Personal Narrative: It's Time To Stay In Portland

Moving from the South to the Midwest was a huge change in my life. For my whole life I grew up to the southern hospitality and the tang of salt in the air since the beach was always less than 5 minutes away wherever I lived. Now I moved to a place where they flip you off to say hi, and the closest thing to an ocean is a sea of grass that seems to go on forever. Although I am now adapted to the change for the most part, it took me awhile to break in to the social norms of an average Midwest kids.

I come from the small town of Caribou, Maine. “Why so far north?” You might ask. Well, my father took a job as meteorologist for NOAA in Caribou following his retirement from the Air Force after 20 years of service. I moved to Maine in August of 2008, exactly 9 years ago; however, Maine is the 4th location I’ve lived in after Virginia (my birthplace), Alabama, and North Carolina.

At last, the bell finally rung, and I was headed home to get my gear. Hastily packing because lessons began at approximately 4:30, with about an hour drive. I hopped in the car next to Carolyn with minimal excitement. My nerves began to set in. I sat back and attempted to relax while we traveled past Delaware onto Earlville. Watching cars and fields pass by aided me to relieve some stress. I quickly forgot where I was going and why. Time flew by in that red Ford Escape. The trip from Manchester to Asbury seemed to only take fifteen minutes instead of forty five. We arrived far too soon, yet we were still late.

It was April of 1999. My family was at home. Children were running outside. The asphalt was burning. Cars rolled up to the entrance of the apartments and BANG. I grew up in Stockton, California. Surprisingly, as a minority, I wasn’t really a minority. There were, in fact, a large and diverse population of Asian-Americans. But, Stockton is not the ideal place to live. It was hot and dry, almost to the point of a drought. Stockton was also ranked as the one of the top 5 most dangerous cities in California. So, having a nice and safe family is kind of difficult. Eventually, my family decided to move to Crescent City, California when my dad retired. It was a world of difference. There were trees, plentiful water, and a nice cool temperature. This

Me and my family decided to move to Oregon all the way from New England I decided to keep a journal for the adventure we have to pack before we leave though my 18 year old son Bernard told us to bring his xylophone and I Charles Marvin Ives wanted to bring an anvil in case I need to fix or make anything with metal or use our spare parts we brought even though I have no experience as a blacksmith because I'm a farmer. My wife Samantha Packed the bacon, salt, and whiskey and we all had to lift the water keg. I decided to bring my shovels and hammer and some salt for the bacon. We're bringing pots and other cooking utensils as well. My oldest son, Carl who's 20 years old thought it was a good idea to bring a plow. We will also need some firewood

4,097 people. That was the population of Centralia Missouri in 2011. Moving had never been an issue for me, when your dad is in the military you get used to it. This time it was different than any other time. My parents were divorcing and my mom was forcing me to move to a town with only 4,097 people opposed to my home in Virginia with 225,401 people.

‘This car ride had to be the longest one i’ve ever been on.’ I thought to myself as I looked out the window. The scenery was dull and there was a long line of cars were in front of us, do to the fact that the renaissance festival was so popular amongst the public. “Almost everyone dresses up,” mama explained to papa, as he was itching his legs

Unexpectedly, May was the cruelest month. I thought the snowy.mountain tops where beginning to melt off. I was wrong, and May had other plans. At lower altitudes it was rain, but above 10,000 feet it fell in the form of sticky, wet, snow. Winter was mild, letting on that Colorado would be passable by late spring, it was a hoax. Hikers formed into parties and attempted to hike on, only to be forced by the snow to turn around. We sat in town for days, twiddling our thumbs and pitching ideas around. On the forth day we came up with a solution. We stuffed a minivan with seven hikers and seven backpacks and headed to Wyoming. Our plan was to hike south, back to Colorado, connect our footsteps.

During the summer of 7th grade my mom and I went on a trip to san Francisco that showed me how real untreated mental health issues, homelessness, and drugs are. I always knew that bad communities existed and they’re not safe but I never knew what they really looked like. That was until my mom and I accidentally walked through the tenderloin. The Tenderloin is one of the most infamous parts of San Francisco. The whole city of San Francisco is a crazy and beautiful place that I learned how many people suffer from drugs, crime, poverty and homelessness.

When I first moved to California, I was accompanied by a group of students with high moral. Allegedly, they had just won a state tournament, and I was lucky enough to bump into them while they were celebrating. Before I bumped into them, I was in a pittance of peril, because I had gotten lost on my way back to the dorms, my phone died, and I felt as though I was being followed someone, so you can imagine how thankful I am for meeting

I am reading Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen and I am on page 400. This book is about Auden spending the summer at her dad’s house. Auden has made friends with girls that Auden’s mom does not like. Also, Auden is spending more time with Eli and finding out more about him. In this paper I will be predicting.

Being an apprehensive new driver, I’d ended up getting most of my rides either to or from Bellevue College from my father. This meant I would often tag along with him to work in order to catch a ride home and, so often so that I’d end up his undesignated personal assistant. This is where I had gotten my first taste of the world of

why this Saturday night dinner. Who? Just like every other dinner for the past week I went to dinner with the same people it is made up of my one roommate and our neighbors. Nothing that stands out about these people other than that they are my friends. What? While I had a left over sandwich from lunch when I went Undercover Eggplant, my friends decided they would order in cold cheese pizza from Tino’s. Again nothing really unusual. Where and Why? This is where the story gets somewhat interesting. Originally we decided to go to Willsbach and just eat there; but upon our arrive the person swiping the cards told us that the only things that was available were

Imagine ten hours enclosed in a van with eleven other people; humid, loud, and definitely not Liz's idea of a comfortable road trip. It is her senior year though, her friends had her convinced it would be fun. The last hurrah before life goes on-- before Liz enrolls in the Police Academy. She hardly believes it will be fun, they like to party and let loose, she does not.

As the blaring alarm from her phone goes off and the moonlight shines through her window, Pam, a single mother of two boys, groggily drags herself out of bed to start a typical Monday morning in July. Half an hour later, she struggles to shove Jackson’s blue polyester sleeping bag, along with every t-shirt in his closet, into one suitcase. The morning mayhem has only just begun.While Pam continues preparing stacks of paperwork, lunches, and all of the necessities for her son to attend an overnight summer camp, the school bus abruptly halts at the end of their driveway to pick up her eldest son, George. Chaotically throwing his brown paper bag lunch,