My Memoir

When I was 8 years old my family went to visit my Aunt and Uncle and
cousins on their farm. When we got there my cousin Kent was bringing out
the mini bike that he built with his dad. We were all pretty impressed, it
worked well, but it didn’t have a brake. My cousin let my brother ride it
around for a while. I wanted to try it, but I was a little scared. After a
while, the boys asked me if I wanted to try it. My dad was standing next to me
and kept telling me to Try it! So I got on the bike and pulled on the
gas. The bike shot forward and I couldn’t control it or steer because I was
in shock at how quickly it took off. The bike seemed like it was going 100
mph, and everything was in a blur. All of a sudden I saw a big green
object in front of me and then everything went black. I opened my eyes
and heard screaming. My dad was sitting right next to me asking me if I
can hear him. I looked up and I was half under one of my uncle’s tractors,
and my shirt has blood all over it. I couldn’t feel anything yet, but I
started crying because I was scared of all the blood on my hands and
shirt. My aunt came running over to me with a ton of towels and ice. The
bleeding wasn’t stopping, and my face started to hurt pretty badly, so my
parents decided to take me to the hospital, and in the car on the way
there I was sitting on my mom’s lap, and having calmed down, I looked over
at my brother who was sitting in the seat next to me, and he was crying. I
was extremely surprised that he was that upset, because he was always so
mean to me.. We got to the hospital pretty fast, and we waited in the
emergency room for a while. I had stopped bleeding, and was just sitting
there with my face throbbing. A nurse finally came to get me and she took
me and my mom to a room where she put a big heavy cape to on me and takes
x-rays of my head. A little while later, we sat waiting in an examination
room, and my mom told me too look through the little window into the next
room, and I saw x-rays of my head hung up on a lit up board. I thought it
was so weird to see something like that. The doctor came into the room not
long after that, and all I remember him saying was that I could eat all
the popsicles and ice cream I wanted to help with the swollen face. So the
whole 5 hour car ride home, I tried to eat popsicles, but every time it
touched any part of my swollen face, it burned so badly that I got tears
in my eyes, it was an extremely frustrating experience.
This experience affected me in a couple of ways. I learned that my brother
really did love me, even though he was a jerk sometimes. And that
experience has made me extremely cautious about trying new two wheeled
things.

My favorite discussion so far...

My favorite discussion that we have had was one of the first ones in which we talked about the Great Gatsby. Our discussions in class about this have really helped me understand the book. Before coming to class, I really didn't like the book. But after the discussion I'm starting to understand it more, and started actually liking it. In class we have talked about a lot of things that I didn't even notice when I read it over the summer. I didn't realize how complex Gatsby's character is. I did not even think anything of the green light and its significance. The book actually kind of confused me at first. I didn't realize that Gatsby lived where he did because he could see Daisy's house from it. It's actually kind of scary to me that he was that obsessed with her. The book has a lot more to it than I ever expected, and I'm starting to understand why it's so famous.

How I started to Write- Carlos Fuentes

I picked audience as one of the five questions that I would answer. I think that Carlos Fuentes was targeting an American audience. He is constantly explaining aspects of Hispanic culture throughout the book. He explains the importance of a lot of famous hispanic poets and writers. Fuentes writes about his experience as a Mexican boy in America, and what happened to him there, and other hispanic countries that he describes so that Americans would understand. If he were writing to a Hispanic audience he wouldn't have to do this, and it probably would have been written in Spanish. I think the whole point of this piece was to appeal to an American audience. The essay refers to a time when Americans were prejudice towards Mexicans because of an oil problem, and how badly he was treated at school becuase of this. This is something that would affect an American audience greatly, and would be something that they could relate to.

My thoughts on "I Could Tell You Stories"

I enjoyed reading this short story, and I don't think that it was just becuase it was an easy read, especially after "The Crack Up," I thought the story was interesting. I thought it was funny that this girl was so interested in watching this middle-aged woman and her young husband. And that them kissing sparked her thinking about how she has never been kissed like that and she has never been loved like that.

In my opinion, when the middle-aged woman says "I could tell you stories" she means that a lot of things have happened to her and the young man that are interesting. I don't think that she would actually have told them, but she is implying that they have had a very interesting time together. For example, the fact that everyone thinks that they are mother and son probably has made for some interesting experiences. People aren't used to seeing a mother and a son kissing passionately in public. I really don't think that the woman was being narcissitic or lying. The situation is unusual enough that it would make for interesting storires.

I really love the quote that we talked about in class, "A story, we sense, is the only possible habitation for the burden of our witnessing." When I first read this I didn't understand it, but after we talked about it in class, it makes perfect sense and I think it's very true. Listening to stories really is not the same as being there, but it is definitely the closest we can get. A lot of important things in our society are based on stories including religion. I really like one of the last things that we talked about, that stories are our responsibility to relay these important moments. It's true, we depend on stories in a lot of important things like in court cases, or in historical things.

AP English so far...

So far AP English has been interesting. We have had homework every single night and, especially this week, it was stressful for me. Coming up with sentences for the vocabulary has actually been kind of challenging for me. Earlier this week, during the double, we had one of the most in depth class discussions I have ever had and at times I felt like it was way over my head. The essay that we read this week that F. Scott Fitzgerald was hard for me. Partially because I was trying to read it at 11:00 at night and I really didn't like F. Scott much after reading it. I thought he was crazy and extremely intolerant. My favorite part of that essay was him listing the kinds of people that he likes, girls until their 14, boys after the age of 7, he hates all strangers etc. I haven't read the next essay yet, but I'm hoping it's not quite as difficult. I enjoy our class discussions, and I really like talking about the Great Gatsby. When I first read Gatsby, I really didn't like it, but now after we've talked about it, I understand it more and am starting to like the book.