PAPER Topics

... In all her years, she had never experienced anything this horrible. She sat, glued to her spot in front of the television, and cried. Over and over again, she watched the replay of the shooting and would cry some more. Walter Cronkite’s voice echoed throughout her modest home, repeatedly recounting the tragedy. Two days later, her entire family gathered at her grandmother’s home for dinner. My mother refused to join them. Instead, she sat fixated to the television. It was around 12:30 noon, as she recalls, that she started screaming, “Oswald’s been shot….Lee Harvey Oswald has been shot.” Short of Gunsmoke, she had never seen anyone shot on television. Jack Ruby killed him. My m ...

... was born to be the butt of their jokes. Once I have showered and dressed, I venture into the kitchen to see if there is a quick breakfast that can be prepared between the time I put the kettle on until the time it boils. My mum will be up to her armpits with potato and carrot peelings and there will be various pans bubbling and hissing on the stove. A chicken, a leg of lamb, or roast beef will be roasting away in the oven. My mum will launch into an in depth, analytical conversation which my caffeine free brain finds hard to understand, so a quick turnaround on the breakfast making is essential, not just for my brain but for all the food that might be ruined if her conversation is retur ...

... It gets quite annoying when I second guess myself about what I could have done. However, when I know I did the work as well as I could and it isn't a good mark, I don't worry about it as much as some people might. In conclusion, the piece of advice that I receive most often from my parents is basically a good one, and often it keeps me motivated in the things I do. It also shows me that my parents will support most of my decisions and treat me like a responsible person. I believe that somewhere along the line I will probably pass along the advice "as long as you did your best" to my children. ...

... mail box". Keith gave out a small chuckle and thought about his mailbox. Was someone joking around with him? It was probably that pesky neighbor boy, James. He was always coming up with something new and unusual to try out on his neighbors. "What the hell", Keith said aloud. He then stood up and walked over to his mailbox and opened it up. "Yep, another card", he said. The same small, black print on it too. Except this card said something just a little different. As Keith ran to his back yard where his dog house was, all he could think of was what the card had said in his mailbox. "YOUR dog is DEAD". Keith suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He could see blood. The dog hou ...

... occurred, he could not afford sadness for a while. After the mom’s death, her husband, the old man, moved to his son’s house, because his whole body was very weakened because of excessive amount of work when his son was attending college. Anyway, the old man was frankly not happy since he thought that his son would feel uncomfortable, especially in the beginning of his marriage. Believe it or not, his son, who always cared about his dad and loved him so much, changed in his attitude toward his dad. He often got irritated to his dad, and moreover, he even left his dad in the house for a long time when he had a vacation. The old man thought; if I were dead and do not bother my son anymore, h ...

... I did on all of their friends. I said " I know about all of your tests you run on them poor animals like Bessie cause I've been watchin' the X-Files on my big 10 inch black and white TV." Then they started gibbering back and forth again and I'll be dang if they didn't zap my old John Deere up on that ship too. That's when I got really mad. I think they understood English too cause when I told em what I thought of that spaceship, they started shootin' that laser gun at me. I said "Yowweee!!!" Then I took off runnin' up the hill. I guess they must've realized how big my shotgun was cause they got back in their ship and took off for the sky. Everything's been pretty normal since then, ...

... left out because of my inability to communicate and adapt with the environment. Some kids assumed that I did not understand them at all, so they made rude remarks about me and my race. I understood them, maybe not completely, but I knew the intent of their messages. All that I had was my Apple II computer at which I just sat and programmed when I came home from school. At home, my parents pressured me to study all of the time, but I was frustrated and wanted to return to Vietnam. I wanted to go back and talk freely with my friends and play games with them and read comic books. My parents often told me that they decided to move here because of the educational opportunities, yet I cont ...

... like militant soldiers moving in the same sequence to B.G.’s “Bling-Bling” Everyone looked up and stared as the very noticeable squad car crept by, hoping to shake the local people, but no one moved just cold stares back, as if it was a showdown in the wild wild west. Junkies pasted by with squeaking shopping carts filled with old telephones, hubcaps and Styrofoam cups and plates. An elderly woman sat on her porch rocking back and forth, surrounded by a crowd of wild cats waiting patiently for the bread that sat in her lap. Mothers gathered around a old broken down garage reminiscing and sipping 22 ounce Natural Lights. A little girl with two pigtails laughed while having a conversa ...

... a hotel. Establishing an airtight alibi was uppermost in his mind. At the garage, the Keywells spotted a man who looked like Bugs Moran . The assassination squad got into their police uniforms and drove over to the garage in their stolen police car. Playing their part as police raiders to the hilt, McGurn's men went into the garage and found seven men, including the Gusenberg brothers who had tried to murder McGurn. The bootleggers, caught in the act, did what they were told: they lined up against the wall obediently. The four men in police uniforms took the bootleggers' guns and opened fire with two machine guns, a sawed-off shotgun and a .45. The men slumped to the floor dead, ...

... still saw me pass with a 3.5 grade point average. Still, something was missing. My best friends were all gone. While they were busy enjoying high school together, by contrast, it was hard for me to make friends. I was so caught up at leaving my old friends that being sociable seemed non-existent. I was insecure. While students were talking about their summer vacation in class, I had my head down on the table. I had nothing to talk about. Moreover, I was afraid that I could not “hang” with them. The high school image was arduous to follow if you didn't have the shoes, clothes, looks, or even the hairstyle, then you could not “hang” with that certain “click.” I absolutely hate ...