Tuesday, May 5, 2009

My Last Party

My Last Party
BY JESSICA STEFANOWICZ

"It's just one party, I'll go have some fun."
So I got in my car, and drove away.
Who knew this party would be my last one,
And I would not live to see the next day.

Say hello to a few friends, flirt just a bit.
"I'm not hurting anyone, I'll be fine."
Get handed a drink, had more than a sip.
"What did I just have? Was it Vodka or wine?"

The room's spinning, and I'm gonna be sick.
Everyone's saying I'm so wasted; so smashed.
A Designated Driver; that's a trick.
Then just maybe my car wouldn't have crashed.

Maybe, just maybe, I would still be alive,
If I had not chosen to drink and drive.

Monday, March 30, 2009

The Old Man And The Sea Essay

The Old Man and the Sea Essay

Persistence may be agreed to be a very admirable quality. What do we notice about these people that possess this devoted quality? What is it about them that attract positive energy, and positive outcomes to certain situations? Behind their persistence, is motivation. The drive that they get to achieve something they want almost guarantees that they will eventually get what they want. This attitude is what can make a person successful in life. In The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemmingway, persistence is one of the main themes of the book. It is a quality that the main character, Santiago, possesses as a part of his characterization, and it is one of the factors that helps develop and move the story along. Throughout specific parts in The Old Man and the Sea, this quality in the story is displayed through Santiago’s dialog, and it is what helps to establish this important theme and life value throughout the novella.

Sometimes in life, we face challenges that must be solved by overcoming one or many great obstacles. The Old Man and the Sea tells a story of an aging and ambitious fisherman named Santiago. He was once a skilled and successful fisherman, but after an unfortunate change in luck occurs as he grows older, and not one single fish had been caught in almost three months. Then his time finally came when he spots and hunts a marlin for days on end, and you see the true desire in Santiago to be on top of the world again: “Fish, he said softly aloud, I’ll stay with you until I am dead” (52). Although Santiago is saying this to an ocean animal, he speaks the truth. Santiago dedicates everything he has to catching this marlin, avowing to hunt it until either the marlin or he himself is dead. This ambition that Santiago carries with him throughout the book helps him to keep the career he truly loves, and it helps to keep him fighting to not give up on fishing for good.

“Fish, he said, I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you before this day ends” (54). One of the many character traits of Santiago is his kind heart. Even though he is hunting this marlin with the intentions of killing it, he is still talking to it, and showing his respect to it. Through Ernest Hemmingway’s writing, you can also see that Santiago’s character and his moral values are not like those of other fisherman in his town. The average fisherman may have not paid any respects to the fish the way Santiago did. The average fisherman would not even think about killing a fish, and not even care that they are killing an animal for money. But Santiago uses fishing as a lifestyle, and he fishes with the intentions of using his catches for food, and not profit.

Determination can get us through almost anything, including injury. When this quality is present in a person, and they know that in a moment of injury that they have a job to do, and that they must work through whatever may be the problem with their bodies so that this can be done. “Be patient hand, he said, I do this for you” (59). Santiago has been holding onto the fish for hours and hours at this point in the novella, and when he says this, he is showing that he is not going to back down anytime soon. He has waited and worked very hard to try and catch a fish as great at the one he is following now. Even though his hand is cramping up, he tells himself that his hand needs to get better, because he is not only doing this for the catch itself, but he is staying committed to the marlin because he owes it to himself to get a long awaited, and good catch. He will do whatever is possible to overcome this obstacle, and finally get the catch he deserves
The Old Man and the Sea is a story about ‘man vs. wild’ as many have described it before. But I see it as much more within one of its themes. I believe that the message of persistence is an extremely important aspect to this classic novella, and it is well displayed through Santiago’s character. He is a determined, wise, and proud man, who lives for his fishing career and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Fishing is almost all he knows, and he wants to try and keep his special skill with him and keep using it until the day he dies.
By Jessica Stefanowicz

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Outside Reading Book Review (1st Quarter)

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown and Company.2005 Genre: Fantasy

1st Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

The book Twilight has become a national phenomenon in only a few short years. Many have even refereed to it as the new ‘Harry Potter’ series. This is a book by a new writer, Stephenie Meyer, and it tells the story of a 17-year-old named Bella. After moving in with her father to a rural town in Washington, she doesn’t know if she made the right decision to leave her mother in Phoenix . She then meets her high school Biology lap partner, Edward Cullen, and he may just be the most mysterious person she’s ever met. Edward’s family is a family of immortal vampires, and as Bella learns of Edward’s dying need for her blood, they fall in love with each other. And as they spend more time together, they must fight for their lives in trying to protect Bella from three other evil vampires.
Found on the back of the book itself, are some book reviews. Publisher’s Weekly says that Twilight is "Propelled by suspense and romance in equal parts, [this story] will keep readers madly flipping through the pages of Meyer’s tantalizing debut", while the School Library Journal said "The novel’s danger-factor skyrockets as the excitement of secret love and hushed affection morphs into a terrifying race to stay alive...Twilight will have readers dying to sink their teeth into it.
Twilight is a new kind of book in my opinion. It is at first assumed to be a scary thriller, with gory vampire-death scenes, but it’s really not that at all. It is a teenage love story in one of the most unexpected settings, that has many different parts of action, suspense, and lust. The story is told in the first person through Bella Swan, so as she goes through things in the story, you go through them with her. Though the first 3/4 of the book establishes and develops Edward and Bella’s relationship, the ending had me- and I’m sure other readers too-not being physically able to part with the book! The ending of this was probably the most exciting ending in any book I’ve ever read! Stephenie Meyer was smart to do this, because this left readers satisfied with the story, but wanting to find out more in future books for what awaits for Bella, Edward, and the rest of the Cullens family.
This quote from page 345, really stood out for me through out the book. I didn’t know if this was a turning point for the whole book, or just a little scene that in the long run didn’t mean anything. But it was good to keep guessing and find out what really happened.
"I hate to burst your bubble, but you’re really not as scary as you think you are. I don’t find you scary at all, actually," I lied casually. [Edward] stopped, raising his eyebrows in blatant disbelief. Then he flashed a wide wicked smile. "You really shouldn’t have said that," he chuckled. He growled, a low sound in the back of his throat; his lips curled back over his perfect teeth. His body shifted suddenly, half-crouched, tense like a lion about to pounce."
Although they were just rough-housing in this scene, you always had the though of "Oh my God-is he going to attack her? Did she release the monster in him?" It was a very intense point in the book, and I thought that Edward and Bella’s young love for each other showed in this part.
My aunt Jill is a English teacher herself, and she was reading this book on the request of some of her students. She immediately called me to tell me that it was one of the best books she’s ever read and that I had to read it right away before the movie came out, and to be different from the rest of the teenage population, and just wait for the movie to come out in December! As soon as I was past the preface in the book, I was hooked! I was so glad it only got better as I went along. You really don’t find any books like this, and it’s a book that people defiantly love and can’t wait to read the next book in the series the moment they flip through the last page.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Price of Love

It was almost 1:30 in the morning, and I was sitting on my bed, with my iPod playing in the background and my laptop in front of me, it was a Friday night spent at home. Sleep at this time was out of the question, because there was something else going on that was bothering me. My boyfriend, Nick, and his friends were all hanging out. Him and our friend Stephen had broken into Stephens parent's liquor cabinet in his house. They started drinking as a way to "unwind" after a long week apparently. I didn’t really care before that any of them drank, except for Nick. He had a little history of avarice for liquor, and it always seemed to affect me. It got so out of hand once, he actually ended up walking to my house, while he was intoxicated, at 3 in the morning while some of my friends were over. What made it worse was that he didn’t even remember it the next morning. Though he never physically hurt me, drunk or sober, I couldn't help but think that it could be a possibility one day.

My phone had been going off all night with texts from him and with text from his friend, Stephen. Stephen claimed that he hadn't had an much to drink as the others, and he was telling me of how crazy Nick was acting at that moment. He told me Nick fell down almost every time he tried to stand, and I took notice to all of the typos in his texts. I asked Nick how hammered he was, he claimed that it hadn’t hit him yet, which I knew was completely untrue. Out of the blue my phone rang. Nick said there was something wrong with his phone and he couldn't see the screen on his phone anymore. This was when I started to get mad.

“Hello?” I said, even though I knew it was him.

“Hellooooooooo!” he replied with a bit of insanity to his voice. I just rolled my eyes.

“How much have you had?” I asked him, afraid to hear the answer.

“Hmm….” He thought for a few seconds, “I had one…two…six…ten drinks!” he said with prattle.

"Ten drinks of what?” I asked sternly.

“Everything I could get!”

“Oh God, Nick!” I said with disgust. I totally abhorred him at this moment. I could not believe he would let himself do something like that to himself. But before I could upbraid him for his bad decision, he started to speak again.

“No babe….just listen to me!” He mumbled. I figured that I would listen to him, since that was all I could do to help him. “I’ve been thinking. I love you sooo much, and I just know….” He had managed to say.

“You just know what?” I asked, urging him to continue.

“That I never want to let you go! I want to be with you forever!” he said.

“What!?” I asked with disbelief.

“I mean it, I really do! I never want to left you go…” he repeated. He had kept going, but I tuned him out.

I had a countenance of shock, disgust and annoyance all at the same time. I could not believe what I was hearing! I was so mad at him for ever wanting to drink in the first place, let alone calling me while he was this drunk! I was starting to think that he would do something stupid being this intoxicated, and the last thing I wanted was for something bad to happen to him. While Nick was going on with his drunken “I love you” speech, I sent a text to Stephen.

“makee him go 2 bedd. he needs 2 sleep itt off” I typed to him. I returned the phone to my ear, but Nick had already hung up. I roughly cast my phone onto my bed out of anger after I hung up. As I waited for Stephen's reply, I stopped feeling bad for Nick, and a huge wave of anger came over me.

A whole ten minutes later, I finally got a response from Stephen.

“hes gone. he got in his car saying how he needed to see you and he just left”

My stomach dropped. My parents and my little sister were home, there was no way I was going to let him even come near my house in his inept state! I was not sure what to do. Everything was getting so complicated, and the whole situation was graver than I ever thought it could be. I didn’t know if I should wake up my parents to warn them, if I should lock my door and ignore him, or if I should drive him back to Stephen’s house. My head was rushing with thoughts, almost as if I were running out of time to think of something to do.

But he never came. I waited for a half an hour. I kept looking out my front window, but there was absolutely no one on my street. There was a compunction coming over me, and I just knew something was wrong. To this day, I still don’t know why I had this feeling, but the only thing I do know is that it is not a good feeling to know that someone you could possibly love is in danger. Almost without instinct, I quietly ran out of my house, got in my car, and started driving in the direction to Stephen’s house. I knew I would see Nick somewhere, whether he was walking or driving. I turned my high beams, looking everywhere around me. I was aloof to everything around me; I was looking for him, and only him. As I started to turn off of my street, I saw steam around the corner. My heart stopped beating, I stopped breathing, I felt frozen where I was. But then the next thing I knew, I was out of my car and walking towards the mangled tree.

And there was his car, crushed into total oblivion. Every piece of glass from the car was shattered and laying in pieces on the ground. It crunched and shattered into even more oblivion as I ran to the driver’s seat window. I almost could not bring myself to do it, but I looked inside. And I saw him; this smart, funny, amicable, handsome, young man, slumped over the steering wheel, pinioned in his mangled car. A cut on his head leaked blood down his lifeless face. A rush of emotions ran through me. I started to scream. I yelled at him.

"Get out of the car! Nick common! You need to wake up" I tugged at the door opener, but it was not budging. I reached my hand through the broken window, cutting my hand in the process. I touched his cold face. I grabbed onto his torn and bloody shirt, trying to lift him out of the car. But he was trapped inside, and there was no way I was going to get him out; Dead or alive.

I fell to the ground. banged my fists in the glass-covered pavement. I blamed Stephen for letting him leave, and for serving him the booze. I blamed Nick, for ever turning to the bottle, for getting into the car, and for ever meeting me. I blamed myself the most. If he had never known me, he would not have gotten into that car to come see me, and he would still be alive. The reasons why he was dead were so paltry, it seemed like nothing would ever make the sudden pain I had in me any go away.

But then I saw who the real enemy was, who was truly at fault; the alcohol. I feel so useless because there is really nothing I can ever do to prevent what happened to Nick from happening again. As a matter of fact, others died the same night as Nick from drunk driving related accidents. I only wait, and hope that maybe someday, someone can learn to be smart, to make good decisions, and to look after the ones you love. And all I can do it mourn the one I lost, and hope that this horrible event will cease.

Friday, January 30, 2009

The Price of Love; 1st Draft


It was almost 1:30 in the morning, and I was sitting on my bed, with my iPod playing in the background and my laptop in front of me, it was a Friday night spent at home. But there was something bothering me. My boyfriend, Nick, and his friends were all hanging out, and they had broken into his friend’s liquor cabinet in his house, and they used this as a way to unwind after a long week. I didn’t really care before that any of them drank, except for my boyfriend. He had a little history with drinking, and it always seemed to affect me. Once it got so out of hand, he walked to my house while he was incredibly drunk at 3 in the morning while some of my friends were over. And he didn’t even remember it the next morning. Though he never hurt me drunk or sober, I always had that thought in the back of my head that he could. And what was scaring me most about this time, was that I had never seen him this intoxicated before.


My phone had been going off all night with texts from him and with text from his friend, Stephen, all night. Stephen was drinking right along with him, but he wasn’t binging like Nick was. Nick began making a lot of typos in his texts, and when I asked him how hammered he was, he claimed that it hadn’t hit him yet. And then my phone rang. He decided to call, because he said he couldn’t read the screen anymore, making it hard to text.


“Hello?” I said, even though I knew it was him.

“Hellooooooooo!” he replied with a bit of insanity to his voice. I just rolled my eyes.

“How much have you had?” I asked him, afraid to hear the answer.

“Hmm….” He thought for a few seconds, “I had one…two…six…a grand total of ten drinks!” he said proudly.


"Ten drinks of what?” I painfully asked.

“Everything I could get!” he replied.

“Oh God, Nick!” I said with disgust.

“No babe….just listen to me!” He said. I figured that I would listen to him, since that was all I could do to help him. “I’ve been thinking. I love you sooo much, and I just know….” He had managed to say.

“You just know what?” I asked, urging him to continue.

“That I’m never want to let you go! I want to be with you forever!” he said.

“What?” I asked with disbelief.

“I mean it, I really do! I never want to left you go…” he repeated. I could not believe what I was hearing! I was so mad at him for ever wanting to drink in the first place, let alone calling me while he was this drunk! I was starting to think that he would do something stupid being this intoxicated, and the last thing I wanted was for something bad to happen to him. While Nick was going on with his drunken “I love you” speech, I sent a text to Stephen.

“makee him go 2 bedd. he needs 2 sleep itt off” I typed to him. As I waited for a reply, I realized that Nick had hung up. I just looked at my phone, and prayed he would be okay.

A whole ten minutes later, I finally got a response from Stephen.

“hes gone. he got in his car saying how he needed to see you and he just left”

My stomach dropped. My parents and my little sister were home, there was no way I was going to let him even come near my house! I was not sure what to do. Everything was getting so complicated; I didn’t know if I should wake up my parents to warn them, if I should lock my door and ignore him, or if I should drive him back to Stephen’s house. I guess all I could do is see what happens, and make the best decision for what to do with Nick once he got here.

But he never came. I waited for a half hour. There was absolutely no one on my street. To this day, I still don’t know why, but I had a feeling that he was in trouble. Almost without instinct, I ran out of my house, got in my car, and started driving to Stephen’s house. I knew I would see Nick somewhere, whether he was walking or driving. Or worse… I turned my high beams, looking everywhere around me. As I started to turn off of my street, I saw steam around the corner. My heart stopped beating, I stopped breathing, but somehow I had managed to turn off my car, get out, and run over to the scene.


And there was his car, crushed into total oblivion. Every piece of glass from the car was shattered and laying in pieces on the ground. I ran to the driver’s seat window, and I looked inside. And I saw him, this smart, funny, handsome guy, slumped over the steering wheel. A cut on his head leaked blood down his lifeless face. A rush of emotions ran through me. I blamed Stephen for letting him leave, and for serving him the booze. But mostly I blamed myself, because if he had never known me, he would not have gotten into that car to come see me, and he would still be alive.

But then I saw who the real enemy was, who was truly at fault; the alcohol. No good ever comes out of drinking, and I feel so useless because there is really nothing I can ever do to prevent what happened to Nick from happening ever again. I can’t believe he’s really gone, but I also can’t believe that every day, another person is taken away from the world because of drunk driving. So until people can learn to be smart, to make good decisions, and to look after the ones you love, all I can do it mourn the one I lost, and hope that this horrible event will cease.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Values Today; 1st Draft

I think that we can all agree that today’s high class society has become all commercial. Everywhere you look, you see things in the media about the newest technology or the latest style. There is absolutely nothing anymore in the world that are priceless that people care about anymore! But I think that the one thing that will always stay priceless, that has in the past and always will be, are memories. They are made everyday, no matter how important you intend for them to be. Some you forget within a matter of hours, some stay a little longer as time goes on. And then there are those you never forget. You can still feel the feelings you have when it happened, and you remember everyone around you, the sights, the sounds, and what happened. I believe that these are the best things of value a person could have. I fortunately have found multiple things that I believe are of true, priceless value in my life, and I of course have some that are of a priced value.
Picture my most valued moment; this event has happened many times before and will happen again in the near future. You enter an see probably the most ugliest carpeting ever-a bright blue! But we have gotten to know it very well, and it has helped us whenever we needed it. It’s the mat. As we spend the last few seconds putting another can of hairspray to our perfectly curled hair, and caking on that last bit of make up to make us truly look like Barbies-we know we are ready. We huddle up, and our captains, sometimes it was me, that gave a speech. "We’ve got this ladies. Everything we’ve been working for has lead up to this moment!" it usually goes. We all put our hands in, say our team, name, and run onto the mat as the DJ introduces us; "Please welcome your South Hadley High School Tiger cheerleaders!" The crowd roars and we jump up and down as we cheer our teams name. Then starts the adrenaline rush-I breathe in one last breath before the tweaked and remixed music starts to echo and vibrate the gym. "Relax," I say to myself," It’s just another practice." But the truth is it’s not. I see the 2-foot-high trophies standing taller than the Eiffel Tower sitting on the judges Table. I see our coach at the back of the gym, trying to see what her and the other five coaches have been putting us girls to work for the past few months will finally pay off. "You may begin when you are ready," says the DJ. And then it starts. This is a cheerleading competition, and this is what these girls live for.
It’s early in the morning. My hair has just been fried into oblivion by my straightener, I’ve been dressed, I have my backpack packed, and I’m thinking I’m missing something. I remember that I have no jewelry on! I go to my box, put on some simple diamond earrings, and a bracelet on each wrist. Then I carefully take my most treasured item and start to lay it on my neck.. I look at it’s little heart, and the silver loop that the small bar will fit through to fasten it together. I run my thumb across the heart it make it a little shinier. I See the words "Tiffany & Co." written across it, and I know that since it is a real genuine Tiffany necklace, that it is truly a priced item! I remember the Christmas I had gotten it from a relative at her annual Christmas party. I always loved her gifts most of all, because they were almost always designer jewelry that sparkled and shined in their boxes. I pulled it out and thought it was the most beauteous thing I had ever seen! I knew I would treasure this necklace for a long time, I knew it would be one of those things tat I would leave to my grand-daughter in my will! But for now, I know it as my favorite accessory that I love, and will always keep close to my heart.
These two valuable item may seem different for obvious reasons. Like maybe because one’s a very expensive silver necklace, and one’s a competitive event. Fashion and designer things are important to me because I think it will be the field I major in after high school and college, so I want to get very familiar with it now so that I’m ready for it to be career. I’ve been to Paris a few times and I’ve visited many other fashion institutes in the past, and it’s something that really interests me. The necklace, I think, really connects me to the world of fashion and can help be learn to be creative, and to want to learn new things in that field. And cheerleading is what I live for! I eat, sleep, and breathe it pretty much! When I’m not practicing 9 hours a week, it’s all we talk about in my group of friends! It’s much harder than it looks, and I know that some people argue it even being considered a sport. But consider this-football players lift weights-we lift people! :)
But the again, these two items could be very similar if you look at it the right way. My feelings towards these two values are very similar. I believe that both things have very important roles in my life, wether they are of priced value or if they’re of no value what so ever. What really matters is what’s important to you, and how you decide you want to express yourself through things that make you happy. Wether you’re doing the thing you love, or looking at it right now, everything could be of value if you really want it to be.