final post

Walking into Patterson the first day of classes I was sure I could write a final paper off of one draft, boy was I wrong. I have learned to look at stories from different points of view, looking for the tools the authors use to persuade the reader or to express his or her beliefs. I have learned how diction is used to set tone in a story and how it can change the way things are perceived. Putting two stories side by side to find a common thread is another thing that I have found helps me to understand writing. Using new technology such as blogging has changed the way I view some text because it opens my eyes to the way other people see it. Lastly I have learned to use what is around me, such as my classmates to help me with my writing. All of these things I have learned in this class and the have changed the way I read and write, for the better. Learning to analyze text while I am reading is one of the first things I learned in English 1010. I have now begun to notice how an author uses specific words to convey certain feelings in their work, such as “blood” in David Mamet’s, “The Rake,” or how David Griffith in “Prime Directive” uses a television show, Star Trek, to display his beliefs on the war in Iraq. After reading these stories that use certain tools so well, I have changed the way I write and read. I now see that comparing a harsh subject to a thing that many people can relate to is a good way to get your point of view across without boring your readers with a straight forward argument and throwing facts at them. Finding different and interesting ways to present my thoughts and ideas helps my writing and makes it more presentable.
Using “The Rake” and “Under the Influence” in a synthesis essay taught me how using two work’s like characteristics can help you come to certain conclusions about the works. After writing my synthesis essay I came to the conclusion that “sons are directly influenced by their fathers.” (Connell 1) I came to this because I found things such as an alcoholic father in “The Rake” and an abusive step father in “Under the Influence” contributed to their son’s lives. I have learned to pull things out of my reading that I wouldn’t have noticed before and use them in my own writing. I did this in all my writing this year and especially in my synthesis essay.
Sometimes doing something you have never done before can help you learn new things. This is what we did when we started blogging. I had never done this before but after doing it I learned that it can help my writing. The main way that it helped was by letting my peers see my writing and give me feed back on what I need to do. I also was able to read other classmates writing pieces and get ideas from them. Overall getting exposed to this new idea of blogging helped my writing and opened me to a place I can turn for inspiration and ideas.
Learning to use my classmates is one of the last things I am taking away from this class. Throughout the semester I have turned over a rough draft to someone in my class and I gotten back a fully corrected draft that is filled with great ideas and helpful tips for me. If I didn’t have my class to peer edit my papers they wouldn’t of turned out near as good as they did.
Leaving the last day of class was a lot different then my first day of class. I learned so much throughout the semester, from using blogger to looking at an author’s choice of words and how it affects their writing. I learned how to put two different works side by side in order to find similar characteristics and come up with and interpretive conclusion. I have changed as a reader and writer as a result of taking this class and it has all been for the better.

Reflection

Looking back on my writing I tend to talk bad about the things that keep me from doing what I love. Weather it is mosquitoes keeping me from enjoying the outdoors and nature or it is jellyfish that keep me from enjoying the beach. Two of my three stories seemed to fall toward this format but my third one was just informative and it didn't have any of my personal writing styles in it.

Liers/Jellyfish

If you go to the beach and someone tells you there are no jellyfish then thy are ling. The ocean is full of jellyfish and anyone who says otherwise is a lire. I can't go to the beach without getting stung by jellyfish so every time I hear someone say the jellyfish aren't out today I just say to myself, lire. Then there are the people that say it doesn't hurt that bad but we all know they are ling. So anytime you have jellyfish you will always have those people that lie about them.

Baseball/Tennis

Baseball is a team sport while tennis is a one man show. In baseball you have a team to back you up but in tennsi you are your only weapons. A bat is used oin baseball while a racket is used in tennis. There are fair and foul balls in baseball but only in or out in tennis

Nature/mosquitoes

I love being outdoors but when you are outside around here you can't help but be swamped by pesky mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are the biggest negative to nature. Sure they are vital to the environment because frogs and other animals eat them, but my life would be much better if I never had to see one again. Who likes being outside when the sun goes down and instead of enjoying it you are having to spend your time swatting at mosquitoes that seem to number in the millions.

list B

1. homosexual relationships
2. crime
3. ignorance
4. abortion
5. jellyfish
6. injury
7. lies
8. alcohol
9. mosquitoes

List

List A

1. football
2. family
3. basketball
4. baseball
5. tennis
6. soccer
7. friends
8. freedom
9. money
10. faith
11. nature
12. the beach
13. girls
14. workouts
15. swimming
16. fishing
17. hunting

first memory

As I struggle to think back to my first memory all I can think about is the pains of my childhood. These pains are not from bad parenting or anything emotional but rather all the physical pains that happened to me stick out in my mind and memories. All these pains and injuries came when I was between the ages two and four.
The first memory of pain takes me into my first bedroom at my old house. My old house which was located in a subdivision in Raleigh is where all these memories took place. This first memory took place in my room, a room that had bunk beds and a dresser. The dresser is the main object in my memory mainly because it was the cause of my pain. The dresser was a tall skinner dresser rather then one of those that is longer and shorter. My tall dresser had a toy train on the top of it and I want that toy train. With no one else in my room to get the train for me I decided to pull the draws out a little bit and climb to the top as if it were a ladder. After I got to the third draw and just out of reach of the train the dresser fell forward and on top of me, pinning me underneath it. Of course I cried out with pain and my wonderful mom came and pulled my little body out from the worthless excuse for a ladder. Other then scrapes and bruises no damage was done.
My second experience with pain was with my cousin. We were both about three years old and we where play at his house which is just right down the street from my old house. We were playing with G.I. Joes in his backyard when we got into a fire ant hill. At first we were having a great time but once all those ants started biting all there was, was a lot of screaming and crying. We both had to strip down to nothing and get sprayed down with the water hoes. Again because of the pain the memory has stuck with me for a long time.
After having a dresser fall on top of you and fire ants bite you, you might think I would be done but unfortunately I am not. This memory comes from outside my house where I was playing on a trailer that we had. It was a metal trailer and I was having a good time trying to balance while walking around the edge of it. It was me and my sister and we where racing back and forth to see who had the best balance. She had the best balance, as I fell and cut my left peck on the edge of the trailer. My shirt got ripped and the cut came and inch away from going through my nipple. Of course there was more crying but in this case there was a lot more blood. My shirt was covered in it as my mom came running out of the house to see what was going on. My mom fixed everything by patching me up with a huge bandage that covered my entire peck. I went to church late that day and got it checked out by a nurse to make sure I didn’t need stitches. Luckily I didn’t but I still have a light scar from the injury today. Of course I have other memories but for some reason the ones that are about pain are much easier to recall and remember.

family ritual

My family’s ritual is one that last an entire night. The night is always the one before Christmas morning. My family has gathered at my grandparents house, the mom’s father and mother, every year on Christmas eve for as long as I can remember. The night always starts with dinner because we don’t have a get together without one heck of a meal. All my aunts, uncles, cousins, and nephews are there and the tradition is for all the kids to go through the line first. I have always loved this because it gives me the first taste of all my favorite foods. During dinner we always eat in the same spot. These spots are unfortunately still at the table that we sat when we were all 10 years younger, so we are all forced to eat sideways because our knees will not fit under the table.
After have the best meal of the year my family, just the intermediate one, goes to a candle light service at church. After celebrating the true meaning of Christmas at church we head back to my grandparents house for more food. This time it is dessert and on the menu every year is your pick of red velvet cake, puppy chow, sugar cookies, and much more. After eating way too much and almost to the point of being sick we all sit around and talk about life and memories.
Once the kids can’t take it anymore all the parents decided to let us open up presents. This process is always started with everyone sitting in a big circle and the youngest of the grandchildren handing out the presents that are piled high around the fresh smelling spruce tree. The youngest always opens the first present and it goes by age from there, one at a time. We all have a great time doing this every year I Christmas would not be the same without this family ritual.

I want to talk about the great year Brett Farve is having. I have always love watching him play and for the past couple of years people have questioned if he should go into retirement. I always said no he shouldnt because he still has an incrediable arm and it is just the players around him that need to be changed. Lucky for me he didnt go into retirement and came out firing this year. He has broken many record so far in this season and he is on the verge of breaking some more. I am so happy now that people are talking about how good he is playing instead of pushing him towards retirement. I hope they win the super bowl this year but we will see.

A green bottle of alcohal was the sign that told him his dad wasn't going to be his good ol' self tonight. If it was finding it stashed somewhere in his work bench, buried out in the barn, or thrown in to the woods behind the house he recalled all those nights his father set there hammered and like a time boob waiting to go off. They lived on a military base where bombs were kept underground or in bunkers. When in their own house was a bomb of its own, there father, just waiting to be set off by the swigs of a drink. Each one of those bottles that are scattered all over there house are things that are knocking off a Little time, one by one, of his life. These bottles are his killer, his detonation sequence. The store and drink makers such as Jack Daniels or Jim Bean are the suppliers. They are just pushing this bomb to detonation. The causalities of these bottles and bombs are the wife and children. A son who thinks that living and doing everything perfect will make these bottles disappear. A family that when the bottles do show up run in fear of setting off an explosion. And a mother that does everything she knows how to keep things under control. If it weren't for these bottles this would just be a happy and peaceful family with no threat of an explosion. The family says they hear bombs being tested during the night. Thy just hope and pray that one night that it isn't the bomb that is in their house.

Affects

The event of the University of Memphis football player, Taylor Bradford, getting shot immediately affected me in two very distinct and opposite ways. The terrible event had the physical affect of me not going to school the following Monday yet had a different affect on me mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

The event first started affecting me at 6:00 in the morning on Monday when my mom wakes me up and tells me classes have been canceled due to a murder on the Memphis campus. At this point my heart sinks into my stomach and I check my phone for verification of my canceled classes. After I get passed the shock of a murder that happened at a place where I am five days of the week I sigh a breath of relief for not having to go to my classes today and I role back over to get another three hours of sleep.

After waking up and finding a name and details to put with this tragic event my heart sinks again. The news that it is a football player that was killed hit close to home for me personally and it also made my mind jump straight to my classmate Kennan. Kennan is on the football team and when that piece of news came to me I worried about him. Not only was I just thinking about Kennan but I was thinking about football players in general. These guys are supposed to be invincible, like superman, they aren’t suppose to die when their life is just now starting. Football players are the strong, fast, and big guys that don’t let anything stop them. Thinking about this just makes me sad and even mad that someone out there thinks they have the right to take life like that.

After feeling sad and even mad about the situation my feelings turn to worry. I begin to think of how I need to be more careful about my surroundings and how I need to protect myself at all times because if this can happen to a football player that is bigger, faster, and stronger than me then who am I to stop it from happening to me. This leaves me feeling hopeless in a city that is swamped with incidences like this one all the time.

Dealing with this hopelessness will affect me for the rest of my life. Because of this event the next time I am walking down the street at night and I see a black man walking toward me the hair on the back of my neck is going to stand on end and every muscle in my body is going to brace for the worse. This is something that I will subconsciously do because of this event in my life. Even though the black man is only having car trouble and needs to use a phone to call his wife I will think back to all the times I watched the ten o’clock news and saw the city of Memphis had a murder today. That man does not deserve for me to immediately think of him as a threat but through my experiences I will distinctively feel threatened by him.

Though this event may seem just like another tragedy in our lives it really is one of the things that make us who we are. It changes the way I walk in life and the way I view life, this event affects everything I do either directly or indirectly.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Memphis football team and the family of Taylor Bradford.

Analytical Essay

In David Griffith’s “Prime Directive” the idea of his story is to state his disproval of the war in Iraq and to state that through silence people can subconsciously agree with a wrong doer’s actions. Griffith uses a night of partying to set up his point about silence on the events of Abu Ghraib. When looked at closely the stories contents tales a different side of just another night partying. By comparing and contrasting the details of Griffith’s story we can find the real meaning behind the “Prime Directive.”

Griffith’s story starts out with him attending a Halloween party where he is dressed up as Captain James T. Kirk from Star Trek. Griffith then uses another guest at the party to bring up the subject of the prime directive on the television show Star Trek. The prime directive is a moral code that governs the conduct of all Space Federation members. The code says that no Star fleet personnel may interfere with the healthy development of alien life and culture. Basically this is saying don’t get into the business of other planets or countries. Right after saying this Griffith then compares the Prime Directive to the war in Iraq, basically conveying that the U.S. should not be interfering with the problems of other countries and civilizations. Personally I thank it is a stretch to compare the United States affairs to a sci-fi television show that doesn’t even come on anymore.

Another way Griffith subliminally portrays his disproval of the war is through the characters that are attending the party. First we have the Prozac pill, a pill that is taken for depression, that signifies the depressions of war and the depression that some of the soldiers have to go through after returning home from war. The second character that has a second meaning is Ms. Scarlet from Clue and Griffith says in his story, “Ms. Scarlet is carrying a noose, but wishes it was a wrench instead; she’s afraid that people will see her as just another beautiful suicide.” This can easily be compared to the people that believe the soldiers that are going over to Iraq are “just another beautiful suicide” and that they are throwing their lives away for something that doesn’t matter. This line in his story rubs me the wrong way because I have such a high respect for our soldiers and I know what they are doing is meaningful and not just a waste of their wonderful lives.

Griffith uses many other situations that draw comparisons to a soldier or the army. He talks about how he is away from his wife for a little while and how he is lonely by himself, the same way a soldier would be if over in Iraq away from his family. Griffith moves around a lot in his story the same way a convoy or army battalion would move around in a time of war. All these small details that draw comparisons add to Griffith’s main idea of his story.

Griffith really brings it home in the last part of his story when he tells us of how he willingly took a picture with a friend who was dressed as army specialist Charles Garner, the man who was in the pictures at Abu Ghraib. He tells us how he didn’t say anything but instead just smiled and posed for a picture. This tells us that through his silence that he doesn’t see what happened at Abu Ghraib to be that bad or that he could see himself doing it. I really like his feelings after taking this picture because I can see myself just posing for the picture just like he did. Later on in the story Griffith tells us that he has learned from his experience of silence and he is able to get across to us that when we are silent about big issues we are really taking a side even if it is not the one we intend to take.

Griffith’s “Prime Directive” is a successful story that is easy to read yet has an underlining idea or theme to go with it. After reading his story we can clearly see where he stands on the war in Iraq, which I disagree with, and we can also walk away with a message of how silence can be damaging in many ways. Overall this is a very successful story that uses creative ways to get the author’s real idea out.

Prime Directive

When I first read this story I was kind of lost, the story jumped around a lot and I really didn't know where it all was going. But now that I have read the entire thing and set through our discussion in class I am amazed about everything in this story has an underlining message or can be related to something that is going on in Iraq.

One of the first points we talked about was the fact that the guy dressed up as Captain Kirk from Star Trek for Halloween. At first glance this did not mean anything important to me and even after they mentioned the Star Trek code or creed, the Prime Directive, I still did not understand why they were talking about Star Trek so much. But again after I was able to finish the story and hear our discussion it was so clear that he was stating his disapproval with our country being at war with Iraq. For those of you who don't know what the Prime Directive is it is a code that says basically that you we will not interfere with problems with other "planets" or "aliens" (countries). This means he thinks that we should not be dealing with Iraq's problems.

Besides the Star Trek comparison he also has things in his story that can be related to things of war and soldiers. Some examples are how he is away from his wife and he feels lonely just like the way a soldier would be if he were on duty in Iraq. Another would be how in the story he goes from party to party and he moves around a lot just like an army convoy would do.

The main point he makes toward the last part of his story is the subject of Abu Ghraib. Though a picture he takes at a party he is able to figure out how he really feels about what happened at Abu Ghraib and how he feels toward the people in the pictures. It really makes you think about yourself, how you feel about it, and really if you were in that situation would you of got caught just posing in a picture like that.

I really enjoyed reading this and I am amazed about how he was able to present the material he want to in the way that he did. It made reading the story much easier and enjoyable.

Theme Paper

We would like to start out by saying that this is not going to be a standard paper. This will be a paper in which three different people ‘s lives are compared and come together under a unified theme. Our theme is Family Traditions or get Togethers, which consists of Jacob Connell’s beach trip, Christina DeFilippo’s Christmas party, and Kemishia Williams Family Reunion. As you will be able to see from our personal experiences that our families make up whom we really are. All these events show love, happiness, and a great time with our families.

My name is Jacob and my most favorite time of the summer and the year, besides football season, is the week or two I get to spend at the beach with my family. Not only is it just my Dad, Mom, and sisters but my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all at the beach together.

I have 3 sisters, so I am the only boy and I get stuck not being able to do guy things a lot so when I go to the beach I meet up with my cousins (three boys) and have a great time. The cousin closest to me is Caleb, he is the same age as me and if you didn't know us, you would think we were brothers, not because of our appearance but because of how we act just a like. We both love sports to death and we are both very athletic and active.

Most of our trips to the beach are very similar. The past 3 years we have stayed in a large beach house in Fort Morgan, Alabama but before that we always stayed in condos in Gulf Shores, Alabama. My family likes the beach house because the beach is never crowded and we are pretty much by ourselves, but Caleb and I of course would much rather be in a place where there are a lot of people and there for more girls, but besides the lack of girls on the beach everything is perfect.

The typical beach trip with my family starts with everyone meeting down on the coast (we don't all live around here so we just meet down there) and checking out the nice house that we get to stay in for the next week or two. The week we go is always during the TSSAA dead week for high school sports because we all play sports and that's the only time we get off. The days at the beach always start late for me because I sleep till Caleb gets tired of being up by himself and finally decides to wake me up. We always start our day by going down to the beach and riding the waves for a couple of hours or if the jellyfish are bad till we get fed up with getting stung. After we are all tired of the ocean beating us into the sand we go up and eat lunch, normally sandwiches, and rest a little bit. After eating lunch Caleb and I normally decided to take a walk on the beach to see if we can meet any girls, but where we are at we both know our odds are not very good. Since we will probably not see a single girl our age we take a football or frisbee and have fun throwing it up and down the beach as we keep an eye out for the girls that is never there. Once we have walked for five mile we both decided there are no girls our age anywhere in the state of Alabama we decide to walk back.

It is now late afternoon and we are all somewhat burnt from being out in the sun all day. Around this time Caleb and me grab our skim boards, which we have mastered with years and years of experience, and find a perfect spot to skim until the sun goes down. Even though I said we master it we will still find our selves bleeding at the knees and elbows and washing sand out of our pants from busting and rolling across the beach. Once day light is gone we decide to go up and eat dinner. Now dinner on our family vacations is something you do not want to miss. I am talking steak, boiled shrimp, barbecued shrimp, tilapia, huge baked potatoes, and amazing sides that are better than any restaurant I have ever been to. And then there is sweet tea and you can’t beat good sweet tea. Once our bellies are full Caleb and me normally take my younger cousin out to hunt for grabs. Because there are not that many people around where we stay at the crabs are everywhere and that makes a lot of fun while hunting them. Just a little side note we even got to see a giant sea turtle coming up on the beach to lay its eggs this past year. After we are done with our hunt Caleb and me normally go and relax in the hot tub before hitting the sack and starting the cycle all over again.The beach trip wouldn't be half as fun as it is without my cousin and family there and they are why I have such a great time every year we go.


As you go from the first story to the next you will start to see the similarities between us. You will see how we love our families and how we interact with one another.


I will start by saying I have a big, wonderful, funny, and loving family. I have three aunts, three uncles, and there are fourteen cousins. We love to get together and have a great time. This is my story of our yearly get together at Christmas.When I first get there I feel excited and happy. I feel nervous and jumpy almost at the sight of seeing people I do not get to see a lot. The atmosphere is great. We are all happy to see each other and it is really like a homecoming, because everyone is together for the only time that year. All the little kids are excited and wanting to open their presents, the big kids too, but not as much. All my uncles and aunts are talking and helping with the food. All the young adults (who used to be the kids) are just hanging out and having fun.The next scenes are interacting and mingling before dinner is ready. Everyone is running around and talking. We are all laughing and having a good time. We are all getting caught up about everyone’s business. This is a fun time because we are all just sitting around, helping Ma, and having a great time. Dinner is served. Boy, are we all ready to eat by then. By that time the smell of the food cooking has made us all so hunger we don’t know what to do. Ma and Pa always make the same thing too. Spaghetti and Lasagna with salad and rolls is the standard. Yum Yum. Of course there are deserts too. I love the deserts. We always look forward to this part.Presents are next. Now who doesn't like presents?? Nobody I know. Anyway, we all assemble in the den and Pa hands out all the gifts. The excitement is in the air. "What did we get?" that is all we can think about. The little ones especially you want to watch. They are so funny. When I was younger I was the one they were all laughing at, but now that I am older I see how much fun it is to be the observer. I have a younger sister so I have more fun watching her than I do opening my stuff.

Afterwards we all sit around chatting and us older ones are making plans about what or where to go next. We always have so much fun at the party. We all look forward to this one event every year. We never get to see everybody together at the same time and this is our only time. My Uncle Chuck lives in Ohio so they only get to come down once a year and that is at Christmas. We all look forward to getting to know one another again and just taking time to talk and laugh. Because when everything is said and done our heart is in our family.


Family reunions are when each side of your family gets together and have valuable time. At family reunion your relative show you love and support you through difficult situations. The most important part is the you get to see long Lot relatives that you were dying to see. Most family reunions stitch up break-ups between one another and the can prevent separation time. Reunions keep down the drama from each household. Many times when families plan them it shows that the members of your family have a positive outlook on life, like sticking together at all times. When people attend family reunions' emotions flow throughout the whole day till everyone is gone their separate ways. If a family reunion is something new to you: you will really enjoy moments like those of a family reunion. Reunions are based n a family's communication among each grandparent, sister, brother, and cousins. These people are the unity of everyone. Then location is the biggest part because everyone needs a nice convenient place that is reasonable for everyone. Out-of-town trips are fun for a family reunion but not fun like being at hone giving your family coming to you. Money is a big component that is involve in being a family. If u know it or not their are dues to be paid. Dues should be no more than twenty-dollars. When you can't pay dues your other fellow family members that happily love you will come out their pockets and make sure you com out to attend this gathering. My family reunions are always fun. I just attended an family reunion Saturday the 8th at tan clubhouse. It was exciting, especially for me because I'm like the star of the family. People actually jump up running to me to give me hugs and to speak. All my baby cousin run all around me as a whole and it swam me. Always there is little kids all around me. Yes, I just love the attention because it makes me feel special. When I arrive I feel the vibe of a good time with my family. My family consists off plenty of characters so i never know whom I'm going to run into. The food is always goo.d so if you have good cooks there should not be a problem with nasty food. We had dishes from green beans which I hat spaghetti, ham (to let you in on a secret I don't eat pork). We had plenty of chicken and hamburgers. Lots of cakes and drinks, most people thinks that's the best part of getting together with family is "the food", which is kind of true, but it not important. An older person from the family always selects the music because if someone young picked the music the elders would be upset. The music that is played is good enough to make both parties satisfied. When i go to my reunions i always like to bring my boyfriend at the time to show him off, but i also bring friends of mines too. When all these fun things end it just spoil your night but there is always next year. The next year probably would be more exciting than he previous time.

At first glance, we appeared to be very different people but as you can see from our stories and experiences we share similar qualities and values. We hope that you can take away from our experiences the love and joy that we receive from our families and apply them to your own family lives

Going to the beach

Probably my most favorite time of the summer and the year, besides football season, is the week or two I get to spend at the beach with my family. Not only is it just my Dad, Mom, and sisters but my grandparents, aunts , uncles, and cousins.

I have 3 sisters, so I am the only boy and I get stuck not being able to do guy things a lot so when I go to the beach I meet up with my cousins (three boys) and have a great time. The cousin closest to me is Caleb, he is the same age as me and if you didn't know us you would think we were brothers, not because of our appearance but because of how we act just a like. We both love sports to death and we are both very athletic and active.

Most of our trips to the beach are very similar. The past 3 years we have stayed in a large beach house in Fort Morgan, Alabama but before that we always stayed in condos in Gulf Shores, Alabama. My family likes the beach house because the beach is never crowded and we are pretty much by ourselves, but Caleb and I of course would much rather be in a place where there are a lot of people and there for more girls, but besides the lack of girls on the beach everything is perfect.

The typical beach trip with my family starts with everyone meeting down on the coast (we don't all live around here so we just meet down there) and checking out the nice house that we get to stay in for the next week or two. The week we go is always during the TSSAA dead week for high school sports because we all play sports and that's the only time we get off. The days at the beach always start late for me because I sleep till Caleb gets tired of being up by himself and finally decides to wake me up. We always start our day by going down to the beach and riding the waves for a couple of hours or if the jellyfish are bad till we get fed up with getting stung. After we are all tired of the ocean beating us into the sand we go up and eat lunch, normally sandwiches, and rest a little bit. After eating lunch Caleb and I normally decided to take a walk on the beach to see if we can meet any girls, but where we are at we both know our odds are not very good. Since we will probably not see a single girl our age we take a football or frisbee and have fun throwing it up and down the beach as we keep an eye out for the girls that is never there. Once we have walked for five mile we both decided there are no girls our age anywhere in the state of Alabama we decide to walk back.

It is now late afternoon and we are all somewhat burnt from being out in the sun all day. Around this time me and Caleb grab our skim boards, which we have mastered with years and years of experience, and find a perfect spot to skim until the sun goes down. Even though I said we master it will still find our selves bleeding at the knees and elbows and washing sand out of our pants from busting and rolling across the beach. Once day light is gone we decide to go up and eat dinner. Now dinner on our family vacations is something you do not want to miss. I am talking steak, boiled shrimp, barbecued shrimp, tilapia, huge baked potatoes, and amazing sides that are better than any restaurant I have ever been to. And then there is sweet tea and you cant beat good sweet tea. Once our belly's are full me and Caleb normally take my younger cousin out to hunt for grabs. Because there are not that many people around where we stay at the crabs are everywhere and that makes a lot of fun while hunting them. Just a little side note we even got to see a giant sea turtle coming up on the beach to lay its eggs this past year. After we are done with our hunt me and Caleb normally go and relax in the hot tub before hitting the sack and starting the cycle all over again.

The beach trip wouldn't be half as fun as it is without my cousin and family there and they are why I have such a great time every year we go.

Theme and Team Members

My group is made up of Kameshia Williams, Christina Defilippo, and myself. We decided on the theme of familiy traditions.

My family Traditions

• I have a huge family
• 3 sisters
• 18 cousins
• Thanksgiving dinners and football games
• Home made ice cream and peach cobbler
• Going to the beach
• Christmas time
• Football games
• Easter
• summer time
• New Years
• "spot light"
• Times at the pool
• Colorado trip
• 4th of July
• Water balloons
• meeting at the park

my group chose "going to the beach" as my point to write on.

I read and article in The New Yorker and the title of it was No Obstacles. It was written by Alec Wilkinson and the article is about a new form of sport or so called parkour or free running. I was drawn to this article because i am really into athletics and parkour is very physically demanding and takes a lot of hard work and determination. Just to tell you what parkour is, it is those people that start running and no matter what is in there way they do these jumps and what not to get over every obstacle. If any of you have seen the latest James Bond the opening scene in it is parkour.
The article was pretty easy to read because I am for one interested in the subject but also it was very descriptive and gave good mental pictures of something that i have never seen before. The authors word choice consisted mostly of words that are used in parkour such as certain jumps and what not. Most of the words he used i wouldn't have know the meaning of them by themselves but because they were in this story i was able to understands and picture what parkour really is and what the moves look like. The article was set up by the writer in an interview format where he went around and talked to people that were doing parkour and he even talked to the man who invented it. Every person that he mentioned in his story he gave a detailed description of their face, body type, and what they were wearing. All that really help me visualize where and what he was doing, i felt like i was with him. As far as tone and voice go in my article, the tone was like the writer was kind of excited about the subject but not to over the top and the voice was just getting this information about the unpopular hobby out there.