My Days as a Gardener
'Mom, how do you make a garden?'
'You plant seeds. You can buy them at the nursery.'
'Can I plant a garden?'
Now this is the kind of question a mother wants to hear from her children. Not 'Can I play on the interstate?' or 'If I eat this will I die?' Something, instead, wholesome and good. An activity that not only teaches, but puts fresh produce on her table.
It was decided, then, that planting a garden would be my summer project. My mother and I planned for it to be located behind our garage, in a sunny area of our otherwise shady backyard. With my mom's help, I planted an assortment of vegetables: tomatoes, onions, potatoes ('A potato is a tuber.' 'It's a what?'), and green beans.
I later understood that gardening is generally associated with a life of leisure, with relaxation. For me, it was a competition. I'd ask my seedlings, 'Who's growing the fastest?' 'Who's the tallest?' Fearing bad karma, I tried to stay impartial, lest a subconscious preference for green beans would cause me to water them more often, while dumping bleach on the onions. Every night I'd give my parents an update on rates of growth, any signs of produce, and my never-realized irrigation plans.
One day my mother told me that some of the tomatoes were ready to be picked. We went out back, snagged a few of the plumper offerings, and that evening had salads.
Every other bite earned an accolade. 'Mmm. These tomatoes really are delicious.' 'There's just nothing like fresh tomatoes. Mmm.' 'I think we can quit saving for his college; he's a natural migrant worker.' Whatever that meant, it sounded promising. I told my family that they needn't worry: the garden was in full-swing, and that meant more fresh produce was on the way.
About a week later a tornado razed a better part of North Houston. It brought rain. It brought hail. It upended cars; it flooded houses. And in its trail it left fallen branches and trees, and removed, in whole, one tiny tomato-onion-potato-and-green-bean garden located behind my garage.
Never, ever, in my life has something tasted so good. We shared a meal that no restaurant could ever top. My father and I became even tighter. From that day on, regular meals tasted like plastic and hot dogs and no better than that. Dangerous dishes became our gourmet good eats.
For instance, in Sam’s chapter, a young boy named Royce is introduced. He is an African American teenager that Sam hires to help him plant something in the garden. People automatically assumed he was a trouble maker or someone who couldn’t be trusted. Later in Amir’s chapter, it is revealed that Royce was one of three men who stopped a robber trying to steal a woman’s purse. This is when everyone forgets about the previous stereotypes and realizes that Royce is actually a very generous, trustworthy teen. So in addition to helping people overcome their prejudice, the garden also helped the people who were victims of stereotyping. It made them feel like a real citizen in the community. On page 50, Nora explains, “Many people grew plants from their native lands- huge Chinese melons, ginger, cilantro, a green the Jamaicans call Callaloo, and many more.” Later on the page she continues, “We, like out seeds were now planted in the garden” Nora’s first quote explains that people that may have been judged for bringing their culture to Cleveland, now felt proud to show off all of the unique parts of it. Her second quote explains that the garden was making people finally feel welcome because all of the stereotypes were melting away. This shows that when people from different communities come together, it can make them stronger and more
Thunder rolled intensely outside, my aunt, mother, sister and I were sat calmly in the basement. We had been through this many times before; I mean afterall, Kansas was part of Tornado Alley. 2. My sister and I were young when this happened, her probably four or five, me about eight. 3. Before we had even started driving to my aunt’s house; since she’s the only one with a basement; my sister and I were complaining about being hungry. 4. Mom said she would get us something to eat soon, but then the sirens started blaring. 5. She called my aunt and told her we would be over in about ten minutes. 6. Me and my sister continued to complain about being hungry because, we always had to get what we wanted. 7. So my mom stopped at McDonald’s and got us some food. 8. After we were almost five minutes later than we said we would be my aunt panicked. 9. Jenny, my aunt, was calling like crazy. 10. When we finally got to her house she lectured my mom about how it wasn’t safe to have us out there like that with a tornado in the area. 11.Afterwards, we all sat on the porch and watched the storm. 12. That’s my favorite memory with my family, and it’s one I’ll never forget.
He performed publicly in Vienna in 1795 for the first time, and published his Op. 1 and Op. 2 piano sonatas. His works are traditionally divided into three periods. The first is called the Viennese Classical, the second is the Heroic, and the third is Late Beethoven. In the first period, his individuality and style gradually developed, as he used many methods from Haydn, including the use of silence. He composed mainly for the piano during this period. These works include Symphony no. 1 in C (1800), his first six string quartets, and the Pathétique (1799). His Moonlight Sonata in C# minor (1801) is known as the first of Heroic Beethoven. Beethoven learned that he would become deaf in 1802 and suffered sever depression. His composing skills were not affected by his deafness, but his ability to teach and perform was inhibited. It is said that he became deaf from his habit of pouring cold water over his head while composing, to refresh himself, and then not drying his massive amounts of hair afterwards.
Walker, Alice. (1974). “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens.” Ways of Reading. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, pp. 694-701.
The first images of the garden are seen through the exaggerated imagination of a young child. “” are as “ as flowers on Mars,” and cockscombs “ the deep red fringe of theater curtains.” Fr...
College Admissions Essay If someone asked me where I am going to be in ten years, this would be my answer. I have a great, high-paying job, and beautiful wife and family, and a nice sports car parked in front of my lovely house. When I look into the future, I see myself being successful and happy. Even though I always pictured myself this way, I never worried too much about how I would get there.
Given away by my name, I am not an American; I was born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam - a dynamic city with over nine million people squeezed into roughly the size of south Bay Area. It was towards the end of my third year of high school that my family immigrated to the U.S. Leaving my hometown behind, at seventeen, I started a new chapter of my life.
I arrived at my grandma’s house in bewilderment. The smell of flavored pork and freshly made red sauce wafted out of the windows and rose with the sound of laughter. The family was already there: all four of my aunts elbow deep into bowls of chicken, pork, sauces; my cousins and a couple of uncles with rolled up sleeves spreading
I have a lot of fond memories looking back on my childhood. My dad’s parents had a house on Granbury Lake; it was a kid’s paradise. I grew up fishing, which is my favorite thing to do, boating, water skiing, 4-wheeling, anything you could do outdoors we did it. My grandparents had a massive garden and rows of fruit trees that lined their properly. We would wake up early in the morning to help Pa Pa woke in the garden. Being from the city, we that this was the coolest thing ever. As a reward for our hard work, Na Na would treat us to a snack of fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden. Although, she would always call them little boy and little girl tomatoes. Night time was my favorite out at the lake because that’s when the fire flies would come out. Every evening around dusk we would get our mason jars, poke holes in the lids, and wait to spot the first lightning bug. We didn’t have to wait long until the whole night sky
Music is a form of life that has a variety of purposes; even the human mind cannot comprehend them all. It should be considered a need but because of the economy and its hardship it has bestowed upon people, when school budgets tighten, music programs feel the pressure early and brace for a potential beating (Jennings). Our education system should allow children to express themselves through efficacious learning experiences, giving them the opportunity them to get in-touch with, and strengthen, their creativity (Lim and Chung, S60, Terrance). There is no doubt other programs includes this, but when it comes to music, people question its capability and it is considered “not cool”. Without music in our education programs, children are mislead and cheated from their futures (Music 110), and the focus wonders towards the opposing spectrum. We need musical instruction because it can play an important role in brain development, help achieve academic success, preserve the past, and most importantly, provide opportunities to build our character in a positive, and meaningful, environment, even through the hardship
There has yet to be a culture discovered which lacks music. Making music is seen historically to be as fundamental as the characteristically human activities as drawing and painting. Many even go so far as to compare music to language and claim that music functions as a "universal language." But it is rarely the same music, however, that all peoples respond to. What is it that we are responding to when we listen to music? Strictly speaking, music is not a language, (1) because it has neither outside referents nor easily detectable meaning. Ludwig Wittgenstein explains that although we understand music in a similar way as we understand language, music is not a language because we still cannot communicate through music as we can through language. (2) More recently, Susanne Langer argues that although we understand music as symbol, because we are so caught up in seeing symbolic form function like language we tend to want to make music into a language. But, Langer argues, music is not a kind of language (3) because the significance of music lies not in w...
The position that is being argued is that music should stay in schools. This author is making the claim that music makes children excel in their education. This author uses many different sources. The author relies mainly on studies to back up his argument. The article is recent.
Mazzocchi, A. (2015, August 28). The Truth About Why Music is Cut From Schools(and What We Can Do About It). Retrieved from
Gardeners often find deep satisfaction in their gardens because they are rewarded by their patience and