A Bleak Outlook

This is from when we were playing around with the Pitches and Plot Bunnies.  This is the last one – Setting and Significant Detail.  I got a little carried away from that track, but I had fun with it.

Look at the bleak gray bricks. The windows seeing clear through to the inside. No one can see the inside of me. No one would want to. Those damn happy people inside, going about their business like the world is fine. The world is not fine! Nothing is fine! Everything is different now and damn it, everything sucks. See that bright green parakeet swooping around that old lady’s apartment? Ooh, look at me, my life is wonderful. I have a beautiful happy family, delicious meals whenever I want and not a care in the world. Whatever.

What I like is the shadows. The dark shadow it casts over the gray sidewalks. I want to just crawl inside it and stay there, forever. Better yet, have it crash down over me. Then I could end this terrible pain. Too bad I can fly, I can’t commit suicide by jumping off the building. That would be a quick way to go. My stupid wings would just come out and save me. How does a bird commit suicide? I guess I could fly in front of a car. That might hurt a bit more though. And who knows, the bitch driving might actually see me and stop. Then I’d feel even worse. To try to commit suicide and fail. That’s bad. I could fly right into one of those horrible, way-too-clean glass windows that everyone thinks we can’t see. We’re not stupid ya know. “Bird-brain” – I’m a small freakin animal, of course I have a small brain.

None of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for those god-forsaken crows. They can’t just let us have our space in the park. I’ve been living in this park for my whole life, my family for generations. Then they come in and think it’s theirs. My bench, my tree, my light post. Please! Come in acting like it doesn’t matter that I laid countless eggs in this park. I celebrated weddings, anniversaries, birthdays in those trees, building nests, sharing worms. They just come in here with those ugly pointy beaks and their boring black feathers and try to push us out. Bigger isn’t always better. I’m willing to share, but they think they’re too good to share with us. That shiny black feathers are better than soft, fuzzy brown ones. Who are they to say?

Character Sketch About Brittany H.

Character Sketch About Brittany

To me, Brittany seems cheerful and very outgoing. She is not shy at all. I guess Brittany likes the color blue based on she chose a blue pen to write with during the writing program. Brittany writes a lot for the writing assignments. I notice that Brittany likes to write about her life at home and her feelings and expressions on how her situations at home made her feel. Brittany has braces. If I am wrong, I think the color of her braces might be pink from what I remember. Maybe her favorite color is pink because she wore a pink and white tank top. I really don’t whether her favorite color is pink or blue or really maybe both. It seems that Brittany is really friendly. Brittany wears glasses so I guess she has bad eyesight because people who wear glasses have bad eyesight. Her hair is brown. I really don’t know anything about Brittany. I just know a couple of thongs about Brittany based on her appearance and her movement. I have noticed that Brittany likes to write about poems that influence people and talk about every day life. For instance, she wrote a poem called If Ever Were A Spring Day So Perfect and talked about a person everyday life were as she is saying you know how the world is full of guns, crimes, deceit. Etc that the world is good every day. In her poem Brittany is trying so if one day will the world be so perfect were as no guns, killings, etc. Brittany is so nice and one day maybe she can help change the world with her words through the wonderful poems she writes. Brittany is a great writer especially when she writes poems.

Ashley

“What’s A Cheesesteak?”

“Rumman, my feet are killing me,” Zainab Afzal added to her list of complaints.
“You should have worn sneakers,” I shot back in annoyance. Zainab was my best friend visiting from a wealthy town in upstate New York. She had never been exposed to city life, which made the trip quite interesting. I knew everything was going to go wrong when I saw her walking out of the house wearing expensive shoes and highly stylish jeans for a shopping trip to South Street. Philadelphia was going to be a completely new experience for her.
It was a hot summer day and I could tell Zainab was already feeling uncomfortable with the weather. We hopped onto the crowded and sweltering SEPTA bus heading towards South Street.
“Rumman, you know I’m claustrophobic!” Zainab whispered into my ear.
“ Just wait, we’re almost here,” I answered losing patience. We got off the bus and waited at the traffic light of South and Broad watching the cars rush by. I slowly began to cross and Zainab was already having a hard time keeping up with me. We walked into the store and the cold air conditioning put my body at ease. Zainab quickly ran to the nearest bench and sat down. She seemed like she was panicking and started fanning herself as if the room wasn’t cold enough.
“What’s wrong now?” I asked impatiently.
“This weather is going to give me sunburn and I’m going to get acne!” she whined. I thought maybe if we went out and got food, she would feel better. We walked inside a pizza place overwhelmed by the astonishing smell of pizza. As we sat down on the table with our food, I didn’t think that there was anything else that Zainab would complain about until she said,
“Oh my god, EW this pizza is too oily.” By that point I had already had enough and glared at her. She got the idea and started to eat the pizza without any more complaints. We walked into a store full of beautifully designed and labeled T-shirts. Zainab and I got identical shirts that had “I Love Philly” printed on them. We roamed around the store laughing at the humorous ones. After buying our T-shirts we walked around a little while longer. Just when I thought we were actually having fun, the worst thing happened. I decided that before Zainab started whining again for feeling hot and sweaty, we would get ice cream. I got a creamy float overflowing with brownie bits and ice cream and Zainab got a regular milkshake. We walked outside of Dairy Queen and there seemed to be a homeless man waiting for us. Most Philadelphians know to ignore them but as we all know, Zainab didn’t. He started mumbling in gibberish looking over at us in desperation. Zainab gripped my wrist and I was sure that my blood circulation had stopped. The old homeless man reached out his hand towards Zainab begging her for money. I started to walk away but after a few seconds of walking, I realized Zainab wasn’t with me. As I turned my head, I heard a terrifying scream. Zainab was standing next to the homeless man waving her arms around and pushing the poor guy away. I ran over feeling everybody’s eyes watching me intrigued with the show. I grabbed Zainab’s arm and pulled her away walking as fast as I could.
“Rumman, what was wrong with that man!” She was shouting at the top of her lungs.
“Zan, you’re suppose to learn to ignore those people, they are bums!” I yelled back. I watched tears run down her cheek feeling sorry for her. I knew that the best possible thing to do at that moment was to leave.
“I am so sorry if this isn’t what you were expecting,” she apologized. If this were a few hours ago, I would have gotten annoyed but at that point I actually felt bad for her.
We walked down to Walnut Street to do more shopping. As soon as we walked into one of the stores, Zainab got an immediate rush of excitement. The stores on Walnut were all highly brand named which was the type of clothing Zainab wore. She started grabbing and pulling clothes of shelves to try them on. I finally saw her smiling. After an hour’s worth of shopping, we were walking to 15th street to head home. As Zainab and I were walking, we passed a bar with a crowd of people standing outside completely wasted. Zainab tried walking past them quickly but one man grabbed her arm and started dancing with her. I was so scared for her because of what happened after the past experience with the homeless man. I tried looking for her getting myself lost in the crowd of drunken people. When I found her she had a confused look on her face as the man continued dancing and shouting unappealing things. Zainab finally got away and I was ready to hear her burst into tears but instead I got something unexpected. She started roaring with laughter and said,
“Wow, you people are freakin’ crazy.”
“Welcome to Philadelphia,” I answered.
“That was definitely the funniest thing that ever happened to me,” Zainab said with excitement. I could really tell she was finally having a good time. We both continued to walk back home with the feeling of satisfaction and happiness.
“Zainab, you hungry?” I asked
“Oh my God, I’M STARVING,” she answered. I was really craving a cheesesteak so I said,
“Dude, I’m up for a cheesesteak, aren’t you?”
“What’s a cheesesteak…?” Zainab asked with confusion. I stood there with my mouth wide open not believing what she had just asked.
“You have got a lot to learn about the greatness of a Philly cheesesteak,” I said.
“Right…” Zainab agreed not exactly knowing what she had agreed to. Her trip to Philadelphia turned out to be worth it after all.

Untitled.

i didnt write this in class but i kind of like this poem

i wrote it in the beginning/middle of last school year.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.
The sound of the “denied” stamp I’m slamming down on all these resumes.
Not a sweet sensation
Nor the most horrible thing ever.
People walk in and out of my office every day
They are drawn by the bright lights and this invisible sign I don’t see
that reads
“We’re desperate”
They line up between the velvet ropes, awaiting their turn to spit their
piece.
“Uhh yeah my name is Jay. You got a dude?”
Clomp. Denied.
“How old are you?”
Clomp. Denied
“Can I get your number?”
Do I even need to tell you what the answer is?
All day, this process continues, with the number of people being Denied
growing to the grand number that it is.
I was getting ill from the thought of one more guy walking in, for me to
take my wooden stamp, smack it in the red ink, and slam it on the
paper…
Clomp.
But then, you walked in.
With your cocky manner, I prepared my denied stamp.
You walked up to me, ever so smoothly, with your crisp jeans and super
fly sneakers. Your shirt had a funny saying on it, it made me laugh on
the inside.
You were 5 steps away from me, I looked at you with wide eyes, trying
hard not to bite my lip. I thought you were going to say the stupidest
thing out your mouth, but I was too distracted on what you said because
I couldn’t think about anything but that luminous smile of yours. There
was something about your charm that just brought me in, waist deep, into
your ocean of passion.
I didn’t even need to hear what you said.
I could be deaf and hear everything I needed to in your eyes.
I looked in my desk for my approved stamp, but of course it was no where
to be found when needed.
Then I sat back and thought about it, I don’t need an ink stamp to tell
you how much I adore, how much I feel for you, how great I think you and
me can be together.
I stood up from behind my desk and slowly walked over to you, with my
heart racing 3 times as fast as my foot steps.
We stood face to face, I took a breath.
“Do you want the job?” I asked in my softest voice. Hoping you would say
the right answer, you didn’t let me down at all. “Of course”
To replace my Approved stamp, I knew what would be the perfect
substitution.
I looked into your eyes, leaned in ever so slowly, and kissed you. Not
only was it magic baby, but, it was the best stamp to tell you that you
were Approved.

The Writing Process

April apprehensively approaches the small semi circle and carefully sits beside me. She lowers her head and shuffles her feet which are snug and comfortable in royal blue Reeboks. “I didn’t finish and it’s not one page, and I think I need some help,” the words come tumbling from her adolescent mouth.

Duane, clad in his signature black and turquoise Tupac shirt walks over to April and whispers, “Calm down girl, we got your back.”

April slowly begins to read but stops suddenly in the middle of a sentence. “I think I need a period or comma here. It sounds like a run on.” Kevin, who sits on the other side of me leans forward and requests that April repeat her sentence.

As she is re reading, YaMeer shouts out “Yo! Ms. Zini, how do you spell automatic?” Before I can respond Takeisha leaps out of her desk and scurries over to YaMeer, shaking her finger in his face, “Why you gotta be rude, YaMeer? You know it’s not your turn!?”

I smile proudly. The writing process in motion.

If ever a spring day so perfect

If ever a spring day so perfect,
The triais, tribulations, pain, and the misery

If ever a spring day so perfect,
Young teens wouldn’t be having sex and having babies

If ever a spring day so perfect,
Men and women would be well educated and not locked up somewhere in the county wondering if they would ever see their families and also light again

If ever a spring day so perfect,
Homeless people would have made better decisions, you chose to get addicted, you chose to do those things that you knew wasn’t right.

If ever a spring day so perfect,
Obama would be president, our society is quickly dying. We the people need a major change in society, in our natural lives

If ever a spring day so perfect,
The constant murder after murder

Do you ever stop and think how the families of that man, women, boy, or girl that you just killed. That child of God had a future ahead of him or her. You killed them and their dreams. You killed yourself. You wake up ever morning with that pain inside of you. Just think?

If ever a spring day so perfect

Priceless

Dancing- pointe, pink tutus, ballet, stretches, leaps and turns, lifts, jumps

Chocolate ice cream

Best friends Tierrah and Sedae

Favorite subjects are biology and algebra

Going to Princeton or Yale for college

Priceless

Going to The Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush High School of Creative And Performing Arts for high school

Shopping at Hollister&CO,  Abercrombie & Fitch, and Ralph Lauren

Enjoying track & field and cheer-leading

Having mom, dad, a brother, an aunt, an uncle, and a little cousin as my family

Having dreams of becoming an obstetrician

Priceless

Attending med-school

Talking on the phone with friends

Running up the cell phone bill

$509.69

$406.00

$601.96

Priceless

Living around different cultures

Priceless

fights between my little brother and I

Going to the movies

Bring It On

Sydney White

She’s The Man

Step Up 2

Freddy vs Jason

The Grudge

One Missed Call

Priceless

Spending on clothes

A $69.99 Ralph Lauren striped long-sleeved polo

A $128.00 Abercrombie & Fitch blue vest

A $150.00 pair of tan and blue Nikes

A pair of $98.00 Abercrombrie & Fitch low rise jeans

Priceless

My school

My school. Northeast high, which is located near the lousy-annoying road where the cars can barely move. School is huge and vast that you can hardly imagine and it’s quite pretty so you will have a great impression on it. But that is from outside only, inside the building is where the crazy things exist. Thousands of students were inside and desperately trying to breathe. Many students squeeze in one little tiny classroom. During the class, you better not move, because you would be yelling millions times of “excuse me” before you can get out the class! When the bell rings, thousands of students rush out the class rooms while carrying their unbelievable thunderous voices, that is worse than dogs barking all over the places, worse than having nightmares. Despite all that, there is an unique grand sight people-scape after school where all people want to get out the building. It’s like a heavy Tsunami coming out the building. Anyways, that’s how my school is for me.

5 Senses- Alex’s Shoes

When I first saw her shoes I saw the crazy bright colors. Then I got that POW or BAM feeling, it was like the colors were jumping at me. Also the laces make me feel a bit insane, the wild yellow all over the place and jumping out into all different directions. Then I could see the round edges and the ridged lines on the bottom of the shoe. Then when I started writing this, I looked more closely. I saw that on the white parts it’s actually plain or bland. I get the feeling like the white parts are just there, or they’re just an after thought. Now when I look at the tongue of the shoe it looks fluffy and it looks like a mini pillow. Then when I see the shoe as a whole I see that it is very small. The shoe almost looks like Alex went on a website and custom ordered them to be that way.

Regina’s Character Sketch

When Regina walked into the room, she didn’t say much and quietly sat down. I thought she seemed very shy but I was wrong. Once we got into our journal groups, Regina began a conversation. While I was pondering about what to write, I noticed she was writing with her right hand. When we were sharing out stories Regina had a lot share. She was nervous but it was understandable because Regina had been through so much based on what she wrote about. She stayed very strong with an emotional story and was able to pull out a smile. I noticed Regina loved to smile. Through the days, she often used pink items and dressed in pink. I assumed pink was one of her favorite colors. While we were talking, Regina told me that she attended a dance school. That told us that she enjoyed and was interested in dancing.