Sticks and Stones: How Words Will Always Hurt You; an Annotated Bibligraphy

Graduation Day In my thirty something years here on this earth I have graduated from different things, some more important than others, like high school and Beauty College. Graduations are exciting; they bring a close to one part of your life while starting something new. All graduations are exciting and they are made to make us feel proud. Short of having my children, I don’t think there is anything I could ever do that will compare to the feeling of pride and accomplishment I felt the day I graduated from the United States Navy Boot Camp. I joined the Navy in March of 1999; I was 18 years old, and had just managed, somehow, to graduate from high school. At that point in my life all I wanted to do was to get out of Michigan City. I had no idea what a huge journey I was getting ready to embark upon. I talked to a local recruiter and signed up to be sent overseas. By April, I was on a greyhound bus going through the gates of the Great Lakes Naval Boot Camp Academy. There were hundreds of new recruits and we were herded like cattle through the first week. I was given all kinds of vaccinations, sized for a uniform, and placed into division 123. That would be the group I would graduate with, in 8 weeks, provided I stayed out of trouble. Staying out of trouble was not my strong suit at this point in my life and it was not long before I was well known by the chief, and other high ranking officers. One of the biggest no-nos was candy. You are not allowed to have sugar in boot camp because it has a hard crash within a few hours, and is over all unhealthy. Leave it to recruit DePriest, my maiden name, to come up with a candy getting scheme for the entire girl’s section of our division. In the military one of your duties will often include standing a watch, this is where you are on a 4 to 8 hour shift looking out for many different things one kind of watch includes standing at the gate, or an entrance, of a military base checking I.D. to make sure that the only