Personal Narrative: What It Means

I have lived in only one location my entire life: Edwardsville, Illinois. A peripheral suburb of St. Louis, it stands as the rare oasis of people in a desert of corn, pinned in its own personal bubble. Due to this blend of time and isolation, I developed a natural familiarity with my hometown. But, throughout my childhood, I longed to break free from the confines of the bubble and venture outward. However, this changed last summer, as I walked through Richards Brickyard, our family heirloom, that my great-grandfather, Benjamin Richards, founded over 120 years ago. I felt these childlike sentiments slip away. The bubble that had surrounded me for so long began to vanish, and the picture that it had been obscuring was slowly revealed.

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.

He even hit her in public at the town’s store when Janie put him in his place about the way he had been treating her [Page 80].

said, '...go and tell her she's a whore. Whatever promise she may sense - break it, John, break it.'

when the girl came in to tell him how happy she was that he was leaving. “Then she

“He tied her up in the corner of a room and told me to never speak about her whenever guest came around.”

Vanessa told the man that he was welcome to come eat with her family. She stated that the waitress who served them were being very disrespectful to the man. However, Vanessa told the waitress that disrespect would not be tolerated. She also told the waitress that as long as the man was sitting at her table, he would be treated with respect.

He told a female contestant on The Apprentice: "I bet you make a great wife."

he asked her why does she sleep with men? She answered she is making money for her son since when she goes home, she sees that her son is on the

him he was tired. She then asked him if he wanted supper but he said

when she asks "what need one?". They knew this would cause him to leave either house as he had too much pride to agree.

It was funny how she would always have her “Girls Night Out” and he wouldn’t say a word about it. He actually liked the peace and quiet it afforded him. But if the tables were to ever turn as they did on that beautiful day, she could not understand for the life of her where this sudden

that the she should have slept in a Motel and he asks her why she

talking, you must be two of the silliest girls in the country”. When rebuked by his wife for saying

took his money and jewels. When she did it was as if he was more upset