Moving on is easy but what you leave behind is what makes it hard. Once you get to a certain age in your life you know you have to move on sometime. I know times are hard but you have to push yourself toward what you really want in life even if it means moving away from what you love.…
I remember day after day going to swimming lessons in the summer of 2002 at the Mount Vernon pool. Almost every day I walked by the ladder that seemed to go on forever. I used to sit on the pools edge and watch the older kids do flips and other cool tricks off of the high dive. Many times I had gotten half way up the ladder but couldn't bring myself to go all the way up. For a seven year old going off the high dive was like a right of passage and a way to be seen as "cool" in the eyes of the older kids. Today I will be telling you about the first time a braved the high dive.…
I remember that it hurt. It was if someone struck all the air out of my lungs. I tried with all of my might to breathe but it seemed as if I were incapable.I looked for something, anything to hold onto for support. Everyone watched in horror as I sank to the ground and the sob that was stuck in my throat escaped. I was feeling emotions I never felt before, that I didn’t know existed. The two Marines in Dress Blues who stood at attention looked on, their faces mostly emotionless, except their eyes which were filled with pity as they said they were sorry for my loss. My best friend rushed over the office to wrap her arms around my shoulders. The only way she could hold me seeing as I was on my knees crying into my hands. I could feel her sympathy,…
Traveling into the Indian Territory, we were being angrily chased down by three Indians furiously shouting at us. Dashing through the thick forest, the savage Indians were throwing spears and shooting arrows that narrowly missed us. Although neither Gideon nor I was mortally injured, I did suffer from a nick from an arrow piercing near my ear. Thankfully, a group of burly fur traders approached from the side, which frightened the Indians to run away. Acknowledging that Gideon and I were inexperienced travelers in the west, they offered us protection in exchange for some valuable possessions. As a consequence, knowing that they were our best alternative for survival, we gave them our antique gold pocket watches and assumed the identities of novice fur traders. From that point on, we followed them through the west and adopted their skills for efficiently hunting animals and keeping warm in the harsh, cold weather. During one of our rest points, we approached a large Cherokee settlement located in Park Hill in which our group leader was friends with the Cherokee leader John Ross.…
The documentary reversed my notion that "nappy hair is bad hair.” But more importantly, it changed the way I felt about mine. The Eurocentric standard had affected me so much, I willingly damaged my hair and confidence in the process of it. Uncovering the world of magazines, and tabloids I realized that I wanted fit into the idolized Eurocentric ideal to feel accepted. However, after viewing the documentary I realized that instead of trying to assimilate in the Eurocentric society, I should accept my curls, because that is something that is intertwined with who I am…
I just moved to a kid infested neighborhood. I was 18 so I had no interest in going outside and playing with the 12-14 year old kids. I thought it would be okay moving there, but they're so annoying, doing there kid stuff and writing skate boards which I've done myself and probably annoyed many people so I didn't tell them anything. Anyway my mom lives with me because step dad recently died. This house had been so weird, I don't know if it's me or like I said, the house. There's always weird noises and the weirdest part is that there is this rug that always appears in different places when I get home. My mom doesn't say anything about it because she has bad memory loss and always loses things. Someone needed to do something about this house or rug because i'm starting to get scared and lose it.…
As I look to the scenery I acknowledge its beautiful details. It is a wonder of the world that soon may fell between the cracks. A place that I will cherish all my life, a place that is one of a kind. Two hundred places I’ve seen only once. Vivid in my memory for a few years and but soon may be forgotten. But this did not. It will remain in me forever, and as scroll up it reached the end. The end of my photo album I have in my phone last summer vacation I had with my…
I always keep this poem and picture in my wallet. I take it everywhere with me because it means quite a lot to me in two very different ways. One of those ways is because it holds sentimental value. When I was younger I learned to read very late in life and I was always so embarrassed of that. My father knew that I was struggling and bought me the book, Where the Sidewalk Ends. It is a book full of poems and little pictures written by Shel Silverstein. I remember opening the book to ta random page, and it was the page with this poem. I then remember my dad asking me to read it to him. I was so uncomfortable, even thought I was just going to be reading to my dad. He gave me some words of encouragement, and even thought I was not able to read…
All I could see were slow paced bodies walking pass me on the long everlasting hallway, unclear faces, and strange voices echoing in my head. My headed was bottled by all the blurriness and I was waiting to finally wake up. From the little knowledge I had left, I knew if I could find a bathroom I would be to splash water on my face to help snap me out of the large fog that I was trapped in.…
My mother, “Regina Hopkins,” has been a positive influence in my life. She has raised 6 kids all by herself as well as earned a Bachelor’s degree in nursing from a City College in Gainesville, Florida. My mother has been through pretty much everything a person can go through outside of war and was still able to be there and provide for all 6 of her kids. In high school, my mother wanted to play football and couldn't because she was a girl and back-in-the-day women were not allowed to play football with the guys. However, she remained strong by raising 6 kids and independently took care of all of us on her own. My mother has several qualities that I would love to develop. The first quality she has is balance; she certainly knows how to make…
Today was the day. The big day. My election for Lieutenant Governor of Division 2B for Key Club, an international service club, was today. Fear and anxiety pricked my skin in rapid movements emanating from every pore. I rehearsed my speech for the fifth time that day. Upon arrival at the Fairfax Library, I urged myself to remain calm. I quickly scouted out the other girls who were present; one girl was dressed professionally with a folder in her hand. I knew that was my competition. The girl spoke eloquently and genially, she radiated enthusiasm and a certain warmth that I did not have. With every question that was asked, she answered with a smooth smile and high-pitched tone that was dripping with sincerity. I bristled inside; I had just been slapped. I was shrouded in a cloud of anxiety and anxiousness. Suddenly, I was dragged from my reverie.…
time for me to begin my 10 minute warming up. I move my head side to side, stretch my legs, and I begin to walk briskly. I drank my water because I need to stay hydrated. When I was ready I sprinted out like a rocket. My brother began to time me. It took me 12 minutes to finish my one mile. Once I felt that my heart was pounding, my stomach started to develop painful cramps, and my My throat was as dry as a bone. I stopped and took deep breaths in and out. I took a five minute break and finished my 3 miles by walking. Once I finished my three miles I felt proud of myself and motivated for the next days to…
Growing up with my mother, who was white and Peruvian, and her side of the family was damaging when it came to understanding my Black heritage and also understanding how to take care of my Black body. My mother always had my hair in braids because she didn’t know how to take care of it, whenever it was out my white family members would always play with it and call me a lion, my cousins called my braids ghetto, and I just remember laughing along with them, pretending like their words didn’t effect how I saw myself. When I started going natural it was a difficult process, instead of my once luscious curls I had dried damage ends which looked horrible to me, I often was depressed my freshman year because of my hair and my lack of knowledge and…
Ever since I was born, I was a military brat. Not knowing where to call home, or if any place could be home, I moved. I moved six times, four of those places were towns that nobody could think about. Germany, North Carolina, Alaska, North Carolina, Germany, and Alaska, yet no place to call home. May 22, 1999, my first day on this world; Kronach hospital had its first American baby in their hands, yet they acted like I was a different species. The only event I remember was when I was about one. While I was one, I grabbed everything in my reach, even a grill handle. As a baby, I did not know that the handle was moving, the grill top had smashed my thumb. Ever since that event, I now have a starfish mark on the side of my right thumb from where the stiches were.…
Growing up with divorced parents from two radically different cultures was at first difficult. My mother’s family was from Peru, while my father’s was from Bangladesh. In my young mind, there was an internal struggle with what my identity actually consisted of. I wasn’t wholly from one culture or the other, and felt like a black sheep when interacting with either side of my family. Due to this, I attempted to keep these cultures partitioned. At the time, they were different portions of my life that simply couldn’t intermix. This mentality in turn led me to foolishly shy away from my joint heritage. I kept myself enclosed in a box, blind to the beauty of my surrounding culture. However, as time progressed, I knew I had to make a change in my understanding.…