My Essays

MYSELF
   Sometimes I  look into the past for some set of memories from which I will make a story of myself, but there are none in which I can recognize myself, none that contain my over flowering life. I realize then that I live only in each succeeding fresh moment. What people call "withdrawing into oneself" is to me on impossible constraint; I can no longer understand the word "solitude" to be alone with myself is to be nobody; I am peopled. For that matter I am never at home save everywhere; and desire always drives me out. (Anonymous)

ABOUT MY BIRTH

My name is Alamgir Hossain and I am 19 years old. I am a student at New York City Technical College, which is part of City University of New York (CUNY), majoring in Computer Information Systems. This essay is about my childbirth; it contains factual information about my birth. In the following essay I will describe what it was like at the time of my birth, how everything has changed since then, and the meaning of my name. I will talk about my family and many other things.

I was born on August 1^st, 1981. I was born in a village called Charparboti, in Bangladesh. It was a rainy day, and I was born in a house that my father called the doctor’s home. I was named Tojul Islam but when I was coming to the United States of the America, my dad changed my name to Alamgir Hossain. He said it was a better name. Both of my names have a meaning behind them. My first name Tojul Islam means “the crown of Islam.” My second and permanent name, Alamgir Hossain, is two different words made into one word so it doesn’t have a compound meaning. Alamgir means “world conqueror” and Hossain is a pet name for Hassan, which means, “to be good or excellent”.

I interviewed both of my parents and my two older siblings; they basically said everything I knew but they all said something in common. They all said that I was lucky. My mother said I was the only person in my family, who was born with a lighter skin than my other family members. And my mother said I would be intelligent (Khatun). My dad said my initial name, Tojul Islam, was an old name even then, so he decided to change to a name that was a more up-to-date name. He also said that I am very lucky because I never dreamed of being in America, I was a village boy and Bangladesh is a poor country. And now, I am in a country that’s one of the leading nations in the world. Moreover, I am being educated there. It seems to be more than a dream to me. I mean I’ve never seen typical things like car, trains, bus, T.V, VCR, Computers, etc. In America these are simple 
things for everyone’s everyday use. (Ullah)

How was the news at the time of my birth? The news wasn’t anything like it is today. However, I am surprised that The New York Times is very old and, was a very good source of news even then. The formatting of the paper is quite the same. The only difference that I see is that today’s newspaper had coloring pictures and the newspaper of 1981 didn’t have color picture and of course the contents are different. Some of the headlines of the newspaper of 1981 are “KOCH CAREY SIGN A PACT FOR WESTWAY CONSTRUCTION UNLESS U.S CUTS ‘AMENITIES’”, “MINIMUM BENEFIT IN SOCIAL SECURITY WINS IN THE HOUSE” and today’s newspaper headlines are “PRESIDENT UNVEILS $1.96 TRILLION PLAN THAT TRIMS TAXES”, “JUSTICES LIMIT STRINGS ON AID FOR LEGAL SERVICES TO THE POOR”

One of the news stories that were going on in August 1^st, 1981 was about former President Ronald Reagan (current President then) was approved by the House of Representatives and the House Senate to a conference committee’s package of $32 billion in budget cuts for the fiscal year 1982. Similarly in today’s article, President Bush proposed a $1.96 trillion federal budget for next year that would cut taxes, reduce the national debt and make room for increased spending on education, medical research and the military.

I interviewed one of my classmates, Lydia Figueroa. She is 19 years old. She was born in the USA, in Manhattan. I was born in a house while she was born in a hospital. I was born in Bangladesh and she was born in the United States of the America (Figueroa).

In Stolberg’s “For the infertile, a High-Tech Treadmill,” she reports that infertile couples face emotional difficulties because of their many efforts to conceive fails. All of their efforts are in vain even with the aids of reproductive technologies. My parents are lucky to have me; there are some unfortunate couples, which are not so fortunate. Many couples can’t have a biological baby because their infertility, as described by Stolberg, and which are riding a roller coaster of hope to conceive with the help of reproductive technologies (Stolberg).
 

In conclusion, this is an essay about childbirth. I wrote about my birth and I believe we should all know a little information about our birth. However, if you want to know more about me you can always email me at Alam244@aol.com. I have interviewed my parents and two older siblings as well as a classmate about her birth. I’ve looked into The New York Times of August 1^st, 1981 and of March 1^st, 2001. I have read an article by Stoleberg, from where I learned that every couple isn’t very fortunate to have a biological baby.