Many people would say that growing up with parents who could not speak english would be to my disadvantage, but I disagree. Growing up I always believed it to be exhausting having to translate and never really feeling normal. I believed it to be dragging and many times protested against it, but besides it being tiring, I also felt embarrassed. Yeah embarrassed of having to deal with my parents and not being able to communicate with them like other kids did with their parents. As I grew older the issue only grew because at that point I began to resent them for putting me through what I believed to be embarrassing moments of confusion, but all of this changed when I finally realized that my parents did the best they could with what they had.…
The racetrack feels like there is a drum inside your ribcage. This feeling comes from cars turning the track and people cheering…
During this season of giving, help turn a child's frown upside down this Christmas. The Caring Place is now collecting new toys and gently used bikes for the children in our neighborhood. With the trend towards simplifying gift giving for our own children to what they want, what they need, something to read and something to wear this year, please consider buying a 5th gift for a child in need. Kids will be smiling all over Silverton, Kennedy Heights, Pleasant Ridge and Golf Manor!…
Nearing the end of the tube I can almost see the shore, It feels as if I've been riding this wave for days. This wave is my hurdle in the ocean that is life, choppy at the beginning but slowly passing by. The ocean has many waves, one for each surfer to ride, my specialty wave happened to be dyslexia. It was in the second grade that my teacher first realized I was different from the other students, because I had yet to read my first book. My parents had found this odd as well, and took me to see a neurologist, who diagnosed me as having dyslexia. I did not quite know what this meant at the time, I only knew that it was the reason I could not comprehend the topics as easily as my classmates.…
My mother, “Regina Hopkins,” has been a positive influence in my life. She has raised 6 kids all by herself as well as earned a Bachelor’s degree in nursing from a City College in Gainesville, Florida. My mother has been through pretty much everything a person can go through outside of war and was still able to be there and provide for all 6 of her kids. In high school, my mother wanted to play football and couldn't because she was a girl and back-in-the-day women were not allowed to play football with the guys. However, she remained strong by raising 6 kids and independently took care of all of us on her own. My mother has several qualities that I would love to develop. The first quality she has is balance; she certainly knows how to make…
With ever story of victory, comes a drowning idea of failure. Throughout our live, these battles are fought, taking not only mental strength, but physical as well. Some of these battles are chosen, while the rest flank from behind. With this in mind, a story of victory must be told, on behalf of my Aunt, Joenell. Her battle took place in April, of 2009, she went to the Suttee Delta hospital, in Antioch California for a doctor’s visit, for fear that something was wrong, during this visit she informed her doctor that she felt a not on her left breast. Soon after, she had a mammogram, and an ultrasound done, revealing three cancerous lumps. As the doctor went into detail, she started to realize the gravity of the situation. For the first time; at the age of 59, she was confronted with the most life threating event she had ever faced. So for a second opinion, she went to the Epic Cancer center, also in Antioch California. Certainly, the last thing anyone would like to hear during a doctor’s visit, she knew there would be some decisions to be made, time to study up.…
I grew up in Freedom, North Dakota as Marissa Frank. It was a dull November day, when my life would change forever. I was in the middle of a test in science class when a large man came into the classroom. He whispered something to the teacher and then asked me to go into he hallway with him. He told me that I would need to bring all my stuff with me down to the police station and that they had a few questions to ask me.…
Moving on is easy but what you leave behind is what makes it hard. Once you get to a certain age in your life you know you have to move on sometime. I know times are hard but you have to push yourself toward what you really want in life even if it means moving away from what you love.…
The Degree in which I changed my life We all know that change is scary, and for some of us, almost impossible. The fear of the unknown is at times all together overwhelming. However, change happens everyday, even if we don't recognize it, change is happening around us, all the time. I chose to welcome change into my life, I had to, or I was going to lose the most important people in my life, my children. Approximately two years ago, my world came crashing down on me like a wall of bricks. In one day I had lost my fiance', my children, my job, my home and my car. My ex-husband had made false alligations and by the time it was all said and done, all I had left was the family dog. That dog became my best friend that day! It would have been easy for me to fall into a deep depression and give up, but it just wasn't in me to do that!…
After all the ups and downs in my life none of those things stopped me in achieving my dreams in 2012 the year that I received my associates the most emotional moment in my life when I had walked and made my family proud of me. I know it doesn’t seem a lot to many people but to me was the beginning of a very successful life and making a difference in my life and many others. Not only I did this for myself but for my nephews (my brothers kids) to show them that it takes a lot of hard work to achieve for our dreams but anything is possible in life as long as we don’t give up, hopefully inspire them to go far in life. I want to make a change in my family’s lives and make things better for all of us.…
Throughout the years, billions of individuals have inhabited the Earth, each with their own lives and their own particular choices. With every choice made, these individuals have started to compose their legacy, which is the exemplification of who they are and what they have accomplished. I, like the majority of the rest of the world, am starting to leave a legacy as well, and plan to continue and enhance it along the shining stone path known as my life.…
“WHOA WHOA WHOA THIS IS BALONEY MAN!” that is something I say whenever I am frustrated. People have always told me sometimes the best way to learn something is through failure. People value things they have accomplished differently. Often the people whom are naturally adept at things do not realize how much of a struggle it can be for others. Many times when people have told me that if you are going to fall, fall forward. Do not let your insecurities, doubts, and pride get in the way of improving yourself. In brief, there can always be a way to improve yourself.…
Something that changed me and let me be the person who I am today is friendship. Friends can raise you high above the skies. Or, they can pull you down under the ground.…
My first home for many years. This land comes rarer to me as the day…
We as a society live in different whirlwinds of social locations defined by our race, gender, social class, age, ability, religion, etc. This spectrum of elements has a strong influence on the way that we behave and the way we view ourselves. When it comes to my elements of social location, I’m an 18 year old Caucasian girl just entering college coming from a middle-class family.…