Writing Samples - Fall 2011 cont.

Short Paper #4

Oedipus the King

           Oedipus the King is a tragedy written by Sophocles. The main character, Oedipus, is a king and also a politician. He is well known for his intelligence and his ability to solve almost every riddle. For instance, he is most famous for solving the riddle of the Sphinx. The Sphinx is a female monster that asked Oedipus the riddle of “What goes on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?” By using the different times of day, the riddle is representing the different stages of our life. Oedipus answered correctly with man. From solving the riddle of the Sphinx, who was holding the city captive, he was therefore made king. As a baby, he was left in the middle of the woods with his feet bound together to fend for himself. As he grew up, he had no memory of his home or his family.

        As the play goes on, Oedipus ends up traveling to Thebes. Along his journey, he comes across an intersection in a road where he is met with Tiresias and his escorts. The group gets into a brawl and Oedipus ends up killing his father, Polybus. At the moment, he was unaware that it was his father. Continuously, Oedipus meets Jocasta whom he soon makes his wife and they have about four or five children together. After Oedipus finds out that he killed his own father, Jocasta is happy with joy because she thinks that Polybus died from a natural cause, and therefore Oedipus must of not actually killed him. After both Oedipus and Jocasta find out about the murder of Polybus, Oedipus is having a conversation with Jocasta where he finds out that she is actually his mother. She tells him that he needs to take life by chance. For instance, Jocasta says,

What should a man fear It’s all chance, chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. Better to live at random, best we can. And as for this marriage with your mother – have no fear. Many a man before you, in his dreams, has shared his mother’s bed. Take such things for shadows, nothing at all – Live Oedipus, as if there’s no tomorrow! (937)

After reading this quote, we get the idea that Jocasta is trying to tell Oedipus that it is not as big of a deal as he is making it out to be that he in fact wed his mother and had children with her. Also, we start to think that Jocasta feels as though there is nothing wrong to sleep with your mother, it is just normal desire. Although Jocasta never actually says this, the quote stated above gives us the sense that she thinks it really shouldn’t matter.

          The messenger whom gave the news to Oedipus and Jocasta about Polybus ends up telling them that he was once a shepherd. When he was a shepherd, he found a baby in Thebes whose ankles were pinned together. When Oedipus figures out that he was the baby whom was left in the woods, he goes about figuring out who was the person that left him in the woods. Oedipus replies to the situation by saying,

O god – all come true, all burst to light! O light – not let me look my last on you! I stand revealed at last – cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage, cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands (943).

Once Jocasta realizes that people are slowly finding out the truth about what her and Polybus did to Oedipus when he was baby, she commits suicide in her bedroom. After Oedipus found out the whole truth and finds Jocasta dead in the bedroom, he started sobbing and began to embrace her. While Oedipus is grieving about Jocasta, the messenger describes the situation by saying,

He rips off her brooches, the long gold pins holding her robes – and lifting them high, looking straight up into the points, he digs them down the sockets of his eyes, crying, ‘You you’ll see no more the pain I suffered all the pain I caused! (945)

He rapidly gouges his eyes out with the pins attached to the robe that Jocasta was wearing when she killed herself. This leads to an outstanding theme throughout the text of this story; blindness. Oedipus gouges out his eyes and makes himself go blind so that he does not have to physically look at any painful sites. For instance Oedipus says,

Worse yet, the sight of my children, born as they were born, how could I long to look into their eyes? No, not with these eyes of mine, never. (947)

He considers looking at his children a painful site, which is why he chooses to not allow himself to see them anymore. 

The part of the story when he gouges out his eyes is significant to the greater idea of the story as stated above, which is blindness. The significance of the way that he reacts to finding out the whole truth is that he no longer looks at himself the same way that he has in his entire life. For instance, in the beginning of the play he is constantly saying I am Oedipus, but by the end of the play he still continues to say that, but with a new tone of voice. He becomes fully ashamed of the acts that he has committed, and accepts what he has done. It is almost as though he feels like he does not want to be able to look at his children with the same eyes as he had before because he is that mortified of his actions. He ends up blaming himself fully for everything that had happened. He ends up embracing the idea of being in exile, because he feels as though the Gods want him to remain alive. At the end of the play, since the great King Oedipus has fallen, it seems as though the only way to peace is through death. 

Writing Samples - Fall 2011 cont.

Short Paper #3

“Sonny’s Blues”

A Drug Addiction

           In the story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, there are many important themes and passages. One of the most prominent themes throughout the text relates to the drug addiction that the character Sonny has, and how that affects his relationship with his brother, who is the narrator. A passage from the text that sets the scene for the rest of the story is in the opening paragraph. For example, the narrator says,

I read about it in the paper, in the subway, on my way to work. I read it, and I couldn’t believe it, and I read it again. Then perhaps I just stared at it, at the newsprint spelling out his name, spelling out the story (366). 

After the narrator reads the article he is referring to in the quote above, he is in shock and does not want to believe that it is true. As the story goes on, the narrator continues to wonder why his brother Sonny started doing drugs in the first place.

          Sonny winds up getting arrested and ends up in jail, which leads the narrator to getting nervous that he is just going to start up on the drugs again once he is allowed out. While the narrator is having a conversation with Sonny’s friend from long ago, he says, “Tell me, why does he want to die? He must want to die, he’s killing himself, why does he want to die” (369). The narrator comes off in these first few scenes as a worried older brother who only wants the best for his little brother. Sonny’s friend stands up for Sonny by saying that people do drugs to live; in reality today, a lot of people would disagree with what he is saying. Drugs slowly kill people, but normally the people doing the drugs do not realize that until they are nearing the ends of their lives. Commonly today, all a drug addict wants is that constant feeling of a high that they get when they do the drug.  The fact that the narrator is so surprised to find out the shocking news, regarding Sonny, it does not help the already unstable relationship he has with his brother.

Before the narrator had gotten married, he made a promise to his mother, when she was on her deathbed, that he would watch over and protect Sonny. The mother says, “You may not be able to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let him know you’s there” (375). The mother asked him to do this even though she knew her two boys did not really get along with one another. In order to try and keep his word to his mother, he has Sonny live with his wife when Sonny gets out of jail, while he is over seas. The narrator, who is in the military, is not home to keep an eye on Sonny to make sure that he is going to school, or not doing drugs. Turns out, Sonny does not have a job and ends up skipping school so that he can play the piano. Although the narrator is not fond of the idea of him not going to school, he is happy to find out that the piano might possibly be his new drug. During a class discussion regarding this short story, we came up with the idea that music is something that helps people forget about their problems, and it seems that at this point in the story that is exactly what it did for Sonny.

When the boys’ mother passes away, and the narrator comes home for the funeral, he wants to try and keep his word to his mother, so he asks Sonny what he wants to do. Sonny wants to be a musician. This scene leads to another passage from the text that relates back to the opening of the story. For instance, the narrator says,

I frowned. I’d never played the role of the older brother quite so seriously before, had scarcely ever, in face, asked Sonny a damn thing. I sensed myself in the presence of something I didn’t really know how to handle, didn’t understand. So I made my frown a little deeper as I asked: ‘What kind of musician do you want to be?’ (375).

The first passage I discussed when the narrator is reading the article about Sonny, it gives the reader the feeling that the narrator is in face a concerned brother; because of the way he reacts to the situation. It is not until the end of the story, when this last passage mentioned, helps the reader find out just how much distance is in fact between Sonny and his brother emotionally. By the end of the story, the narrator is trying to make a more conscious effort to learn more about his brother, and repair their relationship. 

Writing Samples - Fall 2011 cont.

Short Paper #1

“A Worn Path”

Phoenix: The Mythological Bird

           The short story, “A Worn Path”, by Eudora Welty, is chalk-full of symbolism and themes. From the beginning of the story, we see symbolism with the main characters name, Phoenix Jackson; a Phoenix is a type of bird that is mentioned in many Arabian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Chinese, and Indian mythologies. Typically, they have a 500-1,000 year life span. This is directly related to the short story because Phoenix is roughly one hundred years old, but does not seem or act like she is. For instance in the text she says, “I wasn’t as old as I thought” (31). It seems as though throughout the story nothing can bring Phoenix down, she continues to put up a fight no matter how many struggles she faces.

In the beginning of the story, the reader gets a full description of the way that Phoenix acts, looks, and dresses. We can tell right away that she has been around for a long time. Another symbol in the story is time. The narrator describes the way Phoenix walks based on the way a grandfather clock ticking back and forth. The narrator describes Phoenix by saying, “she walked slowly in the dark pine shadows, moving a little from side to side in her steps, with the balanced heaviness and lightness of a pendulum in a grandfather clock” (30). A grandfather clock can also be connected to her age because they are very old fashion. The symbol of time is also mentioned in the title, A Worn Path. The word worn implies that she has taken this same path into town numerous times.

Additionally, while she is on her journey into town, she runs into a dog. Phoenix ends up in a ditch where she is unable to get back up onto her feet on her own. She says, “Seem like there is chains about my feet, time I get this far” (30). This demonstrates a memory of the time during slavery. Not only does the feeling of chains around her feet illustrate slavery, but also the fact that when she is walking into town she is walking across farmland where slaves used to work. We also see the symbol of slavery in the main characters name. Her last name is Jackson, which is the name of the person who used to own her.

After Phoenix falls into the ditch from her scare with the dog, she lies there until the hunter comes to help her. The hunter has a dog with him and dead birds. He helps her up and than aims a gun straight at her face. He tries to do this in an attempt to scare her. By going through the experience of being a lower class black woman, and a slave, this does not scare her at all. To show this Phoenix says “No, sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day, and for less than what I done” (33). The way that he tries to scare her so she goes home, it gives the reader the sense that he is looking down on her because she is lower class than he is.

Once she finally makes it to town, she remembers the reason she went there in the first place: to go to a health clinic and pick up medicine for her sick grandson. She left him at the house, wrapped up just like a bird. The fact that he is wrapped up like a bird relates back to her name being Phoenix after a mythical bird. We see that she doesn’t have to pay for the medicine because she is a charity case. The overall theme of the entire story is charity. Her life has always been a hard journey for her, but she will always survive just like the young boy will survive as well. They are both survivors. 

Writing Samples - Fall 2011

Short Paper #1

“The Lesson”

              In the short story, “The Lesson” written by Toni Cade Bambara, we are introduced to our narrator along with all the other characters right from the start. The main character, which is also the narrator, is a female who comes from a very low-income neighborhood. We can tell where she comes from based on the way she talks about herself and the people around her. For example, the narrator says “…us being my cousin, mostly, who lived on the block cause we all moved North the same time and to the same apartment then spread out gradual to breathe.” (59) This story was written during the time period of which the majority of the African American population was migrating towards the North. The narrator is a proud and sensitive, yet tough young girl who is far too intelligent to push aside the truth around her.

As the story continues, we learn more and more about the narrator. Her friends are Sugar, Fly Boy, Big Butt, Rosie Giraffe, and Junebug. The other characters in this story assist in helping the narrator explore the harsh reality that most poor and minority people face in the United States.  She has a neighbor named Miss. Moore who acts and dresses in the way like she knows she is so much better than them. The narrator goes about her life with the mentality that although she is lower class and poorly educated, she continuously attempts to deny her social status and poverty throughout the entire story.

              Due to the fact that our main character had a rough upbringing in a low-income neighborhood, it therefore affects the way that she acts towards the people around her. First off, in the opening paragraph we see her and Sugar talking down about Miss. Moore just based on the way that she looks and dresses. For instance, she says, “…so we’d be presentable for travel with Miss. Moore, who always looked like she was going to church, though she never did.” (59) The narrator acts as though her and all of her friends are so much better than Miss. Moore.

              When the group of characters travels into New York City and goes to FAO Schwartz with Miss. Moore for the afternoon, it really hits all of them hard how little they really do have, while Mercedes continues to rub it in that she is better off than everyone else. When they discover the paperweight that is for sale for $480, Mercedes seems to be the only person of the group that knows what it is. Miss. Moore asks all the children what they do to organize their papers on their desks at home, which just re-iterates that they do not have as many luxuries as other kids. Mercedes says, “I have a box of stationary on my desk and a picture of my cat. My godmother bought the stationery and the desk. There’s a big rose on each sheet and the envelopes smell like roses.” (61) This statement made my Mercedes bragging about the nice thing she has at home immediately gets a sour response from our narrator and a few of the other characters. Furthermore, once the group of kids enters the store, they immediately being to feel ashamed. The narrator says, “then the rest of us tumble in like a glued-together jigsaw done all wrong. And people lookin at us. And it’s like the time me and sugar crashed into the Catholic Church on a dare.” (63) They feel ashamed because none of them belong in there, just like they did not belong in the Catholic Church when they went inside.

              Due to the fact that our narrator was brought up in such a rough lower-class neighborhood, this affects the way that she reacts in certain situations. Throughout the entire store, she is denying her social status and poverty. She also denies the Miss. Moore has ever taught her any lessons. Lastly, the narrator says, “She can run if she want to and even run faster. But ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.” (64) This stands for a metaphor that people are always ahead of her, yet she does not allow that to bring her down. The narrator goes through the entire story being negative towards all the people around her that have more things than she does, and this is merely due to the fact that she is in more poverty than the others. 

Writing Samples - Fall 2010 cont.

Britannica.com

Throughout high school, we were always taught to never use wikipedia.org for any form of research. On the other hand, we were aloud to use britannica.com, or better known as Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica “is a leading provider of learning and knowledge products. We're proud to be one of the world's most trusted sources of information on every topic imaginable - from the origins of the universe to current events and everything in between.”

Britannica is a credible website with an editorial board. They have a board of editors and staff who they have trusted to take care of their website. The board consists of many people from different fields. Some people include “Nobel laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners, the leading scholars, writers, artists, public servants, and activists who are at the top of their fields.” When compared to Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica is a much better site to use when someone is trying to research a topic. Wikipedia is a form of an encyclopedia that allows people to write whatever they please about any topics that is posted on the website. According to the websites about Wikipedia page, “Wikipedia is written collaboratively by largely anonymous Internet volunteers who write without pay. Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles. Users can contribute anonymously, under a pseudonym, or with their real identity, if they choose.”

          When researching any academic, or non-academic topic, the researcher is able to use Britannica not only for background information, but can also pull quotes off the website and know that the information he or she is using is accurate. For instance, when you search Martin Luther King Junior on Britannica.com you are bombarded with mass amounts of information you get in return. If you scroll down to the bottom of the article, you find the sources and authors. You are also shown all of the individual people that contributed to the article and where they each got the information. Also, because of the fact that all of the quotes and information are well cited, that means that the quotes you pull off the website are accurate as well. For example, when compared to another encyclopedia website, such as Wikipedia, various quotes on the website are not bias, or opinions. All the quotes state proper facts in an orderly timeline.

          When someone would like to contribute information to Britannica, it is not as simple as it sounds. You have to go through a process of writing what you would like to add, and than have it go through the board of editors before it is passed and published in print or online. Wikipedia can be very easily accessed for anyone with internet. People of all ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds, are able to sign on and create an account. “People of all ages, cultures and backgrounds can add or edit article prose, references, images and other media here. What is contributed is more important than the expertise or qualifications of the contributor.” Wikipedia does not have a team of authors who are 100% responsible for everything that is written on their website. On Britannica.com you are able to leave comments on various articles and merely suggest edits that you think the article needs.  However, you are not aloud to create an account for no reason. Unless you are on the board, or are using the site to make a blog, you are unable to do anything other than make comments and suggest edits.

          In conclusion, Encyclopedia Britannica is a non bias online website where you can go and research many different topics and know that you are getting credible and accurate information at the same time. While doing research, it is always a reassuring feeling to know that you are receive and using quotes and information that are up-to-date and true. I would recommend using Encyclopedia Britannica over other encyclopedia websites, such as Wikipedia, for the reasons that you can trust that your using valid information. 

Writing Samples - Fall 2010 cont.

Torture

           According to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, torture is any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession.  Many people today, would say that they are against any sort of torture; I am one of those people.  I feel as though, no matter how much torture you inflict upon one person, it will ultimately not solve any of your problems.

           When people are being tortured, their mind tends to be taken over.  It is almost as though they have no control in what they do or say.  Normally, the person who is doing the torturing, also known as the torturer, tries to convince the tortured to admit to the acts that they may or may not of committed in the first place. Most of the time, the idea of torture is to try and get information out of someone yet sometimes the opposite happen, the opposite being that the person being tortured would stay silent in hopes for the torture to end sooner.  In movies and in various stories, we see that the bad guys are always after the good guys, who they just assume are bad.  Therefore, the wrong guys are always the ones being caught and tortured.   John McCain says on page 697 that “...to defeat our enemies we need intelligence, but intelligence that is reliable.  We should not torture or treat inhumanely terrorists we have captured.  The abuse of prisoners harms, not helps, our war effort.  In my experience, abuse of prisoners often produces bad intelligence because under torture a person will say anything he thinks his captors want to hear – whether it is true or false – if he believes it will relieve his suffering.”  The person being tortured will majority of the time always say what the torturer wants to hear just because of the peer pressure they are being put under.

In many cases, the tortured are forced to take the role of the person that they are not being blamed of being.  For example, people in the military are all forced to put on the face of someone who they are not.  People go to be in the military for the reason that they all want to help protect their countries.  McCain says on page 698 that “the mistreatment of prisoners harms us more than our enemies.”  Many veterans always try to forget that traumatic experiences that they all individually have at war.  Being at war is torture enough for them; the last thing they would all want is to come back from fighting at war and to have to talk about everything.

There is one thing that veterans and the tortured have in common, they both experience posttraumatic stress disorder.  Soldiers tend to feel anxious because the behavior of the torturer is arbitrary and, unpredictable and inhumanly regular.  On page 698, McCain says, “Nor do I care if in the course of serving their ignoble cause they suffer great harm.  They have pledged their lives to the intentional destruction of innocent lives, ad they have earned their terrible punishment in this life and the next.”  Not only are the people being punished suffering and being tortured, but the men and women fighting are also being tortured.  They are being forced to live with themselves for the rest of their lives after killing many people.

Throughout everyone’s lives, we all experience some form of torture at least once.  No one deserves to be tortured, and no individual deserves to be the person enforcing the torture.  Nothing good ever comes from the concept of torture. People who are tortured are put under peer pressure in order to conform to what the torturer wants to here.

Bibliography:

1. http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html
2. http://samvak.tripod.com/torturepsychology.html

McCain, John. “Torture’s Terrible Toll” Patterns For College Writing Editors Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. New York: Beford/St. Martins, 2010. 696-700

Writing Samples - Fall 2010 cont.

What is love? 

A common attribute that everyone always looks for in a person is how loving he or she is. I aspire to always have that quality, even though being a teenager sometimes makes that difficult when our uncontrollable attitude tends to bubble to the surface. I consider myself a very loved person for the reason that I am constantly wearing two things that represent the love that two people in my life have for me, my clauddagh ring and my Tiffany & Co. necklace.

        Being from a half Irish family, wearing a clauddagh ring happens to be a common occurrence. Getting a little blue box from your boyfriend on your sixteenth birthday, not so common. For those of you who have never heard of the little blue box, it is referring to Tiffany & Co. Tiffany & Co. is a very prestigious jewelry company that are commonly remembered by their blue wrap. A clauddagh ring is an Irish tradition. Whether it is gold or silver, big or small, all clauddagh rings have the same meaning. When it comes to my life both my necklace and ring have great meaning to me.

         My grandfather passed away when my mom was thirteen, so once my thirteenth birthday rolled around, she decided to give me what he gave her for her thirteenth birthday. She gave me her gold claudagh ring. I wear my Irish ring every day and I could not tell you the last time I took it off.  Someone would be able to tell how much I wear it by the fact that my finger is thinner at the bottom because of it, and I always have a constant tan line from it, no matter what the time of year is. Any person of Irish decent would be able to tell you the very special meaning that a clauddagh ring represents. The clauddagh's distinctive design has two hands clasping a heart, and is usually surmounted by a crown. The heart is said to represent love, the hands represent friendship, and the crown represents loyalty. If you wear the ring with the heart facing yours, it means that your heart is taken. If you wear the ring with the heart facing away from yours, it means that your heart is not taken. I wear it on the ring finger of my right hand facing my heart for the fact that if I wore it on my left ring finger it would mean that I am engaged or married.

         When I turned sixteen, my boyfriend, James, took me out to lunch the weekend before and as I was saying bye to him, he handed me something. It was a little blue bag. He completely caught me by surprise because I was never expecting something that nice. Inside it was a sterling silver necklace with a ribbon-like heart on a round pendant. “I wanted to get you something with a heart on it to signify how I feel about you,” he said to me as he handed me the bag. Just like when I wear my ring, by me wearing it on a daily basis and never taking it off, it gives me the feeling that there is always a guardian angel watching over me when James is not there physically to do so. When James and I are apart from each other, like how we are currently, being at opposite sides of the country and at college, my necklace keeps us emotionally connected.

         My grandfather and my boyfriend are two very important male figures in my life. With an exception of my own father, they are the two men I love the most. Although they cannot physically show there love towards me 24-7, especially my grandfather, these two pieces of jewelry let me know that this is their way of showing me how they really feel. There is always a different kind of love between a grandpa and her granddaughter than there is between a boyfriend and his girlfriend; a heart signifies love for all. The hands of friendship and the crown of loyalty in my clauddagh ring signify the type of love that my Grandpa Tom has for me, while the heart on my necklace signifies the type of love that my boyfriend has for me. Love is an intense feeling of tender affection and compassion. They both show it in different ways, and my ring and necklace represent love in different ways, but at the end of the day they both mean the same thing. 

Writing Samples - Fall 2010 cont.

Italiano!

My great grandfather, Biz Nonno, is your typical Italian man. He is a few inches taller than me, but he walks like a hunchback and therefore looks smaller than I am. He always has on his dark gray ascot hat, and his dark gray wool suit-looking jacket, no matter what temperature it may be outside. He smells of mothballs and aftershave. His face always lights up whenever anyone walks through his door way. He grabs his cane, and comes to us, squeezing our hand as he kisses both cheeks and says “Buon Giorno!”

Biz Nonno, is ninety-five years old, and 100% Italian. He was originally born and raised in southern Italy. My great grandfather lived there up until he had married my great grandmother and had children. While my great grandmother was a stay at home mother and wife, my great grandfather was off fighting at war.  He was a prisoner at war, and always tells our family that he fought enough war in his lifetime for all of us.

They made their departure from Sicily to the United States with high hopes that all the men, or at least some of them would find work while his daughters stayed at home to help my great grandmother. Biz Nonno was unable to find any work for the fact that he could never understand any of the instructions that anyone would try and give to him. He couldn’t understand any of the instructions for the purpose that they were being given to him in English, and unfortunate for Biz Nonno, he had not learned any. He got to experience what an illiterate person in the United States went through on a daily basis. 

Biz Nonno is fluent in Italian, and cannot speak a word of English. Living in America, always formed a challenge for him because he could not go anywhere on his own. He was unable to talk to others and to have others talk to him. It has always produced a bit of an issue for my cousins and I when we go to visit him on holidays and other special occasions.

I sometimes try to imagine what it would be like to be in Biz Nonno’s shoes. Walking around, trying to find work, but not being able to know what anyone tries to tell me. It would be extremely frightening being completely oblivious to the world around you.

My dad is normally the translator because he is lucky enough to be able to speak the beautiful language fluently. Yet, it still bothers me when I am around him for not being able to fully appreciate what it is that he is saying.

Not being able to comprehend what someone is saying puts strain on both you and the person that you are trying to communicate with. It’s always so heartbreaking to watch Biz Nonno sit there and struggle with trying to figure out what I am saying to him. I know how he feels though since the feeling of miscommunication is mutual.

The language barrier is what drove me to pursue the study of the Italian language throughout my four years of college. I took Spanish from sixth grade until my junior year of high school in hopes that since my Nonna speaks Spanish on top of Italian and English, that I would be able to communicate with her better. I than realized that my knowledge of Spanish was not enough to understand all of my family members.

Italian is not only a language to me, but also a heritage and a way of life. Being born and raised into an Italian Roman Catholic family is something I am blessed to have. Being Italian meant that Sunday afternoons were always the same. My mother, father, sister, and I would all go to church in the morning and then we would spend the rest of the day at my Nonna’s house. From the moment you open the door to their small house, you get hit with the aroma of fresh tomato sauce, basil, and homemade bread. My dad’s whole side of the family would be there and Nonna would make a feast for us. The table in the kitchen would have a spread of salad, vegetables, eggplant Parmesan, some sort of pasta, some sort of meat, and always a homemade loaf of bread fresh out of the oven.

After we ate, we would all go into the family room off of the kitchen, the high ceilings and skylight windows. All the cousins would hangout while the aunts caught up and the uncles played cards. Biz Nonno would always stay sitting on the couch in the living room and occasionally we would all take turns to go over, say hello and try to have a conversation with him.

A common phrase, I happened to learn at a young age being was “Non Capisco”, meaning I don’t understand. Biz Nonno would sit next to me and ask, “Ciao Bella, come stai?” Whenever he asked this I would look back at him with a puzzled expression on my face. I learned to understand the simple greeting of hello and the compliment of being beautiful, but that last question, how are you, always bewildered me quite a bit.

Have you ever had to be placed into a situation where you had not the slightest idea of what someone was trying to say to you? Imagine yourself in my situation of not being able to understand many of the people that are closest to you, your own family. Lucky for me, my Nonna learned English around the same time that all her children were learning it.  However, she did not loose the talent of speaking amazing Italian.

I knew I wanted to study a language in school, but I did not know whether to continue on with Spanish, or start off completely fresh. I love being able to call my Nonna from school, and practice my skills by having a conversation with her in Italian. I cannot wait until the next holiday rolls around and I get to surprise my Biz Nonno by being able to have a conversation with him, and better yet to understand what he says to me.

Writing Samples - Fall 2010

Butterfly Kisses

        In ancient Greece butterflies signify the souls of those who have passed away. In my world that is exactly what a butterfly represents. Him and I always had a special connection when it came to them, and since he’s passed I feel as though he continues to live on through a butterfly.

My grandmother, Lauretta, married “Cappy” Coppola shortly after I was born. In my eyes he was my grandpa, just without the label. To get technical he was my grandma’s second husband. I never met her first husband, only because he sadly passed from a heart attack on Christmas Eve when my mom, the youngest of the five Meehan children, was thirteen years old.  

For as long as I can remember once every last day of school rolled around, Grammy and Cappy would come and pick up my sister, Nicole, and I from school and take us to there small 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom home in Stamford, Connecticut. Yes, their house had only two bedrooms, yet Grammy had raised five children in that very house.

We would race to the back door to see who would get to open the door with “Taylor.” Grammy referred to the house key as Taylor because that was the name engraved on the silver key. Majority of the time, I would win and would be the first to open the door to the house smelling lemonade and freshly toasted bagels, Nicole’s and my favorite meal.

We would all eat lunch, Nicole and I at the big island with the tall white swivel chairs, and Grammy and Cappy would sit at the dining room table reading their books as they ate. Like clockwork we would all finish our lunch and than clear off the table for our first of many domino games. The girls would be the ones to take everything off the large tan colored table, while Cappy would go into the bedroom and come back with the black rectangular case. The four of us would play a few games until Cappy and I would go out into the yard to weed and water the plants. He always called me his little helper.

Cappy had a smile that could warm anyone’s heart. He gave the best hugs, and had a distinct scent from his after-shave. He was the best guy to take a nap with. Up until the time he passed away him and I would always work in the yard, come in for lunch, than sit on his dark green plaid chair in the living room, me always falling asleep on his lap.

He always wore a polo with either pants or shorts. He had a full head of hair for his age, even though it was all gray. He wore huge oval shaped glasses with a thin silver frame around them. His favorite thing was always being in the yard or pushing us on the tire swing that hung from the only tree in the yard.

Summer came and went, and Nicole and I would start school again. I was starting second grade and Nicole fourth. Another school year had flown by, and it was finally time for my eighth birthday. Grammy had crocheted me a pink, purple, and white blanket and we all ate an ice cream cake from Carvel. Cappy’s health had been on a slow decline for a few weeks leading up to that June. Little did I know, that my eighth birthday would be the last one I would get to spend with him.

A few weeks later, he was in the hospital. His health had taken a turn for the worse and my mom kept telling me it wasn’t going to be much longer. Nicole and I wanted to do something special for him that summer. We decided to breed butterflies from caterpillars; recording the whole process so we could tell him how much we loved and missed him and how we couldn’t wait for him to come home.

We brought the tape to the hospital to play for him. “Hi Cappy! Its me, Meghan.” I said as I sat on the edge of his bed. He reached for my hand and held it in his. His hands were stone cold and sent a chill down my spine. I pressed the play button and all you could hear was our squeaky voices. I let it play all the way through, gave him butterfly kisses and a hug. He slowly let my hand fall from his. Little did I know that it would be his last gesture to me.

The next morning is one of the worst memories I have. I woke up and walked down the cold hard wood floor of my house only to find my mom and dad coddling Nicole on her bed. They were all crying and I asked my mom what happened. She could hardly answer me. My dad whispered “Meg, its Cappy. He passed last night in his sleep.” My whole world crumbled around me. My best friend was gone, and I did not know what to do or how to react.

The funeral came way to quickly. We all put on our best outfits, and drove to St. Mary’s Church. It was a perfect summer day. The sun was shining and there was a light breeze that smelt of fresh cut grass and all you could hear was the priest reading amongst sniffles and tears falling.

The priest finished his reading, and it was time for the family to say there last good byes. I walked up to the casket and let my fingers run along the smooth veneer finish. I turned to walk back towards the car when I noticed that there were beautiful butterflies of all different colors flying all around the ceremony.

Today during all the events I’ve gone through and wished Cappy could have seen, there is always a butterfly flying over my head.  I miss the butterfly kisses he used to give me, but they are a constant reminder that no matter where life takes me, Cappy is watching over me.

Graphic Design (Spring 2012) cont.

Assignment:
Re-design two brochures; one for the art department at Assumption College, and one for the music department at Assumption College

(Created with the programs Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop)

Front of Art Brochure

Back of Art Brochure

Front of Music Brochure

Back of Music Brochure

Graphic Design (Spring 2012) cont.

Assignment:
Design a poster that was influence by a graphic designer. My influence was Theo Van Doesburg.

(Created with the program Adobe Illustrator)

Graphic Design (Spring 2012)

Assignment:
Use different type faces and effects to help portray the description in the box.

(Created using the programs Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop)

Graphic Design (Fall 2011) cont.

Assignment:
Create a cube as our final project for Graphic Design 2 with elements that make us up as a person.

(Created with the programs Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop)

Graphic Design (Fall 2011) cont.

Assignment:
We had to create a student handbook cover for the upcoming 2012-2013 class year. Some people were chosen for finalists. The picture in the background is of the nicest dorm building on Assumption College's campus, and it is an original photo by me.

(Created with the programs Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop)

Graphic Design (Fall 2011) cont.

Assignment:
Create a logo and a business card for either a real company or a made up company that incorporates our name. I chose to go off of the New Canaan Toy Store logo since that is where I work back home. I copied the candy striping idea into the middle of my initials as well.

(Created with the programs Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop)

Graphic Design (Fall 2011)

Assignment:
Take a self-portrait of yourself, trace over it with the pen tool, and turn all of your lines into words and/or numbers that represent who you are as a person.

(Created with the program Adobe Illustrator)

Graphic Design (Fall 2010) cont.

Here are some various class exercises completed in Graphic Design 1

Programs used: Adobe Illustrator

Graphic Design (Fall 2010) cont.

Assignment:
Create a CD cover, and label. I chose Rascal Flatts because they are one of my favorite bands. The picture of the sunset and of the airplane are originals pictures that I have taken. I than used the colors from those pictures to match them with the rest of the package so that it all came together nicely. I chose the song 'Take me there' because it's one of my favorites and I felt that it went well with the theme of the airplane.

(Created with the programs Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop)

Graphic Design (Fall 2010) cont.

Assignment:

For the second design project, I at first had a tough time deciding what book to do. I have always been a huge fan of the novel, and movie, The Notebook. I decided that I wanted to portray the idea of the letters that Noah writes to Allie. I decided to make the front cover an aged envelope, because of the time that the movie takes place. Than I decided to make the back cover an aged piece of letter paper. I than addressed one of my favorite quotes “I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me…everyday” to Allie, signed All my love, Noah. One thing that I wish I could change was the fact that the front cover and back cover do not match. I tried to find an envelope and a piece of paper that matched each other, but whenever I did, they all had bleed marks across the front of them which obstructed me being able to use it. Lastly, for the black and white copy, I just copied and pasted the background images into Photoshop and selected “grayscale” under the mode. After it was changed into black and white, I re copied and pasted it into Illustrator.

(Created using the program Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop)

Graphic Design (Fall 2010)

Assignment:

Growing up as a kid, I have always loved New York City. I have gone there many times and have seen many beautiful well-known landmarks. My love of the city is what drove me to do my first design project on four popular landmarks in New York. I searched all of the landmarks I could think of online, and narrowed it down to my four favorites, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, and the World Trade Center. After I placed the photos onto my art boards I played with the effects until I found one I liked. I than added the text so everyone knows the names of all the buildings. Next came the border and the postage in the top right corners, so everyone got the full affect that they are in fact, stamps. I did not find any challenges with this project, but that is probably due to the fact that I have done many things like it throughout high school. I am pleased with the way my final products have turned out as well.

(Created using the program Adobe Illustrator)

Photography (New York City)

Photography (Summer 2011)