Hits and Misses

Hits
1- The answer is plain to see. Duke is returning one of the best players in the country in Grayson Allen. He averaged 22 points a game last year and carried them to victories in some of the highest pressure environments in the country. His most important performance came against Duke's huge rival, North Carolina, when he scored 23 points and hit a 3 in the final minute to clench the victory. He was voted as one of five preseason finalists for the AP Player of the Year award.

After Grayson Allen, Duke has one of the best freshman classes that college basketball has ever seen. Duke got the number one recruit, Harry Giles, and the number two recruit, Jayson Tatum! But, they didn't only get those two stud athletes. They also got Frank Jackson, the winner of the MVP in the McDonald's all american game. This is the game where the top twenty high school basketball recruits come to play in one game against each other. Duke has three likely top ten draft picks on their team and five likely first round draft picks.

Duke also one of the best coaches of all time in basketball. Coach K is a legend in the game of basketball. He brought Duke from being a horrible program that was the laughingstock of the ACC to being a national championship contender every season. He has won four national championships and won two back-to-back in 1991 and 1992. He also has the most wins of any college basketball coach to ever coach and reached 1,000 wins a few years ago. On the side he coaches Team USA and has led them to gold in the olympics the last 4 times he has been there.

So, at the end of the year, Duke will be national champions.

This was one of favorite pieces to write this year because I am passionate about this topic. I sat down and wrote it without any thought, which made the writing just flow from my brain. 

2- This Saturday, I ran in the biggest cross country meet in Louisiana for this year. St. Joseph hosts it at Highland Road Park every year, and it always comes at a great time. This Saturday always seems to be the first sign of fall in Baton Rouge. This year was no different, as it got down to 55 degrees Friday night.

We had a good bit of pressure on us, because we were a favorite to win the meet. Walking to the start line, I could feel my heart beat through my jersey. The horn blew, and I sprinted to get in front of the 305 other runners. I ran the first mile pretty well, and I could see that every one else on our team did, too. We finished very well, and I thought we had won the race. Two hours later, we were sitting anxiously at the awards ceremony waiting for our name to be called. I hear the man say "Catholic High in third with 61 points". We are in the top two. "Episcopal in second with 56 points. St Aloysious in first with 55 points." We lost by one.

This is another one of my favorite blogposts because there was so much emotion in this meet. I remember the day vividly and I think that I described our loss well.

3- As I step off the bus, I come to the realization that I am going to do this. I see the palm trees, smell the beach, and already feel the agony and pain. My teammates seem overjoyed to be here, but all I want to do is go home. All forty of us bring our bags into the house that is supposed to hold a maximum of ten people. We have to hurry to unpack because our first workout is in thirty minutes. I go through[TJ1]  the motions of our pre-workout routine, and it seems as if everything is zooming past me. I can't focus, can't think, can barely even move. But that doesn't matter now. I toe the line and let everything go. I just run. I realize that this is my happy place.

Tonight, I struggle to sleep on my completely deflated air mattress. I'm totally exhausted, but my mind is racing about what the next day will hold. Am I hydrated enough? Will I pass out? Will I just survive the day? I miss the comfort of my bed at home. Now I worry about the fact that I can't sleep and will be exhausted tomorrow also. How am I supposed to run 10 miles in one day on so little sleep? My mind overanalyzes everything already, but this is just putting it on overdrive. I'm scared of the pain that I haven't faced yet. My mind is just about to burst when I fall asleep.

            The next morning I'm rudely awakened at 6:30 by the sound of water running out of the sink. My body is finally relaxed. But, there goes my empty stomach having a fit. I feel like a zombie when I walk over to the pantry to get some toast. My body slowly starts to obey me, and I go through the usual morning routine. I feel like I need to clear my mind before the run, so I walk outside. The air refreshes my spirits after a rough night. The time goes by pretty quickly, and before I know it, my friend calls me inside because it's time to start the run. The mention of that wakes my body up, and my adrenaline starts pumping. I fill my water bottle up all the way to the top because I know I will need it after the run. Bolting out the door, I jump right into the warm up with the team. They are quieter than usual, and I know what that means. This workout is going to be a tough one.

            Coach Dupe sits us down after we are done to talk about our schedule for the day and what it will hold for us. As he begins to end his speech, I grow restless. My fingers are tapping rapidly on my thigh, and I'm checking my watch constantly. Finally, just as the anticipation is about to make me go crazy, he says it's time to run. The worrying is finally over, and I can just do what I do best. Run. I set my watch, hurry to the start line, and hear the dreaded, but relieving words, "Ready, Set, GO!" And just like that, after all of that waiting, I am flying down the sidewalk with my teammates.

            The only problem with this is that running is about pacing yourself. Obviously, running is a sport where you want to get the best time possible and give it everything you have. But, it isn't a sprint. It just so happens that this workout is a four-mile time trial in the sweltering heat of Destin, Florida. But, my adrenaline takes over, and I find myself staying with the leaders: James, Trevor, and Tanner. I stay with them for the first mile, and it feels great. I mean as far as running goes. Feeling great pretty much means feeling like you aren't going to puke. It isn't until the mile and a half that I get that feeling. My legs are sore, cars are zooming by, and it feels like it's about 150 degrees now. At this point, it is a mental struggle. The thoughts start off with the less challenging stuff. But, very quickly the Why did I go out so fast? turns into Please let me pass out, so the pain stops. I maintain my pace with the leaders as we finally reach the two-mile mark. I see a coach telling us to turn around, but I'm not processing it. Trevor has to turn me around, and we continue pushing. Those two miles felt longer than the eight-hour bus ride there, but somehow my watch told me that I had only been running for 14:30. I couldn’t believe that I was only halfway to the end. But, as I heard my heavy breathing, I also heard my teammates' heavy breathing. Everyone else was hurting just as much as I was. Realizing this gave me the strength that I needed to keep going. I hit the three-mile mark, and it's the home stretch. My whole body was numb except for the constant pain in my legs. Then, Coach Dupe came alongside us on his bike, shouting words of encouragement. It was only getting hotter, and the pain kept increasing.

A half mile left. The mental battle is over. There is no questioning my commitment to this workout, but it is only a matter of guts now. Who will push past their limits to win? I am inexperienced at being in the front, and I don't believe in myself. But, the great thing about our team is that everyone wants you to succeed. If you don't believe in yourself, there is always someone who believes for you. I think of my closest friends on this team and how they push past their limits in every workout. My body is revived through these thoughts. There is a quarter mile left, and I change gears. I feel like the fastest person in the world, but my group is pulling away from me. I fight to catch up, but it's too late, and the finish line is nearing. I see Trevor and James finish, and soon after, Tanner crosses the line. I give a final push and collapse right as I hit the line. My heart is about to explode inside of my chest. My head is throbbing. I am on the ground, not able to say a word because of my lack of oxygen. But, sure enough here are my teammates, in the same state as me, lifting me up and pouring water over my head. I come back to my senses and see my time. 29:20. A personal record. And although I feel like I am about to die, joy hits me at the same time. It is a strange feeling, being dead tired but super happy. It is achievement and perseverance. It is the reason that people put themselves through the pain of working their hardest. But, to me, this feeling is the best in the world.

Even though this was a major paper, I remember how much I enjoyed writing this. For a long time, I went back to this moment in time and used it as motivation to keep pushing forward. When I wrote this, I felt as if I had finally done this workout justice. (I don't know why the format is messed up. It came that way when I copied it from Word.)

Misses

1- In the beginning of the Bean Trees, one girl makes a life changing decision. This girl, Marietta, decides to leave her mom, home, and pretty much everything the she knows in hopes of not becoming one of the average girls in her town. An average girl in her town means getting pregnant in high school and after having many more kids to deal with. Marietta leaves the rolling hills of Kentucky in an old beat up car to travel west. 

     After having changed her name to Taylor and her steering wheel not being able to control her car, she finds herself in a bar in the middle of Cherokee nation. A man named Bob Two Two repairs her car and then she leaves the bar. But, as she is just about to leave in the car, a women walks up to her something wrapped in a blanket and says, “Take this baby,”. Taylor is astounded by the women’s offer, but after thinking hard, she realizes that she has no other choice but than to take the baby. Obviously this is ironic that she leaves her hometown in hopes of not getting pregnant early, and a week after leaving, she gets a baby. 

    Taylor and her new baby girl, who she names Turtle because of her grip, arrive at their final destination in Tuscon, Arizona. Having almost no money left she bounces around jobs until she settles in at a job working at a tire place with an older lady named Mattie. She also rooms with a young lady named Lou Ann who is kind of in the same boat as her. Lou Ann’s husband left her when she was pregnant for reasons she still doesn't understand. She ends up having the baby and wants company at her house. Taylor finds out about this through a newspaper ad, and the two becomes great friends very quickly. Lou Ann takes care of the kids while Taylor works and Taylor does the same for Lou Ann. Everything complicates very quickly for them as they find out that Mattie is holding undocumented immigrants from Guatemala in the upstairs of her tire shop. These two immigrants, Estevan and Esperanza, are husband and wife and had to leave their child back in Guatemala. Turtle has a striking resemblance to their child, and Esperanza gets extremely depressed because she misses her child. Meanwhile, Taylor learns that she is not a legal guardian of Turtle and has to go to Oklahoma city with Estevan and Esperanza. On the way there, Turtle and Esperanza become very close and Taylor formulates a plan to get the legal papers for Turtle. She decides for Esperanza and Estevan to act like the parents of Turtle in the meeting and she adopt Turtle. 

     Taylor’s decision to leave Kentucky was not an easy one. She left behind everything she knew and the person she loved the most in the world, her mom. She also ends up with a kid which was the main reason that she left her home. But having Turtle made her learn so much more about life than she ever could have learned in Kentucky. 

This was a bad writing piece for me in many ways. It was one of the first days of school and I wasn't ready to write a paper in one class period. It just pains me to read it again.

2- The Beast is a manifestation of fear, a product of fear, and it drives the boys against each other. This suggests that it is a microcosm of the war in the outside world. Everything is going great for the boys in the Lord of the Flies until the Beast comes along and ruins it all. The island portrayed by William Golding is the ideal place for a group of playful young boys to be, with food, water, and entertainment for everyone at no expense. But, an idea that isn’t even visible to the eye causes little children to have nightmares, friends to turn against each other, and a war that can’t even be imagined by a naval officer participating in World War III.

            When the Beast is first mentioned in the book, it is widely laughed off as a joke though it does impose some fear on the boys. An obviously shy six-year-old with a mulberry-colored birthmark[G1]  decides to speak up in an assembly when he is seemingly terrified for no apparent reason. He finally manages to say to Piggy that he saw a “snake-thing.” The other boys laugh at him, and that “snake-thing” turns into a “beastie” in a matter of seconds. This is how the confrontation happens: “Ralph laughed, and the other boys laughed with him. The small boy twisted further within himself. ‘Tell us about the snake-thing.’/ ‘Now he says it was a beastie’” (35). The boy is embarrassed and fearful when he gets laughed at by everyone, and he wants to make up for it. He exaggerates the snake that he saw into a huge, scary beast. This incident is the beginning of the fear that the boys possess of a “beast.” From the fear of the boy with the mulberry-colored birthmark, a beast is formed. [G2] 

            As the fear of the beast increases among the boys, there is much controversy as to whether or not it exists. Finally, Ralph calls an assembly to decide what to do about their increasing fear. The disagreement only worsens when they argue in the assembly, but yet again, a small, unheard voice decides to speak out. That voice is Simon, who has proven to be unbiased toward any opinion and wholeheartedly pure. [G3] Golding describes this interaction as “Simon felt a perilous necessity to speak; but to speak in an assembly was a terrible thing to him. ‘Maybe,’ he said hesitantly, ‘maybe there is a beast.’” (89). Like the boy with the mulberry-co[G4] lored birthmark, Simon was hesitant to express his own opinions. This conviction of the beast’s reality is so important to him that he risks everything that he is and says it to the assembly. The chaos of this meeting shows that the beast is driving the boys apart, but it also shows how the beast has gained power from fear.[G5] 

The fear of the unknown comes into play when Sam and Eric see what they think is the beast on the top of the mountain. They are petrified and run back to tell everyone what they think that they saw. Ralph’s reaction is one of terror when his fellow mates tell him about their encounter. This quote conveys Ralph’s thoughts of the other boys: “Soon the darkness was full of claws, full of the awful unknown and menace. An interminable dawn faded the stars out, and at last light, sad and grey filtered into the shelter. They began to stir though still the world outside the shelter was impossibly dangerous.” (99). Ralph’s fear of the beast, or possibly just the unknown, makes him believe that everyone is in danger even though he never saw the beast. This shows that the beast can manifest fear into the boys without physically being present.

                  

At this point in the story, the boys have broken into two tribes because of Jack’s dealing with the beast. Meanwhile, Simon has been talking to the beast. The beast says to Simon that he can’t tell anyone that he knows the beast’s true identity. Simon stumbles down the mountain to find Jack and Ralph having a feast. He tries to tell them what the beast is, but he is murdered because he is thought to be the Beast. Golding writes, “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words and no movement but the tearing of teeth and claws… Even in the rain they could see how small a beast it was” (153). The boys’ fear of the beast has led them to kill the most innocent kid on the island. This quote is a vivid image of the death scene of Simon, which shows how driven everyone is to kill this unknown thing that they fear. Unlike Simon, they aren’t hesitant. They are killing with viciousness and ferocity. Even though the beast was physically small, their paranoia drove them to kill the next thing they saw move. The beast has successfully driven the boys apart.

After Simon’s death, the fear of the beast is the highest that it has ever been on the island. Even though Jack thinks that he killed the beast, he is motivated to keep hunting it. Piggy wants to bring order to the chaos, so he marches over to Jack’s side of the island to reason with him. Meanwhile, Roger is on the brink of destruction. His fear has induced him to build a trap to stop invaders. When Piggy starts to argue with Jack, Roger becomes incensed. The scene is described as, “The storm of sound beat at them, an incantation of hatred. High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.” (180). When Roger fears that Piggy is going to restore order to the island, he becomes threatened and this causes Piggy’s death. Once again, fear is the biggest component of the characters’ actions in the climactic moments of the book. This scene brings all of the elements of the beast together. The beast is a manifestation of fear because it causes Roger to fear Piggy. It is a product of fear because it is what causes Roger to lean on the lever. Finally, it drives the boys against each other because it kills Piggy.

The beast comes from fear, causes fear, and kills people. Fear drives the boy with the mulberry colored birthmark to invent a “beast”. The beast that Sam and Eric thought they saw on the mountain causes complete pandemonium among everyone. The beast drives former friends to kill each other when Piggy and Simon are murdered at the hands of their once true friends. The fear of the beast mounts as the book goes along, and it finally brings everyone in conflict with each other. The beast is a microcosm for the war in the outside world.

The Literary Analysis was a weird paper for me to write. I like being able to sit down and write a lot in a short amount of time, but I wasn't able to do that for this paper.

3- My writing center experience wasn't the best in the world. It lasted about five minutes and the person that I worked with didn't help that much. She was nice, but she wasn't very eager to help me with the problems that I had coming into the writing center. It was more about fixing minor mistakes instead of major mistakes. It was also pretty uncomfortable because the writing center was really crowded.

My experience did make me think about where my paper was at and what was wrong with it. But, there weren't any suggestions on what to fix or how to do it. With that being said, I would probably go there again but with a different writing fellow.

One of the reasons that this was bad writing was because I didn't have much to write about.