Poem by Kaylee Root

Nagging

She said she sang very close to the mike

the haunting melody echoing throughout the room

her words harassing my ears with things

I’ve heard time and time again

telling me I’m not good enough

and how I should get out there and live my life

but instead I’m here

sitting in this room

through which the current chortles an intimate tune

This poem kind of just came out. I borrowed the first and last line from A Way by Rosanna Warren.

Poem by Joelle Scholten

I’m sorry but I have to go

I heard about a place

That is as beautiful as the sunrise in octobre

And as peaceful as leaves that dance in the wind

When I go there

I won’t stay forever

Because a sunrise will become a sunset

And the dancing leaves will start falling down

I will come back

But I won’t at the same time

I will always remember how the sunlight tickled my face in the early morning

And the colors of the leaves that were dancing in the wind

Because

They remind me of you

But

The sunset became darkness

And the leaves, they hit the ground

You don’t understand me

You never will

And places far away from here call my name

Authors note: The first and last line of this poem were borrowed from the poem “I have to go” by “Verloren Letters”

Poem by Dakota Tyson

Author's Note:  I based this poem off of my

tattoo which is a compass and it basically

means that no where thats worth the while

to go to is going to be an easy journey.

There are no shortcuts

to anywhere worth going.

Times get rough, times get hard,

I’m going to make it through.

Days go onto other days,

weeks go onto other weeks.

So why not make the best

of the right here, right now?

It’s time to shed those childish fears

Time for me

to become who I want to be.

Time to leave the past behind.

And be who I’m best at being,

Me.

We all have different dreams,

and different ways of getting there.

I believe....Emily Knouse

I believe in earning things for myself. Since I was eight years old my dad had me earn everything. I mean obviously he paid for food and necessities but anything beyond that I had to work for. He had me do chores such as cleaning the cat boxes, keeping my room clean, and cleaning the bathrooms. Each year I got older he gave me one extra dollar but also one extra chore. Soon enough, I was mowing the front and back yard.  There were times that I would even beg him in the middle of a store for something I was dying to have and he would tell me what chores I’d have to do to get it. It’s funny because later on that day I realized I didn’t even want it anymore. This showed me I should just save up for something I wanted longer than a day.

Later on these work ethics became an even bigger part of my life. As I got older, I started going out with my friends which took more money than I ever thought it would.  I started going out to movies and buying food while I was out as well. I found myself broke all the time, making me the person who had to stay at home instead. Soon after I turned 16, I got my first job at a nursing home as a dietary aide in Indiana. I was working at least five days a week, working seven hour shifts each day. This was tough for me to adjust to, but as soon as I started getting the paychecks it was more than worth it. I could do whatever I wanted with the days I had off and it was a great feeling. I believe earning what I have makes everything I earn more valuable.

Summer ended and I’m back with my mom now in Nebraska. Here it get’s even harder because my mom doesn’t offer the chore money like my dad had done. Now I’m struggling even more. This drove me to the decision that I needed to start applying for jobs here in Waverly. I applied at the Waverly Care Center, which is right across the street from my house. I am making the same money as I had with the last job with the exception of having less hours with school starting up.  I am now feeling more comfortable with what I have, but I am also being more careful with what I’m purchasing. I only will buy things on sale, unless I am actually needing them. I even keep money to the side just for food during the week. I eventually ended up buying my own phone last year which was another big thing for me.  Earning things for myself made me strive to take better care of these items and value them more. I believe putting work into something makes it more worth it in the end.

Authors note: I learned at a very young age to earn what I have.

I believe....by Joelle Scholten

I believe in positive thoughts. Being positive, thinking positive and saying positive things have good influence on your life and on the people around you. Just like negative thoughts have bad influence.

I have a friend that always complains and is negative about herself, the world, other people, about everything. The worst part is that she doesn’t keep it to herself, she says everything out loud. She says things like:

‘I can’t do this, I hate this, I hate that, loser, failure’.  

She doesn’t only hurt herself by saying all those things, but also everyone around her. Especially the people who love her and care about her. And then I didn’t even mention all the negative thoughts that she does keep to herself, and they are even worse than what she says.

Okay, she’s been through a lot, her life isn’t easy. And I know that I have no right to judge, and I won’t. But why would you make your life harder by thinking negative?

I know that everyone has those days that you don’t feel like doing anything and you’re just in a bad mood, and that’s okay. You have the right to be angry sometimes, nobody can be positive the whole time, right? But I try to be positive as much as I can, not only for myself, but also for the people around me. The moments my friends thoughts were all negative, I was there to help her think positive. To make it bearable, to make a difference. I’d say to my friend:

‘You can do it, you are not a loser, nor failure, I believe in you’.

My friend would look at me like I was crazy, when I said all those things. She didn’t understand that I could be positive about the things she was upset about. I grew up in a family where we support each other, no matter what. If I think about all the times my siblings and I weren’t so nice for my parents, and then think about all the things they did for us. I realize that positive thoughts really are powerful. If my parents wouldn’t say all their positive words like:

‘come on, you can do it, we are here for you, we love you and believe in you’.

Then I wouldn’t be the person I am now. I need positive people in my live. Because when I’m not able to be positive, or I don’t want to, then there is someone to be positive for me. Like I was for my friend when she couldn’t.

I believe in positive thoughts because it makes a difference. The influence of being positive is so huge that it can change not only my life, but also the lives of others.

This I believe...by Cody Moorhead

Life is a trial destined to make me miserable this I believe.  I have lived through  many a tragedy all of whom effected me in different ways at different at times in my life.  The first tragedy was one I did not understand when it happened.  

I was an average kindergarten  student on a day off from school with my mom and grandma watching cartoons and playing with legos.   My cartoons suddenly blinked off and the uptight news man with a sad look on his face said that something happened and showed a plane crash and explode into a building and as every little boy knows explosions are cool so I went up to my mom who was doing my grandma’s hair and said a plane crashed in a building.  She looked up and saw this and finished up my grandma's hair.  Immediately she took me my grandma and our two old dogs downstairs to avoid any other  attacks.  This was a tragedy to everyone including me once I figured out what was going on.  But that was not my worst tragedy, the two that were worse than that for me at least were at the start of kindergarten and my third year of middle school.

The beginning of kindergarten was usually scary for most kids but I was grown up about it; I hugged my mom and went on to play during the morning recess.  It was when I started to talk to other kids that it all went south.  I was accosted called fat and all during this time i was wondering why me.  The later was a rift the family of which I am not at liberty to discuss so as  to prevent any hurt to my family or the other side of the family  

This story is a stretch for me to share and the mere thought about sharing my stories are painful.  Life leaves challenges especially for me.  I hate to be narcissistic  boohooing about my life I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me.   I am fine.  My greatest  fear is people;  the mere thought  of socializing is frightening.  Writing this is my least favorite part of my English class.   

My main point is my life sucks.  I am a nerd living with social awkwardness and a very private life.  I am addicted to tv series and mysteries.  My job sucks although the people I work with are decent.  Enough tangents- my end point is life is chaotic  filled with trials that I have to overcome I get out of bed simply because I know if I don’t do it no one will.   I play a role no one I know will  or can fill.  I live with self doubt and depression not due to any other party or person.  

Final draft authors note: This is inspired by my real life all of which I was willing to share.  All is true and unfettered by  fiction or fluff of any kind.  

I believe....by Paige McCaslin

This I Believe - Paige McCaslin

I have big dreams for myself to accomplish in the future. I want to go to college on scholarships and study Wildlife Biology. I will force myself to be in school for another ten years just so I get the bragging rights of a Doctorate Degree. I aspire to get grants so I can move to another country and study wild animals. I long to have the opportunity to be able to hold a lions head in my hands. I wish to help better the human interactions with the wild and shed light on how important the ecosystem really is. I crave to put an end to poaching and animal cruelty.

My dreams of living off the land and experiencing other cultures will be a reality. I’m going to break free from becoming a slave to my phone and lived off the grid without all the fancy technology.

I want to be the person who helps people in times of struggle, no matter who it is. I will help the homeless get back on their feet. Bring clean water to places that are lacking. I dream of being able to feed a child who hasn't eaten a full meal in a month and helping educate the millions of humans who can't afford it.

I want to travel the world and meet new and different people. Learning everything I possibly can absorb! I need to gain the understanding of different cultures in countries everywhere. I will climb Mount Everest, take a tour of Iceland and all of it’s beauty, ride on an elephant’s back in India, and visit Buddhist temples in Japan. I have to experience all of the little nooks and crannies of the entire world.

I think that dreams are how I am going to accomplish great things in my life. I believe in dreaming big to live my life to the fullest.

THIS I BELIEVE: AUTHOR’S NOTE

I wrote the “This I Believe” piece because I think about the future a lot and all that I can do in this world. The main idea is that I want to live my life to the fullest and accomplish that by accomplishing my dreams.

I believe... by Austin Loveless

I Believe in hard work :Austin Loveless      

I believe that working hard is one of the best things I can do in life. It makes me feel more accomplished when I get a task done because I know that I did it to the best of my ability. I know that when I work hard now it’ll pay off later.

When I am at work I think that the time that i’m there will never change the only thing that I can change is what I get done and how well I do it. If I work as hard as I possibly can every single day, it will pay off. With either promotions, raises, or a good reference to my new employer. Any one of those three things make working more worth it than just the pay that I am receiving at the time.

I learned this at a fairly young age when I was detasseling. When I was 12 it was my first real job. If you haven’t detasseled, you wouldn’t understand how tough of work it is. You literally walk all day long through corn fields in the heat wearing long sleeves, and pants, all while getting paid minimum wage. My crew was different we didn’t get paid minimum wage though we got paid by the row. Which might sound weird but you can make a lot more money if you work hard. If you don’t work hard you got fired. I started my first year of detasseling with 83 people on my crew and we finished with 28 people. I was the only first year person that finished. I loved it, I almost made two thousand dollars and I was 12 years old. What does a 12 year old kid do with that much money you may ask? Well they buy a new bike, a trampoline, and a pool.

I continued detasseling until I was 16, then I was able to apply for a job because I could drive. Filling out the application, I knew exactly what I was going to put in the reference blank. The next day my new job called me back and said I was hired and they also said that my detasseling boss was sad to lose such a hard worker.

It is kind of Ironic that I learned such a valuable life skill from my very first job. Looking back on detasseling now I realize I earned a lot more than money, I also learned how to keep a job and to work my hardest. It has continued to pay off in everyday life making work easier and making my employers love me.

Authors note:

This is about me learning good work ethics at a young age. I’m very proud of the life skills that my first job taught me. I believe in hard work because it will pay off.

This I believe...by Amanda Green

This I believe that not every

household needs a man in the house.

Seven years ago I lost my grandpa who was in the delivery room when my mom had me. Not knowing my Dad, my grandfather was like my father figure because of how close we were. When he left he tried telling me that he was only leaving my grandma but in reality he was leaving the entire family. I was only ten when this happened. I lost the man that I believed in and loved so much. All of a sudden he was having late nights at the shop and 4 A.M. phone calls that I would answer. When I would answer these calls I knew right then and there my grandfather was a cheater. My family was falling apart.

A few short months later I was in Minnesota with my uncle. On his way home from work he got a call from my mom,saying that she and my great grandpa were coming to get me instead of Grandma Angela and Grandpa Jerry. I asked why and he told me that my grandpa had left. I was heart broken. But I didn’t let anyone see that I was hurting, I grew strong for my grandma.

Now seven years later my grandma and I are doing great. We lost the man that fixed everything,but we do it now because we taught ourselves how to do the handy work. So when people hear me say that I don’t need a man for things I mean it. This I believe that not every household needs a “man of the house”. My grandma and I do all the handy work around my house. If we can’t fix something one way we will find a way to fix it. And then finally if we still can’t fix it then we will ask my uncle or my guy cousins to come help us.

Now that we have moved on and that we do things on our own, we are very hard workers and determined to get things done ourselves. Our relationship used to be not as close because I was very close to my grandpa. When he left my entire life changed. I had to push my hurt away so grandma could hurt. I have became the strong one and didn’t show my hurt. Our relationship grew stronger through the years. We have had our ups and downs but we got through them.

When someone tells me that I need a man in my life or my grandma needs a man in her life, I tell them that they are crazy and we are doing just fine.

This I believe that not every

household needs a man in the house.

This was inspired by the hardships I went through in my past and how i was the bigger person and didn’t show my pain/hurt.

I Believe by Anthony Ceballos

I Believe…

Art is a form of expression. I can put everything I have dreamed onto a blank canvas or I can relive a moment as the colors come together to form a picture. I have created imaginary worlds that come to life and amaze others. As a young child, I never appreciated the beauty of art, I would just scribble on a piece of paper with a randomly chosen Crayon. I did not know of shades, color compliments, and all other aspects of art. I would just simply attempt to draw a picture for fun then show my mother. She would just smile and I would always laugh as she put the picture on the refrigerator door.

Then, when I got older, I learned about how to improve my art work and I just took off with it. Left and right, I drew anything that came to mind. I drew flowers, houses, landscapes, remakes of logos. But, there was always one thing missing. There were no people in any of me pictures. The concept of a person seem like an obstacle that I could not overcome. The reason why is because there was no way I could imitate the life in any given person. It was then I learned that art is more than pictures and colors. It embodies the very essence of life and nature. It expresses emotions that the artist feels.

I would just let the paint flow, allow chalk leave its colorful mark, and a pencil to shape the basics of the world. But now, I give life to my creations and I cannot wait until my own child brings his or her drawing to me for the first time, so I can hang it on the fridge. I believe that art is more than lines and colors on a page, art is life at it’s most precious moments.

Obviously, this inspired by Art and how I see it. I try to show the transition between art and drawings. I believe in every word of this essay and I will never go against it.

Creative Writing Fall 2014 - This I Believe

Inspired by NPRs This I Believe series, students in the creative writing class were asked to write some of their own This I Believe essays.  A few of them agreed to share them online.