Essay 21

Colin

Mr. Salsich

8 English

4/29/10

Friendship:

An Essay about Friends in My

Life and in Romeo and Juliet

Dear Reader,

_____This is a multi-genre essay that will be including one expository paragraph, a free verse poem, a haiku poem, a classified ad, and interior monologue. This essay is also about friendship in my own life and in the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Thanks for reading,

-Colin-

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_____(TS)What is friendship? According to dictionary.com, friendship is "the state of being of a friend" and "a friendly relation or intimacy" with a person. (SD)In Romeo and Juliet, Paris sees Romeo walking sadly through the woods and he gets worried. (CM)This is a sign of true friendship, when a friend is truly worried about another friend. (CM)I think Romeo is lucky to have Paris as a friend because he will stick up for him and help him when he needs it. (SD)In my own life, I feel privileged to have one friend who will help me no matter what the consequences are. (CM)Even though he doesn't live close, all I need to do is call him and he will come running. (CM)We have known each other since we were born and our friendship is unbreakable. (CS)Friendship means different things to different people, but to me, it is as simple as just having a friend.

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Where is thy good friend,

Who supports thy's decisions,

Where is my Paris?

(Read with British ascent)

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_____Oh Mercutio, I honestly feel honored to be your friend. You have given me such great wisdom over the years. Your tragic death will be avenged and I will miss you old friend. If I had the choice, your life would not have ended in vain. You were the best friend I have ever known and I don't know what I will ever do without your guidance. Good by old friend. You will be missed.

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Help Wanted!

Looking for good friend with experience.

^Will do friend things like:^

~Have fun

~Mess around

~Help each other

~And more

^Requirements:^

* Need to be kind

* Need to stand up for me

* Need to have fun

* Need to help me when needed

Will pay with many hugs!

Hours include when needed or wanted

Call: 1-(800)-588-2300

Thank you for calling

*****

_____What is a friend? Is it someone who you can trust your deepest secrets to? Is it someone who will help you and support you? Is it someone who will trust you? Is it someone who is nice to you? Yes, it is. A friend is everything and nothing at the same time. Your friend will make good decisions. Your friend will make bad decisions, but the true question is what will you do? Help them or let fall; be kind to them or be mean to them. True friends stick together.

Essay 20 Self Assessment

Colin
Mr. Salsich
8 English
4/26/10

What am I continuing to work on?
___In my essay, I am continuing to work on the introduction and concluding paragraphs.
What is strong about the essay?
___The specials are what I think are strong in my writing.
What is weak about the essay?
___I also think the concluding paragraph is weak.
What grade would I give myself?
___I would give my self a "B" on this essay.

Essay 20

Colin

Mr. Salsich

8 English

4/20/10

Family:

Family in To Kill a Mockingbird and in My life

_____(TS)Family is like the leaves on a tree: they stick together; they change together; and they are connected together. (CM)If one of those precious leaves falls, the rest will surely follow in due time. (CM)In addition, if one of those leaves starts changing, it leads the path for the others to follow. (CS)My own family and the Finches both are all connected

_____(TS)What I value and admire most in life is my family because each member has unique, strong and individual traits. (SD)One of the members of my family that I have high regards for my dad for one main reason. (CM)He never gives up, never stops fighting, and never surrenders, and by doing this, he brings hope and spirit to those around him (Loose Sentence). (CM)For instance, when our basement flooded, he spent over 48 hours down there vacuuming and brushing the water out. (SD)Another person I admire is my sister, Caroline, for many reasons. (CM)I am always marveling at her knack to learn new information quickly; in any subject from Spanish to English (Apt. Thesaurus Word). (CM)Every time I see her, she knows more and more about everything I may ask; wether it being a math problem to the time it takes to get to California. (CS)Not many people hull heatedly appreciate each individual member of their family, but I, on the other hand, do.

_____(TS)What is family? To me, family are people you can count on to stand by you no matter what the situation is. (SD)One of the members of my family is my sister and we always stand up for each other. (CM)In the book, Jem and Scout are always standing up for each other too; for instance, on the night they were attacked by Mr. Ewel, they kept fighting for each others safety and never gave up. (CM)This reminded me of a summer in Maine, when one of the kids at a party, took my bike; all of a sudden, Caroline stepped in, backed me up and helped me get my bike back. (SD)To continue, one thing about family is they help you out in any way they can. (CM)My dad is one of those people, who I can go to time after time and get advice or help with any problem. (CM)In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout feels she can go and trust her father with anything. (SD)In addition, Moms are very unique as they like to teach you how to respect, to use manners and to care (Parallelism). (CM)In the tome, Cal is like a mom to Scout, as she taught her much; for instance, Cal taught Scout how to respect her company (Apt. Thesaurus Word). (CM)My magnificent mom makes me know the meaning of most of these every day values that are needed in life (alliteration). (CS)Respect, moral courage, team work, support, and togetherness all represent family.

_____(TS)Family can be like many things: the leaves on the trees, the tires on a car and many more things. (CM)Like tires, family will always stay together, but if one pops, the rest will wait. (CM)Once it has been fixed, they will all continue together. (CS)Family stays together no matter what the situation might be.

Essay 19 Self Assessment

Colin

Mr. Salsich

8 English

4/13/10

Self Assessment for Essay 19.0

Something I am continuing to work on is...

_____In my essay, I am continuing to work on the coherency.

A strong point is...

_____A strong point in my writing would be the examples.

A week point is...

_____One of the week points in my writing is the clarity.

The grade I would give myself is...

_____On this essay, I would give myself a "B-".

Essay 19

Colin

Mr. Salsich

8 English

4/8/10

My Song:

An Essay about the "Traveling Soldier"

By the Dixie Chicks and

Romeo and Juliet

_____(TS)Emotions are important characters in the play of life. (CM)In the novel Romeo and Juliet, there are emotions portrayed on every page, every paragraph, and every sentence. (CM)These emotions are also evident in the song "Traveling Soldier," a story about pain, love and bravery. (CS)Both song and story share a theme of deep love and loss that is expressed by the characters.

_____(TS)The song Traveling Soldier by the Dixie Chicks contains a hodgepodge of themes (Apt. Thesaurus Word). (SD)In the beginning of the song, the soldier states, "I got no one to send a letter to." (CM)To me, this is showing he is alone and sad, with no one by his side, no family and no friends (Appositive). (CM)When I first heard this song, I had mixed emotions of sadness and joyfulness all at the same time because at first he was alone, but then he finally found someone. (SD)In addition, "nobody really cared" about the Traveling Soldier, except for "a pretty little girl with a bow in her hair" and she became his true love. (CM)This helped to show me how much pain and loneliness the war could cause. (CM)It also revealed to me how little some people cared about these brave soldiers. (CS)"Traveling Soldier" is a passionate song filled with fear, courage, and love, and these are some of the themes which relate it to the novel Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

_____(TS)There are many great songs that would portray different themes from Romeo and Juliet, but one I particularly admire is the "Traveling Soldier" by the Dixie Chicks (Apt. Thesaurus Word). (SD)In the book, Romeo sees Juliet for the first time and falls in love with her instantly and the same thing happened in the song with the soldier and the girl. (CM)Boy meets girl and it was love at first sight. (CM)In addition, Romeo and Juliet both want to love each other for ever just like the traveling soldier and the waitress; they say to each other "our love will never end." (SD)At the end of Romeo and Juliet, both lovers have their lives taken away; similarly, at the end of the "Traveling Soldier,'' death keeps the two lovers apart . (CM)Death had robbed the girl of her love. (CM)Both of these couples thought their love would last forever, yet death overcame them. (CS)Romeo and Juliet, and the couple in the ''Traveling Soldier" both shared a rare type of love that was ended by death.

_____(TS)In the game of "Life," emotions play a heavy role. (CM)You may see them near the break of war, or in the 1800s. (CM)Hiding from fear, love, and others is not feasible. (CS)You must embrace these gifts, these punishments, these emotions.

Essay #18 Self Assessment

Colin
Mr. Salsich
8 English
4/6/10
SELF ASSESSMENT
Something I am continuing to work on...
_____I am continuing to work on making the essay flow. I think it is still a little rough.  I am also continuing to make the essay "clean" or errors.  
A strong point...
_____I think a strong point would be the examples in the essay because I feel they all work well with the topic of the essay and tie everything in together.
A weak point...
_____A week point in this essay would be the ability to flow.  I feel it is still a little rough.  The grade I would give myself...
_____I would give myself an "+B" for this essay because I think I worked hard, but there are somethings that may still need to be changed.