Personal Narrative: Just One More Pin

What kind of life is one that is lived almost as if our contact has fallen out, and all you can see is a blurry picture? Our perspective is the blurry picture. We can see that we are blessed, but we do not see it clearly. Your memoir ,An Invisible Thread, opened my eyes to a perspective I had not ever seen before. The invisible thread that led you to Maurice inspired many, like myself, to introspect and realize just how privileged we truly are. We take what we have for granted and do not appreciate it. We live in a world where we can get anything with little work, but we forget how lucky we are to even have that. I know I do not appreciate the life I have half as much as I should.

Later that day I went home, I was so mad at myself that I told my parents and sisters that I won't do it ever again and that it was just a waist of my time, but to my surprise the next day I found myself at the bowling alley still struggling. During the practice the JV 1 coach came up to me and told me the most important thing in bowling “don't look at the pins, look at the second arrow”. It seems like nothing helpful but in reality it is. It's a small thing but it makes the game perfect. Thinking back I was close to quitting bowling but with one help from the coach my life changed completely. After two weeks of practice came the first match I was really nervous because I thought that other girls will make fun of me because I didn't get past 100, but in reality none of us did because we were starters first year bowlers we had a lot of things to learn to become better. In the middle of the season was another time where I was considering quitting, being a freshman I was asked to play with the JV team which mean the there are girls who are more experienced and have bowl for a year or even more. I was so nervous about again the judging me that I did really bad that math but the coach didn't give up on me yet, he wanted me to play for the rest of the season with his section, and that was the place where I learned the

One aspect of my identity that has shaped my life experience and the way I see the world is my race. I am an African- American who has Nigerian descent from both parents. Growing up African American is hard for many of us, but we always come together to help each other out. We get judged for our skin color, religion, sexuality, and economic status. When I was younger, I always thought about what other people would say about me and how I looked. Even though it was hard seeing how other races portrayed my race, I have learned to embrace my skin color and not let anybody judge me. The society believes that African Americans are lazy, uneducated, and violent. Things people say about me and my race only make me want to prove myself to them that I am proud of my race and would never change myself for anybody.

If my autistic brain gets sensory overload, you’re not going to want me on the picket lines in front of a camera trying to explain our cause. I’ll freeze (or worse, I’ll babble), and I’ll embarrass you. You also don’t want me to make a public speech because my ability to look away from the paper and into the eyes of others is negligible at best (see here).

It was impossible to not watch the bowlers surrounding us while gearing up. The sounds of the balls crashing into the pins were making my heart race. After tightening my shoes accordingly, I grabbed my two bowling balls, one at a time, and placed them on the ball rack. I was moments away from my first throw in a decade.

I turn my alarm off for the sixth time before I finally glance at the clock. It's 5:45 A.M. I overslept. I rush to shower, get dressed, and brush my teeth. Then expertly apply concealer in an effort to hide the bags under my eyes. There's not enough time left for me to eat breakfast or blow dry my hair so I grab a to-go shake -the same as yesterday- and throw my hair into a bun. It's 6:30 and I'm standing at the foot of my driveway using my phone as a flashlight since the moon can't light my path because it's hidden behind the clouds. Eventually the bus pulls up and I sit through the same tired silence as the week before.

    On Sunday, March 12th of 2017, I had my first interview with Dr. Isaac Siew, an Emergency doctor, who works in Amarillo, Texas at Baptist Saint Anthony’s Hospital. Mr. Siew and I discussed many of the major topics of Emergency medicine such as, the risks of being an Emergency Doctor, the pros of being an ER doctor, what skills one should have prior to being an Emergency Doctor, and what one does in Emergency Medicine. With each question I gained more and more information on the career that I love, and saw a new point of view on Emergency Medicine.

Every single second of every single day, people all over the world content themselves with mediocrity. In the words of the legendary Steve Prefontaine, “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” That is why, every second of my life I put forth an unmatched effort and dogged work ethic in everything I endeavor to do. However, I have found that throughout my life my determination goes completely unnoticed. Regardless of the fact that my drive regularly goes unnoticed, it is a quality that is integral to my character; furthermore, determination has been, and continues to be a defining characteristic in my life.

One would like to believe that gender doesn't affect your employment prospects, right? My husband came down on orders to bring us to Benning, it was time to update ye old resume. As a CNC machinist with seven years’ experience, working in both a proprietary production shop as well as a diverse job shop, I'm qualified to set up, tear down, perform program edits and run a variety of equipment. There is, however, one large disadvantage working against me in finding employment here in the lovely state of Georgia; I'm a woman. This is an apparent deal breaker for the shops that I've applied at thus far. It's evident to me, as everything goes very smooth in the application and pre-interview process, until they find out that the "S" in "S. McPherson" stands for Stephani. The joys of being a woman in a man’s world.

It was the Schmitt Family Christmas. It was occuring at the community center in Fort Atkinson. At the time I was living in my old house. I would have either been in kindergarten or younger. We were upstairs in the gym at the community center. Many of my relatives were playing basketball while some of them were still downstairs. Most of the older adults were downstairs and a few adults and most of the kids were upstairs. Most of the kids upstairs I knew because most of them were my cousins. My dad was upstairs and I was just horsing around on the bleachers in the gym. The bleachers were made of wood and some of them were not in the best condition at the time. As a child I didn’t know much better. Most of the kids were playing basketball and I was trying to have some fun too. Being the 3 or 4 year old kid I was not going to think about what to do.

harder things. If that goes well then I might change it to every day. If I succeed in doing my challenge then I’ll reward myself in some manner, most likely by hanging out with friends and doing something a little more special with them. My first challenge will be talking to someone I don’t know on the bus or at the store. After that, I’ll think of my next challenge for next week and so on making each new week progressively more

Determination is a suitable character trait to describe me.When there is something I genuinely want to accomplish, I will fulfill it no matter how many times I fail. Failure is what fires my inner desire to work hard and to my fullest potential until my goals are achieved. For example, in my Jazz dance class, my instructor instructed the class to do switch leap jump, which is a jump that launches a dancer up and forward into a split in which the extended legs switch places in mid-leap. In my mind, I’m thinking to myself how impossible that sound and fear started taking over my body since it was my very first time being instructed to do such jump. When the instructor played the music for the jump, I decided to stand at the end of the line and

CRASH! My head throbbed from the sudden collision between the stairwell and my noggin. Family members began to pour into the accident scene with concern bluntly written over each of their faces. My mother immediately started inspected the wounds given to me once she spotted the damage. In that moment, I could not focus on anything other that the burning sensation near my chin; I was incapable of forming words as responses to my crews constant questioning; after a short consideration between my family, my mother placed a damp paper towel over the cut and put me into the car, where we were then going to drive to the hospital as if it was a race; except, it was a competition. It was a race against the clock,

“Time travel used to be thought of as just science fiction, but Einstein’s general theory of relativity allows for the possibility that we could warp space-time so much that you could go off in a rocket and return before you set out.” - Stephen Hawking.

Work is the key to success, if I do not put in the work, then I am not successful. I like to think of myself as a powerhouse. I can produce a multiple of works, writing being one of them. Although I am capable of such talents, my writing is not always perfect. My writing has flaws and weaknesses, my strengths are becoming more resonant, nevertheless I plan to improve