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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 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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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...

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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 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...

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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 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...

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