1. Go Green! The school's reaction to the global environment crisis
2. Banning skateboarding/biking on campus
3. The flu scare and what the school is doing to prevent the spread
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Final Memoir
The weather was so cold that when one walked outside, his or her nose would immediately turn bright cherry red from the icy wind and burn every time the air stirred. It is like this in Connecticut for over six months of the year. We had just moved into my Grandpa’s old house. He had moved out and we had just sold our cute, yellow house with the green shudders on Wayne Drive. We loved that house and we had made it our home by painting it, putting in hard wood flooring, and even making the sun room into a finished bonus room with a pellet stove that we would all huddle around with our palms up to the fire in order to keep warm during the harsh winter. Now my mom was pregnant with my brother, and this was her third child. This meant we would have 5 people in our family, and the cute, yellow house with the green shudders only had three bedrooms. There was simply not enough room. Moving into my Grandpa’s house was temporary and my parents were searching for a new house for our growing family: the search which had initiated the start of a rigorous journey for me, including many obstacles to overcome and a whole new life to adjust to.
I thought my parents were searching for a house in our little town of Plainville, so that I would not have to switch schools. At the time I had just turned thirteen and I figured my mom would understand that I could not possibly change my school and move away from all my friends and all the people I loved. Looking back, I was utterly unprepared for what was to come next. My mom, my step-dad and I were relaxing inside like bears in their cave who keep warm from the misery outside on one of those frost-bitten Connecticut days. My mom, beautiful with her blonde hair and brown eyes, and quite round from being pregnant, looked me in the eyes and said, “Amanda, how would you feel about moving to Florida?”
This question really shocked me. “Florida?” I asked in disbelief. It felt just as silly of a question as if she had asked, “Amanda, how would you feel about rock-climbing up the empire state building?” Both my mom and step-dad were looking at me, curious of my reaction. My first thought was definitely a rejection. I could not leave Connecticut. This was my home. I could not leave my dad, or my baby sisters, or my grandparents. I could not leave my best friend Lynleigh, or all my other friends at my school. This was just simply not possible. And besides, I definitely knew I would not be able to tell all of them I was leaving. Just seeing the tears well up in their eyes as I tried to choke out the words was something I could not possibly bare. Especially my father, I loved him so much: both him and my baby sisters that lived with him. I could not stand the thought of just seeing them a few times a year.
“Yeah right.” I told my mom and step-dad. They could not be serious about this impulsive thought. “We are serious about this, Amanda,” My mom replied, as if to completely contradict the flow in which my thought-current was traveling. She then went on to list the pros of her idea to try to make me see past all of the cons that seemed to form the never ending list that was in my mind. She told me we would get a bigger house, an in-ground pool, and that I could pick out my own room. The way she described the new life she had in mind for our family made moving sound like a really good idea. My mother is so persuasive that she can make an elf believe they are ten feet tall.
The hardest person to leave was my dad. My mom made it sound like I would see him more if I moved. She said I can spend all the major vacations with him so I would see him and his family (my sisters and step-mom) for a week at a time instead of just weekends, like how it was at the time. I repeat: my mother is very persuasive. Little did I know how many other people I would have to see when I visited Connecticut. I had to visit my grandparents, my friends, my uncle, aunt and cousins. The to-do list I had when I visited was like Michael Phelps’s appetite: never ending. I really never ended up getting any full weeks with my dad. He is now in Heaven and I will never stop missing him.
We packed up our family and all of our belongings after my brother was born and moved into a bright pink Floridian house. We did, of course paint it to a chocolate brown. It was the end of December and we went from frigid, icy weather in Connecticut and to the warm, humid Florida air. I picked the room with the wall of tall windows and the closet made of mirrors to call my own. It was New Years Eve a few nights after we settled in. The family across the street (the Jordans, who have moved but remain family friends) were throwing a party and some of the neighborhood teens were also outside. We were invited over and that is when I met Katherine (who had brown hair, brown eyes, and never seemed to run out of words to say; She could have an hour-long conversation about an electrical outlet if that particular thought crossed her mind) and her friends Erin and Darren, who also lived in the neighborhood. Katherine and I became good friends, which had made the transition into a new school a little bit easier.
Though having at least 2 friends so far (Darren was a year older and therefore he was in high school), switching to a new school when I was thirteen and in the middle of eighth grade was extremely difficult. Everyone at Jackson Heights Middle School seemed to know each other their whole lives and for the first time I was the outsider and a stranger to all. Everyone’s eyes seemed as if they were needles poking me every step I took. They all already had their groups of friends and did not really act like they wanted a new member. I have never been the shy girl, but it was as if I was in a whole new world and I simply did not know how to react to this. MSP (the Middle School of Plainville) was not even ten years old. Everything there was new and clean and all the teachers and students knew me and were all really nice to me. On the other hand, Jackson Heights was filthy. I could not believe the school had more than one building since the school I came from had one building that was really easy to get around in. The staircases at this new school were covered in dirt and filth and the whole lunch table I sat at had to get up and move because a cockroach just came out of the wall. My first day there, I got lost trying to find most of my classes and could not figure out how to read the bus schedule and find my bus and all the busses left. I was miserable and stranded, as if I were a lost, amateur sailor in the middle of the ocean, and I had to wait an hour for my aunt to pick me up and bring me home where I broke down and told my mom, “I absolutely hate it here. I want to move back with Dad.”
On top of that, the schoolwork at middle school in Plainville was so easy to me. There were no advanced classes so I got an easy A in everything. When I came here the administrators at Jackson saw that I had all A’s and decided to put me in all honors courses. I was surprised by how quickly these classes moved and how harsh the teachers could be. Some teachers were upset with me just because I did not understand everything that the other students had been learning for months on the first day. I got out of school at four (different, and way worse than the two-thirty release in Plainville) and stayed up till about ten every night trying to complete homework that I would start right when I got home from school.
“You need to take it day by day and if you still hate it after a year you can decide if you want to go back” is what my mother told me. At the time I already knew I was going to move back to Connecticut. I could never possibly love Oviedo or the people in it as much as I loved Plainville and the people who lived there. However, I did take it day by day. I got my grades up and became an exceptional student in every one of my classes. Nothing but and A was acceptable to me. A year passed and another as well, and I was starting to adjust to this lifestyle. With harder courses than Plainville had to offer, I was able to get a much better education than I would have got if I still lived in that small town. I excelled in all my classes every year, made the cheerleading team every year, and finally became really close with some new friends. Junior year came along and when I started dating my boyfriend, Dustin, I realized I did not want to move back and that I actually enjoyed living here. Now, it is always nice every time I visit my family in Connecticut, but I know my home is here. I know that I really hated living here at first, but I am able to look back and say that I was strong enough to adjust and overcome the hardships. I was able to look past the bad in order to see the good in my life, and I was finally able to say that I am happy where I am.
I thought my parents were searching for a house in our little town of Plainville, so that I would not have to switch schools. At the time I had just turned thirteen and I figured my mom would understand that I could not possibly change my school and move away from all my friends and all the people I loved. Looking back, I was utterly unprepared for what was to come next. My mom, my step-dad and I were relaxing inside like bears in their cave who keep warm from the misery outside on one of those frost-bitten Connecticut days. My mom, beautiful with her blonde hair and brown eyes, and quite round from being pregnant, looked me in the eyes and said, “Amanda, how would you feel about moving to Florida?”
This question really shocked me. “Florida?” I asked in disbelief. It felt just as silly of a question as if she had asked, “Amanda, how would you feel about rock-climbing up the empire state building?” Both my mom and step-dad were looking at me, curious of my reaction. My first thought was definitely a rejection. I could not leave Connecticut. This was my home. I could not leave my dad, or my baby sisters, or my grandparents. I could not leave my best friend Lynleigh, or all my other friends at my school. This was just simply not possible. And besides, I definitely knew I would not be able to tell all of them I was leaving. Just seeing the tears well up in their eyes as I tried to choke out the words was something I could not possibly bare. Especially my father, I loved him so much: both him and my baby sisters that lived with him. I could not stand the thought of just seeing them a few times a year.
“Yeah right.” I told my mom and step-dad. They could not be serious about this impulsive thought. “We are serious about this, Amanda,” My mom replied, as if to completely contradict the flow in which my thought-current was traveling. She then went on to list the pros of her idea to try to make me see past all of the cons that seemed to form the never ending list that was in my mind. She told me we would get a bigger house, an in-ground pool, and that I could pick out my own room. The way she described the new life she had in mind for our family made moving sound like a really good idea. My mother is so persuasive that she can make an elf believe they are ten feet tall.
The hardest person to leave was my dad. My mom made it sound like I would see him more if I moved. She said I can spend all the major vacations with him so I would see him and his family (my sisters and step-mom) for a week at a time instead of just weekends, like how it was at the time. I repeat: my mother is very persuasive. Little did I know how many other people I would have to see when I visited Connecticut. I had to visit my grandparents, my friends, my uncle, aunt and cousins. The to-do list I had when I visited was like Michael Phelps’s appetite: never ending. I really never ended up getting any full weeks with my dad. He is now in Heaven and I will never stop missing him.
We packed up our family and all of our belongings after my brother was born and moved into a bright pink Floridian house. We did, of course paint it to a chocolate brown. It was the end of December and we went from frigid, icy weather in Connecticut and to the warm, humid Florida air. I picked the room with the wall of tall windows and the closet made of mirrors to call my own. It was New Years Eve a few nights after we settled in. The family across the street (the Jordans, who have moved but remain family friends) were throwing a party and some of the neighborhood teens were also outside. We were invited over and that is when I met Katherine (who had brown hair, brown eyes, and never seemed to run out of words to say; She could have an hour-long conversation about an electrical outlet if that particular thought crossed her mind) and her friends Erin and Darren, who also lived in the neighborhood. Katherine and I became good friends, which had made the transition into a new school a little bit easier.
Though having at least 2 friends so far (Darren was a year older and therefore he was in high school), switching to a new school when I was thirteen and in the middle of eighth grade was extremely difficult. Everyone at Jackson Heights Middle School seemed to know each other their whole lives and for the first time I was the outsider and a stranger to all. Everyone’s eyes seemed as if they were needles poking me every step I took. They all already had their groups of friends and did not really act like they wanted a new member. I have never been the shy girl, but it was as if I was in a whole new world and I simply did not know how to react to this. MSP (the Middle School of Plainville) was not even ten years old. Everything there was new and clean and all the teachers and students knew me and were all really nice to me. On the other hand, Jackson Heights was filthy. I could not believe the school had more than one building since the school I came from had one building that was really easy to get around in. The staircases at this new school were covered in dirt and filth and the whole lunch table I sat at had to get up and move because a cockroach just came out of the wall. My first day there, I got lost trying to find most of my classes and could not figure out how to read the bus schedule and find my bus and all the busses left. I was miserable and stranded, as if I were a lost, amateur sailor in the middle of the ocean, and I had to wait an hour for my aunt to pick me up and bring me home where I broke down and told my mom, “I absolutely hate it here. I want to move back with Dad.”
On top of that, the schoolwork at middle school in Plainville was so easy to me. There were no advanced classes so I got an easy A in everything. When I came here the administrators at Jackson saw that I had all A’s and decided to put me in all honors courses. I was surprised by how quickly these classes moved and how harsh the teachers could be. Some teachers were upset with me just because I did not understand everything that the other students had been learning for months on the first day. I got out of school at four (different, and way worse than the two-thirty release in Plainville) and stayed up till about ten every night trying to complete homework that I would start right when I got home from school.
“You need to take it day by day and if you still hate it after a year you can decide if you want to go back” is what my mother told me. At the time I already knew I was going to move back to Connecticut. I could never possibly love Oviedo or the people in it as much as I loved Plainville and the people who lived there. However, I did take it day by day. I got my grades up and became an exceptional student in every one of my classes. Nothing but and A was acceptable to me. A year passed and another as well, and I was starting to adjust to this lifestyle. With harder courses than Plainville had to offer, I was able to get a much better education than I would have got if I still lived in that small town. I excelled in all my classes every year, made the cheerleading team every year, and finally became really close with some new friends. Junior year came along and when I started dating my boyfriend, Dustin, I realized I did not want to move back and that I actually enjoyed living here. Now, it is always nice every time I visit my family in Connecticut, but I know my home is here. I know that I really hated living here at first, but I am able to look back and say that I was strong enough to adjust and overcome the hardships. I was able to look past the bad in order to see the good in my life, and I was finally able to say that I am happy where I am.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Memoir Draft
It was probably cold with a hint of depressing outside. It was most likely raining or snowing out, which it is more than half of the year in Connecticut. We had just moved into my Grandpa’s old house. He had moved out and we had just sold our cute, yellow house with the green shudders on Wayne Drive. We loved that house and we had made it our home by painting it, putting in hard wood flooring, and even making the sun room into a finished bonus room with a pellet stove that we would sit around to keep warm during the harsh winter. Now my mom was pregnant with my brother, and this was her third child. This meant we would have 5 people in our family, and the cute, yellow house with the green shudders only had three bedrooms. There was simply not enough room. Moving into my Grandpa’s house was temporary and my parents were searching for a new house for our growing family: the search which had initiated the start of a rigorous journey for me, including many obstacles to overcome and a whole new life to adjust to.
I thought my parents were searching for a house in our little town of Plainville, so that I would not have to switch schools. At the time I had just turned thirteen and I figured my mom would understand that I could not possibly change my school and move away from all my friends and all the people I loved. Looking back, I was not prepared for what was to come next. My mom, my step-dad and I were sitting in the living room on one of those cold, rainy Connecticut days. My mom, beautiful, blonde, and quite round from being pregnant, looked me in the eyes and said, “Amanda, how would you feel about moving to Florida?”
This question really shocked me. “Florida?” I asked in disbelief. Both my mom and step-dad were looking at me, curious of my reaction. My first thought was definitely a rejection. I could not leave Connecticut. This was my home. I could not leave my dad, or my baby sisters, or my grandparents. I could not leave my best friend Lynleigh, or all my other friends at my school. This was just simply not possible. And besides, I definitely knew I would not be able to tell all of them I was leaving. Just seeing the saddened look in their eyes was something I could not possibly bare. Especially my father, I loved him so much: both him and my baby sisters that lived with him. I could not stand the thought of just seeing them a few times a year.
“Yeah right.” I told my mom and step-dad. They could not be serious about this impulsive thought. “We are serious about this, Amanda,” My mom replied. She then went on to list the pros of her idea to try to make me see past all of the cons that seemed to form the never ending list that was in my mind. She told me we would get a bigger house, an in-ground pool, and that I could pick out my own room. The way she described the new life she had in mind for our family made moving sound like a really good idea. My mother is so persuasive.
The hardest person to leave was my dad. My mom made it sound like I would see him more if I moved. She said I can spend all the major vacations with him so I would see him and his family (my sisters and step-mom) for a week at a time instead of just weekends, like how it was at the time. Little did I know how many other people I would have to see when I visited Connecticut. I had to visit my grandparents, my friends, my uncle, aunt and cousins. I really never ended up getting any full weeks with my dad. He is now in Heaven and I will never stop missing him.
We packed up our family and all of our belongings after my brother was born and moved into a bright pink Floridian house. We did, of course paint it to a chocolate brown. It was the end of December and we went from frigid weather in Connecticut and to the warm, humid Florida air. I picked the room with the wall of tall windows and the closet made of mirrors to call my own. It was New Years Eve a few nights after we settled in. The family across the street (the Jordans, who have moved but remain family friends) were throwing a party and some of the neighborhood teens were also outside. We were invited over and that is when I met Katherine (who had brown hair, brown eyes, and never seemed to run out of words to say) and her friends Erin and Darren, who also lived in the neighborhood. Katherine and I became good friends, which had made the transition to a new school a little bit easier.
Though having at least 2 friends so far (Darren was a year older and therefore he was in high school), switching to a new school when I was thirteen and in the middle of eighth grade was extremely difficult. Everyone at Jackson Heights Middle School seemed to know each other their whole lives and for the first time I was the outsider and a stranger to all. Everyone already had their groups of friends and did not really act like they wanted a new member. I have never been the shy girl, but it was as if I was in a whole new world and I simply did not know how to react to this. MSP (the Middle School of Plainville) was not even ten years old. Everything there was new and clean and all the teachers and students knew me and were all really nice to me. On the other hand, Jackson Heights was filthy. I could not believe the school had more than one building since the school I came from had one building that was really easy to get around in. The staircases at this new school were covered in dirt and filth and the whole lunch table I sat at had to get up and move because a cockroach just came out of the wall. My first day there, I got lost trying to find most of my classes and could not figure out how to read the bus schedule and find my bus and all the busses left. I was miserable and stranded and had to wait an hour for my aunt to pick me up and bring me home where I broke down and told my mom, “I absolutely hate it here. I want to move back with Dad.”
On top of that, the schoolwork at middle school in Plainville was so easy to me. There were no advanced classes so I got an easy A in everything. When I came here the administrators at Jackson saw that I had all A’s and decided to put me in all honors courses. I was surprised by how quickly these classes moved and how harsh the teachers could be. I got out of school at four (different, and way worse than the two-thirty release in Plainville) and stayed up till about ten every night trying to complete homework that I would start right when I got home from school.
“You need to take it day by day and if you still hate it after a year you can decide if you want to go back” is what my mother told me. At the time I already knew I was going to move back to Connecticut. I could never possibly love Oviedo or the people in it as much as I loved Plainville and the people who lived there. However, I did take it day by day. I got my grades up and became an exceptional student in every one of my classes. A year passed and another as well, and I was starting to adjust to this lifestyle. With harder courses than Plainville had to offer, I was able to get a much better education than I would have got if I still lived in that small town. I excelled in all my classes every year, made the cheerleading team every year, and finally became really close with some new friends. Junior year came along and when I started dating my boyfriend, Dustin, I realized I did not want to move back and that I actually enjoyed living here. Now, it is always nice every time I visit my family in Connecticut, but I know my home is here. I know that I really hated living here at first, but I am able to look back and say that I was strong enough to adjust and overcome the hardships. I was able to look past the bad in order to see the good in my life, and I was finally able to say that I am happy where I am.
I thought my parents were searching for a house in our little town of Plainville, so that I would not have to switch schools. At the time I had just turned thirteen and I figured my mom would understand that I could not possibly change my school and move away from all my friends and all the people I loved. Looking back, I was not prepared for what was to come next. My mom, my step-dad and I were sitting in the living room on one of those cold, rainy Connecticut days. My mom, beautiful, blonde, and quite round from being pregnant, looked me in the eyes and said, “Amanda, how would you feel about moving to Florida?”
This question really shocked me. “Florida?” I asked in disbelief. Both my mom and step-dad were looking at me, curious of my reaction. My first thought was definitely a rejection. I could not leave Connecticut. This was my home. I could not leave my dad, or my baby sisters, or my grandparents. I could not leave my best friend Lynleigh, or all my other friends at my school. This was just simply not possible. And besides, I definitely knew I would not be able to tell all of them I was leaving. Just seeing the saddened look in their eyes was something I could not possibly bare. Especially my father, I loved him so much: both him and my baby sisters that lived with him. I could not stand the thought of just seeing them a few times a year.
“Yeah right.” I told my mom and step-dad. They could not be serious about this impulsive thought. “We are serious about this, Amanda,” My mom replied. She then went on to list the pros of her idea to try to make me see past all of the cons that seemed to form the never ending list that was in my mind. She told me we would get a bigger house, an in-ground pool, and that I could pick out my own room. The way she described the new life she had in mind for our family made moving sound like a really good idea. My mother is so persuasive.
The hardest person to leave was my dad. My mom made it sound like I would see him more if I moved. She said I can spend all the major vacations with him so I would see him and his family (my sisters and step-mom) for a week at a time instead of just weekends, like how it was at the time. Little did I know how many other people I would have to see when I visited Connecticut. I had to visit my grandparents, my friends, my uncle, aunt and cousins. I really never ended up getting any full weeks with my dad. He is now in Heaven and I will never stop missing him.
We packed up our family and all of our belongings after my brother was born and moved into a bright pink Floridian house. We did, of course paint it to a chocolate brown. It was the end of December and we went from frigid weather in Connecticut and to the warm, humid Florida air. I picked the room with the wall of tall windows and the closet made of mirrors to call my own. It was New Years Eve a few nights after we settled in. The family across the street (the Jordans, who have moved but remain family friends) were throwing a party and some of the neighborhood teens were also outside. We were invited over and that is when I met Katherine (who had brown hair, brown eyes, and never seemed to run out of words to say) and her friends Erin and Darren, who also lived in the neighborhood. Katherine and I became good friends, which had made the transition to a new school a little bit easier.
Though having at least 2 friends so far (Darren was a year older and therefore he was in high school), switching to a new school when I was thirteen and in the middle of eighth grade was extremely difficult. Everyone at Jackson Heights Middle School seemed to know each other their whole lives and for the first time I was the outsider and a stranger to all. Everyone already had their groups of friends and did not really act like they wanted a new member. I have never been the shy girl, but it was as if I was in a whole new world and I simply did not know how to react to this. MSP (the Middle School of Plainville) was not even ten years old. Everything there was new and clean and all the teachers and students knew me and were all really nice to me. On the other hand, Jackson Heights was filthy. I could not believe the school had more than one building since the school I came from had one building that was really easy to get around in. The staircases at this new school were covered in dirt and filth and the whole lunch table I sat at had to get up and move because a cockroach just came out of the wall. My first day there, I got lost trying to find most of my classes and could not figure out how to read the bus schedule and find my bus and all the busses left. I was miserable and stranded and had to wait an hour for my aunt to pick me up and bring me home where I broke down and told my mom, “I absolutely hate it here. I want to move back with Dad.”
On top of that, the schoolwork at middle school in Plainville was so easy to me. There were no advanced classes so I got an easy A in everything. When I came here the administrators at Jackson saw that I had all A’s and decided to put me in all honors courses. I was surprised by how quickly these classes moved and how harsh the teachers could be. I got out of school at four (different, and way worse than the two-thirty release in Plainville) and stayed up till about ten every night trying to complete homework that I would start right when I got home from school.
“You need to take it day by day and if you still hate it after a year you can decide if you want to go back” is what my mother told me. At the time I already knew I was going to move back to Connecticut. I could never possibly love Oviedo or the people in it as much as I loved Plainville and the people who lived there. However, I did take it day by day. I got my grades up and became an exceptional student in every one of my classes. A year passed and another as well, and I was starting to adjust to this lifestyle. With harder courses than Plainville had to offer, I was able to get a much better education than I would have got if I still lived in that small town. I excelled in all my classes every year, made the cheerleading team every year, and finally became really close with some new friends. Junior year came along and when I started dating my boyfriend, Dustin, I realized I did not want to move back and that I actually enjoyed living here. Now, it is always nice every time I visit my family in Connecticut, but I know my home is here. I know that I really hated living here at first, but I am able to look back and say that I was strong enough to adjust and overcome the hardships. I was able to look past the bad in order to see the good in my life, and I was finally able to say that I am happy where I am.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Memo
To: Ms. Moody, From: Amanda Neary-Carey
In class, my intro draft was reviewed by Erin. She really gave me helpful advice on how to increase the strength of my paper. My topic is about my move from Connecticut to Florida and its effect on my life. Like me, Erin also moved to Florida when she was thirteen so she was able to relate to my story and add suggestions to it to make it better. Erin said that I should add in my memoir, my feelings about moving from Connecticut. This was really good advice since I was planning on writing about my feelings about moving to Florida and how I felt about this new place, but now I realize I need to also write about moving away from my hometown and everything I have ever known. In my memoir, I will probably first start writing about my feelings about moving to Florida and what I expected out of it, and then I will include my feelings about moving from my hometown and my family and how I was sad about that. Erin also said I should add more detail. I will describe more about my hometown in my memoir and create a visual scene so that my audience can feel familiar with the place. I can also describe the differences between my old town and Oviedo, which is the town that I moved to, so that my audience will have an easier time understanding my feelings about the move. I can describe people with more visual details, such as how they looked and sounded like, and also describe what both of my houses looked like. I think for my memoir I will start off with when I found out I was moving, then I will write about my feelings about leaving my hometown as well as my expectations about my new town. I will then talk about the actual move itself, so the audience can read about what it was like, but I will write much about that because that does not have much to do with the point that I am trying to make with my memoir. I will then talk about how different the schools were and how getting new friends in the middle of eighth grade was way more difficult than I had imagined it to be. I will talk about how I missed my family back in Connecticut and it was so much harder to leave them than I thought it would be. I will talk about how difficult it was at first and then my story will turn when I finally adjusted and started to love living here. I will say how I will never stop missing my family, but when I visit that old small town, I know my move was for the better and I am ultimately very happy with my life because of it.
In class, my intro draft was reviewed by Erin. She really gave me helpful advice on how to increase the strength of my paper. My topic is about my move from Connecticut to Florida and its effect on my life. Like me, Erin also moved to Florida when she was thirteen so she was able to relate to my story and add suggestions to it to make it better. Erin said that I should add in my memoir, my feelings about moving from Connecticut. This was really good advice since I was planning on writing about my feelings about moving to Florida and how I felt about this new place, but now I realize I need to also write about moving away from my hometown and everything I have ever known. In my memoir, I will probably first start writing about my feelings about moving to Florida and what I expected out of it, and then I will include my feelings about moving from my hometown and my family and how I was sad about that. Erin also said I should add more detail. I will describe more about my hometown in my memoir and create a visual scene so that my audience can feel familiar with the place. I can also describe the differences between my old town and Oviedo, which is the town that I moved to, so that my audience will have an easier time understanding my feelings about the move. I can describe people with more visual details, such as how they looked and sounded like, and also describe what both of my houses looked like. I think for my memoir I will start off with when I found out I was moving, then I will write about my feelings about leaving my hometown as well as my expectations about my new town. I will then talk about the actual move itself, so the audience can read about what it was like, but I will write much about that because that does not have much to do with the point that I am trying to make with my memoir. I will then talk about how different the schools were and how getting new friends in the middle of eighth grade was way more difficult than I had imagined it to be. I will talk about how I missed my family back in Connecticut and it was so much harder to leave them than I thought it would be. I will talk about how difficult it was at first and then my story will turn when I finally adjusted and started to love living here. I will say how I will never stop missing my family, but when I visit that old small town, I know my move was for the better and I am ultimately very happy with my life because of it.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Memoir
It was probably cold and depressing outside. It was probably raining or snowing outside, which it is more than half of the year in Connecticut. We had just moved into my Grandpa’s old house. He had moved out and we had just sold our cute, yellow house with the green shudders on Wayne Drive. We loved that house and we had made it our home by painting it, putting in hard wood flooring, and even making the sun room into a finished bonus room with a pellet stove that we would sit around to keep warm during the harsh winter. Now my mom was pregnant with my brother, and this was her third child. This meant we would have 5 people in our family, and the cute, yellow house with the green shudders only had three bedrooms. There was simply not enough room. Moving into my Grandpa’s house was temporary and my parents were searching for a new house for our growing family.
I thought my parents were searching for a house in our little town of Plainville, so that I would not have to switch schools. At the time I had just turned thirteen and I figured my mom would understand that I could not possibly change my school and move away from all my friends and all the people I loved. Looking back, I was not prepared for what was to come next. My mom, my step-dad and I were sitting in the living room on one of those cold, rainy Connecticut days. My mom, young and beautiful, blonde with big brown eyes, and quite round from being pregnant, looked me in the eyes and said, “Amanda, how would you feel about moving to Florida?”
I thought my parents were searching for a house in our little town of Plainville, so that I would not have to switch schools. At the time I had just turned thirteen and I figured my mom would understand that I could not possibly change my school and move away from all my friends and all the people I loved. Looking back, I was not prepared for what was to come next. My mom, my step-dad and I were sitting in the living room on one of those cold, rainy Connecticut days. My mom, young and beautiful, blonde with big brown eyes, and quite round from being pregnant, looked me in the eyes and said, “Amanda, how would you feel about moving to Florida?”
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Brainstorming
Topic: Moving from Connecticut to Florida and how my life was completely changed because of it.
How to start: I think I will start by describing the scene when I found out that my family wanted to move. I was in my living room and my mom asked how I would feel about it and I did not know what to say. Life was good at the time, we were happy in Connecticut. At the same time, it seemed as if Florida was a whole new world and the idea was very exciting. I think I will start my memoir off by describing the scene in which I found out (the living room) and my thoughts and feelings about it. I will also describe each person in the scene which I think were my mom and step-dad.
How to start: I think I will start by describing the scene when I found out that my family wanted to move. I was in my living room and my mom asked how I would feel about it and I did not know what to say. Life was good at the time, we were happy in Connecticut. At the same time, it seemed as if Florida was a whole new world and the idea was very exciting. I think I will start my memoir off by describing the scene in which I found out (the living room) and my thoughts and feelings about it. I will also describe each person in the scene which I think were my mom and step-dad.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Invention Process
Three potential ideas for essay's central focus:
1. The September eleventh terrorist attacks
2. When my brother, Ryan, was born
3. When I moved to Florida
What are they about?
1. About 3,000 were killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. This seriously disturbed the USA and really had an impact on my life.
2. My youngest sibling, Ryan, was born with several medical conditions including jaundice and an enlarged soft spot. I was thirteen years old at the time and very scared for my baby brother.
3. On December 28, 2004, my family packed up and moved half way across the country from Connecticut to Florida. We left everything behind and had to start a whole new life.
So What?
1. As a young child living in the North, the September eleventh terrorist attacks were my first realization that true evil exists in the world. I could not understand why anyone would do such a thing and it made me feel less safe about the country and flying on planes.
2. When my brother was born with medical conditions I could not understand why I loved someone who I just met so much and I would not be able to take it if I lost him. I prayed more than I ever prayed before for him to get better.
3. When I was deciding if I really wanted to move to Florida, there were too many pros and cons that one really could not outweigh the other. I had to deal with so much in the process od moving and settling down in a whole new place.
1. The September eleventh terrorist attacks
2. When my brother, Ryan, was born
3. When I moved to Florida
What are they about?
1. About 3,000 were killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. This seriously disturbed the USA and really had an impact on my life.
2. My youngest sibling, Ryan, was born with several medical conditions including jaundice and an enlarged soft spot. I was thirteen years old at the time and very scared for my baby brother.
3. On December 28, 2004, my family packed up and moved half way across the country from Connecticut to Florida. We left everything behind and had to start a whole new life.
So What?
1. As a young child living in the North, the September eleventh terrorist attacks were my first realization that true evil exists in the world. I could not understand why anyone would do such a thing and it made me feel less safe about the country and flying on planes.
2. When my brother was born with medical conditions I could not understand why I loved someone who I just met so much and I would not be able to take it if I lost him. I prayed more than I ever prayed before for him to get better.
3. When I was deciding if I really wanted to move to Florida, there were too many pros and cons that one really could not outweigh the other. I had to deal with so much in the process od moving and settling down in a whole new place.
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