Davey O'Brien Award

MIKE GENTRY, (early-twenties) looks stressed as he waits outside the courtroom door, the hallway is a whirlwind of activity. The courtroom door swings open and out bursts RUSSELL GARRISON, now FIFTY. He is a big time defense attorney, has grayish dark hair, and he's dressed sharp. Behind him, we get a glimpse at the filled courtroom. Mike sneaks up to Russell from behind and taps his shoulder. MIKE GENTRY Mr. Garrison. Russell jumps. RUSSELL GARRISON/ T HANKS Mr. Gentry, why is it that…

“Fat” by Raymond Carver is the first short story in a collection called Will You Please Be Quiet, Please. Carver intrigued me because of his unique style of writing and captivated me from the first short story I read. This short story is a conversation between the narrator and her friend Rita, as she serves a fat man in the diner where they both work. The story, whilst seemingly is a ‘slice of life’ everyday mundane observation, slowly becomes more uncomfortable and unsettles dark secrets that…

“Boom,” she dove into the motionless water. Only one solitary thought remained in her mind. He is watching…. She did not dare to look back, she knew that whatever happened it was in his hands. - What she didn't know, is that in the next 10 seconds she would destroy the Junior World record by a margin of 3.41 seconds to become the youngest American to qualify for an Olympic Game. Most importantly her father would be watching. It all began years ago when her father developed dementia. Her one and…

The author Stephen King is well known for writing books meant to entertain an audience. The Shawshank Redemption is one of these. It is a fiction book belonging mainly to the crime genre, but it fits in the drama or thriller genres as well. The book follows a banker named Andy in his late 20's who was accused of murdering his wife, and the man she was cheating with. Although the man was innocent he was found guilty and sentenced to two life sentences in Shawshank Prison. The story is used to…

What impact does education and literacy really have in your life? Do you need it to become someone in life? How will it follow you throughout your whole life? To make literacy part of your life you need to put hard work into your education. Education is just as important as literacy. Literacy is something that “can save your life” (Alexie 136), as Sherman Alexie would say, something that makes you feel “truly free” (X 125), as Malcolm X would express it, and something that can change your way of…

Some may argue that people interact with nature in an overall positive way because of the poem titled, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman, and how it shows that humans interact with nature in a positive way. However, when people do interact with nature, it is usually in a negative way and they tend to take the Earth and all it has to offer for granted, as shown in “My Life as a Bat” by Margaret Atwood, because people's feelings for bats are almost always negative, as well as…

Shawshank Redemption was a spectacular movie that was about a man named Andy Dufresne. Andy was convicted of murdering his wife and his wife’s lover, he was sentenced to two life terms in the Shawshank Prison. Andy is innocent and finds interesting way to deal with his life in prison until he manages to escape. While in Shawshank, Andy makes a lifetime friend, Red, who will be by his side throughout all of his hardships. Andy and his friends put forth the characteristic of prison subcultures,…

Both my parents always wanted me to become a psychiatrist or a lawyer someday. They both believed I would have been a great candidate for those careers. In reality they couldn’t have been more wrong. Those careers never really appealed to me. There’s always a defining moment that occurs in your life when you know you were meant to take a certain path in life. I was only fourteen years old when that major moment occurred to me. After that I knew the career path I wanted to take and I haven’t…

Shawshank Redemption is a movie that contains many different criminal justice themes, as well as many important life lessons. The movie allows for the audience to see an innocent man being punished by the criminal justice system, the brutal life inside prison, and the harsh reality for criminals once they are released from prison and try to re-acclimate to society. The movie brings to light several criminal justice themes and the truths behind them that are usually unseen to the general public…

“The Meaning of Life” Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont The meaning of life can have different meanings, depending on who is trying to find life’s meaning; life is principally about living, not just surviving. The Shawshank Redemption is about pain, suffering, and oppression, and yet, as the movie continues; it becomes apparent that it is also about relationships, perseverance, and hope. Andy Dufresne, is a character who is sentenced for life in prison, for a crime he did not…