A Look Into the Life of Lauren

One of the most challenging things I face is the ability to comfort friends who are experiencing difficulties because I can never understand the situation from their point of view. Often times when I suggest a way to make their problem better, I get turned down by a response of “but it’s not like that” or “it’s not that easy.” My only intention is to help my friends, but it is hard for me to comfort them when I'm unaware of the whole situation. This corresponds perfectly to Atticus Finch's famous line in To Kill a Mockingbird of, " You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it," as I c annot comfort them when I do not know their perspective (39). Last week in English, I found a similar struggle to mine in the comic book Maus , which involves a son writing about his father’s Holocaust experience. Although this book describes the Holocaust, the audience truly cannot un...

For my whole life, I grew up with not only the best older sister constantly by my side, but honestly my best friend. She was always there for help, advice, entertainment and of course, clothes. I managed to make it sixteen years always enjoying her presence, but without ever actually taking the time to realize how lucky I was to have such an amazing sister. This realization occurred to me on the day she left for college just last month (which was definitely not a pleasant day in my life to say the least). Seeing my sister has always been a normal part of my day and, as Wallace mentioned in “This Is Water”, her presence in my life was so “hidden in plain sight” that I never noticed the significant way she impacted me and how different my life would be with her away at college (238). I lost constantly being with the one who I count on to make me laugh and smile, which has certainly made my life one hundred times more boring and lonely than ever before. The hours I used to spend bonding...

The other day when I was watching the local news, I made a connection between TV and my 11 AP English class, which is odd because it seems like those two things would be the last to associate with each other. After reading “The Partly Cloudy Patriot” in class, I noticed how the author, Sarah Vowell, takes an intermediate stance on a particular topic and  realized that I relate to how she positions herself while I listened to the news that evening. She considers herself a “partly cloudy patriot” since she supports patriotism at times, but does not agree with every aspect, such as how patriots will “shrink from the service of their country” in crisis, but she will not (Vowell 1060). I hold a similar position regarding the reputation of schools with all of the recent terrorism. Schools definitely have beneficial intentions, yet they also cause me to fear for being critically injured while simply trying to further my education, which has led me to becoming a so so supporter on w...

During my freshman year, my family took a trip to New York City. We toured all of the typical attractions, like the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building, and also visited the 9/11 Memorial. I found every feature of this memorial intriguing, which is why I am choosing to display its significance and hopefully inspire some to visit it through my writing.  The 9/11 Memorial is located in the center of New York City, where the Twin Towers once stood. The area is now occupied by two empty pools flowing with water, which represents absence from the lives that were lost on 9/11.  One of my favorite elements about this memorial is its simplicity . The designers chose to use dark colors for the surface and engrave the names of everyone who passed away into the memorial. This simple arrangement creates a peaceful nature.  While reading Postcards from the Trenches in English class, I came across Allyson Booth’s belief that “the incorporation of memorials...