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, […]
Every person has a dream, but not every dream is turned into a reality, because people do not believe in themselves. I am different. If I put my mind to it, I can achieve it. One day I will be a restaurateur. I love cooking. I want my ideas to shine through and my voice […]
It’s fascinating how fortune cookies are always right; the always-knowing rectangular slip of paper with the sole reason for everything we’ve ever done. I have revolved my life around an obsession hidden away with all the secrets of the world, safe from exposure and the aversion of criticism. An obsession only the cookie, the fortune […]
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 […]
Gazing at the unnatural city, I walked through the streets feeling lost and forgotten. There was no one familiar. How others spoke was like trying to understand a newborn baby, impossible. I didn’t know how I was going to survive in this dreadful town. The clothes were shocking and I would never be caught dead […]
I have always has a passion for teaching. From the time I was a kid, I would fight to be the teacher when I played school with my friends. I wanted to be the one to write on the chalkboard and give my friends assignments. My love for English, too, has been unwavering: I’m still […]
When I was 10 years old, my mother taught me a poem by Rudyard Kipling entitled ‘If’. The poem states a series of hypotheticals, which together Kipling claims are the attributes of a man. By being a man, Kipling does not mean a burly, masculine figure, rather a wise, learned person capable of handling the […]
Ever since I was a little boy my mother would take me to her garden in the backyard and I would sit with her as she would maintain her garden. I used to listen intently as she would teach me about growing plants. With a multitude of plants, my mom’s garden was an oasis of […]
“You are the top 5% of your class. Many of you are smarter than I am. You will work hard in this course, and I demand that you perform at your full potential.” These words, spoken on my first day of high school by a small, sixty-something-year-old woman sent waves of dread and self-doubt through […]