"How Its Like in my shoes"

Final memoir

One thing I know is true is that bullying should never ever be tolerated. Personally I think –no matter what the situation is– people should be able to fight back and stand up for themselves. Especially in school, where most of the bullying happens. If kids could fight back without getting in trouble, then there would be less bullying in school. It should only be the bullies that should be punished. Kids do not deserve to be bullied. I have learned this through experience.

Back in the third grade, believe it or not, I was a stereotypical bully. I picked on kids left and right and I did not care about anyone’s feelings. In third grade, an attitude like this meant you were a hardcore criminal. Daily, I would ask for different victim’s “lunch money” and threaten them if they don't hand it over. I don’t know when or how this all started, but it turned into a habit. I recognized the power I had and took advantage of it. At that time, I felt like I was popular, because everyone knew of me. I didn’t realize there’s a difference between being famous and infamous. Those words were not in my vocabulary. Moreover, no one ever stood up against me and I felt like I had the power to bully anyone. I knew bullying was wrong, but the reward corrupted my morals. I was young and naive and having the money to buy candy was awfully corrupting. I really liked chocolate bars and my ticket to a box of them came from bullying several kids for their money. However, one day I learned my lesson. Some people believe in it and some people don’t, but I certainly do. My karma finally caught up to me. I noticed in my life, that when there are moments when I’m really embarrassed, I clearly remember the moment. And, the day I learned my lesson was no exception. It was just before lunch and we were all walking over to the lunch room to get our food. It was the perfect opportunity to get money, since none of the kids spent their money yet. One of the kids was walking by himself, and there was no one to back him up, so I decided to take his money that day. I went over to him and immediately threatened him. At first, he resisted, saying that his parents gave him the money and that he needed it for lunch. I don’t know how I went to sleep at night, depriving my classmates of their lunch, but in the moment I just really wanted to money. I told him I would punch him hard if he didn’t hand over the cash. Eventually, he gave in, because he did not want to get into a fight. Happy with my bounty, I quickly made my way to the cafeteria to eat my lunch. However, I did not realize that I was in the process of being set up. The kid I was bullying got fed up with my antics and decided to tell the principal of my behavior in school. Unfortunately, I never knew of the encounter between the kid and the principal. I minded my own business till the day was over and peacefully went home. The next day I came to school with the same terrible habit. I wanted to take someone’s lunch money. Class hadn’t started yet, and the same kid was outside of class holding money in his hand. This was too easy. I immediately walked up to him and held out my hand. The kid looked at me without saying a word. His stare was calm and he didn’t seem frightened in the slightest way. I asked him to hand over the money, with my usual intimidating glare. He quickly reacted with a loud no. I suddenly became furious. How could he refuse to give me his money? No one ever did this to me. In a fit of rage I rashly decided to punch the kid square on his chest. Bad move. The kid staggered back and fell over, looking like he was about to cry. At the moment, I didn’t feel that bad, but then things changed. The principal was standing over by a pole in the hallway. It was hard to see him at first, but when he started walking over I noticed him. I suddenly realized he had been watching the entire situation. He sternly told me to come to the office with him and the kid and I went to his office. The principal called my parents and explained everything to them. I knew I was going to be severely punished. He lectured me on why bullying is wrong and how the act of bullying hurts the learning environment in school. He said that since this was the first time I was caught, that I would only be suspended. But, if I was caught bullying again, then I would be expelled without a doubt. As soon as I got home, my parents yelled at me and grounded me basically forever. I got in so much trouble and I realized that bullying was just not worth it. Sure I got money to buy candy bars, but a few candy bars here and there wasn’t worth getting expelled over.

Even though the kid did not physically fight me back himself, he still stood up for himself by telling an adult of the situation. What he did was effective, because it caused me to quit being a bully in school. I learned that if you want to create an effective learning environment you must stand up for yourself when you need to. 

Rough Draft (memoir)

       "He shoots, he scores!"  Hearing those words from my room made me curious of what is going on in the living room.  "From downtown, he drains it!"  Everyon was going crazy.  I ran out of my room only to witness a scene of popcorn flying everywhere in the living room.  I asked everyone, "what is going on?!"
       "Lakers are going to the finals!"  A man said.  I was shocked to find a stranger in my house.  I started running and screaming away from him.  As I close my door in my room, my dad stops it and tries to talk to me.
       "What is wrong?"  he asked.
       "Who was that man?!"  I said without any hesitation
       My dad started laughing and said, "that is my friend from work, you to calm down son."
       I felt embarassed byt it not matter as my curiosity set it.  "Who is the Lakers?" I asked.
       "It's a basketball team son and they just made it to the finals."  He said this with a smirk.
       "Ok," I said as I walked away.  I head to the computer room to search what basketball really is.  I searched and searched throughout the whole world wide web.  Reading each article, I learned the basics.  What they are and what to do.  Feeling confident enough about everything I learned, I went to my garage and grabbed a ball.  Weeks and weeks passed by as I practice my dribling and ball handling.  I realized that shooting is a factor too and in order to do that, I would need a basketball hoop to shoot through.  I asked my dad, "do you think you can buy me a basketball hoop?"
        Without hesitations, he said, "Yes."  The next day, when I got home from school, I saw the basketball hoop waiting for me as if it was calling my name.  I quickly changed to my hooping attired and I started practicing my shots.  Weeks and weeks passed again and I thought I was good enough.  I challenged my dad and we played countless times.  I lost every single one of them.  I never gave up and i kept practicing and practicing.  I was practicing so much where it reach a point that i was putting my homework aside.  For me that did not matter at that time.  I went out in the streets and tried to challenge anyone I can.  I won games and I lost some too.  Finally I had the guts to challenge my dad again.  Every shot we took, we made sure it was going in.  Possesion of the ball was changed so many times that I lost count.  The game went forever.  It came down to one shot, a shot i knew I would forever remember, a shot I knew that if I miss I would lose and if I make it, I win.  Sweat just kept on dripping from our faces.  I jumped, took the shot and watch the ball as it went in and out of the rim.  My dad grabs the rebound, shoots and wins the game.  I lost again, but this time I felt better because I knew I got better and almost won the game.

One Thing I Know is True (This I Believe)

One thing I know is true is that bullying should not be tolerated.  No matter where, people should be able to fight back.  Especially in school, where most of the bullying happens.  Kids should be able to fight back without getting in trouble.  It should only be the bullies that should be punished.  Kids do not deserve to be bullied.  There is no excuse for bullying.  I learned my lesson back in 3rd grade.  I’ll admit I was a bully.  Picking on kids left and right, not caring about their feelings.  I would ask for their money and threaten them if they don’t give it to me.  Even though I was small, people were scared of me.  I took advantage of that power and made sure I got their attention.  No one ever stood up against me and I felt like I had the power to bully anyone.  I knew I was wrong with what I was doing, but that did not stop me.  Everything was going good for me.  I had money to buy anything I wanted and I had the respect of a few of my friends.  I had everything planned out.  Who to get money from each day and what to spend it on.  One day I met my match.  The kid I was bullying got fed up and stood up for himself.  He set me up.  He talked to the principal and told him everything that I have been doing.  The principal had to witness the bullying happen, so he watched as I threaten the kid for his money.  I knew it would have to end, but I did not think it would end the way it did.  I got suspended from my school and was told that if I do it again, I would get expelled from the school.  I got in so much trouble with my parents that I knew bullying is not worth the trouble again.  Point is, people who are getting bullied just needs to stand up for themselves.

Ideas in progress

                 Thinking about writing the 3 paged paper using one of the rough drafts i turned in in class.  I would probably add more details to make the paper more interesting.  Also, im thinking about doing a powerpoint showing how bullying is something that should not be tolerated. Maybe add some cool pictures in them and some music.

Glass Castle Sentence Models

1.) There were the turn-of-the-century-bronze-and-silver vases and the old books with worn leather spines that I'd collected at flea markets (Walls 4).

    Mom pointed out that the movie was the remake-of-the-old-and-classical movies of all time.


2.) It held hundreds of dog-eared comic books - Little Lulu, Richie Rich, Beetle Bailey, Archie and Jughead - that uncle had collected over the years (Walls 132).

    The vases held hundred of flowers - Lillies, Tullips, Daisies and Roses - that was given to my Aunt   during her birthday

3.)  Mom was always going to thrift stores and coming back with old albums of polka music, Negro spirituals, German marching bands, Italian operas, and cattle roundup songs (Walls 100).

      We were in my house writing songs and rapping them in front of each other

4.) "The bats were out, swooping and screeching, when we left Midland for Blythe" (Walls 42)

     My family and I went to church, singing and rejoicing, when the power at the church turned off.

5.)  The stores, the signs, the sidewalks, the cars were all covered with a film of black coal dust, giving the town an almost monochromatic look, like an old hand-tinted photograph  (Walls 134)

      The shirts, the jeans, the shorts, the belts are all for sale at a store that is closing soon.

Glass Castle Language

1.) "Blood was running down my forehead and flowing out of my nose.  My knees and elbows were scrapped raw and covered with sand.."  The quote explains exactly what happened to her and she did not leave any details behind. (Walls 30)

2.) "I smelled the burning and heard a horrible crackling as the fire singed my hair and eyelashes."  Onomatopoeia was used to describe the action that was going on.  (Walls 9)

3.) "He told us it was time to do the skedaddle."  I just love hearing the word skedaddle, it makes me giggle a little. (Walls 32)

4.) "You busted your snot locker pretty good."  i just never heard of snot locker before and i thought it was pretty cool. (Walls 31)

5.) "The girl i had hit holding her head as she staggered along."  this sentence has a real good alliteration going on. (Walls 45)