In My Country

the playing field of my life lies the truth of my life. Reality is nothing more, or less, than a momentary reflection. My core is my foundation, always there for me, even during the most challenging of times. From this place, I can respond to anything in a way that’s aligned with who I really am. Keep facing pain, fears and flaws, so I can break through the barriers of automatic patterns and see what’s possible beyond the beliefs I have about myself and others. When I challenge my limiting…

In My Antonia, Cather uses symbols from nature to express the essential aspects of the lives of the characters. Some symbols are of the land: the prairie, the grass, winter, etc. Other symbols are animals: badgers, wolves, rattlesnakes, larks, etc. Choose three symbols and discuss how they convey information about the daily lives of the characters, how the characters relate to each other and/or how Cather views life. In My Antonia, by Willa Cather, there are multiple examples of symbolism. Mr.…

My sophomore year of high school, I received an award for Most Improved in cross country. That day I felt on top of the world. As a matter of fact, I felt on top of the world that entire season. I was never athletic, as a matter of fact, before joining Track the year before, I had never ran more than three feet in my entire life. The first day of cross country was an awful start. We had to time our first mile in the 90 degree heat. Needless to say, I walked home that day feeling a bit…

I could picture the Earth in my head. The blues of water, greens of vegetation, and whites of clouds, all the essentials of life swirling together as if left by brush strokes. I had been seeing it since my first earth science class in elementary school, glaring out at me from textbooks as if demanding an answer. How could you do this? The question reverberated in my head, the dull ache of cognitive dissonance setting in as I peered out the window. I didn’t have an answer. None of us did. That’s…

My experience at the Charlotte Country Club was amazing. I loved how friendly the staff was when you entered the County Club. The club is a traditional club there is no cellphone use throughout the club and the club has a dress code no jeans, business causal is acceptable. Once we enter the club we were shown the president room where they had refreshments such as: water, soda, coffee, and tea. As we waited for everyone to arrive we were introduce to Amanda Day who is the Assistant Manager of the…

8th grade, I decided to join cross country; I was unaware of just how much grit it would take to run it. It was my first practice, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first thing we did was go to a little isolated plain of grass and stretch to prepare our muscles for the running. While we were running I told myself, “I got this.” Practice was pretty simple and I thought I had the whole idea down. After about a week or so, we had our first meet. When we got there my stomach was turning and I…

Isabel Allende, in her memoir My Invented Country, connotes her experience as an Immigrant around the world before settling in America with feelings of misery and emptiness. She recalls her experience escaping her homeland and traveling as the step-daughter of a diplomat as incredibly lonely without a defined sense of direction. Allende experiences reveries of Chile that nip at her heels and cause her to crave home. She rejects the racism of the society and experiences difficulty in assimilating…

butterflies in my stomach as I got in the bus to go to the State meet with the rest of my Cross Country team. The boys team was going that year and I was in the top seven who had to run. It was nerve racking for me considering I was only in sixth grade and I was running with a bunch of older kids who are in seventh and eighth grade. It was going to be incredibly hard for me, but I took a deep breath and sat down in my seat. I had felt an uneasy feeling in the air as we took off towards my…

Throughout history, music has been used for many purposes, including the portrayal of a country and its defining elements. Romantic composers inspired Smetana to use unique familiar images of Bohemia to create a national identity through music. Ma Vlast (My Country/homeland) was completed in 1874, amidst a Bohemian struggle for democracy and a booming demand for independence, and addressed the desire of a unified culture and language. Cultural nationalism was the most successful political…

classroom over at York Country Day School. The lessons I observed were based off of the new FOSS Module that my teacher was piloting. It was a unique learning experience because it was her first time teaching the material. I felt that we were able to learn and grow from one another as we reflected on components of the lessons. The activities were hands-on and put students in charge of their own learning which is the heart of Inquiry-Based Science. The first lesson I observed during my…