Maria Acone: A Short Story

For my eighteenth birthday the three of us made a pact to get matching tattoos in honor of our friendship; it would’ve been the first for each of us. Needless to say, she ruined our plans entirely. One day she’d informed us that her older sister was going to get a tattoo and that she was going for “moral support”. What turned out to be a trip to the tattoo parlor with her sister was actually a cover up for her to go and get matching tattoos with her ex. Till this day, I believe I never would’ve known that if I hadn’t seen the text messages of her conversation with someone else. It baffled me that she could be completely open and honest with a stranger as opposed to the people she called

Stereotypes are what people generalize others to be just because their personal characteristics are different from one another. This has been an on-going conflict in our society because of the fact that it privileges certain people to have the more advantages than others when it comes to jobs, education, and who the people are. But the problem that society has when it comes to stereotyping is that they are not seeing the real dangers of what it has been doing too many of these people. Such dangers have led many to believe that based on skin color, race, gender, and other traits, people are potential threats, less privileged, and thought to be just different in general. In the essays “The Myth of a Latin Woman: I Just met a Girls Named Maria” by Judith Cofer and Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space” by Brent Staples, the reader is introduced to the real life experiences of stereotypes and how they impact many of these lives in different ways.

I told her that as long as she keeps the door to her life open, he will continue to come back and let himself in. she says its hard, that she’s afraid to let him go and stand alone. My question to her was, ‘are you happy now? He sleeps with you when he needs a fix, but lives with another woman and their child. You can’t tell me that you’re happy. It may hurt for a while, but trust me; you’ll thank God that you did it in the end. I’m sorry about your loss, and please don’t get upset when I say this, but I do believe everything happens for a reason. You should deem this your second chance.’ I could feel she didn’t like my delivery, but I also felt that I was heard. All I can do is hope and pray that my words solidify in the back of her mind.’’

didn't let that stop her from what she was doing. They did fix their relationship but the hurt she

Tonight I rode with Officer Gausachs again. We were mainly patrolling around College Ave and Cook Douglass. We began by pulling over cars one of which got a ticket for having an expired registration. After that for some reason not entirely sure why but, we just kept seeing cars without their headlights on we pulled over every single one. One of which was a minivan with 8 occupants. When Officer Gausachs approached the car he noticed the smell of pot in the car. When he returned to the vehicle he let dispatch know and the Delta unit came to back him up. After they arrived and obtaining everyone’s ID from in the car Officer Gausaches had every occupant one by one exit the car and he told them the reason for the stop and then explained that he

The essay by Judith Ortiz Cofer, “The Myth of the Women/ Just Met a Girl Named Maria” is a powerful piece. She talks of the culture of being Puerto Rican living in New Jersey while she was growing up. She uses multiple examples of how her culture seemed to follow her throughout her life. She also shows the downsides of being a latina and how she overcame these struggles. One method she uses in order to show her audience the struggle that her and other latina girls could go through in there lives, is appeal to ethos.

My name is Maria Butler, a proud Patriot of the Revolutionary War. I am 28 years old. I live in North Carolina with my amazing husband. His is name is Rhett Butler and he is the wealthy landowner of Magnolia Plantation, our 400 acre tobacco plantation. My husband provides a very nice home that is well cared for by our slaves. Contrary to what some may some believe we are very good to our slaves who we treat as family members. Although my successful husband has a good education from a great southern college, I on the other hand am not a highly educated woman but i can read and write. I do have the skills common to every proper southern woman which allow me to care for my home, my husband and our children. Rhett and I have two children,

But as soon you were done and you put your clothes on the truth started to come out. I’m not sure of I want to be with you, can you tell me why I should be with you, by the way gabby is coming over soon, let me see your phone, but no you can’t see mine. EXCUSE ME these are the words of a self-proclaimed “man” but I call him a boy, which is what he truly acts like. You don’t get to make love to a woman then question if you want to be with her. if you don’t love her, you don’t touch her. She shouldn’t have to tell you why she should be with you; you should want to be with her because you love her. This isn’t a sorority rushing event where she must convince you why she is worthy of being a part of you. Another girl is coming over? What is this, it’s not healthy that is for sure. The disrespect of rushing her out and then talking poorly about her to another girl. You want to see her phone, really? For a man with so much confidence about the game he is playing and the love he fails to have you sure ask for a lot as if you are caring and

We were never able to start together let alone get married, even though our love was unbreakable. It made sense it wouldn't work out at the time. She needed some one like Tom, someone with the old money which is what he has. He was stable and could offer her the world and thats what she needed and I couldn't give her that… at that time. This is why I have been fighting, fighting harder then I fought in WWI, for so long. Now look at me I'm swimming in my new money, I can offer her so much more now that Tom can. I could give her the universe as well as all my love.

For the last two years, she was the apple of my eye, the women of my dreams and my whole heart. She was my everything, but what we had was toxic. All we would do is fight and argue and lead to a break up not to mention all the things that lead or happen during our time we were together. But I thought she was the one so I kept coming back pushing my hurt farther and farther away knowing it was only going to eat me up inside. That is why I was filled with so much pain because I couldn’t let her go. Wait! HELLO IS ANYONE

I spent a large portion of my time being smacked around and I spent any extra time I had consistently trying to convince myself that I was worth more than what she incessantly tried

It really broke me inside when I read this story’s ending. I think she shouldn't have given up on her

I would’ve done something to stop it. Nothing I write about how amazing she was, and how she inspired is worth anything. Only my actions could’ve shown her what she meant to me, only my actions could’ve saved her. Whenever I talk about her I feel like a fake, I failed her, and I try to numb the terrifying reality that I lost her with pathetic meaningless statements about how we were

Why were you never there for her when she needed you most? Why did you spoil yourself and give her your outer soul?

Dead silence. I put down the phone and trembled. Will she ever forgive me? I put myself to the pillows on my bed desperately and wailed like a child. Suddenly, Aggie came into my room.