Short Story 1

A man eats dinner with his wife. They discuss how he clearly deserves a promotion, but his boss would never allow it. They finish their dinner and bring their plates into the kitchen.

“As long as I have you and a steady job, I’m happy”, the man said, kissing his wife on the forehead. They head to bed. It is 11 at night, with the clear moon shining through the window. The man slowly drifts to sleep.

The man’s name is Jack Woods. He was born in 1962 and raised on his family’s farm. He went to the nearby high school. After high school, he did not have the money to go to college. He became an accountant, earning an average salary. He met his wife at the age of 20, and quickly fell in love and married a year later. They have been married for 9 years now. He has been working at the same place for the same place for the past 11 years and only makes a little more than he did when he started.

The man wakes up, but he is no longer at home in his bed. He sits up on the mat, staring at the metal bars in front of him. It was just a dream. His wife is no longer with him. He found her laying outside their front door, stabbed to death. His boss was also murdered, just a few days afterwards. He was found guilty of the murders, although he was truly innocent. He received a life sentence for the murder of his wife and boss. The gates buzz and the bars slide open. He steps out of his cell and lines up with the other prisoners. They walk to the showers. A cold gush of water hits his face, as it does everyday for the past 4 months.

Everyday, he goes through the same routine. At 6:00, all the inmates wake up and hit the showers. After showering, they go back to their cells to fix their bed and eat breakfast. At 7:00, he has leisure time in the prison yard. At 11:00, everyone eats lunch. At 11:30, he works in the laundry department, folding and packing up clothes and bed sheets. At 5:30, everyone eats dinner. After dinner, everyone goes back to their cells, then lights out at 9:00.  He repeats this process everyday, with little variation.

He is neither the biggest nor the toughest inmate around. In his first month in prison, he was often harassed by the others. He was beat up, had his food stolen, and came close to being raped once, if it wasn't for the nearby guards. Now, he learned to avoid any type of interaction with others, just trying to get through the day.

Before he sleeps, he mourns for his wife. He can not cry anymore, after what happened when the inmate in the next cell heard him.

Everyday since a month ago, he tries to smuggle out shirts and bed sheets and whatever else he could get his hands on and hide it in his mat. He has collected a sizeable amount, enough to feel a small lump in the bed if laid on but not enough to notice.

One night, he lies completely awake in his bed at night. He does not mourn for his wife. Once it seems like everyone has gone to sleep, he gets up and pulls the clothing and bed sheets out of his mat. He rips them up, making long strips of cloth. Using the cloth, he makes a loose rope. He ties the rope, making something that resembles a noose. He ties it to the pull up bar in his cell and places a chair underneath it. Standing on the chair, he puts his head through the loop. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He kicks over the chair he’s standing on.

A Principle to Keep

     There are many important principles in this world, some more important than others. In my opinion, the most important principle to keep at all times is the unnecessary taking of another person's life. Killing someone in self-defense or in the defense of someone else is one thing, but bloodshed solely your own benefit and nothing else is something that should never be done. Not only do you take another person's life by killing them, you are taking away part of your own humanity. A killer becomes something less than human, maybe even less than the filthy rats that crawl around in the sewers eating waste, because unlike rats, humans have the intelligence to judge whether or not something is right or wrong.
     In normal society, murder is usually rare, due to the punishment that comes along with it. If one does commit murder, it results in the murderer being secluded from society for the rest of their life, or even death. In a post-apocalyptic society, such as the one in The Road, murder seems to happen far more often because of the lift of the governing body and the need to survive, and things far worse than murder such as cannibalism or keeping the person alive to use as a sex slave. The question is whether or not murder is more justified because of these extreme situations where murder is sometimes needed for survival. I do not think that murder is justified at all in this situation, or any situation at all.

Thankful for Justin

     Every year around this time, we are suppose to take some time out of our days to appreciate what we have in our lives. It is a time to say thanks to everyone in our lives that have made an impact on us. I am lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family members that support me. I am grateful for the opportunity to receive an education in this great school and the opportunity to get ahead in life. However, this blog is just about that one person in my English 2 class that I am really thankful for.
     The person I am writing about is Justin Lam. We have been friends for about 2 years now, because he is the older brother of one of my friends. Although he is older than me, we share a lot of the same classes, since I was a frackie. He shares the same Algebra 2 class together, and he sits in front of me in English. Whenever we have a group project in English, we are usually in the same group. He is the first person I go to when I don't know what the homework is for English.
     We are not just friends in school though. Whenever I go to his house, he is very generous and gives me food and drinks to eat. Although we are not that common, we are still friends. He does not have the same interests as me, since he watches shows that I don't like, and he's not as good as a gamer as me. But, he is still a funny person and makes English a lot more enjoyable. I am thankful to have Justin Lam as a friend.
   

I Celebrate Myself

     I celebrate myself for being who I am, and not being what others want me to be. I have my own interests and my own sources of happiness. Some may be happy with their solitude, being surrounded by nature. Others may like the company of dozens or even hundreds of other people around them at all times. However, I sometimes enjoy just being on my own in my own room, with the only connection I have to the outside world is the Internet, or being with just a small group of friends. Being different from others should not be frowned upon, but encouraged.
     If everyone in this world were almost exactly the same, the world would be boring. Everything would be exactly the same. It is the individualism of the artist to create something new that would amaze or interest others.
     So, I celebrate myself, just for being myself. I celebrate myself for not trying to become a doctor or lawyer like my mom wants me to. I celebrate myself for doing things that makes me happy and not what others want me to do to make myself happy. In the end, if you're not truly being yourself, you are not truly happy.

Poe

     Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer and poet who lived in the early 19th century. He played a major part in the American Romantic Movement. Poe was one of the earliest short story writers in America. He is known for his works with mystery and horror. Today, he is still one of the most famous writers and his works are studied deeply by a majority of scholars.
     At a very early age, he became an orphan with his father running away and mother dying. Throughout his entire life, he struggled through depression and hardship. His escape was gambling, and consumption of alcohol. Although he was taken in by the very wealthy Allan family, his debts in gambling destroyed his relationship with them, causing him to not be able to finish University and struggled to survive off of only his works of writing.
     Most of Poe's works seem to be a reflection of his emotions. All of his stories that we have read so far have to deal with the supernatural, ether with people coming back from the dead or a raven that drives a man insane. These works reflect the darkness and depression inside of him. His works all have a sense of gloominess or despair. Many of his works reflect upon the loss of his his wife, Virginia Clemm. When Virginia dies, Poe falls deeper into depression and consumes more alcohol, just as the characters in The Raven and Ligeia does when they lose a love one.
     By reading the works of Poe, one can see into his mind and go deep into his emotions. This brilliant, tormented man is one of the greatest writers in American history.

What is an American?

     The simplest way we can describe an American is a citizen of the United States. But, it goes much deeper into that. People of every nationality have their own background and traditions. The people of the United States are not just made up of one group of people, but several ethnicity groups. The creates a melting pot of traditions, changing some and completely creating new ones. People come here for 2 main reasons: economic opportunities and freedom. This is what unites the people of the United States.
     The idea of freedom is what created the United States. The 13 original colonies in the eastern coast of North America fought for their independence from Britain. They abolished monarchy and created a government made up of 3 branches. From there on out, people have been fighting for more and more freedom, leading to the civil rights movement which fought against segregation of race and the women's rights movement which fought against segregation of sex. As the country grew and grew, more people were attracted from around the world.
     As the country grew, the economy grew with it. Soon, the United States became one of the most, if not, strongest countries in the world. This is a huge accomplishment, considering how young the country is. This is largely accomplished by people attempting to live the American Dream: to have freedom and the opportunity to work your way up from nothing to prosperity and success.
     In conclusion, Americans are people who strive for success. They are people who enjoy the freedom of this country and are in the pursuit for happiness. People of many different backgrounds coexist in the same communities, each with the same goal as each other. Immigrants come here and adapt to the traditions that we have here, as well as adding to it and changing it. So, an American is not just one type of person, but people from all around the world who had the chance of coming here and took that chance to try to achieve the American Dream.

The Modern Puritan

     Puritans in the past were a very strict group of religious followers of the Bible. Everything in their life revolved around the Bible and God. Anyone who would go against these rules would be strictly punished by public humiliation, excommunication, in some extreme cases they would even be executed. People who didn't follow the Puritan beliefs or didn't believe in their God would sometimes be tortured and/or thrown out of the community. Now, in modern times, Puritans do not exist anymore. Although there may be few people who still follow these beliefs, there are no large communities of Puritans.
     The group closest to the Puritans today would be the Amish, as said in class. They have strict rules about living a simple life, so they do not use modern technologies such as cars and phones. Most of them do not get an education past 8th grade, as they think that they do not need any higher education to live their way of life. But, they are probably not as strict as the Puritans were.
     However, there are still very strict rules in our society today. The obvious ones would be no killing, hate crimes, or anything of that sort. People would not be executed or banished as easily as people were in Puritan communities. Even rules that were very strict before, such as use of profanity, are often just shrugged off. So in this day and age where most people are more laid back about breaking small rules, I do not believe that any true Puritans could exist anymore.