Megan+M

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** The Music Continues On, All Through The Night **
This Was a Non-fiction writing piece I had to write in my creative writing class. The prompt was a place or historical monument, and we had to use imagery to describe the place. I decided to use Nashville Tennessee because it's my favorite place in the world. Thats where i want to live someday. I just recently passed through Nashville on my way to Florida and Nashville was hit by a big flood. The city was a ghost town underwater. I decided to write about Nashville before and after the flood.



The giant Fortress of radiating light towers over the blue reflecting shapes and figures. I can see the sound of a crowd seated, awaiting the show. I can see the sound of a musician, carefully preparing the night. I can see the sound of the deep dark sky and a reflection of the moon dancing of the river. They call it Nashville, the home of Music; the creation of sound. I can see the sound of the sideline aspirant artiste, waiting for an ear. It’s like a painted picture that the preceding legends stroked with their brushes They call it music, sweeping across the rows of seated people swaying, mouthing every word. The fans, the idols, the passion and the sound. I can see the Grand ole’ opry, it’s where the legend begins. Bodies crowding the streets, trying to get in. People lined up after the show, just to get a look a glimpse, and if they’re lucky, an autograph. The music continues on, all through the night.

And then there’s silence. Streets, not visible anymore, cars floating in the muddy water, a disaster. Streetlights and signs overwhelmed in the water. I can see the Silence. Cars submerged in the water. The lights no longer reflect and the towering buildings no longer intimidate. The sky is dark, like a musician silenced from their song. There’s no singing, no dancing. Emptiness. The only sound that reverberates is the sound of sadness.

As I look out over the destruction, the waters that overtook the city, I see relief. I can see a gathering of people, lending a hand, a shoulder or an ear. Helping find the light through the darkness. To bring the music back. I can see the sound of hope on their faces. Musicians gather from everywhere to hold a relief concert. No more silence. The music continues on, all through the night.

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** RED SOUNDS LIKE: **
This is a piece another piece of writing I did in my creative Writing Class, The prompt was "Red sounds like". This is MY ABSOLUTE favorite piece of writing I did in my Creative Writing class.

**ReD sOuNdS LiKe lOvE** a boy and a girl, a melodic kiss, hands locked tight, white knuckles and rosy cheeks.

frosted smiles, red noses, snow angels and snowmen, and hot chocolate to warm our throats.
 * rEd SoUnDs LiKe WiNtEr**

welling up in one’s throat, wanting to be expressed, wanting to tell someone.
 * ReD sOuNdS LiKE pAiN**

to appreciate things around us, to take a look about, and see the world.
 * rEd SoUnDs LiKe StOp**

Dancing to a Bruce Springstein record, Bright red converse, tapping a beat, One that every once in a while I must play again in my mind.
 * ReD sOuNdS LiKE mEmOrIeS**

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** She Laughs Because: **
This as well is a piece of writing from my Creative Writing class. We were given a photo, and we had to write about it and tell a story from the photo. My photo was of a little girl, about 6 or 7 years old, and she had her head tilted back and she was just laughing her head off, like she had just see the funniest thing in her life. My poem turned out to be about all of the things that made her laugh and all the things that would make her cry. I didn't think i would like this poem very much, but i ended up liking it a lot!

jump roping in flip flops when mommy said no.
This poem isn't as good without the picture it went with, but i couldn't put it on here. We had to draw a picture with the words. We had to take something abstract and make it concrete, and i took the feeling of love! My picture was of a swing on a tree and flowers all around. = =
 * Concrete Poem: **

Just fading numbers…
**Onomatopoeia Poem** This Poem was Also written in my Creative Writing class. We had to use Onomatopoeia's to write this poem. It wasn't completely written by me, either. I wrote the first stanza and then we passed our notebooks around the room and other people wrote their own onomatopoeia's to go with our poem. As soon as i got the word "Zoom" i automatically thought of a bumblebee and so i went off of that. :)

Zoom! Black and yellow flash by, waiting to land on me, holding still, I’m trying not to cry, Zoom! It’s a little bumblebee.

Clang! I dropped my drink, I think I have been stung, quickly I run to the sink, on it, I let the water run.

Crackle! I open the band-aid, the bumblebee thought it had won, my hand had been saved, and then I went out to play in the sun.

Slap! The band-aid is on, but the pain peeks through, running around the yard, mother could fix this too, my arm throbbing hard.

Crackle! The band-aid began to wear off, as I ran around the yard, I should have listened to mom and ‘played it soft’, the bumblebee stung me really hard.

Knock! Someone’s at the door, is it a snake? As I fell to the floor, No, it’s just my brother Jake.

Alliteration Poem:
In my creative writing class, we had to listen to different songs, that portrayed different moods, and we had to write a stanza per song, and use alliteration and use an AABB rhyme scheme. So this poem was kinda hard to write because the prompt was very strict, but I really like writing this one, it has a lot of emotion in it i think. Each song that went with the stanza is in parenthesis.

__(Bitter Sweet Symphony):__ Calm as a __C__alifornia wind, like __c__arefully written letters I didn’t send, __C__hange like the __c__olors of an autumn tree, __C__ircling the atmosphere, on to the __c__aressing sea.

(Ima Be): __Y__elling across at __y__ou, On the other side of the river blue, A __y__ellow sunset reflected in __y__our eyes, Catching the next flight to New __Y__ork __y__ou turn __y__our back and walk towards the sky.

(Chicken-fried): __H__appy memories __h__opping across my mind, You __h__olding me in your arms, all mine, __h__eavy thoughts laid across my __h__eart, This is the __h__ard end of what was a __h__appy start.

(Don't stop Believin'): Just a small town __g__irl, just a city boy, A __g__reat fire __g__rowing in their eyes, a story, __G__rabbing, __g__rasping the dream, so tight, Holding on through the night.

(Bleed) __P__laying all of the same games, Lying in the __p__uddle of shame, Was this on __p__urpose, which __p__erson should get the blame? __P__leading and __p__raying that there’s a change.

(Kokomo) __D__id I say what I meant? The __d__eep, __d__ark hidden secrets, I guess I never got the hint, __D__reading the __d__ays to come, My dear, it’s d ark, please just come home. ** **

Assonance Poem: This was another tricky piece to write. The prompt was to describe a character, real or fictional. In doing so, we had to use a lot of different styles of writing. We had to use an AABB rhyme scheme, we had to use assonance and alliteration. The character I chose to do is a character from the movie "Pride and Predjudice". The character was Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. I described how he loved Elizabeth, but it was a daring move, because his aunt wanted him to marry a girl of upper-class and Elizabeth was of lower-class. And then I described his physical attributes. I pretty much told the story of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, but poetically.

Mr. Darcy, dare he love darling __Elizabeth,__ his pride he cannot hide, but inside he loves her to __death__.

He has messy brown hair, with deep gray eyes, he __stares,__ He’s something of a snob for he cannot compare, when he walks with his nose in the __air__.

When the door bell rings, all of the Bennet girls sing, who will marry Mr. Darcy’s best man, Mr. __Bingly,__ Jane cannot say a word, he chooses her and her heart and face get all __tingly__.

But Elizabeth must marry for love, not __money,__ Mr. Darcy is proud, but interesting, his golden skin reminds her of __honey.__

The Sound of Music:
 * This was a cinquin poem. I wrote this one, along with a lot of my other writings, in my creative writing class. My favorite thing in the world is music. I play a lot of different instruments. I'm in band as well. I decided to use music as my inspiration for this poem. When you write a cinquin you have to take two things that are opposite and describe how they're opposites using a specific rhythm, and then us a word that ties them together. I used two types of music, slow music and fast music to write this poem. **

Slow, Soft and subtle, Slurred, smooth and legato, Gently and quietly flowing Music

Fast, Fun and upbeat, Forte and staccato, Ripping and roaring through the notes, Music

** Cinquin poem # 2 ** this was another cinquin poem I did In my Creative Writing class. Again, I took two things that are opposites, being in love, and being alone and not in love and tied them together with "life". I don't like this one as much as my other one, but it's still good. I didn't really like writing cinquin poems, they were my least favorite to write

In love Together as one, Drifting amongst the clouds, Rosy cheeks and X’s and O’s. Life

Alone, No one to hold, Wanting someone to love, Nobody to laugh or smile with, Life


 * My First Real Taste Of Ocean (told in the View point of my grandm **a)

This piece of writing was a non-fiction writing. We had to tell a story in the view point of someone else who witness the event. I just got back from florida and I had a really funny story from Florida and I thought that I would write about it in the view point of my grandma who was there when it happened! It's really funny :)

Megan has been to the ocean several times; she never goes out far, though. It was our last day in Destin, Florida, and she had to go out far enough to ride the waves at least once! She knew that if she didn’t, she’d regret it. Me and Debbie were close to the shore where the waves were crashing, we were getting knocked over, and then getting back up to do it all over again. Ryan and Ashley are the daredevils and they were out pretty far, right about where the shelf is and the floor gets steeper. They were riding the waves. Megan was slowly making her way out there. She wasn’t getting very far because every time she’d progress, another wave would push her back to shore. We had a red flag that day, which meant it was VERY windy. The waves were monstrous. Of all days it had to be today. We were leaving Florida at 1:30, and it was about 12:00. Megan said she wanted to get out far enough to rid the waves, so that she could say she had done it. The waves took Ashley under a couple of times. She lost her hat and sunglasses! Megan was facing shore, she was trying to ride a wave, when with her back to the wave, it crashed, way sooner than she expected. I think. I kept my eye on her, I knew she would be ok; I just wanted to make sure. I swam towards her. She had gone under. I couldn’t see her for about 15 seconds, when she had finally came up, gasping for air. I chuckled as she reached to tie her bikini top. It had come completely off! Her face was blood red. She walked to shore so embarrassed. Luckily I was the only one who saw. She looked at me with a look like she had a bad taste in her mouth (salt water, a good mouthful of it, too.) and said “alright, I did it, didn’t I? I’m done, no more for me. Can we go home now?” and I just laughed. It was her first “real” taste of ocean, literally.

__**  ‘Dehumanization’ of Nazi-Germany during World War 2 and the Foreshadowing of the Holocaust   **__ This is a piece of writing from my English class this year. We did a war unit and read war books. The book I read was "night" by Elie Wiesle. Then we had to write a research paper on a topic/theme that had to do with our book. The topic I chose was the 'dehumanization' of Jews in Germany during world war 2.

How much of our lives do we really take for granted? I really got to thinking about this just recently. I’m a shopaholic I LOVE to shop. I was at Kohls, and I didn’t really “need” anything but I “wanted” something. I saw this pair of sandals, and I just imagined how cute I would look in them. They were $32.00, but I didn’t mind, I just wanted them. My grandma is the one who pays for everything and when she said I couldn’t have them I just about threw a tantrum. She looked at me and said “Megan, Honestly, how many sandals do you have?” and I thought for a moment. 1,2,3,4,5,6….”umm about 10 pairs”, I replied. “Then do you really need another pair?” That made me realize, wow, I have a lot of things that I really don’t need, but yet I just keep wanting more. I can go to church without the fear of somebody saying that I can’t be a Christian. I think you understand where I’m coming from. People of Jewish religion during World War 2 didn’t have it that easy. In fact they had nothing. Nazi Germany was taking over, and with that slowly came the de-humanization of Jews. Throughout the war, from the time Adolf Hitler came into power there was foreshadowing of what was to come. Slowly but surely Nazi Germany took away the rights of the Jewish people. They were no longer considered humans, they were just numbers.

Starting in 1935, the Nuremberg Laws came to be. These laws took away Jews’ rights as German citizens away. The restricting laws started small. There were laws like such: -‘Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or German-related blood are forbidden.’ -‘Jews are not allowed to employ female citizens of German or German-related blood under 45 years in their household’ -‘Jews are forbidden to raise the Reich and National flag and they cannot show the National colors. However, they are allowed to display the Jewish colors.’

The goal of these laws was to “Segregate Jews from ‘Aryan’ society and to do away with Jews’ political, legal and civil rights” [1], and they did just that.

The first stage of the De-humanization of the Jewish people was limiting Jews from being about of German public life, like the Nuremberg laws forbidding Jews to marry German people. In 1933, a law passed that only a limited number of Jewish students are allowed at German schools. Then they started restricted the jobs of Jews. They were no longer allowed to have any job in the Law, or Medical fields. The next jobs to be forbidden were teachers, actors/actresses, and they were not allowed to be in the Army.

After that is when the Nuremburg laws came into play. There was an annual party rally in Nuremberg in1935, and that’s when the Nazi leaders announced the Nuremburg laws that included Jewish-German marriages, and Jewish Reich citizenship. They didn’t recognize Jews as someone who had the Jewish religion himself, but someone who had three or four Jewish grandparents that were Jews.

Slowly but surely Jewish people starting losing control over their own lives. Adolf’s goal was to ‘purify’ the ‘Aryan’ race. He believed that the ‘Aryan’ race was superior over all the others and he wanted to do away with all peoples that were not of that race. Hitler had Germany completely under his control; he held that control by reinforcing fear in the citizens. As you look back on Word War 2 and Anti-Semitism, you could see that Hitler started isolating the Jews from the rest of society. They weren’t allowed to do some of the things that everyone else could do. They were starting to lose their identity, and that’s exactly what Hitler was trying to achieve.

Jumping down the timeline we see that Jews were forced to live in Ghettos, they were kept from the rest of the world. Then later on they lived in concentration camps, where they were either executed on the spot, or forced to work until they died.

Upon arriving to these camps, Jews were stripped from humanity. All of their belongings were taken from them, including valued items, clothes, and shoes. They even had to go to a Dentist who checked their teeth for gold teeth or fillings, and they ripped them out. They no longer had names, they were recognized by numbers that were tattooed onto their bodies.

They became just numbers. They weren’t humans anymore, and as we look back that’s what Hitler wanted them to be. We read the numbers ‘160,000 Jews were exterminated during World War 2’ and that’s what we think of is numbers. These were humans, these were people just like you and me who had families, who had jobs, who had aspirations, futures, pasts. They were treated worse than the dirt below our feet, they were executed tortured, and killed.

So the next time you want those sandals, just think, ‘What if everything I owned was taken away from me. What if I wasn’t treated like a human-being anymore’. I just ask that you stop to think about it. It sure made me think. Resources: 1.) [] 2.) [] 3.) []

[1] Anti-Jewish Legislation in Prewar Germany; http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/aricle.php?Moduled=10005681

** Scholarship Essay **

This was an Essay that I had to write for a scholarship this year. Unfortunately I didn't win the scholarship, but I thought I had a good essay!

When I was in sixth grade, I found my passion. My grandpa was a musician, he was in a few bands here and there, but my best memory was of him playing at home with me on my grandma’s lap, bouncing and singing. I was adopted by my grandparents when I was little. They were my world, and I, theirs. I always loved it when It was music time and my grandpa would pull out his old Dixon guitar and play. One day I finally decided to learn how to play. Finally, he bought me a guitar. It was a blue and white Fender Stratocaster Squire, and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. “The only way you’re really going to appreciate the gift of music, is if you teach yourself. I can’t really teach you, you’re going to have to learn on your own.” I never understood what he meant; I so badly wanted him to teach me how to play. Nevertheless, I taught myself. Whenever I got sad, I played. Whenever I was angry, I played. Whenever I was happy, I played. I played whenever and wherever. Two months ago, I lost my grandpa, due to his illness. He was only 56, and he died unexpectedly. When I lost him, I lost a piece of me. My music became, sad; my strums were heavy and full of sorrow. I now know what he meant by teaching myself. It was MY accomplishment, mine alone. It became MY story, told through notes, and chords, and song. The reason I think I deserve this scholarship is because I have a story to tell. Everyone has their own story. Some people tell it on the field, others paint it, I was born to tell mine through music. I want to be a music teacher. I want to help aspiring musicians learn how to tell their story. I want to open the ears and eyes of the world to the sound of music.

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