Quickwrite #8

The American dream as it is known as today usually consists of the idea of freedom and opportunity. Most people who seek the "American Dream"are usually immigrants who are seeking a better life. In modern society, it is directed more towards wealth and success. Most Americans are aware that the American Dream is harder to achieve than it is advertised.  Wealth is the amount of money one has, or the wealth of assets and power. Wealth is very important in American society. It is a material desire to achieve stability and happiness through the ability to buy things that are desired or not worry. In our current society, very few people are rich, and many are struggling. The rich see the income gap as an issue for the lower class, and taxes and welfare as handouts. It is important to understand that everyone wants the American Dream, and that most people want to better themselves to achieve it.

Quickwrite #7

The painting appears to be in abstract style, so it is not as straight-foward. From what I can tell, it looks like a few people on the floor of a house being attacked by outside forces. These forces being possibly a bull, a ghost, and a dog. These beings look to be coming into the home from the outside, and from the expression on the man's face, it is an attack. If I were to title this painting, I think I would call it Ghost. Either because there is a ghost coming in, or because it's a cool name.

Quickwrite #6

I believe that knowledge and imagination are incomparable. To me, both are important aspects of a healthy mind, but not mutually exclusive. Imagination is necessary because it keeps the mind in balance, but in the same way knowledge is equally important to understand the world. I think that it some ways you could way one more heavily than the other, however this depends on the particular instance rather than a general statement of truth. Rationality is paired with emotion and knowledge so in regard to that balance, both are important and incomparable.

Quickwrite #5

I don't really have a reoccurring nightmare or dream or any particular character that haunts me, but when I was younger I did. I watched E.T. for the first time when I was around 7 or 8 and was terrified of it. The alien, E.T. scarred be for some reason, so much so that in my dreams and imagination, a mutated alien figure resembling E.T would constantly terrorize me. I adopted a fear of turning my back to windows, so that when I had to turn away or walk away from a mirror, I would yell or scream and run to get away as quickly as possible. It didn't help that there was a huge window behind the stairs, so every time I went down them, I would run, scream, and flail my arms. Not only that, but I had a fear that the alien creature would be where I could not see it in the room; behind the closet doors, under be bed, in the dark corner of my room at night, etc. This continued for months or maybe a year until I gradually grew out of it.

Quickwrite #3

I think that Bernie Sanders fights against injustice. He advocates for the middle and lower class against the rising income gap and the super-rich. Although this is his main argument or idea, he maintains an equal view on Americans. He doesn't believe some of the racist ideology present in many candidates such as most of the republican party. I think that with his plan to tax the rich and set forth presidents and programs to help the lower class and shrinking middle class, Bernie Sanders can help fight against the cruel and unjust distribution of wealth in the United States. Like all candidates, he is not perfect, but I think that by running and promoting a fair economic system, he is helping the country.

Quickwrite #2

As a kid, I often would hear people use complicated words and attempt to use them in my own dialogue with others. I wanted to sounds more mature or intellegent, but I did not always completely understand the meaning of the word. I could asertain with the context the original person used to what the general idea of the word was, but when I used it, it was a little off. Sometimes people would correct me, other times I would just have to learn from using the words or hearing it more times. If I felt like I didn't understand enough, I would use a dictionary and find the real meaning. It would have been better if I had done that from the start, but I suppose I was too prideful or determined. A different yet memorable example is when in 1st grade we had different Giants baseball players come to our school and read books to kids in classrooms. Our player was reading a book about the first African-American baseball player in MLB. I remember, as soon as he said "racial" I thought he had said Rachel, and shot my hand up to tell him it was my name. Luckily I brought my hand down pretty quickly and didn't embarrass myself too badly.

Quickwrite #1 (1/5/16)

When I was 11, my sister was taken to the hospital for heart failure because of an eating disorder that had gone undetected. I was waiting for my mom to pick me up at school because it was pouring rain and I couldn't walk home. I kept waiting and tried calling her a few times. Eventually she answered and told me that she was on her way to the hospital, that my sister was in trouble, and that I had to get home myself. I was in shock, and I was terrified. The phone consisted of 15 seconds at most, so it was hard to make sense of what was happening. I called my friend at the time, and she said that it "sucked" but she had to go to dance, so that conversation ended just as quickly. I walked home, and waited for my parents to call. When they finally came home, they explained that Natalie was very sick, that her body was falling apart because she restricted her food and overexercised. At first they wouldn't say she was anorexic, but just had an "eating disorder not otherwise specified" (EDNOS) because she didn't fit the weight requirement. I became angry and so upset that I refused to see her. I hated her for being stupid enough to do this to herself and my family, and upset that now I was tossed aside. It was selfish and irrational, but I was a kid. I was asked to grow up and deal with the situation like an adult, but I was barely in 6th grade. To some extent, I think I failed, at least for a while. For years I resented her, for getting healthy, then sick again, and sicker still. In and out of treatment, sometimes out of state, jostled my family around more than a middle schooler would like. It took so long to forgive my sister and recognize that mental illnesses are not a choice, and that there are things in life you can't control. I matured and tried to help her, my family, and myself deal with the eating disorder.