Student’s Writings

Believing In Yourself – Rhys Guilfoyle

Rhys manages to tell his story with an eclectic array of touchstones, from “The Little Engine That Could” to Arnold Schwarzenegger to NBA YoungBoy and even Liz Truss.

BELIEVING IN YOURSELF

I believe everyone grew up with a favorite cartoon or tv show. One of my favorites was Thomas the Tank Engine. He always believed he can, he can, he can. I always believed I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. Anything that was remotely challenging in my life, I would just give up.

One day, I was hanging out with my dad and he asked me to move some furniture. I don’t know why he asked a ten-year old whose arms were weaker than Liz Truss’s financial plan to move furniture. I accepted anyway, and we began to move the end table next to our couch and it was easy. It gave me a little confidence boost. We got onto this piano in the dining room and, thankfully, it had some wheels, so we were good. The last thing was the shelf that stored all my dad’s records. Every shelf was stocked with records. I had to get every single one off the shelf and then move the shelf with him. Who does my dad think I am: Arnold Schwarzenegger? The Rock? I thought we could do it because we moved those other things with ease. But no matter how hard we tried, that thing wouldn’t move an inch. Who knew that IKEA furniture was so heavy? Every time we got IKEA furniture, the thing would collapse like the American economy during the Great Depression. My dad managed to move it a little bit, but I was struggling. He was telling me to try my best, and I tried but it didn’t move. All my confidence was erased. That was why I never tried or believed in myself. I would always think the worst and never get disappointed when it happened.

Everybody struggles with math at some point of their life. If you don’t, you’re probably an alien like NBA Youngboy. Geometry ain’t my strong suit. It makes me wanna rip my hair out. The shapes, the rules, and the math confuse me too much. Mr. Tom noticed my frustration and asked me if I wanted some help. I said yes, and I walked over. As I was trying to explain what my frustrations were, I realized all of it pointed to me not even trying to do it.

Mr. Tom just told me to go back to my seat and try again. I finished the problem and walked over to Donald and handed him my notebook, expecting the big X for wrong.  I didn’t even watch him cross it out, I just looked the other way.

All I heard was Donald’s green pen moving in a circular motion and I heard a checkmark get drawn across the whole page. I did it!

I waltzed my way over to Mr. Tom and showed him. He said great and told me to finish the section. I was so happy that I wasn’t disappointed. It was a feeling I never felt before.

All those times where I failed and never tried again, just for it to be solved with a checkmark, was kinda stupid. Now that I think about it, if a green check mark fixed it, it could’ve been fixed years ago.

Rhys Guilfoyle

10/21/22

Believing In Yourself – Kendall Curtis

Kendall takes us back to the bad old days of COVID and her mom’s clever ploy to help Kendall successfully pass the 6^th Grade, her “hardest school year ever.”

BELIEVING IN YOURSELF

The 6th grade was the hardest school year ever. The beginning of that school year I started out strong, but it didn’t last. I was suspended. That was bad, but low and behold, I was about to be in for a really rude awakening.

One Thursday in March, everyone was sent home for the next two years. I was suspended already so I couldn’t even empty my locker or get my work or even say goodbye. I just had to deal with it.

Most days during virtual learning I was either asleep or just didn’t sign on. In the beginning, the teachers would call my mom every day, but after a while no one was showing up to class, not even the teachers sometimes. On top of that, a majority of the days I was home alone, which meant why should I even sign on? Who’s going to know if  I do or don’t? So I didn’t. This became a constant cycle for me. If I didn’t go to class, I couldn’t do my work. If the work is not done, it wouldn’t get done.

End of the year rolled around and I got an email stating that if you have three failing grades, you fail. My heart sank. All of my grades were failing.

I looked at my missing assignments and something just clicked in my head. I ended up doing 10 assignments a day. Yeah, I cheated but everybody was. I ended up pulling E’s up to C’s and B’s.

I always knew I could do it, but I didn’t believe in myself. Well, that, and I was lazy.

I showed my mom my grades and she laughed. Come to find out the email was from her! Moral of the story, stay ready and you won’t have to get ready.

Kendall Curtis
10/21/22

My Town – Danny Buck

The students recently attended the current Center Stage production of the iconic play, “Our Town.” Their subsequent Creative Writing topic: “My Town” wherein “their town” might be a city, a neighborhood, a room, or a state of mind. Here is Danny’s thoughtful essay.

MY TOWN

My town is my room. I don’t really do things outside like most kids in my age range. Because of this, I don’t know any streets or any people in my neighborhood. My room suffices as a town in my opinion. It’s where I do everything I like. It’s where I read Manga, where I look into philosophy, where I eat, where I sleep, and where I watch videos. It’s ironic in a way. Because of social media, people’s “worlds” have become smaller. They have access to limitless communication and knowledge of the world at the touch of a button. In some ways, this is negative. I am no different.

My town isn’t special. Like many other “towns,” it has a bed, television, a
dresser and closet to store your clothes, and a gaming console if you’re interested in that. On my window sill, I have many books. On my dresser I have miscellaneous items like a blacklight, usually my keys, and a spare charger. I have cards for various events and celebrations, mostly from past birthdays, but some from graduations. On my TV stand there are many video games that I don’t play very often, and my town has windows that I rarely ever look out of during the day. I only ever look out of my window at night, I like to watch the few celestial bodies that I can still see despite the amount of light pollution in the city. Every so often the moon is interesting enough for me to look at for a long time, and I like to imagine I live there.

My town extends from my room to the moon—a place where you can look down
and observe the whole world. It’s only me up there in the cold silence with an all-encompassing vision, yet not sharp enough to see each individual person that passes by. Being alone personified, yet not feeling lonely. This describes a portion of the condition my age group is in today, but I experience it in a different way.

I like to think, when I’m up there mentally, that I am truly able to wonder and observe all things I’m curious about. Reading, watching, observing every topic I feel interested in at that moment but still not able to connect to anybody daily other than things like school.

The moon for centuries was a time piece, with every phase constantly changing throughout the month, and with its shining brilliance people also used it to describe change. I change mentally and philosophically in my room, but socially I’ve never changed.

One of my favorite paintings of all time ‘Son of Man’ is a painting about your changing visibility in the presence of what is known, and the changing visibility of what is there to truly see. Rene Magritte painted it as a self-portrait,
but I like to think, just like him, I similarly have the apple over my face both in a social lens and in all aspects of knowledge. My goal is to learn more and to enjoy life through that by being a greater person. This also applies to another one of Magritte’s paintings.

‘The False mirror’ is a painting that describes the limitations of human vision, the reflection of the sky similar to the way I observe the moon. The
eye, removed from its place in the skull and with no face to orient it, shows to some extent a lack of knowledge about the self. A separation from the conscious
and unconscious mind. So it is with my room. A constant process of translation between the conscious and unconscious takes place in my room. It is where I learn more about myself.

My room is my home. The moon is my home. They are my town.

Danny Buck

9/30/22

My Town – Jayla Nickens-Gill

The students recently attended the current Center Stage production of the iconic play, “Our Town.” Their subsequent Creative Writing topic: “My Town” wherein “their town” might be a city, a neighborhood, a room, or a state of mind. Here is Jayla’s thoughtful essay.

My Town

The town of Broadway, population unknown. Broadway is filled with different races–black, Hispanic, white. Most mornings it’s quiet, people walking to get to school, people getting in their cars to head to work, people returning home from the previous day of work. However, on certain days, the mornings can be crazy. Couples yelling at each other, people talking loud on the phone, people blasting music, or just screaming for absolutely no reason.

When I wake up in the morning, I get dressed, clean myself up, and head out the door. I get to school by car, get home by car, pretty much all my transportation is by car. Everyone else is either driving, or at the bus stop. Most mornings, there are at least 30 people gathered around the bus stop waiting.

My town is filled with a lot of loss. Every couple weeks someone has lost their life. It’s crazy how fast it happens in my town. It always happens right across the street. Literally walking distance. If I left my house and went across the street, I’d be standing in the middle of a crossfire.

Jays is the name of a store. Everyone goes there to get their half and half, fried rice, shrimp and broccoli, chicken box, or the famous chicken tenders and fries. It is packed inside that store, but it’s also extremely dangerous. Jays is the main spot that gets shot up, especially at night. I remember one time I was walking over there to get food. It was around 9:30 at night when gunshots rang
out. I couldn’t move my feet to run home, I just dropped to the ground and waited to hear the sound of wheels pulling off.

I know my town sounds like the worst place to live but it ain’t all that bad. Almost every week, we have a community get together. In our local park, we often hold events. Children and parents come to get their faces painted, use the Moonbounce, or play bubble soccer. Recently we had a movie screening, everyone and their mother was there. It was amazing, everyone laughing and talking, and for once nobody was arguing.

Over the summer, right before school started, we had our community “back to school” event. Stands set up everywhere, free bookbags, school supplies, and hygiene products. They even had free food, and ice cream.

My town isn’t the best place to be, but it’s my place to be. Broadway is my town.

Jayla Nickens-Gill
9/30/22

The Park – Kevin Brown

The students were tasked to imagine they are sitting on a park bench waiting for a friend when a blind man sits down with them and asks them to share what they see.

Here are two decidedly different approaches.

Kevin paints a word picture that is both brilliantly descriptive and deeply meaningful, more than worthy of his closing line, “I see something you shouldn’t take for granted.”

Joshua, on the other hand, gives his blind man some attitude and gets schooled about using all his senses to truly see.

The Park

I sit back in my seat, thinking about how I’ll go about it. With a sigh, I look up, and start describing what I see.

“High above us, I see the sky. In it are clouds, ones that look like they’d feel like big stretched out pieces of cotton or plushie stuffing, and just as soft, if not more. They’re the white of new paper, of fresh linen, and a blank slate. They haven’t turned gray with the rage of a storm, they’re just… clouds. Clouds floating along in a blue sky. A cool blue, the type that reminds you of the winter months, of clear water, and overall calmness.

“Below that, we have the rest of the city off in the distance. Fairly large buildings of beige and gray, the colors of unwavering structure. The colors of order. The colors that only appear when there aren’t any other colors to give it life. Sharp edges, right angles, grid-like layout. Those are the rules these buildings follow. Any creativity, any happiness, any humanity you want to experience with these buildings… you’ll have to go inside to get it.

“Closer to us, a little bit lower in our view, is the reservoir. A massive mirror sprinkled with little agitations and imperfections. Its curving edges are lined with the vibrant life of green and brown, the colors of plants. The color of evolution, the color of energy. Although, due to the time of year, bright reds, oranges, and yellows that remind one of warmth despite the cold temperatures are scattered throughout the vegetation.

“The reservoir itself reflects everything, from the energetic greens, the sturdy browns, and warm reds and oranges, to the lifeless grays and beiges that hide their true nature within. To the cool, calming blue sky above, and the soft, relaxing white clouds floating in it. I see a body of water that pulls into it all that is around it.

“I see beauty. Not one that is overwhelming and in your face, but just sits there, next to you, and enjoys your company as you take it all in. The type you could look at for hours and not get bored while noticing all the little details. The type that you want to take a picture of and frame. I see something you shouldn’t take for granted.”

The man leans back, taking in everything I’ve said. He gets up, reaching a hand out to me. “Thank you for that. It helped remind me of better times.”

I take his hand and shake it. “You’re welcome, sir.”

And with that he’s gone, and I’m still waiting for my friend to finally show up. I’m okay with just sitting here though.

Kevin Brown,

11.12.21

The Park – Joshua Sharp

The students were tasked to imagine they are sitting on a park bench waiting for a friend when a blind man sits down with them and asks them to share what they see.

Here are two decidedly different approaches.

Kevin paints a word picture that is both brilliantly descriptive and deeply meaningful, more than worthy of his closing line, “I see something you shouldn’t take for granted.”

Joshua, on the other hand, gives his blind man some attitude and gets schooled about using all his senses to truly see.

The Park

“Aye man, can I sit next to you real quick?” He asked.

I looked to the left, and there was an old man standing above me. He was wearing a black jacket, some baggy sweats, and sneakers. He was also holding a cane, and squinting his eyes.

“Sure man, go ahead, you’re good.”

He sat down next to me, and there was an awkward silence. The man looked like he was about 50 years old. He had bags in his hand, and it looked like he was about to drop them.

“Sir, I think you are about to drop your bags, do you need me to hold them for you?”

“I ain’t bout to drop nothing, young blood.” He said.” You don’t gotta worry about me man. You think I made it to this bus stop asking people to help me.”

“I was just trying to help, my bad.”

“I know you were just trying to help, and I appreciate that.But I don’t need any help. I got me.”

“Ok, ok, I hear you, my bad”

See, this is why I don’t like old people. They think they know everything. I know if I didn’t tell him he would’ve dropped them bags. Somebody would’ve picked them right up, and he would’ve been hurt. We gotta respect our elders though.

“Young man.” He said,

Maybe if I act like I’m not here, he’ll leave me alone.

“ Young man! I know you’re still here. I can hear the hard breaths coming out of your mouth. I can feel the tension in the atmosphere, I know when somebody’s upset, and I don’t gotta see em. I can hear them. I can sense them.”

“ No disrespect, but what do you want, I have to go!”

“ Your bus don’t come til another 30 minutes, I’ve caught this bus for years man, it always comes late, so you gots time.” He said. “That’s y’all problem these days. Y’all youngins are always in a rush these days. Don’t get time for nothing.”

“ Yeah, cus we’re busy, I can’t just sit and do nothing. I have to be productive.”

“ It’s nothing wrong with that. But do you ever just sit down, and look at everything around you?” He asked. “Do you ever observe nature? You got Druid Hill Park right in front of you. All of the beautiful bugs, animals, and the sparkling water.”

“You go to the Baltimore Zoo for stuff like that. Why would I stand outside of Druid Hill Park, and observe everything. What is there to observe?” I said,.

“ You tell me?” he said.” What do you see?”

“What is the point of this? “ I said,

“ Just tell me what you see, dammit”

“ Okay, I see a park with kids playing. I see couples making out. I see people walking up and down the street. I see nothing. What can you see that I can’t? ” I said,.

The old man starts to chuckle.

“Heeheehee, maybe you’re right, you can’t see a damn thing.” He said.

“ What you mean, I’m telling you what I see, this is every day at Druid Hill Park. I don’t know what you seeing, but it ain’t what I see” I said,

“Man, you are delusional. I can see  more things than that. That is sad.”

“ Well tell me what you can see then, huh. Matter of fact I’ll make a deal with you. If you can name 5 things that are happening right now in this park, I’ll give you 10.” I said.

“ Deal! You just lost your money, young blood!”

“ Alright go, and you have 30 seconds, to name them.”

“I can see the kids playing football. I can see the police car at the red light, and the bright lights as they pass by. I can see the man across the street who just opened his trunk to get out of the car. The wife and husband arguing over the Ms.Jackie, who the husband saw last night. I can see the trees blowing branches, and the green, white and brown bark on them. I can see the emptiness of the water, and the lake of Druid Hill Park. I can see the people rolling dice around the street, down there by Mondawmin Mall. And last but not least, I can see a boy sitting on the bus stop, who doesn’t use all of his senses, and he got every last one of them. This boy doesn’t listen, he is hard-headed, and he thought he would take advantage of a 54 year old blind man, but instead he kicking out 10 dollars. Because, he can’t do a simple thing like using all the senses he was blessed with. You are blessed, young blood. Use those blessings that you have, take advantage of them, because they can leave you at any moment.” He said. “Now keep your 10 bucks, and your bus is right down the street.

“ Alright, man I get it, and I’m sorry.” I said.

“ It’s okay, I understand. I used to be just like you, until everything didn’t go as planned. Now I’m sitting here blind as a bat with cane in my hand. Now get on you bus” He said.

I got on my bus, and I spent the rest of my day seeing things I never saw before.

Joshua Sharp

November 12, 2021