In blog post #4 I will be composing a narrative scene that relates to Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway’s narrative was filled with many different emotions that occur in life and through making tough decisions. My narrative scene connects to this narrative because it contains mixed emotions.
It was September 2nd, 2017 a Sunday morning. The 6th Sunday that I was away from my family. I woke up at 0400 as I had everyday for the past six weeks. As I rose from my top bunk I could see out the window it was raining. I walked down the hallway to the latrine to wash my face, brush my teeth, and put my hair in the usual tight bun. As I walked back to my bay I started to think about how I missed Sundays at home with my family, this was the first time I had really felt sad or even thought about my family since I had left. Before formation I reread the letter that I had received from my mom on the previous Friday, the letter contained little encouraging notes, and her telling me how much she missed me and how she was so happy I was achieving everything that I had ever wanted. Reading the letter just made me miss home and the people I was familiar with. After barracks inspections I walked down the stairs to morning formation. My drill sergeant announced “Catholic services will be held at the chapel at 1100 hours.” I turned to my battle buddy and asked “Do you want to go to church with me today?” “Yes of course” she replied. I carried out my morning duties of sweeping the sidewalk in the pouring rain. This was the first morning we didn’t get punished or have to do push ups. I should have been happy, basic training is not a walk in the park. But I still didn’t feel like myself. I just kept thinking about home and my family. I thought if I could just see someone from home maybe I would feel a little better. But the chances of that happening were slim. I was halfway across the country in Missouri at basic training. No one I knew would be here. “Privates attending catholic services need to be formed up outside in 10 minutes, or you don’t get to go” rang through the loud speaker in my bay. I ran outside to formation and marched to the chapel. Church went the way it did every weekend. I felt a little less sad. As I was standing outside the church with all of my battle buddies from my company I heard someone across the parking lot yell “SCARPATO!” I turned around confused as to who was yelling my name. When I saw who it was I began to smile. It was a male that I went to high school with. He also went to the same recruiting station as me so we had done a lot of training together. In that moment I instantly felt better. I knew this was the sign I needed to let me know that everything was going to be okay and I would be seeing my family in no time. “McGill?” “Scarpato how are you? How long do you have left” “I have 4 weeks left. How long have you been here?” “This is only my third week it’s been a big adjustment” We continued to talk for a few more minutes about how different it was being away from home and being with so many new people. We both agreed that it was comforting to see a face that we recognized.
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In blog post #3 I am writing in connection with Maya Angelou’s narrative piece “My Name is Margaret”. Angelou’s narrative and my own narrative connect because they both use the five sense to evoke emotion. As I ran onto the field to first base I could feel my heart beating fast in my chest. It was a perfect day for a softball game, sunny with a slight breeze. It had rained the night before making the grass appear bright green. I threw practice ground balls. First to the second baseman, than shortstop and finally the third baseman until our catcher yelled “BALLS IN COMING DOWN” I threw the ball towards the dugout and ran to the pitcher's circle. All of the players from the infield placed our middle fingers on the ball and took two deep breaths like we did before every game. As the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning was thrown I could feel my nerves fading away. What was I worried about this was just another softball game? I was wearing my black Nike softball pants with a hole in the right knee, my black jersey with white down the sides that had “Cougars” written in royal blue across the chest, my royal blue sock and my black rubber Mizuno cleats. Nothing was different except for the location of the game. We were playing at Penn State's Beard Field in the State Championship. The first inning went by really fast. Neither of the teams scored. In the bottom of the second inning the other team had a couple of hits but left two base runners stranded. When we went into the dugout to prepare for our at bat my coach told the team “you all need to relax. Take a deep breath with me. I believe in all of you, now go out there and hit the damn ball.” My sister Courtney was leading off the inning she hit a single, then Taylor stepped up to the plate and hit another single advancing Courtney to second base. Tori the three hole batter stepped to the plate and hit a slow rolling ground ball to the third baseman. As the girl went to throw the ball to first base she made an “Uh-oh” sound as the ball flew 4 feet over the first baseman's head. Everyone was cheering. The runners advanced. The bases were loaded as my sister Lauren stepped to the plate. She took the first pitch that was always a guarantee. As she stepped back into the box with her powder blue helmet that had Chaos written on the side she eyed the pitcher, Lauren took her step and swung. As soon as I heard the ball hit the bat I knew it was going far, and it did it hit 2 feet below the top of the wall in left field. We were all yelling again as Courtney, Taylor and Tori all crossed the plate safely. Lauren was safe on second and would be left stranded there at the end of the inning. The fourth, fifth and sixth inning went by fast just like the first two innings. There wasn’t any hits or runners left on base. It was a good game. My team was the away team so we batted in the top of the seventh and didn’t score any runs. In the bottom of the seventh there was 2 outs, as the pitch spun towards the plate the batter swung and hit a ground ball to our shortstop, she fielded the ball cleanly and launched it over my head at first base. The girl was safe at first. Courtney called time out and called us into the circle to tell us “take a deep breath don’t worry about the girl on first go for the batter”. I ran back to first and got into my ready position, the next pitch was inside the girl swung. It was a hard hit ground ball to me. I charged the ball, turned around and ran as fast as I could to first base. When I felt my right foot hit the left inside corner of the base I heard the first base umpire yell “OUT”. I threw the ball into the air and ran to the middle of the field where my whole team was hugging and cheering. WE DID IT!! We were the first team in school history to win a State Championship and I got to achieve it with my two older sisters by my side. My second blog post will consist of dialogue between myself and three professional writers. The conversation stems from an article written by each author. The three articles are titled Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product, Against Vanity: In Praise of Revision, and Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.
It was a hot summer day so I decided to take my kayak out on the lake to get some sun. I paddled out to the middle of the lake and ended up next to two other kayaks, in the green kayak were two females and in the red kayak one male. When I paddled closer I realized the three people were professional writers: Anne Lamott, Mary Karr and Don Murray. I introduced myself and they informed me that they were having a discussion about The Writing Process. Since writing isn’t one of my strong suits I found this to be the perfect opportunity to ask a couple questions. “The only time I really write is for assignments in school and the hardest part for me is always getting started with an introduction. How do you get started in your writing?” Mary was quick to respond with, “Writing is painful- it’s ‘fun’ only for novices, the young and hacks”. Anne nods her head in agreeance, “You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you”. Don just sat quietly in his kayak. So, I proceeded to move on to the next topic, “Whenever I have to have my work edited I get really nervous because I’m afraid it’s going to be so horrible the person won’t even know where to begin.” Anne smiles softly and says, “I go on telling people to consider finding someone who would not mind reading their drafts and marking them up with useful suggestions.” Mary adds, “Revision is the secret to their troubles- and yours”. I ask Don, “Sir, how do you work through The Writing Process?” Don responds with, “The writing process itself can be divided into three stages: pre-writing, writing and rewriting”. He paused before adding, “Prewriting is everything that takes place before the first draft. Prewriting usually takes about 85 percent of the writer’s time”. He then said, “Writing is the act of producing the first draft”. Mary chimes in to add more on first drafts saying, “Let your mind roam down some alleys that may end in dead ends- that's the nature of the process”. Ann decided to add her thoughts about first drafts, “All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts”. At this point I could feel the sun beating on my skin and the sunburn starting to turn my skin pink, so I thanked everyone and paddled back to shore. I headed back to my cabin to go work on my latest writing draft keeping Ann, Mary and Don’s wise words in mind as I continued writing. For my first blog post I answer the questions found in The Proust Questionnaire written by Marcel Proust. The questions in the questionnaire are used to help one find their true nature. Everyone is entitled to their own thoughts and opinions and the next 34 questions reveal mine.
1.What is your idea of perfect happiness? My idea of perfect happiness is a room full of family and friends with no debt. 2.What is your greatest fear? My greatest fear is dying alone. 3.What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? A trait that I most deplore in myself is I get angry really easily. 4.What is the trait you most deplore in others? The trait that I most deplore in others is disrespect. 5.Which living person do you most admire? A living person that I most admire is my mother Gina. She is the best. 6.What is your greatest extravagance? My car that I bought on my own. 7.What is your current state of mind? My current state of mind is living my best life. 8.What do you consider the most overrated virtue? I consider money to be the most overrated virtue. 9.On what occasion do you lie? I pride myself on not lying. 10.What do you most dislike about your appearance? I dislike most about my appearance is my acne. 11.Which living person do you most despise? There’s not a particular person that I despise. 12.What is the quality you most like in a man? Self confidence. 13.What is the quality you most like in a woman? The quality I most like in a woman is not being fake. 14.Which words or phrases do you most overuse? I over use phrase “it’s fine”. 15.What or who is the greatest love of your life? My family. 16.When and where were you happiest? In my house with my family. 17.Which talent would you most like to have? I would like to be able to sing. 18.If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? If I could change one thing about myself I would change my height. I want to be taller. 19.What do you consider your greatest achievement? My greatest achievement is earning my LPN license at the age of 19. 20.If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? I would come back as my dog. 21.Where would you most like to live? I would like to live in Hawaii. 22.What is your most treasured possession? My family. 23.What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Homelessness. 24.What is your favorite occupation? My favorite occupation is nursing. 25.What is your most marked characteristic? My most marked characteristic is loyalty. 26.What do you most value in your friends? I value an honest friend. 27.Who are your favorite writers? Sarah Dessen. 28.Who is your hero of fiction? My hero in fiction is Damon Salvatore. 29.Which historical figure do you most identify with? 30.Who are your heroes in real life? My heroes in real life are my parents Tom and Jeannine. 31.What are your favorite names? My favorite female name is Carmella. My favorite male name is Luka. 32.What is it that you most dislike? I most dislike Mondays. 33.What is your greatest regret? My greatest regret is buying my car. 34.How would you like to die? I would like to die peacefully from old age. 35.What is your motto My motto is “It’s fine, everything's fine” |
AshleyI will use this blog to further my knowledge in my English course. Archives
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