She was born on a busy summer night on September 13th 1918 in Brookline, Massachusetts. I always had the feeling that Rosie was a little different from the rest of us. On the day of her birth the midwife arrived late, and my theory is that this action deprived her brain of oxygen. We were proven right when she failed to advance from kindergarten and was deemed to suffer from intellectual disabilities. When this happened our parents began to conceal their third child from society.…
It was a Tuesday in February when it first happened. Unexpectantly waking up in the morning, realizing that the bottle of pills taken the previous night did not do what the Internet said they would. When you are someone like me, actions and thoughts like this occur on a daily basis. Nobody wants to live this way, constantly dreading each day and hoping the next will bring a stable supply of neurotransmitters like serotonin or dopamine. These chemicals in the brain, when in excess or in insufficient amount, cause depression. As a person with dysthymia (Eeyore Depression), everyday life is a challenge; simple tasks become strenuous, thoughts become askew from random triggers, and being understood by others is a rarity.…
A few days after I went home with Phoebe, I ended up getting sick and my parents sent me to a hospital. I was trapped in that hospital for about a month with nothing to really do. You know what was funny though? The days practically flew by, right out of the window. Before I knew it, half a month had passed. I was slowly getting back my strength and everything else as well. I made sure I asked the nurse, who was taking care of me, to bring me malted milk. She was very kind to me, and chatty in a nice, friendly sort of way. It was a nice break from the typical phony people. Speaking of phonies, you should've seen my therapist. He came to me during this one session, started asking me questions in a very posh voice. You know, like he's really…
At a young age, I waited on the benches for my mother to retrieve me from carpool. I observed my peers laughing together as they walked towards the gym for after-school sports. My mother, who soon arrived to find her kindergarten son sitting in solitude, scheduled numerous parent-teacher conferences. She would share her concerns while my teachers assured her that my "individuality" was what attracted friends to me. I had been a leader rather than a follower regardless of the opinion of others, and, to this day, that has remained static. I have evolved from that careless kindergarten leader, to an aspiring college graduate.…
As most children grow up, they are aware of their surroundings and take in everything they can understand which adds to their personality and their structure of life. As a child I developed at a level more advanced than the children around me. I learned to use a computer at the age of 3 years old. I read at an 8th-9th grade level while in the 5th grade. In addition, I could handle complex situations better than a average elementary student. The mindset I had as a child unlocked new doors for me. For example, I was not afraid to try new things and accept the lessons that came along with new opportunities. Also, I learned from my parents that going down the path of success isn’t always easy. Lastly, I experienced that life is filled with…
I noticed when I moved to North Carolina that the teachers were teaching materials I had already learned the year before. However, I was not able to skip a grade, so this deterred my development and educational growth for a year.…
Growing up, I was unalike from other kids, I was "imaginative". During class, I would always by myself, writing bizarre stories with preposterous characters and with an unpredictable plot, while the other kids were playing with their friends. Many of my classmates would be entertained by loony stories, while other kids thought that I was just some lonely nitwit writing absurd stories to make up for not having any friends. In that year I was relocated to a different school, which I didn't want to go because I didn't have any friends at the school, I was currently attending and it would be much more difficult to make new friends. In the following year, I was still that shy girl in the back of the classroom not interacting with anybody, but it…
On Thursday, September 15 at Cohasset Elementary school in Van Nuys, I worked at my practicum site for the first time in a Head Start class of three and four year olds. My goal for this first class was to become familiar with the children and the classroom routine. One of the first things I noticed was that all the children and the teachers are Hispanic and speak Spanish, although the class is mostly taught in English. I experienced a diversity issue between myself and the staff and children in the classroom. The main barrier I faced was the language. Some of the children spoke only English in class, others spoke a mixture of English and Spanish, and some spoke only in Spanish. Speaking some Spanish helped me, but the children spoke so softly…
Ten years old is rough for kids, but what happened to me made those pre-teen years even worse. My parents had been divorced for two years when the unthinkable happened, my dad announced he was getting remarried. I was introduced to the woman named Melissa and her daughter Audrey, but I was unaware that the joining of the two families would impact my life forever. Though the road was not easy, Melissa helped me discover who I was meant to be, and the things she taught me affect me everyday.…
Growing up, most of the children I knew would go to church on Sunday’s, visit their grandparents’ house to bake cookies after school, and have milk and cereal for breakfast every morning. But I had never set foot inside of a religious building, couldn’t even speak the same language as my grandmothers, and ate congee with fermented soy beans like it was the most natural thing in the world. My little town where I’d grown up, made friends, and built memories was, to say the least, completely un-diverse.…
(More dramatic beginning) Choking and laughing through the cigarette smoke as I sit around the smoking area listening to the seniors tell their crazy drunken stories and cat call at the numerous ladies. This is the dream for any freshmen, but not what I expected when I was thrust into Younglife weekend camp January of my freshmen year.…
On my first day at kindergarten recess, I was playing with my friends Sarah. We were climbing monkey bars and playing tag when suddenly Sarah disappeared. I started to panic. Where is she? Where did she go? I then started to call her name, “Sarah!!” Then I heard someone crying. I started to walk toward the noise, then I saw Sarah. “What happened to you?”I asked. “ This big girl pushed me,” Sarah said…
Growing up can be challenging even with the ideal surroundings. Your teen years are even more puzzling because you seem to be stuck in between being a child and an adult. Throw in not having a father or mother around and life gets difficult. The year 2001 was a difficult year for my family and the nation. My life growing up wasn’t picture perfect, but in one very long month I learned that kindness from those around will help you endure and survive.…
Before 7th grade, I never actually believed in bad things. I just didn't think of them as things that actually happened to people. I don’t even know why I thought that, I was actually a pretty nice person.…
I remember it like it was yesterday. Elementary school; second grade; Ms. Rubright’s class to be exact. We were being lined up like cattle going to the slaughterhouse, so we could go on a bathroom break in an orderly fashion. My teacher called on my table, and we stood up and walked over to the line being as quiet as church mice; since that was what was expected by our teacher. It almost seemed like a medieval form of punishment, the way they made us wait half a century before we could actually exit the classroom and use the restrooms. My friend, Matt, a chunky red-head who was always pushing his glasses up on his stubby nose, came to stand behind me after his table was called to line up. At the time I was happy to be standing in line to…