After the music stops, and the piano collects dust, only few will hear that glorious sound. Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Chopin continually ring through my ears. And once heard, the sound becomes unforgettable–just like him. The things he did always came off a little strange–constantly inventing thing, improving lasers, and editing picture. But, despite his odd […]
“One must learn by doing the thing; for though you think you know it, you have no certainty, until you try.” I couldn’t agree more with this quote by Sophocles, especially after an experience that I recently had. Walking through our nation’s capital with my family, I couldn’t help but notice the number of homeless […]
When I was thirteen years old, I held in my hand a crisp, new copy of the latest in the magical book series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My heart pounded, my stomach had butterflies, and I suddenly couldn’t stand still. I was holding in my hand the novel I had been waiting for […]
I never thought I’d make it far enough in life to write a scholarship essay-let alone an essay that asks for my life’s story. It’s not that I ever thought I wouldn’t succeed in my life, I was born with enough privilege that college was always an option. It’s more the fact that I’ve lived […]
I couldn’t wait for summer. Then I found out that my mom and grandparents had planned a thirty-seven day trip to the western states. My excitement escaped me. After I heard the bad news, I heard the worst. I learned that we would live in the camper for one month, one week, and two days […]
There is a patchwork-clad homeless woman that lives outside the Newkirk Plaza subway station, and every time I pass her sitting on her cold cement curb it rips my heart right out. This woman has haunted my thoughts throughout my childhood. I have always kept her at the periphery of my mind; in a way […]
Timeless Relations A ray of light shone through the slit of my eyelids causing a slight pain. As I opened my eyes and my pupils struggled to adjust to the light, a Blue Angel ripped through the sky above me with incomprehensible speed. I watched my mother and father conversing on the aft of the […]
It’s a bright sunny day in the middle of August. Rolling hills and green grass surrounds you as you breathe in the fresh country air. Cows silently chew their cud while someone in the distance yells to herd them in the pasture. A tractor is rambling on bailing hay as it prepares for the next […]
Wow! Life is so short. Who knew? People constantly told me this, I thought I knew what they meant. Yes, it is difficult to perceive and more than we can grasp but, that is the value of life. Truth is, I had no idea. Life is so delicately fragile and can just be snatched away […]
March 8th, 2006 was a day that changed my world. Jackson, my brother was in 3rd grade like any other kid in gym class playing basketball. In a blink of an eye, he dropped to the floor unresponsive. After a life-saving helicopter ride to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, he was rushed into the surgery room, […]