside, I abruptly halted to a stop. My jaw dropped wide in awe. Glancing around at the horrific scene that laid before me, I felt tears prick my eyes. Racing towards the incomprehensible with mixed emotions, I knelt on the ground and let the tears escape me. There, on the hard, cold, dirt of Denver are my parents, as frozen and rock hard as the ground they are lying on. You’re dreaming Amber, don’t believe it! I tell myself and look up at the dark, night sky.  Pressured by pain and shock I slowly peek over at my parents, scared of what I might find. But my fear is soon replaced with a sick feeling leaving me wishing I hadn’t chosen to look. The vision I’d never thought I’d see, that one that I never even thought about, it was so unrealistic, was here. My worst nightmare had just come true. My mom, dead on the ground, with a knife stabbed through her heart. My dad, with a rope tied tight around his neck. Blood surrounds them in a pool. I take another look around, trying to see who had done such a horrible thing, such an unforgivable thing when I saw a white sheet. Although my eyes were blurred by my tears, I could clearly make out the message, “Leave now or end up like they did…” complete with blood ink and was perfectly arranged between the people that were the center of my life.

A World Without Color

A world without color is like a year without rain. No ruby reds, no crimson oranges, no comforting yellows. No refreshing greens, no cleansing blues, no majestic purples. A lost way of expression. A lost place in time. And where we would be without colors, I wonder.  There are so many questions too. Why did the Elders abolish color? Was there pain associated with color? How? What problems were there that they had to get rid of color? What new problems were created?

            I force myself to believe that there is no pain with the gift of color, but the more I think about it, I question myself: is color a gift or a burden- why else would the Elders have to banish color? Color is a way of expression, a way of unique style, a way of seeing moods and feelings, but color can also be an unwanted thing in this world. Color, since it’s a way of showing uniqueness and differences, leads to problems such as judgment, jealousy, bullying, potentially war, and other forms of evil. I would miss color though, if it left our world. You wouldn’t see a sunny yellow dandelion blooming in the soft and green field- that vision would be replaced with a sea of grey, spiky, blades of grass, with a pesky white weed growing in the center of it. The view and interpretation is changed entirely. You wouldn’t see a deep blue ocean, gently rolling over the tan, grainy sand. Instead, you would witness never-ending black waters that crash on the shore and seem like they want to pull you in to the black hole. See? A completely new perception.  That’s why color is so important to have in life.

            Color is a mystery in life and, I guess, it always will be. We will never know everything, get answers to everything, or plainly, know. We will have questions, some that can be answered like here, but others that will be etched in our brains, the ones that just keep tugging and tugging at your head to know more. We maybe will never be able to find the key to this locked door, but while we are here questioning, we should appreciate color, it is something we can all relate to and something we should never let go and leave in the dust. Color has an importance here and we should let it know that, because, a world without color is a world of nothingness and a world of nothingness is, well, nothing.            Once we let it out of our grasp, it tumbles away from us and is gone; Gone forever.

Blink

Walking outside, feeling the cool crisp air biting at my skin,

Collapsing into that sea of soft, grass, just surrounding me in an open field.

My flowing golden brown hair caressing my face.

Gazing up at that black canvas stretched above me, with those jewels shining down on me,

Sighing,  in amazement and wonder,

My breath making a mist.

Millions of eyes watching me from above,

Just watching from heaven.

Staring, staring at that black fog above me, for what seems like only a second in time,

Blink.

And in a seconds time the gems disappear.

Leaving me alone with a rising sun and miles and miles of blue sky.

Night is done.

Day has come.

Stars.