"Two" Stephen Dunn

Also read "The Trains" Paul Zimmer

When I first saw this essay I thought it would be about something totally different. I didn't really know what the word "scruples" meant, so I looked it up: Scruples-a doubt or hesitation that troubles the conscience or that comes from the difficulty of determining whether something is right. The first part of this essay really captures that. The first part of this essay is talking about how a professor asked anonymously about if his class would kill someone in another country if they would receive 1 million dollars and never be caught. He noticed that the number of people that said yes grew a little each year. He also asked them for their reasons behind doing it and the reasons varied. The point of this part of the essay was him asking himself how they know what is right and wrong to do in this situation. "I love that it wasn't high-mindedness back then, merely the obvious, and that so many wished to do good. Experience took years to show us what we could not sustain."

The second part of this essay was titled "Saints". The second part was written much differently than the first part. The first part was written like someone reflecting on a memory, while the second part was written more of how someone feels about the other people. The two different writing styles helped to play in with the title of the essay. "Those who earn their names know what suffering is...and elect it anyway. They love without ambivalence one shining  thing, yet some-the even more saintly-are tortured by the manifold richness of the discernible world."

Spring Break: Revision

            The trip started about a month before break when I emailed my uncle to see if we could stay at his house in Connecticut. He lives about an hour from NYC and Boston. It was the perfect place to stay. I was more than excited to be going back to NYC and going to Boston for my first time. I was even more excited that I was going with my best friend Hannah. Hannah and I had been best friends since I was in sixth grade and she was in fourth. She lived next door and we were always together.  We spent the next month planning everything. We talked about the amount of money we would be planning on spending, gas, driving and what we would be doing when we got there.

            Finally it was time to be on our way. I spent the whole day Thursday packing, not knowing what I would need for the thirteen hour drive there and for the few days I would be there. I said my goodbyes to my family and headed to Hannah’s house for our slumber party, as we were leaving the next morning. We laid in her room all night talking about the trip and how excited we were to go. It was next to impossible to sleep.

            When the alarm went off at seven the next morning, it was entirely too early. But we got out of bed and started to get ready and pack the car. When we walked outside we noticed there was a light dusting of snow on the car and ground.  After a quick stop at the gas station, we got on the interstate, programed the GPS and began our long trip.

I started the first shift of driving. As we got onto I-70 west I knew that our trip was truly beginning. Hannah and I lit our black and milds (we were trying to be cool) and started to enjoy the trip. I remember I had my jacket on and decided that I needed it off. So I unbuckled my seatbelt and started to remove my jacket, while I was still driving and smoking. Realizing my black and mild was almost out I decided to throw it out the window.

            The wind decided that the black and mild needed to come back into my car (while still lit) and hit me in the head and then falling in between the seat and middle part of my car. This then scared the shit out of me and I started to swerve all over the road. I was screaming, swerving and frantically searching for the smoking item next to my seat, I hear Hannah say “There’s the cops!”

“Shit” and then I realized I was speeding, so I slowed down and passed the state trooper at 77. The blue and red flashing lights were the highlight of my day.

“Do you know how fast you were going?”

“Uhh like 75?”

“No, 77. And you weren’t wearing a seatbelt. Can I see your license and insurance card?” I handed her my license and searched for my insurance card, only to realize it was one that was expired (three weeks later I got a letter saying my license was going to be suspended unless I mailed in proof of insurance). The officer then brought me my ticket for not wearing a seatbelt and warning for speeding.

            I never knew it would take me four hours to get out of the state of Ohio. I have always thought that Ohio was so small, but four hours to get out of the state? It was even worse going through Pennsylvania. I had no idea it was going to take almost a third of the trip to go through the state. The trip went great, except that it was snowing on and off as we were driving. Both Hannah and I were disappointed that we could not drive with the windows down and music up.

            It was about nine at night when we arrived to my uncle’s house. We talked about the trip and our plans for when we would go to NYC. We agreed that we would go the next day since it was the only day my uncle didn’t have to work. This made sleeping that night almost impossible. We were both way to excited to go to NYC. Eight came too early the next morning but it was an early morning I was more than happy to be a part of. It was a twenty minute drive to the train station, and then an hour to Grand Central Station.

            I love Grand Central Station. The ceiling is so high, not to mention it is decorated to fit the start constellations. It is so beautiful inside and I love when I take that first step out of Grand Central and into the huge city. The city just opens up right in front of you; the sky is blue with the contrast of the dark buildings against it. No matter where you would look, there was a building going into the sky. The hustle of the city took me in and I became overwhelmed with the amount of cars and people that filled the city.

            Time Square was the first stop we made. People filled the sidewalks and streets as they walked past the stores that lined the roads. We made our way through the crowd of people to a restaurant called “Ellen’s Startdust Diner”. This is a diner that has hopeful Broadway stars working. They wait your tables and then put on musical numbers. All the people that work in the restaurant go to school to be actors and to be in musicals. Many of the people that work there go on to be in musicals.

After lunch, we walked back out in the city. We began our journey to the Statue of Liberty. We walked for a bit and then got on the subway. I love riding the subway; it makes me feel like I am actually part of the city. Little did we know that when we got there we wouldn’t be able to take the ferry to the statue because Hannah had mace in her purse.  We took the typical tourist pictures with the statue in the background, and made our way to ground zero.

            I’ve been to New York twice; both times I wondered what it would have been like to see the Twin Towers in the skyline. Instead, I got to see the Freedom Tower being built. Looking around the area where the Twin Towers once stood, it was weird to see all the apartment buildings and business that surround the area and how it must have been when the towers came tumbling down.

            We spent the rest of the day walking around and meeting with my uncle’s friends. We caught the nine o’clock train back to Connecticut and drove back to the house. Needless to say that both Hannah and I were exhausted after the last two days we had, and spent the next day in bed. We decided to go to Boston the next day, which I was so excited about. I had never been to Boston and was looking forward to going.

            When I woke up in the morning I felt terrible, but decided to keep with the plan of going to Boston anyways. We got ready and were on our way. Being from Ohio and never having to deal with tolls, it was interesting to drive through three of them on the way to Boston. When we got to the second one, we drove right through the “fast lane”, because you didn’t have to stop and pay someone. An hour later we were in Boston and finding our way to the underground parking garage that my uncle had told me about. After we had parked the car, we walked up to street level, and the cold air had never felt better. At that point in time I had felt way worse than I had that morning when I got up.

            Hannah and I found a little convenience store so that I could get some Advil for my now pounding headache. I took the pills, dry swallowing them, and we started walking down the street. We stopped at a corner, trying to decide which way we should go, when a smell (which was very nauseating) hit me like a ton of bricks. “Wow that smells good” Hannah said to me

“No it doesn’t” I said and I immediately looked for something to throw up in, it was just my luck that there were no trashcans nearby and I knew that I wouldn’t make it into a store. I threw up right there where I was standing on the street.

“Do you need any help?” Two Indian men asked me after I stopped.

“No thank you.” That was when our trip to Boston ended and we decided to drive an hour back to Connecticut. From the five minutes I spent in Boston, I can say that it was a beautiful city. 

"Daylight Savings Time"- M.J. Iuppa

Also read "Getting Yourself Home" by Brenda Miller

As I was reading this I was so confused on what the subject of this was. At first it seemed that it was about heartbreak, then love and lastly it was about being alone. I realized that the story about a woman who was waiting at a bus stop. She was then on the bus talking to the bus driver about his love life, and then lastly got him to stop the bus to look at a maple tree. The writer was also using long descriptive sentences in this piece.
"That autumn day was much like today's weather. Air pungent and sharp with its smells of wet leaves and earth and distant chimney smoke is loaded with melancholy, just lingering to be breathed in and set loose in a sudden gush, a thought of someone not quite forgotten, someone whose embrace felt dangerous and ticklish like electricity, like power surge before blackout." I really enjoyed reading this and I loved the way the writer wrote it.

"Moving Water, Tucson"- Peggy Shumaker

Also read "Brief History of my Thumb" by Lucia Perillo

As I was reading this piece, I was reminded of some of Virginia Woolf's writing. Shumaker used long wordy sentences throughout the whole piece. She would describe things with such detail and it was amazing.
"We stood on edges of sand, waiting for brown walls of water. We could hear it, massive water, not far off. The whole desert might come apart at once, might send horny toads and Gila monsters swirling, wet nightmares clawing both banks of the worst they could imagine and then some."
This is my favorite part of the essay. In this paragraph she describes the water and what it carries and it is in such great detail. I love it.

Spring Break

            Spring break is always the break that students look forward to (besides summer break of course). Spring break gives you that refreshed feeling in the middle of the semester, just when you are starting to give up hope because the end of the semester seems so far away. Spring break is the typical time to go to Florida or somewhere warm, and to lie on the beach all day. This dose of sunshine really helps out those Ohio winter time blues. Although I have had many spring breaks throughout my life, my most memorable one has to be the trip I took to New York City and Boston.

            The trip started about a month before break when I emailed my uncle to see if we could stay at his house in Connecticut. He lives about an hour from NYC and Boston. It was the perfect place to stay. I was more than excited to be going back to NYC and going to Boston for my first time. I was even more excited that I was going with my best friend Hannah. The trip planning started right away. We spent the next month planning everything. We talked about the amount of money we would be planning on spending, gas, driving and what we would be doing when we got there.

            Finally it was time to be on our way. I spent the whole day Thursday packing, not knowing what I would need for the thirteen hour drive there and for the few days I would be there. I said my goodbyes to my family and headed to Hannah’s house for our slumber party, as we were leaving the next morning. It was so hard to sleep that night because we were so excited to be on our way.

            When the alarm went off at seven the next morning, it was entirely too early. But we got out of bed and started to get ready and pack the car. After a quick stop at the gas station, we got on the interstate, programed the GPS and began our long trip. I started the first shift of driving. As we got onto I-70 west I knew that our trip was truly beginning. I knew that our trip was off to a great start as the red and blue lights started flashing behind me. Apparently going 75 on the interstate is a big no no.

            I never knew it would take me four hours to get out of the state of Ohio. I have always thought that Ohio was so small, but four hours to get out of the state? It was even worse going through Pennsylvania. I had no idea it was going to take almost six hours to get through that state. The trip went great, except that it was snowing on and off as we were driving. Both Hannah and I were disappointed that we could not drive with the windows down and music up.

            It was about nine at night when we arrived to my uncle’s house. We talked about the trip and our plans for when we would go to NYC. We agreed that we would go the next day since it was the only day my uncle didn’t have to work. This made sleeping that night almost impossible. We were both way to excited to go to NYC. Eight came too early the next morning but it was an early morning I was more than happy to be a part of. It was a twenty minute drive to the train station, and then an hour to Grand Central Station.

            I love Grand Central Station. It is beautiful inside and out and I love when I take that first step out of Grand Central and into the huge city. The city just opens up right in front of you; the sky is blue with the contrast of the dark buildings against it. No matter where you would look, there was a building going into the sky. The hustle of the city took me in and I became overwhelmed with the amount of cars and people that filled the city.

            Time Square was the first stop we made. People filled the sidewalks and streets as they walked past the stores that lined the roads. We made our way through the crowd of people to a restaurant called “Ellen’s Startdust Diner”. This is a diner that has hopeful Broadway stars working. They wait your tables and then put on musical numbers. After lunch, we walked back out in the city. We began our journey to the Statue of Liberty. Little did we know that when we got there we wouldn’t be able to take the ferry to the statue because Hannah had mace in her purse.  We took the typical tourist pictures with the statue in the background, and made our way to ground zero.

            I’ve been to New York twice; both times I wondered what it would have been like to see the Twin Towers in the skyline. Instead, I got to see the Freedom Tower being built. Looking around the area where the Twin Towers once stood, it was weird to see all the apartment buildings and business that surround the area and how it must have been when the towers came tumbling down.

            We spent the rest of the day walking around and meeting with my uncle’s friends. We caught the nine o’clock train back to Connecticut and drove back to the house. Needless to say that both Hannah and I were exhausted after the last two days we had, and spent the next day in bed. We decided to go to Boston the next day, which I was so excited about. I had never been to Boston and was looking forward to going.

            When I woke up in the morning I felt terrible, but decided to keep with the plan of going to Boston anyways. We got ready and were on our way. An hour later we were in Boston and finding our way to the underground parking garage that my uncle had told me about. After we had parked the car, we walked up to street level, and the cold air had never felt better. At that point in time I had felt way worse than I had that morning when I got up.

            Hannah and I found a little convenience store so that I could get some Advil for my now pounding headache. I took the pills and we started walking down the street. We stopped at a corner, trying to decide which way we should go, when a smell (which was very nauseating) hit me like a ton of bricks. “Wow that smells good” Hannah said to me

“No it doesn’t” I said as I threw up all over the street we were standing on. That was when our trip to Boston ended and we decided to drive an hour back to Connecticut. From the five minutes I spent in Boston, I can say that it was a beautiful city. 

Friday Nights

Friday nights are something that are always looked forward too. When you're little it's because that is the day that you get to stay up a whole half hour later and maybe Kelly will get to spend the night. It's the night your older sibling gets home from college for the weekend, and you are so excited to see them. It's the night during the summer when your parents take you to the drive in, and you watch a kids movie first, and then you turn the car around and your parents watch a movie, while you sleep in the cab of the truck.
Once you get into junior high, Friday night is when everyone in the sixth grade goes NightSky coffee house and then across the street to the rec (the coffee house and the rec were across the street from each other). At the rec you would hang out with your friends and see all the other cute boys while dancing to the cha cha slide.
But Friday nights were a whole different story in high school. The Friday night football games were what was looked forward to. All the people in the stands, the marching band playing the fight song and the student section going wild as the football team runs onto the field; nothing felt better. The energy at the games was amazing. You could feel the atmosphere change as we took a lead or as we would go down a touchdown. Then there were the basketball games, which were just as great as the football games. (maybe even better)
Then there is college, where almost any night of the week can be Friday. You stay up late anytime you want and if you want to go to the bars on a Monday, you do it. My time in college has given me a new appreciation for Fridays. It's the day I get to stay in my room all night as my roommate goes out (not that she is ever here anyways) and get all my work done, or at least tell people that I did all my homework. Some of the best Friday nights I've had while in college were spent in my room, or living room with my friends. I love that feeling of release as my last class ends and the weekend begins.