Son to Mother, (Poem)

I said a Mother's prayer for you 

to thank the Lord above 

for blessing me with a lifetime 

of your tenderhearted love. 

I thanked God for the caring 

you've shown me through the years, 

for the closeness we've enjoyed 

in time of laughter and of tears. 

And so, I thank you from the heart 

for all you've done for me 

and I bless the Lord for giving me 

the best mother there could be! 

I know how often I took you for granted 

when I was growing up. 

I always assumed you'd be there 

when I needed you... 

and you always were. 

But I never really thought about what that meant 

till I got older and began to realize 

how often your time and energy were devoted to me. 

So now, for all the times I didn't say it before, 

Thank you, Mom...I love you so very much! 

Dear Diary, (The Black Cat)

My husband such a loving and adoring man is changing. Is it me, I felt that we were inseparable but I seem to be in the way. It is not only me that notice his change it is also Pluto. He used to be fascinated with the site of animals and now he shows dreadful behaviors. Is it my assumption that he is no longer happy with me or our family? These behaviors are startling me, what should I do? I want to talk to him but no one ever see’s what they do wrong as wrong so would I be wasting my time. It’s the drinking of the Rum and Gin that’s possibly changing my love. I don’t want this I’m scared. He’s drinking way too much, how can I stop him? I sit back an observes how he tries to avoid the one he once loved, this needs to stop now before it gets bad.  

We lose everything; does this mean the love that we have are gone.  Do we start over like the first day we met? Or is this a new beginning should I enjoy this moment as I wish that losing everything and just having us well make us better. But wait my love almost like my child was gone. Was it my husband,… no, no it had to be the fire. My husband, butler and I mange to get out the house and its raging flames. No, Pluto a since of depression stimulated. Poor baby let inside to burn, should I be killed on his behave. He couldn’t talk he didn’t know what was going on and he is no longer with us. The man I first married would’ve saved me and Pluto but not this man. It’s like I was divorced and married all over again but why I loved my old husband so kind and nice. A since of bipolar behaviors comes over him in a since. Were we once shared the love of several animals that spreads our delight.

But not one stays with us. Was my husband hurt by the animals he once loved? I hope not, if so it wasn’t purposely I know animals are so pleasant. Would we ever have a pet again? And then one day in his way back home he had a friend with him. He resembled Pluto; however he was missing an eye. This drew me closer to the little fellow and I felt that I may have been over reacting my husband is still there. He constantly rubbed him and mad the cat feels just at home. The cat followed him as if to so appreciation and gracefulness. We were happy again. Then I notice that this cat wasn’t all black like Pluto once was he had a white spot on his breast area. This made me think how it would never be the same. When my husband started to change again, one day I was following him. When I saw him try to attempt to kill our friend, I grabbed his arm and that was all she wrote.

       

         Love,

Yours truly 

Me, Eleven, and Homework

In the article Homework the protagonist of the story Michael is unhappy because his dog was hit by a cart and eventually dies. He skipped school for a week and states how the only thing he misses is homework. His mother then explains to him how he is not the only one that’s unhappy but it doesn’t stop her from going to school. This is when he notices that his mother was aware of him skipping school. Yet it didn’t give the serious impression that what he was doing was bad. Instead his moms insist on if he’s not going to go to school then he could at least clean his room. Michael haves algebra problems that get him through the day. Eventually he wakes up with the perception that he was going to school, and since he was eighteen he is able to write his own excuse for school. His mother couldn’t believe what he wrote. He states “Please excuse my absence from February 17-24. I was unhappy and did not feel able to attend school”. Then he turns it in to school and the guidance counselor approaches him to ask him about the note. He tells her that he wrote the note this morning at breakfast and he knows it may not be acceptable but it’s the truth. She explains to him how she wants him to graduate. Takes his not crumbles it and attempts to throw it in the trash in his face but misses. He is told that he is okay this time but still has to make up the work. Michael leaves and then goes to meet his sister at work.

There are always connections with text to self. Were I take the protagonist feelings or behavior and connect them to behaviors or experiences of my own. In this article Michael isn’t happy because of the lost of his dog. He didn’t attend school because of his depression. The action to losing a love one is always devastating. I recently   lost my father in February and I was overwhelmed with depression. Not only was I unhappy and depressed I couldn’t function. Like, in Homework Michael used homework and algebra problems as his way of coping. When I lost my father I used basketball as my element of coping. Having our coping method made us feel better in the moments where we would usually be unhappy.

However in the short story Eleven the narrator is not too happy about being eleven. Rachel is having the worst eleventh birthday. She explains how it’s really nothing special about being eleven. She gives an explanation about how “when you're eleven, you're also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one." She is really miserable in her because her teacher places an embarrassing sweater on her desk that her peers said was hers. However the sweater was not her and she explains it to the teacher but the teacher still thinks it’s hers. So she talks throughout the story about how she wishes that she was “one hundred and two”. She uses one hundred and two to represent the old and the wise. She believe that if she was older and wiser she would’ve new exactly how to handle the situation with the teacher and the sweater. Even though she wishes to be a hundred and two she expresses some really childish behaviors.

I love the out look of this situation. Because as Rachel felt about her age is the same way I feel about age and life in general. It’s like if your young its nothing and it doesn’t matter because it’s like the adults always through in your face in an argument, that they lived (bluh bluh) years so how can you tell them anything. So in the story she wishes that she was one hundred and two. I only know one man that’s 100 and that’s my grandfather, and because he is so old he gets so much respect and know one really argues with what he say at any point.  So when I’m in an argument with my mother and she tries to blame me for something that is not mines like the “sweater” in Eleven I can flash my age in her face with no question about it. I understand what Rachel is say when she explains being eleven “when you're eleven, you're also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one” because as you get older you are suppose to be maturing however you still have all these ages bottled up inside you. So you have your moments when you don’t get your way and you act three. And the days where you fall and hurt yourself and you cry like a five. Therefore in the story it expresses how with older age it brings you the strength of the wise old man and that brings you happiness.

The Story of An Hour

The Flower

“It annoys me not to have a jewel, not a single stone, to put on.”

      Throughout the beginning of the short story The Necklace the protagonist Mathilde Loisel appears to be a character with low self-esteem and pride within her. I let the sentence “It annoys me not to have a jewel, not a single stone, to put on”, to represent the bitter self-centeredness that she had within her throughout the story. In the sentence that I quoted it shows the lack of appreciation that she has to just be invited to an event of such. It illustrates the lack of confidence that she has within. Mathilde Loisel doesn’t come from a worried background, she has a loving husband and stable living conditions however she’s unsatisfied with the life she lives. To Mathilde it seems like the only happiness comes from wealth. Though she doesn't have it she tries to imitate the wealthy lifestyle. That’s where The Necklace comes in to action. Mathilde is a prime example of everyone is different, she have to except the fact of that and become happy with who she is to make life easier with her. I enjoyed looking deeper in this story it reminded me of the story of Cinderella the step child that was treated unfair and as lower class that was invited to the prince ball and lived happy ever after. In this story Cinderella was supposed to be rich but as the step child after her father’s death she was treated like a servant. All she wanted out of life was to be treated like she was supposed to. However Cinderella never talked about her life to no one but her fairly godmother. Eventually the prince of the story found her on an earn for her step- mother and stopped her and invited her to the ball. She didn’t want to get in trouble so she questioned her going. Her fairly godmother dressed her as if she was a rich and wealthy young lady and it brought to the attention of the prince. But she had to be home before midnight or all the luxury would be gone. She managed and lived happily ever after. However in The Necklace the protagonist was never satisfied until she received the necklace which she thought was the secret to becoming wealthy and full of riches, though it was something she worked her whole life away for that wasn’t worth more than anything.

The Necklace starts off with the description of the protagonist describing her as a clerk that is pretty and charming with a spouse. She is not poor however she fills that she is not finically where she should be. She has a friend that is rich and very wealthy who she borrows a necklace from to where to the party that goes by the name of Madame. The protagonist ends up losing the necklace and works it all in replacement. I really pity the main character because she felt that being her wasn’t good enough and she let luxury defined the person she wanted to be. I feel that anybody that feels as Mathilde felt for herself should be ashamed. Jesus gives everyone the life that he thinks they should have however she felt that Jesus made a mistake on her destiny is insane. There people out here that would die for the life she has but it seems to me that Mathilde would rather die them live the life she has. You shouldn’t compare yourself to anyone but yourself and be happy to who you are and who you became.

Why is the question? Why should someone rather then I Madame Forestier keep my necklace. I appreciate things even if they aren’t what I make them to be. I should not pass my necklace on to someone who only wants it to make there self-feel like something they’re not. Yes I’m rich, wealthy and everything else however I do not let accessories defined me. That necklace was as cheap as the place I got it from but when I wore it I let my pride symbolize the cost, the expense of such accessory. I take care of the things I own. The things that mean what they mean to me. So I will keep my necklace because it is what I deserve. 

Now introducing "Ayesha Shakur Baker"

I am “La Amazing Shakur”; I prefer to be called by my middle name Shakur instead of Ayesha. I currently live in the Nations Capital Washington DC. I am an Athletic Training major who always loved learning about the human body and how it works.  In my spare time I enjoy shooting hoops, meeting new people, and photography. I never was a fan of literature; however I always enjoyed writing and creative stories. As a child I had a hard time reading and comprehending. At the same time as, as I got older my reading started to mature and age. I started enjoying literature because it was a series of creative stories and I benefit from understanding literature. I would not declare my self a skillful reader though my past Advance Placement course helped me to learn to break down text for a clearer understanding. Usually when I read I look for connections if it’s self to text, text to world, or text to text. Connections help me connect and get a personal view on the literature. In high school we were constantly told to break down the text. Meaning annotate for every reading we received we had to circle unfamiliar words, underline main ideas, and place question marks and question to things we didn’t understand or thought would be on the test. As a result, frequently I find myself marking and breaking down the text. I do not typically use references when reading pieces of literature. If I need help in understanding a piece of literature I generally ask someone. Using a dictionary with an unfamiliar word can sometimes make the understanding confusing. If I don’t know a word I would rather use a thesaurus, because it has words that I can plug into the text. I enjoy reading because it opens up my imagination and make me look at the world in a different way. I feel that reading is fundament the more you read it will impact your life.