Writer’s Workshop Web Pages

Sarah

9/10/2003

Writing Workshop/Jaeger

Every Summer

I remember waking up early in the morning to have to squeeze in the back of my dad’s truck with my brother and sister to look forward to a long trip ahead of us. We fell back asleep for another hour or two. When I woke up again, I ask my mom, “Are we there yet?” We aren’t even half way there. I didn’t go back to sleep because I was enjoying the scenery too much.

The scenery is beautiful on the way up north. I love to go in the fall when all the leaves are changing. The colors are amazing. I love to see all the different farms and variety of animals that they own. The smell of the cows and manure is just overpowering.

I always imagine to myself what it would be like to have a farm. Then I would think about all the work and change my mind. I would love to take care of all the animals, especially the pigs. I love pigs a lot. I think about all the cleaning and managing of the land and it just seems like too much to me. I think it would be nice to stay at a farm for a couple of days, but not have my own

We always play the ABC game, where you find the alphabet on any bulletin board, and any license plate, and any place that you can find letters. The first one to reach z wins the game. My brother struggles because he’s not the best at the game and throws a temper tantrum and quits. I encourage him to play and say I will help him. Eventually he starts to play again. We all end up playing together, so we are all winners. Sometimes, we are very competitive and bet that whoever loses has to unload the car or do the dishes for the entire time we are up there.

My sister has to sit behind my dad because she is the smallest and my brother sits behind my mom because he has the longest legs, and I am in the middle because I don’t like to sit behind the passenger because I can’t see anything. I like to look at all the countryside. My brother tends to be a bit annoying at times. He is always whining and complaining about how he wants to get there already. My dad won’t let us sing any songs because he thinks its stupid and he needs to concentrate on driving. I tell him all the time he knows how to get there, so why does he need to concentrate like he doesn’t know where he’s going?

My grandma has land a little past Antigo. It is about a half-hour away from Crivitz. She owns a trailer and we try to get up there as much as possible in a year. We try not to stop on the way up for food, so my mom packs a lunch. The only time we’ll stop is to use the bathroom and for gas. It takes about three and a half to four hours to get up there, depending on if we stop at a wayside on the side if the freeway.

When we finally arrive, the driveway is so long. There is a lake on the land. I try not to swim by the shore too often because of the muck. You sink all the way up to your knees. It is a gross feeling. I go fishing as much as possible. I always catch a northern and a bass. I almost never catch one that’s big enough to keep. They pull the line so hard I work up a sweat bringing them in. I don’t like when the line snaps, that’s no fun. I enjoy catching trout because I just gut, and scale them and fry them on the stove. My dad says that I make the best trout in our family.

When we get to the trailer it is covered in branches and leaves. There is no spot on the roof that is not covered. The door and deck is covered in bugs that are stuck in the spider webs. It looks cool but gross at the same time. I open the door and have cobwebs stuck to my palm. Inside it smells like mothballs and musk, like it has not been used in forever. You get used to the smell after awhile. We often fin dead mice near the stove and underneath the furniture. My mom gets freaked out.

We unpack and get everything settled in. My sister and I share a room. There is a bed with a heated blanket on it. I love that room. The wallpaper has a calming color and there is a window above the bed. I love to wake up to the birds and frogs singing their songs. My brother sleeps on the pullout bed in the front room. It is a black leather couch. I keep telling my mom that it needs a new mattress. You can feel the bars through it. My parents get the back bedroom. It is the biggest room in the trailer. I would love to have that room for myself. It has three windows and a deck to the back of the trailer. We have to dust everything off before we can sit anywhere. Getting settled is very time consuming.

I look around at the furniture and wonder what year it was made. Almost everything has flower print on it somewhere. The curtains are also printed with flowers. I don’t like it. The TV only gets three channels; news, more news, and Saturday cartoons come on. I don’t watch TV much while I am up there.

I enjoy coming up north more than going camping at a campground because I can get heat and watch TV whenever I want. I enjoy just looking out the back window and into the woods. Sometimes we see bears down in the trails. I always want to take a picture but I never have my camera near by. And when I finally find it the bears are already too far to take a picture. Deer always come through our land. It is cool to watch them.

Knowing it is time to go home is depressing. Knowing you have to pack everything all over again is disappointing. The ride home is so fast that you wonder why it didn’t take that quick to get up there. I guess it is just the anticipation. I can’t wait until I get a car and will be able to come up with my friends and not always be with my family. Everytime I do go I have a blast. To me just spending time with my family is fun. I hope we go up one more time this year. I would like to go in the winter one time to see what it is like.

Tommy

Writers Workshop

Hour 3

Sep. 10, 2003

My Basement

I am writing about my basement because that is where my friends and I always hang out. My basement is like a second floor because it’s all remodeled and real nice. We got knew carpet, ceiling lights, and a really nice bar. My dad loves baseball so he got a ton a baseball plaques and hung them around the whole basement. My basement smells real fresh all the time and is always real clean. When we first moved there it wasn’t so nice. There was lights hanging from the ceiling, really musty, and just was gross. My friends are seriously there every day. We play Playstation 2 all the time and mostly just relax and chill. We hang out at my house and wait to find something to do. We have been going to my house for years. If we couldn’t go to my house, we seriously would have no where to go. I really miss 8^th grade through 10^th grade because no one was driving because now if were bored somewhere we just get up and go, back then we couldn’t go anywhere so we would have to get make it fun. I was so looking forward to getting older, but now I just miss being younger now.

The good thing is that my parents are cool about us being there a lot. The bad thing is that were there to much sometimes. The people that I hang out with are Ryan Schoonover, Ben Van Abel, Matt Franzoaik, D.J. Clark, Mark Volz, James Franse, and etc. I met Ryan through Football in 6^th grade. Ben was my first friend when I moved out here in 1993. I was in fourth grade. I met Matt through little league. D.J. was my neighbor down the street when I moved here. I met him through Ben. For the first couple of months, I use to hate him. He use to always be a jerk. I met Mark in 9^th grade. I’m not sure how I met him. I just met James in 10^th grade through Ryan . Ben, D.J., and I have been friends since 4^th grade. That is just some of my main friends.

My best friends are Matt, Ryan, and Ben. Matt is like the nicest guy all the time and always there for me. Ryan is always really cool to and always there for me to. Ben is tight 75% of the time, but he can really irritate me sometimes. Ben has the best comebacks out of anybody. I get along with them the best most of the time. Sure we get in fights sometimes, but so does everyone. The person that irritates me the most is D.J. He just does stuff to irritate me. But I throw it right back at him. Lately we have been getting along a lot better.

Gao

9-10-03

Writing workshop

Jaeger

My Hood

My hood is just a regular neighborhood. It’s full of kids playing around having fun, people sitting in front of their house just chilling on their porch, cars coming through our streets from left to right, and dogs barking at you when you cross your neighbor’s yard. People always say the north side of Milwaukee is a ghetto place, but I see it as just my home. I do think my neighborhood can be a good place to live but I wouldn’t want to live here if I never grew up here. In my hood there’s a lot of shooting and people dying in front of your face. Kids and teens getting into fight over drugs or stolen bikes. There are prostitutes on the corner on 29^th and Lisbon Street every night trying to make some money. I see girls and ladies getting drunk at the back of my ally getting raped and beat up at the same time. People just coming to my house peeing and pooping all over my yard like they got no home. Liquor stores everywhere, drug dealing, people killing, cop sirens everywhere, people screaming and shouting, and people coming up to you asking you if you have any spare change you can give to them to buy a nice cold can of beer.

My neighborhood maybe dangerous but there are some good sides to it too. I like the fact that most of my friends live near me so I could just walk over to their house. I like the little corner stores by my house because whenever I’m hungry I could just go and grab a snack. I enjoy being loud and able to do what ever I want without getting in trouble. I also like the fact that everyone has his or her own little thing to do so when you do something it doesn’t cause a big scene. It’s kind of like freedom in my hood.

The people in my neighborhood are ghetto but not all of them. This new lady who just moved in our hood is a really clean, neat person. She hates it when the prostitutes come out at night and stand in the corner and she hates all the crime and bad things that goes around our hood. She also started a neighborhood watch witch I think is a smart idea because now we have some cops looking out at night. My neighbors are really nice people too. My neighbors have 3 kids, two boys and a girl. The father is known as one of the best hard working people in our neighborhood. He wakes up early in the morning and starts to mow and cut our grass for free. Every one likes him. He would always greet us with a nice smile then he would continue cutting and mowing the lawn again. The mother is never home. She’s always working. She seems nice but no one had talk to her yet. Their kids are naughty. They would run around and mess with everyone’s dogs. Their oldest son whom I think is about 19 or 20 years old is a drug dealer, so there’s always someone at their house. The second son who is about 16 or 17 years old is as bad as the oldest. He’s always outside talking his stuff and tries to start fights with everyone who comes by. Their daughter who is only around the age 6 is a cutie. She’s usually quiet and don’t play around as much as my little sister. She sits outside just holding her old little raggedy doll in her little brown arms. The people in my neighborhood are usually drunk 24/7 or either high on crack or weed but who cares.

The houses around my house are surely not the prettiest but they are home sweet home. Most of the houses by my house are either boarded up from drug dealers from getting busted by the cops. Burnt down houses and all you can see is blackness all around the house with cracked up windows and a big hole inside or out, or just the plain old houses that seems so old that when your inside, it feels as the house is going to fall down. My house is pretty old too. We remodel our house so it looks kind of new now. We got some new blue sidings with new window and doors. We also redid our parking space with some new black top. The weird thing about my house is that it came with some skinny long black bars on all of our windows. It kind of feels like you’re in prison but it keeps us safe. Right now they’re building a lot of new houses for people to live in. Thank god for that because most of the houses are messed up.

I live on 29^th and Lisbon. It’s a pretty big street and very busy. It’s also a dangerous street. I remember I got robbed right on Lisbon Street by a gas station. I was with one of my girls and two guys just came to us and stuck a gun to my head and said, “Give me your purse.” I couldn’t do anything so I just gave it to him. From that day on I just stop walking around my neighborhood besides when I go to the corner store to get some candy or something to drink. The streets around my neighborhood are really dirty. They can be clean sometimes but most of the times it never clean. There’s trash everywhere like dirty old used condoms, chip or candy bags, beer cans and cigarette butts everywhere. I try cleaning it but it never works. Our streets are also filled with old furniture people just throw in front of their yard but usually the homeless people would take it and use it. Our streets are loud from cars driving by with their music bumping really loud. It makes our whole house vibrate, but it doesn’t really bother any one. But the fun part about our street is you see so many things happening when you’re just sitting outside. It’s kind of funny seeing people doing dumb or funny things.

Well it seems like I hate my neighborhood but I actually love it. We did some pretty fun stuff around here. It’s always fun to have barbecues and invite all your friends and you can be as loud as you want. I also like the fact that we get a lot of freedom. The cops are usually too busy with bigger problems so they don’t really disturb us. My neighborhood keeps some of the best memories I’ve ever had. Where I go to school (in Menomonee Falls) is the total opposite of where I live (Milwaukee). The cops are stricter up here. If I smoked a cigarette, I would get a ticket for it. If we bump music kind of loud, we get pulled over. Menomonee Falls is one of the most peaceful, quite, boring town ever but it has some of the most nicest people there. It’s not bad but I wouldn’t want to live there. I love where I live because it’s a lot like me.

Liz

English 12

Mr. Jaeger

9-10-03

My House

My house is the place where I spent most of my time when I was a kid. It was a place where I could feel comfortable. I would come from school on the bus and look forward to meeting up with my neighborhood friends to play over at someone’s house. Whenever it was my house, we would go out and jump on the jungle gym in the back yard and play games and just would have the best time. The sounds of the kids playing and just having a good time made me feel so worry-free. I remember one time when my parents let my brother and me and a couple of our friends sleep out in the jungle gym because we thought it was so cool! I would always be able to smell the freshly cut, green grass too.

My room was one of the best places in the house. It had blue carpeting that I just loved and everything in it that I thought I needed! I was set. It was nice and silent with just me in there so I felt like it was my own little world that no one could bother me in…that is until my brother would come in.

I shared a lot of memories with my brother named David while growing up in the old house in Milwaukee. When my parents got a divorce, I was 8 and my brother was 11 years old. We had to do a lot of jumping around between different family members’ houses and going to see my dad every once in a while. My brother and i, mostly because we were so young at the time, didn’t know quite how to handle the situation of our parents separating.

Dave and I ended up losing touch when he moved in with my dad, and I didn’t get to see him that often. My dad, who lives in Milwaukee, is real laid back and caring. I can basically come and go there. I always have friends staying there when I am over at his house because they get along with him well, and it’s better than being out in the Falls. The neighbors are so much friendlier there, too. When you walk outside, they will hold a conversation with me and i just feel more wanted! When my neighbor is walking his dog Andy the greyhound he always stops to talk. Or when we leave to go out of town they watch over our house. My mom and I moved to Menomonee Falls about five years ago. Now I have a new house with new memories. But nothing compares to the house on Florist that I grew up in!

Brandon

English 12

Mr. Jaeger

Hour 3

MY PLACE

A quiet neighborhood on a Friday night and all of the sudden I come rolling in along with 50 of my friends so we can gather before going out to the strip. On our way to the strip we pick a few more people with their tricked out cars. A couple of people that I knew were there like my friends, William, Justin, Kristen and Jessica.

William loves racing. He’s got a 55’ Chevy Bel Air Dragster at home and it does 10’s in the quarter mile. It’s not painted yet but that thing is fast as hell. Then there is Justin. He has a 98’ Eclipse GST that is just the crème of the crop. His Eclipse is Black with a very cool looking decal kit on it and he has a terminator spoiler. He has a DC Short Throw Shifter and A SKUNK cat-back exhaust. Then he has a very cool body kit from wings west all the way around the car. To finish it off he has 18” Enkei Racing wheels.

Then there is Kristen’s Integra. That thing is sweet. It is red with a white decal kit. Then she has 17” Momo Racing wheels on it. She has a very cool body kit on it. And we finally have Jessica’s Eclipse. It is a light powder blue and it has a very nice body kit. She also has 18” Enkei Racing Wheels. It has a very cool spoiler too.

But there were also some really screwed up looking cars like a Saturn SL2, a Chevrolet Cavalier, and a Dodge Neon. The Saturn SL2 is yellow with an aluminum down force wing on the rear and all the body panels are shaved to “try” to make it look better. He also had a performance shifter and clutch kit. Then we come to the Cavalier. That thing is a joke, I mean those cars are disposable. It is red with 18” tires and a body kit. The worst of them all is the Dodge Neon. Who the hell would race a Dodge Neon. Well what ever the extent, it was really bright lime green and he had a body kit on it. I mean if you are going to race then at least do something to the engine, otherwise stay home and don’t waste our time.

When my friends and I all get there, we close off the road and line people up to race. A nice looking Asian girl with a mini skirt and a shirt that shows a lot walks out in between the two cars and raises her hands. She throws them down and the two cars are off, and all of the sudden we hear cops and we scatter but they already have us surrounded and we all get arrested.

So I would have to say my place would have to be “the strip”, because I live to love cars. Another reason is so I don’t get arrested again for illegal street racing. But I really like cars so racing them and making them go fast is my thing. So my 8000 square foot house is right next to “the strip” because then I could watch drag racing anytime I wanted to. When you walk in, there is this giant living room with a 64” TV with a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound system that is hooked up to the DVD player, the stereo system, XBOX, and Playstation 2. Then there is my room. The crème de la crème. The biggest room in the entire house, with my king sized water bed, a 54” Plasma Screen TV with another 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound System that is hooked up to the DVD player, the stereo system, XBOX, and Playstation 2. My bathroom has a friggin’ Jacuzzi in it and a 20” Plasma Screen TV in it. And then there is my garage with my cars in it. I have a 25,000 square foot garage, 6 lifts and tools to last you until you die. One of my cars is a 92’ Honda Civic HB. It is yellow with a B18 engine under the hood and a short throw shifter and a racing transmission with a T3 Turbo on it. One of my other cars is a 2003 Honda Civic Si Hatchback. It is silver with 18” Enkei racing wheels on it and there is a shift conversion kit in it and 2 15” Subwoofers in the back. My third car is a 1999 Nissan Skyline R34. I imported it straight from Japan and then I put the 19” Toyo tires on it and the cool spoiler. And it has a T4 Turbo in it and a shift conversion kit on it. The other cool thing is that I could work on my car and then go and race it. The look of the cars, the sound of their engines at 4,500 rpm’s, and the smell of burning rubber. Now that is my kind of living. So I want to buy a piece of land just south of Milwaukee and turn it into my house and a drag strip. Then I would tell my friends and they would tell their friends and soon everybody would know. Then they can all come down and race and we can put them into separate racing classes and then we could race for points and stuff but it would still be in all of fun. And that would be my kind of place!

JUSTIN’S ECLIPSE

KRISTEN’S INTEGRA

JESSICA’S ECLIPSE

MY CARS

STUPID CARS

Dave

Hour 3

9-10-03

Writers Workshop

Mr. Jaeger

My favorite place is in the north woods of Wisconsin. The place I speak of is Merrill. It’s a place that I like to go where I can get out of the every day life and enjoy nature. I have a huge cabin right on the Wisconsin River with 100 acres of land. My cabin is filled with things of the outdoors. There are lamps that have a bear and a moose on the shades. You see an elk chandelier when you look up at the ceiling. As you look on my walls you see all the animals that I have mounted over the years. I have four big bucks mounted that all of them have a 20inch or bigger inside spread. There are also a nice 54inch musky that I caught on the Wisconsin River. I have one elk that is a eight by eight. When you walk past the game room you can see my big kitchen. As you walk in my kitchen you see a deer head next to the refrigerator. You wonder why that’s there until you as for a beverage of your choice. If you pull down an its ear it pours out you beverage.

As you walk up stairs you can see the master bedroom that has a big walk in closet with all of my hunting clothes that has a pine sent smell. In the master bedroom you can see the four seasons that are painted on the wall. Starting with winter you will see a painting that has a snow filled woods with a big eight pointer bedded down for the night. When you look as spring you see a turkey in full strut in a field with some hens. Then when summer comes you can see a river that has ducks flying over head. Next comes fall you see the beauty of the woods with the fall colors on the trees and a big buck chasing a doe.

After you walk outside you can see my big six-car garage. When you walk in you can see all of my toys. I have 3 four wheelers that are camouflage to a lows me to hide them in the woods while I hunt. Also you will find a Blue 2000 Chevy Silverado that I drive around town to save on gas. But when you look next to it you will find a 2003 black Chevy Silverado with an eight-inch lift with forty-four inch super swappers. I have Lund boat that I can take to the in land lakes when the fishing on the river isn’t good.

When you walk outside at night and you look up at night you see the stars that light up the sky. On clear night in winter you can see for miles with the moon shinning so brightly. If you walk through the woods you feel the nice cool air blowing by you. As you look out you can hear the sound of an eagle that’s flying over head.

When you get out of your car you can see the beauty of the north woods of Wisconsin. When you walk down by the river you see my airboat. When you go out on the boat you see the true beauty of the land.

When you look into my garage you see my Chevy that has an eight inch-lift and 44 inch super swappers.

NICK

WRITERS WORK SHOP 1

HOUR 3

SEP-10, -2003

MY HOUSE

Why I like my house. My house is a warm during the winter and cool place during the summer, it is a place were I always feel comfortable, I feel comfortable there cause I can eat what ever I want and just sitting around and do anything that I feel like weather I want to go on the computer or play Playstation 2, Vice City or Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4. My house usually has kind of a Vanilla/Pine smell to it cause my moms always burning A Nutmeg/Vanilla candle and these deep woods candle it’s a rather unique smell something you just got to get used to. My house isn’t always clean it has its messy days just like any other house but its usually clean except when I get lazy and don’t do anything. My house is tight but also not so tight, the tight thing is that I’m close to the school so I don’t haft to walk or get a parking pass but it sucks when its winter cause I haft to walk in the cold that’s a pain in the butt. One of the other bad things is that I do live so close to the school cause if I do anything wrong its considered that I’m on school property so if I were to get a ticket it would be twice as much as a normal ticket. During lunch I can just walk over to my house and eat lunch then walk back to school.

One of the bad things about it is the fact that every one in the morning drives by at like 6:30 am just blasting there music in there car and I usually have my window open so I can here them and it wakes me up. I like the fact that during the 3erd of July my back yard is a front row seat for the Menomonee Fall’s fireworks which is pretty tight, even thought I’m never there for it. It takes me about 3 hours to cut the grass, it’s a pretty big yard my dog loves to run around. In fact we had to re-seed the back yard this summer due to my dog. One time my brother and I got board so we went out in to the back yard and grabbed my paintball gun and just started shooting random animals in the back yard we shoot about 4 squirrel’s and I think 3 or 4 birds not to sure on the number. All I know is that it was funny as hell cause all day we had pink squirrels running around my yard. One unique thing about my house is my drive way its about a 65 degree angle its real fun until shoveling it during the winter I’ve slipped and went sliding before not fun, falling on cement hurts like hell especially when its cold and wet. During the summer its tricky to we have a riding lawn mower and I always think I’m going tip it and pull a Dave Wolf and chop my toe off.

My Mom has officially gone insane with my brother joining there is something Navy in every room there is even something Navy in the front yard I mean come on there doesn’t need to be navy stuff every ware I’m getting sick of it. The think I do like is when my mom decorates for holidays cause she just goes all out I cant even compare it to anything its like your at Santa’s work shop. During the winter we don’t even need to turn any lamps on, all we need to do is turn on the Christmas lights and the room just lights up, its almost blinding I mean dam I cant even handle it. Right now it looks like were getting ready for another war in front of my house we had these huge bushes and we just chopped them down and just haven’t had the time to burn the branches. So all the branches are still lying out so it look like I have a fox hole dug right before you get in to my front door. I like I said it looks like were getting ready for war and any time some one comes on over they say it to there like “wow rump getting ready for war “ I’m just like yeah you know me always ready for anything. In my words like my house and it will always be my home.

Adam

English 12

Mr. Jaeger

9-10-03

Hour 3

Places

I grew up in Cudahy, Wisconsin. There was an elementary school across the road from my house. I used to go play on the playground everyday. My friend Tim used to live three houses down in a blue house on the opposite side of the street. He had four other siblings. He had an older sister, a younger sister and two younger brothers. I used to hang out with Tim, Nikki, and Erica everyday. We used to joke around and play sports with each other. There were almost always six of us. There was my brother Eric, my cousin Greg, Tim, Nikki, and Erica. We used to do everything together. Cudahy was my favorite place to live.

I moved to Menomonee Falls in the fifth grade. I wish I had never moved. I loved that house in Cudahy. Now I still get lost. I used to be able to go anywhere and know exactly how long it would take me to get home. Now I have to guess how long it will take me to get home. There were many more people in my old neighborhood to hang out with. In my neighborhood there are like two or three people and I don’t like any of them. My old neighbor was a WWI vet and he always told me stories of the war. One time he told me that he was like 5 feet from a grenade when it went of. The people in my old neighborhood were all very nice and kind people. I knew a lot of the people in my neighborhood.

We had a blacktop driveway with a basketball hoop on the front of the garage. We had a screened in front porch and a back porch. We had a tree house in the backyard. This was the tree house where I received my first bee sting by nineteen different bees. They flew in through the window and attacked me. Some of the bees didn’t want to let go. To this day if I see a bee it reminds me of this day and all I want to do is kill that bee. I am not afraid of bees just don’t like them.

My tree house was painted brown wit a black shingled roof. It was a nice little tree house. I also had a sandbox in my backyard, with red, blue, yellow, and white buckets and shovels. I used to play in that sandbox everyday. I used to design cities in the sand and I used to use my hot wheels for the cars in the village. It was a grand time for children like me. I was a cheerful young kid and was always running around. I used to be one of the most popular kids in Cudahy. Everybody knew who I was and everybody knew where I lived. I was the king of my school. Cudahy was my favorite place to live.

Cudahy is the home of the purple and yellow Cudahy Packers. The Cudahy Packers were such a spectacular team that they had 5 state championships when I left. I wanted to play for them but then I moved and decided not to play. Cudahy had a lot to do. My brother, Tim, and I used to walk up to the store all the time. We used to buy soda, chips, or anything we desired. I used to be into pogs and we bought all the pogs out of one of the vending machines one day. We used to play football, baseball, soccer, hockey, and basketball daily. Well, not all those in one-day. We usually play at least two to three different games a day. We used to ride bikes, roller blade, skate, and run all around town. We used to tie a rope to the post of a seat on a bike and then have some on roller blades grab the rope and hold on. That was a dangerous thing but it was very fun. I enjoyed being a kid in Cudahy.

Jessica

English 12

September 10, 2003

Where my Heart Remains

Born and raised in the United States, my heart has always remained elsewhere. Slovakia is the first place I would call my home. America, what they call the land of opportunities, is a very beautiful country, and it does offer a wide variety of things that other countries do not encompass. However, I hold a passion for another place. People have been immigrating to this country for hundreds of years, and what they have left

behind them is their culture and traditions!

Why is culture and tradition so important to me as an American? Well, I truly believe that culture and tradition is a part of life. Since America really doesn’t have a traditional culture, based on the fact that so many people from different countries immigrated here with their culture, people forgot and just left it all behind them. My family is from Slovakia, and although I was born here, I was fortunate enough to gain knowledge of the language and ways of life from that particular country! As a small child, I was placed into a professional Slovak folk dance group, and since then I have been dancing. My passion for dance really is quite astronomical, and if something ever prevented me from dancing, I would be crushed. The truth is, I feel like I was born in the wrong country. I don’t have that American patriotism that most people have here. Like

many of the Europeans, I believe that Americans are quite selfish with what they take for granted. People from these third-world countries don’t have the opportunities that we have. If you want to be a doctor in, perhaps, Serbia, you wouldn’t have that choice. If the government thinks you should be a plumber- regardless what you feel, that is what you have to do. Some Americans take advantage of the privilege, and decide that they don’t want to do anything with their lives. They become bums on the street, and waste their lives religiously. So as you can perceive, I truly have the mind of a European. Its’ quite funny actually, because a few months ago while I visited my friend’s house (he and his family came from Russia just a few years ago) and his father had said to me in his Russian accent, “Jesika, you may be from America, but you have the heart of a European.” That statement overwhelmed me in a good way, I know

that I would truly be accepted as a Slovak.

Like most countries in Eastern Europe, Slovakia is covered with plains of mountains and grass. The weather, just as it is in Wisconsin, goes through its typical weather changes. In the winter it is especially cold, due to all of the mountains. As a matter of fact, my dance group is named after the famous Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. Although, in the summer when I was there, it was quite hot. My favorite part about Slovakia was looking out my window and seeing the castles. I have never been into a castle before, but hopefully when I am overseas again I will have that opportunity. Music and culture plays a high, significant role in that particular country. It is very fascinating because there are 13 different regions in Slovakia. Each region has its own distinctive costumes, dance steps, and music styles. Examples of those regions would be šariš, Zemplin, Myjava, Hron, and Terchova. My favorite region is probably Terchova, because that is where my family is from, and the dancing steps and music is the prettiest of all regions. The people from Slovakia are extremely friendly, and are very welcoming. The only kind of people that you really need to be careful of are Gypsies. They will steal if they have the opportunity, but if you are cautious you will be fine.

Although I am still living here in America, I have made plans to move to Slovakia after my senior year of high school. My plans consist of living with my distant relatives in a small village called Terchova, hopefully finding a small job to work at. My parents agreed to pay my first two years tuition of college, and will support me as much as possible. Perhaps I will even find a new dance group to perform with while I am overseas! Times will be hard of course, based on the fact that I will not have all of the privileges I have here in America, but I look at it in a way that in order to gain a dream that I have, I must give up a few things here back home. I am looking very forward to my stay in Slovakia, and hopefully that piece missing from the puzzle of my heart will connect when I am over there. Who knows, I may love it so much that I will stay there forever!

John

The Field

When I was in first grade I left Milwaukee Public Schools and came out to Menomonee Falls Public Schools. When I first came out here it was so different. There was mostly white people in all my classes, I use to be the only black guy in a class, and I really didn’t have any friends at all.

I remember one day I was on the playground at Ben Franklin walking by myself, and a football hit me and a kid named Josh said, “hey would you like to play?” I said yes. There I met some guys that were my best friends and till this day I am still close to these people. These people names were Ryan, Tommy, Josh, Alex, Nick, John, Ben, Trevor, and Brett. They were all in my grade and these were not only my friend and classmates but these were the people that I always played football with on the concrete football field.

We played on that field everyday in the morning at lunch and afternoon recess. We even played when it was ice on the ground in winter and we use to slide on it and fall. But sometimes in the winter they use to pile snow on top of the field but that was ok we just would slide down the big snow hill and build tunnels in it. It was some of the best times I ever had in life. As we got older we got into different sports but we all still loved football.

As we got into middle school some of us played panther football, and some of the guys played basketball (myself), and some of the guys didn’t do anything or they moved away during summer. Ryan and Alex were the two most athletic and I was right below them but I was good. Once we hit ninth grade Ryan, Alex, Brett, Trevor, Tommy, Nick, Josh, John, Ben, and I all played football for school. Ryan, Alex, Trevor, and Brett played on the A team, and me and the rest of the guys played on B team. As the year went on me and Josh got good enough to play on the A team as we won freshman conference that year.

Tenth grade me, Ryan, Josh, Trevor, Brett, Tommy, and John only played. We were all on the same team that year and that was our first hard year of football. It was totally different, we played with and against varsity players and we hit the weight room and we never really lifted weights untill then. Some people couldn’t handle the pressure of all of the new stuff and never played. Ryan and Alex were captains of the team that year.

Our eleventh grade year was our official varsity year. Out of every body that use to play it was only me, Ryan, Alex, Josh, and John left. Ryan and Alex started and me, Josh, and John were backups and were on varsity reserve. I ended up tearing my ligaments in my knee during practice one day and I just quit after that. It was my first time ever quitting at a sport. After that I stopped lifting weights and getting lazy until I started playing track. As for the rest of my friends they kept lifting weights and getting stronger and stronger.

Now it is September 10 2003 and this is our last year in high school playing varsity football. It seems like yesterday we were playing football at Ben Franklin and soon it will be out last time we all play together. Ryan, and Alex our captains again. Ryan starts at quaterback and is one of the best in our conference and starts on defense as well, Alex starts out as full back and starts on defense as well. As for myself I play back up fullback on offense and backup tackle on defense but I play a lot in games. John plays backup tight end on offense and backup rush end on defense.

But threw it all we all came along way from that little football field at Ben Franklin and to this day we still play together and talk about that field and its something that well never forget for a very long time.

Joel

Hour 3

9/10/03

Mr. Jaeger

Up North

My favorite place is in the north woods of Wisconsin. I usually go up to a place near Minocqua. I go up with either my family or friends. It’s a little cabin located on Bills Lake. I go up all year round. There is always something to do up there. In the winter there is Ice fishing and snowmobiling. One time I was up snowmobiling in late march after a spring snowstorm and I was going across a little section of a lake. I was going about 50mph and I came across a spot on the lake where there was open water there was nothing I could do but just keep going and I did. My snowmobile sunk down a little but made it through. I was all wet and uncomfortable. In the fall you can hunt, and in the summer fish and boating, so no matter what the season is there is always something to do.

It takes about 5 hours to get up there, when you get to the cabin you can smell fresh pine trees and campfire smoke. The cabin is nestled in thick woodlands, which also has a nice lake frontage. The cabin is located on Bills Lake with good fishing and scenery. One time in the summer I was fishing for Large Mouth bass with a leech. I threw out a cast and just as the leech hit the water the bass hit the leech, I jerked the rod and brought in a nice 8 pound. bass. On that same day I also caught a Crappie that was 5 pounds 2 ounces, a new state record. Another time I was fishing for Musky, I didn’t catch one but when the fish hit my bait I set the hook and my rod broke that’s how big the fish must have been. In the winter time the snow piles add up to about 10 feet. The lake freezes with more then 30 inches of ice. When you sit out on the lake ice fishing the wind howls at more then 30 mph. One time I was ice fishing and the flag on my tip up went up and I ran over to pull in the fish, but it was so big only the head would fit through the hole was its head. I new it was a big Northern.

In the summer time you can always hear the sound of the loons, and other wildlife. You can also see deer, black bear, wolf, coyote, raccoons and other kind of animals. One time I had an encounter with a big black bear, I would estimate it weighed a good 700 pounds. I was riding a dirt road near our cabin on my four wheeler, when all of a sudden two little black bear cubs ran across the road. I stopped and looked and then saw the mother bear. It was walking slowly towards the side of the road. And I just keep on driving. It was exciting because it was my first time seen a bear close up. Another time I saw a wolf that was neat because they are very rare to see during the day. One time I went out walking in the woods with my rifle looking for something to shoot. And I came across a big fat raccoon, I raised my gun aimed and pulled the trigger and shot it, it was a nice 35 pounder. Next time I go up I plan to do some more fishing and break my record for biggest Crappie.

Chris

3^rd Hour

9/10/03

Mr. Jaeger

The North Woods

My favorite place is in the north woods of Wisconsin. The place I’m thinking of is town called Thorp at my friend’s farm where there is 656 acres. There I can enjoy all true elements of nature. There is everything to do up there during the summer and the fall. You can fish any time you want and during hunting season there are animals all over the place.

When you finally get up there you might think that a bunch of hicks live there but they don’t its just us. The house is old and ratty the paint is starting to chip and the shingles are falling off but other then that it is a good old house. Then you got the woods there are trees everywhere and then on the opposite side of the property there is a big 10 acre pond where you can catch just about any fish that is imaginable. That is if it lives in fresh water.

The smell is almost like if you were to take one of those pine tree air fresheners and putting it right up to your noise, but better because you get the real smell of pine trees not the phony smell. When you’re up north you don’t have to worry about smelling all those fumes from cars and factories. Up north there are no factories except for the ones in the big cities like Beaver Dam. There aren’t a lot of cars either causes your nearest neighbor is about a mile away.

Then there is the sound when your up there its so quiet that you could hear a pin drop well that is other then deer hunting season cause everybody is shooting. The most noise you get is when you the neighbors across the street plough the field.

The best part of being up north is racing around on the 4-wheelers and the dirt bikes. We got three 4-wheelers and three dirt bikes. There are trails all over the place up north on our land. There is also a lot of work to be done to, well that is before deer hunting. We have to go out every year and put up the tree stands and then when its over we have to take them all down again.

When it comes to be deer hunting season we always get at least 8 deer. We have about 9 guys that go up to. First there is Joe who is my dads best friend and is like and uncle to me. Then there is Kevin he is the guy that owns the place, he owns his own metal shop. Then there is the two fighter pilots Billy and Tom, Billy is from Illinois and Tom is from Minnesota but we get along with both of them cause there both Packers fans. There also is Uncle Bill and Levi, Uncle Bill is Kevin’s uncle, and Levi is a friend of mine. Then there is my dad and me.

Chris

Writing Workshop

Mr. Jaeger

9/10/2003

Favorite Place To Be

To reach a place that is held dear to you have to jump in your automobile and drive for a good twenty minutes. Growing up on my Grandparents farm located in Merton, I have learned to love all the details about it. I am content with just visiting with my grandparents and relatives that live close or just playing basketball in the barn. When you reach the border of Sussex on top of the hill a few miles from Merton you can get your first glances of the barn. In Merton the speed limit goes from 55 to 25 and the Waukesha Police Department enforces this with an iron fist. Many times while selling sweet corn on the front lawn, I have seen poor saps get pulled over for driving like Vin Diesel.

The driveway has been paved but I still remember when the whole driveway was gravel. This is not the typical driveway; it stretches out for a good half a block. The front entrance is a very steep slope and the side entrance you have to go pasted a stop sign and turn left. The people’s homes at are located on the right and left of my grandparent’s is all related to me, except two houses down on the right. The Manchester’s close friends of the family and are often refereed as part of our family. Next to the Manchester’s house my Great Grandma lived till her passing two years ago. She lived to be 102 years of age. My Grandparents house follows in line with Grety’s house right next to it. I am not sure how I am related to Grety but I am. Sue lives right next to Grety’s house and right next to her house my other uncle lives. The last house in the line is where my Aunt Nancy lives.

Back to the driveway, say you chose to go up the front entrance the first thing that you would see would be a pole with a sign saying “Weber’s Farm.” Half the time there is also another sign saying “Boat and Car Storage Available.” Climbing up the steep driveway the large doors to my Grandparents house are always open and give off a warming glow. I always pick to park my vehicle next to the new milk house and were the corncrib used to stand. The corncrib was a huge rectangle with wire on the sides except on the doorway. When my grandpa had Holstein diary cows the corncrib was filled to the brim with corn to fide to the hungry cows. I can remember playing in the corncrib a lot with my cousin Michael, who is four years older then I am. Michael just joined the navy and has been in Cuba for the past five months. Three years ago the corncrib fell over during a windstorm and fell right on top of my Grandpa’s new astro van. Only just a few weeks ago the footholds of the corncrib were taken out. The barn is has been standing strong for ages. In 2006 the barn turns 100 exactly. Many relatives of mine are coming out to my grandparents and a big celebration is going to take place. Everyone gathered together to help repair the barn. Most of the land that my Grandparents owned has been sold and with the money they redecorated the whole house. They installed new hardwood floors, a new age sound system, and the bathroom looks like something out of a movie star's bathroom.

To describe the barn in all its glory I would be writing till I was over the hill. First off when my great grandpa and his father decided to build the barn and chose the design, everyone thought the barn would get blown over in the first major windstorm. This is due to the fact the design is a one of a kind design picked out by my grandpa’s father. All the wood used to build the barn was bought second hand from other farmers in the general area, so the price would be halfway decent. Just to prove to the fact that the barn is an individual, two years ago a contest was held nation wide dealing with barn designs, and the barn won. My grandpa sent in a letter describing the barn and all its history, also all the work that went in to building it. Included with the letter were pictures of different angles of the barn. The first place price was that the barn was made into a miniature and sold in stores all over the United States. The company that manufactures the barns sent my grandpa a barn for every one of his eight children including my mother.