“I told myself to run over to K., grab hold of him, and get out of there. It was the only thing to do. I knew that the wave was coming, and K. didn’t know. As clearly as I knew what I ought to be doing, I found myself running the other way–running full speed towards the dyke, alone. What made me do this, I’m sure, was fear, a fear so overpowering it took my voice away and set my legs to running on their own. I ran stumbling along the soft sand beach to the breakwater, where I turned and shouted to K.”(Murakami p4). This downright heartbreaking quote establishes human…
Sharon Wood, the mind blowing mountain climber believed that “fear is healthy” (Georgi&Wojna p.2). This fascinating statement declared from Sharon Wood was something no one would expect. Usually, people would think fear is unhealthy to the human body because it makes the human body nervous and uncomfortable. But Sharon Wood was different from the rest and believed in something unusual. Not only did Wood have a different state of mind, but she also had patience. Wood tried her best to wait for her helpless partner stuck on the mountain. She made a smart move by “wait[ing] 30 minutes” (Georgi&Wojna p.11) for him. If she climbed back for her partner in the mountain, she could’ve gotten hurt, stuck or ran out of oxygen. Even though she did abandon her partner for the rest of the trip down, she did it for an important, significant reason. Moreover, after she came back from her long trip from Everest, unlike Marilyn she found a “small, independent, non-denominational school in Canmore” (Georgi&Wojna p.18).…
You are running in the forest. After running past a couple more trees, you turn around. There is nobody. But you know, there is. The man, that you could not quite make out his face, must be following you into the forest just like he did on your route back home. He was chasing you home and you dodged through the nearest yard. This is how you find yourself in the forest. You thought you lost him. It is all unknown, just like the forest is. You stop to catch your breath, as you think you have some time to spare.…
In these cave man days, when we were hunted and ‘hunters’ the fight or flight response served to prepare the body to either ‘fight e.g.the tiger’ or run from it !…
Those tantalizing first moments in the showers felt like a stab to the heart, painful but also at the same time invigorating, forcing one to develop a sudden urge to quiver. Those short moments of unforeseen trembling sparked split second memories of the past, infiltrating my mind like flashes of light abruptly appearing in the night sky. At first I stood firmly to resist, but the wound only deepens every time I tried harder to withstand the pain; retaliating my defensive measures. The struggle worsens when it starts to take effect on my senses, impairing my eyesight and hearing simultaneously, leaving me stranded in the abyss of my…
In football, rules are followed to ensure safety. Relationships are created between players and coaches to make them a better athlete. Outside of football players have relationships with their parents, wife, and children to make them a better person. Their job aside from football are there kids. As soon as they are born it is there duty to develop rules to ensure there kids safety such as dating rules.…
As a child, I was raised my whole life in the country side. My mother and I had lived for years in a lonely shack at the edge of the small village we called home. At the very edge of the village was an eerie forest, a forest that seemed to beckon unwary fools into entering it. I was always told as a child to never go near the forest, especially at night. Some people say that a bear lives there, while others say that a serial killer lives there, and some even say that a monster lives there, either way the forest is always portrayed with death. I remember various occasions in which I would wake up for reasons unknown, only to find myself outside in my backyard staring at the edge of the forest, the soft moonlight caressing my bare skin, the crisp night air followed by the refreshing scent of grass. On one occasion I thought I heard a…
I was born today. My bones quarried at Rano Raraku near the northeast end of my homeland, Easter Island. My makers were small, with deep tawny skin that gleamed with moisture under the sun as they carved the gentle curves of my body. As I lay among the rock, an unmoving piece of stone that stretched across the land to the creatures that constructed me, I observed the thriving life around me. I was surrounded by trees, some whose unbranched bodies shot into the vibrant sky, their silky, lively leaves dancing in the warm wind that swept over me. Down at my laying level, grew a variety of small, round, leafy, thin, and sweet smelling plants, sprouting from the land like gifts sent from the fertile soil. From the moment at which I was carved from the earth, I was in awe of its beauty, which provided myself and the creatures around me with so much, taking nothing in return. My observations were interrupted as I felt my body lurch forward, and slide onto what I felt to be the dancing trees I had once perceived around me. Hundreds of the small creatures stood around me, noise exchanging between them moving quickly and frequently from their lips, disturbing the peaceful silence. We slowly moved forward, my body still shuddering over the slippery dead trees beneath me. I felt as if I could hear them whimpering. As we proceeded, I was overwhelmed by the exotic life that moved by me. Colors swirling through the air, growing from trees high and low, with branches sturdy and fragile, trunks thick and thin. Smells overwhelmed my buzzing senses; sweet, spicy, musky, sharp, eye watering. I watched the creatures as we passed these aromatic plants; rip brightly colored fruits from their branches—killing them without even a thought. We continued to march forward. The vibrant sky above me began to darken, and our pace slowed as we reached our seemingly final destination. Although I could not see through the darkness, I could still feel and hear. Something long…
It took a while, but I was slowly recovering. Every time I did something that made me happy or for myself, her name faded more and more.…
To the average person it was just another day in St. John’s, Newfoundland, however, to me it was much more. It marked the day I would run across Canada, from the Atlantic to the Pacific- from St. John’s to Victoria. As I stood upon a small inlet by the coast of St. John’s, I prepared myself for a journey of a lifetime. I tried to kick my feet into the bare sedimentary rock by the jagged coastline- bad idea, and I’d be needing those feet for a while. After hours of preparation, I was finally ready to go, but my hands were trembling. As if I wasn’t controlling them my feet began moving, and I soon found myself at a light jogging pace. Years of training had prepared me for this.…
I kept myself on pace, past the sidewalk, and down the small hill. My feet shuffled faster, my breathing became heavier. I lowered my arms, lengthened my strides and prayed to God that he would give me strength. My lungs began to scream obscenities, my heart threatened to leave my chest, and I was sure my legs were planning my murder. I started to embrace the pain exploding through my body. I began work among the strains of physical feeling and pushing myself against my mental limitations. Each leaden step burnt my tired muscles and bore into my brain. An undesirable battle presented itself to me. Demands made themselves prevalent in my mind.…
After giving the pile of old tree limbs she was pointing at a good second stare I saw it. There was a roof slightly sticking up from a mass of brush. I had lived right up the hill from this location for 9 years and had been down to the camp dozens of times, but never have I ever noticed this small roof that was roughly 100 meters away from the camp. We sprinted on through the scraggly brush, being pulled back on by plenty of branches and jumping over small creeks. Tumbling, jerking, and fleeing was pulling everyone back, but yet was pushing everyone forward. We stopped dead in our tracks after what felt like hours of sprinting and adjusted to the spontaneous sight that was in front of us, sending my eyes into…
Personal Narratives carry more authority than scholarly studies, because they are the voices of women varying in color, ethnicity, nationality, religion, and cultural background. The feminist movement operates on the assumption that experiences of upper-middle class white women represent a universal female identity. In order for the feminist movement to gain traction, we must recognize the systemic oppression faced by women with multiple dimensions to their identity, and embrace their stories, experiences, and views (Gillis, S. 2004).…
All I see and smell is the torn-up mud and grass beneath me, all I hear is the thunderous pound of hundreds of feet, each wearing 6 small spikes, making contact with the narrow path on either side of my body. Somehow every runner…
I have dated a lot in my life. When I was young, I was obsessed with dating. I didn't like being single, and I enjoyed the process of getting to know someone new and developing a relationship.…