Synthesis Essay

Tommy Lasorda once said “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.” The story “Versabraille” by Bill Schermbrucker and the article “Blindly He Goes…Up” by Steve Rushin who don’t let their unseeing eyes stop them from accomplishing their goals. Erik has successfully climbed many mountains including the treacherous journey of Mount Everest and Jim lives an active life and had a “thriving physiotherapy practice”.  Uncle Jim and Erik share several of the same qualities while facing their challenges. Both are determined, optimistic and humorous.

Erik and Jim have both been able to do what they desire and being blind hasn’t stopped them. They are both are determined to conquer their goals. Erik who became entirely blind at age 13 “is a skydiver, a paraglider and a marathon runner” and “has climbed the Seven Summits”. Jim, who “cannot remember actually seeing things”, went into town by himself, when he was seven to buy his father Rum and Maple. He also would travel to “three separate hospitals” for his physiotherapy practice and one was “at least a mile from the train”. It may seem to some that they “managed all this without…apparent difficulty” but even people who can see perfectly fine would have trouble facing these challenges. It doesn’t mean Erik and Jim didn’t have difficulty, it means that they accomplished their goals because they were determined.

Neither Erik nor Jim let the fact that they are blind stop them from doing what they love and having a positive look on life. Jim doesn’t let his disability stop him; instead he uses it to stand up for what he believes in and finding ways to help the blind and “make them independent”. He is trying to move blind people away from using guide dogs because if one dies “it’s not easy to adapt to a new one” and many people “homebound now” because of it. He tries to help spread awareness by using his blindness to bring attention to a problem many people may face. Erik has “scaled the rock face of Yosemite’s El Capitan” and “the icefall of Polar Circus in the Canadian Rockies”. He didn’t let not being able to see stop him from climbing “the fiberglass Matterhorn at Disneyland” either or Everest. Both men continue being optimistic about life and remain perusing their dreams. 

Although both are blind, Erik and Jim both have a clever sense of humor. Before Erik went to climb Mount Everest the Sherpa’s didn’t believe he was blind and to prove to them he was he, he “pulled down his lower left eyelid” and his “prosthetic eye drop into his cupped hand”. It dropped “like an olive into a martini glass” and when we offered to remove his right eye but the head Sherpa said she believed him. Also when Erik was a schoolteacher he snatched a “crinkling note” from a student that was about to pass is. “He threatened to read it to the hushed class”. “The kids knew [he] was blind” but somehow figured he was able to read it. Jim as a child made his siblings jealous because when it was lights out he could continue reading while they had to put their books away and go to bed. They could hear him “chuckling away to himself” as he could “just go on reading”.  Both Erik and Jim find ways to keep their lives interesting and bring humor into them.

 Both Erik and Jim are determined in achieving their goals. They show the world that although life can be difficult if you are determined enough its possible to achieve your goals and make your dreams come true. Erik and Jim demonstrate that it is possible to achieve your goals even if you have a disability such as their unseeing eyes.  

The Beatles: Charles Manson, Helter Skelter

Helter Skelter is a song written by Paul McCartney that is recorded by The Beatles and recorded on their album, The White Album. The Beatles recorded it over 18 times by The Beatles in 1968 beginning with a 27 minute version and eventually cutting the song down to just over 4 minutes. Charles Manson believed that Helter Skelter was part of the Beatles coded prophecy of an apocalyptic war over the treatment of black peoples. Charles Manson interpereted that the song was implying that the balck people were going to go up and the white people were going to go down. Manson became obsessed with the Beatles believing that Helter Skelter and believed that the White Album was directed to himself and the Family, a group of his enthusiasts. Manson first shot a black drug dealer, Bernard "Lotsapoppa" Crowe, on July, 1, 1969. He and the Family ended up assasinating 9 people and his trial began June 15, 1970. The death penalty was Mansons original sentence but was later reduced to life in prison.

College Application

Dear Sir, 
You wonder why I should be the one to get in well…don’t look any further. When I was one I was in the Olympics. When I was two I was on the moon. When I was sixteen I learned how to drive. I have completed so many outstanding tasks that you will surely benefit having me. Last year I climbed Mount Everest. Last month I swam across the Atlantic. Last night I slept like a baby. Traveling is full of adventures and adventures are found in travels. When I go to a new country the people ask me about their country. They ask me if they are speaking their language right, because I can speak in every language. I am so famous that when I went to Justin Bieber’s concert he asked for my autograph. I am so famous that when I went to the Harry Potter movie premier Daniel Radcliff asked for my picture. I am so famous that Barack Obama asked me how to run his country. I’ve met all these people and must be destined to meet so many more famous people. I am not an actress. I am not a singer. I am not an Olympic athlete. But everyone knows who I am. Even the Eskimos in the most isolated area of Antarctica know who I am. Even Stephen Harper knows who I am. Even the Greeks know who I am, but only because my name is the same as one of their goddesses. With all of my outstanding achievements your school will greatly benefit from just simply having me present. I solved global warming. I stopped the poverty in Africa. And I will make your school better than Harvard.

Sincerly, 
Aurora Morhart 

Descriptive Paragraph

The white walls around me seem to be closing in. The sound of the television is muffled and faint. The lady working at the front desk is grumpy and persnickety. She typs away on her computer and the clicking of her keys echo around the small waiting room area. The room is full of my family and multiple others. The adults all waiting patiently and the children behaving because they don't know what to make of the situation. The palms of my hands are sweaty but the rest of my body is cold. A faded smell of hand sanitizer and a sterilizer lingers in the air making it stuffy and hard to breath. Each second I can hear the sound of the clock ticking. And it keeps going. Tick-tock, tick-tock as if there is nothing wrong. My mind is racing. I sit in the chair, slumped over like a sloth. My eyes keep darting back and forth from the TV, to the secretary to my phone screen, pausing at each for a couple seconds but the red exit sign keeps drawing my attention towards it. With the red bulbs glowing, it is the only thing not white in this whole building. A mountain of magazines is piled in a mound, so high that they tower over the table they are on. Off in the distance I hear footsteps. The rubber squeaking as the nurse comes around the corner and I wonder when that will be the docter coming out of the doors.  Finally he arrives, with his poker face comes out to talk to us. Everything is alright and my grandfather is okay we can all go home and the tension in the air that built up for so long is released.

Poems

Poem 1

1. Poet: Shayne Koyczan

2. Poem: To This Day Project 

3. Synopsis: Koyczan is concerned that young people are judging others and bullying them without knowing them and their background.

4.Important Poetic Technique: Koyczan makes an extensive use of an analogy. He stats that “every school [is] a big top circus tent” saying the schools are no different from the circus. Also that “the pecking order [goes] from acrobats to lion tamers from clowns to carnies” where he compares the status of those in the circus to those who are in school. He brings attention and shows the effect of what bullying does to school and does so in a manner that is easily relatable.    

5. Favorite Line: “but our lives will only ever always
 continue to be 
a balancing act that has less to do with pain and more to do with beauty.” I like this line because it demonstrates how in our society some people are quick to judge others without understanding what is happening in their lives and don’t realize the effects their actions may have on the person. 

Poem 2

1.1Poet: Taylor Mali

2. Poem: What Teachers Make

3. Synopsis:  Mali is unhappy that teacher’s jobs are based on what their income is. He believes that the outcome of the students is more important than his income and that younger generations need to be respectful and persevering individuals. 

4. Important Poetic Term: Throughout the poem Mali uses puns and figurative language. When his guest asks how much he makes instead of replying with his salary he says that he can "make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor" and "an A- feel like a slap in the face”. He also makes the comment “it’s also true what they say about lawyers" to his dinner guest whom is a lawyer. Mali is passionate and takes pride in his work and believes, “teachers make a goddamn difference!”

5. My Favorite Line: “Here, let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true: Teachers make a goddamn difference! Now what about you?” I like this line because he shows that the salary to him is not important but that he is helping the lives of many others learn and achieve their goals.

Poem 3

1. Poet: Sarah Key

2. Poem: B

3. Synopsis: Key shares the way she would raise her daughter. She would protect and comfort her throughout her whole life. She shows that no matter what happens to stay positive and find the good in things.

4. Important Poetic Technique: Key uses good diction throughout her poem to help form imagery. She wants her daughter to be unique and different than other children. By “[painting] the solar system on the back of her hands so that she has to learn the entire universe” her daughter is gaining knowledge. She also shows how she would bond with her daughter and teach her. Key also shows how protective she is when she tells her daughter “don’t keep your nose up in the air like that” because she may “follow the trail back to a burning house…to see if [she] can save…[the] boy who lost everything” because she doesn’t want her to have a “heartbreaks chocolate can’t fix”.

5. My Favorite Line: “Instead of mom, she’s going to call me “point b” because that way she knows that no matter what happens, At least she can always find her way to me.” I like this line because Key is showing that she is always going to be there for her daughter and wants her to know that she will always be there and be able to find her when she needs her.

Letter For My Life

Aurora Morhart
123 Pineview Dr.
Kaleden, B.C.
V0H 2K0
February 22, 2013



Captain Van Camp
Commander
HMS Princess Margaret

O Captain, My Captain:

            So I have to convince you to why I should be picked to be saved, well I can do just that. I understand that there are some who have to die but it won’t be necessary for me to be one of them. My secret, which has been not told up until now, is that I live a very exciting and adventurous life. Who I am is not what meets the eye. Secretly I go on adventures that no one could imagine. On horse back I go galloping along the trails, seeking new challenges to face. That’s not the only thing. How would you be able to tell my parents you killed their child when I could have been one of the ones to live? How would the news be broken to my two little brothers who look up to me? What would you say and how would you explain yourself? There would be no one for my mom to teach to drive and scare her for going to fast. There would be no one to be able to help my brothers pick out nice clothing or to download songs for my dad on the computer when he doesn’t understand what to do. I am much more than this and to be save I’ll say why.

           

            Most of the time when anyone sees me at school I am carrying my homework which gives the impression I am studious. Yes I do homework and do well in school and that could be a word to describe me but defiantly not the best one. My parents might say that I am loud or troublesome but that I am also generous by giving and thinking of others needs before my own. I volunteer during iron man and hand out food and snacks to the contestants. I like to help people and show little gestures of kindness as much as I can even it is just holding the door open for someone or asking how they are. I also like to volunteer at the SPCA and give attention to the animals who are not loved and don’t have a family to care for them. I plan of a future when I graduate I can become a doctor and help people in need and save lives. How could you remove a girl with those thoughts? I want to help others in need and for that I deserve to live. I could be so much but all I need is this chance to live but my fate lies in your hands so I hope you chose to spare my life.

Sincerely,

Aurora Morhart

I Didn't Do My Homework Because...

I Didn’t Do My Homework Because…

            “You see Mr. Van Camp,” I stated, “I did in fact do my homework.”

            “Sure you did.” Mr. Van Camp exclaimed.

            “I did though!” I proclaimed, “I sat at the kitchen table and worked on it more than I’ve ever worked on anything before!”

            “Okay, so where did it end up then?” Mr. Van Camp quickly asked.

            “As I was working,” I started, “My mom walked in and asked what I was working on. I told her it was just English homework.”

Mr. Van Camp answered in a strained tone,

“Just English homework? It is much more than that!”

  “I no!” I proclaimed, “I only told her that so she wouldn’t read it and this wouldn’t happen!”

“So what wouldn’t happen?”

“Well you see, she ended up reading my homework and took it to get it laminated and then framed!” I explained.

“And why would she do that?” he asked.

“She told me that it was too good for the fridge and had to be hung on the wall.”

Mr. Van Camp in a non-believing tone quickly exclaimed,

 “Well that is just too unrealistic! She thinks your writing is that good?”

            “Indeed she does,” I proclaimed, “I have proof if you would like to see.”

            “Fine lets she what you’ve got,” Mr. Van Camp smirked.

            “You see sir,” I told him, showing the picture of my homework framed on the wall with my mom standing on one side and myself on the other, “there it is hanging there.”

            “Then bring in the framed work!” He exclaimed, clearly frustrated.

            “Oh I did think of that but she won’t let me take it off the wall, she won’t even let me look at it for more than five seconds at a time!” I shouted

            “She won’t even let you look at it?”

            “Well if it’s around four seconds at a time I can,” I quickly stated

            “That’s preposterous!” Mr. Van Camp shouted, “I’m calling your parents and this better not happen again.”

            “I’m sorry,” I whimpered, “but please don’t call them I promise it won’t happen again! I’ll never let my mom read my homework again!”

            “Fine,” Mr. Van Camp muttered, “now leave.”

About Me

Aurora was born into a warm-hearted family and with her birth the world changed. With high spirits and being full of joy she brings excitement to others. Her time is often spent going on daring adventures while galloping along trails on horseback. The time she spends with her horse makes her realize that he is not merely a horse but a big cuddly teddy bear. Striving for excellence and success, Aurora is like a cat ready to pounce at every opportunity given to her to help her excel in life. The simple things in life mean the most to her. The special moments that are spent with family and friends are little things she always treasures. Often she find life is full of peaks but the mountains aren’t high enough. To aurora life is a rainbow and although she has a complex a-type personality, she is a simple girl who likes to savor the little moments and takes joy in the simple things.