Nothing in Common
After 19 years of marriage I decided it was time to try living on my own. It took another year and a half for me to actually do it. I had married my husband when I was barely out of high school and promptly gave birth to three sons in rapid succession. I won't go into the details of those 19 years. My husband was a good husband and an okay father. After about 10 years I realized that we were two completely different people with absolutely nothing in common except for our sons.
Moving out was the most devastating and liberating thing that I ever did. I first set myself up in a small above-garage apartment. I had no furniture except my bed and my computer. My first night there I sat in the empty living room listening to the sirens in downtown Lake Worth, a far cry from the peaceful cocks crowing in Jupiter Farms. The emotions running through me were a strange and horrible mix of elation, sorrow, and fear. What had I done?
After a few weeks I began to settle in. I had a full-time job with FPL, I saw my sons often, and I discovered the joy of solitude - something I hadn't known in a very long while with three boys and their friends always under foot. In the mornings I would have a cup of coffee on my balcony and then take a walk to the Intercoastal, which was only two blocks from my apartment. My chaotic soul started to slowly heal and slow down to a peaceful pace.
In the silence of that apartment I had plenty of opportunity to look hard at myself. I took advantage of the silence and finished writing the two books on healthcare and childcare in the late 1800's that I had barely begun a few years before. Those two books were published a year later. I renewed my love of poetry and spent hours reading the works of Pound, Rich, Atwood, and others. I decided to return to college.
I spent four months in my sanctuary over the garage. Then I went home. Everyone thought I would be the same, that life would be the same.
On July 26, 1953, the war for Cuba’s independence began, and for 6 years many Cubans fought for their freedom. The most famous of these revolutionary icons being Fidel Castro, who led the main resistance against the Cuban government. On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and the rest of the Cuban's succeeded. This revolutionary war went on to affect the entire world and Eric Selbin believes it is still affecting it. Throughout Eric Selbin's article, Conjugating the Cuban Revolution, he firmly states that the Cuban revolution is important in the past, present, and future. Selbin, however, is wrong.
Throughout the years of being a student at Council Rock, I have come to the realization of what a true leader is. A leader is not someone that just plans events, collects money, or shows up to meetings. Rather, this is someone that has a true connection with their peers, and has unmatched passion for what they do. With this, I can confidently say that since seventh grade, as a young adult, I have been shaped into an individual that fits these traits. Since that time, I have been involved in student government,
The Cuban Revolution began at a time when Cubans could no longer tolerate the American capitalist influence in Cuba. Cubans blamed the United States for their destitutions and for the ruthlessness of American politically supported dictator Fulgencio Batista. Bastia’s administration was inhumane. Of the countless things he did, he annulled the 1940 Constitution that he helped to instate, widened the gap between wealth and poverty and turned United States supplied guns and ammunition on his own people. Fidel Castro and the 26th of July Movement extended hope and freedom to the oppressed people of Cuba. Castro earned the support of the public during his most famous
The setting of the story is in the future, 2081 of what will be happening in the world. The story is told in third person limited point of view, whereby the narrator is not a character in the book. In addition, the narrator does not draw conclusions, make decisions, or make judgments about the events. The objectivity of the narrator suggests a distancing from the hostile world of the story. The tone used by the author is critical, humorous and satirical. The story is full of humor despite the fact that, it is full of dark themes of oppression. Every dark event in the story is accompanied by a light moment of melancholy comedy.
Within a week of finding out my dad was gone forever, me along with my eight brothers and sisters, my recently widowed ( and pregnant ) mom, and a handful of personal items left the comfort of our small Charleston, home and were packed up in a van and shipped off to Memphis, Tennessee to start a new life. The wound of my father's death was still so raw that I refused to accept that the strange city of Memphis was my new home, and that somehow my father was alive and well, and all we needed to do was go back to Charleston and be with him. And as days in Memphis turned to weeks ,and then months, the realization and acceptance of my new life set in, and I began to embrace Memphis as my new home. as the years passed I made
Castro’s involvement with the foreign and domestic politics during the early Cold War period greatly influenced the outcome of the Cuban Revolution. Without the actions taken by foreign powers like the United States and Russia, some events on the domestic front may have had very different results. It is important to understand how every nation’s foreign policies can influence more than just one other nation, and this was especially true for Cuba. It was because of these events that produced the communist Cuba that we are familiar with today.
Suddenly, I was put out of my “comfort” zone. Because my dad got a new job, I moved from a small city called Eugene to a big city called Portland. Me, along with my four other siblings, were put into a tiny private school with
A small glimmer of hope in an imperialistic world is only taken away in order to ensure equivalence in an imperfect society. Harrison Bergeron is a classic sociological tale written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that is based on the sociological aspect of everyone being equal - not one individual could be above another. This short story focuses on the idea of symbolism by using masks and handicaps to force the social norm of being the same while foreshadowing the courage of being unique in a seemingly perfect world, all while displaying irony through the way in which our society runs today. This story relates to today’s society in that both are alike in that individuals want to break free from societies constraints of social norms.
I sat in my friend's Oldsmobile with her three year old in the car seat resting in the back, as we traveled down the street towards my former residence behind the city park. My friend, Sarah, now a MOM, was eager to show me the transformation to the front of my old home. She kept saying, that I would never believe it as we approached the house, I could only see bareness. All of the bushes, flowers, and gardens that surrounded the house were removed. The windows appeared naked without curtains or blinds to dress them. Disappointment and disgust ran through my veins as I thought about the care and attention my mother had given to our home only to be stripped of it all by the new occupants. What a bad sale my parents had made!
However the US played a much larger role in Cuba’s past and present than the building of casinos and the introduction of the first taints of corruption. In the past, even before Batista, Americans were resented by Cubans because the Americans made a lot of Cuba’s decisions. Under Batista, 80% of Cuban imports came from the US, and the US controlled at least 50% of sugar, utilities, phones and railroads. If Cuba was a business in the stock markets, then the US would have been close to owning 50% of its shares. When combined with a long history of US-backe...
It was new years day, and the sun had just arisen when I felt this feeling inside me saying, what am I doing here, but even more importantly, how would I get out. The realization was scary, but I know that without it, my life would not have been at where it is now. I feel that with this experience, my mentality grew and now I see the world in a different way. It all started in high school, where I felt that all the attention I got during that time was for the façade that was reverted to the people, and not the real me because no one knew the real me. I had to lie about everything I had done and who I am just because one lie lead to another. The area I grew up in has really impacted my life in both positive and negative ways. For one, it helped
...ch open up the readers mind. Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", raises many questions about society and the human potential for evil.
Besides academics, fine arts and sports in school, I have attained leading roles in different groups. This year, I am the Spirit Leader of Student Council encouraging monthly goals and themes and assisting in school events. From creating a student council with a group of peers three years ago we have had success in many events and have found new ways to spread spirit, gather important information and assist with financial groups. Recently, I stepped up to be the leader of the fundraising committee for our ...
Katharine Butler Hathaway once said, “A person needs at intervals to separate from family and companions and go to new places. One must go without familiars in order to be open to influences, to change.” In doing this, I broadened my horizons and changed my outlook on life. Now, as I move on to college, I am leaving my family and friends again to educate and better myself so that I am prepared to walk down any path on the road of life.
Still I felt out of place, but positive change did start to occur upon our arrival into our very first home. It was small, definitely not meant for a family of six, but it was something to call home. Times were rough then too, my family was not financially secure, my mother worked in a factory. To think that she was high payed teacher back home who loved her job, had come over seas just to work at a factory for the sake of her children, still brings tears to my eyes. My father on the other hand had been studying day and night for his law examinations and my sisters who were at the time only sixteen years of age had taken up part time jobs that left them with no time for a social life. So much sacrifice made, with such little fruit of labour in sight. Yet again anxiousness hung above my head like a dark cloud unwilling to go away. Excitement on the other hand was also around the corner because I was about to start high