Phillip Lopate’s “The Art of the Personal Essay” is a collection of assorted personal essays from amazing and celebrated writers, for example, Wendell Berry and Wole Soyinka. Two great essays from Lopate’s book would have to be Wendell Berry’s “An Entrance to the Woods”, which is a stellar essay about his renunciations, and Wole Soyinka’s Read more…
End of the Year Reflection I have learned many things this year, whether from difficulty or success. These are some of the feelings, experiences, and lessons I’ve learned on my first year in middle school. I remember the first day of school. My hands were sweating more than a NBA player Read more…
B.P.’s Cover-up and Local Response On the eve of BP’s catastrophe, its man-made disaster that killed eleven of its workers and numerous innocent animals, bankrupting thousands of businesses on the Gulf of Mexico, the Minerals Management Service, the agency that supposedly regulates and manages oil companies’ leases of our natural resources, was sitting on its hands. Read more…
2011 CTY Reflection Fourteen young students entered bravely into the unknown classroom. With their innocent eyes wide open, they were bewildered by the brick walls and the dim atmosphere in which they were suppose to spend eight hours a day for the next three weeks. The sunlight that was peering through the narrow windows Read more…
Center for Talented Youth: Lancaster, PA As I walked down the hallway to my room, I noticed something – there were pictures of squirrels on all of the doors. (I would later learn that squirrels meant first years at CTY.) I was rather pleased with my picture: a terribly obese squirrel Read more…
BP Oil Spill: Past, Present, and Future In the autumn of 2010, I decided to look into the recent, horrendous BP oil spill. I felt so strongly about the incident that I decided to write an essay and a questionnaire about the topic to educate others. The essay and questionnaire were used to evaluate Read more…
Biology Biology is not my favorite, Hard work, hard tests, extremely tedious Last minute studying in bed, candle lit, From ATP to bugs eating aphids. I read about trees, how large, how green, So tall, so bold, leaves blowing in the air, The bark has lenticels, in between, These autotrophs give us energy to Read more…
Oscar Wilde is known for his plays, his social criticism and poetry, as well as his fables. One such fable, “The Happy Prince” was a particular favorite of Larry’s, and he decided to write his own version of the story. The assignment required matching Wilde’s syntax exactly, as well as following the thematic arc of Read more…
Stephen Crane – The Natural World Stephen Crane is one of the most celebrated authors in the United States. He created masterpieces as detailed and realistic as they were recognizable. He was skilled in many types of description, such as his masterful depiction of street life apparent in Maggie: Girl of the Streets, Read more…
END OF YEAR REFLECTION In the past year I have learned that hard work pays off. Even though this statement has become a cliche, I never really thought much of it other than it being just another meaningless saying. I also didn’t consider myself much of a hard worker. I was one of Read more…
