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Student’s Writings

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Student's Writings
October 25, 2024

"FAMILY…functional, dysfunctional, uniquely personal." - Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher It was a typical Friday afternoon. I had just finished praying Maghrib and decided to watch some TV. My mother came downstairs all dressed up and said, “Let’s go.” I was confused at first, then quickly realized that we were supposed to visit the mosque and pray. I felt really tired from playing basketball so I tried to convince my mom to go without me. She wasn’t happy that I was trying to get out of going to the mosque so we had a whole argument about me not valuing my religion and culture enough. She got frustrated and left without me. I didn’t have to pray, read the quran, go to the mosque, or celebrate all the holidays. I felt like she was being unfair to me and unappreciative. I went to sleep early that night. The next day, I woke up feeling bad about letting my mom go to the mosque alone so I decided to apologize. But before I could do anything, I found myself in someone else's bed and it was way more stiff than mine. I got up and went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face to fully wake up. I looked in the mirror and saw that I had switched sides. I’m caucasian! I have straight long hair and my voice is different. What kind of voodoo magic is this? I rushed down the steps and found that my house is not my house. I entered...

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Student's Writings
October 25, 2024

"FAMILY…functional, dysfunctional, uniquely personal." - Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher Family to me may be different to other people. My family is full of murderers , drug addicts , and people who need to go to therapy. They don’t know how to express their emotions so most of the time problems go unsolved and they carry it with them. They don’t know how to talk to kids. I have witnessed, on several occasions, how my family’s words have negatively affected a child's life and view of themselves.  I got lucky with my mom because she actually treats me like a person. My aunt's kids hate her. They come to my mom for basically any problem they have. Although my aunt and mother share the same parents, they have completely different emotional responses. My aunt(who is the oldest) was raised by my grandmother. My grandmother is a writing within itself so I am not going to talk about her today. but let's just say she is an old ax. My mother, on the other hand, was raised by my grandfather. He was much more patient and empathetic. I believe this shaped my mother and my aunt  into the people they are today. It's just very ironic because my aunt is more successful than my mother. She knew she had to get away from my grandmother.  I plan on being the person to break the trauma curse in my family. When I make it big and have plenty of money, I want to put all of them in therapy...

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Student's Writings
October 25, 2024

"FAMILY…functional, dysfunctional, uniquely personal." - Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher If you know me long enough, then you would know my family roots are from Kenya, Tanzania, and Afghanistan. But I wasn’t  born in any of these countries. One of my family members was born in each of these countries. My mother was born in Kenya, my father was born in Tanzania, and my father’s dad was born in Afghanistan. To be completely honest with you, I don’t know that much about my family in Saudi Arabia. So right now I am going to tell you more about the Kenyan and the Tanzanian parts of me.  My mother was born in Nairobi, which is the capital of Kenya. My mom came to the United States at the Young age of 19, to pursue her dance career. But that really didn’t work out, and now she is an Xray-tech. We are all proud of our Ethnic background. We still bring our culture here. We eat foods like chapati, samosas, ugali, onion meat, and many more.  Now on the Tanzanian side. My father was born in Dar es Salaam, which is the capital of Tanzania. My father was a pretty bad kid at the time. He would always play sports and skip school, until my grandfather sent him to Kenya to go to a boarding school. That was the last time my father saw his dad, since he was killed in a car crash. After completing high school, my father left Tanzania to get away from all the pain,...

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Student's Writings
October 25, 2024

"FAMILY…functional, dysfunctional, uniquely personal." - Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher My family is an out of the box bunch. My mom’s side is quite wild and chaotic. A lot of my mom’s side of the family lives pretty close to us. All of my Uncles are crazy and loud people. My Uncle Joe is an alcoholic and amputee, Uncle Tony is completely off the chart when it comes to having energy. And my Uncle Dave no one talks to because he has burned his bridges with every person in our family, except for my biological father, Zachary.  Zachary got out of prison two and a half months ago and went missing last night. We have been reconnecting and spending time together but he has severe depression and has been struggling at adjusting to the real world after being incarcerated for the past six years. He has been living with his best friend since he got out, but he left last night and no one has been able to reach him. I do hope he comes back and, if he is messing up, I hope he goes to rehab. I hope he is okay.  I don’t see my dad’s side of the family as much because they live farther. Occasionally, we see my Uncle Bud, my dad’s brother. My Munt Gail and Uncle Paul moved back to Maryland last year to be closer to some family, but decided they want to move back to Nevada because they love gambling and hate the cold weather here. Sometimes they come...

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Student's Writings
October 25, 2024

"FAMILY…functional, dysfunctional, uniquely personal." - Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher I’m a massive subscriber to the idea that family is made, not born. The word family has two main definitions, which are the following: the first is a group of one or more parents and their children living together as a unit, and secondly, all the descendants of a common ancestor. My idea of family is different from this notion. I have three families, and only one of them is genetically related to me, although I exclude the majority of them from the title of family. My mom, sister, brother, aunt Brittney, and grandma are my only genetic family. I also have uncles, who are the siblings of my mom, aunt, and grandma, but they’re not family because I don’t feel any familial love or connection. My definition of family is any person or group that I feel a visceral bond or connection with, whether they’re related to me or not. My other two families are the Rivas’s and my best friend Rashod’s family (they don’t share a surname, so I grouped them by my relation to Rashod). I’ve known Rashod’s family ever since elementary school, and I know them fairly well at this point. I’ve spent somewhere close to a hundred thousand hours with them, sharing experiences and building bonds. They were always there for me whenever I needed them. They’re always kind, and I know that our moms consider both me and Rashod to be their sons. He’s probably my closest brother, and...

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Student's Writings
October 25, 2024

"FAMILY…functional, dysfunctional, uniquely personal." - Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher You know, I kind of wished I knew anything about my family, whether it be about our heritage, culture,  or just  stories. Whenever I hear people telling me about their family’s culture, I feel so disconnected with mine, and this fact makes me very sad. I can’t bear to stay in this skin for much longer, I crave to be with my REAL family. Not the evolved chimps that walk around on two legs, I’m talking about my fellow furried Canis lupus. That’s right, I’m a wolf, sometimes at night, I’m a  dangerous stalking beast hungred with the feeling of the wind blowing through my fur. By day. I'm a fleshy disgusting putrid nasty homosapien. It’s so hard to be a wolf;  literally no one talks about the struggle. Every day, I have to resist the urge to just go outside, rip my shirt off and howl to the moon. I’m embarrassed to say that last night, I just couldn’t control those urges. The moon was just so big, beautiful and full. I immediately wolfed out at the mere glance of it. Don’t even get me started on my love life, it’s so hard trying to find a mate these days. I remember, I found this person online who I really really liked. We really hit it off, it was going well until they asked for a picture of my face. When I sent it, they asked if I was joking. When I sent a video...

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Student's Writings
October 25, 2024

"FAMILY…functional, dysfunctional, uniquely personal." - Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher I am Irish. Nothing special. My grandpa was an orphan straight out of Cork, Ireland, but he was adopted and brought to the U.S. when he was still extremely young. So no, he doesn’t have an accent and is pretty much an average American guy. My grandma is Welsh and Irish too, but her family moved to America as well. That’s on my dad’s side though. My mom’s side is Italian and somehow a little bit of Native American, but I think when she did her ancestry test, they just put that on there to make people feel special. Anyways, I think my mom feels pretty connected to Italian culture, especially the cuisine.  One of the parts of Irish culture that I really like is Halloween. If you didn’t know, Irish people created Halloween as a celebration to welcome the fall harvest. Originally, they used turnips as jack-o-lanterns. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday because of this, and the fact that me and my brothers’ birthdays are in October. One part of Italian culture that I really value is the importance of family and loved ones. I really love my family and cherish them deeply. The culture I feel most connected to is probably American culture. I’ve lived here all my life and America is all I really know. I like American food, I like American holidays, and I like American values. I really love living in America and being American. I think we are all...

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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 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...

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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...

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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...

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