Coming of Age Draft

     "Two more days Skylar, good luck and have fun!" repeated in my head over and over again. Thoughts kept running in and out of my mind, would I make new friends...get good grades? Going to a new different type of environment without knowing anyone to go through with, is not an ideal way of getting through your first day.
       I was constantly given advice of what and what not to do the week right before school started. I felt overwhelmed with all the things I needed to know and needed to do. I was so used to seeing the same people everyday that I didn't think of what was coming my way, until it hit me. New faces, new classes, new campus was all a blur until the first day of school was getting closer and closer.
      Waking up the morning where it was finally time to be in high school, my heart started to race and my level of nervousness increased. My parents tried to make me calm by telling me all the good things that could happen, but in the end that did not work. Arriving at school, I tried to stall my parents into forcing me to get out of the car by asking as many questions as I could, but coming to my senses I realized that I would never know if I didn't try.
      Getting out of the car, I immediately tried to find people I knew so that I wouldn't be alone. Looking at all the other freshmen with their group of friends made me insecure that I didn't have a chance of finding new friends. I realized that I still had to follow a schedule that they have given to us the first day of school, I began to look around  for my class asking for help from those who looked like they weren't new to the school. After all the school business that had to be taken care of, they sent us off to do the  other things that we had to do on our own.
     I thought to myself that if I did not try to be brave and step out of my comfort zone I would not get anywhere. So waiting in line to pay off school fees, I introduced myself to another person in line. I was scared at first, but when I gave it a try I felt as if it wasn't going to be that bad after all. I learned that if I didn't try new things and stopped being shy around others, I can do other things I've always wanted to do and achieve my goals. Even though I was scared, I have come to a conclusion that I can do new things and meet new people when I set aside the bad side of my personality and become a whole different person.

Blog revision

For my blog revision I have remade my head graphic which included pictures of me with friends and family. I did not decorate my graphic to make it look overwhelming, but in a way I have made it simple and creative. For my blog archive I have labeled all my work that I have done my freshmen year and made it easier to distinguish the work I will do this year.

Individual position statement

     Maui's popular Nakalele Point blowhole is one of many sites visited by tourists. There had been a few unfortunate situations where people were either injured or killed in that very area. Although the people who manage this attraction put up very little warning signs, it is the tourists liability to take precaution and focus on the surroundings in that area.
     Some tourists may be careful and follow the rules that are given to them when visiting the blowhole, and others may think that just because there is not much protection around that area they can go and enter a very dangerous territory.  Witnesses said that David Potts had been dancing in the section of the blowhole and a wave had hit him and knocked him into the hole. Other tourists at another attraction such as Daniel Dick had been sitting on the active blowhole and had been lifted up three to five feet in the air, which had caused his death. These situations prove that the tourists are liable to be on guard in these type of areas.
     There is an one and only sign at this attraction stating, "Blowhole: Park and walk at your own risk," but this still wasn't enough to keep them away from that area.  People were told about the injuries and deaths at the Nakalele Point blowhole, but they still continued to gather around the blowhole to get a "closer look." Tourists should be able to look for warning signs and stay in the areas marked for them to stay safe.

GLO portfolio parent presentation

You are invited to go ahead and go over some examples of my work I have done this past school year.

Link: http://www.wix.com/skylarmanuel/gloportfolio#!glo-1

Poetry Project: Connections essay

       Everyone may have a reason of not having the courage to do certain things. People may be afraid of certain things and may not want to go up and about to try them. Courage is an important factor in a person's life, without it there would be no changes and people would not be able to get what they want. It can help you to meet more people, and it can help you to try new things that you were once afraid of.
      There is a connection between all of my pieces, the connection is that in every one's life there may be one or a couple of things that can frighten them, because of other people or other people's examples. Because of that reason some may not be confident as much. There may always be a point in a person's life where they face their fears to help a person or maybe just to do it to boost up their self-confidence.  There is a connection of how people can have hurts or sufferings and not have the courage to get back back up and try to start over. There may be struggles that bring you down and keep you from speaking up and making a difference.
        Courage is the ability to do what frightens one and the strength in the face of pain of grief. So, instead of showing weakness and fear all a person needs is a little bit of courage. Courage will not hold you back from doing the things you love to do, but there are some things that just hold people back from doing them.

5 steps draft

Poem 1: famouspoetsandpoems.com

  I Mark Your Courage  by Ivan Donn Creswell

I had no profound feelings of shock or surprise

to those matter-of-fact revelations

which spelled the end of this chapter of your life.

It was, as you put it, too late for recriminations,

and the horrendous realities could be no worse

for having faced them.

I mark your courage in that moment of admission,

when your soul cried out in sympathetic pain,

worn thin by abrasions of self-imprisonment

and total subjugation to providence.

You did not disguise your frailty

as lesser men are apt by schemes

which shorten their horizons, elaborate their dreams.

That you are a molecule conniving in

the physics of human chemistry

is no slight upon your status,

without dynamic you are less

a man of cloth than habit claims you be;

And martyr to ascription is the poorer fate

than anticipated condemnation from

a selfless breach of faith.

Ordinary passions do not progress beyond

the continuum of priestly enlightenment; we share

a whole psychology of man's experience

as our eternal life. Its unitary expression

is no greater than the measureless sum,

and the sum is no value less than life itself.

No enlightened soul can judge another man

for passions of humanity; the sentence of conscience

is an arbitrary punishment in which we all delight.

I am no herdsman fearing ill in ceaseless care

of herded sheep, nor could I choose

entanglement with such an entity; your flock

survives as do your prayers, and will survive

long past your flight. You earned their trust

in episodes of heart and light, and keep

its privileged charter frozen out of time,

embalmed in a perfect past.

As one we mourn your passing.

    I think that this poem is about how there are so many reasons why people do not have the courage to do things that they are not used to doing. Evocative language (underlined) are words in this poem that describe what people feel which maybe sadness and other feelings. There are figurative comparisons such as "we share a whole psychology of man's experience as our eternal life." This means that what one person experiences, everyone else does to. which means that people almost does the same things as everyone else. This poem refers to all the pains and sufferings that a person can have. There are so many things that can make you scared and make you not want to do things. Due to all of those things a person can lose their courage to stand up and go up and about to do the things that frighten them. 

Poem 2: poemhunter.com

Courage- Harihara Sudhahar Ramamoorthy

Many are the troubles we are confronted with,

Life is no more than a troublesome myth;

Reality is so bizarre and weak,

Sadness and fear has reached its peak;

What we lack is the courage to start;

Yet what we need is just a strong living heart,

Gather your wits all in one part,

And face that evil killing dart;

Whatever will happen, whatever it will take,

You are not going to let it break;

Cross the line and break your fate,

And start to try loving what you hate;

You have the right to decide your life' course,

But be ready it may be all hollow and hoarse;

Try all that you can but dont give up,

If in the end, you want the winning cup;

The courage is all that you need,

In your life, that will be the sowing seed,

It may put you in the lead,

But never will it be the 'weed';

If you think you are missing something,

It’s the courage, the courage, in your ears it will ring.

     I think that this poem is about what courage can do to your life, and that it can make a difference if you try. Evocative language(underlined)  are words that describe what life can have if we don’t have the courage.There is a metaphor “The courage is all that you need, In your life, that will be the sowing seed.” This means that courage is all you need to be happy and not regret doing things you’ve always wanted to do. This poem is about how life can give you troubles, but you do whatever it takes to be strong and not hold back from doing the things you want to do. We dodge the bad things and we don’t let those things bother us, so that way we can do what we want to do.

Poem 3:famouspoetsandpoems.com
Courage- Anne Sexton

It is in the small things we see it.

The child's first step,

as awesome as an earthquake.

The first time you rode a bike,

wallowing up the sidewalk.

The first spanking when your heart

went on a journey all alone.

When they called you crybaby

or poor or fatty or crazy

and made you into an alien,

you drank their acid

and concealed it.

Later,

if you faced the death of bombs and bullets

you did not do it with a banner,

you did it with only a hat to

comver your heart.

You did not fondle the weakness inside you

though it was there.

Your courage was a small coal

that you kept swallowing.

If your buddy saved you

and died himself in so doing,

then his courage was not courage,

it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.

Later,

if you have

Portfolio Reflection/Conference

This semester we having been learning more and more about writing traits. We have been given a few assignments to see what we could do with them. Now as we have practiced our writing with these traits, I am now able to enhance my skills to make my papers more lively.

1. What piece of writing did you like best in my portfolio and why?
2. What did you like about my portfolio and sharing and what would you like to see me improve on?
3. Which of the writing traits (ideas, organization, voice, word choice) do you feel was most successful for me?
4. Which of the traits of writing would you like me to improve on in the coming semester?