... off the cold Alaskan water and the sound of seagulls and jumping fish echo across the vast bay. Off in the distance the morning sky grows angry and thick at the horizon. The boat slowly rocks in the shelter of the wooded landscape. Ominous waves smash against the rocky coast. A fisherman sits on deck ... saying his morning prayer; his coffee stiffens and his cigarette burns slowly in the cold dawn air. The bay remains reasonably calm and peaceful even though the sky predicts chaos. The weathered net rests on the smooth wood covering ... The wind blows harder and the waves mature into ma...

• Word Count: 371
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

The Best Dream I ever had .. I was telling my husband over the phone that I had this dream last night ..I was with one of my childhood friends Traci Dean and we were standing in front of her brother's house. Traci said come on, let's go inside. When I walked in I looked over to the left hand side of the room and noticed 3 big, real life polar bears ... ." I was very fearful because the baby polar bear wouldn't get off of me and I thought the mother bear was going to hurt me! Just at that moment, my husband walked in the door and came behind me, gently placed his hand on the small of my back, a...

• Word Count: 307
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• Grade Level: High School

Who Knows Best: Parents or Schools? Some parents have argued that they should have veto power over which books may be taught in public schools. I believe that they have a very good argument. Most schools do not agree. They think that since some books have been around ... today. Times have changed and so should the books that children read. Parents should have power over which books their children read along with everything else in their lives. Since children are the responsibilities of the parents, then the parents are the ones who should have total control over everything that the children .....

• Word Count: 492
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

There are many different important things I have learned in college. The one that I chose is responsibility. It is hard being on your own and college is so much different from high school. You don't realize it until you are ... I set my alarm an hour before class to shower, eat and do whatever else I need to do before class. I still have a problem going to sleep early enough so I"m not tired in the morning. I know that it has only been a few months and it is only the first semester and I will have more time to catch on. The second hardest thing for ... ...

• Word Count: 263
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• Grade Level: High School

The birth of a child is a blessed moment in anyone's life. It particularly special for me when I became pregnant with my first child, especially because I was adamant against having children, but I never thought I would have any of my own. i ... . However, the entire ordeal was well worth it. The strain and pain soon turned into tears of joy as I heard my baby cry for the first time. Finally reality sunk in and I knew that I had done something amazing...I had become a mother. Years Later, I experienced two other birth; and I thank God that all my children were born healthly and without seriou...

• Word Count: 311
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• Grade Level: High School

... effort into rifle. A lot of tears, sweat, blood, time, traveling, and training has brought me to my current status. I have always wanted to be the best. I wanted to be unstoppable. While all of my friends and classmates were out having fun and getting into trouble, I was at the range honing my skills so ... I could accomplish my dreams. I thought my dreams were shattered earlier in the day of the competition. I severely sprained my ankle. I could barely walk. It happened in gym class during volleyball. I jumped and came down on it funny with all of my weight. It hurt really ... the sco...

• Word Count: 623
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• Grade Level: High School

... he did not even know he was alive anymore. But when Harold meets Anna Pascal, everything changes. At first he thinks he is crazy, hearing this British woman narrator's voice in his head steadily confirming for him the repetition that is his life, but when Harold meets Anna Pascal, it seems to shake him awake. Then, when he hears the narrator ... and with some help from an English professor named Prof. Hilbert; he realizes she could be the decision that influences whether his story will become a comedy or a tragedy. He falls in love with her and by doing so he takes the biggest risk of h...

• Word Count: 506
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... minute something is created, no matter how wonderful it is, it begins to be destroyed. For example, the moment you are born, you begin to die. Everything has an end. In October Sky, Mr. Hickam said that the hardest thing he ever learned was entropy. He realised that the place where he was brought up, the place that was ... in his blood, was going to cease to exist in the near future. Coalwood was a resourceful town, full of good coal and good miners, but it, like everything else, had to run its course. It was ... ...

• Word Count: 277
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• Grade Level: High School

... and taking of children until children become adults. Authoritarian, democratic and permissive styles are representative of three types of the guidelines. Of all these, democratic style is the best in that children could have good judgement, strong responsibility, and spirit of independence. Firstly, children who grow up under democratic parents could think cautiously and judge very reasonably. The democratic parents ... and other gender or the prospective job. Before or after the children act, the parents are use to discuss how to think or the results. For instance, when a child is in ...

• Word Count: 545
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... fought between Shawn and the disability with which he was cursed. Cursed in a sense that how would one feel if even eye contact was on the brink of impossible? And, that was the easiest thing that Shawn could do. Disability? What does that really mean? The best person to ask is Shawn McDaniel, if he could speak, if ... See, Shawn didn't fall out a tree, or get hit by a car. During his birth, a blood vessel in his brain burst in the most profound spot. So now even the words, "I love you," are just out of reach. Stuck in neutral is just about that. About the everyday struggles with which S...

• Word Count: 404
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• Grade Level: High School

... was as soon as he had taken care of it. So they both headed back to their quarters, talking all the way with a sense of fright and excitement in their voices. "What could possibly have gone wrong?" they both wondered. About an hour and a half after they spoke with the captain, they got a knock on ... couple walked slowly down to the statement room. Brittany wanted to go first. She made it quick and simple. She told her mom and family back home in Louisiana that she loved them very much. After this she told the world thank you for listening to all her albums and respecting her music. Afte...

• Word Count: 678
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• Grade Level: High School

... as a deep, gleaming cream colour, with patches of pink, but ends up white and drained of power. Ralph sees the conch as an ally throughout the book, and he believes in its power all the way through, as does Piggy, "you let me carry the conch, Ralph. I"ll show him the one thing he hasn't got". The loss of the conch ... on the island. It is quite ironic that when the conch is destroyed, so is Piggy, who was the wisest on the island, and the one who found the conch in the first place. Jack sees this as a turning point, "there isn't a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone." When Piggy an...

• Word Count: 465
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... , but I have also have had many relationships that had at least one of them. I've had many relationships in my early lifetime. Some of these choices were easy but most of them were hard. My best relationship choice would have been right here on this campus about one year ago. I went over to my new guy ... friend's dorm room where I passed out on his bed. Later on in that night he sweetly kissed my cheek to wake me up from ... to choose. As easy as it seems it wasn't by any means easy for me. I was at home not too much to do in a little town of Beardstown. I went over to my best friends ...

• Word Count: 612
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• Grade Level: High School

... I have yet to decide what I want to be when I grow up. I hope to attend a state college and major in business or something computer related. Recently the occupation of computer networking has been introduced to me. From all that I have learned ... me, the profession has many good benefits. One such benefit is the fact that computers are the wave of the future and a networking professional will be in high demand. Also, the average computer networker makes up to 100 thousand dollars a year. Finally, a computer networker needs no excess schooling; a five-year ... degree is sufficient to l...

• Word Count: 395
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... less a romantic movie. During its time however, Casablanca was made during the middle of the war, and knowing this fact colures much of the movie's content. In a sense, the film is expert wartime propaganda, meant to direct our emotions toward something larger, and more demanding, than silly love affairs. The story was a ... the love theme, Rick comes to the conclusion that something's are worth letting go. He tells IIlsa that she brings out the best in her husband Victor, and if she didn't get onto the plane Victor's work would die. Rick already knows how powerful IIlsa is ... in tha...

• Word Count: 563
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... are aware of the issue of urban sprawl. We watch as many open fields are leveled down and covered with housing projects. Sean Clancy in his essay "The Problem in Our Own Backyards" thinks that this is a problem and that it can be stopped. He thinks that if people speak up that we ... point that Clancy tries to make about a reply to a housing development is "isn't it the peace and quiet of areas like mine that draw home buyers in the first place?" That may be true, but nice places, like where Clancy lives, are not available to everyone who wants it nowadays. Housing developments are much ...

• Word Count: 603
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• Grade Level: High School

... marriage and my kids. As a mother, I was truly enjoying my children, and raising them. I was also finding myself craving some adult interaction as well. When things in my marriage had changed I focused a lot of energy on making it work. During this time I leaned of my friends for support, and advice that I was not able ... the most treasured relationships I have ever had. I think the most important thing that I have learned through all of this is, I was so involved in all of these roles as wife, mother, daughter and friend, and I forgot to be me. For all of these years I was not being tr...

• Word Count: 745
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... forms of music are a universal language that anyone can read no matter what language you speak or the culture you are from. All of these components make music extremely important in my life because music is a vital aspect of who I am. Any time that I am upset, discouraged, happy, excited, anxious, or scared I sit down and listen to music. Music does many ... fifty people worked together at the exact same moment to make something sound perfect. There is not a time in my life that I can tell you I don't have music playing some role. Whether I am sitting in class singing a song in my head,...

• Word Count: 543
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... !", Mrs. Mallard keeps whispering . The death of her husband brings her the exhilaration of freedom rather than the desolation of loneliness. However, in its turn, Mrs. Mallard~{!/~}s death also puts an end to her short hope of freedom. Two deaths in Kate Chopin~{!/~}s ~{!0~}The story of an hour~{!1~} seem to have some meaning to readers. As ~{!0~}The story of an hour~{!1~} opens ... time, she no longer sees a world of restrictions but a world of color and brightness: ~{!0~} the trees were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air~{!-~} There were ...

• Word Count: 488
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Welty title suggests that the path that the main character Phoenix takes and the obstacles that she faces are paths and obstacles that all people have to face in their lifetime. Phoenix's journey on the "path" is both a literal journey as well as a metaphorical journey. The story begins when Phoenix makes her ... way into a forest abundant with wildlife. The animals that she is afraid of symbolize her first obstacle in her journey. She tells the animals "Don"t let none of those come running my direction. I got a long way." This shows that even at the very ... of a person's journey there...

• Word Count: 647
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... individual keeps trying over and over again, they will succeed and come closer to achieving their dreams. This teaches Santiago to never give up and to always keep trying his best in order to accomplish his dreams. Santiago changes from being someone who thinks about giving up to someone who keeps trying no matter what. Next, Santiago recognizes that if one takes ... of oil on the spoon" (34). Some people tend to look at the big things in life and ignore the small ones while others do the opposite. Santiago learns that in order to be happy, one must look at both the big and small aspect...

• Word Count: 655
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... learn to use those faults to his or her advantage. This may seem like a strange belief to most people, but after reading the novel A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, it's become clear to me that this is true. At the beginning of the novel, we first meet our protagonist and future ... . Meg takes this journey with her brother Charles Wallace, her friend Calvin O'Keefe, and the three Mrs. Ws. During this journey, Meg discovers that in order to save her father, she'll have to battle quite a few evil forces. This journey affects Meg's life mainly because it reunites her with her ... fa...

• Word Count: 975
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• Grade Level: High School

... she could marry into wealth. Unfortunately, she was only able to wed a lowly clerk to the Minister of Education. In my eyes Mathilde had a narrow vision and belief that her fame and best fortunes could only come from someone else's wealth and doings. Never, until the end of the short story, did ... she even contemplate reaching for the wealthier lifestyle through her own hard work and accomplishments. However, as we saw in the twist of the irony near ... and misplaced expectations. Many times we overlook the payoff of our own efforts and hard work that would give us greater gratificati...

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... is a "sense of place"? According to Bill Maxwell it is a place where you feel that you belong. Bill grew up in Fort Lauderdale, belonging to a gang called the "Allen Appartment Boys". He did not feel at home though in the gang filled area, and did not find what he called his "sense of place" until he moved to Stuckey's Still. ... can go to and visit. To me it is just a state of mind. A state of mind is a place where you can go to think about what's happening in your life. As in the movie Happy Gilmore when Chubs tells Happy to go to his "happy place." This is what I think a sense of plac...

• Word Count: 290
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... to decide which way we want things to turn. We should, or must, decide whether we want to continue through the crisis unchanged, always walking forward in a straight line like a racing horse, or take the harder but more satisfactory way out and spin our lives around. Besides making the big decision, ... us, but also discover how to know ourselves better. A crisis can encourage us to develop certain sides of ourselves that might help us later, in dealing with even more demanding challenges. Life experience is only one of the many things we gain through doing this, getting to know aspects...

• Word Count: 810
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School