This article, by Narayan Chandran, compares Edgar Allen Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" to William Shakespeare's "Macbeth". During the banquet scene in "Macbeth", there is a shadowy figure that places itself in the chair of Banquo and produces an intense effect with the rest of the assembly. This is very similar to Poe's spectral image that is the Red Death. The other people in Prince Prospero's abbey are appalled with this new addition to their group. Both are meant to have a powerful visual result.…
Quite possibly the most significant time of my life was during my senior year as part of the Edison High School football team. The story of our 2006 season is a reflection of my life and testimony to my beliefs and values. Underdogs from day one, we represented not only our school, but also our community and families. Early expectations of the 2006 Eagles were low and the surrounding community was under the belief that Edison would be lucky to go 6-4 with the inexperienced players and the loss of such a talented senior class. Suddenly, I was starting as the outside linebacker/defensive end for the first time in my career along with 18 brand new starters. Unexpectedly, a green group of replacements were 5-0, half-way through our season. After…
Boom! The hit of the pads on that field whether its Friday night, Saturday morning, or Sunday afternoon its always the right time to throw on the pads and play and/or watch the amazing sport of football.…
Soccer, the sport I started playing when I was four years old. After almost 14 years of playing the sport I loved, we were playing Ocala Vanguard in the District tournament for my high school soccer team, Leesburg; if we lost it would be game over for me and my 15 other senior teammates. We knew we had to play strong just to have a chance against them, and oh what a game it was.…
It all started at ninth street with some friends of mine John and I started recruiting some people to come play football with us. I honestly didn’t know I had a pretty decent arm. I originally was going to start practicing to play wide receiver instead of quarterback. At the time Odell Beckham Jr. ( wide receiver for the New York Giants ) was extremely explosive and dynamic on offense. Seeing him blow up on offense made me want to try out for wide receiver. But somehow John convinced me to play quarterback.…
“Swish” as the ball goes through the net. The crowd went wild in the stands as Adam shot the ball. Adam is a tall and brown curly haired boy, with wide hands up to eight inches long. Coach Smith was off his seat and sweating a lot. Coach Smith is a big, bald, and a tall man. The team was down by two, they had the ball. Seven seconds left, the clock was ticking. Two seconds left Randy, had shot the ball at the three point line. Randy is a hairy chimpanzee that loves to play basketball. There was no time left on the clock. When suddenly, the gymnasium was left in complete darkness, just before if everybody saw if the shot was good or not. When the lights turned backed on Randy was gone. Everybody was looking for him. All that was left was Randy’s hair…
Station Camp was five yards from the end zone when our defense flattened the running back, sending the football to the hands of the tackler. Our defense scored on that play to win the game 26-20 in overtime. The tumultuous crowd became so loud, we couldn't hear each other on the field; but truthfully, we did not need to speak. Who we were spoke so loudly that we did not need to hear each other. Numerous predictions claimed we should have lost that game alongside our already fearful fans. After losing nineteen talented starters in the class above us, an immense void was left to fill by few seniors. So why did we keep playing? The answer is that the visceral integrity ingrained within us would never allow us cease believing in ourselves and let adversity control the outcome of the game.…
*Warning, lengthy post* Hey guys, long-time reader, first-time poster here. I’m a highschool student in Kansas City and I’ve been wanting to let some thoughts out of my head about this playoff run, so I figured I could share them with you guys instead of some Chiefs fans that really couldn’t care less.…
It was the day that most freshmen dread, cuts day. There were many of us trying out for the JV baseball team- more people than there were positions. I could see it, I would be starting catcher on the JV baseball team. I had made it passed the first two weeks of tryouts and I was so confident that I was going to make it. That was, until on that last day of tryouts when the two coaches pulled me out of a drill and told me they wanted to talk to me.…
By being told to quit something just because I’m not good at it. Back in my 7th grade year when I played football, I was pretty atrocious at everything basically. Trying to run routes against corners, catching, and trying to stay at 110%. I used to play Wide Receiver but they made me change positions because I didn’t try hard enough. They moved me to o-line and I was probably one of the worst players on the team. I only started one game my middle school life as a guard and all I really did was get embarrassed. Missing blocks, not pulling to get the DE, and forgetting the snap count. I didn't play football my 8th grade and my freshman year because my parents said that allergy season was gonna be awful. I was so close to not playing this year,…
think of a time when you worked extra hard for something and you accomplished it. What did you feel? a sense of joy and accomplishment? well that’s what I felt in these next few stories Imma gonna tell ya.…
As I woke up to the smell of French Toast and bacon while my mom was yelling for me to get in the shower, all I could think about was that days’ game. The moment I got to school, I immediately had to rush to the team meeting before class. While every other team meeting was the usual, brief,…
“Cameron, you can’t play football you’ll die,” My mother told me in her usual serious tone, I could always count on my mom to keep it 100% reality even though I hated it. I wanted to play football so bad for three years I've literally had dreams of me playing defensive back, my wishful position, and being able to play with my emotions and do very well. I stopped pursuing football even though deep down I was still set on football.…
The American Dream was once based on the same principles of The Declaration of Independence, like freedom and equality. That all men deserve “..life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..” (Revolution) Over time, the dream became more materialized and narcissistic. For some, it promised a journey of milestones and accomplishments. But for others, obstacles in the way were too much of a struggle. Azar Nafisi once said, “The negative side of The American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream.”…
We were just going through football practice and it just was the same as every other day. We would practice hard and go through all of the conditioning. We just recently played our first football game against Lovel. That consisted of two quarters, which the Freshman played the first two quarters and the Varsity played the second two quarters. At the end of the game, it was 45 to 17, it was not close at all. That was a good way to start off the Freshman year. We were going to play the Cody Broncs in a couple of weeks, but things changed very fast. One of my favorite quotes is “Sometimes it’s the Journey that teaches you about your destination.” (Drake). That Sunday morning after playing Lovel everything in my world was flipped upside down.…