Unhappy Holidays For most of us, the holidays are filled with times of joy, leisure, and family. We relax in our warm, cozy houses surrounded by piles of presents under the tree. This December, as my family and I crowd around the dinner table for a feast of kings, our biggest worry is how we are going to lose the weight from such a tremendous meal. We live in a shadow of the unknown: all around us, chaos, brutality,… Read More »
Rain Flies at Home Stout, green mountains hover dominating over the bowing, metal roofed homes. It had just rained and from as far as the eye could reach, up in the sky, countless rain flies brilliantly flutter their fragile four wings while several cats and birds collect around them in a hunting spree. The rain flies prevail, enjoying their very short life, looking to seem as though the whole aim in their creation is to fly zealously over Ayer Tana,… Read More »
Embrace the Chub Being chubby is awesome, not going to lie. I love being chubby. Chubbiness is one of my favorite characteristics and is also a very entertaining word to say. Along with being heavier set, there’s a lot of negative energy aimed at me. First off, chubbier individuals are made fun of more. A person thinks that calling a fat person “fat”—or a variation of the word—is mean but really it’s just a blunt observation. When someone calls me… Read More »
Not Nuts About Nuts It was a normal summer afternoon about eight years ago. I was just a small fourth grader when my sister came home with a container full of cashews. Since I always enjoyed snacks containing peanut butter and tree nuts I was eager to taste them; not knowing what was ahead of me. I grabbed a handful and quickly ate the cashews; about 10 minutes later I noticed that I started feeling funny. My throat began to… Read More »
The Food Experience Food isn’t solely for sustenance: it’s a way of life. Although some people disregard meals and see them merely as necessary, I look forward to the parts of the day cut out to revel in the Earth’s bounty. I was raised to appreciate good food, to criticize it, and to enjoy it. I have loved food since I was young; when I was little, I wrote recipes and bought numerous cookbooks, and my mom and I baked… Read More »
Saying Goodbye to Meme I often wonder why people seem to find a need to express extreme hatred towards the life they live. Hearing so many people talking about their lives in such a way, ranting about how they can’t stand their grandparents, complaining because they don’t have things they want, and simply speaking with dissatisfaction makes me reflect on my own life. Should I be complaining that I don’t have the newest and greatest products that trending on today’s… Read More »
Death By Pencil In third grade, I accidentally stabbed myself with a pencil, and decided I was going to die. Never mind the fact that pencils are actually filled with graphite. Death by lead poisoning was thrust to the forefront of my mind, all other thoughts fading to perpetual white noise in the background as I contemplated how painful my demise was bound to be. By lunchtime, I’d begun to mentally compose a goodbye letter to my family, explaining with… Read More »
Real As Hair It is said that the average person has approximately 150,000 strands of hair on their head, yet recent studies from London’s Natural History Museum show that all it takes is one strand to detect everything there is to know about a person. Researcher Emma Freeman says that hair has the capability to “tell what you eat, where you live, your lifestyles, and habits.” In short, your hair is “what you do.” In my case, this fact has… Read More »
Compasión Because of my familiarity of working with people who mental and physical impairments, I accepted a volunteer position in a care facility for women, called Cottolengo del Padre Alegre, in Madrid, Spain this summer. This was a group that looked after these women because of their families’ inability to care for them or, in some cases, they were not wanted. The type of work made the volunteer position unpopular for Spaniards who were struggling to even keep a paying… Read More »
Passion For Music Music defines me; it allows me to stay positive and enthusiastic, express myself, and feel comfortable and content. Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My experience began with piano lessons at the age of six. Every Wednesday after school, I would go to my teacher’s house for a half hour. Frequent practicing, method books, and intensive instruction from my teacher helped me improve both my skill and technique,… Read More »
