Narrative Paragraph

”Give a damn and figure it out.” 

—John Fitzsimmons 

John Fitzsimmons is a really cool guy. Fitz is one of the best teachers at fenn, and he had a significant impact on my life. He taught me how to read, write, speak and play guitar; I would be a completely different person without him. When I learned that Fitz was going to be my English teacher right after the eighth grade graduation, I was not happy at all. I thought to myself: “This is great, I’m going to spend my next year learning English from some grumpy old guy who thinks he can speak Chinese,” but I was proven to be wrong. After I got to know him better, I found out that he’s not bad at all and he did actually speak Chinese. Mr. Fitzsimmons is as funny as Jerry Seinfeld and his stories are as deep as the epic tales of Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. He cares about his students so much that he would spill a cup of hot boiling black coffee on his shiny wooden table just to get his points across. My journey with Fitz, however, was not all sunshine and rainbows, there were a few times where he was frustrated with what we were doing. If I ever angered him, he would not say a word, but instead he would look me deep in the eyes and stare deep into my soul, leaving me to beg for forgiveness. Fitz always had endless stories to entertain us with, though they may not be true all the time, he shall not let the truth get in a way of a good story. Each one of these profound stories had a deeper meaning, and they taught me the secrets of life. Without Fitz, I would be lost, like the lonely moon that drifts across the seas.

Literary Analysis

If four things are followed - having a great aim, acquiring knowledge, hard work, and perseverance - then anything can be achieved.

—A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

It is not easy to fit in. In the novella, Through the Tunnel, by Dorris Lessing, the boy Jerry struggled to fit in with the French boys. He never felt that he was truly apart of the group and he tried everything to prove his worth. 

Again and again he rose, took a big chestful of air, and went down. Again and again he groped over the surface of the rock, feeling it, almost hugging it in the desperate need to find the entrance. And then, once, while he was clinging to the black wall, his knees came up and shot his feet out forward and they met no obstacle. He had found the hole.

This quote shows how far Jerry is willing to go just prove that he is worthy to be a part of the French boys’ group. “He cried openly, fists in his eyes. There was no one to see him, and he cried himself out.” Jerry felt defeated and sad when he was left out of the group for his inability to dive. He never gave up however, and kept improving his diving skills and his lung capacity. “Again his nose bled at night, and his mother insisted on his coming with her the next day.” Jerry was injured severely by his foolishness, but he insisted on trying. Finally one day, he was able to dive through the tunnel; no one saw it, and he did it anyways. He didn’t tell anyone about his great abilities and instead kept quiet about. “Mummy,” he said, “I can stay under water for two minutes — three minutes, at least… It came bursting out of him.” Jerry proved nothing in the end, he did not prove his worth to the French boys, he did not impress his mother, but he impressed himself. In the end Jerry overcame the challenges and became a man.

I Love Fenn

B day is the best day,

Bio is the best way.

I come to class depressed,

But I leave relaxed.

Mr.Duane likes to teach,

Sometimes he gives a speech.

Before we experiment we have to listen,

To a boring introduction that needs to be shortened.

It was about time to start working,

Twenty four seven I’m grinding.

When it’s difficult I get myself some friends

And they offer to reduce my work load.

After all is done we had to clean up,

Don’t need reminders because we can take care of ourselves.

A days work is a days work,

Too bad a day doesn’t require any effort

C days make me hyped

Don’t need to do my math homework

Because I have study hall right before.

Fenn is such a lit place

After I leave I’ll go to space

I Love Fenn

B day is the best day,

Bio is the best way.

I come to class depressed,

But I leave relaxed.

Mr.Duane likes to teach,

Sometimes he gives a speech.

Before we experiment we have to listen,

To a boring introduction that needs to be shortened.

It was about time to start working,

Twenty four seven I’m grinding.

When it’s difficult I get myself some friends

And they offer to reduce my work load.

After all is done we had to clean up,

Don’t need reminders because we can take care of ourselves.

A days work is a days work,

Too bad a day doesn’t require any effort

C days make me hyped

Don’t need to do my math homework

Because I have study hall right before.

Fenn is such a lit place

After I leave I’ll go to space

Horrors of War

Smell of delicates filled the morning air

I woke up to get dressed and get my share

I then grabbed a bowl and walked to the cook

Who told me to enjoy the crappy food.

No mood to eat I peeked out the trenches

‘ Smoke rose from the devastated lands 

There’s no one who wants to charge no mans land 

 All my dying comrades haunted my dreams

Every waking moment is filled with grief

Sudden bombards did catch me off my guard

Mortars and shells were raining from the sky

I put on my gas mask and load my gun

For I know what’s about to happen next

The arcs of yellow gas shattered the sky

‘Filled our trenches with the smell of death

As I pray to god I spotted a man

Fellow soldier who had a shattered mask

‘I wanted to help but I could not

I did not want to inhale the mustard gas

Reached out for help he cried and coughed

Tears in his eyes as he painfully died

Stood there as I watch the man suffocate

It was the selfishness in war, I guess

Eat, Sleep, Fortnite, Repeat

School is over it’s time to head on home

I go home to play a lot of fortnite

Go on fortnite I find lots of g’nomes

My character in the game is a knight 

Start a new match I team up with randoms 

And then game end those who dare oppose me

I can’t hit no one because of the bloom

I adore the game because it is free

To my teammates I swear that I’m loyal

But eventually they will meet their end

And never get that victory royal

I got all the v bucks that I can spend 

My teammates scream as I make them perish 

Those not in my team will surely flourish 

The Library 

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare

There is a place, that is special and powerful. This place is the fenn library. The library symbols knowledge and wisdom, and I often find myself searching for them. Every morning in the library is unforgettable, because of all the productivity that it provides. Although it might not be terrible quite, I often find the tools that will assist me with my work with ease, or receive help from my generous classmates while in the library. This really helps out a lot when I’m trying to be productive and get work done. Not only are the mornings unforgettable, the afternoons are quite remarkable as well. In the afternoon, the library is in absolutely silence which makes for the perfect place to take a nap. I would close my eyes and have a good long nap before the awfully exhausting sports. If I did not feel like sleeping nor doing homework, I can simply chat and communicate with my classmates or help them with their work. The fenn library became a part of my life, from seventh grade to ninth grade, five times a week, a lot of days per year, i came to the library pretty much everyday. I felt connected to that a place and it really became an important part of my life, kind of like one of the few necessities to be brutally honest.

Thoreau’s View on Money

“A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart.”

Jonathan Swift

Money is not as important as we think it is. In the book Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, Thorpe had a very interesting view on money. He stated that unlike most people, he did not need much money, and this is because there’s really no reason for him to be extremely wealthy. Thoreau wrote about how he made his own furnitures, grew his own food, and even built his own house; he had pretty much all of the necessities in life, shelter and food. He didn’t need anything extravagant and expensive, for he was a humble man. Thoreau also wrote about his experience with tradecraft, and he was decently good at that; however, from what I gathered, he didn’t want to invest in that because he wanted a more simple life. He clearly stated in the book that, “It is not necessary that a man should earn his living by the sweat of his brow, unless he sweats easier than I do.”(Thoreau, 38). I think Thoreau in wrote about how lots of men worked them self to death when they could live a free and simple life like he did. This entire chapter was fairly easy to understand, except for the last paragraph. The last paragraph had a lot of metaphors that I was not able to understand, it said something about sailors, slaves and guidance, I really was not able to piece them together. It was a great chapter, Thoreau was able to use examples and experience from the real life to make some strong points. Money did not have such a great importance after all.

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Just Another Day

 “Not doing anything is doing something and choosing to look away is a passive but no less mortal sin.”
― Bill Mahe

Sometimes it’s best not to think about anything. When I was given the task of writing a paragraph while outside observing the signs of spring, I was in absolutely despair for several hours. After some deep thoughts, I decided to grab my iPad and experience nature. The fresh pond park was the only park around, so I took a nice stroll around the lake inside of that park. The New England weather was, however, not favorable at all. Raindrops the size of peas started to fall from my sky, and I had dash back to my house. By the time I got back, I was absolutely soaked and my day was absolutely ruined; however, I was not ready to give up just yet. Instead of going outside, I decided to inspect nature from the inside of my house. I sat in front of the window of my room, over looking the road. The rain continued to fall from the thick and dense clouds, as I looked out the window, in search of any signs of spring; however, my search was in vain. I spied no blossoming flowers, no green grass fields, and no leaves on any trees. It seemed like a waste of time, but I was fortunate and happy to finally clear my head. My mood was not ruined by the rain, but I finished my assignment instead.

Scarcity of Understating

“The economy is the start and end of everything. You can't have successful education reform or any other reform if you don't have a strong economy.”

David Cameron

     When I wrote some of the  following paragraphs, or rather all of them, I was in my room, without the presence of electricity, as I decided to challenge the old saying: “you can’t write an essay overnight.” The reading Economy, by Henry David Thoreau, was a complete nightmare. It was such a difficult task because it was hard to understand, and I had to somehow write a lot about a topic that I barely understood. When creating this essay, I have encountered quite a few problems with the scarcity of words, therefore I shall explain all my jokes in this writing in hopes of satisfying the reader with a finite amount of resources( this joke is suppose to be funny because economy is heavily related to scarcity, mainly the scarcity of resources, and trying to satisfy everyone with a finite amount of resources). From what I understood, the reading talked the most about of two things, humans have the wrong life goals, and elders have no clue about what they are talking about.

     The first chunk of the book was too confusing, but thankfully I could look at other people’s essays first. “Good writers borrow, great writers steal.” - said some relevant guy who wrote Tom Sawyer, I am a good writer, not a great writer, for that I have no intention to copy any of my fellow classmates work. Now my interpretation for the first chunk of the book is that people generally have the wrong idea of what they are doing in this world. This is because they grew up in a environment that taught them the wrong things.

“Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in. Who made them serfs of the soil? Why should they eat their sixty acres, when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt? Why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born?”

It took a lot of effort for me to get this meaning, so Thoreau can really go suckle a duckle. Frustrations aside, this quote explains quite a lot; earlier it talked about how men are making the wrong investments for buying thing than can not be easily gotten rid of. This is because most people have the wrong idea about necessity, and then mister Thoreau here proceeded to talk about things that were far beyond my understanding. It also talks about how men are so focused on working, they often miss the fine parts of life, and we were no better than machines; though what he said was confusing, it was profound nonetheless. 

     The second part talked about that elders usually have absolutely no clue of what they are talking about.

“What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new. … One may almost doubt if the wisest man has learned anything of absolute value by living.”

Amusingly, I often find this quiet relatable. One example of this would be adults saying that I can’t write an essay overnight, and it has been proven possible because I am nearly at 600 words. Elders give false advices to the younglings because sometimes they never experienced any of the things that they are talking about. This too was confusing, less confusing than the first chunk of the reading, but profound nonetheless. 

     Our journey has come to an end my friends, I think we both learned valuable lessons from the reading. I sincerely wish that after reading this book, we shall not be just working machines and observe the beauty lying around us, and never be discouraged because of something the elders said. To conclude our journey I must, it was perplex, but profound nonetheless. 

“I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year.”
― Edna St. Vincent Millay

Spring 

Does the turtle 

Resting on his log

Wish he was in the cold spring water?

The bird rest 

On the leafless tree

Waiting for the signs of spring

Kids rushed to the green field

No more snow

No more cold.

 They are no longer focused

For the spring

Is now already there.

Summer

The fireflies fly

As the wind blow

And light up the sky

Roses of summer

Are lying in the corner

And danger lies in its beauty 

Does the turtle resting

Wish he could enjoy

The summer in a cage?

The air is dry and hot

But the room is not

Because the AC is on

Fall

The sunflowers faced the sun

Danced

As the wind blew

Kids are falling

Because autumn is near

For its also called fall

Orange maple leaves 

are falling to the ground

Creating orange piles

The rain drops fall

And the river floods

Great times of fall

Winter

The snowman erect 

Outside the cabin

Happy to be in the cold

Does the turtle

Resting on the log

Wish he was in the frozen water?

The kids rushed to the fields

As snow fall 

From the clouded sky

Thoreau lived alone

 in the woods

Where berries grow