My Big Brother

The moment I had been waiting for had begun. I was singing my heart out for my annual All State Audition. The butterflies in my stomach almost eating me alive, knowing I had made it the past two years and could not make a mistake, I had to be perfect. In an instant, my eyes wandered and lost my spot in the music which I was currently singing from. I had messed up, big time. There was no way i could recover from this accident. I was sure to be done for. Nothing made sense and there was no reason…

My hands shook furiously as Keith Shadis paced up and down around the other cadets. Chest pounding at what felt like 1000 beats a minute, I prayed that Shadis wouldn't come close to me. After seeing the way he had already interagated potato girl I don't think I would be able to handle talking to him. "Hey calm down. It's gonna be okay," I heard a voice whisper to me. I whipped my head around to see that Zoe was standing there. She was standing tall and confidently, unlike myself who was still…

Anton has received many offers to buy the farm. For Anton and Antonia, these offers could be taken as an opportunity of returning to their homeland, but these offers are always turned down. Anton states, “I like to go back there once, when the boys is big enough to farm the place. Sometimes when I read the papers from the old country, I pretty near run away… [but] I never did think how I would like to be a settled man like this” (Cather 224). Commenting on the couple’s relationship, Burden…

“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” and “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” all have in common? They were all co-written by Richard and Robert Sherman (Kamp). While Robert Sherman died a few years ago, Richard is still alive. But without Robert, Richard would not be where he is today. So to start out, the Sherman brothers were the sons of the famous Tin Pan Alley singer Al Sherman (Harvey). This means Richard and Robert both grew up with music being a big part of their lives. During his college…

Chapter 1 ♡ The Princess of Audacity My eyes flutter open and I immediately shut them again wishing myself back into a dream. Even though I can’t remember what I was dreaming about exactly, I know that any dream good or bad would be better than my real life. I can hear the soft whisper of voices behind my door and know that if I don’t get up now on my own, I’ll be woken up in a matter of minutes. I slowly sit up and let out a sigh. The stale air circulating through my room has a cold bite to…

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…

little diversity and culture represented in my Massachusetts home; it was a bit of a culture shock arriving in New York City. Here; different cultures are represented, various opinions are presented, and social norms are rejected. With this refreshing outlook on life, I believe it is necessary to get outside of your comfort zone and become aware of your surroundings. Back in my home town of Marshfield, I felt completely closed off to the rest of the world. My town was made up of little…

A swarm of bees took flight in my stomach. Although the roar of the crowd was audible from backstage, I moved around attempting to hear the fulfilling clank of the beads that attached to my cornrow braids. I felt skeptical about everything around me as this was more than ever I dreamed of in the twenty-five years of my life. I mustered the courage to peer behind the curtains only to find multitudinous copies of my book being held by people whom I’d never met before. The same words of “The fear…

The short story “A Mere interlude” written by Thomas Hardy makes effective use of narrative voice to reveal the intentions of Hardy in crafting such a story. The irony of the title, as what was supposed to be “A Mere Interlude”, Baptista’s short and tragic marriage to her ex-lover Charles Stow, eventually takes form as a major turning point in her life. It subjects her to much emotional turmoil and eventually leads her back to the one thing she hoped to escape from through her marriage to…

escape their inevitable fate. Obviously, some would argue that an eternity of burning in hellfire is a lot worse than an eternity of sharing circle-related anxiety, but those people have probably spent very little time in a sharing circle. A big part of my hatred for these circles…