Personal Narrative: Taos Ski Valley

Omg! I am going to have so much fun snowboarding! Today in my life I am at a super cool place. It’s in the UP and it’s called Ski Brule. It has all the snow hills you could possibly think about. I could never stop imagine me going down the hill and be so proud of me. But hopefully I don’t break any bones in my body. Because I still have basketball in the winter. But after I just took a soft energize nap. Then… We arrived. OM to the G! It was exactly what I imagined. The people gliding through the snow with their cool snowboards and their ski’s.

The coat of armor I adorned, made of down feathers and a nylon shell, yielded no protection against the daggers of that cold winter air. As I peered out toward the horizon, I saw nothing but tree tops, and some snow capped mountain tops in the distance. With my feet bound to freshly waxed skis, the only thing stronger than my ski poles was my determination to get down the mountain.

San Luis, Colorado is the oldest town in Colorado. The Rio Culebra winds through the valley, surrounded by majestic mountains. It is one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen. My family along with many others have been here for generations. The beauty of the land is only accentuated by the beauty of our tight-knit families and culture. To counteract of all the physical and cultural beauty, there is social and economic strife everywhere around me. I live in the poorest county in Colorado and being impoverished is a challenge my community faces because of a lack of education and job deficit. As I have delved into community and family history, I have better understanding that the fact the that while many things like our support and love for family and culture have remain unchanged and untainted, so has the fact that our community struggles

I was raised alongside my brother in the suburbs of Denver, more specifically, the city of Highlands Ranch. Whether the residents of Highlands Ranch care to admit it or not, it is one of the least diverse areas in the country. It is mainly composed of middle to upper class conservative white families where the most change they’ve had to deal with is to that of the seasons. Don’t get me wrong, Highlands Ranch is great place to live and an even better place for a kid to grow up in; its safe, full of resources, and an all around pleasant area. However, concerning diversity and the open-mindedness of the area is lacking. Thus I am extremely lucky to have had the parents that I did, for the lessons they’ve taught my brother and I concerning how to treat others different from ourselves were especially valuable.

Rugged River Rapids In the rugged river rapids, The salmon slowly swim. Four years in the ocean,

I grew in a very small Northern California town. I am an only child and I was mainly raised by my mom who worked full time as a waitress. These are only two sentences about me, however I think they paint a picture about the way I look at the world. When you think small town you think sheltered, and you would be right. When you think Northern California you think liberal, you would again be right. When you think only child of a single parent you think independent but close to her mom, you would once agin be correct. Perhaps you didn’t guess all those things from the first two sentences, but I am here to tell you that many people can. I tend to read like an open book. I’m easily guessable.

Colorado, known for the Rocky Mountains, is a gorgeous place to be. The rectangular state rich with wildlife, covers 104,185 square miles. In the black timber, it is dark and silent, not a sound to be heard. The thick pine trees block out most of the sunlight, only to see about seventy-five yards. The terrain is brutal, almost straight up and down, but the elk love it because it is a challenge for hunters to see them. As I walk my favorite ridgeline in the black timber, I watch for the slightest movement and listen for the smallest crack. Watching thirteen-lined ground squirrels run around and chase each other can be humorous when they fall down from trees. My adrenaline pumps and heart races at a million miles per hour as I wait patiently

The most enjoyable,place that I have ever been to is Eagle Colorado. The reason I went to colorado was to visit my cousin Lou Ann,her husband Jason,and their kids Isaac and Ezzy. My cousin Lou Ann and her son Isaac were in town and asked my cousin and I would like to stay with them and we said yes because we were bored in clayton..It was a pretty long car ride but it was worth it after we got to Colorado.It was the most enjoyable place because of the beautiful weather,mountains,and kind people. I loved the weather during the summer because it did not rain or snow and it wasn’t too cold or hot.Eagle Colorado is a 6 hour drive from Clayton.It is also 135 miles west of Denver In 2010 the population was 6,508 people. The population of eagle has not changed much since 2010.

The first time I saw you, your smile mesmerized me and your laugh practically incapacitate my organism. Your mysterious eyes so profound that no conceivable mean to decipher the schema that your emotion unveil. The thought of you laughing right now can moisten the Mojave Desert; the echo of your voice is a manifestation equivalent to billions of neurotransmitters flushing into my hypothalamus at the speed of light. It enrages all the serotonin within my anatomy that I didn't know has existed. Now you know. And with silence, you have stolen my heart and every endogenous elements in my body. The thought of you has organically saturate the dopamine which will soon speed to my nuclei--everlastingly in my raphe core. The thought of you like testosterone

There was one severe weather even that had happened during my childhood while growing up in the south tip of Texas. It is an experience I would never forget.

The alluring Mead Valley; where there’s roadkill on every main road, starving dogs on your trail, and The Red Store where the whole town is acquainted with one another. Having a large family in a small house is not an uncommon occurrence, and with this sizable household, it’s evident that my mind and persona was shaped by many from a young age. My mom always advised me to be appreciative of the situation I was born into, because in the real world, when deprivation in any form struck me down, I would have the resources to get back up and labor through the rigorous times. I was disciplined through trial and error parenting. Instead of putting a stop to my mistakes completely, I was given the privilege to make my own decisions and learn from them,

One thing that is great about Montana is it’s looming mountains. The Pryor Mountain Range consists of one magnificent peak surrounded by meager foothills. When you are in the mountains, you feel free. There is no one to hold you back from anything. You can be you when you are there. There are many entertaining things to

Being in the mountains is so relaxing. I love how the rocks on the mountain look. The best view is off of the peak. The way you see the lights from the city down below and the bright shining stars up above. Its breath taking.

My second semester, I had gotten used to my new life in Colorado. I realized that I was able to grow, and make a foundation of support for myself; with my advisor, friends, and co-workers. I made a stable home, where I am able to focus on my studies. My brother was out of the hospital, and my father was stationed in a federal prison in Texas; my focus did not have to be on my family. I understand, that I have to continue to take many more steps to improve my standing at Colorado State. I will continue to use the tutoring programs provided like TILT, office hours, and study groups provided by professors. I started to use TILT after work for Physics 121, and Math 161, knowing that I did not have the greatest knowledge on those subjects. TILT

It is amazing how some experiences stay so crisp in my memory, that if I were to close my eyes, I could almost swear that I was there right at that moment. It's as if my body can almost taste the sweet air, feel the cold, wet breeze on my skin, and recall the scent of the pine trees towering above our heads. Hiking in Payson, Arizona, after a snow storm is one of the best places I have ever visited in order to collect one of these memories. Payson is a great place to take the family dog hiking, but also you will be able to appreciate the beautiful landscape Payson has to offer, with it being conveniently located just a brief drive from the sweltering heat of the Desert Valley.