The Bolshevik Revolution and "The Twelve"

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The Graduation That Moved Me

The Graduation That Moved Me

The names are called one by one, with the traditional music playing broadly in the background. My mom came prepared with tissues for the inevitable, crying. I was 10 years old at the time of my second oldest brother’s, Matt’s, high school graduation.

As the Music played, I started to fall deep into my own thoughts. I began to think about how he would be leaving for college in less than a month. As a child, I thought him moving out would be a good experience. The thought of there being an extra room in the house, and me declaring it mine, would make me happy. I never thought that I would not want him to leave.

I began to think about all the rare times that me and my brother actually would get along with eachother.

My ninth birthday party was easily the best birthday party I have ever had. I had lots of friends that came over, more than I honestly expected. The thing that made that party unique from all the others was that my brother, Matt, and his friends made that party amazing.  It seems that if there are older people at a younger persons birthday party, it is automatically better. At that party, I remember they started a giant game of Ultimate Frisbee. None of the kids knew how to play, but that didn’t stop us. I was happy that he was able to make that party.

As the names at the graduation kept rolling along, and I saw my brother nearing the stage. I started to feel a strange, dry pain in the back of my throat. I refused to even let myself think I was about to start crying, I was to much of a “Man” for that. While I was telling myself that I was not bothered in any way, the memories kept on a coming.

I mentally rewinded 5 months to December 25, 2006. Everything at the Melton household is christmased up, its freezing cold outside, and best of all it was Christmas. So you could say that I was “feeling the Christmas spirit”. I remembered how Matt decided to open his presents later and retire to his room to finish an AP-Language essay. After the rush and excitement of opening all of my christmas presents, I started to try everything out. I started by playing the video game that I wanted oh so bad, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006. The game was more enjoyed more as a multiplayer game, so I bashed into my brothers room and rudely interrupted him and demanded that he played the game with me. He seemed irritated at first, but he got up off of his futon and down to my room. We ended up playing that wrestling game for 2 hours. I then realized that I would no longer have anyone to play video games with.

    The loud, abrupt sound of a name being called snapped me back into reality and I jumped. My mom could tell that I was troubled, but I denied everything she asked. She knew nonetheless that I was still troubled. As I saw my brother nearing the stage, I remembered that my brother was not always a person of fun and games, but as also a person that was at one point an authority figure.

   I remembered how he once volunteered to be a coach for an MYSA basketball team. His friend, Lance Coleman, volunteered as the assistant coach. I coincidentally was put on my brother’s team, which made me happy. Matt was a usually serious person when it came to sports and such, but Lance Coleman was not as much. Matt was more serious about coordination and teamwork. Lance was more worried about giving all of us nicknames and playing Horse. I thought since I was the coach’s brother, that I would be able to goof around and not listen, the average thoughts of a 4^th grader. He did not tolerate my behavior as much as Lance did. At least I had Lance to goof around with.

   When I came through and back to the graduation, the time had come. Matt was the next person that was going to be called. After a brief pause after they called the girl before him, they called his name. He walked out all high and mighty like he was a celebrity or something. All my family was clapping including me. I was clapping as hard as I could, the hardest I ever did.

The Life of a Somewhat Casual Reader

My whole life I have been a somewhat casual reader. Even when I was relatively younger I enjoyed the books that average six and seven year olds generally enjoyed to read, such as Dr. Seuss books.  My older brothers have always been a huge influence on what I have read over the years. Both of my older brothers were HUGE nerds. They both geeked over The Lord of The Rings Trilogy. They would always watch the movies in front of me, which I still thoroughly enjoy to this day. They encouraged me to read good books like The Hobbit or Harry Potter, not the “trash” so to say. When I was in the earlier stages of my school career, I read books such as Captain Underpants and Junie B. Jones. When it came to literature, things got better when I hit the 3^rd grade. During the 3^rd grade, I read the first 9 Series of Unfortunate
Events Books. The hardships that Violet, Clause, and Sonny had to endure during the series proved to be the most amazing source of storytelling that my 8 year old self had ever read. Count Olaf proved to be a sinister character, solely due to his avarice. I steadily began to finish the series as the books were released.
As I grew older I began to read at a more advanced level. When I was just 10 years old I read J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit. The tale of Bilbo proved to be more of an amazing adventure to me. I spent alot of time reading the hobbit. After I read The Hobbit, I became very fascinated in the world of Middle Earth. I read the first book in the Lord of The Rings saga, The Fellowship of The Ring. The tale of Frodo, Bilbo's nephew, on a quest to destroy the one ring to rule them all with a fellowship consisting of men, elves, and dwarfes proved to appeal to me more than anything in the world. I have yet to read the remaining two books. The Lord of The Rings are a part of me now.
I hit a stump in 5th grade, where I read pointless childrens books. This category includes books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Junie B. Jones, etc. Pointless childrens stories. I took a class in 7th grade called Advanced Reading and Writing. In that class we read stories such as Canyons, a story about a boy named Coyote Runs. In that class though, our teacher introduced us all to a incredibly famous book called The Hunger Games. The story of The Hunger Games appealed to all of us, mainly due to its violent nature. The things that Katniss Everdeen had to experience in that book both intriuged and frightened me to another level. Reading that book forced me to finish the stories VERY quickly. The Hunger Games Trilogy remains one of my favorites.
I did not read one book in my 8th and 9th grade years because of reasons I cannot remember. As I progress through Mrs. Harmons Pre-Ap English 10 class, I hope to be reconnected to reading as much as I used to be.

I AM LEGEND

I AM LEGEND
I wonder if the infected will get me.
I hear the sound of breaking glass.
I see empty streets.
I want to go back to the way it was before.
I AM LEGEND

I pretend to act like i'm safe.
I feel lonely constantly.
I touch my favorite dog Samantha.
I worry that I will lose my dog.
I cry at the memory of losing my family.
I AM LEGEND

I understand that it will never be the same again.
I say it could be.
I dream to find a cure for the plauge.
I try every day to make one.
I hope to bring back hope.
I AM LEGEND

A Very Old Man W/ Enourmous Wings......Kinda confusing?

         A very old man with enourmous wings was a very good and interesting story, but confusing. While reading the story I was very, very unclear about the fact if the old man was an angel or indeed just a very old man with enourmous wings.
         Angels are often depicted as very holy things with many different extraordinary values. The old man man in the story did not have any angelic values other than the fact that he had wings, and even the wings were in very rugged shape. The old man was described as a very weak person that could barely even drag himself across the courtyard. Angels are supposed to mighty beings right? Not in the story.
         Dont get me wrong, it was a very good story that contained many different symbols and satires. All I think was wrong with it, was the lack of information about the old man with enourmous wings. Thank you for reading.