True Friends

Friends. Friends should be there for you no matter what, through the ups and the downs, when your having a bad day, or happy with you on your good days. A friend should comfort you when you come across an unexpected dissapointment or when sadness comes across. True friends would never leave your side or ever have anything against you, they should accept you for who you are, and you shouldn't have to change anything. If your' friends aren't by your side or aren't supportive of what you do and say, and give you bad advice, or tell you to do bad things, then they aren't worth your time. You need someone you could trust, someone you could tell anything to about, knowing it wouldn't go anywhere else. But if they are the complete opposite, then just remember to make the right decision if you want to keep that friend, but it's never right to completely cut them out of your life.

Trust

Looking for someone you can trust is hard to find. Trust takes years and years to build from a person, but takes a second to crash back down. Finally earning that trust is a true privilage to get from someone, and should not be taken advantage. Building that trust is soo difficult, only because many people now make up lies, make themselves feel better about theirselves, and try to be better than anyone else. What has happened to our generation today? No one can't be trusted anymore, the feeling of wanting to tell someone close about something is building up, but must be kept in just because of gossiping and twisting stories around and not starting a fuss. Why can't we just all stop?

Regrets

Sometimes things don't go the way things you would imagine it, the way you wanted it to be, or the way you planned everything out. Mistakes can be made, and are surely made by everyone, which leads to regrets. Everyone regrets,everyone thinks about the the other things they could have done to make things better or make things go how they planned it. Regrets come across my mind so many times it's unimaginable. Thinking about how something is lost and how you're most likely not going to get it back, thinking about how your life would have been better if you didn't make the one little mistake. By just doing one little thing wrong can change a lot and effect the usual life you live. To be careful of the actions you do and to realize how it can change your life is the lesson I've learned, and the lesson I will continue on to follow.

The Philippines

Standing in line, at the airport, still in Wisconsin, hesitant to get on the plane, to the place I haven’t been to in years. Dreading to go back to the heat and humidity, I give the man my passport and boarding ticket, he gives it back, and then I head right into the plane, scared, hoping I’ll have a safe flight. While in the air, I have flashbacks of what I remember what had all happen the last time I was there, hoping that this time will be fun.

Arriving at the airport in this foreign place, I see my family there, waiting to greet my parents and I back “home”. With an attitude, I give them short answers to the questions they ask me. Ignoring my families’ conversations, as we get into the car and were off to our home town called Anda.

After a two hour drive, I’m finally here. I look at my surroundings, everything still looks the same, but different in its’ own unique way. I saw more of my family, everyone had changed so much. My cousins don’t look the same, they’ve grown up. It’s not the same, no more playing games, no fooling around, they were all mature. We’ve been apart for so long that shyness had overcome to everyone of us, and we barely talked.

As I walk into the house, I look at my surroundings, and also went up to the guest room in my grandma’s house to unpack my things. I looked around the room, this was the same room I stayed in five years ago, when I was only eight. In the room, things were still the same. Same furniture, same style, same everything. Wandering around the room, I thought about how the next four weeks were going to be torture.

When I finished unpacking, I left the house, and started exploring this town. I didn’t seem to remember much from the last time I was here. I just had little thoughts in my head telling me that I was not going to have fun. I walked around with curiosity, the Philippines was so tropical, it was beautiful. I was starting to regret the thought I had before, about how my vacation was going to be torture. It was just that I was so young the last time I was here, I did not have appreciation for many things. As I’ve grown, I started seeing the beauty within everything, and not taking every opportunity for granted.

The next several days, I saw and learned many new things, new things I never thought existed. I realized how much I loved this place. For once, I didn’t want to leave a place we went to for vacation. I loved it here so much. I loved driving motorcycle, feeling the breeze every time I would speed up, smelling the fresh air, and seeing the beauty around me. Being around my family, and feeling the warmth within me, that I couldn’t feel back at home.

The days were coming and going fast, and before I knew it, it was time to go. Sadness built up inside of me, and the feeling of letting go and leaving was killing me. I also can’t let go of the thought that I won’t be here until another couple of years. I wanted to stay so bad, and spend the rest of the summer here, but sadly, I was forced to leave.

Driving back to the airport, taking one last gander of my surroundings, thinking that everything will no longer look like this, how I’m actually leaving after only four weeks.

I arrive at the airport, did the usual thing I did before I left to come here, but now I’m going back home. I get on the plane, scared again, scared of falling, crashing, or anything bad happening to me while on the plane. To keep myself entertained I listened to music, watched movies, and started conversations with people my age on the plane to get the thought out that I won’t come back in a while, and missing everything that happened in the last four weeks.

After a 21 hour flight, I’m finally home.

Indian Camp by Ernest Hemingway

Many appreciate the beauty of life, but still, many don’t , and also, some truly don’t appreciate life and go over the limits with their actions. In the short story “Indian Camp” Ernest Hemingway, a completely different writer than most others, writes about a new life coming into the world and a life leaving. The story is a bit confusing, but you can understand the true moral of the story if you know the author's writing style.

Almost well known to the consistent readers, Ernest Hemingway has clearly a different writing style than to most writers. One example of the difference in his writing is that Hemingway does not like to waste time in writing, and get right to the point of the story. To get more into detail, Hemingway does not take the time to explain scenery the characters are in, the physical features or personalities of a character, or get more into detail about what is actually happening. But, Hemingway gives enough detail to give the reader a basic understanding. Ernest Hemingway is the perfect author for the people who enjoy getting right to the point of the story.

Just like how Hemingway uses less detail to explain characters, scenery, and what is going on, Hemingway also uses a lot less characters than normal to run the story. In this short story, “Indian Camp”, Hemingway only uses two main characters to describe what exactly is going on. All he tells us about is that they’re two main characters named Nick and his father, and the father is a doctor. As you can see, Hemingway truly does not give very much detail to his characters. The doctor visits a woman in labor, and his son comes along to see what happens. Through the experience Nick learns that he loves life and never wants leave, but thought of staying forever. But, notices that while the woman was giving birth, the father of the child was fed up and decided to kill himself. If the story was truly analyzed, the moral is easy to find.

Hemingway is one unique writer, but also a spectacular one as well. He is confusing to understand, but once you get his writing styles, you will get hooked onto his stories right away. Especially with the way he writes, the lessons you learn, and the feeling you get while reading his stories, Hemingway is one true fantastic writer.

The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant

Mostly everyone can’t get what they want, what they wish for, or what they long for, something they know they can’t have. Many may try to go for it, most, not being cautious at all, but then realizing how much they have put their self at risk when they come to the final outcome. In the short story “The Necklace”, Guy de Maupassant writes about a woman who couldn’t get anything she wanted, a women who was in deep jealousy of other wealthy woman. Through characters, you can learn that when you try to get what you want, the best might not come out of it.

Though only a few, Guy de Maupassant writes about his three main characters in a very interesting way, sometimes a tad confusing. Mrs. Loisel, the main character, was pretty and charming, but was very ungrateful for what she had, and what she couldn’t have. Mrs. Loisel was not the wealthiest person nor the poorest person. From her actions in the beginning of the novel, you can tell that she is in for something not so good. Knowing that she wants the best for her, when she gets the opportunity she tries to get what she wants. For example, when she was invited to a formal party, she refused to go unless she looks decent. Her husband offers to give her money to buy a dress. Once she had gotten the dress, she asked for more, jewelry. Instead of buying her own, she takes the chance to borrow a friends beautiful necklace. But at the end of the party, she loses the necklace, causing her to have to buy a new one for her friend, which cost a lot. In the end, she was disappointed and very unhappy.

Though Mrs. Loisel was one of the most important characters, there are still a couple more. Mr. Loisel, Mrs. Loisel’s husband who spent so much to make her wife happy enough to attend the party with him. He had offered to spend many francs to buy Mrs. Loisel a decent dress; even though the couple was not rich, he was generous enough to offer his wife money he was saving up for something else. Also, it was he who had told his wife to borrow a piece of jewelry from a close friend, so it was really him who started the whole conflict with the necklace.

To tie the whole story together, Jeanne was the character who had owned the original necklace. Agreeing to let Mrs. Loisel borrow the necklace made Mrs. Loisel happy. Because of her happiness, she did not seem to care about the necklace when she went to the party. She only thought about the men staring at her and the fun she was having. But unfortunately, she had lost the necklace and bought Jeanne the same beautiful real necklace that had cost 10,000 Francs. Jeanne had given Mrs. Loisel the hardest time for the past several years she had to pay off the necklace. Proof shows on page 28, where she finally admits how she had ruined her life, “ Yes, I have had some hard days since I saw you; and some miserable ones – and all because of you – “ After the necklace had been paid off, Jeanne unexpectedly made things worse when she had told Mrs. Loisel that the necklace was a fake.

In reality, this experience from a made up character can really happen to the lives of many others. For example, it could be true that a friend could borrow many things from another friend. But, that friend could be careless enough to not take care of it or even lose it, just like what Mrs. Loisel had done in the short story. Just like the ending, many friends try to cover up their wrong doing , but end up with things getting worse. From this short story, you really do learn that if you ask for too much, it is true that good things can come out from it.

Justin Bieber

Just only 12 years old, only having the highest expectation of wining his hometowns’ small competition of “Stratford Idol”, not even thinking about anything more than expected. Standing on the stage, about to sing, nervous, frightened, and empty minded, is this boy with such great talent, that needed to be seen by the world. Little known, this boy from a small town in Canada, made it to the big time, just because of a couple videos from the competition uploaded on to the one of world’s favorite site, “YouTube”. The only reason is just because to show the family members the competition, that couldn’t be there to see him in person. This multi-talented boy is Justin Drew Bieber.

Justin Drew Bieber is one of your ordinary boys, but something about him makes him like no other. At a young age, Justin taught himself how to play every instrument you could possibly think of, such as piano, drums, guitar, saxophone, and don’t forget, even though not hard at all, he taught himself how to sing. With absolutely no vocal lessons at all, Justin has a natural phenomenal voice, that got him somewhere in life.

Born on March 14, 1994, is Justin Bieber, was living under the poverty line, but is now living the dream just because of his talents. Knowing that he was poor, he was very considerate of his families’ situation. He decided to help his family by not asking them for lessons for music at all, but had tried to teach himself, in which he succeeded in.

After the competition was over, taking 2nd place, and the uploading of videos was experienced, he and his family had started to realize how many other people were actually watching and enjoying the videos just from that competition. The family decided to upload more videos of him singing, not expecting anything great, just for the fun of it. After uploading several videos later, more and more people had started to subscribe him on “You Tube”. Only seven months later, Justin flew out to Atlanta, Georgia, to meet Usher , who immediately offered him a contract to sign, which got Justin to where he is now.

After producing his first album “My World”, a huge number of girls went heals over head for Justin Drew Bieber. This one boy made the impossible possible and had inspired many other young singers, who have the same musical talent to believe that they can pursue their dreams. Just by posting simple videos, this boy from a small town called Stratford, in Ontario, Canada is now noticed by the world.

A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemmingway

Sitting in the shadows, thinking about life, in despair, with a drink in his hand, was an old man, wanting to kill himself more than anything. In the short story, “A Clean Well-Lighted Place”, Ernest Hemingway expresses his true outlook on life through a made up character in ways never imagined, confusing at first, but right to the point. You can get a more defined understanding of this short story through characters.

In many short stories, the author writes about many characters, in a very detailed way. On the other hand, Hemingway uses only three characters to get to the point. One of the three characters is most important, the old man. The old man is the character that Hemmingway uses to expresses himself through, a character he intentionally made miserable to relate to his actual life. The old man doesn’t really enjoy the life he has. He has wealth, wife, and many things to enjoy in life, but he still doesn’t truly appreciate it. Another character Hemingway uses is, the younger waiter. Knowing that this is younger, he doesn’t have much experience in life, and does not appreciate the old man staying at the café every night until a late hour. Not only does this waiter doesn’t give his appreciation, he also insisted that the old man should decide to commit suicide. Completely the opposite, there is also an older waiter, who understands what the old man is going through, and tries to explain to the younger waiter. The older waiter is a lot more experienced, which leads to him understanding the situation.

In the end, this short story, if you truly analyze it, you can learn a lot of life lessons and a true understanding of the story through characters. For example just because you have everything, that doesn’t mean you can be happy, just go for something you truly want, and not to judge so easily because you don’t know what the persons going through.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Imagine starting high school with no friends, feeling hopeless, and having everyone hate you for doing right thing. Just think about how you would survive in high school. In the novel, “Speak”, the author, Laurie Halse Anderson, writes about a young girl who starts high school not how most teens would imagine it. Through characters and connections, you can really see yourself in her shoes.

To begin with, the characters in this novel are what keeps your eyes on the pages. Melinda is the character that goes through many hardships throughout the whole novel. Her hardships had started the summer before freshmen year. Unexpectedly, at a party, a senior named Andy Evans had gotten her drunk, and oddly Melinda was okay with that. Andy Evans was the type of person looks for girls and tried to put them in a bad situation. He was the boy that ruined everything for Melinda. Because of him, Melinda wouldn’t have called the police at the party. Andy had raped Melinda while drunk, which caused Melinda to call the cops, and after that night everyone started to hate her. Rachel/Rachelle was Melinda’s former best friend, the only person Melinda was open to. Having her best friend practically her was probably the worst thing for her. Another important character in the novel is Heather, who was her close friend at one point and later on told her that she no longer wants to be friends with her and admits that they are very different on page 105, “ We were never really, really friends, were we? I mean, it’s not like I ever slept over at your house or anything. We like to do different things. I have my modeling, and I like to shop…” Another character that plays a somewhat big part in Melinda’s life is David Petrakis, who Melinda has a slight crush on.

Getting to know the characters in any novel or book can often lead you to think about people in reality that you may know. By doing this you can also connect characters and situations in the novel to your real life experiences and experiences of others. A lot of people, more than you have probably expected, have gone through experiences, not exactly what had happened in the novel, but somewhat near to what Melinda had gone through. Many teens could be in a bad situation and do the right thing for themselves, but what they don't know is the effect of other people. Like in the novel, Melinda had done the right thing to call the police, but later realized, because of her actions, she loses all of her friends. This definitely happens in reality, especially when something bad happens to other people, that they might of not liked it. Other experiences are starting off high school with no friends. This could happen if you are probably new to the school or did something bad like what Melinda had done that caused her to lose all her friends. Another connection in the novel is the lack of true friends. If Melinda's friends were really true, they would have been always by their side in a bad situation like what she was going through. Many people today also lack of having true friends. Someone could be in the worst possible situation and your friend would do whatever it would take to stay out of it and not help you get through, this shows that this person is definitely not a true friend and that you should not trust him or her.


Overall, Laurie Halse Anderson wrote a great novel about a typical girl going through a hard time. Going through high school through Melinda’s eyes is truly a nightmare vision of what most teans fear. Through characters and connections you can visualize what Melinda had gone through.