Tom – Page 6 – TCS High School

It’s Not Easy by Mohamed Cisse

October 2, 2024

"The students were reminded by none other than Kermit the Frog that 'It's not easy being green.' They were then asked to consider what about their lives is 'not easy.' The students' essays on this topic were excellent. Here is an example." Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher It’s not easy being an African American Muslim. The many obligations, traditions, values, and holidays I have to go by. The way people take a glance and judge me. The inconsiderate buffoons that think I’m what you call “Hood”. All of these factors have been both a blessing and a pain at times. But what’s really hard about being an African American Muslim? If you have this question, then I'd advise you to sit back, relax, and listen to the experiences I will share with you. First, I will define my meaning of being an African American Muslim, which is myself being born in a country in West Africa, Mali, and following the religion of Islam since birth. When I first moved to the United States at such a young age, I didn’t really know what to expect because I was surrounded by people of the same race, religion, and language. It didn't help that the only three languages I knew at the time were my tribal languages,Fula and Bambara, and the main language in Mali, French. But as I started attending school, I learned how to speak English. I like being born in Mali, from the foods, traditions, and sports for the most part. As an African American...

It’s Not Easy by Hector Rivas

by Tom

Student's Writings

October 2, 2024

"The students were reminded by none other than Kermit the Frog that 'It's not easy being green.' They were then asked to consider what about their lives is 'not easy.' The students' essays on this topic were excellent. Here is an example." Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher It’s not easy being the oldest brother in a household where the parents only speak Spanish. Whenever someone needs something translated, I have to try my best. When my brother's dad needs help at the Toyota dealership I have to go. Even though I hate arguing, sometimes I have to translate his comments in a nicer way. When my mom is in a drive through, I have to be the one who orders. There have been countless times where I have ordered my mom the wrong thing. Only time I have liked being a translator for my mom was when I was in middle school. I feel bad now but I used to tell her I was doing ok in school and she would just believe me. I promise that I have changed my ways and I will only tell her the truth. I have talked about the translating part but now I will tell you how it's not easy being the older brother. Some of you might have seen them walk into the building once in a while. Jeremiah, who is four years old, comes into the building and always takes a bag of chips. He may seem kind and adorable, but he is the complete...

It’s Not Easy by Jordan Smith

by Tom

Student's Writings

October 2, 2024

"The students were reminded by none other than Kermit the Frog that 'It's not easy being green.' They were then asked to consider what about their lives is 'not easy.' The students' essays on this topic were excellent. Here is an example." Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher It’s not easy being diagnosed with depression and anxiety at just 13 years old. I am currently 14 but I’m pretty sure I showed signs before I was actually diagnosed. It sucks to wake up some days having almost no energy for reasons I don’t know why. I had to get medication because I couldn’t sleep some nights. No matter how hard I tried my brain wouldn't shut down for the night. Some people on social media think it's quirky, cute, and aesthetic to have a mental illness. As some who experienced it firsthand, it’s neither of those things. The reason I don’t tell a lot of people about it is because they might think I’m pretending or lying to them. Even little things like having small interactions with people or going to a new place has my brain spiraling and thinking of every possible situation where something could go wrong. My anxiety triggers my stress and then it goes off into a huge mess. When I’m upset I usually end up completely shutting down. I don’t say anything to anyone. Not even to a close friend. People that don’t completely understand my situation might think that I’m rude because I space out a little. I’m mean...

It’s Not Easy by Khori Mitchell

by Tom

Student's Writings

October 2, 2024

"The students were reminded by none other than Kermit the Frog that 'It's not easy being green.' They were then asked to consider what about their lives is 'not easy.' The students' essays on this topic were excellent. Here is an example." Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher Starting a new community isn't easy. Being a freshman, I'm going through many challenges. I have to be precise with my work which is very time consuming. I can't go to a lot of events with my friends and I feel alone most of the time. Trying to talk to people outside of this community is very difficult. I always see my friends having a wonderful time at their high school, no stress from homework, going to football games, going to the mall etc. Every time I hear my friends talking about their high school experience compared to mine I always think to myself, “dang it's not easy to be me” Here,I am worried about if I’m going to be on the homework list while my friends around me are worried about clubs, school dances, sports etc. While the teachers have been saying I've been doing good with homework, I've had a major setback today and it made me think, I feel so out of place because my friends aren't stressed like me and the people around me at this school are doing a lot better than I am. So I say all of this to say it's not easy. Before...

It’s Not Easy… by Madison Hansel

by Tom

Student's Writings

October 2, 2024

"The students were reminded by none other than Kermit the Frog that 'It's not easy being green.' They were then asked to consider what about their lives is 'not easy.' The students' essays on this topic were excellent. Here is an example." Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher It’s not easy being me. Now I could list probably 10 reasons why it’s not easy to be me. For now I’ll just give you one of the major reasons. I am the first in my family who is planning to go to college and get a degree. My mother went to Mervo and did part-time cosmetology so she could become a cosmetologist by the time she graduated high school. She then worked in salons until she had to quit to take care of me. I would get sick a lot when I was little because of my asthma, and in pre-k I missed 30 days of school because of my asthma. She started working from home and took some of her customers to her hair station in our basement. My father was really smart in school, mainly when it came to math and science. He went to Poly. He wasn’t a fan of school and dropped out in the 10th grade to start working with his older brother. He is now a contractor and does home improvement. He is really good at his job, but wishes he had finished school so he could be making more money than he does now. One of my older cousins, who...

It’s Not Easy Being Me by Karla Rivas

by Tom

Student's Writings

October 2, 2024

"The students were reminded by none other than Kermit the Frog that 'It's not easy being green.' They were then asked to consider what about their lives is 'not easy.' The students' essays on this topic were excellent. here is an example." Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher It’s so hard to be this sexy, attractive, cute human being. Everyone wants a piece of me. Especially older men. They were so infatuated with me that my mother told me to stop wearing shorts, short tight dresses, and crop tops. She even tried to bring down my self-esteem by telling me I’m ugly because I’m incredibly huge. But I started to realize she’s only saying that because I’m the middle child and her oldest girl. And to her, that means that as soon as I hit puberty I became a woman and had to start acting like one. Being the oldest girl from the new generation of immigrants is the most difficult thing. It comes with so much responsibility you are not warned about. If there is a child younger than me in the house, it means I have to be able to take care of them as much as I can, as if I were their mother. It means I have to learn how to cook and clean for my future family but also for the family I am currently a part of. But it also means I have to stay far away from males because, if I hold the hand of a male, I will...

Conversation with the Baltimore Beat

by Tom

News

September 27, 2024

Teri Henderson, Lisa Snowden and Sanya Kamidi joined us for our Conversation this week. They are responsible for the Baltimore Beat, a unique local newspaper. They shared their experiences producing the paper, especially as women of color. This nonprofit free paper is produced every two weeks and seeks to give voice to those in Baltimore whose voice is often not heard. The conversation explored their educational and career paths as well as the mission and operation of the paper. The students shared the kind of stories they would most like to see covered and the need for youth voices to be amplified. We appreciate having these trailblazers join us!...

TCS Student News September 27, 2024

by Tom

TCS Student News

September 27, 2024

[embed]https://youtu.be/Vv9qQtuGb_4[/embed]The war between Israel andLebanon is on students' minds and is the lead story in this week's edition of TCS Student News. This is a good place to not only catch up on news events but to get a youth perspective. This week's edition was produced by Madison Hansel and Mohamed Cisse with technical production by Rhys Guilfoyle. News around the school includes our first Financial Literacy seminar of the year by Berman McAleer, a Conversation with TCS Alumni, the recent Sponsor Meeting and a Spotlight on Dr. Latonia Moss, our English 101 teacher from Baltimore City Community College....