Topic: What kind of cartoon show might appeal to the over-age 65 audience? Imagine the show. Then, in 100 words or less, describe the show and its main character.
Mr.Chucky is a 70 years old and unable to talk. He is a very cruel man without family. He looks very scary to many kids. He always carries a long, metal cane with a very sharp point at the end that would easily scratch and poke others' backs and make them bleed. Once, he rode a bus, but all the seats were full of young kids and teenagers. Mr.Chcuky waited for three seconds and became impatient. So he poked a three-year old child with his cane and laughed greedily as the child went off to a hospital riding ambulance.
Prompt #14
Topic: Electricity is recent discovery. Think of 12 things to do when there is no power.
1. We would have to eat a bowl of cold, hardened rice instead of a bowl of warm, softened rice.
2. We would have to use candles and matches to light the room and read thick, boring books.
3. We would have to use papers and pencils instead of macbooks in school.
4. We would not be able to call or chat with friends because of homework problems or social problems. So, we would have to write letters and wait for reply for several days.
5. We would have to walk up the stairs instead of riding the elevators or escalators.
6. We would have to put the food underground in order to keep them fresh.
7. We would not be able to ride cars, but only walk and ride other transportations because the oils would not be provided widely.
8. We would not be able to walk around the streets during the evenings or nights because they would be very dark.
9. We would have to trade or make the essential needs ourselves because there wouldn't be organized marts or shops with lights on.
10. We would only be able to listen to the lectures or look at the handouts given by the teachers because there would be no wikispaces nor other computer-based classworks.
11. We would have to handwrite every essay or assignment in A4 papers or loose leaf with messy handwriting.
12. We would have to use the original, traditional thermometers instead of the electric ones with lasers, or numerical expressions at schools.
Prompt #15
Topic: Place this sentence in a paragraph where it will make sense: *Bea had never before wanted to be a bee. (*Bea is a shortened name for Beatrice.)
Beatrice had been one of the bees who had been working for their queen bee. She was happy to be able to work for the queen bee and collect honey, but she didn't want to do the same thing over and over again throughout her entire life. She wanted to be different than what she was then. She wanted to have a bigger body and better appearance than she actually had. She wanted to be a beautiful and gorgeous lady. She was never satisfied about her poisonous sting, but always blamed the god for making her as a weak bee. Bea wanted to dance, sing, and walk on her feet. However, her destiny was to live as a bee, who could not dance nor sing nor walk. Yet, one day, a young kid was wandering around in the forest where Beatrice's honeycomb was. The kid was staring at Beatrice and saying, "I want to be a bee just like that one! I don't want to be a human-being! I want to fly as those bees can! This is too unfair!" Bea had never before wanted to be a bee. However, for this moment, she was satisfied the reality that she was a bee.
Prompt #16
September 14th, 2009
Topic: List 10 things you usually do on a rainy day. Pick one from your list and freewrite for 5 minutes.
1. I forget about bringing an umbrella to school.
2. I am in a sad or bad mood.
3. I am distracted by the sound of raining.
4. I take off my coat or jacket.
5. It is more likely to have a bad test or bad school day.
6. I am the parking lot in time because I could not play with my friends at the soccer field before the soccer practice starts.
7. I start thinking about my friends or teachers instead of my homework and works to do.
8. I cough more because of the cold weather.
9. I try to sleep early, around 10 p.m.
10. I complain about my bag and shoes getting wet.
Title: Drop, drop, drop (#3)
As I am studying, I can easily be distracted by various noises. On the rainy days, this is more likely to happen because the noises such as "drop" or "trickle" seem to interrupt my academic environment. Since, after getting my macbook, I became very addicted to facebook, ichat, and msn. So, I started to be distracted easily after getting a macbook. So, now, even the noises of the raindrops distract me. There is an inside window that helps me concentrate on my homework in both of my studying rooms. So, it is not very often that I complain about my windows nor rooms. However, during the days when I have fought with my mom or sister, I feel more distracted and unconscious. This is when I start becoming angry and obnoxious about the raindrops. They are very noisy when you listen to them carefully. So, on these types of days, I prefer studying alone in my own room with windows shut down.
Prompt #17
September 16th, 2009
Topic: Write a rhyme paragraph. Each sentence must begin and end with the words that rhyme with each other.
An example: Spring is a wonder thing. Flowers start to sprout with the help of rain showers.
The child was not mild, but he was very wild. He was such an annoyance and you should agree. He was very hyper, and one just like me. I was also a very wild guy. "Read, sit, stay," how many times I tell him, he doesn't listen, but he is still sweet.
Prompt #18
September 19th, 2009
Topic: Free Write
Title: Low Ropes Course
This Friday, the seventh graders went to the low ropes course in Yangpyong. It was about an hour away from Korea International School. When we went there, we had to follow the instructions of the course directors. It was quiet bizarre to speak Korean with them in front of my friends. We learned about some games to build friendship and teamwork. Although they looked fun, they were quiet difficult to play. One of my favorite games was the wire game. We had to balance on the wire and walk to the other end of the wire. However, I didn't know that it would give me a hard time.
After playing few games, the teacher told us to drink water for few minutes. Majority of my friends ran as fast as they could and tried to reach for their water. I was also running with them. However, I guess it was my unlucky day. Everyone was fine, but I tripped over a wire that we were playing game with. I rolled on the ground and tried to stand up. It didn't hurt very much. Yet, suddenly, I couldn't breathe. My heart seemed to stop and I tried to tell my friends that I couldn't breathe. The teacher came after about a minute. He made me lie down and I felt a little better after few seconds. I was afraid and scared that I might die or faint. But I didn't and I was feeling better every moment.
After eating lunch and playing few more games, all the seventh graders went back to the school and were allowed to play at the 'Performing Art Center' for about an hour. I somewhat felt a little hard to breathe when I went back to school. So I went to the nurse and found some injuries I have gotten on my arm and other body parts. With the nurse's offer, I talked to my mom on the phone and explained to her about how I was hurt. She seemed to be worrying a little. Although I was frustrated by my respiration system, I just kept it to myself for few hours and finally, I felt much better.
Prompt #19
September 21st, 2009
Topic: Use this metaphor to spark a poem: a chest of childhood.
Title: A Chest of Childhood
My chest of childhood,
a box of memories
it stays in my heart
forever and more
Full of toys and photos,
it pulls me to a wonderland of past
my barbie doll lies inside
with her dirty wedding dress
A picture I took with my best friend
is torn and scrambled all over the place
although it is dirty, huge box,
it is my own chest of childhood
When I first came to Korea International School, I was very bad at English. To tell the truth, if somebody jokes around that I got Cs and Ds during my first year of KIS, I would certainly have to agree. On my first year of school, I got average AR score compared to other students in my grade. When I became fifth grader, which was when I was attending my second year of KIS, I got average score, too. Yet, my sixth grade was a problem. I got lower than what I have gotten when I was a fifth-grader. I was both embarrassing and angry. I even assumed that the AR system was weird and useless. I was very worried that if my AR score doesn't go up, I would not be able to attend college.
Few days ago, I took another AR test. I almost cried when the test was over because it was both difficult and easy. In this sentence, the word 'difficult' means that it was a difficult test for me to take. The vocabulary words were too complicated and complex for me. Also, in this sentence, the word 'easy' means that some of the questions had easy vocabularies that I have already learned, which meant that the test was assuming that I was not very good at vocabularies. So, this whole test seemed to estimate that my AR reading level was about 4th to 6th grade. But, I was a seventh-grader and I was greatly worried.
About a week after the AR test, I received my AR score. Emma went up to Ms.Mccord and was told about her grade. Then it was Amanda's turn. Jennifer was after Amanda. Finally, Ms.Mccord called my name. My heart was beating as fast as if I was running a marathon. When I reached her desk and looked down. There was a paper with my ZPD. I was relieved that it was not high nor that low. It was just for me! Other students asked me about my score and I did the same. We shared each others' scores and found out whose score was high and whose was low. My highest level for the ZPD was 7.7. Some people got 6.9 and some got 8.4. I realized that I was just in the middle. I felt comfortable and pride in myself after getting an AR score not high nor low. It was as if I got all As for my report card.
Prompt #21
Topic: Blurp! Slosh Snort! Write a paragraph incorporating at least ten onomatopoetic words. Onomatopoetic words are words that sound like what they mean.
Examples:
boing
hiccup
beep
plop
swoosh
fizz
Title: Worst Day in My Life
As I opened the door of my grandma's house, her dog started to bark noisily. He seemed to be happy to find me in her house. However, with the dog suddenly barking, I was very shocked. I was starting to hiccup numerously. I had to work on my project for school, but now I couldn't because I couldn't take a video of myself hiccuping. I was very angry at the dog, so I started hitting the dog as hard as I could with a stick, making "swoosh" sounds. When my grandma saw me hitting the dog crazily, she punished me for treating an animal crudely. I felt bad about my grandma punishing me, so I ran outside to a small playground. There, I sat on a small bench. Yet, there was a wasp on the top of the bench I was trying to sit on. As I sat on the bench, I heard a loud noise of 'buzz" with a sharp sting stabbing my thigh. I cried out, "ouch," and teardrops started flowing down my cheek. I did not know what to do, so I called my mom with my cellphone. However, the female announcer said that she was already having a conversation on her phone and made a loud "beep" sound. I had to do something about my thigh, it was growing larger every moment. I jumped up from the bench as if a spring was being released making a "boing" sound. Then, I ran back to my grandma's house to get some medicine or bandage. I knocked on the door as loud as I could, but no one answered. My grandma had probably gone to the market nearby her house. So, I waited for about thirty minutes looking at my thigh becoming as large as my face. While waiting, I found out that I was not hiccuping anymore. So with my red, sullen thigh, I started practicing my speech. I guess it was very loud because my grandma's neighbor came out and blurted out to me to be quiet. So, I was feeling bad again and I started complaining about my parents, my grandma, the dog, and the old woman who just shouted out to me. While complaining, the elevator door opened and there was my grandma with her dog in her hands. She was not at the market, she was not at the shop, but I realized she was at the hospital. I suddenly felt sorry for the dog and was embarrassed. I cleared my throat saying "ahem" and apologized to both the dog and my grandma. My grandma easily forgave me and we started chattering with each other as normal. And of course, she helped my thigh to turn back to normal, too.
Prompt #22
Topic: Free-Write
Title: Becoming a Cook
Over Chusok, I’ve visited my grandmother in father’s side. My grandmother and grandfather has a 15-year old dog called Arong. He is adorable, cute yorkshire terrier. After eating dinner, playing with Arong, and playing some computer games, I was extremely bored. So I started making yogurt juice with anything I could find in my grandmother’s refrigerator. I made a cup of juice with grape, raspberry, and other fruits. However, the most interesting of all was the yogurt juice with ketchup and raspberry juice. It tasted like an egg scramble by inserting only these two ingredients into yogurt. I could freely use the knifes, scissors, spoons, and dishes, which I couldn’t in my own house with my mother’s supervision.
I also made some desserts for my parents and grandparents. I made them a bowl of ‘pirouette’ cookies and thin-sliced kiwis. I also liked a bowl of jellies and sliced kiwis I had made. However, the kiwis were sliced too thin that no one could even eat them. From this, I thought that the cooks would always have to think of how their customers would think. I learned that a cook was not an easy occupation.
After making all these new drinks and food, I had served them to my family members. They explained to me that the food were great in decoration, but not very edible. Also, they told me that the drinks were horribly bad and each juice was becoming worse. It was not very good to hear that, but my grandparents and parents gave me some money for working hard on these food. They complimented me and I felt quiet proud of myself.
Prompt #23
Topic: They say opposites attract. Use at least five pairs of opposites in a paragraph about some kind of transportation.
Title: Airplanes vs. Helicopters
Some people prefer to ride airplanes more than helicopters and some like helicopters much better. Airplanes are fast and quiet while helicopters are slow and loud. The motors of the airplanes make less noise than ones of helicopters do. Also, many people prefer riding airplanes because they are much faster than helicopters. Also, airplanes are safe to fly at high altitudes, however helicopters only can fly at low altitudes. That is one of the reasons why airplanes are usually used to fly long destinations or fly across oceans. There are several small airplanes, but most of the planes are big or huge. Yet, majority of the helicopters are small. Lastly, airplanes are safe while many of the helicopters are quiet dangerous. Many airplanes are big and strong enough to protect themselves from strong winds. However, almost every helicopter is not strong enough to defend itself from strong winds. Airplanes are fast, quiet, big, safe, and can be ridden at high altitudes. Also, helicopters are slow, loud small, dangerous, and can be ridden only at low altitudes.
Prompt #24
Topic: Weave a story around this mixed proverb: Silence is a great healer.
Title: Silence is a great healer
Anna was having a science class with her classmates. However, the girl in front of her called Georgie was keep raising her hand and calling the teacher's name for her to be called on. Anna thought, 'I guess Georgie has something important to tell!' Georgie kept making sounds and waving her hand while the teacher was making a speech about his expectations and rules during the lab.
Finally, the teacher stopped during his speech and called on Georgie as if he was annoyed. He asked, "what is your question, Georgie?" Georgie answered, "what page are we on?" This really annoyed Anna, her classmates, and the teacher. The teacher kindly told Georgie, "your book is not needed, right now, Georgie." Then the teacher kept going on with his speech.
Yet, when the teacher was reading something off the worksheet he just handed out to the students, Georgie asked a question again. The teacher did not notice Georgie since he was looking at the sheet. So Georgie cried out, "Can you please call on me?" The teacher's anger level went up to its limit. He asked, "what is it now?" Then Georgie said, "what are you reading? And what is that sheet in your hand?" Everyone thought Georgie was asking this question since she didn't have the paper. However, the sheet was right in front of her. When the teacher noticed it, he yelled, "Georgie, it is not polite to interrupt a teacher reading an important lesson. Don't ever do that again."
Surprisingly, Georgie started crying out loud and wailing as a baby. No one could handle her but the teacher. When the teacher told her that she would be sent to the office, Georgie stopped crying and begged to the teacher. Yet, it didn't work, Georgie was sent to the office and when she came back, she looked very tired and miserable. Anna thought, "Silence certainly is a good healer."
Prompt #25
Write a paragraph that starts with this sentence The grass smells red.
The grass smells red. It smells like a bloody finger of an injured, young child. The grass tastes yellow. It tastes like a sour, sweet lemon. The grass looks purple. The plain seems like a humongous field of jell-o. The grass feels blue. The ocean with wavy water seems to be struck in the middle of the world. The grass makes green noise. It makes the swoosh sound of the fresh air blowing by. The grass is red, yellow, purple, blue, and green. It seems to be boring green outside, but inside, it is a mixture of colors.
Prompt #26
Topic: Chris walks into a room. By describing only the reactions of others in the room, let us know something about him.
Chris walks into a room. Ara starts cheering and Rosaria claps. Hyerim, who is curious of their reactions, backs up a little and whispers to Su Ahn. Su Ahn then raises her shoulders and whispers in Ara's ears. Nayeon scowls her eyes at Chris and mutters to herself. Then, Nayeon whispers in Rosaria' ears. Rosaria seems to be surprised and also scowls her eyes at Chris. Hyerim who notices Nayeon and Rosaria looks at them with her eyes bigger. Nayeon murmurs and Hyerim raises her eyebrows. Ara snatches the certificate from Chris's hands and shows it to everyone in the room. Everyone except Nayeon and Rosaria claps and cheers for Chris.
Prompt #27
Topic: Free-write
Title: Chronicles of Narnia
If anyone asks me about my favorite movie or book, I will definitely say "Chronicles of Narnia"! I started becoming obsessed with 'Chronicles of Narnia' since about three years ago. I watched the first movie, "Chronicles of Narnia: Lion, witch, and the Wardrobe", and got this feeling that struck my mind strongly. I started watching the movie over and over again until I could easily introduce it to others.
When I had watched it for about twenty times, the second movie came out. It was called "Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian". It was also fun, but I did not think it was as impressive as the first one. Yet, from few weeks ago, I started watching the second movie over and over again. It gave me the same feeling I got when I watched the first movie.
After watching the second edition of 'Chronicles of Narnia' again, I wanted to watch the next movie. Yet, the next movie did not come out yet. So, I had to read the book, "Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." I had read it before, but only the front part since I had abandoned it. However, now I am reading it again, and it is giving me the feeling that I had gotten when I watched the movies. I believe that "Chronicles of Narnia" is made just for me.
Prompt #28
Topic: Write from the point of view of a freshly scrubbed floor.
Why isn't anyone giving me a new, red blanket? They always give me the blanket to cover up my body and let me easily sleep. But I guess, today's not the day because it is past an hour and my blanket did not even show up. I want to warm myself and sleep cozily as possibly as I can.
The door opened, I can feel somebody walking on me. Oh my god, this kid has a pair of sneakers with dirt on the bottom! My mother will have to wipe the floor over again and I know how hard it is. She always complains about the young kids who step on me everyday. Another kid coming in and probably she is a girl because her pink slippers are decorated with ribbons. She is such a generous child, her slippers don't even have a bit of dirt on it. I wish everyone stepping on me can respect her and start following her!
It used to hurt when everyone jumped and ran on me, yet, I think it is not that bad overall. I got used to it and it's not making me feel bad as it used to. So, I guess living as a floor is not such a bad idea!
Prompt #29
Topic: Some say you can tell a lot about a person by the vehicle he or she drives. Picture a car. (Or is it a truck? Or an SUV?)
In your mind, rummage through this car. Check it out from every angle.
Describe the car or the man or woman who goes with it.
From the front, it looks like a simple, clean, blue truck. Its headlights work just fine and it looks quiet typical. One single, bad point you can tell from the front view of the car is the 'window'. The window is transparent and on it, there are gray raindrops and some cracks. Yet, you can tell that the car is mostly clean and pleasing.
Yet, from the side view, you would notice numerous black scratches. You might even think that they are stickers bought at some vehicle shop. However, they are just scratches the driver had made while driving.
From the back, you will notice how messy the car actually is. The car's number tag looks like a crumbled, dirty aluminum foil. Also, the window on the back is broken. As you look through the truck from the front to the back, you will easily notice the progress of the car becoming a messy junk.
From the truck, an old man with brown mustache comes out. He is wearing a straw hat, which is quiet torn. He is also wearing a blue jeans and white t-shirt. However, you cannot easily recognize that the t-shirt is white since it is covered with all the dirt from the farm. The jean is supposed to be blue, but it looks more like black jean because of the oil from the factory the man is working at. This man is wearing a pair of slippers with black and white stripes, which you can normally detect as academy slippers. The man with the mustache just gives you an impression of a dirty old man working at the factory and a farm.
Prompt #30
Topic: Free-write
Title: English Project
Last week, I had received a project from Ms.Mccord and an assigned group. My group was all girls and I quite loved that fact since I thought there wouldn't be any opposing opinion with everyone of same gender in a group. However, my prediction was completely wrong. On the next class, not all of us had brought materials that we were assigned to bring. So, our first practice had been ruined. But, we luckily got through three scenes out of the total six. As a result, we all promised to meet the next day since we thought we needed more time to practice and take photos for our project. Everyone agreed and one person even had to ask their mom to drive them to home, which was about an hour away from school.
It was the day of the after school meeting. Things were not going well from the beginning. I went down to Mr.Schneider's office to ask where I was supposed to go and he told me that it was Mr.Digges's room that I had to head toward to. So, I began to get on my way. Yet, the thing was that I was not sure where my other group members were! Surprisingly, two other students in my english project group were already up there, looking for "me"! I felt sorry for them to wait for me, but that was only for a moment. I couldn't find one of the group members. I asked two other students about where she was, and as if they were waiting for me to ask, they answered, "her mother is sick!" I could not blame her for having her mother sick nor have her do extra work for visiting her sick mother. So, I just got over it easily. Afterwards, we finished the practice and went to each person's houses. The one, whose mother was sick, said she would make up by using photoshop to put herself in to the photos. I felt quite queer, but I believed in her.
Today, I met the girl who hadn't come to the meeting two days ago. I did not say anything about her mom nor the practice, yet I asked her if she had finished photoshop. She said somehow the photoshop doesn't work and she cannot do anything about it. So, I had to use my camera to take the pictures of her and others in my group hurriedly in the morning. It was very difficult and irritating, but I just thought it would be better to not complain. After taking the photos quite unhappily (since other members were trying to finish it early and did not care about me, who was trying to take good photos as best as I could), I ran up to my first class with one of my most caring friends. She was a great girl who always cared about me as a big sister and I loved the way she cared about me very much. While going up, that girl, who made me do all the hard work and did not even show up at the after school meeting, was swearing about me at my back. I didn't like the fact, but I didn't show my emotion very much. However, what that caring girl had told me was that the fact that I was trying too hard for the photos and bringing too much materials to use for the project seemed to annoy the another girl. Ok, so let's put it this way! The caring girl is girl A. And the girl B will be the girl who didn't show up at the meeting and did not do any of her work for the project. Girl A had told me that girl B had swore about me at my back. Girl A told me that girl B was complaining about me that I brought all those fake mustaches and making her do different kinds of poses to produce some photos. I had these kind of complains or swears on my back before. However, I didn't get why people hated if I just tried hard to get good photos for the projects or any other things.
I cannot understand why people complain or swear about others on their backs for bringing materials they themselves had to bring. I cannot understand the people who complain about the facts that others are trying hard to get good grades. I think no one can understand their thoughts. But, it seems like many people can because they were not only one or two who seemed to not like me whenever I did those kinds of things.
Prompt #31
Topic: Free-write
Title: This is It!
With my family, I watched the movie, "This is it!" The movie was about Michael Jackson's last concert, which was turned into a movie by Kenny Ortega, the director of "High School Musical". The movie was sort of like documentary film, so it was not very fun nor interesting to me. However, I was impressed by how Michael Jackson talked and his voice since they were very different than what I had thought. Although he is called the "king of the pop", I really don't agree with it. He seemed to be good at singing and dancing, but his music were definitely not my type. And the movie just seemed like a concert-on-screen. Nothing was very spectacular nor as fun as usual "movies" or "concerts" are. So, I had quite a lot of disappointment about the movie. However, I enjoyed finding out new facts about the "king of the pop" who I hadn't known much about.
After watching the movie, I went to eat lunch with my family and there was another disappointment. The restaurant was quite small for me to comfortably sit down at. Also, it was noisy. So, I felt quite unhappy for the second time in a row.
After eating and eye-shopping, my family came back home and I started on my homework. "Bang," a sudden thought went through my head. I had to upload my project!! It was still friday, but the time was quite late in the afternoon. It was around four thirty. I tried uploading, but the file size was too big. So I did some phone calls and finally uploaded my pdf file of the project and was relieved after all.
Prompt #32
November 6th, 2009
Topic: Free-Write
Title: AR test
Several days ago, I had taken another AR test for second quarter. I was feeling good and quite confident than the time I had taken it last time. So, I believed that I would get a quite good score this time. However, I did not realize that I was totally wrong. It was the day Ms.Mccord had told us that she would give our AR score sheets! I was excited, waiting for an amazing AR ZPD! Yet, the score I received was lower than the last quarter's score! More unbelievable thing was that I had gotten much lower than the last time's. It had fallen about two points, or two grade levels. It was miserable since the score seemed to be below average. My goal was even so low that I was embarrassed when people asked me about my AR goal. I had to tell my mom this AR score. For sure, she was going to be disappointed although she doesn't actually punish me for it. I sent her a text message saying that I got this particular AR ZPD and that I was sorry if she was disappointed.
When the day ended, I saw my mom in her car and she did not seem so disappointed nor frantic. She was normal or as usual. I asked her whether she was disappointed or not. She said she was still disappointed, but there was nothing to be done. And, the situation was over. However, in my mind, my AR score was still wandering around. I could not believe how low it got. It was such a sorrowful and depressing subject to talk about in my life. Last year, I had gotten quite low score for my AR ZPD, but this time, it was even below the grade average! I was angry at myself for being so stupid with vocabulary. So, I decided to buy a vocabulary workbook and work on it everyday (actually it was my mom's idea since I was too obsessed about it). My mom and I went to the bookstore and got a vocabulary workbook of a quite well-known company. On the way home, I was intensively focused on the new vocabulary workbook I had just bought, wishing my next AR ZPD would increase much higher.
Prompt #33
November 6th, 2009
Topic: Reflect on the process of writing a short story. What did you learn from the process? If you had the assignment again how would you approach it?
Title: Short Stories
From several weeks ago, in my creative writing class, students had been working on their own short stories. At the beginning, I thought that this project would be a very fun and interesting project without much to think about. However, it was not just fun and interesting, but it was also very difficult and tiresome work. I quite liked the fact that I had become an author or at least a writer. The first step of writing a short story was to think of a theme or idea. I chose to write about atomic bomb landing on KIS instantly. I did not think much, but I felt as if I was on the best way to write a story than anyone else was.
The next thing to do was to produce some characters and describe about them specifically. I tried drawing and writing about my four characters on the worksheets Ms.Mccord had given me. However, it was the first difficult step to work on since I could not instantly think of what to do with the characters. I produced some good, friendly characters as wells as evil, mean antagonists.
The second-last step of all was to think about the plot of the story. I created the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and the ending. Then, I had written a story based on that plot. However, it was not very easy since it was actually the first step of writing an entire first draft. To me, it made sense and seemed quite interesting with some dramatic actions.
It was the day I was planning to present my story to the class. I was excited to see my friends complimenting or criticizing about my first draft of the story. I was actually wishing for everyone to say my story was great or even perfect! Yet, the reality was different. After I finished reading off the last work of my story, I looked around the room. Not a single person was actually smiling or seemed to be excited. Most of the people told me that they were lost or was that this story was hard to understand. So, I was told to change my story and make more improvements on setting, character building, and the entire plot.
From this process, I learned to listen to others' opinion since after changing some of the mistakes I had made, I got a better grade for the second draft. If I had the assignment again, I would probably write about mystery agency or detective story since they were the most exciting of all the stories I had listened to.
Prompt #34
Topic: Free-write
Title: Science Project
On Thursday, in science class, I had presented my science project to the whole class. It was a group project and I was told to be in a group with Esther and Jeongsoo. They were both nice and seemed to be hard-working. However, the presentation went quite off. The presentation was supposed to go quick, but it went too slow. And, I mixed up in the beginning. Also, some people could not pronounce what was written, so the people started laughing. It was horrible.
When the presentation ended, I could not believe that I had spent all my precious time for this presentation. My eyes started welling up with tears, but I could stop myself from crying front of others. It was embarrassing and I felt angry at others although I had made a mistake, too. I did not actually express that I was mad, but I think the others knew how I felt at that moment by looking at my face expression.
After the class, I felt sorry for the others that I had made a mistake and was being mad at them for making several mistakes. I tried saying sorry, but the word was stuck inside my mind and did not come out through my mouth. I could tell Esther that I was sorry, but not to Jeongsoo. I wish if I had another chance, I could tell them that I was sorry.
Prompt #35
Topic: Three people are stuck in an elevator: a teenage with green hair and many piercings, a pastry chef, a church organist. Write a conversation they have as they wait.
Teenager: T, Pastry chef: P, Church Organist: C
T: (making clicking sounds with his skateboard) Woohoo!
C: Please be quiet, this is a public elevator.
T: Umm... okay.
C: Thank you.
T: You really look like the organist at the church I go to. He really sucks at playing organ and does these weird moves when playing the organ.
C: Oh, really?
T: Even your accent is similar to his. Or probably...
C: (with tight fist) Yea, that's right! That was me!
T: OMG! I am so sorry, I didn't know~
C: If you ask God for forgiveness and to destroy your sin, God will forgive you and so will do I.
T: Umm... what? Anyways, I was just at my friend's birthday party.
P: Hi, kiddo! But can you please be quiet for a moment because I need to do something?
T: Umm... okay. Yet, I'm gonna finish my last sentence. The cakes in that party really sucked.
C: Please don't use the word "sucks" or "sucked." No creature does suck and neither do the objects made by them suck because the God had made the whole creation.
T: Wow, you are really into that church stuff. What was it called? Christinity? Crastinaity?
C: Christianity
T: Yea, that stuff... Anyways... The cakes at the party were really bad. I'm not sure who made those, but probably the person who made them is crazy.
P: Hey, kid! Seriously, stop that!
T: None of your business!
C: No more of that either! And I had just told you to not say anyone is crazy because God had made him/her!
T: Ah! Okay, I get it!
P: Kiddo, I totally agree with the wise, old man over here! And I tell you... I am the pastry chef who had made the cakes for the party.
T: Oh... sorry! But try putting some sugar and salt next time!
(Door opens)
T: Woohoo!
Prompt 36
Topic: You are paying ten dollars per word to advertise in the classified section of the Upscale Times, a newspaper for a very wealthy area of town. You want to offer your services as a dog sitter.
Write a convincing ad, but don't spend more than 20 dollars.
"Do you need a dog sitter to take care and love your dog for a while? I am experienced and is available!"
Prompt 37
Topic: Great-grandpa Rotondo doesn't understand what a video game is. Or an iPod. Or text messaging.
Pick one of the above and explain what it is in terms that even the most technological person can understand.
Title: What is an iPod?
IPod is a device using electricity to give people some fun. It uses a computer program called "iTunes" to put the songs you like into the device. Afterwards, when you click on some buttons on the iPod, you would hear some music coming out.
It is just like your record player or cd player. Yet, they are smaller and handy. Most of them are sizes of your hands or even smaller these days.
If you go to the shops those sell electric devices near your house or vending machines saying "iPod," you can easily get iPods. They are also called the mp3s and are just things, which some songs can be heard.
Prompt 38
Topic: Free-write
Title: Hatred
These days, I am worried about my grades, my social life, and my appearance. Yet, the most important thing that I am worrying about is the feeling of hatred inside of me. I tend to hate people easily, but this time, it was for sure! I could easily shout out, "I don't hate anyone but this person!" Until now, I've didn't like only few people in our school. But no one was as mean and cruel as the person I hate this time.
She used to be a very close friend of mine. But from one time, she was being nastier, and finally, she went away. Later on, she asked me for forgiveness and I forgave her about her mean attitude that she used to have. Then, I thought nothing bad would happen this year without anyone annoying or irritating me. Yet, that was surely not the end. I found out that "saying sorry" was such an easy thing to lie about.
After the break, she seemed to be nicer than the year before. Yet, that was my mistake. After few weeks, she became mean again as usual. She even started tackling me and ignoring me. From then, I started ignoring her too because I was very upset. I am still really angry at her and wish we were just apprentices, I think I would forgive her once more if she apologizes. But, I really don't want to apologize first this time because in my point of view, she has definitely made huge mistakes.
Prompt #39
Topic: What would you do with three wishes?
Title: Three wishes
If I had a magic lamp with Genie, I would definitely want to wish for hundreds of wishes. Yet, if I get to wish for only three wishes, I would wish for wealth, family's happiness, and smartness.
Wealth would be the first wish I would ever wish since I believe that money can make anything come true. If my wish comes true, I would buy new house, car, and give the rest to my parents. In this wish, I would specifically mention that I want to become the "richest person" in the world.
My family's happiness would be my second wish. I would want all of my family members to be happy. In here, also, I would mention "the happiest people." I would want my family members to have great time when living.
I would wish for As and smartness as my third wish. Although it really doesn't matter if I am wealthy, I wish for smartness since it will let me feel proud of myself whenever I get good scores on tests or quizzes.
So, as a conclusion, I would wish for wealth, happiness, and smartness if I had a magic lamp as Aladdin did.
Prompt #40
Topic: Free-write
Title: My Dream
These days, I am very concerned about my grades since they are constantly going down. Especially, my science grade is about 10 points lower than last year. So, I automatically got concerned about my dream, too. When I was young, my dad seemed amazing and I felt as if I should be a dentist and own his office after his retirement. Yet, few years later, it seemed to be a boring job. So, I thought about becoming an announcer. However, I found out that announcers had to be pretty with great pronunciation. I was okay with my pronunciation, but didn't like my appearance. So, I gave up on becoming an announcer.
Later on, I thought about becoming a lawyer. Lawyers seemed to be getting a lot of money. But, to become a lawyer, you had to be very smart and the job seemed quite boring. So, I gave up for the third or fourth time. Lastly, few days ago, I've been thinking of becoming a hotel manager. I heard it was really fun from my aunt, who was a hotel manager of W-Hotel. Yet, she was going to get another job because she was not paid well although she was the manager of a famous hotel. Now, I am concerned to choose my dream.
I've told from my mom that being a producer/director of television shows would be fun. I heard that they were also paid quite a lot. So, I felt enthusiastic. Yet, the problem was that there were many people of my type. Producer was a dream job of numerous, probably thousands of, people. I really wish to become a famous producer and meet many wonderful pop stars. However, I got to study and study to reach my peak.
Prompt #41
Topic: What's your idea of the perfect vacation?
Title: Friends & Family
In the world, if I had to survive with categories of people I chose, I would definitely choose friends and family members. Friends and family are most important and significant sources of life for me. So, my idea of the perfect vacation is to tour around the world riding our own airplane. I wish someday, I would buy a huge airplane of my own and invite my friends and family members. Someday, I wish I could write a book about my tour guidance all around the world. I love to travel although I don't travel a lot.
When touring around the world, I would choose to go to Europe and North America for sure and would draw out Middle East or Africa. I would rather travel where there are lots of people and modern technology than to walk around in the desert or be afraid of Arabs with guns. Although this might be bias, I am really scared of Middle East and Africa. I would visit France, United States, Canada, England, and Spain for sure.
If I could not tour around the world, but choose only one place because of any kind of problem, I would definitely visit United States. I've been there when I was very young and cannot remember it very well. So, it is quite my dream to visit United States and go to Disney-world. But for sure, I would have to have enough money to invite all my friends and family members.
Prompt 42
Topic: As this is being written, a show called "What Not to Wear" is popular on the cable channel TLC. Imagine more possible shows on a "what not to do" theme. Describe at least one idea. (Don't forget to give the show a name.)
Title: What not to Do if you are two-hundred years or younger
The show I want to make is "What not to Do if you are Two-hundred years or younger." This show will show very dangerous actions to perform for anyone under age of two-hundred years. The show will show very dangerous actions performed by some people who were led to serious injuries or deaths.
It will be informative, but also quite humorous. For example, it would show a driver in a car not pulling the break gear and stopping at the middle of the hill. Surely, the car will start backing down the hill and sooner or later, he will bump into another car.
The reason I named the show "What not to Do if you are two-hundred years or younger" is obvious that no one should do what is shown on the show. Yet, I put a phrase, "two-hundred years or younger," because I wanted to create some humor. I wish the show could be more informative than humorous since I wish it can help people on their lives than just to let them enjoy the show for fun.
Prompt 43
Date: January 6th, 2009
Topic: For the last two days you were not in school because of the weather - "snow days." As advanced we have become in the 21st century, we still can not control the weather. Do you think this is an advantage or a disadvantage?
Title: New Experience
Personally, I don't like snow days because I don't like how careful my mom has to drive or the way I have to walk slowly. Yet, I don't want anyone to have control in the weather system because this Monday was a new experience to me. This Monday, I woke up at about five o' clock and got dressed. With my mom and my sister, we got on the car and my mom started driving. It was not usual for us to wake up this early. We used to wake up at about five thirty, but today, it was thirty minutes early. It was because of snow. Personally, I really didn't care if I had to wake up early because I was not sleepy that morning. It took about twenty minutes to get out of Songdo, Incheon which is the city I live in. Then, it took about five more minutes to get on the highway. Next was the highway. It was icy and slippery, so my mom had to drive the car as slow as the turtle walking. It took about two hours and thirty minutes to get out of the highway, which normally took about forty minutes. Finally, gotten into Pangyo at about 7:30, my mom was relieved. She drove a little faster until the hill below the school came out. It seemed impossible for cars to go up that hill! A car in front of us was smaller than my mom's car. And I found out that small cars cannot go up icy hills as easily as the big cars do. The car in front of my mom's car was coming down! Yet, I guess the driver pushed on the break and the car stopped. Some guards came to push the car in front up the hill, which ended out successfully. And since my mom's car is huge, my mom could easily go up and let us go to the school. Although it took about three to four hours of driving, the school just closed. And I got to stay at school until eleven o' clock playing with my friend, Rosaria. When done with all those, I thought about it a little. Was it good to have this happened to me, or was it bad? I think it is an advantage that we cannot control the weather because I wouldn't have had any experience like a snow day or school closing in my life. I wish that weather would never be able to be controlled by human-beings. I wish at least one element in this world can be natural and uncontrollable. This Monday's memory was quite significant in my life.
Prompt 44
Address: Songdo, Incheon Keumho Apt. 105-1401
Dear Su Ahn,
Hello, this is yourself as a fourteen-year-old in the future. How is your fourth grade? Riding a bus is quite new to you, right? Enjoy your bus rides because after only a few months, you will lose that chance. Probably, you will move to a school closer to your house too. I am in seventh grade of Korea International School right now. I really wish I can go back to past since I have to study a whole lot and have so many worries about both academic and social lives. Enjoy yourself and play as much as you possibly can. After a few months, when you move to a new school (Shing Song Elementary School), you will be able to make new friends and play tags with them afterschool. I remember that time as best time in my entire life. Don't forget that you don't got to worry about money, appearance, or academic subjects right now. Play, play, play and make great memories. Those will be more important to you later on. I really regret how I've not been able to play as much as I wanted to, but I wish you will as myself in the past. Be a nice, kind, friendly person.
January 8th, 2010
Love, Su Ahn Choi 14
Prompt 45
Topic: Free-write
Title: Karaoke
About a week ago, my sister and I met my father's friend's daughters. They were quite close to us since we met almost every year and spent time together. This year, as last year, we went to karaoke and sang for two hours. At the beginning, not everyone dared to sing in front of each other. Yet, after about thirty minutes, we all started dancing and shouting as if we just drank some alcohol. After about an hour, we called our parents so that we could play about an hour more. They agreed and we got to sing for total of two hours. Singing song varying from "Gee' to "Heartbeat," we had so much fun.
At about 11:30, Jiwon started feeling bad because of her sister's behavior. She got out and my sister and I felt a little worried. Although we were worried, we just kept singing and singing.
Two hours had ended and my mom told us to hurry up and get packed. We did so and got out of the room even before the time was out. W e had about twenty more minutes!!
Prompt 46
Topic: Write about a memory related to a holiday.
Title: January 1st of 2010
As usual, on the first day of 2010, my family went to grandma's house (dad's side). This year, I was much more exciting than the other years since I started loving cooking and I could freely cook in grandmother's house. As we got there, six of us (grandparents, parent, sister, and me) went to a restaurant called "Ho Lee Chow." We ate delicious meal although my grandparents complained about their taste. When we came back home, I watched television for a while and played on my macbook for several hours. Then I thought it was now time for cooking. I started to get some grapes. I took the got the seeds out and squished the grapes. Then, those fruits started to spray the juice outward. With the juice, water, and strawberries, I made sour and sugary tasting strawberries. When the strawberries were well cooked, I put them with several pieces of donuts. They did not seem very delicious, but when I tasted them, I could give them at least 50 for score. Few hours later, I went to sleep and unexpectedly, grandma's dog didn't come in as he usually did. I felt quite awkward not sleeping with the dog (Arong), but my mind was soon dipped into the dream.
Prompt 47
Topic: Madison is so happy. in one paragraph, show that she is happy, but don't use the word happy.
Title: Best Day Ever
Madison woke up and knew it was her birthday! In a joyful mood, Madison went out to the living room. There were stacks of presents from her parents: about 250 presents stacked around sofa with "dear Madison" written on them. So happy, Madison opened her presents one by one. There were dolls, computers, laptops, dictionaries, mini cars, and clothes. Yet, Madison's favorite present was wrapped in a white envelope with "Math Competition Result for Madison Roberts" written on it. She opened it and on the certificate, it said "the only one in the world who got 100%"! Madison, so thrilled, showed the result to her parents who were the richest of all riches of United States. When Madison got to school on her limo, she was surrounded by hundreds of her friends with presents in all of their hands. Madison, with both of the ends of her mouth lifted up, told her driver to get some cakes for her birthday. When she got to class, her teacher said, "Madison Roberts got the only pink limo in the world for getting 100% in her science Olympiad." So happy, Madison's face was totally pink as if she just used her blusher.
Prompt 48
Topic: In one sentence, describe something that is very ugly. Create a vividly ugly image with word.
Title: The pug has pea-sized eyes, a belly that looks as if it is holding a horse inside, a nose as big and red as a rudolph's, and is burping with saliva dripping from the mouth.
Prompt 49
Topic: Write from the point of view of a TV remote control.
Title: Let Me Alone!
As a TV remote control, I like the morning the best. From about 2a.m. to 8a.m., nothing disrupts my rest. Yet, Ms.McGuire, Leona's mother, starts my distress from about 9 o'clock, when everyone's gone to work. Although she is usually the first one to distress me, she is not the most distressing one. Leona seems to be the nicest of all three, Leona and her parents. She always watches discovery channel and that needs her to click only one button. She never hurts me anymore and I love that side of her. The worst of all in McGuire family is Mr.McGuire. He is a terrible TV remote control user. He cannot ever decide what he wants to watch. So all he does with me is to click my buttons for thousands of times. I will tell you this: it hurts me physically and emotionally when he does that. I screamed out, but probably he can't hear me because he has been pushing my belly buttons for about ten years now. Although I don't like how he hurts me, I still wish that he won't trash me since if I am trashed, that means, I will soon be dead. I usually like what Leona's watching because those cheetahs and birds seem so interesting! I always wanted to tell the McGuires this: Let me alone!
Prompt 50
Topic: Erica Jong said, “If you don’t risk anything, you risk more. Write about what this means to you.
Title: The sentence, "if you don't risk anything, you risk more," seems to relate to a story about Aunt Josephine in a series of unfortunate events. In that story, Aunt Josephine didn't want to risk anything, so she didn't do any particular activity because of her scariness. Aunt Josephine didn't even try to use her doorknob since she was afraid it might have electricity going through it and would hurt herself. Aunt Josephine didn't even use an oven or anything related to fire because she was afraid her house will be set on fire. I think this will risk you more because if you risk more and more, you might get in a problem where you would not be able to eat or drink. For example, you might be so afraid that there is a poison in a food and drink you are having. Then, you would not eat and this will cause you lack of strength or even death. This would be a very specific example, but many occasions like this would cause you to risk more.
Prompt 51
Topic: Free-write
Title: Finals
This year is my first year of taking finals for every subject. I took finals for spanish, science, and english until now. My creative writing and social studies finals were projects. Unexpectedly, finals were much harder than I had thought, especially science. I am worried that my GPA will drop after the finals are marked.
Science final was very long, ten pages! I think it was the longest test I had to take in a limit of 75 minutes. I expected it to be about everything we learned in semester one. Yet, it was mostly all about the chapter we had just learned. I realized that my studying of first few chapters was nothing useful. I cried and cried after taking the final since I wished and hoped for a good grade in science, but felt as if I had just got it back with an "F" on it.
My Spanish final was okay, but I had made several stupid mistakes. Also, in English, the final was quite hard and some difficult questions that I didn't understand came out. Although I am worried about all my finals, I am mostly worried about my science final.
Topic: Rewrite the fairy tale, Snow White, from the point of view of the seven dwarves.
Point of View: Dopey the seventh dwarf
On that day, we were working in the mine as usual. Nothing unusual had happened in the mine or to the way home although everything seemed new and special to me everyday. My brothers and I sang “Heigh Ho” again and again with huge smiles on our faces except Grumpy, of course. But, the unusual part of that day was when Doc suddenly stopped and shouted out, “The light is lit in our house!” We walked into the house.
Doc said, “Who has been sitting in my chair?”
Grumpy said, “Who has been eating from my plate?”
Happy said, “Who has been eating my bread?”
Sleepy said, “Who has been eating my vegetables?”
Bashful said, “Who has been eating with my fork?”
Sneezy said, “Who has been drinking from my cup?”
Yet, I said nothing because I did not know how to speak at all. Then, my brothers pushed me to check what was inside our house, sleeping in our bed. I am always a happy boy, or dwarf I would have to say. But, at this moment, I have to admit that I was scared. I went up and saw a huge monster sleeping in three of our beds. I ran down, shouting, and explained to my brothers about how the monster looked like. Well, I would have to say that I used body-language to have Doc translate what I saw. Anyways, the monster was huge and covered with our bed-sheet. I was totally scared and I freaked out!
We all went up together and were ready to kill the monster. Doc pulled off the bed-sheet and we saw a beautiful lady with skin that was as white as snow and hair that was as black as ink. She was a beautiful girl and all my brothers were surprised as I was.
“God Heaven, she is beautiful!” Everyone shouted except me who could not speak.
Soon, she woke up and introduced herself, she was Snow White! The princess had arrived and visited our house! I felt shy, but not as much as Bashful did. Bashful’s face turned redder and redder as if it would explode.
When done with introducing ourselves, the princess ran downstairs and opened the lid of the pot with delicious-looking soup with fantastic smell. My ears are big, but the fact that my nose is not big doesn’t keep myself away from smelling delicious soup. My brothers and I tried running down, but my face was stuck on the wood poles which I’d been putting my neck inside. So, I was the last one as usual. But who cares, I was still happy about everything!
The surprising part was when the princess ordered, or actually helped, us to shower if we wanted any soup. Grumpy, as usual, grumpily refused the princess’s commands. Yet, Doc, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and I were ready. We got all set up and washed ourselves. It felt quite good to be clean rather than having black hands as what Grumpy, my second brother, was trying to do.
We were now ready to eat and so did we eat sitting around our dusted, clean table. After having such a feast, we had a fabulous party. I danced while Grumpy played the piano and my other brothers sang, which of course, I couldn’t do. Then, the princess told us about a love story of her own. It was romantic and I felt tears welling up in my eye. Her prince and the princess, it seemed to be perfect! Then, we all went to sleep including my dear princess, or girl as what Doc says, and only the silence remained.
Next day, when everyone awoke, my brothers and I headed our way to the mine as usual and the princess promised to take care of the house. On that morning, my brothers and I were happier than we were any other day. The princess had kissed us, and kissed me twice! I believed that now, my brothers and my lives would change a little, in a positive way.
My brothers and I were on our way to the mine singing “Heigh Ho” as usual. When we reached the mine, we heard a loud noise. The noise could be heard louder and louder and soon, we were all swept away by bunch of animals. There were deers, bunnies, squirrels, birds, and whole lot more. Doc was the captain and he was indeed, most surprised. We were all refusing to be swept away from our mine, but we could soon understand by the animals’ actions. The princess was in danger! Although I was and am still not really good at riding deer, I tried my best to get to my house holding on to a deer’s tail. It didn’t really matter that my hip hurt or anything. My dear lady was in a peril!
When we got there, we saw an old hag with cruel, nasty look on her face. Grumpy shouted out that she was the queen, the witch! The hag ran and ran to the top of the big rock and so did the deers we were riding. When the witch got to the top of the rock, a huge thunderstorm struck the rock. The area of the rock where she was standing on cracked and the queen met her miserable end. Then, we went back to our house. The princess was there on the ground, but laid down. Every one of us didn’t want to believe it, but she was not even breathing. Dead, we thought, and put her in a huge glass coffin.
We kept weeping and sobbing for days and saw a handsome prince riding on a back of his horse, one day. The prince came nearer to us, or to the glass coffin with the princess inside. He rode his horse closer and then, he jumped off of it. When he did, he walked toward the glass coffin and kissed her, the princess. Nothing happened for a moment, but then, suddenly, something rose up. It was certainly Snow White who had rose up. It was the princess alive again!
Soon, waving good-bye, the princess was going away after kissing every dwarf’s heads, including mine. She was heading toward the castle with her prince to be the new queen.
As your mind turns white and lifeless
Everything will pass away
Everything begins to pass from sight
Everything starts to recede from view
And when that process begins to take place
The world would be soundless land
World turns black
Something blows in
New view of life stands grand
Humongous plain with flowers
Can you see beautiful
Sources of Nature?
Everything works the way you want
They are just yours
No one else can make it theirs
Alongside blue sky with yellow sun
Your own world is huge
World comes back
When it’s over
New view of life stands grand
World comes back
When it’s over
New view of life stands grand
There also might be some nightmares
Dreams aren’t always as you wish they would be
But they are yours spotted in your mind
No one can steal because they are yours
Be strong and do whatever you want to
The world is a lively land
World comes back
When it’s over
New view of life stands grand
World comes back
When it’s over
New view of life stands grand
Creative Lyrical Poem (the actual published one)
The Call - Regina Spektor
It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word
And then that word grew louder and louder
'Til it was a battle cry
I'll come back
When you call me
No need to say goodbye
Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never
Been this way before
All you can do is try to know
Who your friends are
As you head off to the war
Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light
You'll come back
When it's over
No need to say good bye
You'll come back
When it's over
No need to say good bye
Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget
Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
'Til they're before your eyes
You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye
You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye
The Tyger
William Blake
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forest of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when they heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?
Yellow Pencil
Su Ahn Choi
Pencil! Pencil! with a top
In an empty, dark, black shop,
How could young child leave you out
And in school, just keep write about?
Where were you before this store?
Inside a bag or a drawer?
How miserable is he?
How sad would he really be?
Would child come back to get him,
would this pencil ever hear her hymn?
A door opens and child cries out,
Where is it? Where’s my pencil?
Final Comic Life Project
Journal #1
Journal #2
Journal #3
Journal #4
Journal #5
Journal #6
Journal #7
Journal #8
Journal #9
Journal #10
Journal #11
Journal #12
Prompt #13
Topic: What kind of cartoon show might appeal to the over-age 65 audience? Imagine the show. Then, in 100 words or less, describe the show and its main character.
Mr.Chucky is a 70 years old and unable to talk. He is a very cruel man without family. He looks very scary to many kids. He always carries a long, metal cane with a very sharp point at the end that would easily scratch and poke others' backs and make them bleed. Once, he rode a bus, but all the seats were full of young kids and teenagers. Mr.Chcuky waited for three seconds and became impatient. So he poked a three-year old child with his cane and laughed greedily as the child went off to a hospital riding ambulance.
Prompt #14
Topic: Electricity is recent discovery. Think of 12 things to do when there is no power.
1. We would have to eat a bowl of cold, hardened rice instead of a bowl of warm, softened rice.
2. We would have to use candles and matches to light the room and read thick, boring books.
3. We would have to use papers and pencils instead of macbooks in school.
4. We would not be able to call or chat with friends because of homework problems or social problems. So, we would have to write letters and wait for reply for several days.
5. We would have to walk up the stairs instead of riding the elevators or escalators.
6. We would have to put the food underground in order to keep them fresh.
7. We would not be able to ride cars, but only walk and ride other transportations because the oils would not be provided widely.
8. We would not be able to walk around the streets during the evenings or nights because they would be very dark.
9. We would have to trade or make the essential needs ourselves because there wouldn't be organized marts or shops with lights on.
10. We would only be able to listen to the lectures or look at the handouts given by the teachers because there would be no wikispaces nor other computer-based classworks.
11. We would have to handwrite every essay or assignment in A4 papers or loose leaf with messy handwriting.
12. We would have to use the original, traditional thermometers instead of the electric ones with lasers, or numerical expressions at schools.
Prompt #15
Topic: Place this sentence in a paragraph where it will make sense: *Bea had never before wanted to be a bee. (*Bea is a shortened name for Beatrice.)
Beatrice had been one of the bees who had been working for their queen bee. She was happy to be able to work for the queen bee and collect honey, but she didn't want to do the same thing over and over again throughout her entire life. She wanted to be different than what she was then. She wanted to have a bigger body and better appearance than she actually had. She wanted to be a beautiful and gorgeous lady. She was never satisfied about her poisonous sting, but always blamed the god for making her as a weak bee. Bea wanted to dance, sing, and walk on her feet. However, her destiny was to live as a bee, who could not dance nor sing nor walk. Yet, one day, a young kid was wandering around in the forest where Beatrice's honeycomb was. The kid was staring at Beatrice and saying, "I want to be a bee just like that one! I don't want to be a human-being! I want to fly as those bees can! This is too unfair!" Bea had never before wanted to be a bee. However, for this moment, she was satisfied the reality that she was a bee.
Prompt #16
September 14th, 2009
Topic: List 10 things you usually do on a rainy day. Pick one from your list and freewrite for 5 minutes.
1. I forget about bringing an umbrella to school.
2. I am in a sad or bad mood.
3. I am distracted by the sound of raining.
4. I take off my coat or jacket.
5. It is more likely to have a bad test or bad school day.
6. I am the parking lot in time because I could not play with my friends at the soccer field before the soccer practice starts.
7. I start thinking about my friends or teachers instead of my homework and works to do.
8. I cough more because of the cold weather.
9. I try to sleep early, around 10 p.m.
10. I complain about my bag and shoes getting wet.
Title: Drop, drop, drop (#3)
As I am studying, I can easily be distracted by various noises. On the rainy days, this is more likely to happen because the noises such as "drop" or "trickle" seem to interrupt my academic environment. Since, after getting my macbook, I became very addicted to facebook, ichat, and msn. So, I started to be distracted easily after getting a macbook. So, now, even the noises of the raindrops distract me. There is an inside window that helps me concentrate on my homework in both of my studying rooms. So, it is not very often that I complain about my windows nor rooms. However, during the days when I have fought with my mom or sister, I feel more distracted and unconscious. This is when I start becoming angry and obnoxious about the raindrops. They are very noisy when you listen to them carefully. So, on these types of days, I prefer studying alone in my own room with windows shut down.
Prompt #17
September 16th, 2009
Topic: Write a rhyme paragraph. Each sentence must begin and end with the words that rhyme with each other.
An example: Spring is a wonder thing. Flowers start to sprout with the help of rain showers.
The child was not mild, but he was very wild. He was such an annoyance and you should agree. He was very hyper, and one just like me. I was also a very wild guy. "Read, sit, stay," how many times I tell him, he doesn't listen, but he is still sweet.
Prompt #18
September 19th, 2009
Topic: Free Write
Title: Low Ropes Course
This Friday, the seventh graders went to the low ropes course in Yangpyong. It was about an hour away from Korea International School. When we went there, we had to follow the instructions of the course directors. It was quiet bizarre to speak Korean with them in front of my friends. We learned about some games to build friendship and teamwork. Although they looked fun, they were quiet difficult to play. One of my favorite games was the wire game. We had to balance on the wire and walk to the other end of the wire. However, I didn't know that it would give me a hard time.
After playing few games, the teacher told us to drink water for few minutes. Majority of my friends ran as fast as they could and tried to reach for their water. I was also running with them. However, I guess it was my unlucky day. Everyone was fine, but I tripped over a wire that we were playing game with. I rolled on the ground and tried to stand up. It didn't hurt very much. Yet, suddenly, I couldn't breathe. My heart seemed to stop and I tried to tell my friends that I couldn't breathe. The teacher came after about a minute. He made me lie down and I felt a little better after few seconds. I was afraid and scared that I might die or faint. But I didn't and I was feeling better every moment.
After eating lunch and playing few more games, all the seventh graders went back to the school and were allowed to play at the 'Performing Art Center' for about an hour. I somewhat felt a little hard to breathe when I went back to school. So I went to the nurse and found some injuries I have gotten on my arm and other body parts. With the nurse's offer, I talked to my mom on the phone and explained to her about how I was hurt. She seemed to be worrying a little. Although I was frustrated by my respiration system, I just kept it to myself for few hours and finally, I felt much better.
Prompt #19
September 21st, 2009
Topic: Use this metaphor to spark a poem: a chest of childhood.
Title: A Chest of Childhood
My chest of childhood,
a box of memories
it stays in my heart
forever and more
Full of toys and photos,
it pulls me to a wonderland of past
my barbie doll lies inside
with her dirty wedding dress
A picture I took with my best friend
is torn and scrambled all over the place
although it is dirty, huge box,
it is my own chest of childhood
Prompt #20
Topic: Free-write
Title: AR score
When I first came to Korea International School, I was very bad at English. To tell the truth, if somebody jokes around that I got Cs and Ds during my first year of KIS, I would certainly have to agree. On my first year of school, I got average AR score compared to other students in my grade. When I became fifth grader, which was when I was attending my second year of KIS, I got average score, too. Yet, my sixth grade was a problem. I got lower than what I have gotten when I was a fifth-grader. I was both embarrassing and angry. I even assumed that the AR system was weird and useless. I was very worried that if my AR score doesn't go up, I would not be able to attend college.
Few days ago, I took another AR test. I almost cried when the test was over because it was both difficult and easy. In this sentence, the word 'difficult' means that it was a difficult test for me to take. The vocabulary words were too complicated and complex for me. Also, in this sentence, the word 'easy' means that some of the questions had easy vocabularies that I have already learned, which meant that the test was assuming that I was not very good at vocabularies. So, this whole test seemed to estimate that my AR reading level was about 4th to 6th grade. But, I was a seventh-grader and I was greatly worried.
About a week after the AR test, I received my AR score. Emma went up to Ms.Mccord and was told about her grade. Then it was Amanda's turn. Jennifer was after Amanda. Finally, Ms.Mccord called my name. My heart was beating as fast as if I was running a marathon. When I reached her desk and looked down. There was a paper with my ZPD. I was relieved that it was not high nor that low. It was just for me! Other students asked me about my score and I did the same. We shared each others' scores and found out whose score was high and whose was low. My highest level for the ZPD was 7.7. Some people got 6.9 and some got 8.4. I realized that I was just in the middle. I felt comfortable and pride in myself after getting an AR score not high nor low. It was as if I got all As for my report card.
Prompt #21
Topic: Blurp! Slosh Snort! Write a paragraph incorporating at least ten onomatopoetic words. Onomatopoetic words are words that sound like what they mean.
Examples:
boing
hiccup
beep
plop
swoosh
fizz
Title: Worst Day in My Life
As I opened the door of my grandma's house, her dog started to bark noisily. He seemed to be happy to find me in her house. However, with the dog suddenly barking, I was very shocked. I was starting to hiccup numerously. I had to work on my project for school, but now I couldn't because I couldn't take a video of myself hiccuping. I was very angry at the dog, so I started hitting the dog as hard as I could with a stick, making "swoosh" sounds. When my grandma saw me hitting the dog crazily, she punished me for treating an animal crudely. I felt bad about my grandma punishing me, so I ran outside to a small playground. There, I sat on a small bench. Yet, there was a wasp on the top of the bench I was trying to sit on. As I sat on the bench, I heard a loud noise of 'buzz" with a sharp sting stabbing my thigh. I cried out, "ouch," and teardrops started flowing down my cheek. I did not know what to do, so I called my mom with my cellphone. However, the female announcer said that she was already having a conversation on her phone and made a loud "beep" sound. I had to do something about my thigh, it was growing larger every moment. I jumped up from the bench as if a spring was being released making a "boing" sound. Then, I ran back to my grandma's house to get some medicine or bandage. I knocked on the door as loud as I could, but no one answered. My grandma had probably gone to the market nearby her house. So, I waited for about thirty minutes looking at my thigh becoming as large as my face. While waiting, I found out that I was not hiccuping anymore. So with my red, sullen thigh, I started practicing my speech. I guess it was very loud because my grandma's neighbor came out and blurted out to me to be quiet. So, I was feeling bad again and I started complaining about my parents, my grandma, the dog, and the old woman who just shouted out to me. While complaining, the elevator door opened and there was my grandma with her dog in her hands. She was not at the market, she was not at the shop, but I realized she was at the hospital. I suddenly felt sorry for the dog and was embarrassed. I cleared my throat saying "ahem" and apologized to both the dog and my grandma. My grandma easily forgave me and we started chattering with each other as normal. And of course, she helped my thigh to turn back to normal, too.
Prompt #22
Topic: Free-Write
Title: Becoming a Cook
Over Chusok, I’ve visited my grandmother in father’s side. My grandmother and grandfather has a 15-year old dog called Arong. He is adorable, cute yorkshire terrier. After eating dinner, playing with Arong, and playing some computer games, I was extremely bored. So I started making yogurt juice with anything I could find in my grandmother’s refrigerator. I made a cup of juice with grape, raspberry, and other fruits. However, the most interesting of all was the yogurt juice with ketchup and raspberry juice. It tasted like an egg scramble by inserting only these two ingredients into yogurt. I could freely use the knifes, scissors, spoons, and dishes, which I couldn’t in my own house with my mother’s supervision.
I also made some desserts for my parents and grandparents. I made them a bowl of ‘pirouette’ cookies and thin-sliced kiwis. I also liked a bowl of jellies and sliced kiwis I had made. However, the kiwis were sliced too thin that no one could even eat them. From this, I thought that the cooks would always have to think of how their customers would think. I learned that a cook was not an easy occupation.
After making all these new drinks and food, I had served them to my family members. They explained to me that the food were great in decoration, but not very edible. Also, they told me that the drinks were horribly bad and each juice was becoming worse. It was not very good to hear that, but my grandparents and parents gave me some money for working hard on these food. They complimented me and I felt quiet proud of myself.
Prompt #23
Topic: They say opposites attract. Use at least five pairs of opposites in a paragraph about some kind of transportation.
Title: Airplanes vs. Helicopters
Some people prefer to ride airplanes more than helicopters and some like helicopters much better. Airplanes are fast and quiet while helicopters are slow and loud. The motors of the airplanes make less noise than ones of helicopters do. Also, many people prefer riding airplanes because they are much faster than helicopters. Also, airplanes are safe to fly at high altitudes, however helicopters only can fly at low altitudes. That is one of the reasons why airplanes are usually used to fly long destinations or fly across oceans. There are several small airplanes, but most of the planes are big or huge. Yet, majority of the helicopters are small. Lastly, airplanes are safe while many of the helicopters are quiet dangerous. Many airplanes are big and strong enough to protect themselves from strong winds. However, almost every helicopter is not strong enough to defend itself from strong winds. Airplanes are fast, quiet, big, safe, and can be ridden at high altitudes. Also, helicopters are slow, loud small, dangerous, and can be ridden only at low altitudes.
Prompt #24
Topic: Weave a story around this mixed proverb: Silence is a great healer.
Title: Silence is a great healer
Anna was having a science class with her classmates. However, the girl in front of her called Georgie was keep raising her hand and calling the teacher's name for her to be called on. Anna thought, 'I guess Georgie has something important to tell!' Georgie kept making sounds and waving her hand while the teacher was making a speech about his expectations and rules during the lab.
Finally, the teacher stopped during his speech and called on Georgie as if he was annoyed. He asked, "what is your question, Georgie?" Georgie answered, "what page are we on?" This really annoyed Anna, her classmates, and the teacher. The teacher kindly told Georgie, "your book is not needed, right now, Georgie." Then the teacher kept going on with his speech.
Yet, when the teacher was reading something off the worksheet he just handed out to the students, Georgie asked a question again. The teacher did not notice Georgie since he was looking at the sheet. So Georgie cried out, "Can you please call on me?" The teacher's anger level went up to its limit. He asked, "what is it now?" Then Georgie said, "what are you reading? And what is that sheet in your hand?" Everyone thought Georgie was asking this question since she didn't have the paper. However, the sheet was right in front of her. When the teacher noticed it, he yelled, "Georgie, it is not polite to interrupt a teacher reading an important lesson. Don't ever do that again."
Surprisingly, Georgie started crying out loud and wailing as a baby. No one could handle her but the teacher. When the teacher told her that she would be sent to the office, Georgie stopped crying and begged to the teacher. Yet, it didn't work, Georgie was sent to the office and when she came back, she looked very tired and miserable. Anna thought, "Silence certainly is a good healer."
Prompt #25
Write a paragraph that starts with this sentence The grass smells red.
The grass smells red. It smells like a bloody finger of an injured, young child. The grass tastes yellow. It tastes like a sour, sweet lemon. The grass looks purple. The plain seems like a humongous field of jell-o. The grass feels blue. The ocean with wavy water seems to be struck in the middle of the world. The grass makes green noise. It makes the swoosh sound of the fresh air blowing by. The grass is red, yellow, purple, blue, and green. It seems to be boring green outside, but inside, it is a mixture of colors.
Prompt #26
Topic: Chris walks into a room. By describing only the reactions of others in the room, let us know something about him.
Chris walks into a room. Ara starts cheering and Rosaria claps. Hyerim, who is curious of their reactions, backs up a little and whispers to Su Ahn. Su Ahn then raises her shoulders and whispers in Ara's ears. Nayeon scowls her eyes at Chris and mutters to herself. Then, Nayeon whispers in Rosaria' ears. Rosaria seems to be surprised and also scowls her eyes at Chris. Hyerim who notices Nayeon and Rosaria looks at them with her eyes bigger. Nayeon murmurs and Hyerim raises her eyebrows. Ara snatches the certificate from Chris's hands and shows it to everyone in the room. Everyone except Nayeon and Rosaria claps and cheers for Chris.
Prompt #27
Topic: Free-write
Title: Chronicles of Narnia
If anyone asks me about my favorite movie or book, I will definitely say "Chronicles of Narnia"! I started becoming obsessed with 'Chronicles of Narnia' since about three years ago. I watched the first movie, "Chronicles of Narnia: Lion, witch, and the Wardrobe", and got this feeling that struck my mind strongly. I started watching the movie over and over again until I could easily introduce it to others.
When I had watched it for about twenty times, the second movie came out. It was called "Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian". It was also fun, but I did not think it was as impressive as the first one. Yet, from few weeks ago, I started watching the second movie over and over again. It gave me the same feeling I got when I watched the first movie.
After watching the second edition of 'Chronicles of Narnia' again, I wanted to watch the next movie. Yet, the next movie did not come out yet. So, I had to read the book, "Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." I had read it before, but only the front part since I had abandoned it. However, now I am reading it again, and it is giving me the feeling that I had gotten when I watched the movies. I believe that "Chronicles of Narnia" is made just for me.
Prompt #28
Topic: Write from the point of view of a freshly scrubbed floor.
Why isn't anyone giving me a new, red blanket? They always give me the blanket to cover up my body and let me easily sleep. But I guess, today's not the day because it is past an hour and my blanket did not even show up. I want to warm myself and sleep cozily as possibly as I can.
The door opened, I can feel somebody walking on me. Oh my god, this kid has a pair of sneakers with dirt on the bottom! My mother will have to wipe the floor over again and I know how hard it is. She always complains about the young kids who step on me everyday. Another kid coming in and probably she is a girl because her pink slippers are decorated with ribbons. She is such a generous child, her slippers don't even have a bit of dirt on it. I wish everyone stepping on me can respect her and start following her!
It used to hurt when everyone jumped and ran on me, yet, I think it is not that bad overall. I got used to it and it's not making me feel bad as it used to. So, I guess living as a floor is not such a bad idea!
Prompt #29
Topic: Some say you can tell a lot about a person by the vehicle he or she drives. Picture a car. (Or is it a truck? Or an SUV?)
In your mind, rummage through this car. Check it out from every angle.
Describe the car or the man or woman who goes with it.
From the front, it looks like a simple, clean, blue truck. Its headlights work just fine and it looks quiet typical. One single, bad point you can tell from the front view of the car is the 'window'. The window is transparent and on it, there are gray raindrops and some cracks. Yet, you can tell that the car is mostly clean and pleasing.
Yet, from the side view, you would notice numerous black scratches. You might even think that they are stickers bought at some vehicle shop. However, they are just scratches the driver had made while driving.
From the back, you will notice how messy the car actually is. The car's number tag looks like a crumbled, dirty aluminum foil. Also, the window on the back is broken. As you look through the truck from the front to the back, you will easily notice the progress of the car becoming a messy junk.
From the truck, an old man with brown mustache comes out. He is wearing a straw hat, which is quiet torn. He is also wearing a blue jeans and white t-shirt. However, you cannot easily recognize that the t-shirt is white since it is covered with all the dirt from the farm. The jean is supposed to be blue, but it looks more like black jean because of the oil from the factory the man is working at. This man is wearing a pair of slippers with black and white stripes, which you can normally detect as academy slippers. The man with the mustache just gives you an impression of a dirty old man working at the factory and a farm.
Prompt #30
Topic: Free-write
Title: English Project
Last week, I had received a project from Ms.Mccord and an assigned group. My group was all girls and I quite loved that fact since I thought there wouldn't be any opposing opinion with everyone of same gender in a group. However, my prediction was completely wrong. On the next class, not all of us had brought materials that we were assigned to bring. So, our first practice had been ruined. But, we luckily got through three scenes out of the total six. As a result, we all promised to meet the next day since we thought we needed more time to practice and take photos for our project. Everyone agreed and one person even had to ask their mom to drive them to home, which was about an hour away from school.
It was the day of the after school meeting. Things were not going well from the beginning. I went down to Mr.Schneider's office to ask where I was supposed to go and he told me that it was Mr.Digges's room that I had to head toward to. So, I began to get on my way. Yet, the thing was that I was not sure where my other group members were! Surprisingly, two other students in my english project group were already up there, looking for "me"! I felt sorry for them to wait for me, but that was only for a moment. I couldn't find one of the group members. I asked two other students about where she was, and as if they were waiting for me to ask, they answered, "her mother is sick!" I could not blame her for having her mother sick nor have her do extra work for visiting her sick mother. So, I just got over it easily. Afterwards, we finished the practice and went to each person's houses. The one, whose mother was sick, said she would make up by using photoshop to put herself in to the photos. I felt quite queer, but I believed in her.
Today, I met the girl who hadn't come to the meeting two days ago. I did not say anything about her mom nor the practice, yet I asked her if she had finished photoshop. She said somehow the photoshop doesn't work and she cannot do anything about it. So, I had to use my camera to take the pictures of her and others in my group hurriedly in the morning. It was very difficult and irritating, but I just thought it would be better to not complain. After taking the photos quite unhappily (since other members were trying to finish it early and did not care about me, who was trying to take good photos as best as I could), I ran up to my first class with one of my most caring friends. She was a great girl who always cared about me as a big sister and I loved the way she cared about me very much. While going up, that girl, who made me do all the hard work and did not even show up at the after school meeting, was swearing about me at my back. I didn't like the fact, but I didn't show my emotion very much. However, what that caring girl had told me was that the fact that I was trying too hard for the photos and bringing too much materials to use for the project seemed to annoy the another girl. Ok, so let's put it this way! The caring girl is girl A. And the girl B will be the girl who didn't show up at the meeting and did not do any of her work for the project. Girl A had told me that girl B had swore about me at my back. Girl A told me that girl B was complaining about me that I brought all those fake mustaches and making her do different kinds of poses to produce some photos. I had these kind of complains or swears on my back before. However, I didn't get why people hated if I just tried hard to get good photos for the projects or any other things.
I cannot understand why people complain or swear about others on their backs for bringing materials they themselves had to bring. I cannot understand the people who complain about the facts that others are trying hard to get good grades. I think no one can understand their thoughts. But, it seems like many people can because they were not only one or two who seemed to not like me whenever I did those kinds of things.
Prompt #31
Topic: Free-write
Title: This is It!
With my family, I watched the movie, "This is it!" The movie was about Michael Jackson's last concert, which was turned into a movie by Kenny Ortega, the director of "High School Musical". The movie was sort of like documentary film, so it was not very fun nor interesting to me. However, I was impressed by how Michael Jackson talked and his voice since they were very different than what I had thought. Although he is called the "king of the pop", I really don't agree with it. He seemed to be good at singing and dancing, but his music were definitely not my type. And the movie just seemed like a concert-on-screen. Nothing was very spectacular nor as fun as usual "movies" or "concerts" are. So, I had quite a lot of disappointment about the movie. However, I enjoyed finding out new facts about the "king of the pop" who I hadn't known much about.
After watching the movie, I went to eat lunch with my family and there was another disappointment. The restaurant was quite small for me to comfortably sit down at. Also, it was noisy. So, I felt quite unhappy for the second time in a row.
After eating and eye-shopping, my family came back home and I started on my homework. "Bang," a sudden thought went through my head. I had to upload my project!! It was still friday, but the time was quite late in the afternoon. It was around four thirty. I tried uploading, but the file size was too big. So I did some phone calls and finally uploaded my pdf file of the project and was relieved after all.
Prompt #32
November 6th, 2009
Topic: Free-Write
Title: AR test
Several days ago, I had taken another AR test for second quarter. I was feeling good and quite confident than the time I had taken it last time. So, I believed that I would get a quite good score this time. However, I did not realize that I was totally wrong. It was the day Ms.Mccord had told us that she would give our AR score sheets! I was excited, waiting for an amazing AR ZPD! Yet, the score I received was lower than the last quarter's score! More unbelievable thing was that I had gotten much lower than the last time's. It had fallen about two points, or two grade levels. It was miserable since the score seemed to be below average. My goal was even so low that I was embarrassed when people asked me about my AR goal. I had to tell my mom this AR score. For sure, she was going to be disappointed although she doesn't actually punish me for it. I sent her a text message saying that I got this particular AR ZPD and that I was sorry if she was disappointed.
When the day ended, I saw my mom in her car and she did not seem so disappointed nor frantic. She was normal or as usual. I asked her whether she was disappointed or not. She said she was still disappointed, but there was nothing to be done. And, the situation was over. However, in my mind, my AR score was still wandering around. I could not believe how low it got. It was such a sorrowful and depressing subject to talk about in my life. Last year, I had gotten quite low score for my AR ZPD, but this time, it was even below the grade average! I was angry at myself for being so stupid with vocabulary. So, I decided to buy a vocabulary workbook and work on it everyday (actually it was my mom's idea since I was too obsessed about it). My mom and I went to the bookstore and got a vocabulary workbook of a quite well-known company. On the way home, I was intensively focused on the new vocabulary workbook I had just bought, wishing my next AR ZPD would increase much higher.
Prompt #33
November 6th, 2009
Topic: Reflect on the process of writing a short story. What did you learn from the process? If you had the assignment again how would you approach it?
Title: Short Stories
From several weeks ago, in my creative writing class, students had been working on their own short stories. At the beginning, I thought that this project would be a very fun and interesting project without much to think about. However, it was not just fun and interesting, but it was also very difficult and tiresome work. I quite liked the fact that I had become an author or at least a writer. The first step of writing a short story was to think of a theme or idea. I chose to write about atomic bomb landing on KIS instantly. I did not think much, but I felt as if I was on the best way to write a story than anyone else was.
The next thing to do was to produce some characters and describe about them specifically. I tried drawing and writing about my four characters on the worksheets Ms.Mccord had given me. However, it was the first difficult step to work on since I could not instantly think of what to do with the characters. I produced some good, friendly characters as wells as evil, mean antagonists.
The second-last step of all was to think about the plot of the story. I created the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and the ending. Then, I had written a story based on that plot. However, it was not very easy since it was actually the first step of writing an entire first draft. To me, it made sense and seemed quite interesting with some dramatic actions.
It was the day I was planning to present my story to the class. I was excited to see my friends complimenting or criticizing about my first draft of the story. I was actually wishing for everyone to say my story was great or even perfect! Yet, the reality was different. After I finished reading off the last work of my story, I looked around the room. Not a single person was actually smiling or seemed to be excited. Most of the people told me that they were lost or was that this story was hard to understand. So, I was told to change my story and make more improvements on setting, character building, and the entire plot.
From this process, I learned to listen to others' opinion since after changing some of the mistakes I had made, I got a better grade for the second draft. If I had the assignment again, I would probably write about mystery agency or detective story since they were the most exciting of all the stories I had listened to.
Prompt #34
Topic: Free-write
Title: Science Project
On Thursday, in science class, I had presented my science project to the whole class. It was a group project and I was told to be in a group with Esther and Jeongsoo. They were both nice and seemed to be hard-working. However, the presentation went quite off. The presentation was supposed to go quick, but it went too slow. And, I mixed up in the beginning. Also, some people could not pronounce what was written, so the people started laughing. It was horrible.
When the presentation ended, I could not believe that I had spent all my precious time for this presentation. My eyes started welling up with tears, but I could stop myself from crying front of others. It was embarrassing and I felt angry at others although I had made a mistake, too. I did not actually express that I was mad, but I think the others knew how I felt at that moment by looking at my face expression.
After the class, I felt sorry for the others that I had made a mistake and was being mad at them for making several mistakes. I tried saying sorry, but the word was stuck inside my mind and did not come out through my mouth. I could tell Esther that I was sorry, but not to Jeongsoo. I wish if I had another chance, I could tell them that I was sorry.
Prompt #35
Topic: Three people are stuck in an elevator: a teenage with green hair and many piercings, a pastry chef, a church organist. Write a conversation they have as they wait.
Teenager: T, Pastry chef: P, Church Organist: C
T: (making clicking sounds with his skateboard) Woohoo!
C: Please be quiet, this is a public elevator.
T: Umm... okay.
C: Thank you.
T: You really look like the organist at the church I go to. He really sucks at playing organ and does these weird moves when playing the organ.
C: Oh, really?
T: Even your accent is similar to his. Or probably...
C: (with tight fist) Yea, that's right! That was me!
T: OMG! I am so sorry, I didn't know~
C: If you ask God for forgiveness and to destroy your sin, God will forgive you and so will do I.
T: Umm... what? Anyways, I was just at my friend's birthday party.
P: Hi, kiddo! But can you please be quiet for a moment because I need to do something?
T: Umm... okay. Yet, I'm gonna finish my last sentence. The cakes in that party really sucked.
C: Please don't use the word "sucks" or "sucked." No creature does suck and neither do the objects made by them suck because the God had made the whole creation.
T: Wow, you are really into that church stuff. What was it called? Christinity? Crastinaity?
C: Christianity
T: Yea, that stuff... Anyways... The cakes at the party were really bad. I'm not sure who made those, but probably the person who made them is crazy.
P: Hey, kid! Seriously, stop that!
T: None of your business!
C: No more of that either! And I had just told you to not say anyone is crazy because God had made him/her!
T: Ah! Okay, I get it!
P: Kiddo, I totally agree with the wise, old man over here! And I tell you... I am the pastry chef who had made the cakes for the party.
T: Oh... sorry! But try putting some sugar and salt next time!
(Door opens)
T: Woohoo!
Prompt 36
Topic: You are paying ten dollars per word to advertise in the classified section of the Upscale Times, a newspaper for a very wealthy area of town. You want to offer your services as a dog sitter.
Write a convincing ad, but don't spend more than 20 dollars.
"Do you need a dog sitter to take care and love your dog for a while? I am experienced and is available!"
Prompt 37
Topic: Great-grandpa Rotondo doesn't understand what a video game is. Or an iPod. Or text messaging.
Pick one of the above and explain what it is in terms that even the most technological person can understand.
Title: What is an iPod?
IPod is a device using electricity to give people some fun. It uses a computer program called "iTunes" to put the songs you like into the device. Afterwards, when you click on some buttons on the iPod, you would hear some music coming out.
It is just like your record player or cd player. Yet, they are smaller and handy. Most of them are sizes of your hands or even smaller these days.
If you go to the shops those sell electric devices near your house or vending machines saying "iPod," you can easily get iPods. They are also called the mp3s and are just things, which some songs can be heard.
Prompt 38
Topic: Free-write
Title: Hatred
These days, I am worried about my grades, my social life, and my appearance. Yet, the most important thing that I am worrying about is the feeling of hatred inside of me. I tend to hate people easily, but this time, it was for sure! I could easily shout out, "I don't hate anyone but this person!" Until now, I've didn't like only few people in our school. But no one was as mean and cruel as the person I hate this time.
She used to be a very close friend of mine. But from one time, she was being nastier, and finally, she went away. Later on, she asked me for forgiveness and I forgave her about her mean attitude that she used to have. Then, I thought nothing bad would happen this year without anyone annoying or irritating me. Yet, that was surely not the end. I found out that "saying sorry" was such an easy thing to lie about.
After the break, she seemed to be nicer than the year before. Yet, that was my mistake. After few weeks, she became mean again as usual. She even started tackling me and ignoring me. From then, I started ignoring her too because I was very upset. I am still really angry at her and wish we were just apprentices, I think I would forgive her once more if she apologizes. But, I really don't want to apologize first this time because in my point of view, she has definitely made huge mistakes.
Prompt #39
Topic: What would you do with three wishes?
Title: Three wishes
If I had a magic lamp with Genie, I would definitely want to wish for hundreds of wishes. Yet, if I get to wish for only three wishes, I would wish for wealth, family's happiness, and smartness.
Wealth would be the first wish I would ever wish since I believe that money can make anything come true. If my wish comes true, I would buy new house, car, and give the rest to my parents. In this wish, I would specifically mention that I want to become the "richest person" in the world.
My family's happiness would be my second wish. I would want all of my family members to be happy. In here, also, I would mention "the happiest people." I would want my family members to have great time when living.
I would wish for As and smartness as my third wish. Although it really doesn't matter if I am wealthy, I wish for smartness since it will let me feel proud of myself whenever I get good scores on tests or quizzes.
So, as a conclusion, I would wish for wealth, happiness, and smartness if I had a magic lamp as Aladdin did.
Prompt #40
Topic: Free-write
Title: My Dream
These days, I am very concerned about my grades since they are constantly going down. Especially, my science grade is about 10 points lower than last year. So, I automatically got concerned about my dream, too. When I was young, my dad seemed amazing and I felt as if I should be a dentist and own his office after his retirement. Yet, few years later, it seemed to be a boring job. So, I thought about becoming an announcer. However, I found out that announcers had to be pretty with great pronunciation. I was okay with my pronunciation, but didn't like my appearance. So, I gave up on becoming an announcer.
Later on, I thought about becoming a lawyer. Lawyers seemed to be getting a lot of money. But, to become a lawyer, you had to be very smart and the job seemed quite boring. So, I gave up for the third or fourth time. Lastly, few days ago, I've been thinking of becoming a hotel manager. I heard it was really fun from my aunt, who was a hotel manager of W-Hotel. Yet, she was going to get another job because she was not paid well although she was the manager of a famous hotel. Now, I am concerned to choose my dream.
I've told from my mom that being a producer/director of television shows would be fun. I heard that they were also paid quite a lot. So, I felt enthusiastic. Yet, the problem was that there were many people of my type. Producer was a dream job of numerous, probably thousands of, people. I really wish to become a famous producer and meet many wonderful pop stars. However, I got to study and study to reach my peak.
Prompt #41
Topic: What's your idea of the perfect vacation?
Title: Friends & Family
In the world, if I had to survive with categories of people I chose, I would definitely choose friends and family members. Friends and family are most important and significant sources of life for me. So, my idea of the perfect vacation is to tour around the world riding our own airplane. I wish someday, I would buy a huge airplane of my own and invite my friends and family members. Someday, I wish I could write a book about my tour guidance all around the world. I love to travel although I don't travel a lot.
When touring around the world, I would choose to go to Europe and North America for sure and would draw out Middle East or Africa. I would rather travel where there are lots of people and modern technology than to walk around in the desert or be afraid of Arabs with guns. Although this might be bias, I am really scared of Middle East and Africa. I would visit France, United States, Canada, England, and Spain for sure.
If I could not tour around the world, but choose only one place because of any kind of problem, I would definitely visit United States. I've been there when I was very young and cannot remember it very well. So, it is quite my dream to visit United States and go to Disney-world. But for sure, I would have to have enough money to invite all my friends and family members.
Prompt 42
Topic: As this is being written, a show called "What Not to Wear" is popular on the cable channel TLC. Imagine more possible shows on a "what not to do" theme. Describe at least one idea. (Don't forget to give the show a name.)
Title: What not to Do if you are two-hundred years or younger
The show I want to make is "What not to Do if you are Two-hundred years or younger." This show will show very dangerous actions to perform for anyone under age of two-hundred years. The show will show very dangerous actions performed by some people who were led to serious injuries or deaths.
It will be informative, but also quite humorous. For example, it would show a driver in a car not pulling the break gear and stopping at the middle of the hill. Surely, the car will start backing down the hill and sooner or later, he will bump into another car.
The reason I named the show "What not to Do if you are two-hundred years or younger" is obvious that no one should do what is shown on the show. Yet, I put a phrase, "two-hundred years or younger," because I wanted to create some humor. I wish the show could be more informative than humorous since I wish it can help people on their lives than just to let them enjoy the show for fun.
Prompt 43
Date: January 6th, 2009
Topic: For the last two days you were not in school because of the weather - "snow days." As advanced we have become in the 21st century, we still can not control the weather. Do you think this is an advantage or a disadvantage?
Title: New Experience
Personally, I don't like snow days because I don't like how careful my mom has to drive or the way I have to walk slowly. Yet, I don't want anyone to have control in the weather system because this Monday was a new experience to me. This Monday, I woke up at about five o' clock and got dressed. With my mom and my sister, we got on the car and my mom started driving. It was not usual for us to wake up this early. We used to wake up at about five thirty, but today, it was thirty minutes early. It was because of snow. Personally, I really didn't care if I had to wake up early because I was not sleepy that morning. It took about twenty minutes to get out of Songdo, Incheon which is the city I live in. Then, it took about five more minutes to get on the highway. Next was the highway. It was icy and slippery, so my mom had to drive the car as slow as the turtle walking. It took about two hours and thirty minutes to get out of the highway, which normally took about forty minutes. Finally, gotten into Pangyo at about 7:30, my mom was relieved. She drove a little faster until the hill below the school came out. It seemed impossible for cars to go up that hill! A car in front of us was smaller than my mom's car. And I found out that small cars cannot go up icy hills as easily as the big cars do. The car in front of my mom's car was coming down! Yet, I guess the driver pushed on the break and the car stopped. Some guards came to push the car in front up the hill, which ended out successfully. And since my mom's car is huge, my mom could easily go up and let us go to the school. Although it took about three to four hours of driving, the school just closed. And I got to stay at school until eleven o' clock playing with my friend, Rosaria. When done with all those, I thought about it a little. Was it good to have this happened to me, or was it bad? I think it is an advantage that we cannot control the weather because I wouldn't have had any experience like a snow day or school closing in my life. I wish that weather would never be able to be controlled by human-beings. I wish at least one element in this world can be natural and uncontrollable. This Monday's memory was quite significant in my life.
Prompt 44
Address: Songdo, Incheon Keumho Apt. 105-1401
Dear Su Ahn,
Hello, this is yourself as a fourteen-year-old in the future. How is your fourth grade? Riding a bus is quite new to you, right? Enjoy your bus rides because after only a few months, you will lose that chance. Probably, you will move to a school closer to your house too. I am in seventh grade of Korea International School right now. I really wish I can go back to past since I have to study a whole lot and have so many worries about both academic and social lives. Enjoy yourself and play as much as you possibly can. After a few months, when you move to a new school (Shing Song Elementary School), you will be able to make new friends and play tags with them afterschool. I remember that time as best time in my entire life. Don't forget that you don't got to worry about money, appearance, or academic subjects right now. Play, play, play and make great memories. Those will be more important to you later on. I really regret how I've not been able to play as much as I wanted to, but I wish you will as myself in the past. Be a nice, kind, friendly person.
January 8th, 2010
Love, Su Ahn Choi 14
Prompt 45
Topic: Free-write
Title: Karaoke
About a week ago, my sister and I met my father's friend's daughters. They were quite close to us since we met almost every year and spent time together. This year, as last year, we went to karaoke and sang for two hours. At the beginning, not everyone dared to sing in front of each other. Yet, after about thirty minutes, we all started dancing and shouting as if we just drank some alcohol. After about an hour, we called our parents so that we could play about an hour more. They agreed and we got to sing for total of two hours. Singing song varying from "Gee' to "Heartbeat," we had so much fun.
At about 11:30, Jiwon started feeling bad because of her sister's behavior. She got out and my sister and I felt a little worried. Although we were worried, we just kept singing and singing.
Two hours had ended and my mom told us to hurry up and get packed. We did so and got out of the room even before the time was out. W e had about twenty more minutes!!
Prompt 46
Topic: Write about a memory related to a holiday.
Title: January 1st of 2010
As usual, on the first day of 2010, my family went to grandma's house (dad's side). This year, I was much more exciting than the other years since I started loving cooking and I could freely cook in grandmother's house. As we got there, six of us (grandparents, parent, sister, and me) went to a restaurant called "Ho Lee Chow." We ate delicious meal although my grandparents complained about their taste. When we came back home, I watched television for a while and played on my macbook for several hours. Then I thought it was now time for cooking. I started to get some grapes. I took the got the seeds out and squished the grapes. Then, those fruits started to spray the juice outward. With the juice, water, and strawberries, I made sour and sugary tasting strawberries. When the strawberries were well cooked, I put them with several pieces of donuts. They did not seem very delicious, but when I tasted them, I could give them at least 50 for score. Few hours later, I went to sleep and unexpectedly, grandma's dog didn't come in as he usually did. I felt quite awkward not sleeping with the dog (Arong), but my mind was soon dipped into the dream.
Prompt 47
Topic: Madison is so happy. in one paragraph, show that she is happy, but don't use the word happy.
Title: Best Day Ever
Madison woke up and knew it was her birthday! In a joyful mood, Madison went out to the living room. There were stacks of presents from her parents: about 250 presents stacked around sofa with "dear Madison" written on them. So happy, Madison opened her presents one by one. There were dolls, computers, laptops, dictionaries, mini cars, and clothes. Yet, Madison's favorite present was wrapped in a white envelope with "Math Competition Result for Madison Roberts" written on it. She opened it and on the certificate, it said "the only one in the world who got 100%"! Madison, so thrilled, showed the result to her parents who were the richest of all riches of United States. When Madison got to school on her limo, she was surrounded by hundreds of her friends with presents in all of their hands. Madison, with both of the ends of her mouth lifted up, told her driver to get some cakes for her birthday. When she got to class, her teacher said, "Madison Roberts got the only pink limo in the world for getting 100% in her science Olympiad." So happy, Madison's face was totally pink as if she just used her blusher.
Prompt 48
Topic: In one sentence, describe something that is very ugly. Create a vividly ugly image with word.
Title: The pug has pea-sized eyes, a belly that looks as if it is holding a horse inside, a nose as big and red as a rudolph's, and is burping with saliva dripping from the mouth.
Prompt 49
Topic: Write from the point of view of a TV remote control.
Title: Let Me Alone!
As a TV remote control, I like the morning the best. From about 2a.m. to 8a.m., nothing disrupts my rest. Yet, Ms.McGuire, Leona's mother, starts my distress from about 9 o'clock, when everyone's gone to work. Although she is usually the first one to distress me, she is not the most distressing one. Leona seems to be the nicest of all three, Leona and her parents. She always watches discovery channel and that needs her to click only one button. She never hurts me anymore and I love that side of her. The worst of all in McGuire family is Mr.McGuire. He is a terrible TV remote control user. He cannot ever decide what he wants to watch. So all he does with me is to click my buttons for thousands of times. I will tell you this: it hurts me physically and emotionally when he does that. I screamed out, but probably he can't hear me because he has been pushing my belly buttons for about ten years now. Although I don't like how he hurts me, I still wish that he won't trash me since if I am trashed, that means, I will soon be dead. I usually like what Leona's watching because those cheetahs and birds seem so interesting! I always wanted to tell the McGuires this: Let me alone!
Prompt 50
Topic: Erica Jong said, “If you don’t risk anything, you risk more. Write about what this means to you.
Title: The sentence, "if you don't risk anything, you risk more," seems to relate to a story about Aunt Josephine in a series of unfortunate events. In that story, Aunt Josephine didn't want to risk anything, so she didn't do any particular activity because of her scariness. Aunt Josephine didn't even try to use her doorknob since she was afraid it might have electricity going through it and would hurt herself. Aunt Josephine didn't even use an oven or anything related to fire because she was afraid her house will be set on fire. I think this will risk you more because if you risk more and more, you might get in a problem where you would not be able to eat or drink. For example, you might be so afraid that there is a poison in a food and drink you are having. Then, you would not eat and this will cause you lack of strength or even death. This would be a very specific example, but many occasions like this would cause you to risk more.
Prompt 51
Topic: Free-write
Title: Finals
This year is my first year of taking finals for every subject. I took finals for spanish, science, and english until now. My creative writing and social studies finals were projects. Unexpectedly, finals were much harder than I had thought, especially science. I am worried that my GPA will drop after the finals are marked.
Science final was very long, ten pages! I think it was the longest test I had to take in a limit of 75 minutes. I expected it to be about everything we learned in semester one. Yet, it was mostly all about the chapter we had just learned. I realized that my studying of first few chapters was nothing useful. I cried and cried after taking the final since I wished and hoped for a good grade in science, but felt as if I had just got it back with an "F" on it.
My Spanish final was okay, but I had made several stupid mistakes. Also, in English, the final was quite hard and some difficult questions that I didn't understand came out. Although I am worried about all my finals, I am mostly worried about my science final.
Topic: Rewrite the fairy tale, Snow White, from the point of view of the seven dwarves.
Point of View: Dopey the seventh dwarf
On that day, we were working in the mine as usual. Nothing unusual had happened in the mine or to the way home although everything seemed new and special to me everyday. My brothers and I sang “Heigh Ho” again and again with huge smiles on our faces except Grumpy, of course. But, the unusual part of that day was when Doc suddenly stopped and shouted out, “The light is lit in our house!” We walked into the house.
Doc said, “Who has been sitting in my chair?”
Grumpy said, “Who has been eating from my plate?”
Happy said, “Who has been eating my bread?”
Sleepy said, “Who has been eating my vegetables?”
Bashful said, “Who has been eating with my fork?”
Sneezy said, “Who has been drinking from my cup?”
Yet, I said nothing because I did not know how to speak at all. Then, my brothers pushed me to check what was inside our house, sleeping in our bed. I am always a happy boy, or dwarf I would have to say. But, at this moment, I have to admit that I was scared. I went up and saw a huge monster sleeping in three of our beds. I ran down, shouting, and explained to my brothers about how the monster looked like. Well, I would have to say that I used body-language to have Doc translate what I saw. Anyways, the monster was huge and covered with our bed-sheet. I was totally scared and I freaked out!
We all went up together and were ready to kill the monster. Doc pulled off the bed-sheet and we saw a beautiful lady with skin that was as white as snow and hair that was as black as ink. She was a beautiful girl and all my brothers were surprised as I was.
“God Heaven, she is beautiful!” Everyone shouted except me who could not speak.
Soon, she woke up and introduced herself, she was Snow White! The princess had arrived and visited our house! I felt shy, but not as much as Bashful did. Bashful’s face turned redder and redder as if it would explode.
When done with introducing ourselves, the princess ran downstairs and opened the lid of the pot with delicious-looking soup with fantastic smell. My ears are big, but the fact that my nose is not big doesn’t keep myself away from smelling delicious soup. My brothers and I tried running down, but my face was stuck on the wood poles which I’d been putting my neck inside. So, I was the last one as usual. But who cares, I was still happy about everything!
The surprising part was when the princess ordered, or actually helped, us to shower if we wanted any soup. Grumpy, as usual, grumpily refused the princess’s commands. Yet, Doc, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and I were ready. We got all set up and washed ourselves. It felt quite good to be clean rather than having black hands as what Grumpy, my second brother, was trying to do.
We were now ready to eat and so did we eat sitting around our dusted, clean table. After having such a feast, we had a fabulous party. I danced while Grumpy played the piano and my other brothers sang, which of course, I couldn’t do. Then, the princess told us about a love story of her own. It was romantic and I felt tears welling up in my eye. Her prince and the princess, it seemed to be perfect! Then, we all went to sleep including my dear princess, or girl as what Doc says, and only the silence remained.
Next day, when everyone awoke, my brothers and I headed our way to the mine as usual and the princess promised to take care of the house. On that morning, my brothers and I were happier than we were any other day. The princess had kissed us, and kissed me twice! I believed that now, my brothers and my lives would change a little, in a positive way.
My brothers and I were on our way to the mine singing “Heigh Ho” as usual. When we reached the mine, we heard a loud noise. The noise could be heard louder and louder and soon, we were all swept away by bunch of animals. There were deers, bunnies, squirrels, birds, and whole lot more. Doc was the captain and he was indeed, most surprised. We were all refusing to be swept away from our mine, but we could soon understand by the animals’ actions. The princess was in danger! Although I was and am still not really good at riding deer, I tried my best to get to my house holding on to a deer’s tail. It didn’t really matter that my hip hurt or anything. My dear lady was in a peril!
When we got there, we saw an old hag with cruel, nasty look on her face. Grumpy shouted out that she was the queen, the witch! The hag ran and ran to the top of the big rock and so did the deers we were riding. When the witch got to the top of the rock, a huge thunderstorm struck the rock. The area of the rock where she was standing on cracked and the queen met her miserable end. Then, we went back to our house. The princess was there on the ground, but laid down. Every one of us didn’t want to believe it, but she was not even breathing. Dead, we thought, and put her in a huge glass coffin.
We kept weeping and sobbing for days and saw a handsome prince riding on a back of his horse, one day. The prince came nearer to us, or to the glass coffin with the princess inside. He rode his horse closer and then, he jumped off of it. When he did, he walked toward the glass coffin and kissed her, the princess. Nothing happened for a moment, but then, suddenly, something rose up. It was certainly Snow White who had rose up. It was the princess alive again!
Soon, waving good-bye, the princess was going away after kissing every dwarf’s heads, including mine. She was heading toward the castle with her prince to be the new queen.
Creative Lyrical Poem - by Su Ahn Choi
The Dream - Su Ahn Choi
As your mind turns white and lifeless
Everything will pass away
Everything begins to pass from sight
Everything starts to recede from view
And when that process begins to take place
The world would be soundless land
World turns black
Something blows in
New view of life stands grand
Humongous plain with flowers
Can you see beautiful
Sources of Nature?
Everything works the way you want
They are just yours
No one else can make it theirs
Alongside blue sky with yellow sun
Your own world is huge
World comes back
When it’s over
New view of life stands grand
World comes back
When it’s over
New view of life stands grand
There also might be some nightmares
Dreams aren’t always as you wish they would be
But they are yours spotted in your mind
No one can steal because they are yours
Be strong and do whatever you want to
The world is a lively land
World comes back
When it’s over
New view of life stands grand
World comes back
When it’s over
New view of life stands grand
Creative Lyrical Poem (the actual published one)
The Call - Regina Spektor
It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word
And then that word grew louder and louder
'Til it was a battle cry
I'll come back
When you call me
No need to say goodbye
Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never
Been this way before
All you can do is try to know
Who your friends are
As you head off to the war
Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light
You'll come back
When it's over
No need to say good bye
You'll come back
When it's over
No need to say good bye
Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget
Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
'Til they're before your eyes
You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye
You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye
The Tyger
William Blake
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forest of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when they heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?
Yellow Pencil
Su Ahn Choi
Pencil! Pencil! with a top
In an empty, dark, black shop,
How could young child leave you out
And in school, just keep write about?
Where were you before this store?
Inside a bag or a drawer?
How miserable is he?
How sad would he really be?
Would child come back to get him,
would this pencil ever hear her hymn?
A door opens and child cries out,
Where is it? Where’s my pencil?