Blog 8.5 Response

Being in this English 110 class I got the chance to learn new things. Not only new as in how to write but new as in my peers. I felt we have all learned so much from each other in these 10 weeks. Reading these personal essays was very interesting, and I actually enjoyed reading them. There are so many things that we all go through and to able to share them with the class you know this had to of been a good class. Some people wrote about sad experiences and some wrote about happy ones, but mainly I felt all of the experiences were life changing.

One essay I read about a little girl who had to escape from her father because of how possessive he was. Imagine having to go your whole childhood with a father that you and your mother is afraid of. Then him telling your mother that he was going to kill you. That had to been scary. Then finally your mother gets enough courage to leave him, which was really brave, and then you never seen your father again. This is all life changing because I know there are times where you would want to go find your dad but this person is happy for him not to be in her life anymore so then again I guess not.

There was another essay that was a little on the funny side. A young man and his brother crashed their grandparent’s golf cart. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t tell their parents if the brother had a little concussion because something could have seriously been wrong with him. Luckily everything was okay with him but I guess that’s what makes this essay so funny, that they kept it from their parents.

Another essay was pretty interesting to me. It was about an earthquake that happened in China a while back. This earthquake destroyed so much and so many people lost their lives. The part I find very interesting to me is the fact they found a little baby alive right underneath the mother. So the mother saved her child’s life for hers which any mother would do, I know I would. It’s just a great thing that they found the baby, and I am sure the whole situation had to affect a lot of people.

Overall, all of these essays is different and we all go through so many different situations. I think it is because this class is so diverse, it seems like none of us have the same story to tell. I will miss this English 110 class, and I know we will all achieve great things in our lives. These experiences that we go through will only make us stronger.

Blog 8: Personal Essay

Nickayla Brooks

Ms. MaryKatherine Ramsey

English 110.01

Personal Essay

24 May 2011

                                                        The day I almost lost

It was a Friday night on New Year’s Eve 2010 when I thought I lost my brother to a gunshot wound. I hadn’t been able to celebrate a new year since I had my son. That day I was so excited to go out I went to buy a new outfit and everything. I knew that on New Year people like to get drunk and do stupid things. My older brother and I are really close so I always ask him where he is going out to and who with. That night for some reason I did not ask him. It was probably because I was excited to go somewhere myself.

My brother’s name is Cordell Brooks and we are only two years apart. Ever since we’ve grown up everyone has always told us we should have been twins. We look so much alike and we also act so much alike.  Cordell and I both are also so protective of each other. I love him so much I could never imagine losing him.

The night had come and I went out with my friend Vontierra to a club not too far from where I stayed. I ended up wearing a skirt and some heels so it’s not something that I wanted to do much walking in. Once we arrived at the club it was my brother Cordell told me he does not want me to go there because there is always some kind of trouble started. I figured he doesn’t want me to go out because he always goes to thas particular club so I actually thought he would be there. So of course I did not listen and ended up going to the club anyways, and he ended up not being there.

At first when my friend and I got to the club we didn’t really like it because it was a little rowdy but we stayed anyways. We stayed because the other teenage club was all the way in Akron which is twenty minutes away and we did not feel like driving that far. After a while we started to warm up a bit and started to see people that we actually knew. We then got up, started to mingle, dance, and just started to have a good time. At this club you are not able to leave the club and re-enter unless you talk to one of the bouncers. My mother kept calling me that night, but I just figured she wanted to be nosey and see what I was doing so I did not answer. I couldn’t answer anyways because it was way too loud in there. She then got to texting me asking if I was having a good time and if I am ready to come home because she was. She also went out to a grown folks bar that night and since my mother is so anti-social she ended up texting me a little after she got there saying she was ready to go because it was boring. I texted her back saying I was not ready to go and told her she shouldn’t have went out. She didn’t even go with anybody but herself.

I ended up texting my brother to see if he was having a good time and where he was at, but he never texted me back. My mother then called me again and I actually ran to the restroom to answer and she told me to go somewhere quiet because something had happened. At that point I was having too much of a good time, and I didn’t think it was anything that serious. I ended up going by the door where you could barely hear the music and she told me that Sierra (My oldest brother’s baby mom) called and told her that someone just told Sierra that Cordell had been shot in the head. My mom was panicking, saying she had been trying to call him over and over and he is not answering. I didn’t even know what to say or do. I just automatically thought he was dead and I just stood there in shock.

 My friend came over to me and asked what was wrong and I told her that I had to leave and I just stormed out of the club. She left with me because she drove us there, but I took her keys and started to drive. As I was driving I called my mother back and she was crying hysterically on the phone asking god why this is happening. I then started to cry, but also yelled at my mother at the same time telling her she didn’t know for sure. I had to be strong in case it really happened.

      She told me where they said the shooting had happened. We drove to the scene and no one was there. She then yelled out the window to some bystander asking did a shooting take place. The lady answered “ yes it did”, and that the ambulance had came and picked the person up already. This made us believe that it really did happen to my brother because it was in a neighborhood that my brother goes to all the time to hang. We then decided to go to all of the nearby hospitals to see if he was there, and it was then funny because he wasn’t at either.

It then became my responsibility to get a hold of his closest friends that I knew he hung with to see is they were with any of them. I told my mother that he was probably somewhere drunk and passed out because it was New Year’s Eve, but she said how weird is it that we hear something like this and he wasn’t answering his phone when he always do. At that time I was no longer friends with my best friend, but I knew her sister use to date my brothers best friend so I had to set my pride aside and call her. I then got her sisters number and told her sister what we had heard and asked to give me a number. She gave me two different numbers and no one answered either numbers.

I didn’t know what else to do but sit there and think if it was true then how would my life be different there on out. I then started to cry and wait for someone to call me or my mother. I then decided to head home with my mother to keep her company when my phone rang. It was my brother’s friend and I told him what we heard and asked where my brother was. He said he heard the exact same thing and it had him going crazy because he was not with him, but he also said that he just got off the phone with their other friend who is with my brother. That person said they were in Akron and that my brother is there drinking and kicking it. I felt the most relief in my life and the happiest. It made me want to celebrate even more. I called my mother and told her the information I had received and she was also relived. She actually started to laugh a little because I had told her that he was probably somewhere drunk and she didn’t believe me, so come to find out I was right all along. I know my brother so well. The crazy part about everything is that the guy who really got shot is named Cordero Bush, so his name is similar to my brother and had the same nickname (C.B.).   

After that, my friend and I decided to go back to the club we came from. We talked to the bouncers and they let us back in. They knew we were in there before because we had crosses on our hand. I couldn’t wait until my brother came home the next morning so I could tell him about himself. Still until this day we talk about it and laugh. I will always know how it feels to know that a brother or sister had just died and it is the worst feeling in life. I could not imagine my life without him or any of my brothers for that matter. It makes me want to cherish every moment we have together now because you never know what will happen.     

                               

Blog 7

       One subject that I could possibly write about is my story of how I found out I was pregnant. The two things that it would be about is when I was on the cheerleading team and me being pregnant. I would start the story off by talking about when I first noticed that my cheerleading uniform was getting too small and after every work out session and practice I still wasn't losing any weight. Then it would all lead up to me findind out that I was pregnant. That would be the climax and I would bring it back down and talk about cheerleading again and getting kicked off the team.

       Another subject I could write about is when we thought my brother got shot. The two subjects that the story would be about is the fact that it was new years eve and me and my friends were going out, and the fact that I got a phone call saying my brother got shot. The climax of the story would of course be about that phone call and I will end it talking about how it ended up not being true.

       I could also possibly write about almost losing my housing a month n a half before school starting. The two parts of my story would be about me being at orientation and me losing my housing. The climax of the story would be when I found out I had nowhere to stay anymore. The climax of the story would be when I called to make sure everything was all good with my apartment because I haven't heard anything. This all happened while at orientation and if I wasn't there I wouldn't have called to check. The story would end by me getting the housing back right on time.

       Also, I could write about studying for midterms and my grandpa passing that same week. So those would be the two things and I would start out by saying how stressful it was to study fo those midterms and then the climx would be finding out that he died and everything leading up to that. Then I would end the story by telling how I passed my midterms and how I coped with handling all that news and everything else.

       The last subject I could write about would have to be when my ex-boyfriend didn't get me anything for my birthday. Not that I'm a materialistic person but he told me what he had got me. The two things in this story would be the fact that it was my birthday and I was excited to get the gift and the fact that he didn't he call to tell me happy birthday. I had to call him. I would talk about everyhting leadding up to that point and what was said. The end of the story would be telling about how that was the end of that relationship, because of everything he said what the reason was.

Blog 6

         I am really glad we did this ARP workshop, I thought it was very helpfull. Being the reviewer was actually harder to me than being reviewed. I think this because I am not a good writer so I usually don't like critiquing someone else's paper not really knowing what I'm talking about. It did help me become a better peer editor though. I know know alot of the problems to look for and even though I didn't correct everything I think that I did a good job. What I didn't like about being the reviewer is that we had to keep talking the whole time. Even though our group members would say alot of what I wanted to say we would still just repeat alot of the same comments.
         What I enjoyed about being reviewed on is that I got to hear what everyone thought about my paper. Even though I didn't agree at times it was still interesting. I actually thought it was kind of funny not to be able to talk. I understand that it so you can listen to what they are telling you but some things were stuff that needed to be explained. That is what I did not like about the review process, the fact that we couldn't defend ourselves. Other than all of that I really found this helpfull and I am happy we did this.

Blog 5

        At first I was so lost trying to figure out how to make a reenactment of my primary source and as I read a few others I realized it was simply an analysis. I've noticed a couple people are also a little confused just like I was but instead of them figuring it out before it was due they just said forget it and did anything. You can tell the difference between the people who did anything and the people who actually knows what they are doing, and if there paper will turn out right. Some students just simply summarized their primary source and what they plan to do but didn't actually do a reenactment of it. While a couple others took someone elses reenactment and explained what it was about.
       For the most part most students have their primary source and have a really good one at that. I really loved the ones who drew pictures because not only is that showing their creativity but it also showed a visual image of their primary source and I really like that, too bad I can't draw one bit. So overall some people have a little work to do and hopefully they know by now and other people are doing really good and I am anxious to read the papers.

Blog 4: My short story

There were four girls that were all teen mothers and all of them have problems. One of the girls named Catelyn had her daughter and had to give the daughter up for adoption. That is something she will never get  over. Her and her boyfriend are having problems because he didn't want to give their daughter up but they had to do what was best for the baby. Catelyn is just  graduating from high school and wants to be a Nurse but doesn't know what school she should go to because she wants to fight to get her daughter back but doesn't know if she can go to a big school while raising her daughter.
          There's another girl named Amber and she's all messed up. This girl dropped out of high school when she really didn't have to but thought she had to in order to be able to raise her daughter. Dropping out of high school means getting a job but her and her boyfriend are jobless.
          Another one of the teen mothers name is Maci and she is actually not doing so bad except chosing the wrong father as her sons dad, which most young girls do. They thought they were going to be together forever but once she had the baby their relationship took another turn and they split up. Now they both have a new boyfriend and girlfriend and Maci is trying to fight to get child support from him. She works full time and goes to a community college full time, while being a mother.
           Last but not least is a girl named Farrah and she and her mother are always fighting and when I say fighting I mean really fist fighting. Her daughters father isn't in her life so she is really a single mom. She was trying for the longest to get out of her mothers house and get her own but needed more money. She is also a student at a community college but loved school and wish she could have gone to a better college but had to do what she had to do for her daughter.



          The is a reenactment of a MTV series called Teen Mom which is my primary source. In this short story I made a couple of details up but for the most part this is all the truth. The point in this is to show how MTV perceives teenage mothers. They see them as drop outs and young moms who are struggling and have all types of relationship problems whether it's with their men or family. In this show you never here these girls talk about what they want to be and what college they really want or wanted to go to.
          All this series shows is all drama and bad things to being a mother but what about the good things. What about all the opportunities that a lot of big universities have for teen mothers like OSU? Why don't MTV or any T.V station for that matter motivate these girls to go to big colleges and pursue their dreams with their babies. Instead they make T.V series about their relationships and drama instead of college and all the choices they have. Nothing was really lost in this reenactment but a lot was actually brought to my forefront like me realizing how MTV views teenage mothers.

Blog 3

Only being the third/fourth week in school I feel that this English 110 community is really coming together. Maybe because I’m such an open person I feel pretty comfortable expressing myself in this class, especially on the blogs. I think that the blogs are definitely a good way for the students to come together and get to know one another a little better. I really do think that I fit perfect into this class. I think I fit because this class is so diverse and I am very different so I like it. Even though I don’t know anyone in the class it doesn’t seem like it would be so hard to make friends, and these blogs are a good way.

            Reading almost everyone’s blogs I see once again how different everyone is and I enjoy reading everyone’s opinions. One blog I wrote on was agreeing with corn pone opinions and this person made a really good argument why he agreed with it, I also agree with corn pone opinions and that is why I loved that blog. Another one I read was about a secret society where face musicians who are 27 kill themselves. That was very interesting and weird but luckily the student who wrote about it is not a part of this society. I found out a lot already about some of my fellow classmates. It was very interesting reading them and once again this is a good way to get everyone to communicate and get to know each other.  

Blog Two

Like Mark Twain, I also believe that no one has an original opinion. I believe we may think that we are coming up with something original but in reality it has more than likely already been said or thought of before. I think that everything we say we already heard before once in our lives and we feel that we are coming up with that idea but really we are not. So I would have to say that I support Corn Pone Opinions.

            When someone has an opinion that sounds original usually others are surprised and looks’ at that person with some odd expression on their face. In my community it’s okay to be different and to sound different because that’s what my community is all about. It may be out of norms to some people because it might sound weird but once again I feel that person may have heard that opinion before but just doesn’t remember. For example, as Twain talks about fashion, fashion today, everyone thinks they are being original with leggings, leg warmers, the flat baby doll shoes and etc. but really they are just bringing back the fashions from the 70’s and 80’s. It’s just another case of someone thinking there style and opinions are theirs but really they are just repeating someone else’s, whether it’s from hundreds of years ago or now. So I do believe in Corn Pone Opinions.

Nickayla's Secret

              The secret society that I am apart of here at Ohio State is called ACCESS. ACCESS a secret society of the mothers here on campus that get together once a week and have discussions and guess speakers. This is a society to help one another bond relationships because we all understand one another because we are all mothers and full time students here at the university. There are a lot of perks to being in this society like priority scheduling, extra hours a week for childcare in case we have other things to take care of, book scholarships for the top ten GPA’s each quarter and much more. Being in this society I have built a lot of friendships with others and we set play dates with our children and just bond.

            Through this society called access I am also apart of another society called H.O.M.E (Helping Our Mother’s Education) and this society is also for the mothers at Ohio State. We get together twice a quarter and do fun activities like game night, we go to the mall, we go out to eat and much more. This society is built through the ACCESS society but this is more of the fun part to it. The part where we can actually mingle with one another while ACCESS is the business part of it where speakers come in every week to talk about different subjects as health, sex and many more topics.

            First coming into Ohio State I was very scared and nervous because I really didn’t know anyone and I am not from Columbus so me and my son was new to the city. When I first attended these programs that I am apart of I thought no one would want to make new friends or get to know one another at all but I was completely wrong. Being a part of these societies was the best thing that I’ve done on this campus so far. I am now friends with so many of the girls and my son now has a lot of new little buddies. I don’t feel so alone anymore and like an outcast here on this campus. This is only my first year and I feel that I have made friendships to last me a lifetime.

            In the end, I love that I am a apart of a secret society called ACCESS which is a society for the mothers here on campus and we meet every Tuesday, but of course we meet outside of the program because a lot of us are now close friends. Through the ACCESS society I have also been a part of the H.O.M.E society which is also for mothers and it’s the fun part of ACCESS where ACCESS is the business part. I have been very lucky to meet people who is going through situations that I am or ones that have before. Also ones that have children around my son’s age so now he has a lot of friends to play with and get to know. These are definitely friendships to last a lifetime.