Field Trip

She looked at him, "You can't leave, we can figure something out..." she drifted off. She knew what he would say, there was nothing she could do to change that.
"I have to leave and you know I can't do anything about it." He said this in a gentle tone, trying to hide his agony. He didn't want to leave, but he knew he had to.
She looked down, trying to hide the tears in her eyes.
"Whatever happens, I'll always be with you." The softness of his voice was almost enough to make her smile. He leaned over and kissed her. She felt his smooth lips for what might be the last time.
She looked up and stared into his golden brown eyes. This wasn't fair. Why did he have to leave? It was as if the world didn't want them to be together.
He turned around and dissapeared into the woods. Around her neck, she felt the cold necklace that he had given her on their first date. It was a silver heart hanging on a silver chain. It was simple, but it meant everything to her. She took it off and dug a whole at the bottom of a pine tree. She placed the necklace inside it and covered it with soil, burrying her love along with the silver heart.

Decades later, the necklace is still there. Kids run around the forest ignoring what had happened a long time ago. Everything seems normal, but beneath the earth at the bottom of a pine tree, lies a silver heart, representing and strong, but impossible love. If someone is to find it, they won't know what it will mean, it will just be another mystery.

Ambush/ The Man I Killed

"The Man I Killed" is written from the point of view of O’Brien. He wasn't really sure of what was going on, just as he wasn't sure about what he was doing when he threw the grenade. I think that he did kill him, but I also think that he really didn't know what was happening or hat he was doing. I don't think that he did it on purpose it was just a natural reflex, he probably could never imagine himself killing someone else.

O'Brien really doesn't know anything about the man except for his appearance. He makes up or imagines his life and everything he could have had. The guilt inside of him is making him think of everything that he has probably taken away from the man by killing him. This whole other life that he is creating in his mind shows all the wonderful and great things that the man had and could have looked forward to if he lived through the war. All of this comes from his imagination to make him feel even guiltier.

Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong

Mary Anne has transformed into a killer because of how long she has been there. Unlike the men, she has become a part of the war and has embraced Vietnam. All the injuries, deaths, and losses she has seen have opened her mind to understanding what is going on in the war. This changes her and shows her all the violence that has taken place in Vietnam and all the ignorance of the people back in her home. Because she is a woman, the men there expect her to be sweet and pretty all the time. They all loved her because she reminded them of the girls back home and also because she was the only lady around. The men were different from Mary Anne in the way that they were all there because they had to be, not because they wanted to be. Mary Anne wasn't afraid of what she saw and what was happening. She sort of became a savage, but wasn't afraid of her changes.

O’Brien lets Rat Kiley tell this part of the story because he is more likely to exaggerate. O'Brien keeps on saying that a story that seems true might not necessarily be true. He tries to get us to understand that just because stories may seem real while reading them does not mean that it has actually happened or taken place in real life. He lets Kiley tell the story to show us how exaggeration can seem so real, but might not be true.

Spin

"All that peace man, it feels so good it hurts. I want to hurt it back."

A war is a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state. From this definition we can conclude that a war is a time of disagreement and chaos. If there is chaos or disagreement between two people or groups then how can there be peace? Usually when there is a war, it is because of a disagreement between two groups. And generally when there is disagreement, there is no peace between the two groups.

This logic is reflected in the quote above. O’Brien is trying to show that because this is a war then there shouldn't be peace at all. In situations like these it is silly to find peace while others are fighting for their lives. The peace doesn't feel right because it evokes such a good feeling during a time of pain and agony. He wants to hurt it because it does not belong in such a place, where there is a war happening, the opposite, or antonym of peace.

War Letters

Dear Mom,
I hope you are fine. Here we are moving quickly from base to base, though there is no telling when I will come home. I hope to see you soon, I really miss you and I miss home. It is hard to get used to the idea that this is war. Although it seems like I will will never come home, I have a feeling that this will be over soon. I am fine and you don't need to worry about me. Thank you for all the letters you have sent me, they really keep my hopes up and they seem to bring me luck. I'll see you soon.
Love,
Gaetane

If I were sent to war, I would definetly write to my mom because I know that she would try to cheer me up. I would tell her that I missed her and that I thought it would be over soon. I would want to give her hope and tell her that I would be home soon. I wouldn't want her to worry about me because I wouldn't want to give her more to think about. I would keep some information away from her like how some of the soldiers had already died because that would scare her even more. The letter above is short because if I were at war, I wouldn't want to write alot because I would end up writing about how scared I was and everything that was going on. There would be no reason for me to give her more to worry about.

The Things They Carried

 

To be honest, I don't have any items that I take everywhere. If I have a purse with me, all that would really be in it would be a really crappy phone, gum, probably a pencil, a piece of paper. Most girls would probably carry their lipstick, makeup, and BlackBerrys in their handbags, but I really don't think that's necessary. I mean, if I had a nicer phone than my nokia that only good for calling, then that would be something that would always be with me, but other than that, I have to admit that all I carry around most of the time is a pencil and piece of paper.

I really enjoy drawing; usually I draw people with sad, angry, happy faces, and many other emotions that I am feeling. Because of this, I always bring along a pencil and piece of paper with me. I find drawing quite entertaining if I am stuck somewhere with nothing to do. I am one of those people that always considers the "what ifs" in any sort of situations. I say to myself, "what if I end up bored and have nothing to do?" and end up bringing along a pencil to doodle and draw whatever comes up into my mind. Something else I like to carry with me is gum. I think that chewing gum is relaxing if you are nerves about something or if you are in a bad mood. I like chewing gum because it gives you something to do if you are just walking or standing there.

I usually don't carry a purse of bag outside of school because I always feel like I'm going to forget it somewhere, but when I do, I almost always bring a pencil, with paper, and gum.

The Vietnam War

I can't pretend that I know a lot about the Vietnam War. I have heard about it in the past, but except for that I couldn't provide many facts about it if anyone asked me. Before the discussion we had in class all I really knew about the Vietnam War was that it was fought in Vietnam, the U.S. military was involved, and that it certainly was catastrophic. I didn't know much about it and didn't have many relevant questions, though, as we started discussing the topic in class and we had to write down things or facts that we were interested in knowing, I started wondering about how many casualties there were, what was the cause of the war, what impacts did it have, and what other people thought about it.

Many facts that I learned were based on others' inputs and knowledge. I had no great facts to contribute, though listening to the rest of the class I learned many interesting information. I learned that the war was fought because of communism, that America supported (paid) for the war, and that it was the first "living-room war". The Vietnam War resulted in 304,000 casualties, the death of 58,000 Americans, 61% of which were 21 or older, and that 75,000 people were severely disabled. Learning about all these facts, I realized that the war was a catastrophic event that scarred all those who were a part of it, who lived, and whose lives were taken.

Mango Tree

Mango Tree

Ramon P. Orticio
  
Planted and grown of Indian stock
A tree that impersonates a native fruit
Sown by a cousin who has gone abroad
Rising so quick bearing fruits to pick
Our mango tree grew big and tall
Giving shades to young and old
Swinging them to and fro and high and low
Under its wings in suspended string
Then one day termites came by surprise
snaking through its body like human veins
Little mama so afraid and angry
Cut into lumber our mango tree, kaput!


More Free Verse poems at Middle Minds

Color Poem

Early Sunrise- Benjamin Moore- 208460

Gaetane Lemaire

The lights turn on

And I open my eyes

As I am shaken awake

By my mother

I catch a glimpse of the clock

It is early

Outside the window

It is dark

The smell of hot chocolate

Lingers in my nostrils

As I get dressed

Into my old cloths

Downstairs,

I join my cousins

Who are already eating

Toast and hot chocolate

Outside, the cool air

Brushes against my face

As the night slowly dissolves

Revealing a dim pink light.

As Grandma drives us to the lake

The trees and cars flash by in a blur

And we all laugh as someone

Tells a joke

The water of the lake

Comes into view

And we park the car and register

As the sun appears behind the trees

First classes begin

We are taught how to put up our sails

How to change directions

How to control the speed

Boats are lifted into the air

By strong arms

And are placed on the cold

And dirty water

I sail off along with my cousins

On the lake slowly lighting up

As the sun rises

Into the pink sky.

More Color Collective poems on Middlemindz

Where I'm From

I am from color pencils,

from Crayola and Caran D’ache.

I am from all four seasons,

from the cold winter breeze to the warm summer air.

I am from the apple, orange, and pear trees,

the dandelions

whose yellow fields stretch out

into the open.

I am from poems on Christmas day,
brown hair and freckles,
from Lemaire and Claeys Bouuaert.

I am from Mom’s soft kisses,
and from Dad’s big hugs.

From Always do your best! and Do as you’re told!

I am from reading the bible
and going to Church once a week.

I’m from small towns,

Where everyone knows their neighbors,

From tomato plants and mint leaves

From the bruises I got from hiking

And the cuts from falling on twigs in the forests.

In my drawers are souvenirs

from trips we went on

and places we visited.

On my shelves lie photo albums

Containing faces I’ve forgotten

And faces I still talk to,

Containing moments of my life

I will never forget.

I am from those times,

When I could laugh around and goof off,

When I felt like I could do anything I wanted,

And when everything seemed easier.

The Wind Comes and Goes

The Wind Comes and Goes

Selected by Gaetane Lemaire

Description
The wind can carry more than just paper, smells and leaves, it can carry away your feelings. The wind comes and goes, like sometimes people or emotions.

Synopsis
In these poems, the wind is comfort, that comes when you need it and then goes. 



Night Breeze Roderick A. Jones
Wisper in the Wind Samantha C. Fifer
The Wind Kawaina Gordon
Wind Child Sahar Alive
Fly With the Wind Alexianna Brandhagen
The Wind Amy Lowell
I'm Writing to the Wind S. Micheal Down
As the Wind Blows Josephine Chifundo Likoya
A Day at the Beach Adam Shipley
My Life Ibukun Sobande

Stereotypes, being prejudice and not understanding what’s going on can lead up to making mistakes

An African-American teenager—Trayvon Martin—was shot by a volunteer neighborhood watchman—George Zimmerman—on February 26^th. Zimmerman claims to have shot him for self-defense because he was wearing a dark hoodie and looked “suspicious” when the 17-year-old was just coming back from the supermarket with a pack of candy for his brother and an ice tea.

            How can prejudice lead to injustice? In this case, Zimmerman shot Martin because he looked “suspicious”; he didn’t even know for sure that he was armed. Just because he was black and wore a dark hoodie, Zimmerman took away the boy’s life. After killing for no reason, he is still not arrested and still wonders around the streets, but if he would’ve been black and killed a white boy instead, the consequences could’ve been much worse. An example would be in To Kill a Mockingbird; Scout, Jem and everyone else think that the Radley place is haunted and that Boo Radley is dangerous, but as the story goes on, Boo just turns out to be nicer than what everyone thought when he helps Jem and Scout.

            I think that, as individuals, our responsibility is to take action when you see something like that happening—we shouldn’t just stand there and watch without doing anything. If you see something that you believe is not right, stand up for you opinion and don’t just let the person doing whatever you think is wrong do it without anyone stopping him/ her. By stopping someone’s bad actions, you can make a change in the world or even just in that person’s heart.

            When people fear what they do not understand, they start doing things that they don’t really think about just for self-defense. In the case of Zimmerman, he fears that Martin is going to hurt someone and so he shoots him without thinking about it because he doesn’t really understand why an African-American boy is wondering around the streets, even though it’s not that suspicious he is scared that he would attack him and so he shoots and kills him.

            When you’ve heard bad things about a race your whole life and then you see someone that you think is up to no good, you do something that you don’t mean. This is how stereotypes affect people’s behaviors. Maybe Zimmerman had heard bad things about some African-Americans and them being dangerous and it became a stereotype which means that he thought it applied to all African-Americans. He probably thought that Martin was up to no good and without thinking; he did what came to his mind the fastest.

            Stereotypes, being prejudice and not understanding what’s going on can lead up to actions that aren’t your best choices, but that come to you before the others. Everyone makes mistakes and some of them are worse than others; some you can fix and some last forever. Zimmerman—in my opinion—should be sent to jail because Martin wasn’t attacking him or entering his property; he was just walking home from the supermarket. Zimmerman just didn’t consider the truth and went with his first impression and made a mistake that can’t be fixed.

            

            

To Kill a Mockingbird, chapter 8 summary

Winter started with the coldest weather in Macomb County since 1885 and the death of Mrs. Radley. Atticus went over to her house and when he came back he said she died of natural causes. Jem made me interrogate him about his visit and if he saw Mr. Radley, but he said he didn’t and that was about it.

I woke up the next morning, opened my eyes and felt the bizarre, cold weather around me and not the usual, sweltering air that filled my room all these other years. I stood up and walked towards the window, but what I saw was not what I expected. Our backyard was white.

“The world’s ending Atticus! Please do something!” I dragged him to the window and pointed. He said it was just snowing. I didn’t know what it was because I had never seen it in my whole life, neither did Jem. I watched as every snowflake fell to the ground and assimilated into the rest of them.

The phone rang and Atticus picked up. When he hung up, he said it was Eula May and she said that school had been cancelled so Jem decided to make a snowman. We didn’t really know how, but Jem seemed to have an idea. He walked to the backyard and I followed him into the snow.

 “Don’t walk on the snow Scout. You’re wasting it.” He looked around, “There isn’t enough snow, maybe Miss Maudie will let us borrow some of hers.” We walked over to her house. When we asked her if we could borrow her snow she told us to take it all. We gathered up as much of it as we could, but there still wasn’t enough. Jem started gathering dirt and building a snowman shape out of it. Then he started covering his masterpiece with snow.

            He permitted me to cover only the back, saving the public parts for himself. He made it look like Mr. Avery, looking cross and everything.  A stick of stovewood completed his meticulous work. Atticus was very impressed with our creation, but he said we better disguise it. Jem got Miss Maudie’s sunhat, put it on the snowman’s head and jammed her hedge-clippers into the crook of his arm.

            It seemed like only minutes elapsed before I was awakened by someone shaking me.

            “Baby, get up.” He said and handed me my bathrobe and coat. I put them on and then got my shoes and socks. He pulled me out of bed and out the house. By then, I understood why he was in such a hurry. Across the street Miss Maudie’s house was on fire. Atticus pushed us towards the Radley place and I remembered the warm summer, when we conspired to put a note in the house to get Boo to come out. I looked back at Miss Maudie’s house where the fire got stronger. I thought it was imminent that our house would catch on fire next, but Atticus didn’t seem to worry about that right now.

            We heard shouts and then Mr. Avery’s face appeared in the upstairs window. He was getting some furniture out but men shouted to him and told him to get down. When he climbed through the window, he got stuck. I buried my face under Jem’s arm and didn’t look up until he shouted, “He’s got loose!” We watched him walk across the porch and slide down a pillar until he slipped, fell and landed on Miss Maudie’s shrubbery.  

            Smoke started rolling off our house and Miss Rachel’s house. There was noise all around the neighborhood. Houses started catching on fire one after the other and it wasn’t until dawn before the men started leaving.

            The next day, we found Miss Maudie looking at the smoking black holes in her yard from the calamitous night.

            We were drinking cocoa, when I noticed Atticus staring at me. “I thought I told you and Jem to stay put.” We said we did, but he pointed to the blanket around my shoulders and asked whose it was. I didn’t apprehend how the blanket got there and looked at Jem for answers. He blurted out that Boo Radley had put it there and that I had been so busy looking at the fire I didn’t notice when he came up behind me.

            "Just think Scout, if you'd just turned around you'd've seen him." I wished I had and I wished I did.

Letter to Lily

March 23^rd, 1984

Dearest Lily

            I miss you more than you can imagine. One year without seeing you already felt like a lot but now five years have elapsed and it feels like a lifetime. I hope everything is going fine in college and that you are doing well. I can’t wait to see you this summer with Zach and June and Neil. August is going crazy, trying to find a way to fit everyone in the house.

            I read the book you wrote--the one about when I was apprehended and you came and got me out of the hospital where I was getting cured after that calamitous time when those men had beat me. I remembered when I was laying down in shackles and you emerged in the room and we escaped to August’s house. While I was reading it, I felt like I was literally going back in time and I was reliving that whole summer, when we enjoyed May’s cooking, when we splashed each other with the hose on that sweltering July day, when we were interrogated and you made up lies, and when we slept in the honey house. This feels like so long ago, yet I remember it so well, I remember how August, May and June assimilated us into their lives. This meticulous writing makes the success in your next book imminent. When you come back, everyone is going to lionize you.

            Over here in Tiburon, everything is still the same. There isn’t much noise and it’s only me, August and once a week the daughters of Mary. We don’t have many visitors. Zach has started his career as a lawyer and it seems to be working out better than what we had thought. He has won a couple cases and supported someone who had been arraigned, while having to face many dissensions. He hasn’t visited this year and we are also looking forward to seeing him this summer.

            We are waiting for you and Zach’s conspiracy to repaint the house, but we are keeping the same bizarre pink color that May had picked out.  August says that it keeps her close. She misses you so much, you know, and we can’t go by one day without hearing your name, sometimes from me and sometimes from her. We can’t wait to see you and we are only hoping for time to pass by quickly.

Lots of love,

Rosaleen

The First Step is The Hardest

The Problem We All Live In by Norman Rockwell is a painting from 1964 around the time when Negroes were segregated. The painting takes place in the southern part of the U.S. In the painting 6-years-old black girl, Ruby Bridges, is walking down the sidewalk on her way to the William Frantz School, the first school to accept both black and white students.

 In the picture, Ruby is walking in the middle of bodyguards that are all wearing grey uniforms while she is wearing a white dress showing how she is pure. The sidewalk wall has words written upon it like, “KKK” and “Nigger” and a tomato on the floor with its stain on the wall, but the girl just keeps on going showing her perseverance to finally make a change.

When people look at this painting they would probably think that change has finally come and they are going to be equal and they will be able to work together now. But when I looked at it more closely, I thought of how things can have different effects on different people and how in this case one little girl can make a big change or at least take the first step.

I think that the artist’s intention was to show how black and white can go together, he showed this with the little girl, who was black and wore a white dress. I think that he was also trying to show how things like that happen every day and so it doesn’t mean that we can’t make changes. The first step is always the hardest, but someone needs to take it to make a difference.

We Fligh Home

This morning we said goodbye to our grandparents and left for the airport. I really didn't want to get in the plane we I had no choice. We waited for our plane in the brussels launge because we were traveling in bussiness class. When the plane started bording we left the launge and got in the plane. I watched movies throughout the whole plane ride to Atlanta and didn't manage to sleep just a little. After 9 hours we got to Atlanta and we had to wait 3 more hours for our next plane to Panama city. The plane ride lasted 4 hours and I was really happy to finally land. A driver from my dad's office came and picked us up. When we got home all I wanted to do was fall right into my bed  and fall asleep but we first had to take out all the luguage from the car. I went upstairs with my stuff and got into bed.

It's good to be finally home. 

The Trip Back

Today we said our last goodbies to the whole family since we weren't going to see them until the summer holidays. We left at about 10:00am and the trip seemed to last forever. First there was so much traffic on the road and all we had to eat were sweets, coockied and chocolate bars and I couldn't stop being hungry. We once stopped at a fast food restaurant but there was a line that was really long even to go the bathrooms. When got home it was like 7:00pm and we were really happy to find out that my grandparents had prepared soup and lasagna. We went to bed almost emediatly because of how tired we all were.

Skiing Through the Snow

Day 18

Skiing at the beginning was a little hard because I hadn't skied in a year, but it soon came back to me. We skiied on one side of the mountain and then the other. At first we all skied together and then we decided to seperate because my three cousins that were my age wanted to go skiing on slopes that were a little harder. I wanted to follow and they didn't mind. It was fun the first five minutes but then they started speeding up and I had trouble to follow. At the end of each slope they stopped to wait for me, but when I got there they just continued, not letting me take a break.

Days 19, 20 & 21

The skiing lessons started on monday and I was kind of scared of being put with little kids because I usualy go skiing once every two years and everybody else always go skiing every year and so most of the kids in my group should have been smaller that me. Luckily, I met a girl that was exactly my age and we got along quite well. The first day was kind of tough because the weather wasn't so great but the next two days were fine and then of thursday the weaher was horribly. It was drizzling and snowing like crazy, there was alot of fog and the temperature was like -10 degrees celcius. I did the best I could following the group and honestly, I did better than almost the whole group.

Day 22

Today was the last day of skiing and the weather was a little better but just as cold. We also had to pass our skiing test today and I was kind o f nervous. There was so much snow! We went skiing on one side of the mountain where the snow reached my knees, litteraly. I fell down once when I was trying to stop and my ski fell off and I couldn't find it in all the snow. I had to dig a little to finally find it and put it back on. The rest of the day went fine and I passed the test. At the end of the day my knees hurt quite bad and my toes were frozen to the bone.

The Trip to the Mountains

December 30th

This morning we left really early from my grandparents' house so we wouldn't arrive too late at the hotel where we were going to stay that night before we went skiing. The trip was really long. After 7 hours of driving, we finally reach our destination. Once there, we waited for the rest of our family to arrive so we could check in. The hotel where we were staying was really nice and we all got set up for the night. For dinner we went to eat in a restaurant with the whole family. When everyone had finished eating, we headed back to the hotel.

December31st

Today we left the hotel not too late so we wouldn't have too much traffic on the road to Les Saisies (the place where we were going skiing). The ride didn't last too long until we got to the mountains and had to becareful because of all the snow. When we finally got to the appartment, our cousins, who had left earlier than us, had prepared a slide in the snow so we could slide down it with our sledges. That afternoon, we went to the ski rental place to rent our skis, sticks, boots and helmets. When we got back to the apartment, my grandparents told us that all the skiing teachers were doing this big thing for new year's eve. We went to go see them go down a slope with burning sticks. All we could see was the fire at the end of each stick because it was so dark and there was a litte fog. Next they lit up about a dozen other sticks that were placed in the snow in the shape of 2012. It was really cool. When it was over we went back and arrived at the appartment just in time to see all the fireworks light up the sky. That night everyone gathered in our appartment, because it was the biggest. When everyone was there we celebrated my dad's birthday, which is the 1st of January. We went to bed that night and to my dissapointment we weren't aloud to stay till midnight because ski classes started the next day and we had to be in a "good mood" for that.

At our Cousins' House

This morning, my sister and I woke up before my cousins and so we had to wait in bed for a while until one of them woke up. We ate breakfast and then went back upstairs to change into warm cloths. We played a few games and then we tried thinking of something to do that afternoon.

We decided to go to the movies. I didn’t really know what was out except for Alvin and the Chipmunks 3, so I asked if we could go watch that. My oldest cousin had already watched it, though, and wanted to go watch something else. Finally we decided to go watch Hugo Cabret and we left at 4:00pm. When we were almost there, we realized that we’d forgotten to bring 3D glasses since the movie was going to be in 3D. I didn’t see the problem until they explained that you had to by the glasses in Belgium and they were quite expensive, especially since we had to buy 6 pairs.

When the movie was over we went to a restaurant to eat dinner and we all ordered ribs and french fries. The day ended with us going home and getting into bed.

The Second Day of Christmas

We left my grandparents’ house at about 11:00am and we were the first ones to arrive at my other grandparents’ house to celebrate Christmas with my family on my dad’s side.

            We waited a little while for the others to arrive. In the meantime, we unpacked everything and my sister and I made our bags, because we were going to sleepover at my cousins’ house.

            When everyone had arrived we started off with the presents this time. I got two necklaces, three pairs of earrings and 100 euros (which is like $100). We ate lunch and then everyone started playing around with their presents. We left with our cousins, when everyone else started leaving, and told each other jokes on the way to their house. When we got there, we tried fixing up an old radio that my grandpa still had and gave my older cousin. We were all quite surprised when it started working.

The First Day of Christmas

“Are you awake?” The small voice woke me up this morning.

            “Yes.” Thibaud, my cousin replied.

            I heard footsteps in the corridor and then the creaking of the door as someone else entered the room. I tried keeping my eyes closed, but the sudden beam of light made me jump up in bed.

            “Why did you turn on the lights?!” I asked, as the anger rose up to my brain.

            “Sorry.” Pauline, who obviously was the one that turned on the lights, apologized.

            I got up and walked out the room. I ate breakfast and then went back upstairs to get dressed for Christmas.

            The rest of my family showed up about an hour later and we started off by eating lunch. We ate french-fries, chicken and peaches. Then, we all gathered around the Christmas tree to receive the presents. We decided to do it from smallest to oldest, which made me second to last. I got a kindle, two pairs of earrings and a little bag. We all played together for a long time, but we had to stop because we had to go to church. It didn’t last too long, luckily, and we got to go home and eat dinner all together.