Downtown Whitehall

I saw my father, young and determined, working at the crack of dawn in the brickyard, while my mother stayed home to childproof their small apartment. Using the potent mixture of caffeine and chemicals contained in Mountain Dew, he was able to resist the urge to doze off during his daily classes. I saw myself running around the large oak tree that dwarfed our first house, and couldn’t help but smile as I thought about my mom, pregnant with my sister, walking me to the library to play with the puppets and pick up books about my favorite dinosaurs. I saw the terrifying night that the oak tree was stuck by lightning, and heard my mothers voice over the phone at school, eagerly telling me about my new baby brother. My stream of consciousness was broken as we entered the scorching area where they bake the bricks, but I quickly zoned out again as my grandpa began to explain the technical aspects of brickmaking. This time, the memories took place in a new house, as our cozy home had turned claustrophobic with the addition of a fifth member. Quiet walks to the library were replaced with chaotic days at the pool. The cards began to pick up speed, as I got deeper into my life. The dark years of middle school, when my hair covered my eyes and I

I remember the first day I walked into my kindergarten class, I clenched my mother’s hand with all my might to prevent her from letting go. The kids around me, whom I supposed were my classmates, had long let go of their mother’s had and were playing together, and even as a five year old, at that point I felt like an outsider. I pleaded my mom to not leave but my attempts failed as I found myself alone yet surrounded by complete strangers. As I stood in the center of the room while pushing back my tears and eyeing my mother make her way out the door, I heard the teacher call my name. I timidly walked towards the spot on the yellow carpet she was signaling at for me to sit on. I heard Mrs. Ross’s soothing voice but no matter how much I concentrated

I can still recall the days where I would run down the block chasing after the ice cream truck. I lived near a park in Brooklyn, and my daily summer routine consisted of endless enjoyment at the park. As a nine-year-old, all I focused on was having fun and playing handball with my friends at the park. Every day I set out on the same task, and did not realize what I would do if those friends were no longer there.

By the time lunch came, we all hiked back to my car to eat the lunches that I packed for everyone. As everyone joked around, I sat back and looked at the scene before me. I realized how fortunate I was to be playing hockey on this beautiful day, with the perfect temperature and the sun being out. After the quick lunch, we all raced back through the crisp air, yelling and cheering. As the sun started setting people started clearing off the ice. Time went on, and the cluster of people around the warm and bright fire increased. Around one of the fires all of my friends and I sat and told stories of the summer. I glanced at the shadows bouncing off of the snow, and then to the clear sky that held thousands of bright stars. During the walk back to my car I could faintly hear the unique sounds of the wolves music bouncing through the air, and smiled. As I got home I thought about the events of the day and knew that I made many memories that I would tell for years to come. I drifted into sleep thinking about the next year and all of the new stories to

My dad had to stay home for work that weekend, so we said our goodbyes and waved as we pulled out of the driveway onto Cermak road. I looked at the GPS and it predicted a 5 hour car drive. I was not excited whatsoever for this because I do not like long car rides, but I knew that I had plenty of homework to do to keep myself busy. My sister put her headphones in and began to take a nap while I took my IPad out and began to work on the Biology project. I sat for about an hour editing and finalizing the video my group had created about the grassland biome. Then, I began to read my English literature circle book, Life of Pi. It began getting dark very quickly. After about a half hour of reading and annotating, I could not even see the pages anymore. I gave up on doing the rest of my homework, so I put my headphones on and turned on my Spotify Daily Mix to listen to the rest of the way there. I watched the landscape change from the oak brown forests in Illinois to endless farmlands in Indiana to the magnificent Lake Erie in Michigan. We took a narrow steel bridge over Lake Erie to get to Grosse Isle, Michigan. Once we crossed the bridge, we continued on the main road until it ran into Maise Court. My mom pulled up into the driveway and my friends, Josie and Allie, were already waiting there to greet us with their new dog

It was another monotonous, scorching summer Friday. We had burgers and hot dogs on the grill sizzling and calling our taste buds. Then we had finished supper. Dad had a gig at Hudson Booster Days later that night. We went back outside to shoot some hoops. Jonah, Hannah, Eli, and I played a pickup basketball game and then got bored again. We went in to cool off a little and took a little break.

“Just to school like normal” I replied. The car twinged on like a old analog tv and started slowly driving down the narrow street. It was dark down at ground level, the old neglected buildings on either side of the street blocked out the sun. “Can you turn on the light and tint the windows please, oh and also play my favorite playlist.” A catchy electronic tune began playing in backround. I pulled out my one and only book and started to read. There wasn't many left anymore, I was one of the lucky few to have one. The book talked of a distant past when the sky was blue and your skin wouldnt burn every time it rained, When there was more than just concrete and plastic and not everything had a price. It explained how nature had a balance and how delicate but amazing the whole thing was. It kind of reminds me of this

As I walked outside of the YMCA I saw kids having fun building forts and having snowball fights. Mom, Dad, and I walked to “Trusty” my Moms Oldsmobile. When we got into the car my Dad asked, “How do you think you did?” “I think I did great,” I replied as I sat there replaying my game as if it were a movie. The car roared to life and we headed home. I sipped on my purple water bottle and gazed out the window. My city looked as if someone had thrown a white fluffy blanket on it. I remember wondering if I was going to have school on Monday.

As soon as we got to the amusement park, the smell of popcorn and cotton candy filled my nose. The anticipation that had been building up for the trip all came to a boil as soon as I walked through the turnstile. The first thing that I did was find the map and figured out where the roller coasters were. My Dad had to run to catch up to me and to keep me from getting in line by myself. I didn’t know why I had to wait. I was eleven years old, I could ride on the roller coasters and my brothers couldn’t, so that meant I was basically an adult now. I could do anything, or so I thought.

It was a warm autumn night, but already dark outside. We lived in a white one story house with blue trim, and a porch connected the house to the lawn by some stairs, along with some more stairs that led to the street. A stone fence lined the front lawn, which was covered in grass and had a blue pathway. In the driveway, my dad’s White Ford Truck was parked, right next to our enormous banana tree, which cast a shadow on the driveway. We sat in a couch that sat out in the porch, coloring in the dark with the

In fifth grade my best friend, Grace and I planned to go to camp in the summer going into sixth grade. We waited and waited for the day, we were thrilled to go, yet we had no idea what was yet to come. The night before we left, I stuffed what I thought I needed in a giant suitcase, zipped it up and headed to Graces house. Once I arrived, excitement rushed through me when I saw here realizing we are finally going to camp. As we talked, time flew by without even noticing and before we knew it we were sleeping. It was a crisp morning and her window was slightly open, causing the room to fill with cold air. I threw the covers over my head trying to get more sleep, forgetting that today was the day we left for camp. Grace's mom tapped on the door

It was the year 2010, late July. I was 7 years old, and my dad had been at work. The only ones home were my sisters and I. We had nothing to do. “Let’s go to the mall since we have nothing to do”, said my second oldest sister, Jovanna. Everyone agreed with her. We called my dad, and let him now that we would be going to the mall. My oldest sister, Natalie drove us there. We had gotten to Fashion Fair Mall at about 12 pm. We all got off the car. It was as hot as a dessert, I felt like I was going to melt! It was so hot that I could see the heat waves, the outside of the mall looked like a ghost town! “Jovanna it’s hot, can we get something to drink?” I asked.

I counted down each summer. Three, two, one, time. It was the day. I rose at seven-thirty in the morning and scurried over to my neatly folded outfit. I slipped on a tennis skirt and a tank top. We piled up into my mom’s Honda Odyssey full of excitement and anticipation. We started down our street, listening to Radio Disney the whole way there. When we arrived, it smelled of sweet coconut sunscreen and freshly opened tennis balls. The summer breeze drifted among us, and I couldn’t help but feel content. I watched my mom sign us in. She was wearing her favorite navy blue and white striped maxi dress, and her hair was especially blonde due to the scorching sun. After finishing the endless amount of forms, she told us to go and have fun. I glanced over at my mom as she left, and I ran along with my siblings and cousins. We were ready.

Eight years old and caked with dirt from a Little League game I just finished, I headed over to the car. Sloppy mud floating around in my shoe, I felt like I was walking around in a marsh. My dad was driving the silver Toyota Matrix and playing one of his Rolling Stones albums, full blast, almost stinging my ears. All the windows were open, letting the cool April air smack my face as I looked out the window. It was refreshing, and my Saturday could not have gotten any better. My dad turned into our long driveway and I turned to him in with confusion and asked, “Where’s mom?”

As soon as we got to the amusement park the smell of popcorn and cotton candy filled my nose. The anticipation that had been building up for the trip all came to a boil as soon as I walked through the turn stile. The first thing that I did was find the map and figured out where the rollercoasters were. My dad had to run to catch up to me and keep me from getting in line by myself. I didn’t know why, I was eleven years old I could ride on the rollercoaster and my brothers couldn’t I was basically an adult now. I could do anything, or so I thought.