A Faustian Tale

This was to write a Faustian tale. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it means the basic stereotypical stories over time about one very distinctive character who "sells their soul" to the devil for one reason or another. The basic requirements are that the main character must be characteristic, with distinctive traits, he must meet and "sell his soul" to the devil figure. And finally the main character must learn their lesson and suffer some sort of consequences. Definitely not my favorite writing form, but it was an interesting learning experience I suppose.

In a crowded neighborhood full of cookie cutter houses in uniformly dark colors, where the weather was always blustery stood many a towering and well-kept house. At the edge of the town however, stood a dilapidated house that didn’t match the rest; despite the fact that it was unsightly and somewhat resented by the newer homeowners, the occupant of the house refused to give up her stronghold, having lived there longer than any of the rest. The homeowner was Elizabeth Anne Cruise, and she had lived in the house since before anyone could recall. Her legal address was still Ms. Cruise, for she had never married, but she kept a strange cat with an odd little twitch and had visits from her brother’s children now and then. The visits were paid by her two young nieces and older nephew of nine years. The three always trailed her into town like ducklings when they came, and so they did on Friday morning when the woman, her nieces, and her nephew were seen at the local farmer’s market. The children oohed over the miscellaneous trinkets to be seen and made a beeline for the neighborhood fountain nearby. Elizabeth strolled along, eying the booths, while also keeping watch on her brother’s angelic children. She truly was fond of the children, even if she was somewhat harsh and headstrong in relation to everyone else; and it was as she continued her slow pace that she came upon a very strange looking booth indeed. Seated behind it was a woman with dark skin, wearing obviously expensive clothing, and selling an array of strange objects no one quite knew anything about. “My dear,” the woman addressed Elizabeth, surprising her. “Are these your children?” “I am looking after them,” Elizabeth replied, not one to stall with long and revealing conversations. “But they are not yours.” The strange woman stated this knowingly, as though the question had been rhetorical all along. “Do you not wish you had some of your own? The world has been cruel to you Elizabeth Anne; do you not deserve a pleasing husband, children of your own, and a beautiful home? Do you not deserve the beauty that others have as much as they do?” she shook her long beautiful hair, her intricately braided headband sliding down further into her thick hair. Elizabeth drew back from the booth as though burned, “How did you know my name?” The question was met by a nonchalant shrug, in which looked across at her subject of interest. “You know, you could have all of the things you desire so strongly. You could be young and beautiful, have a husband and children, you could have all of the wealth and riches of a queen.” Elizabeth nodded and smiled a bit, getting the feeling that this woman was quite mentally ill. She had already worked it out in her head, the woman must’ve heard the children call her by name when she arrived, and she must have been guessing at the rest. She turned from the booth now, and the woman called after her, “I know someone who could help you, I’ll be here next Friday if you change your mind, dear.” Elizabeth was unsettled by the woman, and so she gathered the children and returned home without anything from the market at all. Later that week, her brother and his wife came to collect the children, and she was left behind in her old house again. Even though Elizabeth had dismissed it strongly at the time, the woman had been right in her assumptions. Elizabeth really had many losses and felt the world had been unfair to her. It was this series of events, and the fact that she came to be alone in the house for several days beforehand that led Elizabeth to make her way back to the farmer’s market on Friday once again. It won’t be silly, she reasoned; if the woman was there she would speak to her – if not she could assume she had been crazy. But the woman was there when Elizabeth arrived, and lounging as nonchalantly as ever behind her booth, her beauty again striking Elizabeth. “Ah,” said the woman in her knowing way. “You’ve returned, Elizabeth Anne. You know I would like you to meet my father, for I think you may find he could grant your wishes.” The farmer’s market disappeared as the woman took Elizabeth’s hand, and she saw around her a barren wasteland where no life was sustained, and no hope seemed to glow. The woman was here with her, still holding her hand, and before them was a tall and mighty muscled man. He was positively angelic, and his smile charmed Elizabeth deeply. Behind the man stood many figures clad in shackles, held to one another and looking sickly and sinister. Both the man and the woman ignored these, having only eyes for Elizabeth. “My father,” introduced the woman. “Hello my Sarah, and Elizabeth Anne,” the man welcomed pleasantly. “I gather that you would like to make a deal?” “Yes,” sighed Elizabeth, taken by his wonderful presence. The man smiled at her, “Very good.” The man promised her all of her heart’s desires in exchange for a later favor. Elizabeth agreed; she and the man shook hands as Sarah stood nearby dazzlingly. Immediately she reappeared in the farmer’s market she had been in before. Sarah was behind her booth, smiling at her. Elizabeth looked down at her hands, and they were young and smooth, her clothes were expensive looking, and clutching at her leg was a five year old girl, with rich, smooth hair and a chubby face. “Mommy,” the beautiful girl addressed her, looking into her eyes, “Can I play in the fountain?” Elizabeth reached down and patted the girl on the back gently and unbelievingly, “Of course dear.” Elizabeth’s life had been transformed. She had a wonderful house, and a handsome, wealthy husband to accompany her beautiful daughter and her own youth. After three years, Elizabeth had become delighted with her life, her, she was happily married and her daughter had grown to be eight years old and now had a younger brother. They continued to live a privileged life until one day there was a knock at the door. The angelic man was on her doorstep, and Elizabeth knew him immediately. “I have come to collect, Elizabeth Anne. Your favor is due.” She frowned, taking the man into another room before she asked, “What is your favor?” He smiled again, “Here is your favor, do you remember Sarah? She had grown tired of caring for her post as my recruiter.” “Recruiter?” questioned Elizabeth. “Oh, yes,” the man began to show her images of the poor, the destitute, those in the world who lacked much. “Who are these people?” Elizabeth asked, distressed. “They are those you have stolen from,” the man replied calmly. “All that you have seen are those that you have taken your wealth and good fortune from, Elizabeth.” Elizabeth was horrified. She looked on her children, and glanced in a nearby mirror at her unnatural youth. “No!” she exclaimed, “I didn’t know!” the images of the unfortunate people flashed through her mind. “Do not be so distressed,” the man said to her, “For you may keep all that you have gained, if only you draw for me another to draw power from as I have from you. My appetite for wrong has grown, and I need more to draw from.” Elizabeth cast a pained glance on her fortunate life, thinking of the one she had had before, and then she looked at the man before her. “Who are you?” she questioned. “I go by many names,” the man smiled gently at her. Elizabeth remembered the pain of the people she had seen, the hopelessness. “You’re the Devil, aren’t you?” “Indeed,” replied the man, seeming disappointed at the severity with which she said his name, “That is one of them.” “Sir, I cannot agree,” Elizabeth mumbled, looking at the floor. “I can no longer bring these people to pain.” The Devil seemed hurt at her implications, “My dear,” he told her. “You realize this is giving up all you have here? Your life will return to the way it was, you will be older, poorer, and without a family.” “I do.” The woman replied, weeping. At this, the man became angry. He silently and roughly took her by the hand and she found herself back at the farmer’s market. Sarah was there for a brief moment; and she glared menacingly at Elizabeth. And then she was alone. She was three years older, with nothing to show for it, but no one else would ever know that. She glanced around her forlornly and started for her dilapidated old home. She vowed beneath her breath never to make a deal with the Devil again.

Puritans on Jeopardy

This assignment was to use the Puritan characters from the Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller about the Salem Witch Trials. You had to write a scene for the Crucible in play format, but in a modern day setting. I chose to set them in a Jeopardy show.

(A dark stage in a wide room.

Waiting in hush is a live audience staring intently at the stage. Lights flash on and center on the stage to reveal Alex Trebek, who grins brightly at the camera and introduces himself. There’s a sound of fidgeting near the lecterns behind him. The lights and cameras center on these now to reveal three dark clad figures. They are all dressed in dark, simple Puritan clothing and keeping their eyes down in attempt to keep the awe from their faces.)

Trebek. And our three contestants this evening are: Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and John Hale! (He gestures to Abigail first, then Proctor, and finally Hale.) Now, who’s ready to play Jeopardy? (The crowd roars, and revealed in the front of the crowd are Mr. Parris, Mary Warren, and Elizabeth Proctor). Alright, let’s begin! Abigail will go first, choose a category.

Abigail (Has gained composure faster than her fellows, and decided to play along). What be they, these categories? How might I progress?

Trebek (Not losing his smile). You are going to pick from the categories on the board, and I will supply you with the answer to a question, while you will supply the question belonging to that answer.

Abigail (Intrigued). How peculiar. Speech?

Trebek (Unsure of his contestants).  After his defeat at Waterloo, he told his army “Be always gallant and good… Do not forget me”. ( Abigail remains silent, puzzled. A buzzer rings out behind her.)

Trebek. Mr. Proctor?

Proctor. Waterloo?

Trebek. Mr. Hale.

Hale. I know not, sir.

Trebek (Retaining composure). The answer is Napoleon. Ms. Williams, are you ready?

Abigail (More determined). Aye, sir. B.P.? Six hundred. Dollars?

Trebek (Amused). Oh yes, dollars. Now here’s the clue: To make dough rise, this can be used as a substitute for yeast.

Abigail (Arrives at her answer rapidly). Baking powder?

Trebek (His grin widens, looking somewhat relieved). Correct! (Abigail smiles, satisfied).

Mary Warren. Oh, that girl. Tis venom that runs through her veins! She deserveth not even to compete against two such men.

Elizabeth Proctor (Angrily). Aye, we are agreed. The girl is deceit and belongeth not there.

Parris (Fuming silently to himself). Both ye be correct in your ramblings. Tis no place for a woman there, let alone a girl. Certain as the day is long it should be me competin’ with them, for I would pose an opponent equal and more.

Abigail (Seems to gather it is her turn again and looks to the board searchingly). Antonyms of Bible books. Four hundred.

Trebek. Conclusion.

Abigail (Pauses and the buzzer rings. She glances down ashamedly).

Trebek. Mr. Proctor?

Procter. (Unsure). Revelation?

Trebek. Yes, antonyms of Bible books. Mr. Hale?

Hale (With pride). Genesis.

Trebek. That is correct!

Hale (Ambitiously). Twelve hundred.

Trebek. Influx.

Hale. (Allows for the buzzer, disappointedly).

Trebek. Abigail?

Abigail (Confused). Aye… Influx… (The Jeopardy song plays loudly, breaking her concentration then the buzzer goes off).

Elizabeth Proctor (To herself). Come, John! Tis only the Bible!

Proctor (Hearing Elizabeth, straightens). Ah, well. Exodus?

Trebek. That’s right!

Proctor (Gazes at the audience giddily). Two thousand! (He put this out determinedly, but nervous.)

Trebek. All right, the Bible name that is the antonym for “Joyful utterances”.

Proctor. Lamentations.

Trebek. Right, still your turn, John.

Proctor (Searches the board). Other red, white, and blue flags? Twelve hundred.

Trebek. The historic arms of Dubrovnik are included on this Balkan country's red, white & blue striped flag.

Proctor. I know not.

Trebek. Mr. Hale?

Hale (Disappointedly). Neither I.

Trebek. The answer is Croatia. (The three contestants glance at one another in astonishment.)

Abigail. Croatia, sir? What country is that?

Trebek. A Balkan one. (Trebek reiterates tiredly, seeing that he is losing them again).

Abigail. Sculptures?

Trebek. In architecture, a column in the form of a man is called one of these, like a supportive Greek giant.

Abigail (As the Jeopardy song begins to play). In arch… Archii- (Buzzer after which each of her comrades misses the question).

Trebek. Mr. Proctor?

Proctor: Add a Letter for six hundred.

Trebek. Add a letter to "peal" to get this bike part.

Proctor. And what be a bike?

Trebek. No, that’s… That’s not the answer… (Finally gives up on his contestants). Well folks, we seem to have run out of time. Join us next time to see who wins -  Jeopardy!

Persuasive Essay for Self-Sufficient Jails

When you think about jail or prison, what comes to mind? Heavy metal bars, a loss of freedom and privacy, and altogether sort of a scary place, if you’re like me. Prisons and jails are where people go to be punished for acting in a manner that is popularly and lawfully decided inappropriate and intolerable by other persons. Or rather, jail is where a person goes to be corrected. But have you ever wondered why jails and prisons don’t make and grow their own supplies? That would be fairly neat, wouldn’t it? And certainly it would save the taxpayers a little money. After all, currently the funding that pays for the inmates to live their day to day life, serving out their debts to society and learning their lessons concerning their crimes comes from the rest of the taxpaying people in the country. The inmates live out their correctional period doing not much of anything at all. So why couldn’t they do something constructive? Something that wouldn’t hurt their corrections, but increase their productivity and the overall value of the time they spend behind those plain dank walls? The kind of jail or prison that does this is called a self-sufficient one; which, as the name implies, means that they support themselves. The inmates of these facilities make and grow much of their own food and various other products that they use. Oftentimes the inmates would do a lot of community service also, something already very common in our jail systems. Today, Americans spend $60 billion a year, and imprison 2.2 billion people. The amount that we pay for such expenses exceeds the amount that any other country in the world pays for them. Our legislators have passed “get-tough” laws, say the National Prison Commission that has packed the nation’s jails and prisons with convicts. These convicts, they say, are mostly poor and uneducated. Because of our inefficient system, there is much strain financially on the states, and public health breaches are suffered due to parolees with communicable diseases. During the 1930s, in the Great Depression, the unions were on the rise. They were beginning to realize more the power of numbers, and now that they had permission to exist and were overwhelmed with a variety of success in their missions, they were anxious and eager to fight all of the issues they found to be somewhat of a broach of equality or unjust. In those days self-sufficient jails weren’t unheard of, and in fact they were extremely common. During the 1930s many of the prisons worked their prisoners, having them plant and grow gardens, do community service, and in those days it was not uncommon for an inmate to assist in even the job of guard for the other prisoners! In fact, this way of running the prisons was very efficient and there were often surpluses of products. These surpluses were sold for more money to support the prison. And that was where part of the problem came in. Originally there came to be two establishments opposed to the self-sufficient prisons. The first were the manufacturers. The manufacturers were angry with the prisons because they had been so successful with their system, and that they were producing large enough surpluses to compete with the manufacturers. People were buying prison-made goods instead of the goods offered by the manufacturers, and they manufacturers were highly displeased at the competition. The second enemy the self-sufficient prisons made was the unions. The unions were angry about the prisons using their inmates for labor, even labor for themselves. They complained that in working the prisoners without paying them, the prisons were practicing free and open slavery, the very thing they had eradicated not too terribly long ago. The unions argued bitterly that prisons were not just correcting or laying punishments on the prisoners as they were supposed to be, they were removing their liberties and rights. They were taking the things that made the prisoners free Americans. The unions and the manufacturers demanded that something be done about the prisons. And so in 1935, the Ashurst-Sumners Act was created and became law. The Ashurst-Sumners Act is a United States Act of Congress that makes it unlawful to knowingly transport in interstate commerce goods made by convict labor unless the prisoners were paid at least minimum wage; and so died many of the efficient and brilliantly run self-sufficient prisons. A lot of people today still agree with those ideas, that to put our inmates to work would be slavery. But ask yourself, what is the alternative? Today we have many people in jail (2.2 billion) and day by day they sit in their blank, dank, cheerless building and do next to nothing. There are some activities to do now and then, but not always, and usually nothing terribly productive. Is this better? I think not. In Boone County, Kentucky things in the jail systems work a bit differently than other places. A jailer is an elected position that people take turns at. But that’s not the only difference in their system; they also run a self-sufficient jail. The Boone County Jail has a reputation for efficiency, and they handled about 8,000 prisoners last year. The inmates grow a garden every year to offset their food costs and they run a neat work program. The work program allows inmates to do things that are productive to their community such as cutting county grass, litter pickup, dump site cleanup, and also providing $700,000 worth of free labor to the county every year. In California, we have a work program for our prison inmates called CalPIA, or California Prison Industry Authority. This program basically provides work experience for prison inmates, using the experience as a way to rehabilitate the prisoners. They offer jobs, expertise, and experience in several trades such as shoe manufacturing, bakeries, bindery, crop farming, and more. The program is required by law to be self-sufficient, and to pay the inmates minimum wage, both of which it does. They sell many of their products which pay for all of their costs, and even end with a surplus, which goes to the office presiding over that one, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). CalPIA is the CDCR’s most successful rehabilitative program. We would allow our inmates to work like the fellow human beings they are. There are people who still adamantly believe that to work our prisoners would be slavery, but what difference is there to a self-sufficient prison from a person getting charged community service in court? Mainly that they are kept in a facility, but it is because they are kept in these facilities that they are that much more willing to do community service. We would not work our inmates like slaves, arduously, painstakingly, and without choice. While some prisons have special programs every day, a model of what our slavery concerned citizens want, many prisons have a lot of time in which the inmates are simply sitting in their cells doing not much of anything at all. Our inmates are simply moved around from day to day, as if they were stock for a warehouse, not human beings simply trying to pay for a wrong they committed. Many of them would jump at the chance to make their prison a self-sufficient one, a prison that makes its own necessities and grows its own food. After all, our inmates are allowed to work on a bit of community service, but they can’t upkeep their own jail? Is that not community service? Is not the jail a community building? Our country, we as Americans pay more for our prison and jail system than any of the other countries in the world. I don’ think that’s something to be proud of. I think that’s something we should be ashamed of – an extreme waste. In this I do not imply that it is a waste to rehabilitate our inmates, I mean simply that there is a better easier way that we are missing completely. Reinstate our rights to run self-sufficient prisons. Every human being wishes to be helpful, or at least productive. We have a difficult time sitting around doing nothing at all because we love to have the feeling that we are an important piece to something. As humans and especially the Americans we pride ourselves as, our roots date back to hardworking, progressively delighting people. Everyone wants to know that if they were doing nothing at all then someone would miss them, and that person or group of people would need them. We are depriving the people in prison of these basic human needs. These people are human beings; they aren’t things that should be kept locked up day and night. If you ask me, keeping them in that manner is treating them more like slaves than if we allowed them to work. The inmates, in contributing to our jails and prisons are not only being productive and busy, or just helping their communities – we need them to in some ways. Prisoners aren’t my idea of free slave labor. I do not suggest we create slavery again in the U.S. What I do suggest is efficient productivity, that we may treat our inmates like they belong to our human race. If we were to make these adjustments in our country it would not only affect every community with a jail or prison, but it would remove the entire cost of jails and prisons from the United States taxpayers. We would be not just humane to our inmates but we would be hailed for our efficiency and genius in national costs by other countries. Look into your jail and prison system today. Do they seem fair?

A Declaration for a Group of People

There comes a time when citizens, despite the basic sense of cooperation and general compromise they are brought up with in relation to society, even they feel the deprivation of which their country and leaders deal them. We offer this, an explanation of our bold cause, one that we know we are justified in pressing for due to the oppression of our natural rights. We offer this that we might not be altogether hated for our obscure and unknown cause; but be known as those who did not flinch from the cause they felt just in pursuing. It is within our deeply engrained sense of justice and morality that we believe we are injured, of late; for the authorities of our country have put upon us penalties, oppressions, and numerous deductions of our honestly earned incomes, for what crime? In truth we are set against for working and succeeding in wealth or ventures of any kind.

American citizens are sworn the glowing promises of wealth, success, and every chance of equality. This means that one can become wealthy and succeed if they so desire and have the knowledge, at the trade of their choice. We are promised fairness no matter what color, gender, or religion we follow, or any other specifications. However, we have been slighted; success is farther and farther away with each new advance we make.

The government does not allow the everyday American citizen to build large rockets.

They restrict our access to the materials necessary to build a rocket.

The government also makes it lawfully necessary for Americans to obtain permits in order to build their aerodynamic vessel.

They deprive us of our natural right in some cases by such laws, the pursuit of happiness.

They make those building rockets obtain insurances.

They force the builders to obtain certifications.

The government enforces several laws concerning disturbances in neighborhoods, making the building of a rocket impossible in such a place.

Therefore the government is depriving people of the right to perform certain actions on their own property.

Puritan Speech

A speech given by a Puritan, welcoming a lot of Puritan newcomers to a village. 

Hello all newcomers. I would welcome each of you to our small town. We thought it might be well if we let you know about things and how they run around here that there might be little upset, and confusion. We’re a good group of God-fearing people here and we lead plain and hardworking lives to the best of our own abilities that we might thwart the Devil’s ways of deceit and vanity. We don’t allow for no finery allowed in the churches back in England: singing, dancing and their lacy attire aren’t permitted. We wear simple clothes, and lead simple lifestyles. We respect all of the Lord’s commandments closely here, and expect nothing other from everyone else. As might be expected we keep those that we might send out during the day to watch the proceedings and guard that the peace is kept and things are going as they ought. We keep a sturdy, well looked after church, full with minister and mass every Sunday, which we expect to be respected and kept. The people with which we be wanting to expand our village need to leave the wiles and temptations of the Devil behind them when they enter those village limits. I might remind you all of the Ten Commandments, to which we adhere with a firm hand and the fear of God upon our hearts:

1. Thou shalt not kill.

2.       2. Thou shalt not steal.

3.       3. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.

4.       4. Nor make unto thee any graven image.

5.       5. Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain.

6.       6. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.

7.       7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.     

8. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9. Thou shalt honor thy mother and thy father.

  10. Thou shalt not bear any false witness.

To these we are committed most basically among other rules which we also keep. Here we have built a community where our women are pure, our men are hardworking, and all are obedient to God. I’ve been told to welcome you and tell you a bit about ourselves today. All you see before you, every last one of us made the arduous journey from England that we might have more structure in our church and worship. We were disgusted with the finery and drama unashamedly celebrated in a place that was said to be the Lord’s. Here we were afflicted by hardship: starvation, disease, and a climate we knew nothing of, and yet still we were relieved. Here we were free from persecution by that church and free to truly do the Lord God justice; to hold him up in the reverence he deserved. We worked and supported one another as a community. We learned to grow strange crops unknown to us, and live off of them. We learned to defend ourselves against the Indians that were hostile and threatened the lives of our people. Many hardships have come upon us in this new land, but still we feel now most blessed and free. Through our hard work and perseverance we have discovered that which is our own promised land. With more people will come more work, but also more hands with which to do that same work. Today I see all you before us, those who have also made the trip we made also. Whether you only recently arrived in this colony or you have been here awhile and only just come to our village we welcome you. For the newest of you we will teach those that need it how to plant the strange crops of this land and harvest them. Every member of the village puts their fair share of work in. We work on strict principle, and as best we can. For every useful trade there is a place and a use or need, and therefore for every need we welcome those that might fill it. There is no room here for those that are slothful, slovenly, or unhelpful in spirit, as they would only hinder those workings of the Lord, but there is always room for the righteous in this place of God. Let us extend our welcome to your tired number whom we know must be hardworking and healthy in constitution to have survived this trying journey and new land. To God’s glory may the work on this blessed land be. With your number we hope to form a colony with common religion, morals of compassion and plainness, and a great love of God. Among the number that came to this new colony were a great many who felt the trip was an escape. A religious escape which therefore permitted them to worship in new ways. We were of this number. Some of these felt the way to improve their worship was by further dramatization. They believe in dramatic displays of emotion and laughter, loud and altogether unserious worship. We are the other group that took the daring trip. We believe in the opposite method of purifying and simplifying the worship within our church. In our village we believe that the singing, dancing, and showy and flashy forms of worship do nothing to glorify God whatsoever. We believe in solemn, quiet worship here. We believe that in living simpler, plainer, and working hard on God’s blessed green Earth we are then allowing the glory to go to God as it rightfully should. Welcome to our village. Here you’ll be part of a righteous community, that you might live and raise your families in the knowledge and solemn loving worship and following of God. Here our neighbors and influences are Godly ones. Here our lifestyles are focused on living in the right and just pure way. Come; let us all join together, that we might be one community dedicated to the Lord.

Letter to a Personal Acquaintance

Today's Literature main assignment was to write a letter as if to a personal acquaintance, about a specific event in my life, and so this is the product of that.

Literature Main Assignment 2

Dear Barbara,

I am writing because I thought you might enjoy hearing of my experience in Sunsplash when I was younger. My father took me when I was about eight years old and I had never been before. We got to the park not knowing what to expect, my sister and I, but we were pleased to be along with my dad and Satin. They consciously made us apply sunblock as we stood in line to go in and the whole line smelled of chlorine, sunblock, and hot concrete. As an eight year old, the wait took an awfully long time but finally we got to the front, and the four of us put on the wristbands we had to wear to get in. When we stepped into the park, the concrete everywhere was wet. There was a wave pool in sight, and many massive looking waterslides that induced mass amounts of fear, excitement and adrenaline in my younger self. We were made to wait an eternity longer as my dad rented a locker, and made us put all of our things inside as well as reapply sunblock. We tried the smaller slides first, to comfort my younger sister and then we decided to move up to the larger ones. My dad, my sister and I all rode the first one together and as we pushed off from the start I clutched tightly at my little sister in front of me, afraid she would fall off of the three person raft. The tunnel domed high above my head, and as we flew downward on the water all of the light was cut off and it was dark. I held my sister tighter, feeling her fear, or perhaps my own and then we began to see little stars on the sides of the tunnel, I shrieked as the tunnel took a hard turn in the dark and then I began to laugh as I realized everything was okay. I could tell my laughter comforted my sister because she relaxed a bit in my grip. We whooshed happily out of the end of tunnel into the deeper Lazy River where many other people were riding round and round. The rest of the day was a blast, and everyone enjoyed themselves, even my sister gained some bravery and tried other slides. We had a very good time.

Yours truly,

Halie

Creation Myth

Today I was instructed as part of my literature to write a creation myth as my main assignment of the week. I just thought I would share ;). There was a time when the universe stood alone. There were many planets and stars, and the massive black and blue skies where they rested happily; and each had a special purpose. There were large planets, and there were small planets with rings, and there were many moons orbiting the planets, and some planets orbited others. In one particular solar system, there was a large fiery planet known by all the others as the sun, and the other planets circled the sun, and were brothers and sisters and had their own moons and rings and other fancy things. But the sun stood on its own, and its brothers and sisters were often too busy with their own moons to bother with the sun, and so the sun became lonely. Now there was a man and his son who lived among the stars with infinite power, and they came one day upon the sun in its lovely, lonely existence and decided to take pity. The man created a planet to keep company with the sun, and the planet was covered in water and fish, and many sea creatures that needed the sun’s fire to keep them warm. The sun was delighted at the new planet, and immediately began its task of keeping watch over the planet which it nicknamed “Earth”. And the man was pleased and went his way, but the son stayed on to watch. And as he watched he observed the sun becoming tired of its job as guardian to the earth. Now the son had some embellishment ideas of his own, and so he decided to take things into his own hands, and he began to draw land up from under the sea to cover parts of the earth. Then he created animals to go on the land, and some animals that enjoyed both the land and the sea created by his father. And he created vegetation, plants and fruits to feed the animals both on land and sea. And some of the animals ate the plants which he created, and fewer were carnivorous, and kept the other animals from overpopulating the land. Then came a woman one day while he was working the details and creating more things on earth; and the woman was awed with the beauty of his handiwork and stayed on with him there. But as time wore on the sun became more and more tired with his job of keeping the earth on his own, and the woman saw this and found it concerning. And so, one endlessly sunny day, a day without true night although the son had gone to take his evening rest, the woman was by a river the son had recently made when she found a smooth round blue stone which caught her fancy and she dove down deep under the water to retrieve it. Looking on the pretty stone reminded her of the ragged exhaustion the sun had been experiencing, and she turned the beautiful stone over in her hands. Then she stood on the shore, gently raising her hand to her mouth and blew the stone far up into the sky beside the sun. As she continued to blow upon it the stone grew in size and illuminated, until it could be seen clearly from the earth. The woman instructed the sun and moon that they were to work with one another, the sun to light the world half the time and the moon the other half. The moon’s light was much dimmer than the sun’s, and when the man awoke from his sleep it was very dark, and the small newly made moon shone down cheerfully, eagerly helping its newfound partner. The man was enchanted with the idea, and the two watched the stars came out, gleaming brightly beside the new moon. And the son decided that the earth’s work was done, but the two stayed on forever, and had many children that stayed on as well, taking loving care of the planet and its animals and plants, as well as enjoying both the sun and the moon. The sun, with its new friend and helper, and the earth with its people to look after never grew bored again.

Home Again, Home Again

Sometimes it amazes me how fast life passes. Tomorrow begins my last year of high school, although I expect it to be quite easy. It's not the schoolwork that frightens me, it's the fact that this date crept up on me so quickly when I wasn't paying attention. I must continually remind myself that it's just another stage in life, another part of the ambitions and challenges that I love to handle so much. You win some beyond your hopes, and you lose others unexpectedly, but eventually it all works out for the better, or to the best of my experience anyway. After all I'm seventeen and my life is stupendously better than quite a few people's have been by this age already. So I'm blessed, I'm not afraid of the everyday challenges I face because I know I can overcome, and my favorite time to pull through is when it seems least likely. It's funny to see the strange changes that occur during a lifetime. Lately though, I have been very blessed in the things I have gotten to do. I've been to camp, I have retained a job most of the time, I have swam, I even got to go to Disneyland for the first time in my life. It was amazing; my favorite ride was Space Mountain and it was good to be in a place I had heard about so much. I went with my best friend Brenten and his family, who were very kind and seemed nearly as excited to be taking me for my first trip as I was to be there. We rode quite a few rides, and I got one soaking foot from Splash Mountain as well as a picture with a very feminine looking Mickey Mouse. After a week of working it was a nice break, although the work itself had been fun enough. Earlier in the week Brenten and I even got out for awhile to get in a game of bowling (much to both our surprise and his dismay I won). We found a wonderful and big book store where they had a great selection of books all for a dollar and came home that day with a large box of books which Brenten carried all the way back from town himself! Also in town we got pictures taken in a photobooth, stopped by a Cold Stone Creamery, stopped in a candy store and hit up the arcade together more than once. The arcade especially was very cool, and we had a great time. We went to Griffith Observatory late one night and enjoyed both the neat things to see there as well as a view of the Hollywood sign in the dark. We threw two afterparties, one for younger and one for older gymnasts. The parties were fun, loud and included a lot of dancing. Long Beach we only got home for a couple of days before heading off to the Redwoods for my favorite camp. One branch of my family goes there every year, and we clean the porta potties. Previously it has been only family working on them, even I started last year; but this year Brenten joined and became my partner. We worked hard and spent a lot of our time either working or eating if we weren't in a class. The camp is really beautiful though, weans we did get some fun in. I, as usual, indulged in my weakness for buying books whenever we went to town. We went to look for fossils with my family, which entailed taking two separate cars and hiking around among sawgrass and probably poison oak for a chance to dig out fossils, and in my case mostly to see the fantastic views. We also got to go swimming, at which point we took the chance to bury each other in the sand before going off to ride the shallow rapids nearby. Camp was as usual a great experience, but it was good to be back in Northern California; to see the orchards and fields, the productivity, the fertility, the cows. It felt like home. Oh yes, also the sweltering heat - that was different too. The heat hasn't let up really since we got back. Maybe once school starts, and that's a new adventure all in itself. My senior year, I can't wait ;)

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