Koehn Journal: A Short Story

me how stupid I had become, so I felt as if I had failed, putting my dreams away forever. So again, here I

I remember crying and asking the Lord “why me”! Things never seemed normal or should I say things never seemed right. Growing up in a dysfunctional family you kind of start thinking that life sucks and you will never get a chance at being anything. Then you start believing thatyour not smart. Your nothing and then it happens you give up. I did just that. I dropped out of high school. That’s when my life took a turn for the worse. One day I just started feeling that this isn’t what the Lord wants for me. So I started seeking him. I no longer wanted to give up. Instead I wanted to fight and get my life back. I did just that. I went back to school and got my GED. Later I kept my promise to the Lord and went to college. I found out in college I had a passion for nursing. I also found out I’m pretty smart. I can’t get enough of school. All I want to do is learn. Coming from where I came from I would not take anything for granted. If you give me this opportunity to be apart of your school I will give it my all. I promise your staff will not be disappointed. Sincerely;Ledroin

agreed with my opinion, even if only for a moment, of the role that alcohol could play in

Ina random person's apartment for a few days until he decided that he had it worse here than he

I was raised and adopted by my grandparents, after both of my parents decided to

When my freshman year had begun I was nervous. It meant that school was going to be harder. It meant that when I played sports that I was going to have to be with the big kids. I started my freshman football season and I was like there’s no way I’m going to let them treat me like a little punk. They tried to and I talked back and did not do what they said and it made them not like me much. The upper classman liked to pick on the younger people and we went to a football camp. I wasn’t the freshman getting picked on until we went paintballing the next day. One of the seniors kept picking on me and I got tired of it and got mad. Well I was also like 13 or 14 years old and I got so mad I started crying and ended up quitting. I started missing football and went back. We ended up not having many players during the end of the season because of injuries so I had to start for the high school. I was so nervous but I didn’t do a bad job.

The worst year of my life was in the seventh grade. It was a time of unforgettable and painful moments which took place throughout the school year. This taught me a significant lesson. The summer before seventh grade, my parents informed me that it would be beneficial to join a sport. When I did not find one that interested me, the color guard was counseled to me; which to be honest, I resented. My mother had a strict policy that once an activity is started it must be continued throughout the entire season; for this reason, I did. My color guard instructor was one of the most bounteous woman I knew. Moreover, she was an admirable and gracious woman who cared deeply about her students. When school started, I was a self-effacing, lonesome girl,

Well, I suppose I should start with my name. I am Carolina Yanette Vlaun. I was born Monday, November 22nd 1999 at 7:14 pm at 9lbs and 1 oz in San Antonio, Texas on a nice and cool night at santa rosa methodist hospital. My mom likes to say that was the best day of her life after being in labor for 2 days i’d finally decided to get out. My dad said he was just excited to finally meet the baby that caused so much trouble. However no matter how happy my parents were the day of my birth my father had still wanted his first born to be a boy, instead he got me. I suppose that he would’ve named his son carlos after him, but since he had me he used the male version of his name and i became carolina. Whenever my mom tells the story she never leaves

I am a 14 year old girl who needs to have their father. When I hear that I immediately think about the father I wish that I had. If you mean mine, does that mean the one who abused me and blamed me and my innocent mother for his drinking and smoking problem? I knew that my mom had made the right choice because 4 months later, he told me that he was moving to Arkansas to get away from me because I was not his first priority anymore. Wow. That shot me down. Thank God I have my mother. I wouldn’t be where I am without her. She comforted me, and told me that what he said was not true. That I am a wonderful person who is beautiful, kind and has a big heart. I needed that in the moment for

I was out of place, a quiet girl whose clothing was obviously not fashionable, lucky if she had a bag lunch, and no reason to be confident. I was picked on relentlessly by others who recognized an easy target. My chaotic home life was never conducive to good grades, or school for that matter. No one I knew was a role model and no one volunteered to step up to be one. With no social life and a toxic home life, my grades plummeted before they had a chance to climb.

Cerritos High taught 4 grades as well, but there were 2200 students. The school was like a small town, a town where Blacks, Hispanics, Koreans, Taiwanese, Japanese, Egyptian and White teenagers were pushed together for 7 hours a day. I had never been around so many different cultures, ideals and ideas. I was not prepared, I was shell shocked and the other guys could smell it! I was beaten up 4 times my first year, the worst being an African American kid who decided extorting money from me every Monday was a good way to earn some extra cash. I was miserable, not sleeping; scared. I once told him no and tried to walk away but he just laughed, slammed me into the ground and he got the money. I was rightfully scared of that kid, but I was even more scared to tell my parents. I didn’t want to be the guy who hid behind his parents, I wanted to hurt that kid but I had no reasonable way to do it myself, and at this point I knew it couldn’t go on so I told my Dad. He handled it very calmly, told me not to worry, it would stop, and the kid would leave me alone. The following night my Dad told me that kid, the guy who hit me, extorted money from me, made my life horrible, that that kid’s father was the Vice President of a local bank. Guess whose father was extremely unhappy to learn his son was acting like a punk? Oh yes, Karma, it

And, with those words, here I wait. In just a short while I will find out if I’ll be spending the rest of my life in prison, or the even more likely Mills County Psychiatric Center. For me, the death penalty been taken off the table on account that I’m only seventeen. My lawyer, Abraham Shultz, had pushed hard for juvenile status, but the judge had denied it. I don’t think it would have helped much anyways. They never let people like me back out on the streets. Not after what I have done.

Paul, being more than willing to work we found a place of our own. Many years followed that Paul would come home late every night due to work.

I never really knew my father when I was growing up. I was raised by my mother and my little brother's side of the family. My own family was across the ocean in California. By the time I was nine I

My father was raised by his oldest brother. When my father was young his mother was sick and his father ran off. My fathers mother actually died in his