The Silent Orphan By Virgil Sapienti

Reading “The Child’s Draft” by Anne Lamott was very interesting and insightful to read. After reading her article, I can say that I strongly agree with her ideas. The reason why I say this is because I can connect with her ideas and do agree with the fact that we do not always write perfect papers on the first try. Personally, I believe that my main factor of being unable to do this is English not being my first language. Ever Since I can remember, when it came to writing essays it would take me hours just to begin with my paper. I would have the idea and maybe even knew what I wanted to write; but as Anne Lamott mentioned, the hardest part was always to put in on paper. So, writing a first “child’s draft” would indeed work for me. Writing

Discuss how your investigation of the generic conventions of poetry has influenced your understanding of at least one poem that you have studied in this unit.

A famous short story, “The Quiet Man,” by Maurice Walsh, tells the tale of the protagonist, Shawn Kelvin, who must come to a resolution both internally and externally throughout the story. Shawn experiences a rollercoaster of up and downs during the story, around the 1950’s in Ireland. Shawn finds the women of his dreams and he marries her, but her brother, Big Liam O’Grady, is the man of the town. Traditionally, dowry is given from the bride’s family to the groom's family. Shawn has no respect from Big Liam O’Grady, or the town. Shawn wants to receive his respect from Big Liam O’Grady and love from Ellen. Shawn is willing to do anything for her, even it comes down to a fight. Shawn fights himself and others, internally and externally, to

On November 14, 2007, Joe Horn, a sixty-one year old retired man, was at home when he saw two people breaking into his neighbors’ house. Horn then called 911 and retrieved his shotgun. While on the phone with the emergency operator, Horn was told to stay inside and wait for police, but when he saw the two men leaving he ignored the instructions and went to chase them. During the 911 call, the sound of a shotgun being cocked can be heard before Horn shouts, “Move, you’re dead,” and three shots ring out.

Jonathan Kozol, in the chapter entitled “Other People’s Children, discusses and justifies the kinds of limitations placed on children who must attend poorly funded, educationally inferior school. Kozol argues that children in the inner-city schools are not fit to go to college and that they should be trained in schools for the jobs they will eventually hold, even though these jobs are less prestigious, lowest-level jobs in society. Kozol’s argument is based on the fact that students from the inner-city or rather from the societies that do not have enough job opportunities are not supposed to learn much because their society cannot accommodate most of the courses that are often found in the urban settings. For example, there is a point where Kozol cites one of the businessman’s statement which says, ‘It doesn’t make sense to offer something that most of these urban kids will never use.’ The businessman continues to argue, ‘no one expects these ghetto kids to go to college. Most of them are lucky if they are literate. If we can teach some useful skills, get them to stay in school and graduate, and maybe into jobs, we’re giving them the most that they can hope for’ (Kozol 376). This statement clearly indicate that the society should accept the inequalities and exercise the same inequalities even in education.

The definition of abuse is when someone uses cruel and violent treatment to negatively affect a person repeatedly. Abuse can come in a variety of ways, such as psychological abuse, mental abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and one of the most common yet overlooked is sexual abuse. In the book A Child Called IT, David Pelzer writes the story of his childhood. A child whose whole life was surrounded by abuse, his mother would beat him and hurt him in such a way that she left him almost dead in several occasions. Sharon olds wrote a series of poems that all seemed to link up together after reading them consecutively. I go back to May 1937 is dealing with changing her existence, Little things is about focusing on enjoying small things,

In the book entitled, There Are No Children written by Alex Kotlowitz, he writes a story about two boys that are of coming of age in Chicago in the housing projects called Henry Horner Homes over a two year time period. In their housing projects, the family faces many hardships and struggles to survive in life due to the influence of gangs, violence, death and poverty that consumes their housing projects. Living in such a bad neighborhood like Henry Horner homes proves the fact that “there are no children here” in the housing projects because the children have seen so much crime, violence and death occur that they have lost their youth and innocence as children and have been forced to become adults. An example of one character that changed dramatically due to the horrible conditions of in the projects was Lafeyette Rivers, one of the two main characters in the novel. The three most important events that impact Lafeyette’s life for the worst were the death of his best friend Craig, when his mother told him that he would be forced to become a young adult, and finally being convicted of a crime he did not commit in the first place. These three major events in his life greatly impact Lafeyette over the two year time period it causes Lafeyette to lose all hope in life and as well to live in constant fear of death and of his housing projects.

They also talked to people in town who were known to have grudges against the Clutters, but all of them turned out to have alibis for the night of the murderer. The hired help and his family who lived next door reported to not have heard any gunshots, which seemed suspicious. However the KBI determined the barn would have blocked the sound of the shots, and since the family also had alibis, they were dismissed as suspects.

Many witnesses are not giving the idea of the two men being actual policemen. Word is spreading fast in the town of Chicago, and many people are believing it is the work of Chicago’s own.

In the “Invisible Child” written by Andrea Elliot, a lifestyle of a homeless girl named Dasani and her family is shown. Elliot displays Dasani’s culture, and some of the struggles that she and her family face daily because they are homeless. Dasani is very dedicated to her school work. She wants to be better than anyone in her family ever was so she doesn’t have to worry about being homeless for the rest of her life. In some ways I can relate to Dasani, I am very passionate about my school work as well. I want to excel so I can be my very best in the future. However, our reasoning’s for wanting to be the best we can be are a little different. She wants to excel so she no longer has to worry about being homeless whereas I’ve never been homeless so I cannot say the exact same. I grew up being a very privileged kid. Both of my parents worked full time good paying jobs. I’ve never had to want for much of anything. My parents have always spoiled me with nice things, they have always made sure my siblings and I had nice clothes and a decent meal to eat. They are even paying for me to attain a college education. Dasani and her family however are a lot different from mine. In the “Invisible Child” Elliot tells us how Dasani’s parents do not have legit jobs, instead they have side “hustles” that only bring in a few dollars. Elliot states (2013) that a lot of mornings Dasani was starving at school because she had no breakfast. Dasani and her siblings also had to wear clothes that were

One of the bullets fired by the gang member missed him and killed Yvonne Nelson, a city

Tobias Wolff’s parents divorced when he was around 5 years old and Wes Moore’s father die when he was age 3. At the same time, fathers of both these men were missing from their life at an early age. Wolff writes, “For the breakup of our family five years earlier and the misery of her long violent affair, she was going to make up for lost time, and I was going to help her.” By moving from Florida to Utah, Tobias states “We are going to change our luck.” (Wolff, 1989, This Boy’s Life, chapter 1) Likewise, without the presence of a father, the mothers faced raising the boys alone. Just as Moore writes, “I tried to copy his walk, his expressions, I was his main man. That is one of only two memories I have of my father.” (Moore, 2010, The Other

In “Invisible Child,” a New York Times article written by Andrea Elliot, we follow a day in the life of a young African American girl, Dasani, growing up in New York City. However, instead of living in an “Empire State of Mind,” Dasani lives in the slums, growing up homeless with her two drug addicted parents and seven siblings. Dasani often finds herself taking care of her siblings, making sure they have enough to eat, tying shoelaces, changing diapers, getting them to the bus stop in time, and the list goes on. An 11 year old girl, essentially taking care of a whole family, as well as taking care of herself by going to school, receiving an education, and partaking in extra-curricular activities. Elliot captures the life and struggles of a family well under the poverty line, giving us an unprecedented look into what Dasani must do each day not just to grow up in New York City, but to survive.

There is also miscommunication between the two officers, While one officer is saying “He has a gun” it is most likely meant that the gun is not in his hands, while the officers who did not see the gun only heard the words “He has a gun” and immediately decided to use deadly force.

Then, a figure covered in black sneaked into the room. Nobody noticed him, until he held a gun to Aunt Mildred’s