Reflection

Over the last two years I have improved on my overall writing ability. I came into 7th grade not knowing how to write an essay. As a writer my strengths will vary, it all depends on the topic. One of my best strengths is editing.  I am also good at word choice, idea development, content, voice, and body paragraphs. I struggle with my conclusion and sentence fluency. In 8th grade I have definitely improved my overall skills and learned how I can make my conclusions and sentence fluency  better. I enjoy writing personal narratives and am very good at it.

Gretchen

I am the new girl, Gretchen. Tomorrow, I will beat Squeaky in the May Day race. My family moves around a lot, I go from home to home. Although I have learned to find friends quickly, I become the one they want to follow, but I don't try to be mean, I guess people just assume I am. When I race Squeaky, I want to win, but if she wins, I won't hold it against her. All I want to do is show my confidence, although inside I am not that person.

Savior Siblings

One child is born to save, born out of a need since the other child has a fatal disease. This second child is a savior sibling, born to save the older one, born to help, born to sacrifice. All that has been done to save the older one hasn’t helped; their life could end at any time, they could be gone forever, although there is still hope. Is it fair to expect one sibling to sacrifice for the other?

In Jodi Picoult's, My Sisters Keeper, a girl was born for one reason only, and that was to save, which relates to real life, since other families have made the same decision. Anna was the sister of Kate, who had APL. Immediately after Anna’s parents found out that Kate had this fatal disease, they made the decision to have another child, since this was the best way to save Kate. Once Anna was born they used her umbilical cord for blood, which was only the beginning of Anna’s procedures. For numerous families, this exact situation has happened. There is a one article about a girl named Katie who has a disease called Diamond Blackfan Amenia and her only cure was a bone marrow transplant from a genetically matched sibling. After her parents found out, they chose to have another child. They ended up having a healthy baby boy named Christopher. Is this the right decision for both the families? Were they truly wanting another kid or was it the thought of losing a child that made the choice for them to have one more child? Was it fair for the parents to ask their children to give for their sibling?

Although Anna and Christopher were both born to save their older sisters, Anna spent most of her life giving and Christopher was able to make his sister healthy after the very early procedure. Though Anna spent her time having procedures done on her to help Kate, Christopher was able to grow up with his healthy sister. Growing up, Anna never knew what would happen next or when she would be needed to help her sister. Although, Christopher probably doesn’t remember what he did since he was only a baby, Anna has had multiple procedures and would remember it forever. Facing the idea of Kate needing Anna for something and her not being there, was difficult for their parents, so they weren’t allowing Anna to go to a hockey camp or do anything she really enjoyed. Being a normal child was taken away, her freedom was gone, and her life was controlled by Kate’s needs.  While Christopher did one procedure for Katie, he was able to grow up as a normal child. Each of the parents really wanted to save their first born child. But were they thinking about the second born child that was born to save? Did they know what would happen to the child if their older sibling didn’t live? How it would affect the rest of their childhood?

Asking a child to sacrifice for their sibling is a difficult thing to do. Even though parents may want to save their first child, do they consider how it will affect the younger one? Is it really fair to the younger child if they were only born to save the older one? These constant sacrifices cause the child to lose part of themselves. Whether it's a part of the body or a part of identity, it has been torn away forever.

The Sun

Swiftly, the sun made its way through the delicate clouds. Brushing itself up against the frosted windows, toasting them up, the sun's light slithered into the houses, shining its brightness throughout, bringing its warmth, giving us the morning. As every hour passed, it engulfed the town in its luster, its heat, its greatness. So hot it was, but so good it felt with its heat radiating at you left and right, pushing itself to get warmer and warmer. How could it get any hotter, that beast, which was already so powerful?

2081

The year was 2081. Life had changed drastically. The world could end at any time, every single person was living their life to the fullest. Doing all the bizarre stuff that they wouldn't usually do, all the things that they thought they would die doing. Enjoying every last second they had. It was causing the world to go out of control, chaos was all around, people were running around like they were going to die. Nobody wanted to waste what was left of their life at work. Nobody wanted to die. Nobody wanted all their life's work to end instantly.

Then whack, the end of the world hit, it all happened so swiftly that nobody was really sure what had just occurred. Even though everyone had been expected, it was still a shock to everyone. It would only be a matter of days before they were all dead, since the food supply had been destroyed along with their homes and the rest of the necessities. The children cried, but it was nearly impossible for their parents to comfort them since they were just as much upset as their children. Mankind was coming to an end their would be no one left, not one living being.

Man vs. Nature

The cold frigid air is all around, thrusting itself at you left and right. It's so freezing that it nips at any visible skin causing a tremendous pain. You're numb as could be, there's no feeling left from your face to your toes. You can’t stand the cold much longer, so you begin to run as fast as you can, but you keep falling and then you realize you will never make it back to camp. No man should venture out alone in the Yukon, no matter how brave he thinks he is, since nature is much more powerful than man.

In the short story “To Build a Fire,” by Jack London, the idea that nature can control man comes alive and can cause harm. Within this story there is a man who is trying to get to camp. Although it was 75 degrees below zero, the man still leaves the safety and warmth of Sulfur Creek. There really wasn’t much happening until, “it happened. At a place where there were no signs, where the soft, unbroken snow seemed to advertise solidity beneath, the man broke through.” The man’s dog had been walking in front, but he didn’t fall in. Therefore, nature was targeting him, torturing him with the cold and now the possibility of him getting hypothermia from being wet.
Forced to stop and make a fire so he could warm up and defrost his frozen feet, he pulled sticks off the tree. He set up his fire right underneath it, and then “high up in the tree one bough capsized its load of snow. This fell on the boughs beneath, capsizing them. This process continued, spreading out and involving the whole tree. It grew like an avalanche and it descended without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was blotted out! Where it had burned was mantle of fresh and disordered snow.” Even though the man caused this incident, nature had made all of that snow pile up on top of the tree, so he was set up. With this fire being put out, the man was sentenced to his own death, since he had to redo everything he just did. This time he would be much colder and he’d have more trouble lighting his match. At the end of the story, the man dies. Nature won over man, because the man was stupid for going out into the cold in the first place, but he was also being human.

Nature doesn’t only control the story; it also dominates in real life. During our current winter we had a huge snow storm with over a foot of snow. During the night nature took over and in the morning, it was nearly impossible to leave the house. Due to the snow storm, many businesses and schools were closed. All the roads were deserted and not many people dared to venture out into the snow. Most stayed safely in their homes and relaxed for the night. Those who had to be out risked getting stuck in piles of snow. Plows were out trying to restore the cities roads and get them ready for the next day, when everyone was back to their normal lives.

When it comes to nature, you shouldn’t risk your life, because it will usually be much stronger than you. If you get the option of whether or not to go our when the weather isn’t good, stay put. Don’t risk your life when you could be safe and alive. Your life is much more important than whatever else you would be doing. Wherever you are trying to get can wait until you can make a safe journey there.

The Day My Life Flashed Before My Eyes

It was an ordinary day, I was on my way to practice, so close to my destination, when I saw it coming right towards us. I screamed at the top of my lungs moments before we were hit. There was not way my dad would have been able to stop. It all happened so fast that one second I was screaming and the next I was in shock, uncertain of what exactly happened. The side airbags had filled with air and I was scared so bad. The one day something happens my dad forgot his phone in the house. The idiot driver that hit us was busy talking on the phone with one of her family members, as my dad yelled at her to call the cops. Luckily I was able to climb out of the car and then I realized it, the car was facing the opposite direction we had been going. The handle on the side of the car that I had been on was gone. At that moment my life had changed for ever, I would be afraid of car accidents for ever.