Poem January 17, 2008

“My Battle with Honors English 3”

By: Sara Cranford  

So many times my teacher says,

Go home and write, A page tonight.

And let the words come straight from you,

Always be honest and true. 

Now how come when she says it,

it sounds so simple? I am only sixteen,

a softball player, and an honor student,

born in good old NC.

There are only three girls on my softball

with a GPA above 4.0,

And I am one.

Each day brings a new challenge,

As I try to balance sports and homework in my busy life.

I am slowly climbing the sixteen wooden stairs which lead to my room,

Where I will sit and write this page: 

 It’s not easy to always know just what to do,

When you’re sixteen, my age, but I guess I am

What I am.

What I feel and see and hear.

Trust me, I hear you Inside I hear you, telling me what to do,

Hear you, hear me — we two — you, me, talk on this page,

I like to run, play and be with friends.

I want to practice, work and excel in this sport which I love.

I like a bat for a Christmas present,

Or a ball and a glove.  

Playing a sport makes it difficult for me to do,

The same things as other kids my age.

So will I write the best page I can?

Will I be who I am?

Or will I slack off because I don’t have the time?  

Sometimes, perhaps, I don’t always listen to you,

But still you tell me the right thing to do.

So I suppose this time I will follow you,

And be who I am. I learn from you,

And I guess you learn from me too.

You may be smarter and wiser, 

But I am me,

Simple and free.

This is my battle with Honors English 3.

Personification January 17, 2008

Personification

 The idea behind this journal entry was to personify—or give human qualities to—a non-human object. I chose words since a lot of times words tend to act like humans and have an everlasting impact on people.  

11-09-07    

     The words on the paper reached out to grab me. They pulled me closer and whispered in my ear. They called to my eyes and focused my attention on them. As I followed these words across the page, they sparkled in my imagination. “Love, hate, fly, live, green, jump!” they shouted. The story unfolded before my eyes and the words kept a steady grasp on my attention. I read, and read, and read, until suddenly the words grew silent. The story was over; the words were dead.

What’s going on in my head January 17, 2008

This journal entry was an experiment to try write to down simply what we were thinking about in our minds. We had to depict what we were imagining by writing a description in our journal. This journal was appealing to me because I was able to express myself freely without descrimination from others. I could use my imagination and release my emotions.

Journal 11-7-07         

     I’m leaving school, walking outside without a care in the world about my grades. I am free to do as I please and be myself. No punishment from my parents on my bad test grades. Who really cares? It’s just a number. Life is like a blank page in front of me. I can choose what I want to make of myself; perhaps a kindergarten teacher. It’s always been a dream. I’m going to go to college and be successful; my grades in high school aren’t going to weigh me down. So I’m not the smartest kid in school. So I don’t always make A’s. I’m not perfect. Perfection is boring. I have my talents and my faults, but I am me, simple and free to be who I want to be. Life is waiting and I’m going to make the best of it. I learned from a wise friend of mine to live every day to the fullest. That is my only goal.

“Learn from yesterday.

Live for today.

Hope for tomorow.”

-Anonymous

My Declaration January 17, 2008

  My Declaration

Sept. 21^st 2007 

    

     When, in course of human events, it becomes necessary for one portion of students to assume among the people of the school, a position different from that which they have occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and the laws of God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of their peers and the authority, which requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course.

     We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all students are created equal; that they are endowed by creator, respected by their authority, with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the freedom of no homework, tests, or quizzes; that to secure these rights, student governments are instituted, deriving their powers from the consent of the student body.

     Having deprived students from sleep, the teachers, thereby leaving us with more work than time in the day, have oppressed us in all classes.

     And for the support of this declaration, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our homework, and our sacred grades. 

Signed,

Sara K Cranford

A Quiet Sunset January 17, 2008

A Quiet Sunset

 This journal entry was our practice of visual and auditory imagery.Close your eyes and imagine what is going on inside your head. No one else is around you; you mind is open—let your imagination soar.

10-10-07

         The waves rolled on to the silky smooth sand of the Emerald Isle beach. She could hear children’s footsteps in the distance, as they splashed through the water. Giggles seemed contagious as the children ran by her; then slowly they faded away. She sat down with her feet barely touching the water and took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet ocean mist. All was quiet. Not a voice could be heard. In the stillness of it all she heard two feet tip-toeing towards her, as though they were trying not to crunch the shells that blanketed over the sand. Then they stopped. Her boyfriend sat down beside her and the two watched the pink sun fall behind the ocean and the scent of night approaching filled the air.