Personal Narrative: The Swoop Race

I was born and raised in the small but growing city of Perris, CA. This isn’t the best city out there but it tends to grow on you, and you begin to truly love it for what it is. The people, however, not so much. The community can vary from which part of the city you’re in. That’s because there’s diversity here in Perris. I’m a product of this diversity, being half Mexican and half African American. My parents fell in love after high school and later on began a family. I am the youngest of five. I have two older brothers, an older sister, and an older cousin who lives with us. The order is boy, girl, boy, boy, girl with my cousin being included in there too. We all live in the same house with my parents and are quite close with each other. They all seem to have raised me growing up due to the fact that my parents were busy trying to provide for us. This was a challenge by itself, resulting in lots of house moving and my father being unemployed for six years after losing his job. I never complained about moving because I knew that my parents were doing their absolute best and were working with all that they had and then some. This unquestionably made me adaptable to new environments and gave me a

Yesterday, I had to leave the five acre island called Pigeon Key located in the Florida Keys. Pigeon Key is located under the Seven Mile Bridge. My class and I been there for four days. Our class learned so much during this adventure.. We learned about invertebrates, marine habitats, invasive species, and much more. Pigeon Key was fun for many reasons, but what I loved the most was playing basketball, tidepooling, and participating in the town meeting.

Having the best two days of my life. Hanging out, watching horrifying movies, and spending time with some teammates before one of the biggest cross country races that exist tomorrow morning. Hundreds of people were going to attend this event to cheer on a family member. Even though this was three years ago and I came just to support some of Forest Park cross country runners.

I woke up thinking this is the day, the day that I would have to try my best. On October 21, 2017 in Rapid City, South Dakota the day of my biggest cross-country race had come. It was state. I felt very thrilled and nervous that the day had come.

I never dreamed of being in a band, not in a million years. One day I was at the monthly Jam at Center Stage Vintage Guitars. I always had a great time jamming with the people there. And I always brought my banjo to the jams. It started out just like they usually do when all of a sudden this guitar player came up to me and said, “I got to talk to you.” I was confused and felt like a cat with no claws because I didn't know what he wanted. He looked funny because his extremely curly hair was as long as a redwood tree. He introduced himself and a bass player next to him. The guitarist was Greg Sanders and the bass player was Neill Jones. Neill looked as short as a middle-schooler, although he was twenty three.

My first recollection of race was daycare. I remember seeing many different skin and eye colors but didn’t understand how they were so much more different than me. I recall asking my mother why I didn’t have green eyes and how my skin color was different. She explained everyone is made differently that’s what makes them unique. My first recollection of racism was in third grade. The nurse came to the classroom to check the classroom for lice. Myself and a few other classmates weren’t checked properly because she didn’t want to touch our hair. Instead of bringing us out individually she called us by a group which made me feel different. Also, I was told it’s impossible to get lice because of the hair products used.

Race has shaped our world greatly, as we have slowly learned that just because someone’s skin is darker does not mean they are any less of a person. For example, Rosa Parks was one of the first black people to stand up for themselves. Black people were told to sit at the back of the bus but Rosa did not follow these rules. She was asked to move but she did not give up her seat, that was closer to the front. She taught us that just because she is black does not mean she deserves less respect. Another example is, Hate Crimes.in 1989 a law was passed that added the black community to hate crimes, which means that if someone hurt them because of the colour of their skin there will be severe consequences. This was passed to show that the government

This Weekend I went turkey hunting by the white river. It was supposed to be the ultimate weekend Turkey hunting in the morning and trout fishing in the afternoon. I honestly thought what could go wrong. The first morning we went out to hunt it started out slow which is unbelievable because we were chasing the turkeys. We got out about a mile into the woods and got our calls out. I start calling and don't even get to the second scrape when “GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE!” I hear loud and clear i signal my uncle over to tell him we need to set up and we did.

If you try to race a swarm of Yellowjackets, you are in for a world of hurt. When I was 12, my friends and I decided we would have a race amongst the magnolia trees near our house in the country. Closer to a shrub than a tree, the limbs hung low to the ground, creating a perfect obstacle course for the neighborhood kids to play in. When we decided on a set of rules and nominated a referee, we made our way to our starting positions. After we started to maneuver our way through the bows and crooked trees, I ended falling behind due to me being the slowest of the bunch. It was at this point, I heard a faint noise from under my feet and immediately stopped to inspect the ground around me only to see a Yellowjacket nest. During my slow understanding of the situation, I had managed to step on and kill at least one of the yellow bugs that were guarding the nest's entrance. The reaction was not something I had

On my way to one of the greatest concerts, thoughts were swirling around my head. How good will this really be? Will I make it out alive tonight? Was it worth the wait? The thought that the next highly anticipated song that plays may cause a riot so large it ends my life. I soon found out after I entered the House of Blues, or rather, as I prepared to enter The Rodeo.

Ever since I was a little boy, I always wanted to be the person in charge. I put this to the test at a young age by being the captain of my travel baseball team. As the catcher of the team I was in charge of where everyone in the field is positioned. Catchers can see everything and everyone, so they have to communicate with their teammates about where they need to go. This role came naturally to me because I always want to be in control of what is going on. Taking this role lead my team to very well against competition that should have blown us out of the water. After that year I knew that I wanted to put into a position of authority later in life.

Before I started going to SOTA, I had been homeschooled for the past X years. And when I transferred from homeschooling to high school, it was like traveling to a different country. During the early months of my freshman year, I felt like everyone around me was speaking a different language and sadly I didn’t have google translate. I was unsure about how to appeal to the seemingly endless crowds of unfamiliar teachers, students, and social customs. This, as I have discovered is unfortunately not just a high school thing. Even when you have survived freshman year and have some vague sense of who you are and how to be your most authentic self, one can still face the common feeling of being out of place in your current environment.

As the tension boils, the melting pot of the world is slow turning into a roasting pot of racial tension and divided. A subject that has become so taboo and swept under the rug is now coming to light. Although its taken several horrible unforeseen events to bring these issues to the forefront at least the conversation is finally occurring (happening).

“Stretch!” Coach Marushak yelled as the girls prepared for their race. It was the first race of the season. Practice had began in May throughout summer, and now into the school year. Everyday practice was held from three to five in the afternoon. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they met up at the pool at six in the morning to swim laps back and forth. This year was to their advantage because most of their races were at their home course. This allowed them to understand the course and practice on the hardest area, which was the hill behind the football stadium. Coach Marushak trained them to sprint at the beginning of the race but to eventually find their running pace so that they would not get tired too fast. He also trained them to stride out during

My Family and I were at home eating dinner. After dinner I told my mom that I had left something on top of the mountain, so she said “‘go up to get it Mary. But she didn’t want me to go alone so I went to go see if my friend was home but he wasn’t so I disobeyed my moms rules and went up by myself anyway. And it was starting to get dark so I had to get the base fast but I couldn’t find it. Now it was really dark and 2 hours had already passed and I couldn't my way off the mountain because it was so dark. And with my luck my phone died so I couldn’t call anyone for help, so I just started walking and walking after a little bit I realized I was getting nowhere so again I walked eventually I just fell and went to