...Composition 1 December 10, 2015 My Addiction, My Recovery "It can never happen to me" I thought, as I watched my father drink himself into oblivion and smoke his drugs, from sunrise, to sunset, and sometimes, for days, even weeks with no break in between. When he left, I remember feeling relieved, even at the early age of two. He was in and out of my life, just as often as he was in and out of rehabiliation centers for the chemically addicted. I didn't mind, I didn't have to watch him slowly kill himself, and hurt my mother, brother and I in the process. I never wanted to be like either one of my parents, both addicts with two different choices of poisons, I told myself every single day that would never be me. Me risk losing it all, my family, my friends, my health, everything in the world that means anything to me at all? "Never" is what I told myself, every time I thought of my father, or looked at my mother. That wasn't what I wanted for my life, I wanted a good life, full of happiness and ambition, surrounded by those I love, and I would never settle for less. My parent's and their lifestyle were things I looked to for motivation to stay focused, and on the right track. Boy, did that ever backfire! My brother and I are three years apart in age, he is older, but not by much when it comes to mentality. One night, after a long night of work, I was 15 and already had dropped out of school, I walked into my brothers room and found him at...
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...this event caused more excitement for them than for the kids. I remember my first day like it was yesterday and I can’t relate to the excitement that many parents have today. It was a normal day in Barbados. Sunrise was very beautiful, as it rides just beyond the cliff of the sea. A bright orange just five minutes away. It seems you can just reach out and touch the fullness of the sun. As I gazed outside my window, the trees were still and bubbles of dew slowly flow down the side of the leaves. In a nearby yard I heard a rooster singing to the top of his lungs. Everything seems in place with a soft carpet of dew covering our lawn like a freshly carpeted house untouched and perfect to the eye. No matter how long I lived on the island, the smell of that fresh breath taking ocean spray is unforgettable. The rich greens, reds, oranges and even the trunks of the trees, made it picture perfect just like the clothes my mom laid out on my bed. My khaki shorts, shirt and socks. Yes, not too flattering but it was my uniform, and it was easy for me to get ready. No scanning through clothes trying to decide what to wear everyday. As I was getting ready, I heard my mom yelling out in a loving voice, “Anthony are you ready?” as I heard her footsteps coming down the hallway. I responded very quickly, “Not yet mommy,” realizing I’ll be going into an unknown world. I wasn’t concerned about anything because I knew my brother was going to be with me the...
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...All the money spent, the illegal drinking, the boys and most of all Tatiana’s brother, Frank. Although of course you have not yet heard of him or his stupid bad ass accomplishments. Let me take you back. TATIANA AND LISA ARE SITTING IN TATIANA’S LOUNGE ROOM. TATIANA | My brother is so annoying. Every time a guy even looks at me, he scares them away. It was so good before he came home, I got any guy I wanted! (Tatiana starts getting teary) He’s such a knob; I wish he would run away again. | LISA | There’s nothing wrong with your brother, he’s sooo hot, what’s his number? What is he doing tonight? | | LISA LAUGHS, TATIANA STARES AT HER. | TATIANA | LISA!! You’re supposed to be my best friend, yuck! | LISA | Sorry, Tatty. He can’t be that annoying, can he? | | TATIANA STARTS BRUSHING HER HAIR AND GETS COMFORTABLE. | TATIANA | You can’t tell anyone about what I’m about to tell you, okay? | LISA | Yeah, alright. | TATIANA | Swear on your really nice hair that’s not as nice as mine? | LISA | I swear. | TATIANA | Alright, well… you know how he ran away from home when he was like younger? | LISA | Yeah, so? | TATIANA | Yeah, well… where he went, like got him into drugs and alcohol really bad, and he is not a happy person when he is drunk, he gets all agro and stuff, it’s not pretty. When I was little he broke a few of my nails, and pulled my hair, it was terrible. Mum said I cried for days. | LISA | Oh my god, that is terrible. Doesn’t he scare you?...
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...Abdallah H Saggaf History 102 03/08/2013 MY BOY JACK My boy jack is a very powerful movie that really moved me in a way that no other movie has in a long time. When I found out that this is about Rudyard Kipling’s son was based on a real event, my reaction to the film were even more sharp. When the movie was finished and the credits started rolling, I sat quietly, pondering the fear of war and all the sacrifices that come with it. It is indeed breath taking. The cast of the film is very genuine. David Haig, whose face looked very familiar to me more than his name, really stood out. Not only does he look like the real Rudyard Kipling, but it is said that he spent over 20 years practicing to fit the real Kipling’s story to stage and screen. David plays Kipling role with great arrogance and patriotism. Even though what he was doing was not pleasant, putting his son in a dangerous situation, for most people it was credible. Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe on the other hand is unforgettably good as the boy who enters the fray of WW1 despite being completely incompetent. Even though Jack had very poor eye site, this did not hold back Kipling’s actions to help his son join the army force. His performance as Jack is very real that as some point, I internally screamed NO! when he directs and leads his group to fight. Daniel Radcliffe brings both power and sadness at the same time in his role, especially when he speaks to his father for the last time and takes off. ...
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...Adam Davis My Favorite Person Ever “Beep! Beep!” As I woke up to the loud sound of an alarm, I knew today was going to be a big day. My little sister would be born today: October 27th, 2005. I crept over to my big brother’s room, and I woke him up with the great news. He jumped up out of his bed. I told him that Mom was at the hospital and that we needed to get there. He replied that he had a test that day at his high school. I told him that Mya would be more important than some dumb test. As we began to fight, my brother pushed me down the steps like he was an offensive lineman protecting his quarterback. As the pain shot up my arm, I began to sob. I just could not stop. My brother Andrew left me like LeBron left Cleveland in 2010. I was at home all by myself, and nobody was answering the phone. Finally my Dad called me on the house phone. He told me to go to school and that he would come pick me up. I wiped the tears off my face, jumped in the shower, and frantically washed my body, As the water began to touch my skin I began to think about all the times I sat on my mom’s soft bed and read stories to Mya with my mouth touching my mom’s stomach. I wondered which parent Mya would look like, if we were going to have a good relationship, and most importantly if I was going to be a great big brother. I got out of the shower, and I dried off as quickly as I could. I went to my closet and looked for an outfit like I was going to meet the President of The United States. I decided...
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...2015 Narrative Essay Loss I have this fear. My heart starts beating fast. Sometimes it’s like all things start spinning out of control around me. Then it comes as a shock and quickly becomes disbelief. It’s like the whole world is working against me. Soon after, I get this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that just doesn’t go away when I want it to. When it’s sudden and unexpected, the shock turns out to be so overwhelming. My biggest fear is losing someone close to me. I certainly don’t do well with losing people. It’s really hard for me, and even though I’m a strong person in front of others, I become miserable when I’m alone. One struggle I have when I experience loss is keeping my own faith. I trust that God knows of all things, and I know if that’s what He wants, than I have to accept it, but I question why and it angers me a little. Throughout high school in Danbury, CT, I had a best friend who had my back through everything. His name was Luan Henrique Pitol and I can honestly say I trusted him with pretty much anything. I told him things I had trouble telling my girlfriends and he lectured me when I dated the wrong guys. The funny thing is, he was a player himself, but I’m proud to say I was his only “girl” friend who never became his girlfriend. Our friendship was too strong and there was no way we would risk it. We would always laugh when people told us to be together and I think it’s because I always had this “big brother” kind of description in mind when I talked...
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...A nice romantic-comedy about a Greek-American girl which has to fight against her family's strict traditions in order to marry a non-Greek boy. I think that, for the Greek people, this movie must be full of strange topics and stereotypes, but for the ones who don't know about the Greek way of life it is pretty amusing. There are all kind of weird characters, like the grandma and the starring actress, Nia Vardalos makes an outstanding job showing us the metamorphosis of a timid girl to a liberated woman. `My Big Fat Greek Wedding,' directed by Joel Zwick, will make you laugh and make you cry, but most importantly, it will make you `feel.' It is one of those rare cinematic experiences that after watching it seems to make the sky seem bluer, a single step lighter and a smile easier to come by. It is clearly evident that the film follows the story of Toula and Ian’s love life, through all the bumps and hurdles they face....
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...“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is a charming romantic comedy that explores cultural differences in a combination of adorable romance and cute humor. The story revolves around Toula, a thirty-year-old Greek American single woman, who lives with her family in the suburb of Chicago. Like many obedient Greek daughters, she works in her family’s business, a restaurant called “Dancing Zorba’s.” Toula belongs to a traditional collective upbringing where all good daughters are expected to marry from their ethnic background. However, she struggles with her father’s limited ambitions for her and she longs for something else in life. She enrolls in college and takes computer classes. With the computer diploma under her belt, a rebellious Toula emerges. She manages her aunt’s travel agency and starts dating Ian Miller, a white high school English teacher. They date secretly for a while, before she has the courage to introduce him to her family. Her father is livid over her dating a non-Greek. The climax of the story occurs when both sides try to adjust to each other. While Ian has to let go of his rigid white individualistic upbringing and learn to accept her collective big family and Greek traditions, Toula has to come to terms with her own identity. My Big Fat Greek Wedding not only exposes the cultural difference between the individualism of Ian and his family and the collectivism of Toula and her family, it also offers a wide array of misconceptions in interpersonal communication. Collectivism...
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...Ethnocentrism is a major reason for divisions amongst members of different ethnicities, races, and religious groups in society. Ethnocentrism is the belief of superiority is one's personal ethnic group, but it can also develop from racial or religious differences. Ethnocentric individuals believe that they are better than other individuals for reasons based solely on their heritage. Clearly, this practice is related to problems of both racism and prejudice. While many people may recognize the problems, they may not realize that ethnocentrism occurs everywhere and everyday at both the local and political levels. Ethnocentrism in History Present Day Politics To solidify the definition of ethnocentrism, looking at the present day politics of the United States is helpful. With instances occuring since its conception, the United States has often thought of itself as more powerful, more economically sound, and just generally "better" than other nations. This has been shown by the country's tendency to dabble in situations occuring in other nations, such as the country's current involvement with affairs in the Middle East. Although the idea of every citizen in the United States belonging to one ethnicity is certainly debatable, since the country has citizens who originally came from all over the world, the feeling of national pride can stand in for a pure ethnicity in this case. European Imperialism Imperialism, the practice of taking over other lands, was heavily...
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...thought and the most important things that define me are my adoption, heritage, and passion for the game of softball. It is not just one aspect that defines me. It is through my past experiences, and future ones that shape who I am as an individual person. My adoption would have to be what defines me the most because being adopted shows a person that they can’t take their family for granted. Building and keeping the strong relationship with my family is very important to me. These relationships continue to grow every day. Without my family I don’t know where I would be right now. The basically saved my life and that’s what family is for. Another thing that adoption has taught me about is inclusion. My family took me in when I needed it the most and they didn’t treat me like I was an outsider even though they didn’t know anything about me or where I came from. Including someone is something me and my friends are doing could change someone’s life for the better. I was taught that I shouldn’t exclude anyone and if they are shy go over to them and ask if they want to join. Continuing with the family idea and the adoption, my heritage is also another thing that defines me. With being adopted I was only introduced to my adopted family’s heritage which is Irish, German, and Scottish. However, this summer I decided to ask my mom what my true heritage was and she told me that I was Greek. By me being Greek it explains a lot about my...
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...Movie Review Movie Review COMS 4100 Summer2013 Andrea Holmes COMS 4100 Summer2013 Andrea Holmes The movie I chose to analyze is “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” starring Nia Vardalos, John Corbett and other bigger than life stars. This movie is about a young Greek woman, Toula Portokalos, who struggles with her identity and does not feel like she fits in. She desires more in life and is confused as to how she will fill the role her parents require of her. Toula’s family migrated from Greece to give her and her siblings, Athena and Nick a better life. Their father, Gus, is sure to remind them of this every chance he gets. He believes the Greek way is the only way and is very intolerant of pushback from his children. Toula’s mother, Maria, is a strong woman who believes in working hard, loving hard, and cooking huge meals at any given moment. Toula fights the fact that she is nothing like her family. She is quirky and finds that she is a square peg in a round hole. The Portokalos family is very big and exceptionally close. Every occasion calls for a party and every party calls for the most food any person could ever imagine. This rambunctious lifestyle has always been a thorn in Toula’s side and no matter how hard she tries, she is unable to find her niche in life. As a Greek woman, she is expected to marry young, have many children and work in the family business, a diner called the Dancing Zorbas. Not only is she to marry a nice man, he is to be a nice, GREEK...
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...Film Techniques of ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ * At the beginning of the film, she is very upset because she was different and of different culture to the kids in her school, but then the movie gradually shows that it is actually a positive because that is what Ian liked about her. * In the opening segment, there is the use of voiceover, which is a reflective technique. * What she said when in the first scene, she said she wanted to be blond girls, that later Ian likes her because she is different and not blond. She didn’t want to go to Greek school but that was what Ian liked. During the scene with her in Greek school, there was Greek music playing in the background which emphasises how distinctly Greek she is. * When it shows their house, it pans across the street and there is a medium shot of the house. Their family is mono-culture. Gus has very set beliefs and he is so convinced that all of the human accomplishments have been because of the Greeks, that’s why he wants her to marry a Greek. * The main thing is humour. It conveys the message of this film in an interesting way. * The film introduces the usage of repeated motifs with the Greek language, Windex and the idea that you have to get married, have babies and feed everyone. * We are showed that when she was young, she was embarrassed by her parents. The irony that when she was young, she didn’t want to be Greek but in the later years, this is what was made her special. They brought her...
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...Eunhye Kim May 18, 2016 After Watching “My Big Greek Wedding” The movie “My Big Greek Wedding” is about the wedding between Tula, who is a Greek-American and was wearing out of fashion style and Ian who is local American white man. Even if now she is in her early thirties, her mother and father want to find a husband in hoping of sending her to Greece. At this time, she meets a perfect guy who is American. The major conflict in this movie came out after she met him. In this movie, there are a lot of cultural things that have learned in this class. For example, dominant culture, a minority group, oppression, culture difference, and collectivism. Here are the reasons why I thought of many those concepts. First of all, this movie showed the family living in America with Greek culture, showing dominant culture and a minority group. At the start of this movie, it illustrated how this girl had grown up in America. Since this Greek family immigrated to America, the dominant culture is American culture. So, Tula was illustrated adjusting in American culture was hard, avoiding other American girls. However, her family was different. Even if they are in American, they didn’t remove their own culture, especially their house. In the movie, they lived in normal Chicago town. Whereas other houses are similar with American traditional style house, her family houses are similar with the temple of the Parthenon. Indeed, they always have their meal with Greek food. In this point, even...
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...My Big Fat Greek Wedding Analysis Our culture is a part of what makes us who we are and how we communicate with others. My Big Fat Greek Wedding does an amazing job at illustrating cultural differences and all the dilemmas that occur from them. More importantly, the film shows us that with proper communication people can find a way to get along, no matter how significant the cultural differences may be. Cultural communication barriers are seen many times throughout the film. One example of this could be when Ian’s parents were attending his wedding and mentioned they couldn’t understand anything the Greek orthodox minister was saying and were astonished at the sight of people in the audience spitting on the bride. Another example might be when Ian mentioned to Toula’s Aunt that he was a vegetarian and she insisted that lamb was not considered meat. In the film we see also many instances of misunderstandings that arise due to the differences in culture. For example, when Ian met Toula’s father for the first time, Toula’s father took it as an insult that Ian did not ask permission before attempting to date his daughter. Due to Ian’s ignorance of nurturing culture like Greek culture, Ian unintentionally angered Toula’s father by his actions. Another example is when Ian’s parents meet Toula’s family for the first time. Ian’s parents also unintentionally upset Toula’s father by acting too uptight. Greek culture is classified as a collectivistic culture, so it easy to see...
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...Narrative Conventions in My Girragundji The novella My Girragundji, based on true experiences, tells a heart-warming story about a boy, who, in times of stress, turns to a little green tree frog for support. Narrative conventions are used to display the changes Girragundji, the frog, makes on the protagonist’s life and identity. The language, plot, and characters all have a big influence on the main protagonist’s life. The writers Meme Mcdonald and Boori Pryor use the narrative convention of language to show change in the boy’s life. At the beginning of the story, the boy’s language is pessimistic and scared. Quotes from the book confirm this statement. ‘I’m too scared a hand will come through and grab me in my sleep’ (Page 10) suggests that the boy is too scared to sleep with his head near the window as he thinks a quinkin (Referred to in the book as a ‘hairyman’) will grab him in his sleep. Another quote states ‘I wonder what’s the point of living’ tells the reader the main character is negative and possibly thinking suicidal thoughts. However, when Girragundji enters his life, all traces of negative thoughts are gone, and he is much more positive. ‘The bullies don’t seem so big anymore’ is a quote from when after the frog enters his...
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