Essay #3

Simone

English 9

Mr. H. Salsich

September 29

Unexpected Liveliness:
An Essay On Personification

TS In my eyes, everything in the world can come alive. SD From an apple to a skyscraper, they each have different distinct personalities. CM Objects and places can absorb the ways of an animal or human and have their own characteristics and persona. CS In other words, personification: when places and objects take the roles of things that are actually living.

TS After a long day of school and sports, the warmth and comfort of my room always welcomes me with open arms. SD The moment I step into my room I instantly feel more relaxed and tranquil. CM The dark pink walls and the aroma of my incense set a very untroubled and unflustered mood. CM I can commence my homework right away without worrying about interruptions and noise. SD In my room I feel safe, like nothing can harm me when I'm in my room's warm arms, like the world cannot see or hear me, like I am secure, protected, and shielded by the body of four colored walls surrounding me. (40 word sentence) CM At night, in the dark, I feel guarded by the blanket of blackness that wraps around my shoulders. CM When I'm home alone I feel out of harm's way and not at risk. SD My room is always comfortably snug and cozy. CM At the end of a frigid and frosty day, I can go up to my room and just soak up the heat that she is providing. CM I never feel bitter and uninvited when I am in my room's heated lap. CS My room is my personal home that I love and nurture to be welcoming, comfortable and relaxing.

TS My purple handled wire coated rope is one of my best friends. SD She has been through the best times, the frustrating times, and the worst times with me. CM She goes to every competition, every performance, and every practice with me. CM Therefore, she knows how I can be: she knows that I get frustrated when I can't get a trick right away, and that one of my favorite places to be is Galveston, Texas at the USA Jump Rope National Competition. SD My rope and I are in perfect harmony with each other most of the time. CM She swings flawlessly under my feet and over my head without interruption. CM She achieves tricks effortlessly and helps me make my way to nationals each year. SD However, sometimes, like all best friends do, we get into fights. CM Most of the time they are small quarrels that consist of her loosing control and whipping me in the back of my leg; then, I usually throw her to the ground in unadulterated anger. CM These disputes only last about two minutes, but they do happen on a day-to-day basis. CS My rope is my best companion, and even though we don't always get along, I know that in the end we will always work it out and jump back into perfect harmony.

TS Everything on this earth can come alive if you believe it can. SD The object or place could turn into a girl, a boy, your best friend, or your enemy, whatever you want it to be, it can. CM Inanimate objects can be twisted into different personalities that you think they have, and personification has the power to do such. CS All you need to remember is that not everything is always what it seems.

Essay #2

English 9

Mr. H. Salsich

Simone

September 22

Puzzling People:

An Essay About Charles Dicken's Theory About Everyone Having Secrets

TS Do you remember being little and telling secrets to your best friend and making them pinky promise not to tell? SD You shared almost everything with your best friend, but then again there were those secrets that you had always kept to yourself. CM Charles Dickens, the author of Tale of Two Cities, is declaring that we all have some special secrets that we never and will never share. CS Perhaps Dickens is right and no one can ever truly know you, but if you show the hidden side of you, what happens then?

TS I don't think anybody understands that ordinary everyday people are not what they seem. SD In chapter three of A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens presents us with the idea of mystery. CM Dickens states that, "[...] every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!", saying that we don't really know our closest family and friends and that they don't know us either. CM Mr. Dickens is basically declaring that we all have confidential information and puzzling mystifying things about us that no one but ourselves know. SD Furthermore, Dickens says that "My friend is dead, my neighbour is dead, my love, the darling of my soul, is dead." CM Many think that the mysterious writer means that these people are literally dead, but really they are just dead in his viewpoint. CM Since he does not genuinely know them, to him, they are dead and it is like they are not even there at all. CS Dickens, who is a very intricate and famous author, in my eyes, is a very opinionated person. (appositive S-V split)

TS If Charles Dickens is correct, then I think people are like puzzles (simile). SD When you get a puzzle, the first thing you do is look at the picture, which is like looking at a person for the first time. CM You either find the puzzle riveting and compelling, or you find the puzzle unexciting and dull. CM The first impression of a person is very much like a puzzle, you either want to dive into solving it, or you want to look for another puzzle to decipher. SD Puzzles are difficult to unscramble and unravel just like the layers of a person. CM The first pieces of the puzzle that fit together are like the first time you meet, but then when you start to connect more and more pieces, you are really getting to know each other. CM As additional pieces are put together you are digging further into the person's soul. SD Linking the last two pieces together is taking the final step into your relationship. CM You now completely and entirely know this person and their mysteries and secrets are no puzzle to you. CM You will never feel like you are missing a piece to the puzzle for you have seen the finished picture that looks exactly like the one on the box - your first impression. CS Puzzles are like people, enticing and mystifying, but when you start to put them together, you get the full picture.

TS Can anybody honestly and sincerely know you? SD Do you let everything show when you meet someone, or do you put up a wall and only let certain people in? CM Being guarded is something everyone does absentmindedly and in chapter three, Dickens was just magnifying that. CS Maybe he was right: no one can truly know the real you unless you put yourself on display.

Essay #1

Simone

English 9

Mr. H. Salsich

September 20

Unable To Let Go:

An Essay About a Song and a Movie That Decribe Going Back To School

TS In the summer you feel like the barbeques, the bonfires, and the fireworks will never end, but when August rolls around you get that nervous feeling itching up in your stomach because you know that summer is coming to a close. CM Going back to school in the fall is like waking up from a very long sleep. CM You just want five more minutes of summer but you know that you must get up and face the upcoming day. CS Summer feels endless and fall feels so out of reach, but summer slips through your fingers like the grains of sand at the beach, and before you know it, leaves are crunching under your feet.

TS If I had to choose a song to describe the bittersweet feeling of coming back to school in the fall, I would have to select the song "Half of my Heart" by John Mayer. SD John Mayer's song is about only being committed to something with half of your heart and not wanting to go through with it. CM In the song, he says that, "Half of my heart's got a grip on the situation, but half of my heart takes time." CM These lyrics could be interpreted many different ways, but I think that he is saying that part of him understands things but the other side of him takes time to grasp the subject. SD To me, this relates to going back to school after the summer because not all of your heart is in it. CM Part of you might want to go back because you want to see your friends or you are just bored with summer, but the other part of you wants summer to be ever present. CM One side of you knows that you should put your whole heart into everything you do, but then the other side just can't. CS Half of my heart is in going back to school, getting back into a routine, diving back into sports, but half of my heart just isn't. (base clause with two participles)

TS The movie "Going the Distance" directed by Nanette Burnstein, is about a couple who is forced to seperate, just like I am forced to go to school, but I don't want to. SD Burnstein's movie is basically about being forced to do something that you, at the time, really don't want to go through with, but know that in the long run it will get better. CM Erin (played by Drew Barrymore) and Garrett (played by Justin Long) desperately don't want to separate, but they know that it is necessary for Erin's job, and that the pain will only get better with time. CM If Erin and Garrett could do it any other way, they would, but they know they can't. SD I think that this movie hugely relates to going back to school after the summer because no one truly wants to have to go through yet another year of school, but everyone knows that it will pay off in the future. CM No one wants to give up summer, no one wants to wake up early every morning, no one wants to surrender to another year of school (parallelism). CM The discomfort of getting back into the habit of doing homework, getting up early, and going to practice everyday will eventually fade, and in time it will be like we never even had a vacation. CS Returning to school is like being separated from the one you love; you don't always want to do it but sometimes it is a necessity.

TS Fall is a bittersweet time. CM It brings cool days with brisk air, it brings school and work, and it brings the start of a very long year. CM This is why I think that the song "Half of my Heart" and the movie "Going the Distance" fit the season of fall perfectly. CS I don't want to go back to school just like Erin and Garret don't want to part, but at the same time half of my heart wants to go back to school but the other half just can't let go of summer.

Self Assessment:

1. Something I need to work on

One issue that I need to keep working on is my punctuation and deleting words that aren't necessary for the sentence.

2. One strong point:

One strong point that I see in my writing is my special effects. I think I did I nice job on parallelism and participles.

3. One possible weak point:

I think that my second body paragraph could be a weak point because it was very difficult for me to come up with a movie that fit my feelings about coming back to school in the fall.

4. The grade I would give myself:

I would give myself a B. The topic of this essay was a little difficult for me, but I think I did well on some of the key aspects of the essay.

Freestyle Writing #1

I don't know what I am supposed to do or what I am supposed to be,

But I know I have a purpose.

I mean, everyone was born with motivation, right?

Everyone else seems to know what they want to do with the rest of their lives,

Or where they want to go to high school and college,

But not me.

I don't really understand how someone could possibly have their whole life planned out ahead of them, like they were just mere puppets in this huge show of life.

It seems more important to live in the moment then to live in what hasn't even happened yet.

Then again, maybe I don't understand the game of life.

Maybe I never passed Go and received two hundred dollars.

Maybe I never got a get-out-of-jail-free-card and am just stuck here behind these metal bars.

Whatever I am meant to do will find me someday and I will welcome it with open arms,

But for right now, I am going to live in this day, this moment, this second,

And never forget it.