Study Like a Boss
I was four years old when my family immigrated to the United States from Ukraine. It was a crazy experience and a big life change for all of us. There were many obstacles to be faced living a life completely far away from what we used to call home. It was very difficult to leave … Read more
People lose their humanity during certain circumstances in order to survive. In the book, The Road written by Cormac McCarthy, all humanity is lost in order to survive the volcano apocalypse. In the book there was a huge volcano apocalypse that almost wiped out the human race entirely. The whole world was falling apart the … Read more
The tapping on the wood door was enormous in the silence. Shocked out of my solitude, I pushed myself up from the couch and heaved open the door. Silhouetted against the light was a dark-haired woman with a girl clinging to her skirt. I knew who she was. My landlady had told me about the … Read more
Food. Food. Food. The aroma fills the empty spaces and permeates the walls. I can smell from miles away. My stomach turns and rumbles. My mom and dad are amazing cooks. I have many favorite dishes, and my parents are always trying out new recipes. Every day, I come home from school and expect to … Read more
In William Faulkner’s short story “Barn Burning,” ten-year-old Sarty Snopes faces many challenges in regards to his upbringing. He has witnessed his father’s destructive and illegal behavior for many years, and Sarty makes a difficult decision in the end to choose morality and the good of others over the well-being or protection of his own … Read more
“Symbolism exists to adorn and enrich, not to create an artificial sense of profundity. “-Stephen King. August Wilson’s play, “Fences”, explores an African American family dealing with poverty, segregation, racism etc. in the late 1950s. The play narrows in on Troy Maxson, an African American man who had trouble facing the harsh reality of not … Read more
5:45 a. m. , Wednesday, Boxing Day, 2013. I was sleeping soundly in my bed when the phone rang. I could hear the sound of someone getting up to pick up the phone. Shortly afterwards, I could hear the sound of weeping. I heard my Mom tell my Dad that Oma had passed away. Two … Read more
Fannie Poteet sat cross-legged on her Uncle John’s front porch; her favorite rag doll clutched under one arm. The late afternoon sun shone through the leaves of the giant oak tree, casting its flickering light on the cabin. This golden motion of light entranced the child and she sat with her face turned upward, as … Read more
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape: The Reality of Happiness In 1993 the film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” was released by Paramount Pictures. The movie was directed by Lasse Hallstrom, and starred actors such as Leonardo Dicaprio, Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis, John C. Reilly, and many more. This was an award winning film that showed life from … Read more
Personal Myth Altsoba, was a girl that is about the age of 15. She live in a world where it’s normal for smaller kids or kids like her to be walking around town by themselves, she was one of those kids when she was younger. Her home was in a town called Red Swing, it … Read more
Courage and Discovery: Analysis of A Princess Found “YOU ARE A PRINCESS!! ” screamed her uncle. “You can be a Paramount Chief one day! Your grandfather was one and your uncle is one! “. For a twenty eight year old American biracial woman who just wanted to find her birth father, that is a lot … Read more
In Bich Minh Nguyen’s memoir, “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner,” she narrates her experiences growing up as a Vietnamese refugee in a predominantly white, conservative community of Grand Rapids Michigan, in effort to assimilate to the American culture. Emigrating from Vietnam and experiencing the new American culture, she desires to fit in and be accepted as an … Read more
The Boys and Girls Club of America helps thousands of Americans each year as a daycare, escape from home, way to meet new friends or to eat a sustainable meal that they wouldn’t be able to get at home. Another way that the Boys and Girls Club benefits kids is by having organized sports where … Read more
Poverty is a state of being extremely poor. In the “What is poverty” essay it talks about the struggles of a woman that has three children and is trying to survive with little to no income. Jo Goodwin Parker describes her life living in poverty and her daily struggles to raise a family. In the … Read more
Music has always been a very important part of my life. As a child, I was mesmerized by Disney’s Fantasia 2000 and watched the Disney sing-a-longs over and over. I began playing piano at a young age, and in middle school added more instruments to my list, such as flute, saxophone, and ukulele. I have … Read more
“Persistent vegetative state is a specific clinical diagnosis for a patient who is permanently unconscious. All thought, all memory, all ability to interact with the world around them in any way is gone” (LLP). William H. Colby who argued the case for Nancy and her family stated this in his opening statement during the hearing. … Read more
Fuku? What is this really? Stories passed along in families to scare children? Maybe it is an excuse to have when something horrible happens. Is it possible it really is a curse passed down through generations from caused by the act of an individual? Who is to say? In the book The Brief Wondrous Life … Read more
Chicana/o Narrative: Immigration, Family, Feminism and Transgressions In the late twentieth and twenty first century Chicana/o narrative has become a medium to express the injustices that the community faces along with identity conflicts at the individual level. Chicana/o narrative, fictional or autobiographical work, serves as an act of healing and resistance, in which the themes … Read more
Making the Move Moving to northern Wisconsin as a young girl was a scary and confusing time. Having been born in Chicago, all I knew was a big city, the crowds of people, the nonstop traffic and all the noises. My home, it was the only place I knew. How could my parents make a … Read more
Sonia Nazario is an American journalist, born September 8, 196O in Madison Wisconsin to Argentinian-American parents. Nazario has been one of the youngest writers to have worked for the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. She primarily writes about social justice issues such as poverty, drugs, immigration, and Latino statistics. She has won … Read more
One must take careful consideration before acting, because the aftermath can lead to a chain of events whose consequences can be disastrous. Nino Ricci’s Lives of the Saints is an excellent example of how the consequences of a person’s actions can affect everyone around them, including themselves. First, Cristina makes several choices throughout the novel … Read more
Wes could feel like he is being rejected by his dad. He never had a male figure to teach him right from wrong besides Tony. Tony never did the right thing himself nor help him self in any situation. He never felt like his father was a man Wes could look up to him a … Read more
In her youth, Jeannette struggled with denial to understand the reality of her family life. When she was a young girl and her family didn’t have a roof over their heads she only saw the good in the situation. In one instant Jeannette describes a discussion between herself and her sister Lori “I told Lori … Read more
Childhood memories of dinnertime hold a special place in my heart. What used to be a daily experience of family unity and sharing is unfortunately now reserved for holidays and an occasional Sunday or birthday gathering. Rather than each family member drifting into his or her own individual world as their life grew busier, we … Read more
There was a knock at the door. It was my roommate from college. I was finally riding on an airplane for the first time in 11 years. I had finally saved up enough money to go to Hawaii this Winter. The shuttle had arrived and we loaded our bags onto the van. I looked back … Read more
Rain Man, released in 1988, is a story of two brothers with a brief history in their childhood and how one’s mental illness changes the other’s outlook on life. The main character, Charlie Babbitt, believes he is an only child and is living life on the fast track. This is until he is notified of … Read more
Would someone appreciate being treated like they are the meanest person on the planet? Or maybe have a person 30 years younger than them treat them disrespectfully? I hope not. In the folktale “The Old Grandfather and His Little Grandson” retold by Leo Tolstoy, the son and his wife treat the grandfather extremely disrespectfully and … Read more
Ethical dilemmas and multicultural issues are things that you will come across in your professional career. When we seek the assistance of a counselor in schools or in any other setting we want to know that what we share will not be shared with others. We want to feel comfortable and know that our standards … Read more
Tomorrow I get married. You looked at yourself in the mirror, wearing your veil and holding your bouquet. You were still wearing your clothes from earlier that day which made for a strange combination with the fine lace draped on your hair and the calla lilies in your hands. It was a sight to take … Read more
In “Go Tell it on the Mountain”, the Grimes family seems to be struggling with their religion. With the characters having hatred within the religion, living within fear (of God and Gabriel), and family members only caring when something major happens, the family’s religious belief does not seem to sit well with the Grimes. Every … Read more
In the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the changes in the environment effected each character in its own way, but their changes also play a role in the lives of the surrounding characters as well. The movie is about seven individuals who decided to leave England to enjoy their retirement in India, at “The … Read more
The “Reunion” is the shortest yet most powerful reading by far. In my own opinion, the biggest thing we as humans waste is sweet, sweet time. It is taken way too much for granted, and it seems that we only appreciate it when we’ve realized we’ve run out of it. The people you take for … Read more
There are two types of isolation, mental isolation and physical isolation. Physical isolation is when someone is separated from a group of people, while mental isolation is when someone feels alone even if they have people around them. Physical isolation can lead to mental isolation (Isolation). The theme of physical and mental isolation is shown … Read more
Addiction is the fact or condition of being dependent upon a particular substance. The ripple effect caused by addiction not only affects its victims but also the loved ones and people close to them. As someone that has seen the disastrous effects addiction can cause for both parties, there isn’t one specific path it can … Read more
INT. LIVING ROOM – NIGHT AQUARIAN sits on the couch in a typical, suburban living room while her parents (ROMERO and LILITH), clothed in black robes, stand waving their hands and wagging their fingers, clearly lecturing. LILITH I cannot believe you! Where is your dedication to the Dark One? ROMERO By the time she was … Read more
Our motivations are what get us up in the morning and get us through the day. They are also more long term in that our specific motivators may determine the direction in which we take our lives and what we decide to do with our time. It can often be difficult to identify these motivators … Read more
Moon Shadow, a young chinese boy, is brainwashed by his mother and grandmother that all people in San Francisco in America are “Demons. ” Moon Shadow’s father lives in America, but whenever he asks his mother or grandmother about him, they always find an excuse to try to not to talk about it. Moon Shadow … Read more
Both Mia, the protagonist in “If I Stay”, by Gayle Forman, and myself are similar in many ways. I think if we had the chance we’d both end up being very great friends and we’d get along perfectly. The one thing that stands out the most for both of us is our amazing, quiet, shy … Read more
Ida B is a different kind of child. She lives with her mother and father on a apple orchard. Ida lives simple. She is homeschooled due to an unpleasant first school experience and she loves life exactly the way it is. She often times goes out to the apple orchard to talk to the tree, … Read more
Before 7th grade, I never actually believed in bad things. I just didn’t think of them as things that actually happened to people. I don’t even know why I thought that, I was actually a pretty nice person. Thad a somewhat unremarkable life, except for my mom being gone. I lived with my dad and … Read more
Chapter 1 Awaken My name’s Michael and this is my story. This all started when I went to sleep in my home in New York. I had a dad, my mom had disappeared when I was five. Life was great until I turned 15. This is the year when my worst nightmare began. I was … Read more
Being left to fight alone is devastating for anyone suffering from any form of mental illness. If a person you know seems to be struggling then reach out and connect with them. I can guarantee that showing that you care will make a huge difference and possibly save that person’s life. When you find yourself … Read more
Sitting beneath a tree, eating toast with strawberries and drinking rose petal tea, a sweet girl takes a quiet moment to revel in the small wonders of the world before they pass her by. ~Welcome to the world of the Mori girls~ A community devoted to Mori-kei was founded in August 2006 on Mixi, a … Read more
On this topic of gay marriage l’ve chosen the two ethical theories of utilitarianism and the Kantian ethics theory. On the pro side the utilitarianism theory plays a huge role when referring to this topic. Some may argue that it is constitutional and some may say that it just isn’t the right thing to do … Read more
Most people have moved before sometime in their life. For me, it was only two times. The first move was an international move from Vietnam to the United States of America, when I was barely 8 months old. At the time, it was just my mom, dad, and me, moving across the world to start … Read more
Courage by definition is “the attitude of facing and dealing with anything recognized as dangerous, difficult, or painful, instead of withdrawing from it; quality of being fearless or brave” (Webster 325). Whether it is fighting for our country, risking your life to protect that of others, or simply being able to stand up for what … Read more
In August of 2014 I traveled to Alajuela, Costa Rica, with a missions team from my church. Our team’s purpose was to aid the Rice and Beans Ministry. The director of RABMin, Fred Curry, warned us that not everyone that we would encounter would accept us with open arms. Fred knew that some locals would … Read more
My Aunt Dori has always been different; however, I never truly realized how different until a few years ago. She has severe cerebral palsy. I have always known, nonetheless it did not fully sink-in until August 3, 2003. This particular day I had witnessed her having a grand-mal seizure. I remember being terribly afraid and … Read more
Similarly to Bread Givers’ Sara Smolinsky, Maya Lin is the daughter of immigrants who fled to the United States in 1948 before the 1949 Communist takeover of China. On the date of October 5, 1959, she was born in Athens, Ohio (Biography. com Editors). Lin’s parents were intellectuals who eventually became professors at Ohio University; … Read more
At the age of 39, Beethoven’s hearing condition worsened. He lead a series of disastrous recitals. People weren’t pleased wight he different type of music he was playing and his “family” of noblemen advised him to go back to the traditional way of playing music. 1814 came, Beethoven was 44, and he created a masterpiece … Read more
