Big City
This is one of the stories I wrote in humanities; enjoy!
The buzz of people in the big city made she head spin. Frowning, Katie shivered. It was cold too. And it wasn’t rainy or snowing, just overcast and cloudy, but still cold. She pulled her jacket in closer, but it didn’t help. Katie gazed up at the tall skyscrapers above her, and sighed. She missed the fresh air and the big open fields. Here, everything was too cramped and dirty.
Katie walked along the crowded sidewalk, stuffing her hands in her pockets. She didn’t like New York. It was too big, and her new school was lousy. My school is the size of the town that I used to live in back in Alabama, she thought. As she made her way through the throng of people, she staggered under the weight of her backpack, and grimaced. The teachers at her school gave way to much homework, and she also had to take the bus to and from school, which was a real pain. In Alabama, she had always lived in a big open house with acres of open fields all around, but here her family had to live in a cramped little apartment and at night she could hear the neighbors yelling and fighting, which kept her up till all hours. Katie hated it here.
She had got to the bus stop and sat down to wait. She absentmindedly stuck her hand under the seat, but withdrew it immediately with disgust. She stared at the gum on her hand, and almost threw up. But she didn’t. Katie looked around for someplace to wipe her hand of, and settled with the seat next to her. Luckily, most of it was easy to scrape off, but some of it was still on her hand. Yuck, she thought.
Katie turned her head up to the sound of an engine, and the bus was in front of her, with the bus driver looking at her with an annoyed expression on his face. She jumped out of her seat and stepped up onto the bus. She looked around for a seat and saw one in the very back of the bus. Katie walked down the isle to the seat, and gladly relieved herself of her backpack, throwing it on the seat. The bus jolted to a start and she steadied herself from the shake. As the scenery flew by, Katie got out her book and occupied herself for the twelve stops ahead of her. She didn’t even notice the people getting on and off. The next time the bus stopped even more people got on, and by the time it started again, there were no more available seats. Katie continued reading and didn’t see that the bus had stopped next and that there was a person standing beside her.
“Uhhh excuse me? Miss?” he said. Katie glanced up and saw a dirty looking man standing beside her, staring pointedly at her backpack.
“Oh umm ya… here” she stuttered. Katie picked up her backpack and set it in her lap. He turned around and sat down. The moment the man sat down Katie smelled something, and it didn’t smelled good. It smelled like rotten fish and skunk. Katie sucked in her breath and crinkled her nose. She looked at him, and it seemed like he was disgusted by the smell too. Katie tried to focus on breathing through her mouth but by the second to last stop she was ready to run out screaming. So she picked up her backpack and got off the bus.
After she got off, she turned around and looked back at the closing doors, and sat down on the bench, careful not to touch the bottom. Katie had planned that she would wait for the next bus, but once she looked around, she forgot all of that. Behind her, was the biggest open field she had seen since Alabama.
It was actually green and little yellow flowers were splattered around in the grass. With her mouth open, she got up and dragged her backpack to the middle of the field, where a tall tree was standing. When Katie got to the tree, she let go of her backpack and leaned against the tree. How could a place this big hide from her? This could have saved her from all that lament and feeling sorry for herself. Still awestruck, she slid down to the soft green carpet below her. Katie leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She sighed in relief. Maybe, just maybe, she could live with this.
Irene Morgan
Robert Billings
Personality: Robert is a little spacey, and tends to drift off in class and not pay attention. Has a lot of pressure when trying to do quality work, because he is trying to not get lost in the dust of his older brother. He tries to fit in, but he has been off in the clouds for so long no one is sure what to think of him.
Mode Of Operating: He works well in a controlled environment, with rules to keep him on task. Robert focuses better with structured discipline, and not having to make too many decisions.
How The Wave Was Good For Him: It was a positive outcome for him working with discipline. He benefited from being treated equally by his peers and became quite confident.
How The Wave Was Bad For Him: The Wave ended abruptly, and left him once again in the dust. Robert needs to find something that gives him a routine. He worries if his peers will still accept him.
Palo Alto:
This is the music I chose to represent the theme from the story, the Wave.
The Pretender
By Foo Fighters
This song represents the Wave’s theme by illustrating an non-wave member’s point of view, like Laurie, because in its lyrics it says ‘What if I say I'm not like the others? What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays? You're the pretender What if I say I will never surrender?’ I think that definitely represents someone’s point of view that does not want to join the Wave, wants to be an individual, and someone who wants to have freedom to have their own mind.
Got To Be
By Des’ree
To me, this song seems like it is telling someone to be an individual, and be their selves. It is a message to people in the Wave, telling them to be whoever they want to be. It says, ‘You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger, you gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together.’ I think that is meant to show someone all the different things they can be.
Beautiful
By Christina Aguilera
This song seems like it is telling someone, such as a Wave member, to not be judged by their peers, because it doesn’t matter about what someone else thinks, because it matters what they think. The song says, ‘you are beautiful no matter what they say, words can't bring you down, you are beautiful in every single way, yes, words can't bring you down’. It is telling someone not to care what other people say.
Waiting On The World To Change
By John Mayer
This song represents someone who is a non-Wave member and who thinks that the Wave is turning into something more than just an experiment, and who hopes that it will go away eventually. They do not think that anything they would do would make a difference, so they just wait. ‘Now we see everything that's going wrong, with the world and those who lead it, we just feel like we don't have the means, to rise above and beat it. So we keep waiting, waiting on the world to change, we keep on waiting, waiting on the world to change.’
Question: How does the need to belong and be accepted by others cloud our judgment and keep people from making good choices?
Statement: The need to belong and excepted clouds our judgment and keeps us from making good choices.
Answer: People want to be accepted by others and belong to a group, because they don't want to be alone during events that they need friends and people to back them up, or comfort them. I think the reason the need to be accepted clouds our judgment is because we get caught up and overwhelmed, always thinking about what to do and what not to do. And if we do have time to think things through, it may not always be the right decision, because part of our decisions are ruled by our peers, and what everyone else would think. One example of the need to belong and excepted clouding our judgment and keeping us from making good choices from the Wave, is when the anonymous writer said that their friends were unsure of joining the Wave, and when the senior said that everyone was doing it, their friends changed their minds and joined the Wave, I thought that that was a strait-out example. The friends of the anonymous writer were pressures into joining the Wave, because they wanted to belong and fit in, so that might have blocked their judgment. Also, the students wanted to be like the seniors, who were superior, so that might have been a reason why they joined. So in all, I agree with the statement that the need to belong and excepted clouds our judgment and keeps us from making good choices.
Question: Do you think students are misunderstood by parents and teachers? Why or why not?
Answer: In my opinion, that is in the students hands. For example, a student can not say that a parent or teacher does not understand if they do not tell them what is wrong. If the student tells a teacher or parent what is wrong and asks for help or what to do, or just support, then the teacher or parent is responsible for if they understand and help, or not. It also matters on what kind of environment a student is in. If they are in a school that's teachers only are required to teach, and do not choose to help the students with anything other than schoolwork, then the teacher is responsible for the misunderstanding. Also, if a student is in a home that has some difficulties, then it is understandable that the parent is busy and does not have a lot of time. But if misunderstanding is in a home that is fine and the parent is available, but does not understand the student, then I think that it is the parents' responsibility. In all, I think that it is the students responsibility to ask or tell a parent or teacher, and from the on the adult is responsible. So I am not sure if students are misunderstood, because there are a lot of different situations.
In humanities, we are reading a book called The Wave by Todd Strasser. It is about a experiment a teacher thought of to help his students, and him, understand why the Nazis followed Hitler and why no one stopped such a small population. It is based on a true story.
Alli H.
09/11/08
One Big Leap
I thought this day would never come, but when it did, I was wishing it would end. I stood on the OB pier, shivering and awaiting my death. The wind was whipping my face and the dark ocean was luring me towards it's salty depths. My feet were numb and I could barely feel the rough wood beneath me. My friend, Matty, was sitting on a bench in her wet suit and Junior Guard rah guard, looking very at ease. I felt a pang of jealousy, for she had been in Junior Lifeguards last year and was used to jumping off a twenty foot pier. Unfortunately, this was my first year in Junior Lifeguards and I was scared silly. But I was too stubborn to back out and I felt like I was obligated to jump. I had talked to Matty before and she said it was just like roller coaster, and it would be fun, that is, if I liked roller coasters. I said that I did, but really, I wasn't so sure. Now I tried to act liked I wanted to do this, but in my mind, it was mass hysteria.
I walked over to Sara, who, like me, was only in her first year of JGs. But she was smart and wasn't going to jump of the pier. I was wishing I could back out with her, but it was like I had a brick wall blocking me. I felt like I was dedicated to jump, and plenty of people would be disappointed if I didn't. I begged her to jump, but she declined. I don't blame her. I was half for mimicking her myself, but the other half of me wanted to go right up there and leap. It was like I wanted to prove something to myself, and to everyone else.
We were lining up to jump. I was so confused and I couldn't make up my mind. My instructor was telling to go, and out of a mad impulse, I left Sara and got in line. As the line inched forward, I watched the people in front of me jump. I had already watched all the older kids jump and they made it look simple. I didn't think it was, but when the kids my age, some even younger, jumped, it looked as easy as everyone else. And most of them were new like me. I was beginning to wonder if I was just overreacting. But before I could judge that, I had got to the edge of the pier and was up on the edge. I willed myself not to look down, but my curiosity got to me. I gulped. It was really high. The water was dark and further down, closer to the beach, I could see the rocks.
My fins were in my hands, to put on when I got in the water, and they felt like they were getting heavier by the moment. I looked down again, not focusing on the water but the people in it. I saw Matty waving to me, and I felt a little bit more relaxed. Someone told us through the megaphone to put our fins up. I did. We had to because if we didn't, and put our arms down, we won't be streamline and our arms would be yanked. They told us to jump. Gulp. The butterflies were gnawing at my stomach. I had only one second to make up my mind, and at the end of that second, I pushed myself up, away from the end of the pier.
I was rushing down to the water. My stomach was in my throat. The water got closer and closer by the millisecond. I pointed my feet. The silence was deafening as they watched us fall. I held my breath. SPLASH! I was under the water. I kicked my legs, my lungs yearning for oxygen. I was reaching the top quickly. At last, my head breached the surface. I took one big gasp of air. Ahhh... It wasn't too bad. Actually, it was sort of fun, even though I hated to admit it. But I was glad it was over.
