Personal Narrative: A Whole New Culture

This past year, I have been apart of Naperville Central’s brand new Special Spaces club. When my friend approached me and asked me to join, I agreed even though I had no clue what I was involving myself in. In retrospective, I can honestly say that becoming a part of Special Spaces has been one of the most meaningful, fun, and fulfilling experiences I have had in high school.

I was incredibly excited. School was starting tomorrow. The first few days were just icebreakers, learning everyone’s names, blah blah blah. Then the real learning began. Of course, teachers started to write our lessons on the board. I started to notice a few changes in what I was seeing. The words they were writing were just...black lines! I didn’t pay much attention to it, I just asked my friends what the board said. As the year went on, it affected me more and more, especially in math. I saw a 2 as a 6, and and an A as an 8.

”Pegale cabron! Mas fuerte” I heard voices yelling and chanting from a distance that didn’t seem too far, flickering a danger flag in my head. I looked around until i saw a quick movement from the corner of my eye. It appeared to be two men fighting underneath the old massive stadium i had just finished running around with my older sister. I wanted to go and investigate the situation but in the back of my i head i heard my mom’s voice saying “don’t talk to stranger, avoid danger.” It took some convincing but my sister soon agreed to check it out, and In minutes we were on our way to where we thought the fight was happening.

Finally, we arrived at our Auntie’s house. Of course, with every party comes alchohol. Adults were laughing and cheering while the kids were playing their video games. The night was filled with vibrant colors as we watched firecrackers and shared laughs with each other. Today, everybody acted like it was the last day of their lives. They feasted, they drank, they did everything! Soon enough, it was time for us kids to receive our “lucky” money! We all lined up in front of the adults and said our new years wishes. We wished everybody a great year and made our way home. As we rode our way home, I thought

It was a bright and sunny day on June 3, 1995. Such a good day that I was in the mood to become something different, something that no one would expect to become, but what I had in mind wasn’t what I was hoping for. It was nice out and Brandon and I had some unfinished business we needed to take care of. We got mad at each other earlier that day, got into a big fight and ended up messing up moms’ big day. On top of that, he blamed the whole thing on me which I can never forgive him for, but I can also never forget what happened to Brandon.

My Mom and I are on our way home on a late Sunday afternoon from shopping and soon getting ready for a great family dinner. We call my grandparents, “Hello! How are you doing honey?” They say to my mother as they don’t know I’m in the car and listening.

I was a flightless bird trapped in a cage, wings clipped and song subdued. I had no distinct purpose, nor was I understood. Home was a prison, not for the insane, but definitely for the emotionally abused. My voice was constantly being shut out; only the people who wanted to hear my words were listening. Despite the words wishing to come out, I found myself unable to speak them. Regardless, I found myself in a place of understanding, of hope, and of insight. My mother was the light that guided me through the endless darkness. Only when she was gone, did I truly find my voice again.

Experiencing a new culture is usually life changing. I first started going to Tijuana, Mexico three years ago because my dad was deported. The only places I had ever been to were here in California. When going to a new place I never thought there would be a drastic change in the environment, or people. It’s amazing how a border can separate two worlds and make them so different.

Doors slam shut, cabinets rattle, and voices shout, yet I hear none of it. I am a hundred miles away and travelled hundreds of years, but I haven’t moved an inch. I’m living in my own reality, my own tiny bubble. The rickety bus flies over a pothole, kids shout to their friends down the aisle, the radio blasts songs from that week’s top 40, and still I am immersed in a book. Most people cannot concentrate in chaos, but I am not like most people. The real world fades from existence the moment my eyes skimmed the page and began to construct a new one in my mind.

“To the world, you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.” Throughout my life, I have been blessed with two individuals who were the world to me and have inspired me to be a person whose daily mission is to make a child’s day better. Both of these inspiring women loved children, and when I was a child, they made me feel like I was important each and every day. They made my heart feel whole and my face smile endlessly.

My head was ringing. This can’t be happening. There’s just no possible way! Blood trickled down my forehead. My heart beat what increasing with every breath. Why did this have to happen? Why?? My head was beginning to pound. I closed my eyes, and began to remember what had happened and what had gone so horribly wrong.

The thought of why this was happening? Wondering how I was going to be okay. Why my mom was asking those weird questions? Why she was always sad? I never thought this would ever happen. It was something new. But the thing that killed me the most was how it all went down. My life is going to change either for the better or for the worst.

In the world we live we diy everything we believe in we can see and the only thing that exist are human well that's not one hundred percent true you see for people they don't what to believe that there somthing out there that is more powerful than them but you see there's a whole new world that human don't even know about and we like it that way but hey we're getting there but at this point you're probably wondering who is this crazy girl well i'm lexi but and i'm about 5’6 with long all the way passed my but red hare and not bright red like a dark red i have icey sole piercing eyes and i'm an agale and no not from heaven you see i'm a gradin well a garden in training but we have wings like an angel but are job is to keep all the supernatural

"If you find something really great, don't screw it up, don't mess it up, but hang onto it. You never know how and when it ends." This quote of Stana Katic's is so simple and so clear that the deeper meaning slips by people. I; however, have spent so long contemplating its meaning and how it applies to my life.

Trying new things have always intrigued me. From new foods, to exploring unfamiliar places, or to a new taste in music I’m always up for a new adventure. This is why I asked, “Why not?” when my friend requested that I listen to a new band called Why Don’t We.