End of the year poem

Tough Transitions
Author's Note: It's the end of the year, and next year, I'm off to high school. I wrote this poem to show my thoughts on this transition.

What seemed so long went so fast

Weeks after weeks

All have blown away

You've made the best you could of this year

And now the thought of it ending hurts

This end bring you to a new beginning

A fresh start not far away

You know you can always visit your past

But are afraid the future will fill up your time

What if it's to hard?

What if  you never see the friends you've come to know?

Will this beginning tear away at what you love?

Each day feels longer

The time is approaching

So much lies ahead, but many amazing things drag you back to your past

The door opens up ahead, ready for you

But you still are figuring out if you're ready

Past or future?

Middle school or high school?

But do you really have a choice?

DWA Poem

At this moment

At this moment….everything is happening

At this moment, life is blooming

At this moment, death is creeping out of the shadows

At this moment, friends are laughing uncontrollably at the thought of an old memory

At this moment, someone is weeping where no one can see or notice

At this moment, marriages are sparking and celebrations are taking place

At this moment, divorce has started and once happy families tragically separate

At this moment, excitement spreads contagiously around, those with the disease thinking of their future

At this moment, depression and angry fill and overflow poor souls, leaving them helpless to its power

At this moment, goodness reaches new heights

At this moment, evil digs deeper and deeper trenches

At this moment….

DWA Essay

Trying to Change

Author's Note:This piece is for the District writing assessment  and I wrote it for a score in text analysis.

            Changing is a curse. But why do we try to change? People change to feel better about themselves. People change to impress others around them. Bernice does both of these. In “Bernice Bobs her Hair”, Bernice changes for popularity,  like in our society today and in different stories.

            The whole transformation of change started when Marjorie started criticizing Bernice. “No; for instance, you never take care of your eyebrows. They're black and lustrous, but by leaving them straggly they're a blemish. They'd be beautiful if you'd take care of them in one-tenth the time you take doing nothing.” In our society today, there are these kinds of girls. The “popular” girls. The ones that have evolved to new heights of perfection and always look at themselves as what the rest of us wish we could be. Marjorie tries to put herself above everyone else, by taking advantage of people and insulting them. Like when Bernice asks if her dress was ok, Marjorie just says “I didn't hint anything," said Marjorie succinctly. "I said, as I remember, that it was better to wear a becoming dress three times straight than to alternate it with two frights." Sadly this is what really happens today. Bernice changes because she sees herself with many flaws.

       Fitzgerald does a fantastic job of showing both viewpoints. For example, when Bernice first started to change, she’s not really sure about the idea. Later, she realizes that people like the way she’s changed and are beginning to accept her. But from Marjorie’s view of things, this is all a game. Find the “sad birds” in the crowd and dance with them to spark some attention. But isn’t this what people do today? Try to get attention? Of course! People just like having the spotlight on them, to feel like everyone is focused on them. But Bernice’s main way of attracting attention is saying that she’s considering bobbing her hair. “Do you think I ought to bob my hair, Mr. Charley Paulson?... Because I'm considering it. It's such a sure and easy way of attracting attention." is a frequently used quote of hers. And she even admits that she's just doing it for the attention. As the story progresses, Bernice seeks for popularity almost as much as Marjorie does.

      This sort of seeking for attention occurs in other stories like Stargirl and Ten miles past Normal. In Stargirl, Leo changes Stargirl to make her look cooler and fit in more. But soon she really tries to gain back her popularity. At one point, she's not even Stargirl anymore, she's completely different. In Ten miles past Normal,  Janie has always been a farm girl. She seems to slip into the background. When she decides to join the rock band, her reputation completely changes. Soon she realizes that her friend Monster is making her get attention. Both of these stories have someone who is trying to change for the attention.

     To conclude, this attention grabber is found in a lot of things, our society and our stories. Bernice’s new change may have gotten attention, but in the end it backfires. When she really bobs her hair, she understands that the change didn’t help with her image, it just covered up the real her.Trying to change for attention and popularity never ends up working, it just disguises yourself.