I believe in laughter

This article is a great way to deal with embarassment.  In high school there are lots of embarassing things that happen or events that make you angry or sad.  The best way to deal with the events is to just laugh.  There is no reason to dwell on the past but be comfortable with who you are and laugh it off.  I liked this article because Kelly seems like a happy person who enjoys her klutzy life.

A Dog’s Life

I liked this article because I have a similar story.  When I was around seven years old, I convinced my parents to get a dog.  I have been taking care of him and loved him for the past ten years.  He has taught me responsibility just as the author and his dog.  Even though he does not do much when I am gone, I know he is happy.

I didn’t wash my car last month

This story is a good way to think about life.  I do not like to do things that waste my time and that I will regret doing in the future.  There are many things in life that we do not like to do but we have to do such as paying bills and earning money at work.  The writer talks about his rocking chair test and I think that is a good way to think about what you want to do.

You Are Being Followed

The drive was about fifteen minutes.  Down the busy main street, through the winding hills, past the sheep farm, and up the giant hill.  Once I made it into the neighborhood, it was the first street on the right past the playground.  It was dark and rainy so I slowly crept up towards the house.  It was around midnight so I coasted past her house in stealth mode.  As I drove by, I looked in to see a light brown mutt barking in the window like it had recognized me.  Once I parked the car down the street, I got out and opended up the trunk.  Sitting there, shining in the moonlight, was my smaurai sword.  Towards the head of the blade was a black smudge looking like an autograph and at the tip, a blood stain.  I grabbed the sword and started walking towards the house.  When I arrived near the house, the mutt started to bark at me again.  I immediatly hid behind the dark blue Volkswagen parked in the driveway next to the Suburban.  Once the dog had stopped barking, I continued towards the side of the house.  I went around the back and peered in the window to see a short bald man sitting on the couch.  He was drinking a can of natural light beer while watching football.  I tried to get by so he wouldn't see me to make it to the side basement window.  I had finally reached the window and I started to get nervous.  I looked in to see nobody was in the room.  I busted the window and shimmied down the wall.  I got up and was ingulfed in the distinct smell of popcorn.  Since nobody was in the room, I decided to mess stuff up.  I took my samurai sword to the green wrap around couch and the large tv mounted on the wall.  The bright yellow walls added to my anger.  The room looked like a bunch of little girls live there.  Then I killed Megan.

Stairs

I woke up on the morning of December 25th to my sister shaking me and telling me that Santa came.  I was only seven years old at the time so i immediatly jumped out of bed and ran into my parents room.  They were still asleep so my brother, sister, and I jumped on them to wake them up.  We were all too excited to go downstairs and see what Santa had brought us.  Every year we have to wait for my mom and dad to go downstairs and get their coffee and the camera while we wait up in their room.  My siblings and I would always get frustrated with how long they would take to do such a quick task.  When they were finally ready, they called for us to come down.  We immediatly got up and flew down the stairs into the living room.  We came down the stairs and looked in the living room and there were no presents!  We were all confused at what was going on.  We were really sad because we thought we got put on the naughty list and did not get any presents.  I would not let myself believe we were on the naughty list.  I started to look around the house.  I went through the kitchen, the dining room, and then I arrived at in the family room.  There they were, all the presents from Santa sitting around the family room.  I was shocked.  Santa had played a trick on us by putting our presents in a different room!

Water

Late Sunday evening, I arrived home from work.  Exhausted from the long day, I went inside and poured myself a big glass of ice cold water.  I was so thristy I could not even wait for the long seconds for the glass to fill up.  Once it was full I slammed the water off and drank the liquid as fast as I could.  The cold, intense sensation chilled my entire mouth and down through my body.  I felt a feeling of comfort as the cool water ran down my into my stomach.  The entire glass was gone before I knew it but I was still thirsty.  My instincts were to drink more water so I filled the glass up again and immediatly drank the glass dry. I began to regret my last decision.  I started to feel sick.  My stomach felt like it was being stretched.  I went to lie down on the couch to try to remedy the pain.  My stomach started to make funny noises then all of the sudden the couch vibrated.  I instantly felt better and I soon realized, it was only a fart.

CHAIR

I sat on the porch peering out over the front lawn, watching the sunset.  A frosty can of beer dripping condensation onto my hand. Sweat was still beading down my face from working on the farm since sunrise.  Covered in sweat and dirt, I sat on my rocking chair I had constructed from the old walnut tree from the front lawn.  The smooth, dark finish felt like glass on my damp hands.  The steady rocking made me feel as if I was being cradeled.  Everyday after I work, I sit down in my chair with a beer in my hand and watch the sun disappear behind the tall pine trees in the distance.  The pink and orange mixture in the sky looks like a famous painting.  Each day is a new painting in the sky.  Some days my wife will join me before dinner.  She will sit next to me in her rocking chair and we talk about our day.  Then she spends her time in the kitchen making me a fantastic meal for dinner.  Working on the farm is what I love to do.  The feeling of accomplishment and pride overtakes my body when I sit on my rocking chair, watching the beautiful sunset.

Sample Essays

#3
Anthony was neither a leader nor a role model. In fact, his teachers and his parents were constantly chastising him because he was disruptive, ate too much, and had a hard time staying focused on a task. I met Anthony when I was a counselor at a local summer camp. The counselors had the usual duties of keeping kids from smoking, drowning, and killing each other. We made God’s eyes, friendship bracelets, collages, and other clichés. We rode horses, sailed boats, and hunted snipe.
Each counselor also had to teach a three-week course that was supposed to be a little more “academic” than the usual camp fare. I created a class called “Things that Fly.” I met with fifteen students for an hour a day as we designed, built, and flew kites, model rockets, and balsawood airplanes.
Anthony signed up for my class. Anthony stood out from my other students for many reasons. He was larger and louder than the other middle school kids. He was also the only African American in the class. The camp was located in a well-to-do and predominately white neighborhood. In a questionable effort to promote economic and racial diversity, the camp organizers developed a strategy of busing inner-city kids out to the burbs. But despite the best efforts of the organizers and counselors, the inner-city kids and suburbanites tended to stick to their own groups during most activities and meals.
Anthony was not a good student. He had been kept back a year at his school. He talked out of turn and lost interest when others were talking. In my class, Anthony got some good laughs when he smashed his kite and threw the pieces into the wind. His rocket never made it to the launch pad because he crumpled it in a fit of frustration when he couldn’t get the fins to stay on.
In the final week, when we were making airplanes, Anthony surprised me when he drew a sketch of a sweep-wing jet and told me he wanted to make a “really cool plane.” Like many of Anthony’s teachers, and perhaps even his parents, I had largely given up on him. Now he suddenly showed a spark of interest. I didn’t think the interest would last, but I helped Anthony get started on a scale blueprint for his plane. I worked one-on-one with Anthony and had him use his project to demonstrate to his classmates how to cut, glue and mount the balsawood framework. When the frames were complete, we covered them with tissue paper. We mounted propellers and rubber bands. Anthony, with all his thumbs, created something that looked a bit like his original drawing despite some wrinkles and extra glue.
Our first test flight saw Anthony’s plane nose-dive straight into the ground. His plane had a lot of wing area in the back and too much weight in the front. I expected Anthony to grind his plane into the earth with his boot. He didn’t. He wanted to make his creation work. The class returned to the classroom to make adjustments, and Anthony added some big flaps to the wings. Our second test flight surprised the whole class. As many of the planes stalled, twisted, and nose-dived, Anthony’s flew straight out from the hillside and landed gently a good 50 yards away.
I’m not writing about Anthony to suggest that I was a good teacher. I wasn’t. In fact, I had quickly dismissed Anthony like many of his teachers before me. At best, I had viewed him as a distraction in my class, and I felt my job was to keep him from sabotaging the experience for the other students. Anthony’s ultimate success was a result of his own motivation, not my instruction.
Anthony’s success wasn’t just his plane. He had succeeded in making me aware of my own failures. Here was a student who was never taken seriously and had developed a bunch of behavioral issues as a result. I never stopped to look for his potential, discover his interests, or get to know the kid beneath the facade. I had grossly underestimated Anthony, and I am grateful that he was able to disillusion me.
I like to think that I’m an open-minded, liberal, and non-judgmental person. Anthony taught me that I’m not there yet.

COMMENTS: This essay is very well written.  He uses many different types of language to tell his story and his influence that Anthony had on him.

Ten Abilities

• Leadership
• Appetite
• Open Minded
• Social
• Intelligent
• Problem Solver
• Goal Minded
• Nice
• Confident
• Athletic

These are abilities can help shape my life in all different fields.  I am not sure what my career will be, but I think I am a well rounded person with many different abilities.  I think all of these abilities are what an employer would want to see in an employee.  They are all positive abilities that make a good worker.  I think leadership is the biggest ability that I have.  I am the captain of the football and lacrosse team so I have had lots of practice with my leadership ability.  Being a social person and a good problem sovler are also very good abilities.  In any career you have to deal with people.  If a person isn't social, not as many tasks will get done which could lead to less income or even being fired.  Also jobs come with many problems and since I am a very good problem solver I think I would be successful at any career I would like to pursue.