Personal Narrative : New World Together

Growing up with a father in the military, you move around a lot more than you would like to. I was born just east of St. Louis in a city called Shiloh in Illinois. When I was two years old my dad got the assignment to move to Hawaii. We spent seven great years in Hawaii, we had one of the greatest churches I have ever been to name New Hope. New Hope was a lot like Olivet's atmosphere, the people were always friendly and there always something to keep someone busy. I used to dance at church, I did hip-hop and interpretive dance, but you could never tell that from the way I look now.

Every paper, no matter how well written needs to be revised and edited as time goes on. In some ways, life is similar. We all go through changes that influence us and shape the direction we are headed. Some of these changes come from our own prerogative while others are inspired by friends and family members. I know that my worldview has gone through this revision process. Even looking back to freshman year I had many of the same ideals, same focuses on values and hard work, but over time they have come to manifest themselves in different ways. For instance, I am much more willing to share my beliefs and opinions on controversial issues. This developed as I came to realize my ideas are worth arguing for and I gained a knowledge of

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.

What Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci coined "The New World" was now overrun by man-eating zombies. It all started in Chile and Argentina; news of a highly infectious pathogen had begun spreading at breakneck speeds. By the time epidemiologists had discovered the cause of this pathogen it had already spread to the Western half of the United States and was making its way east.

The object given to me was the heart of a boy who I was fond of for quite some time. We spent the summer nights frolicking through green pastures of open land ready to take on the world like an explorer ready to find a new adventure; now what I look back on to be no more than a barren field filled with patches of weeds poking their heads above ground, hoping to catch even the smallest array of sunlight. I spent most of my summer nights with this boy, let us call him James.

The sound of the rain landing hard onto the frozen soil was always a nice one. It accompanied me just staring straight into nothingness. It felt great, as if I was just focused on one thing, the “1000 mile stare”. I was on the verge of falling asleep, but at the same time there was no way I was going to. The stare was great, much too addicting. However, there was one thing I hated though. It was the fear that I could get stuck in it. That nothing else would happen in this god forsaken world If I just gazed into 1 thing...for a long period of time. Maybe that wouldn’t be a bad thing? People would stop dying and the world would finally be at peace. I finally leave the 1000 mile stare for a second, just to look in another direction and focus

If I was a European thinking about moving to the New World, I would base my decision based off the images and descriptions that were available. One of the images that would deter me from migrating away was a piece of artwork done by Jacques Le Moyne. His picture entails a group of natives who are trying to fight off a fearsome looking alligator. Theodore De Bry describes them plunging a pole into it’s mouth and turning it around so they can stab their stomach. He goes on to say that the natives have to watch out for them day and night because of how frequent they appear. Since I don’t really know how to defend myself against such creatures, I would be afraid to live somewhere where danger is constant. I also would not want to deal with vampire

Walking home from school one day, I looked at the ruins that lay around me: houses, offices, roads, all destroyed because of the war. I wondered why it started. The war had been going strong for three years, and didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon. Brushing away my thoughts, I noticed an old lighthouse beside the ocean. Jogging towards it, I wondered why I had never seen it before. It looked ransacked, with both doors kicked in and the windows at the top shattered. I began to get a bad feeling about going closer, but shrugged it off and started to look inside.

I'm so awkward he probably never wants to speak to me again, I think to myself. We all immediately stand up from the bench. My eyes dart from one thing to another, worrying about what he'd think of me.

Walking into the coffee shop where everyone else , including me now, confronts people in their lives and continues to discuss important topics. The decorations around me are plain and simplistic, nothing special about this place whatsoever. I wait patiently for my invite to show, mentally preparing myself for the conversation that I want to have so desperately. I think of the topics I want to bring up and the ones I want to focus on more than others. Nervously, I continue to wait and talk myself out of thinking that they wouldn’t show at all. A few minutes filled with deep breaths later, finally they’re here. I walk over to the table we agreed to meet at, and sat politely before greeting them and waiting for a response. I cleared my throat and looked at my lap, trying to refrain from saying anything I’d regret. Taking a deep breath, I tried to remain professional while addressing the topic. Finally, my attention was brought to the person seated in front of me, to the world in front of me. With all the courage I could muster I stared dead into its

Only this would happen to me I think to myself as I stumble around this dreadful forest. Today I decided to take a nice peaceful walk in the forest listening to the birds chirping a melody and the sun beaming down on me but my klutz of a self just had to get lost. I have been walking around aimlessly for hours now and the sun has gone down so it has gotten quite chilly and dark out. My phone happens to have no service out here, I can not even call my family to let them know where I am, they must be worried sick. To calm myself down I take a deep refreshing breath the air around me, smelling distinctly of pine and mildew

My flyer3000 landed on an area of dark green, soft blades after flying for 60 hours. The captain calls this place earth, whatever that means. In the distance, I hear voices that sound similar to my family’s except these voices are higher in pitch and fast in pace. If one does not listen closely, these little voices become high-pitched jumbled noises that make no sense. I peek over this tall and wide brown object that prevents me from moving closer to the voices. The sight surprises me. My captain showed us pictures of humans but none of them were miniature versions. There were many tiny humans of different colors running around with pointy cone-shaped head toppers. These looked dangerous, but no one seemed bothered to take them off. I also

We have almost been in school for a month and I am already starting to get back in the groove. I have seen Adnan frequently throughout the school however, never have I talked to him again. We actually have one class period together and that is study hall. He always stares at his paper and still seems very lost. I want to help him, although, do not know how well he knows English. That was probably why he still seems so lost. He looked like he was a vegetable in a fruit store. With him always staring off into space, I always wondered where his thoughts were taking him.

I’m starting to get slightly more comfortable on this ship, but it’s still nothing like home. Well, I guess this is home now. I’ve started to make myself fit in here, but I’m not sure how it’s going. Eldest still makes me feel like I’m stuck in a prison though. It’s almost like he’s a Pre-Hitler. He’s made everyone on the ship believe I was a result of some crazy lab mutation and that I am a freak. Now, barely anyone believes a word I say or even looks at me. All except for Elder and Harley. Harley is extremely curious but is a loyal friend. He even volunteered to watch over the people in Cyro sleep to make sure there wasn’t any tampering done to them. Elder, he keeps bringing back memories of Jason, it’s like the two are identical in personality.

I stare at the seating chart with a black face, and then put on a fake smile as I realize I sit by Ali in my first class. Slowly making my way to my spot in the back of the room passing the desks filled with people I haven’t seen since last year. I notice the boy in front of me, my eyes admiring his colorful shirt and observing his chaotic jet-black hair all messy. I realize my spot isn’t so bad because my short posture mixed with being behind a tall boy makes it impossible for the teachers to see and call on me. Then I turn and see Ali again, ugh. We talk for a minute or so