Personal Narrative: Growing Up In Northern Michigan

California has always held a special place in my heart for many different reasons. I was born and raised in this state and although there has been many drawbacks to being Californian, it has always been a place of comfort for me. California has played a huge role when it comes to the person I am today and why I have such an open mind, love for different cultures, and my willingness to work hard for the so called “California Dream.”

grew up in Chicago, Illinois, a beautiful city surrounded by violence and controversy by the media. I found things more simple when I was kid growing up here, there wasn't much to worry about but as I got older things became more complex here. The sounds of the " L "' or as you know it as, The Train, and the roaring sounds of cars passing by my house made me feel alive while growing up and as a matter of fact still does. You could wake up in the morning and see the vibrant blue skies being pierced by the skyscrapers and see other kids playing ball or riding their bikes. When it was summer time I would play ins sprinklers or go downtown and play in the fountains with my family. Of course, like most big cities I had to watch my back while growing up because you never knew what somebody was up to. It's weird really growing up here because you never know what's going to happen next , wether it's a good thing or a bad thing. All I can really say about growing up in Chicago is that if I had the chance to redo it, I'd do if a million times.

It was a small town in Cornersville, Ohio. Nothing much ever happened in this small town until one day. A new family moved in one afternoon. Everyone was surprised because no one even noticed the house being built. Everyone was still delighted that they moved in because the couple, Bob and Nancy, were very friendly. Bob and Nancy helped with all the activities in town and were very generous. A couple of weeks after they moved in, a lot of strange things began. Money started disappearing, the lights in the town went out every night except for Bob and Nancy's lights, even people's pets went missing. One night, everyone's lights went out at 11:30 as usual, except there was an extremely loud noise. The neighbors went outside to see where all the

Growing up in the Chicago area was a great experience for me, I was always a good kid but I had always struggled in school. The reason that I had a hard time in school was that I had A.D.D which was the cause of my distraction. Entering Pritzker College Prep was a different experience for me because I was overwhelmed, the reason as to why I felt overwhelmed was because of the amount of homework we got. I ended up spending nights where I would do my homework and wouldn’t get a sufficient amount of sleep and would also cause me to fall asleep in class. My grades started to drop which caused me to stop caring in school, so I also decided to just stop doing my homework and it caused a decrease in my grades.

Looking back out of the small window, I catch a final glimpse of corn fields and lonely railroad crossings before they dip below the horizon. For my first time on a plane, the excitement of adventure meets me as I depart from the comfort of home and enter a world unknown outside of Nebraska. Seeing the world in God’s view as the landscape evolves below, I fall in love with flying. Looking down from 30,000 feet and seeing earth on such a vast scale, I realize how much there is to discover.

Growing up in today's technology minded culture, it is sometimes hard to separate from social media, and simply going outdoors. When I graduated high school everyone I asked “What will you be doing this summer” normally answered binge watching their favorite show on Netflix, playing video games, or online summer homework. I wanted to do something different that didn't include me connecting to wifi or reaching for my charger.

Imagine yourself on a road trip to a place where the weather is different and the places are new to you. In a place where you only know family and no one else. A feeling like no other, that’s what I felt, knowing I was going to live in this new place.

Some Michigan Heroes can be people that helped you in life or helped you succeed in life. My Michigan Hero is someone that raised me, taught me everything I know in life today. This person is my idol, that gave me a hand when I needed one, or told me to keep my head up and never look down. I wouldn’t know what to do in life if this person wasn’t in it.

I witnessed my cousins boyfriend corpse lying on my neighbors lawn. It was a humid summer night around 3:30 when I peeked through my window and saw my devastated cousin sobbing uncontrollably on my decaying porch. Being from East chicago, Indiana has transformed me into the person I am today.

My Michigan hero is not just a hero but is my grandma, she was always there for me through my ups and downs. Every day after school are used to go to her house, she would have Mack and cheese waiting for me on a little SpongeBob plate in front of the TV with SpongeBob on the TV. She was like my other half whenever I needed her the most she was there. She used to go shopping with me and my mom all the time and take us out for lunch. I alway imagined her being there with me all my life but that all changed. Just a couple years ago she had passed away and that was the hardest day of my life. I remember not wanting to go to her funeral because I couldn't stand seeing all the memories and pictures of us together. When I first walked into the room I just

It was one beautiful morning day my sister and I woke up and we had to go to the hospital because we found out my dad Daniel Snyder had cancer. That day was not so much beautiful after all, nothing was working out right. We tried to move on but, it was very hard. My family loved him so much more than he would ever know. It was more than saying I love you to the moon and back it was like infinity times there and back. You might think of some heroes like hulk or Benjamin Franklin, who made electricity for our world, but, I think of someone totally different an inspiring man, my step dad Scott. Someone came into my life Scott my step dad. I picked my step dad for my Michigan hero because he was here for my family

My personal michigan hero would be my mom because she has always been here for me, through the think, and even the thin. I was adopted when I was 4 months old. She found out that she couldn’t carry a baby because of her severe scoliosis. So she waited for a long time to bring home her little bundle of joy. Even though I am adopted, we both have a lot of things in common. For instance, we have the same allergic reaction to mangos, we are both 4 foot 11 ½ inches and, we have the same golden brown hair.

I grew up in Greenville South Carolina. Growing up in the south, I was always around people who are more traditional in viewpoints, especially when surrounding the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual/Transgender, Questioning, and more community. I went to a high school where no one hesitated to throw around extremely derogatory terms. I had friends who had expressed their feelings of not fitting into their biological sex, I felt bad for them because they lived in fear of people finding out and what their reactions might be. They constantly feared for their safety.

My skin soaking up the sun, the water splashing at my face, and the constant wind in my hair are my favorite little things while on the boat at my lake house. As I sit on the boat I take in every stress free moment it offers to me. My lake house is on Shafer Lake, which is right in the middle of a small town Monon, Indiana. Aside from living in Italy, this is where I picture my life after retirement.

Eighteen years ago Julie Carol Parton (my loving mother) and Ric Parton (my inspirational father) brought Logan Parton (that's me) into this unique and vastly changing world. Little did I know that one day I was going to set immensely challenging goals to achieve. I grew up in a small town, near the corner of Indiana, known as Vevay. For the early portions of my life I lived on a middle sized farm with my family. There always was two different perspectives within our household. On one side of the house there was my father and my oldest sister Christina, and on the other side was my mother and my middle sister Melisa. The perspective that my father and oldest sister shared was that they both felt the want to make money and move away from Vevay, on the other side my mother and middle sister had the mindset of wanting to be farmers and