By Jessica Garner
Christianity- i am a christian so i love Jesus...this on is kind of a no brainer.
be comfy in your own shoes- Always be yourself. It really isn't all that difficult. All you have to do is do what you love and say what you think. Being unique is much more fun that blending in!
Enjoy your freedom- it is taken advantage of so much in America and in our school even. As teenagers we should be appreciating that little bit of freedom we have finally earned!
Don't Be SELFISH!- e everybody is only looking out for themselves and that is frustrating. help somebody out every once in a while. Geez.
listen to the little voice- i am extremely bad at this, but you know when you hear that little voice in your head that is telling you "Don't do it! You are a an idiot!" listen to it. Because it is right 99.9% of the time.
hug the trees- always always be kind to the environment. It might not seem important to you but is is a big deal. Our world has been good to us so just be kind back.
Reap what you sew- taking risk is a part of life (a part that i usually very much enjoy) but just make sure when you make the jump that you are prepared for the fall. Always consider the consequence of your actions.
20071021
reflecton.
by Jessica Garner
The two pieces that i chose was my memoir and my nature walk piece. In my memoir i retold a story that i have told many times, when i wrecked my cousin's four-wheeler.When writing the memoir it was kind of about coming up with a good descriptive paper that can really give the readers a mental image of what you saw in your memories. And my nature walk piece was about a walk that in the woods that our class took at T. L. Hanna and comparing it to Emerson and Thearou's way of looking at nature. My paper was agreeing with the two authors positive opinion of the world we live in. When writing the memoir we had to use "brush strokes" to give our paper more description that would appeal to the five senses. So we wrote down all of the things we smelled, felt, saw, and heard from the day that we were trying to recapture in our writing. For the nature walk we had to free write about our experience in the woods to really get everything out of what we just experienced. The main thing that seems to connect these two pieces is the fact that they both were very descriptive. I had to be very clear in my writing, whether it be through a quote or a brush stroke.
Revision is really just my best friend. I revise my pieces so much i drive myself crazy with it but i am very OCD about having the whole piece flow nicely and making sure it sounds smooth. In my Four-Wheeler piece I mainly corrected things by adding more description in the places that needed it. I also had a few awkward sentences thrown in there that i had to reword. I started to focus too much on the brush strokes so my sentences stared to sound too choppy. For my Nature Walk the only changes i made besides grammar was just rearranging where some of my sentences went. In the beginning i had part of my introduction in the first paragraph then later took it apart from the rest and just elaborated on that statement more. I thought it turned out really good in the end though.
When reading my classmates work i picked up a ton of writing skills from them. I think sampling someone else's work is an excellent way to see what you can improve on your own piece. One of the authors that i liked the most was Dylan's stuff. It was so good and his work is a good place to get tips. He has good structure in his writing, which is one thing that i struggle with. and its a pretty important thing to have because it keeps your paper together! I have a tendency to wonder off the path so to speak which makes your paper sound a little sloppy. But Dylan keeps on task. He also has some voice which is a really big deal to me when writing. It has to have voice or it the whole paper sounds boring! you want to get inside the authors thoughts and you can't do that if they speak so formally.
The two pieces that i chose was my memoir and my nature walk piece. In my memoir i retold a story that i have told many times, when i wrecked my cousin's four-wheeler.When writing the memoir it was kind of about coming up with a good descriptive paper that can really give the readers a mental image of what you saw in your memories. And my nature walk piece was about a walk that in the woods that our class took at T. L. Hanna and comparing it to Emerson and Thearou's way of looking at nature. My paper was agreeing with the two authors positive opinion of the world we live in. When writing the memoir we had to use "brush strokes" to give our paper more description that would appeal to the five senses. So we wrote down all of the things we smelled, felt, saw, and heard from the day that we were trying to recapture in our writing. For the nature walk we had to free write about our experience in the woods to really get everything out of what we just experienced. The main thing that seems to connect these two pieces is the fact that they both were very descriptive. I had to be very clear in my writing, whether it be through a quote or a brush stroke.
Revision is really just my best friend. I revise my pieces so much i drive myself crazy with it but i am very OCD about having the whole piece flow nicely and making sure it sounds smooth. In my Four-Wheeler piece I mainly corrected things by adding more description in the places that needed it. I also had a few awkward sentences thrown in there that i had to reword. I started to focus too much on the brush strokes so my sentences stared to sound too choppy. For my Nature Walk the only changes i made besides grammar was just rearranging where some of my sentences went. In the beginning i had part of my introduction in the first paragraph then later took it apart from the rest and just elaborated on that statement more. I thought it turned out really good in the end though.
When reading my classmates work i picked up a ton of writing skills from them. I think sampling someone else's work is an excellent way to see what you can improve on your own piece. One of the authors that i liked the most was Dylan's stuff. It was so good and his work is a good place to get tips. He has good structure in his writing, which is one thing that i struggle with. and its a pretty important thing to have because it keeps your paper together! I have a tendency to wonder off the path so to speak which makes your paper sound a little sloppy. But Dylan keeps on task. He also has some voice which is a really big deal to me when writing. It has to have voice or it the whole paper sounds boring! you want to get inside the authors thoughts and you can't do that if they speak so formally.
a walk in the woods
by: Jessica Garner
Anyone who knows me will tell you that i am quite the tree hugger. Nature has always been my inspiration. I like to think of nature as something magical. A place to be alone, but you are not alone at all. A place to gather knowledge, whether it be your own or something the woods can teach you. Mysterious and all-knowing, the woods beckon you under it's cool and shady undergrowth as if to reveal to you its secrets. My mind is a treasure chest and nature is it's key. It is the only place i can go to and truly feel at ease and let my thoughts flow freely. That is why the T.L. Hanna (tiny patch of evil) woods is a blow to the lovely image I, and Emerson and Thoreau perceive.It is way too hot to be October. My forehead was shiny from sweat and my cheeks a bright red. Ugh, i hate it when they do that. It looks like i just ran a five mile marathon when actually, i had only been standing in the sun for five minutes. Dense humidity hung in the air. it was trapped under the treetops...just like me. I entered the woods with optimism, but that soon faded when i couldn't even hear my own thoughts through the class's chatter. And by chatter i mean dull roar. The ROTC ropes course wasn't very charming either. Not to mention the inspiring empty beer cans strewn across the leafy carpet. Being my usual self, i refused to take the marked path and began to trample through the soggy leaves and poison ivy. It was so hot. I shed my jacket and deeper and deeper into the woods we went. Dylan and i were the only ones left as we trekked onward...I guess we were the only ones dumb enough. But technically we weren't really going because we were both completely tangled in briars. For a good ten minutes I was twisting and turning and yelping in pain as the briers stayed tangled fiercely to my clothes and hair. I totally had a flashback to the scene in the movie Snow White that always used to scare me when I was little... when the scary trees grab her. But once I broke free and pulled Dylan out of his mess, the magic of those woods had vanished. And was replaced with something more like hatred and overwhelming pity. These woods did not deserve the vandalism that mankind and placed upon it. The vast amount of briars seemed more like a defense mechanism now, no humans allowed. Alone and frustrated, Dylan and I stumbled,and tripped... and fell through the tree trunks and vines until we came upon a parking lot. We then took the paved road back down to our class, glad that the experience was over.Though my trip to the T.L. Hanna woods was not very delightful, I still agree with Emerson and Thoreau's perception of the woods. there was still a lesson to learn in those woods...even if they were evil. and Just because I had one bad experience it does not waver my love toward nature. Emerson believes that all natural objects make a kindred expression when the mind is open to their influence. I believe that this is true. if we all can open our mind to nature then we will be embraced by it. Mankind has not opened it's mind to nature. only looking at it and seeing a nice spot for a new industry, some good supplies for our own benefit. Did anyone ever think that we might benefit more if we kept nature how it is? Emerson and Thoreau think so. "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to find only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived at all." Thoreau says to live in nature or you are not living at all. Instead of sitting in your clean and shiny house go out and get your hands dirty, fend for yourself, and feel like you are doing something worth while. there are things yet to learn from the woods if you would take the time out of your quiet and confined life under the fluorescent lights.I know its not like I'm going to convince the whole world to enjoy nature and i can't imagine the frustration that Emerson and Thoreau feel that their beliefs have fallen on deaf ears. "Standing on the bare ground-- my head in the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space-- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball." Emerson explains the feeling of being in nature. I wonder if anyone today can say that they have experienced the same thing. He was living the good life and we could do the same if we would just walk beneath the trees.
by Jessica Garner
10/19/07
Delete
1 – 2 of 2
Anyone who knows me will tell you that i am quite the tree hugger. Nature has always been my inspiration. I like to think of nature as something magical. A place to be alone, but you are not alone at all. A place to gather knowledge, whether it be your own or something the woods can teach you. Mysterious and all-knowing, the woods beckon you under it's cool and shady undergrowth as if to reveal to you its secrets. My mind is a treasure chest and nature is it's key. It is the only place i can go to and truly feel at ease and let my thoughts flow freely. That is why the T.L. Hanna (tiny patch of evil) woods is a blow to the lovely image I, and Emerson and Thoreau perceive.It is way too hot to be October. My forehead was shiny from sweat and my cheeks a bright red. Ugh, i hate it when they do that. It looks like i just ran a five mile marathon when actually, i had only been standing in the sun for five minutes. Dense humidity hung in the air. it was trapped under the treetops...just like me. I entered the woods with optimism, but that soon faded when i couldn't even hear my own thoughts through the class's chatter. And by chatter i mean dull roar. The ROTC ropes course wasn't very charming either. Not to mention the inspiring empty beer cans strewn across the leafy carpet. Being my usual self, i refused to take the marked path and began to trample through the soggy leaves and poison ivy. It was so hot. I shed my jacket and deeper and deeper into the woods we went. Dylan and i were the only ones left as we trekked onward...I guess we were the only ones dumb enough. But technically we weren't really going because we were both completely tangled in briars. For a good ten minutes I was twisting and turning and yelping in pain as the briers stayed tangled fiercely to my clothes and hair. I totally had a flashback to the scene in the movie Snow White that always used to scare me when I was little... when the scary trees grab her. But once I broke free and pulled Dylan out of his mess, the magic of those woods had vanished. And was replaced with something more like hatred and overwhelming pity. These woods did not deserve the vandalism that mankind and placed upon it. The vast amount of briars seemed more like a defense mechanism now, no humans allowed. Alone and frustrated, Dylan and I stumbled,and tripped... and fell through the tree trunks and vines until we came upon a parking lot. We then took the paved road back down to our class, glad that the experience was over.Though my trip to the T.L. Hanna woods was not very delightful, I still agree with Emerson and Thoreau's perception of the woods. there was still a lesson to learn in those woods...even if they were evil. and Just because I had one bad experience it does not waver my love toward nature. Emerson believes that all natural objects make a kindred expression when the mind is open to their influence. I believe that this is true. if we all can open our mind to nature then we will be embraced by it. Mankind has not opened it's mind to nature. only looking at it and seeing a nice spot for a new industry, some good supplies for our own benefit. Did anyone ever think that we might benefit more if we kept nature how it is? Emerson and Thoreau think so. "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to find only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived at all." Thoreau says to live in nature or you are not living at all. Instead of sitting in your clean and shiny house go out and get your hands dirty, fend for yourself, and feel like you are doing something worth while. there are things yet to learn from the woods if you would take the time out of your quiet and confined life under the fluorescent lights.I know its not like I'm going to convince the whole world to enjoy nature and i can't imagine the frustration that Emerson and Thoreau feel that their beliefs have fallen on deaf ears. "Standing on the bare ground-- my head in the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space-- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball." Emerson explains the feeling of being in nature. I wonder if anyone today can say that they have experienced the same thing. He was living the good life and we could do the same if we would just walk beneath the trees.
by Jessica Garner
10/19/07
Delete
1 – 2 of 2
Four-Wheeler:D
By:jessica garner
The sun was almost setting. It sparkled brilliantly across Lake Houser, my cousins' home in North Carolina. I glared at it enviously. "Why aren't we swimming again?" I thought as i wiped little beads of sweat from my forehead. We were here on one of our frequent trips to see the family. As always, I was stoked to see my cousins. They are about a year younger than me but they are so funny and we always have a blast. Today was different however, i slumped in my chair, twisting my hair around my fingers, waiting for something to entertain me. That is when my uncle had the wonderful idea of letting us ride the four-wheelers. Finally! that was just the kind of fun i was looking for.
Hopping eagerly onto the bright red four-wheeler, i looked down confusidly at all of the switches and buttons. Kelsey(my cousin) right behind me, and my sister and Kristen(keley's twin...and my cousin.duh) where riding the other. I got a 2 minute crash course on all of my gears, then I flew out of the driveway and down the country road, leaving nothing but a little trail of dust behind.
We both laughed as I took the sharp curves a little too fast. I had always been the "dare-devil" in the family so she didn't seem surprised. "You probably shouldn't go over third gear," she half screamed in my ear over the loud roar coming from beneath us, "since it's your first time." ( For those of you who are not skilled with the four-wheelers, the higher the gear, the faster you go. Third being the middle.) But I was much too stubborn to heed her warning. Bouncing over the roots of trees and bounding over hills, I just assumed that i knew what i was doing. I mean, how hard could it get? Soon we reached an open road that was a straight shot for at least a mile. Slamming on the gas, we took off. I inhaled deeply, the harsh wind making my eyes turn into little slits, tears forced out of the corners. The feeling of racing down the road is amazing. It is as if you are leaving all of your problems behind. A smile spreading across my face, I kicked into fifth gear. We were absolutely flying now. The wind viciously whipped my hair around, slapping against my face making it impossible to see. And suddenly, the little dirt road ended. There was nothing but a main road and an extremely sharp curve branching off . I twisted the handle bars trying to slow it down but i knew it was too late. Missing the turn all together, we flew into the woods across the road. Saying a few words I won't repeat and steering blindly, i barely made it around the trunks of trees. But before we could hit anything we started to plumit downwards! I found out later that it was because we hit a little ditch. I was flung off of the four-wheeler into the air, heels-over-head. I landing in a nice long slide, I cringed as the dirt and twigs as the scraped across my face. then a huge blow hit my shoulder. I hadn't realized that it was the four-wheeler that had flipped and landed on my right half. I couldn't feel a thing yet. I scrambled up, looking frantically for Kelsey. She was laying under the bike. I guess my adrenaline must have kicked in because she was ripped from beneath that four-wheeler in about two seconds. I was sick to my stomach with worry for my cousin, not realizing that I was looking worse off than her. We were both alright, for the most part. I had a few gashes and a cut on my eye and my arm was pulled out of the socket. I thank God that Kelsey just had a few cuts. We got lucky and an old man who lived down the street from my cousins' saw the whole thing and offered any hospitality we needed and to pull out the four-wheeler with his truck. He hooked it up and towed it out while Kelsey and I pulled thorns out of each other's skin.
Fortunately for me, my uncle was very forgiving. I felt horrible about the little dent in the back of his four-wheeler, but he insisted it was no big deal. He was just glad both of us weren't seriously hurt. And very very fortunately for me, Kelsey was very forgiving too. I figured she would never get on a four-wheeler with me again but she proved me wrong. ...She just prefers for me not to drive. But this accident was a good lesson to learn and it hasn't kept me off of a four-wheeler. I still love the feeling of the wind in my hair and I four-wheel every time I get the chance.
The sun was almost setting. It sparkled brilliantly across Lake Houser, my cousins' home in North Carolina. I glared at it enviously. "Why aren't we swimming again?" I thought as i wiped little beads of sweat from my forehead. We were here on one of our frequent trips to see the family. As always, I was stoked to see my cousins. They are about a year younger than me but they are so funny and we always have a blast. Today was different however, i slumped in my chair, twisting my hair around my fingers, waiting for something to entertain me. That is when my uncle had the wonderful idea of letting us ride the four-wheelers. Finally! that was just the kind of fun i was looking for.
Hopping eagerly onto the bright red four-wheeler, i looked down confusidly at all of the switches and buttons. Kelsey(my cousin) right behind me, and my sister and Kristen(keley's twin...and my cousin.duh) where riding the other. I got a 2 minute crash course on all of my gears, then I flew out of the driveway and down the country road, leaving nothing but a little trail of dust behind.
We both laughed as I took the sharp curves a little too fast. I had always been the "dare-devil" in the family so she didn't seem surprised. "You probably shouldn't go over third gear," she half screamed in my ear over the loud roar coming from beneath us, "since it's your first time." ( For those of you who are not skilled with the four-wheelers, the higher the gear, the faster you go. Third being the middle.) But I was much too stubborn to heed her warning. Bouncing over the roots of trees and bounding over hills, I just assumed that i knew what i was doing. I mean, how hard could it get? Soon we reached an open road that was a straight shot for at least a mile. Slamming on the gas, we took off. I inhaled deeply, the harsh wind making my eyes turn into little slits, tears forced out of the corners. The feeling of racing down the road is amazing. It is as if you are leaving all of your problems behind. A smile spreading across my face, I kicked into fifth gear. We were absolutely flying now. The wind viciously whipped my hair around, slapping against my face making it impossible to see. And suddenly, the little dirt road ended. There was nothing but a main road and an extremely sharp curve branching off . I twisted the handle bars trying to slow it down but i knew it was too late. Missing the turn all together, we flew into the woods across the road. Saying a few words I won't repeat and steering blindly, i barely made it around the trunks of trees. But before we could hit anything we started to plumit downwards! I found out later that it was because we hit a little ditch. I was flung off of the four-wheeler into the air, heels-over-head. I landing in a nice long slide, I cringed as the dirt and twigs as the scraped across my face. then a huge blow hit my shoulder. I hadn't realized that it was the four-wheeler that had flipped and landed on my right half. I couldn't feel a thing yet. I scrambled up, looking frantically for Kelsey. She was laying under the bike. I guess my adrenaline must have kicked in because she was ripped from beneath that four-wheeler in about two seconds. I was sick to my stomach with worry for my cousin, not realizing that I was looking worse off than her. We were both alright, for the most part. I had a few gashes and a cut on my eye and my arm was pulled out of the socket. I thank God that Kelsey just had a few cuts. We got lucky and an old man who lived down the street from my cousins' saw the whole thing and offered any hospitality we needed and to pull out the four-wheeler with his truck. He hooked it up and towed it out while Kelsey and I pulled thorns out of each other's skin.
Fortunately for me, my uncle was very forgiving. I felt horrible about the little dent in the back of his four-wheeler, but he insisted it was no big deal. He was just glad both of us weren't seriously hurt. And very very fortunately for me, Kelsey was very forgiving too. I figured she would never get on a four-wheeler with me again but she proved me wrong. ...She just prefers for me not to drive. But this accident was a good lesson to learn and it hasn't kept me off of a four-wheeler. I still love the feeling of the wind in my hair and I four-wheel every time I get the chance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)