stephanie late from mommaaaaa

Dear stephanie
You are such a dissapointment. I should have let you live with your father. I tried to talk him in to supporting you but he wont have you. Im never going to take you shopping again. And plus, i bought your backpack with my own money. So you shouldnt talk shit. I'll buy you a new one. If it breaks, i promise, i will buy you a new JanSport. I wish you would stay, although i would be saving a lot of money, you need to get educationed. then you can open your shop and make a lot of money to take me on vacation! It would be so much fun! we can go to alaska just like you like it. remeber will tullos? you guys had such a good time in rhet comp and mathmatics! please stay. Your sister needs you to have an education so you can teach her. I love you little baby.

stephanie Late

Dear mother and father. I am so sorry. I know you were expecting me to finish my college career here at St. Edwards but i am not learning anything. The classes are horrible and the people are too self involved. I have to quit. Im so disscouraged im not even going to try a new college. I want to go into business for myself anyways, why waste all this money on college when i can learn more out in the real world. I appologize again for wasting your money. And i was only in rowing for three weeks for 150 dollars. That was at least spent well even though i could have held it out a bit longer. I just cant take college anymore. The books are too heavy. I dont want to break my backpack. I just bought my new backpack and it was kind of expensive. I want it to last forever! Becuase i really love it. Its the perfect kind of backpack even though its really big, i know i will always have space. But i dont want to take that space up with my college books. This is a good reason to drop out. College is for people who dont know how to spend their money.

late #3

I was sitting there concentrating on my desk but I decided that I have starred at it before, there is no mystery. I have spent a few nights not doing my work, and starring at my desk. While I was studying the desk area I noticed my orange study lamp. It is kind of hidden behind my computer so I never really look at it. It is a little dusty and not used much. It is silver and orange at the bottom and sits on a stand. A silver thing comes out of the orange part and it comes up into a bigger part which is also orange and lined with silver. There are tiny holes in the top that serve no real purpose. There are about eight of them and they are small and narrow. It is an old fashioned looking lamp. It has a rounded hole where the light is suppose to be coming out from. The light bulb is very tiny but very powerful. It is unbelievably bright and over powers any other light in the room. Inside the warning label is rather large and takes up a lot of space on the inside. The orange lamp just sits there unnoticed the majority of the time but taking the time to sit here and look at it, I think I am going to clean it now.

late #2

You must have made a mistake in making me write this. Nothing really comes to mind as of what to write about. Maybe if I did this on time, I may have thought of something, although I doubt it. Hmm well, I plan on going home for Christmas. I love going home to see my friends. I miss my friends when at home when I am here in Austin. It seems weird that everyone went to different places and we all have a different group of friends to deal with. I grew up with these people especially since all the schools neighbor each other. You can walk down the street to the elementary school then a little farther to the middle school and then across the street to the high school. With the schools being this close all my friends are people I grew up with, people I have known since I was little. I am excited to go back home and visit with all my people. I think eventually I will feel the same way when I leave my Austin friends. I only have a couple people here who I feel a little upset to leave. I am sure the longer I am here the more people I will miss. I can imagine graduation and when I have to leave here for good that it will be the same situation and I will get excited when I get to see my Austin kids.

Dear Mom and Dad, this is the longest I've spent debating over how to write this letter. This must be the 100th draft. Because this decision means so much to me, I hope you will consider it wisely. This decision is all about my wants...wishes....and passion. Please focus on the betterment of me as you read through this. What I am about to say to the both of you will upset you very much. I'm sure you are going to protest but my mind is already made up. Please take a second and gather yourself so that you will fully understand the weight of my decision. I have chosen to drop out of college. This is the big news. The reason I have made such a decision is not because anything bad has happened. I am actaully very thankful I came to college. It has opened my eyes and taught me that I should live life for myself, to seek what I want in life. And I have decided that college is not for me. I do not want a life planned out for me. And so I am taking what funds I have and am moving to Europe to discover what I truly am. As you read this, I am on my way via plane to London. I love you both very much, and ya'll have been everything I could have asked more. This is a time when I need to be alone, but your support is much apprecitated. Love Your Son



Dear Matt,
Upon reading your letter, we are at the utmost point of dissapointment. As your parents, we are greatly afraid for your safety and well-being. However, realizing that you are now an adult, and that your life up to now as always been planned, we do see where your desire to leave comes from. Our love for you will not ever end even though our desire to see you succeed overwhelmes us and your decision does not seem much hopeful. We are your parents, we raised you and will not let you go. You have to much potential to put it to waste so please do not this. I know that you will continue to live a life in light of the Lord. We love you like you will never know and our prayers will always be with you. Please continue to write us is our only wish. Love Mom and Dad.

thanksgiving.

One year over thanksgiving break me and my family took my dogs for a hike in Bastrop, Texas. We spent the whole day hiking through the cedar trees and around the small lake. Anyways, we took a break to go fishing. Let me just say, my and my brothers never catch anything. Well my brother, who was 10 at the time, got a bite and started reeling it in. Somehow my dog got off the leash tho and saw my brothers fish flapping around in the shallow as he was reeling it in. My dog jumped in the lake, got the fish. took off with it, and pulled my brother into the water along with him. So, not only did he not get the fish, he got wet as well. Funny.

late

Thanksgiving is always interesting with my family. We went to Alabama this year to see my uncle and his ten kids. Enough said…ten kids. They have to cook like three turkeys and make enough food for five families just to fill these kids up. Well this thanksgiving the twins decided it would be funny to hide the turkeys. I personally was not amused. I don’t even like turkey and we had to wait for the stupid turkeys to be done before we could eat. They decided that they could hide them next door at a friend’s house. I don’t understand how their parents didn’t ask or find it weird that there were three huge extra turkeys, but whatever. People are weird. Anyway they had the whole family going in circles around the house in order to find these turkeys. I thought these people were going to go crazy; they were running around and pacing back and forth interrogating the kids. I think they were too scared to tell them when they were confronted. It wasn’t really funny, I think they were the only ones laughing, but we finally got the turkeys and had a late thanksgiving dinner. Oh, and at the table the twins were informed that they were not allowed to eat any turkey since they like to play games and I think that knocked the grins off their faces.

dear momma and daddy
ever since i was little i remember yall encouraging me to follow my passions. when i was into cooking yall bought me ingredients. when i was into bird watching yall bought me wood to build bird houses. luckily for yall this passion i wish to follow now requires no money. in fact it will in a way produce money or atleast free up money that yall had previously set aside. i am going to teach first graders to speak english in south america. i know your thinking what about college but lets think this through. in high school you pushed me to work harder and make all a's. it just so happens that i pushed myself so much that i learned everything i needed to know in high school. i speak spanish fluently and know way more about the english language than what is needed to teach first graders. i cant way to help these deprived children! arent you excited for me???

dear hannah
we are so thrilled that you are going to help children in various countries. this will teach you so much more than a school ever can. i cant wait for you to get back and tell us all you've learned. we are sad that you wont be staying at st.eds because you will no longer be getting so many free shirts but the sacrafice is well worth it. even though you complained all those years we pushed you, right now all we have to say to you is..."told you so." you know your so glad to have learned so much in high school you could drop out of college and still be successful. we are so proud of you honey!!!! call us soon.

Dear Mom,
I was walking down the street the other day and i was ofered 100,000 dollars to give my blood plasma to a medical study. I immediaelty accepted and i walked into the office and donated right there on the spot. They gave me the money and i went on my way. Two weeks later they contacted me and told that i had a super incredibly rare blood type that if donated enough i could save millions of peoples lives as well as have people pay me hunderds of dollars for every donantion. The only problem is that i would have to drop out of college and focus soley on donating blood. I understand that this may be a setback in your eyes but within two weeks i will make enough money to buy my own house and i will be completly able to support myself. please Mom i always wanted to be a hero and now is my chance
love Sean

Dear Sean,
we are so proud of you and your special blood condition we think that it is great that you are trying to save lives and make a living for yourself. I honestly do not see the point in you continiuing a collee education if you are doing so well as a blood donator. I am just so happy that you found your own little nitch in the world and that you are financially set please come home and share the wealth with the rest of your family
love always Mom.

halleluiah

Mom and Dad,

I would like to start this letter off by saying that I love you. I love you so much for always accepting who I am and the choices I make. You have always been so supportive of me and my hopes and dreams. So I would like to tell you that I am dropping out of school, and I know you will not be angry because you are such loving, supportive parents. Before you freak out and act as if you are not loving and supportive, know that I am buying ya’ll a vacation home in Lake Tahoe for Christmas, and dad, I am getting you that Harley Davidson you have always wanted. I won the lottery…20 million dollars all to me! Crazy, huh? Last week I was freaking out because I did not even have enough money to buy my boyfriend a decent Christmas gift, now I am a millionaire. I know that you say education is the most important, and I should finish up no matter what. But I am hoping that you understand that I do not need school. I plan on moving out to Santa Barbara to buy Lindsay and me a house on the beach. She has been my best friend for sixteen years and we both know that she deserves a nice house and some money after everything she has been through. Dad, you can just stop working because I plan to spoil ya’ll because of everything you have done for me. I hope that you truly understand why I cannot stay in school under such fabulous circumstances. Call me and I will fly ya’ll out here on my private jet to meet for sushi. Love you

-Brooke

Brooke,

Wow, we are shocked. We will always remember you saying that you will buy one lottery ticket in your life and that time you will win. I guess were right. Of course we will always love and support you. But we want you to know that even though you are financially well off, education is always the right choice and we urge you to go back as soon as all this settles down. You will become bored and tired of just spending money but not doing anything to earn it. You must spend your money wisely. Speaking of your money, dad wants a 745i, black on black, instead of a Harley Davidson; I guess he grew out of that phase. And me, your mother, would like a million dollars donated to all the orphans in Africa. But to celebrate we must immediately go on a spa retreat and wine tasting in Napa. We love you!! Don’t forget that we are your parents and have supported you through all your life :)

-Mom and Dad

I quite

Dear Mom and Dad.
So, you wouldn’t believe the semester that I have had. Everything was running quite smoothly, and of course I was making straight A’s. That wasn’t hard at all considering I was valedictorian and high school was a breeze. Anywho, like I was saying everything was going well until October when the cockroaches began to show up. They weren’t that big of a deal at first, but for some reason or another they just keep coming and growing in size. Studying soon became very difficult as they grew smarter and began to overthrow the St. Edwards community. At this point I gave up on school work all together battling the ever growing cockroaches! There was a small resistance of us that learned to live off of the pre packaged food in Ragsdale. We prepared for battle the other day and I lost a lot of good men out there, but I think they are starting to get the idea that we are not giving up grounds! So the battle has been going on for days and days not and all I can think to do is drop out of school. Really if I’m not gaining an education from this school and I have to fight giant smart cockroaches on a daily basis I really don’t think this is the place for me. Your money is just being wasted for me being here and there is a chance that I could die every day. Okay well I love you guys and will wait for your reply for me to come home!
~Amy

Dear Amy,
Nice try I suppose, but first and foremost you know that we know that you are a compulsive liar and this has got to be one of your worst lies ever. Okay now I would like to remind you that in high school you were most certainly not valedictorian of Lake Travis and you did send us a copy of your grades about a month ago. Amy I know that college can be hard, but trying to make up yet another of the crazy lies really won’t help you at all. Also I’m not sure if you are completely aware of this, but this story is nearly identical to your last story except last time it was grasshoppers, If you really feel you want to come home that’s fine, but last time we let you “drop out” you were home for a week told us you develop an allergy to the cat we had just gotten. Now really I don’t know what you are trying to get at with these wild giant bug stories, but it is really time to just suck it up and take it as it comes. Also the lying really needs to stop I know we have been saying g this since you were ten but you are a college girl now and your lying isn’t getting your anywhere. Well we can’t wait to see you for Christmas but it will not be a percent move home. Love you and have fun fighting cockroaches and other miscellaneous bugs,

~Mom and Dad

Remember The Time. . .

Dear Mom and Dad,

Let’s take a quick stroll down memory lane. Remember the time I almost drowned in a pool? I was okay and we moved on with our lives. Remember the time I fell down a flight of stairs and Mom thought I broke my arm? We spent the rest of the day in the hospital. My arm wasn’t broken. We moved on with our lives. Remember the time in first grade when I was running and suddenly my head hit the pavement and I got a concussion? I’m pretty sure I’ve done this more than once. I woke up at home with ice on my head. The swelling eventually went down. We moved on with our lives. Remember the time I was hospitalized in the Philippines and we thought I would have to get my appendix removed but really it was just dehydration and poor nutrition? I was hooked up to a banana bag for a week. I was allowed to eat solid foods after that week. I haven’t gone back to the Philippines since. We moved on with our lives. Basically what I am trying to say is that what I am about to tell you will not be as traumatic. Remember how you told me that neither of you graduated from college yet you are both doing just fine? See, this is kind of related to that. Sometimes college isn’t for everyone. I know this first semester cost you a lot and hey think of it as me doing you both a favor by not staying in college for next semester. Sound good? Dad, I know I can hear you swearing right now but it’s okay. Just let it all out. Don’t worry, I’ve already withdrawn from the classes I signed up for next semester so you won’t be receiving a bill. I’ll be home soon. When that is? I’m not sure. Where am I now? I don’t know but rest assured that I still have clean underwear.

Your favorite daughter by default,

Nichole

Nichole,

What the hell do you think you are doing? We did not send you all the way to Texas for school just to have you quit and run around on my tab. I am not made out of money Nichole! Who do you think you are? You are such an expensive child and YOU ARE SO UNGRATEFUL! Your dad and I thought you were just trying to be funny but apparently not. Your older brother didn’t graduate from college and neither did we but that is not an excuse for you to be running around somewhere until you feel like figuring out what you want to do with your life. Who do you think you are? Remember how your dad was angry because I let you go to St. Edward’s? Boy do I regret it now. I shouldn’t have let you leave the state. I should have stuck you in that all girls college near our house and made you live at home. YOU ARE SO UNGRATEFUL! Nichole. Seriously. You better be joking. If you are not your ass better be on the next plane back to California do you hear me? You better be reading this not putting it in your purse and forgetting about it like you do with everything else. Call me as soon as you can and give me a straight answer or I’m throwing everything away in your room and giving your TV to your younger brother. You better not think I’m kidding. Why do I have such stupid children? If you don’t come home soon or if you don’t go back to college you better believe that I will hunt you down. I’m serious this time.

- Mom and Dad

Dear Mommy and Daddy,

Now please try not to freak out when I tell you this. I’ve put a lot of thought into it, and I think it’s what is best for me and my future. Alright, here goes. I have decided to drop out of college. I’m getting a little bored with this whole college thing. I want to move to Hollywood. I want to be an actress, maybe a singer too while I’m at it. It’s not like singers have to have a great voice these days anyways. I know I have a small case of stage fright, but that’s why they have multiple takes for actors. And if I become a singer, I can just lip sync. So you see? I have thought about it. Now before you jump to conclusions on how this is a horrible idea and what am I thinking and how am I going to pay for myself etc., allow me to explain myself. Think back. I have always told you that I want to be famous someday. You never took me seriously, but I was. I was always serious. I was just waiting for someone to come get me and make me famous. But I am starting to realize that that is just not going to happen. I need to do it myself. People need to know the name Gigi Lopez. Or maybe I’ll go by Giselle. Why did you change my name to Gigi anyways? I’ve always wondered about that. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I have decided to drop out, pack up, and leave within a week. I hope you will support my decision. But if not, I may just have to prove you wrong. And we both know I’m good at doing that. I love you Mom and Dad, and I’ll miss you. But don’t you worry, I won’t forget about you guys when I’m famous. Promise.

Love you
Gigi

From my dad
Dear Gigi,

Gigi, are you drugs? Is this a joke? What on earth are you thinking?? You’re getting a great education at St. Edward’s, you have your parents right here in Austin to get you what you need or to let you come home when you need to… What more can you ask for? And you want to be an actress? When have you ever acted? And good God… a singer of all things! Gigi, you come home ASAP. We need to discuss this. You are not moving to Hollywood. I wont allow it.

From my mom
Dear Gigi,

I know this is a hard time, you’re still in a transition phase right now. But please try to be rational. You’re going to give your father a heart attack for God’s sake. Where did this idea come from anyway? You’ve been watching TV haven’t you? I told you not to, it’s a bunch of crap on there is what it is. Just come home and we can spend some time together. Maybe you and I can take a trip to California. Actually come to think of it, it wouldn’t be so bad to move to California. Hmm… Oh, who am I kidding. Gigi take me with you! I don’t like it here either!

Love
Mom and Dad

Mom,

I am wasting away. I will never be this age again and I will never have some of the opportunities that I have at this point in my life. I want to take this time to explore, travel, and just make life experiences. Yes, college is often labeled as a great life experience, but it is one that I can come back to later in life. Right now, I need to take advantage of being young and having so much more energy and momentum than I will have in ten, even five years from now. I am concerned about income, but I can begin work as a flight attendant maybe, or perhaps I can deliver organs. That way, my traveling will be included in my work. Both jobs may require some sort of class, but I believe these classes will be much shorter than even one year of college. I will be living the life that I want to live, and I won’t let fear of becoming nothing when I am older stand in my way. You even have admitted yourself that you chose the completely wrong profession and I have seen you miserable every day you go to work. What if I make a big mistake like this one? I mean, in other countries they even make students take at least a year off after graduating high school so they can return to college with life experiences, and perhaps as these students work and travel on their year or more off, when they return to college they appreciate the opportunity to learn that much more. I know what you will say, but you can not change my mind.

Love always,
Nicole

P.S. I will just get my diabetic medications in Mexico, or a lot of my friend’s parents have diabetes. I will figure it out.


Nicole,

You will lose your scholarship. You will not be able to get your medications. And getting them in Mexico or from other diabetics is VERY illegal. You can NOT do that. I will cut you off from my money, meaning no phone, no car insurance, and I will take the car back. You do not have the skills to find a reasonable profession without any schooling and the only way you can get insurance for your diabetes is if you work specific jobs such as Starbucks and Whole Foods, and neither of these pay for travel. You are too smart to make such a choice, just pull through. If college is too hard, take less hours, we can get through this. And then you can pick a profession of your choice and make enough money to live comfortably and travel on your own time. I can not let you do this, you will not do this. You know I will always be here to help you through anything and I will support you through college. We need to talk. Take a weekend to come home.

Love,
Mom

My Bad

Hey mom and pops,
How is everything workin out back home? I hope you guys are payin the bills and all that stuff aight cause I know how hard that can be. You know you have a son with bills to pay too! Thats wicked crazy, isn't it? One day I am in diapers and the next day I'm having to sell body parts for some extra cash! Yeah, so I am gonna need some money to pay me some of my bills. I thought that since I am a adult now, that we should be able to communicate on a more direct level. Yeah so I like, didn't pass too many of my classes this semester. By not passing too many of my classes this semester, I mean that I didn't pass any of my classes this semester. But all of the courses that I took were all kinds of mad hard! The professors were totally jumpin me about stuff I didn't do, and givin me no time to do nothin. So as a responsive adult, I have made a final solution to these problems of mine. I am going to drop out of college! I know that this might come down pretty hard on you guys, but I have been thinkin for like a couple of hours now how much cooler it would be if I didn't have to wake up for anything anymore. Right? I was just imagining what I would be able to do if I didn't have to hear about other people doin homework and stuff. Okay well, I hope that you guys send me some money soon cause I am all kinds of hungry. Bye!
Always with Love,
Steven Kliewer

Dearest Son of ours' that may die very very soon,
This sudden news has come as quite a shock to your father and I. I thought it only appropriate to inform you that we are going to disown you and sell all of your personal possessions here at the house in a grand ol' yard sale. This is so that you will now have the finances with which to pay off your bills, you do understand. The disowning will come only after you see to these unpaid bills, of course. I also find it only necessary to tell you that the money we will make upon selling you to a major international medical research hospital will cover all expenses that we have been forced to pay for you up until this point. There is, however, one way to get out of this oh so complicated situation Steven. Now, I am not a miracle worker here, ok, so I do not know if you will be ready for this, but here it goes. YOU WILL STAY IN COLLEGE IF IT IT MEANS MOVING INTO YOUR DORM MYSELF AND ATTENDING CLASS WITH YOU EVERYDAY IN ORDER TO INSURE THIS. Actually, this is your only option for further survival. If you do not comply, it will not be my fault if Lassie JR. is mysteriously informed about your old transformers' whereabouts in the backyard. Alright son! I know you will do the right thing!
Love Mommies and Daddums

Mommy, Daddy, I have some news, but you have to promise not to get mad or freak out or anything, but, I’m engaged!!! Can you believe it, we just met last week at Taco Cabana, but we love each other and will be together forever!! His name is Michael, and he’s going to be a movie star, so obviously we have to move to LA, but don’t worry, he’s so talented and will going to be famous some day soon. But since we’re moving to LA, I’ll obviously need to take a break from school for a while, but that’s okay because once we’re there he’ll be making loads of money, and I can get a job as a waitress some where for a while, but I was kind of hoping you guys could help us pay for an apartment for a few months, preferably in the heart of the city. Oh, and the wedding is going to be on Christmas day, I’m hoping it’ll snow, wouldn’t that be pretty? And don’t worry, you’ll love Michael, he’s so funny! So we better start planning fast. I already found the wedding dress I want, which is good because that’s the most important part, so it’s an Oscar de la Renta cup cake style dress, it’s GORGEOUS, and Daddy I know it’ll be kind of expensive, but you’ll only have to buy me one, ever, so I’m sure you won’t mind. we can take care of the rest when I’m done with finals, I’m so excited I won’t be dealing with those again for a while, yay! I know, I know, you’re worried what my future will be without a college degree, but I’ll go back to school eventually, probably, but with Michael’s income we’ll be so rich it won’t even matter. So we have to call everyone and tell them the good news, make sure they keep their calendar open for the big day! And then for the honeymoon we were thinking Italy, and since neither of us have a back to school date to worry about we can stay for a few weeks. Can you imagine how beautiful Rome will be?! I’m so excited, I finally have a valid excuse to stay in all the fancy hotel’s honeymoon suites with their heart-shaped beds! and don’t worry about that, we’ll be responsible. So, you guys should probably buy our plane tickets soon, they might get pricier as it gets closer to Christmas. Ok, calm down, I know you’re probably a little startled, your little girl is growing up so fast, but be excited for me! Dropping out of school for a while isn’t THAT big of a deal, plus, I’ll always have you guys to fall back on right? Don’t worry about a thing. See you in a few days!

Guess what?

Dear Mum and Pops,
Hey! Have you guys ever read Kurt Vonnegut? I've read Kurt Vonnegut, OH have I read Kurt Vonnegut. There was this passage in it that had me rolling all around the cafe. It went something like this: a man needed to hide from the police and did so in the house of a woman he knew. When he got there the woman went to go get to go get some of her husband’s clothes for him and he anxiously stripped naked. However, before she could return with the clothing the cops knocked at the door and he was forced to run and hide in the rafters. He climbed up but his oversized testicles hung in full view. The cop walked in and asked where the man was. He then spotted the testicles and asked what they were. The woman said that they were Chinese-temple bells; he believed her and said, "Oh? I've always wanted to here Chinese-temple bells. He gave them a whack with his billy club but they didn't make a sound, so he hit them again, only a lot harder. This time the man shrieked from the rafters, “TING-A-LING YOU SON OF A BITCH."
Hahahahaha oh man, let me tell you guys, I've never laughed harder while reading a book. I tried showing it to the guy sitting next to me, only he couldn't understand because he didn't speak English. Oh yeah, that brings me to my next point, I left college and am now a bona fide European Vagabond. Well, you can write back at this address, I'll be in Paris for awhile. Love you guys.

You're one of a kind headache,
-Kyle

Dear soon-to-be-dead son,
You best be hoping this entire letter is a joke. Little do you know you had an older brother, he did the same thing. Want to know why you've never heard of him? Because we killed him for doing it. You better drag your ass back to the states and back to school starting next semester or have changed your last name. What made you think you could just get up and leave? Why did you...? Who do you...? What the...?
Hah! You're right, it did feel good to play that traditional parent role. It was even kind of fun. It makes me almost wish you would have just got up and left. I immediately regret writing that. Well, hope you're having a fantastic time in Europe. Keep yourself safe and don't have too many girls. Your mom just hit me. Okay, your brothers are making trouble again, we'll talk to you soon.
Love,
-Dad and Mom

Mom and Dad,

I am sorry, but I can not take this anymore. I am pregnant as you already know, not allowed to play soccer, which is why I came here, got left by my boyfriend, in the middle of a pregnancy I might add, and I am being swamped with homework that I can barely keep up with on top of all the doctors and counselors everyone is having me see. I am only 18 and can only take so much. I want to drop out of school at least for a little while until I can get my stuff together. I am sorry to disappoint you I know you only real dreams for me where to prosper in school. I will come back, I want to make something of myself, but first I think I need to find myself. I love you and I hope you understand. This whole process is very overwhelming. I have had trouble staying focused nearly the whole semester and I would like to blame my pregnancy on that. I have had trouble getting a couple things in on time I am getting so worn down emotionally, physically, and mentally. School should not be this hard. Not everyone should have to go through what I am going through. I find it unfair and unjust that all these people are getting better grades because they have hardly anything else to deal with. I want to be like that, worry free. So please support me on this decision to drop out. I love you and I hope you understand how important this is too me.

Love,
Christine

Christine,

You know we love you, and are here for you no matter what you decide to do. You are so far along in your pregnancy that you have to stay in the Austin area anyways for your doctors. School is the only thing that you should be focusing on. If you feel that it will make you crazy, you can come home for a little while, but I urge the fact that you will go back to school. You need to get an education so you can support yourself and maybe even a kid if that is what you decide to you want. Please do not take any of this personal I just want what is best for you. Coming home is an option for the time being, but that is not going to be the answer to fix your problems. We cannot support you for the rest of your life. We are going to die eventually and you will have to take care of yourself. There are going to be bills and expenses that you have never had to pay before, you have it financially easy. I think you should take into consideration the amount of work it would be for you not to be in school before you completely drop out. You will need to get a job to start helping out with the bills and then if you decide to keep this child, it will be yours. You will be paying the insurance for it and although we are here to help out, we are not going to be the soul providers. You need to get a good education and be successful in order to help out yourself and your family.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Dear Mom and Dad

Dear Mom and Dad,
I am writing to you today to let you know that college is simply not for me. I don't like it. Its hard and long (jeeze guy mind out of the gutter) and its cold right now. I think me and my friend Sean are moving to Jamaica to be rostas. Its always warm there, and there is a beach and a jungle that we can live in free of charge so that will be good. Back to the dropping out thing. School sucks with all the work and the confusing hoops you have to jump through and the early mornings. If you would allow it, I would like to stay here at school with all my friends, I just don't want to school anymore. I'm thinking about winning the lottery so that I will have enough money to live. Its a long shot, but if it works, then I will be able to do whatever I want and not even go to school. Think about it, if i have money and a lot of time on my hands to ponder things than at least I can be a senator or representative if I decide I want to work 2 to six years at a time. If that doesn't work then I'll just be the governor so I don't have to pay for anything. Its a good game plan I know. Let me know which idea you like better, the rosta, or the senator.

Love,
Adam

Dear Mom and Dad,
Maybe you should sit down for this. I have spent several of minutes of contemplation on the john, and I have decided that maybe college isn’t for me. I don’t like doing work, I’m not very good at any of it, and I despise waking up early with a passion. There are certain aspects I enjoy though. I like the parties, all of the good looking girls who strut around campus like they are made of gold, and all of the opportunities to make fun of authority figures. It’s just that I cant stand all the work. My decision is this: I will continue to live with my friends in this college town, and continue to go to the parties, and continue to laugh at all the police who think that going 5 mph over the speed limit is a felony, but I will discontinue my time here in the classroom.

Sincerely,
Adam

Week 12

The blog for this week is to write a letter to your parents telling them you are dropping out of college. The idea is to make it creative. Write their response to you as well. Try to make each of them around 250 words. For the comments, write about what works for the letters creatively or what might be used to make a whole story.

Well this Thanksgiving was definitely different than any other one my family has had. Normally, my grandmother guilt trips my dad into going to Camp Penniel with the rest of the fam, where the family fun and bonding on Thanksgiving day includes creating teams and then doing activities like shooting cans with guns while lying on mattresses, shooting archery, etc, trying to get the most points to win a prize. This year my family and another rented a catamaran and we sailed around Belize. The first day, we bought provisions (food) to last for about two days, assuming some of the small islands would have markets. It turns out most of the islands were completely deserted. We had to catch fish for dinner one night and eat roman noodles one morning for breakfast. Two days after Thanksgiving, I went hiking in a jungle. First there was lots of mud, my shoes were canvas and thorns kept poking through them, fire ants bit my ankles, a bug flew up my nose, but I did see some monkeys. Our guide went and got a piece of antidotal tree bark that I wet in the lake to stop the ant bites from itching. He then pointed out plants that healed kidney problems, high blood pressure, and gonorrhea (yeah, drink the juice from its tree bark for 10 days and your healed). On our catamaran, I became thankful for flushing toilets (on the boat to flush you had to pump this thing up and down, pump in water, and pump it empty again).

thanksgiver

Thangiving is a peculiar time for me and my family. First of all, there is only three of us. My mom, my sister, and myself. It has been this way for the past 3 years. Sometimes neighbors come over or my grandmas which is cool and since i live in an adult day care we occasionally have a person or two dining with us. When November comes around, Martha Stewart is on the tele all day and i'm spending hours on the internet looking for recipes and planning out our menu. Mom and i decide which recipes work best and plan out a table setting. This is all good and fun except for one thing: we are not cooks... AT ALL. We end up opening cans of green beans and corn, making apple cider from instant cider bags and buy pumpkin pies from HEB. This is actually all right with me because its pretty funny to look back on our efforts and see what was the result. This year though, this year was different. My sister peeled the potatoes, i made real live pumpkin bread, my mom made deviled eggs and fruit salad (my favorite). Yes it is true we had our canned green beans BUT! we added cream of mushroom soup and all the fixings for green bean casserole which i had for the first time. Over all, this thanksgiving was the best thanksgiving feast that i can remember!

Oh, Thanksgiving...so much to be thankful for. Friends, family, turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, pie, and my grandmother's butterhorn rolls. But most of all I am thankful for my sister. Since having a baby and taking up a full time job for the past two years, my sister has missed every major holiday with our family in Austin. Well this year, I got a call from her Thanksgiving morning telling me she was driving up and would be there in about an hour. Minutes before she arrived, I pulled my mom outside and told her I had a surprise. I'm not good with coming up with excuses so my mom assumed the worst due to my awkward behavior while waiting for my sister to pull up. "Is it bad?" she asked. "I don't know, see for yourself," I said as my sister pulled up. Seeing as she was practically moved to tears, I knew my mom was most thankful for my sister being there.
I was thankful she was there also because not only is she my sister, but my best friend. Until I came to college, we were inseperable. Of course, there were times when I wanted to strangle her, but I adored her just the same. She is the one person I can both love or hate more than anyone else. For example...Let's take a look at how I spent my Thanksgiving. My sister arrived, which made my day. We then ate outside in the gorgeous weather. I ate two full plates of amazing food. After the meal, my cousin, sister and I decided to get some Starbucks and check out my dorm room since neither of them had seen it. While we're driving my sister begins to complain that a piece of glass stuck in her finger from breaking a glass while bartending the previous night, is starting to hurt. She then has the brilliant idea of going to the emergency room to get it out. My cousin and I agreed. How long could it take to get a piece of glass out of a finger? Yeah...three hours to be exact. While we were there, one man came in with his hand sliced, and another woman with a sliced finger, you know, the typical Thanksgiving day emergencies. "We've had a lot of those today." I guess some people are thankful for the emergency room being open on Thanksgiving. I finally went in to check on my sister after a couple hours had gone by. I asked her why it was taking so long and she told me the doctors don't care. Literally. When my sister first went in, she asked the nurse, "Sorry about this. I'm sure there's actual emergencies and I just have glass in my finger." The nurse replied with, "Oh, it's fine. There are no real emergencies." Good to know?
My sister then proceeded to tell me what happened. She said the doctor came in and said, "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to amputate your finger." My sister, being my sister, of course replied with, "You gotta be fucking kidding me! No, you are not cutting off my finger." The doctor simply laughed and said, "Oh, I can't joke with you." Let's just say she didn't find it funny. Although, I did. Only because my cousin and I had predicted her coming out with no finger. Anyway, she ended up getting the glass out. And it turned out to be a good thing we went because the doctor said it was in pretty deep and if she hadn't come in that day, it would have gotten in her blood stream.
By the time we got back to my grandparents' house, everyone had already had dessert. Not only that, they roasted marshmallows outside, which I had been talking about doing that night for weeks. All in all, it was still a good thanksgiving. Even though she made us sit in that hospital waiting room for hours, I'm thankful that my sister was able to come spend Thanksgiving with us.

Turkey yay

Okay so everyone knows what turkey does to you right??? Some say its a wives tale and others say its because your just eating a big meal, I think its simply because we think if we eat turkey then we will become very sleepy. Usually after I have my turkey day feast I pass out and am in sleepy town for the rest of the night!! So just in case yall didnt know, I work at best buy and of course just like any other retail store we opened at like 5 in the morning on "black friday" ie the day after thanks giving and of course I had the morning shift wich started at 3:30 yes in the am. Anywho, my plan was not to go to sleep til some ungodly hour wednesday and then wake up early thursday pass out from turkey and be able to get a full 8 hrs of sleep befor I got up at 2:30 to get ready for work. Oh how plans of mice and men go astray....my alarm clock that I set for thursday morning of course did not go off and I ended up waking up at like 2 in the afternoon right as the turkey was coming out of the oven....so I was hoping that perhaps the turkey would still make me sleepy oiy it seemed to take the opposite effect i tried laying down multiple times that day and I was just not tired. Finally I got to sleep that night around midnight to only get 2.5 hrs of sleep and have to go to work in this delirous state of mind. Not good when you are trying to get people to buy accesories and service plans. Befor the day was done with I'm pretty sure I had offended a few customers with my mindless blather and ended up getting sent home an hour early. It was basically the funest day I have had in a while because there is nothing more funny than some one asking "Oh does it run on a memory chip" when your trained to know alot about cameras and you are in some whacky state of sleepless ness...I dunno guess you had to be there!

Explosions in the... Freezer

so my thanksgiving was great. i got to hang out with my dad's family that i am just starting to get to know and they are so much more fun than the rest of my family, shhh. my two uncles, aunt, two cousins, two second cousins, and two third cousins showed me all the great bars in town, which coming from louisiana, aren't so great, but that's where i'm from and i love it.

ok so a story? we all got together at my aunt's house like we always do. beds were set up around the house for the extra eight people staying there (adding to six people already living there). one of the extra eight people included my grandma. she is great, but she does have some... issues. she has a weird tick where she is inclined to move everything from the fridge to the freezer and vice versa. so the night before Thanksgiving Day, we were all asleep when we heard an explosion. nearly everyone, with the exception of my grandma and my aunt, woke up and went to the kitchen where it had come from. my grandma had put some cokes and beers in the freezer and they all exploded. Not to mention ice creams and other freezer items were slowly melting in the fridge. so here's our community decision, we are getting pad locks for the fridge and freezer next year, seriously.

young love

My sister has had quite a few boy friends. When I was in junior high she was in high school, so I got to witness the coming and going of numerous boy friends. Bobby was my favorite (they actually just broke up after five years about two months ago…so sad L) Anyways, one thanksgiving when I was in 8th grade and my sister was a senior in high school some of my extended family came over for dinner when we lived in California. And so did Bobby. They had been together about year but had recently had a falling out because my sister had too much of a “flirty” personality. Things were still kind of awkward between them and they weren’t totally together but he came to dinner anyways. We were all sitting down eating and the door bell rang. Bobby being the gentleman he is immediately got up and offered to answer the door. Surprisingly and ironically enough, my sister’s ex, whom she had recently been “too” flirty with, was at the door with flowers. He heard Beri and Bobby had broken up and had come to win her back. I was enthralled in my sweet potatoes and honey-glazed ham (all my favorite) but I will never forget the look on Beri’s face when Bobby walked back to the table and said, “look who’s decided to join us for dinner”.

Dictionaries can be used for fun?

My thanksgiving was full of fun with thirty five people how could it not be? My mom's cousin Nancy hosted us at her beautiful ranch on a small creek in dripping springs. She did not only host her cousins but her cousins cousins and their children and spouses. This was a blast because we had a plethora of food, four turkey's anyone? Needless to say we had some yummy leftovers. My favorite part of my family's thanksgiving tradition is playing Dictionary. If you have never heard of this game let me explain to why it is the perfect game to play after you have stuffed your face with the yummiest of thankgiving dinners. This game does not involve your body or moving around in any way. The object of Dictionary is to make up the most convincing fake definition in the group. One person picks a word that nobody in the group knows the meaning of and everyone writes a fake definition. Some are convincing and some are just plain silly. For example this year one of the words chosen was "Drumlin" and for the "definition" my 12 year old sister wrote "The nickname a band gives to their paranoid drummer." Another memorable word was "Thron" in which my six year old cousin defined as "A thong". Though I dont remember any definitions written by people over the age of 12, these two definitions that the girls wrote show just how silly this game can be... This game went on for a while on Thanksgiving night because my family likes to laugh.

home for thanksgiving

I realized when I got back to my dorm room yesterday that I am really thankful that I got to fly home for Thanksgiving. I knew I was home as soon as the plane was landing in LAX and I could clearly see the division between the clean air and the thick smog that hovers over Los Angeles which sounds disgusting and really bad for you but is what reminds me of home the most. My younger brother was waiting for me in baggage claim and my dad was waiting outside in the car. I missed my younger brother a lot. Well, mostly his random comments. We’re two years apart so we always laugh/fight over the weirdest things. The first thing he said to me was, “Dad was rushing me because he thought we were going to be late to pick you up then I decided to surprise him: when he turned on the car there was no gas. The little light was on. Haha the joke is on him!”

I am also really thankful for other things like eating Thanksgiving dinner with my extended family and seeing my doggies. My family has three dogs. Two live outside and we have a little puppy that lives in the house. The puppy was so glad to see me that he chased me around the house. I played with him so much that I forgot I am allergic to dog hair/all animals with fur. The puppy and I were sitting on the couch and I began to scratch my eye right after I pet him. Big mistake. My eye got really red and swollen. The puppy was really upset because I had to stop playing with him and my mom put him in the upstairs hallway and put his little gate up. He wouldn’t play with me the rest of the day even after I gave him a piece of turkey.

my thanksgiving

Before I went home for thanksgiving, I made up my mind to catch up on my sleep as much as i could. One night, we came home from dinner at 7 and weren't doing anything special, and I was feeling a little sleepy, so I decided I would go take a nap. Well, I ended up not waking up until 11 the next morning. I was quite proud of myself for going to bed so early, even though I didn't mean to. Normally, at school, I will not go to bed before two in the morning most nights. i noticed my family started acting a little suspicious around me, but i thought maybe I was imagining things. finally my sister approached me. She told me that the whole family thought I was depressed because I slept so long. I tried to convince her that I am not in fact depressed at all, then she asked me if I was hungover. I told her I wasn’t hungover either, but she still seemed a little suspicious. She said if I need to talk to her about anything, she’s here for me. I thanked her and asked her to leave me alone. Then I thought for a minute. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if my family thought I was depressed. But I realized that is a very evil thought to think, and I am a very bad person to think it. We had our thanksgiving meal which was quite scrumptious; we had lamb instead of turkey because my family doesn’t like to be conventional, I didn’t eat it but I’m sure it was yummy. I did have a lot of cheesecake, though. Mmmm cheesecake. Anyway, after dinner, we said what we are thankful for as we ate our cheesecake and pumpkin pie. yum. After that, my mom left for a few minutes and came back with a handful of tiny pieces of paper. She told my sister to take a number. My sister gave her a dirty look and told her to stop being weird. I was about to reach for her hand, but of course then my sister wanted to play. She took a number, then me, then the rest of us. The numbers corresponded with the gifts we were to receive. I was not very happy to see that my sister received an enormous makeup case, and I received a bath ball and two chocolates. Let me rephrase that. I was pissed off, it wasn’t fair she didn’t even want to play! I said so, but my dad just said “oh, Marsha Marsha Marsha!!” like he always does when I’m jealous of my sisters. I hate when he does that. But I didn’t want her stupid makeup case anyway. Ok, I got a little off-topic I see. But you see everything comes together. I am thankful that my family is a little “out there,” and that they care about me enough to think that I might be depressed. It’s touching really. And I am VERY thankful for cheesecake.

Grandparents

Honestly my thanksgiving was relatively uneventful. I mean there were relatives there but there were very few events to be mentioned. My granparents came to my house for thankgiving so it was five of us, me, kelsey( my sis), Nick (my bro, mom, Dad, Grandpa, and Grandma. That was it. As was to be expected there was way more fun than could be eaten by the amount of people present in the house. My mom made like 3 pies for 7 people thats ludicrious. But the intresting part of my thanksgiving meal was my Grandparents and how they relly didn't care about what other people thought of them. Our family started talking about how the city of Houston was going down. My Grandpa statred talking about how his family in Cleveland moved to a new neighbourhood when black people started moving into his. He was saying thats just how it was in those days, " when black people moved in you just got up and left." At first i thought this was incredibly racist and i couldn't believe my Grandpa took part in htis. Then i realized he was just a little kid when this happened and he really did not have that much to do with it. But even still it was just a sign about how different things had become since way back then. My next door neighbors are black and i have grown up with tons of black kids. So i just appreciated how Grandpa decided he would share what happened to him whne he was little regaurdless of what his judgemental grandchildren thought of him. I thought this was funny but i can see how some pepole might not agree with finding humor in this.

Turkey Day Fun

Thanksgiving is a time where we should think about and reflect upon the things in our life that nuture our soul. This is why I would like to tell whoever is lucky enough to read this the little adventure that my brother and I had. I hadn't seen my younger brother in quite a while and I have to admit it was rather touching to see him after three months of being away from him. He had grown a little and it seemed as though he was becoming more outgoing. I was really proud of him and I found myself being thankful for him. I realize now how important our growing up together was because I was able to teach him about everything I had gone through. For example I explained to him about preparing oatmeal and how important it is to have the right mixture of milk and oatmeal, and the amount of time in the microwave is vital. Things like this the real world never tells you and I'm glad I could be a big brother and teach him the lessons of the world.
Anyways, what I'm really trying to get at is that my brother is on his middle school soccer team. And so during the break I told him we needed to go kick the soccer ball around together at my high school practice field. It's a well-kept field and is quite accessible because we live close to it. One afternoon we decide to go up there. Since the field is only about a 3/4 mile we chose to walk up there because the weather was glorious. The sun was shining brillantly and the wind felt like opening up a fridgerator on a hot summer day. So we pack our cleats and put on our walking shoes and venture out into the wild streets. After 15 to 20 minutes of walking and carrying a ball I was ready to stretch my legs a little. So we walk up to the field and I tell my brother we have to climb over this fence that's about 6 feet tall. And my brother says,"I can't climb fences."

even though this does not have to be one hundred percent historical i'm not good with imagination so real history is what your stuck with. my little cousin eleanor (we call her ellie) was staying at my house with her other three sisters during thanksgiving so their parents could care for their new baby brother. (he was born like a month ago but he was a few months per-mature so he just left the hospital monday) and yes if your counting thats five kids. so anyways back to my "funny" story and when im trying to be funny it never happens so get ready for this historical non-funny story. so my little cousin came up to me friday after lunch and grabbed my hand, lead my up the stairs, and asked me if i would stay up there while she took her nap. i of course jumped at the oppurtinity to take a nap and said sure. so i fall asleep for like 30 minutes and when i wake up she is curled up right next to me with her arm over my waist. it was the cutest thing ever! and when i tried to slowly get out of bed and go back downstairs she woke up with the saddest, tired face i have ever seen and her big eyes were like "you're not goin to leave me are u?" it was soooooo adorable ok...ur laughing so hard right now arent u? no...ya me neither but it truly was cute!

Ohhh Snap, My turkey Day

I am a Yankee, plain and simple. I like to say "you guys" instead of "y'all", I eat gravy maybe twice a year, and my winter means snow, not a 40 degree "cold front." I have become rather accustom to the culture down here. For instance, I am a big fan of chicken fried steak, and I have always liked Country Music, but one Yankee aspect of life that I will not budge on, is my turkey. My mother makes probably the best turkey west of Martha Stewart. She brines it with some salty mixture that makes the white meat so tender you can cut the leftovers with a fork, and the skin tasted like the greatest culinary invention known to mankind. Well, I didn't go home for thanksgiving this year, so I got a taste of straight up southern inventions. The turkey was fried, and was ok, but not nearly as good as mom's, oh well, I still ate enough to feed a small country. The most interesting part of dinner was actually the side dishes. I have never in my life seen such odd creations at a "gourmet meal." There was pounds of velveeta, marshmallows, jelly, lard, an oyster casserole (wtf?), and more hamburger helper than I care to say. I felt like I was in a trailer park, eating at a picnic table, except I was eating at a REALLY nice house (my great Aunt and Uncle's) and eating off of fine china that was fitted more for caviar and escargot, than Betty Crocker boxed stuffing. I figured the dessert would save the day, but this was not the case. Did you know that cool whip can be consumed in solid, liquid, and aqueous form? Well it can, and all were present at the dessert table. Even the pumpkin pie, was not made fresh, but picked up from the local Wal-Mart. All of this being said, I am not trying to be funny. This is all the truth, and I simply told it. This is my family. Oh and after dinner we went huntin' and I shot A LOT of "varmint." If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was with a bunch of rednecks.

Thanksgiving, yo.

Unfortunately, I suffered a rather unwanted experience two Thanksgiving's ago. My sister was dating an older guy, and this dude was not popular around the Tullos household. Little to my parent's knowledge, but much to mine, this guy was a small-time drug dealer, one of those assholes that graduated a year ago but still sells dimebags to high school kids. Anyways, my sister was borrowing his car for the holidays because he had gone to see his grandparents, and she and I were filling it up with gas, then going to our house to visit awkwardly with family members and eat the usual Thanksgiving dinner. My sister, Lauren, was outside pumping gas, while I was inside, starving. I was going to eat dinner soon, but I couldn't go much longer without a snack. So I dug around in the compartment between the two front seats, and found a zip-lock bag that held something that resembled crunched up nuts or popcorn or something. I didn't care, I went in for a handful. It didn't taste great, but it didn't taste bad either. I decided that would hold me off until dinner, but I couldn't resist asking my sister what it was when she returned to the driver's seat. She gasped, put her hand to her open mouth, and stared at me, wide-eyed. Then she began to laugh nervously. She then informed me they were mushrooms that her boyfriend had planned to sell when he returned from his grandparents'.

So I spent my Thanksgiving dinner laying with Eminem in my front yard, which had turned a mellow orange. We talked about how the trees looked like giant stalks of broccolli that could eat us, but wouldn't, because they were our friends. I eventually made it inside my living room, which would occasionally spin and move like a roller coaster. My grandmother asked me what was wrong, and I simply told her: Enchiladas, please. I played checkers with a my cat Oliver, who informed me that for felines, it only cost $9.99 to go to the moon. I was thoroughly impressed. I tried to talk to my Uncle Marshall and see how my cousins were doing, but he kept doing multiple backflips and bursting into flames. I thought maybe eating a little bit of food would calm my troubled mind, but the turkey kept reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, only to ask for tips afterwards! There was no way I was giving a tip to a singing turkey. My mom kept proposing that maybe we should go to the hospital, but I firmly told her that, due to my legs turning into spoons, the doctors would not accept me. I eventually fell into a deep sleep, with Kermit the Frog tucking me in, and The Brady Bunch singing me a bedtime lullabye.

If any of you have never experienced Thanksgiving under the unwanted influence of hallucinogens, I definitely suggest it.

I saw the play, Yes I did.

Overall, I liked the play a lot, I liked the main theme of being persistent through troublesome times and fighting for what you believe in. I was impressed right from the beginning; I walked in and some of the actors and actoresses were sitting at tables reading, talking, etc., carrying on as their characters even before the audience was complete. I was expecting to walk in and see a normal theatre, like the one I saw all my high school plays at, but I was surprised to see the stage in the very center, surrounded by seats, almost like a coliseum. There was a main stage, and 4 smaller stages placed above and around the audience, so to fully understand the show, one had to keep twisting their neck. It was different; very new to me. Anywho, I think something that was authentically Muslim in the play was how important the wife's scarf was to her, and how she used it to protect the Quaran. Even those who know very little about Muslims, including myself, know that a Muslim woman's shawl is very important to her. The play also highlights the importance of, and the amount of, praying that is done as an active Muslim. The characters in the play represent people who are more devoted to something than I have ever been. Good stuff, good stuff.

It was a little long, though, I think you can all agree with me on that.

The Play

So, I never got to see the play....can you beleive it. It's really hard sometimes when you work as much as I do. If they are planning on doing something like this next year I highly suggest the students be made aware of the dates at least a month in advaced because I was genuinly interested and I did really want to see it. Anywho, since I did not see it however I feel like I should write something even though it is a week late. My impression of the play (according to what I have heard from other people of course) is there was the good, the bad, and the ugly. I wonder if the preformance varied much from night to night because there was such a mix of emotion in our student body towards it. Some people I talked to said it was absolutly dreadful. They explained to me how they usually totally got into musicals, but this one was hard to follow and just not entertaining at all. Now it seemed to me that all of those people had gone on either the first wednesday or thursday night. Peopl who had gone early in the week told me they absolutly loved it. That it was very interesting and they would love to go see it again. Strange much?? I do not know there does seem to be one general consensus however. Apparently there was a girl with red hair in the play and she was most certainly the ugly! Everyone I talked to mentioned her melladramatisim and how it was quite a distraction to the play overall. I find that quite humerous and wish I could have been there to see it. Anywho this is my take on the play and hopefully the blog will grant me credit of some sort! :)

Week 11 Entries, due 27 November

After the Thanksgiving break, you should have plenty of stories about things that you are thankful for, or wish that you could be thankful for. For this entry, give us an example of your thankfulness, and try to make it as funny as possible. For some tips on how to do this, check out this primer (which is pronounced "PRIH-mer," not "PRAH-ee-mer" as you heard in lecture) at the Uncyclopedia. Humor is a tricky thing, but you are all clever people and I trust you'd rather have a good time trying to make us laugh, than have a routine time telling us the same tired Thanksgiving story your teachers have heard for many years now.

By the way, no one says your story has to be based in historical truth...

I saw the play last night and it was very interesting. I learned a few new things about the religion but I also didn’t understand a lot. I thought the guy falling out of faith in America was interesting it must be hard to keep such a demanding religion in America where not many people support the same thing. I would think that fasting would be very hard while people around him did not have to. I also found the white guy interesting. His interest was really refreshing and helped out the other guy. At the same time his dreams showed repressed anger towards Muslims and I think by following this faith he feels that the repression is removed. I saw a movie about the hajj in my world religions class and there was only like two white people in the whole thing. There are not many white people in the Muslim community. It is suppose to be really wide spreading but, I don’t think that it is all that accepted by the white race community. So I found that nice to see. I did not understand why the book and what they had to say was so oppressed on the other hand.

Umm, yeah I’m late. My favorite scene in the play was the dream sequence where the college students go into the war zone. The Islamic student is captured and his friend, an American, maybe Texan? is supposed to kill him; it showed that even though what the boys thought they knew about each other and about each others’ cultures they were still governed by their governments. While this was all taking place the lighting throughout the scene was dreamlike and trippy, going from light to dark. There were also two soldiers whose costumes I liked, except according to my friend, their guns were not of the right time period, but I didn’t notice. Another aspect I thought was interesting was the Islamic characters wore normal, western style clothing. I feel like if an American girl went to most other countries, wearing short jean skirts, tight tank tops, bikinis, etc. she’d be considered a prostitute or being extremely disrespectable, as if she were degrading herself (even in Rennes, France wearing jean skirts, short sleeve shirts, and flip flops my host mom was shocked and everyone openly stared at me; one mom even had to pull her three year old daughter away and the three year old still couldn’t stop looking at my bare feet). I’ve even read a newspaper article saying in some still non-urban little cities in Turkey, where the Muslim religion is predominate, teenage girls who wear tight jeans embarrass the families name to the point where the family tries to convince her to commit suicide, that sounds too extreme to be real and now remembering it I almost don’t believe it, but I read that in the New York Times so I know it shows some validity. My boyfriend’s mother is Turkish and she was saying how one family’s daughter she knows in Turkey is only allowed to visit her boyfriend for two hours once a week to publicly eat lunch in a cafeteria with him. It’s amazing how different acceptable social behaviors are among different countries.

Dreams in the Mind and Soul

One thing that I found to authentically Islamic in this play was the role of dreams. Historically, this is similar to the way that the religion was formed. Muhammad was visited by the arch angel Gabriel and this is how he found out that he was Allah's messenger. Depending on what you will believe there are shades of gray about if Muhammad's vision was a dream or reality, but I imagine that Muhammad was in some kind of dreamlike state when he received this message and then initiated others to follow him. Many of the Characters have their own realizations that take the form of hallucinations or dreams. I can remember at least three dreams scenes from the play that were meaningful to each characters development and understanding of their own spirituality. This was effective in this particular play because through the use of effects, such as music, lights and costumes characters feelings were portrayed what each character whether it was sadness, comfort, confusion, or fear. Dreams are personal and they reflect what a person is ultimately feeling deep down. Therefore they are spiritual and religious if that is a part of someone’s life. I liked the dream scene that had women dressed as birds (hooray Celeste!) It was one of the woman’s interpretation of peace and god. This scene was very visual and relaxing to watch similar to the way it is to experience these kind of dreams. It was personal and unique to her spiritual experience. I think that this was an effective way to portray the characters spiritual development and experiences to the audience.

my thoughts on the play

“God doesn’t expect you to do anymore than you can.”

When Youssef said this line I kept repeating it to myself in my head throughout the rest of the play. It was just a strong statement that completely embodies what religion is all about. I thought the play was very interesting. It kind of reminds me of the movie Crash in the sense that the two settings in Damascus, Syria and Austin, TX were happening at the same time and were related by a common thread/theme. I like how Souad carried her Qur’an in her backpack at all times as well as the fact that she wore modern clothes throughout the play. This helped to break away from the stereotypical picture of Muslim women that the media has painted for us. The part where Dunya is in jail is definitely where I noticed Islam the most. I thought it was powerful how whenever Omar walked into the jail she would put the towel on her head and wrap it like it was her hijab/headscarf. Even though she is in jail she continues to follow the customs and practices of Islam. Whenever I think of Islam I think about how devout followers pray 5 times a day while facing the holy land. The prayer sequence that followed was so powerful. I just loved how even though she was in a bad situation she never turned from God and continued to worship as she could. Ibrahim also never turned from God and I liked how he accepted his fate in the end. I think that the play helped to humanize Islam and made it relatable within our own lives.

First of all, I really do not think that I have just certification to judge this play as an ordinary audience member would. I think I have heard every single line each from the show 70 times over or perhaps more. Alas, the magic is gone for me I am afraid. The first thing that I would hope for other people though, is that they understood the main point of the play. It's theme was, to me, that of having hope and faith in whatever way no matter what. Thats what I have come to understand over the course of the last three months at least. I must say that the dream sequences in the play probably get a little confusing for some. It did for me in the beginning. I kind of suspected some raised eyebrows for those scenes. Surprisingly, the audience members have yet to react violently like some might have expected. They were rather sedated to me. Anywho, throughout the span of three months, I have managed to broaden my knowledge of the Islam culture and thus become more respectful of the religion. I really do wish that others would also become more informed about it, because it helped me out a lot.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think about this subject is the praying ritual that the actors carried out during the middle of the play. I forget the grounds as to why they were praying but I just remember the whole ritual itself. There were two men that came out to the center of the stage and then 3 women in front of the men. I don't know if this had any significance. A third man came in while the others were already in the act of praying. As the men unveiled their yoga looking mat, they smoothly rolled them out onto the floor as if they had done this many times. I thought the women were going to do this at the same time as the men but it seemed as though everyone was going on their own time, and as they proceded it was evident that this was true because everyone was clearly praying at their own pace. I think that it showed how the religion doesn't stress a strict set of massly followed rules where everyone has to do something at the same time. With the way they were doing it in the play, they all sort of met at the same time but each one started at a little bit different time and kept their own pace. I also noticed how none of it was oral, everything was about certain movements. As I looked in our Islam book by Abdul Rauf he talks about how each of these movements represents a different message to God. Although these rituals are completly different than my own, I liked how the whole thing seemed relaxing like practicing yoga. The end.

Salat

One particular aspect of the play that represented the Islamic faith and that caught my attention was the scene where many different characters prayed. Each carried out their rug, laid it out, and performed the ritual.
This ritual, called Salat, has always intrigued me. I see it as such a great tradition as it represents such amazing dedication. Right now, I am at a place where I want to discover something that I could be that dedicated to, also.
Muslims must perform this ritual five times each day of each week, of each month and at certain, fixed times of the day and the fact that they do it is highly respectable. The play also gave me something to think about when the boy in the wheelchair asked about how he might pray, and I found that a person can pray while sitting or lying down in certain circumstances such as a physical handicap or sickness. There are so many rules in Salat that just demonstrates even more dedication. Some include the use of Arabic (or as best as each worshipper can speak Arabic) during prayer and the prayer must be memorized (unless one is a beginner). I respect the entire faith for the dedication they seem to put into their traditions and rituals, and the practice of Salat is one of the greatest examples of this dedication. Like they said in the play, what about in America where not many people are Muslim, and now after 9/11 Muslims are discriminated against by some Americans. It must be a challenge for a Muslim to get away from work, school, or other responsibilities and pray, especially in a place where they are not surrounded by others praying.
All I can say about this that got my attention is the word I have said over and over again, dedication. It intrigues me because I want to experience such a dedication in my life, just need to find it.

stephanie cordova's

I would ahve to say that the praying really struck me as authentically Islamic. I don't know every religion or how they pray but Islamic praying seems to be the most recognizable because it has such specific guidelines such as, which direction to pray, what to wear, timing and whatever else. You have to be pretty dedicated and .. what's the word im looking for... organized? No. I don't know what im getting at here. But the play was interesting. I liked how, in the bedinning, when the two police men went into the praying place to catch whatever his name is, they took their shoes off in a hurry. They didnt just barge in and out but they stopped and took them off. Which makes me think: well, they are stomping in running around the place to look for the guy just interupting everything, but they stop to take their shoes off? It's like, well if youre going to go in there and be rude, why bother taking your shoes off? Because, they are respecting the tradition of taking shoes off but then messing up inside the place. I don't understand. I'm confusing myself i think. So that is confusing. But it seems important.

names of the characters?

One thing in the play that I recognized as authentically Islamic was the devotion of the characters to their religion. there are many examples of this in that play. the example that i found especially interesting was when Ibrahim's wife (I don't remember her name) was in prison, and she found a towel to cover her head because her shawl was taken away from her. She defended her religion to Omar, and asked him to tell which direction she should pray in. Even in such difficult circumstances, she maintained her faith as a Muslim. Even though she prayed the wrong way, she was showing her devotion to God. One very dramatic and powerful scene was the scene in which the characters from all over (Syria, Austin, the woman's prison cell) pray to Allah at the same time in the same way. It represented the kinship that Muslims have as devoted followers of Islam. The only Muslim who did not show this same devotion was the character living in Austin (again, I forgot his name) who had somewhat lost the traditions he had practiced where he came from because it is not an integrated part of society to pray five times a day. This shows the oppression that many Muslims face in America.

An element of the play that I recognized as authentically Islamic was the strong connection between writings and the Islamic characters. One instance in particular was with Souad and her Quaran. You could clearly see how important it was to her, like when her Grandfather dumped everything out of it and all she was wanted to keep safe was her Quaran. She also always had it covered in a scarf signifying how precious and important it is to her and her religion. Through this she becomes a symbol of the Islam religion and those that follow it, as the Quaran is extremely important in the Islamic religion. I also found Ibrahim's book to be significant in the same sense. Though it is not the Quaran, but his own book, the importance of the book to him reflects the importance of the Quaran to the Islamic religion. Just the attachment to the book symbolizes the devotion Muslims, who are strong in their Islamic faith, have to their religion.

books

One area of the play that struck me as purley Islam and no other culture was the way the old man looked at the book he was writing. Often times in every culture that i am familiar with people write to share ideas with other people.For example, this blogg is written to sare my ideas with anyone in my class who wants to read it. But in the play did not write his book to share with the rest of the world. He did not write the book for himself even. He wrote the bookt o express his ideas with God. That came across to me as something no one in the western world would do. We see God as something far off and impossible to communicate with, someone who wouldn't care even if we begged him. BUt this man felt that it was his duty and responsibility to talk to God through the use of a book. He was set on having it be a communication between himself and God that the idea of publishing the book angered him.This is not something i can identify with because i always want attentiion and want to be recognized for all the work i have done in my life.

How you pray

The part of the play that struck me the most was the scene that took place in the jail. The scene with Omar and (sp?) Dunya discussing religion caught my attention because it shows clearly the way religious messages can be perverted. However the scene I'm focusing on is the one in which Dunya faces the direction Omar ponits to pray. Celeste among others then come in and prey in the opposite direction. This goes into the whole "god doesn't expect you to do more than you can" theme. Dunya was being as pious and devout as she could under the circumstances. This ties into my belief that it's not how you pray that really matters, rather, it's the act itself and why; the devotion and love that goes with it. That was a very powerful scene in my opinion. I really liked the play as a whole as well, actors did well (though I thought Omar was a bit off, not quite bitingly creepy enough) . Theatre in the round is awesome, it's so much more involved than standard theatre. It did a very good job in providing insights into the true nature of Islam.

Kneeling Down at Noon

The element of Kneeling Down at Noon that I thought was authentically Islamic was the lifestyle of the Muslim student living in Austin. I think that the whole point of the book was to share the hardships that Muslim’s in America are experiencing today. The prejudice and discrimination exist and there is not much anyone can do about it, except for inform. The author of What’s Right With Islam is What’s Right With America ultimate goal was to inform a world wide audience (specifically Americans) about the religion of Islam and what it is really about. If everyone knew what dedicated Muslims were truly like then hopefully the racism would decrease. The Muslim student in the play showed tragic example of how American’s may view Muslims. The student was nervous about a science project he was doing because it was a device made to evaporate objects. He was nervous because he thought others might think of it as a bomb or weapon of some sort that he could use. The student wanted to do anything he could do take the attention away from him because of the racist feelings anyone around him may have. I liked the play and thought it was a good portrayal of the present day Islamic issues, here in America and in the Middle East.

Fairies

The thing I noticed that seemed most Islamic about the play was the fairy. That fairy made the whole play and I left the theater longing for those cupcakes. OK you got me, I am totally lying. I did like the fairy though….or I should say she grew on me because at first I was like what? A fairy, but anyways. I didn’t like how the ending of the play only had a happy ending because of magic. Is there really know other way to change the faults of dictatorships and get awareness out about different cultures?

Back to the original question—the thing I found most Islamic about the play was the way the citizens of Syria did not talk back to the secret police people he just bowed his head in obedience. Even though every character in the play completely disagreed with the way their government was run they felt to some degree completely helpless. I don’t think Americans, especially not middle and upper class Americans, know what helplessness is. If an American was told by the government to give them a work of art they had slaved over for months or even years they would have died before giving up what they put their heart into.

Ohhh this was not a good idea

I am going to start off saying that going into any play, I am biased. I have a handicap, and that disability is the fact that I am tremendously closed minded when it comes to plays. Plays only. I can’t stand plays. I have never enjoyed a play. I’ve seen famous shows in New York, and hated them. I’ve been in plays, and despised their existence. I don’t know what it is, but I hate plays. I don’t want to, but I do. Celeste, you did a great job. It was actually entertaining to see a familiar face in a whole bunch of minor roles. I want to be fair to you and all the hard work that you and your peers put in, in order to get that production up and running, so I will not bash the play, I will simply focus on the things that I enjoyed. First off, the light exploding, very nice, very nice. I know that nobody planned it, but man it was cool, and the actors barely even flinched whereas Sean and I spent the next 20 minutes looking for bombs under our seats, looking for broken glass, checking for blood, you know, the usual things 5 year olds do, hooray Sean! The other thing I enjoyed about the play was the old man who wrote the book. He was good. He looked very Middle Eastern, I don’t know if that has ever been a compliment. To finalize my experience, Adam- no me gusta plays, me gusta explosions, blood, and broken glass.

Week 10 Entries

For this week, your blog entry will cover the subject of the play Kneeling Down at Noon and our background readings on Islam. Please identify some element of the play that you recognized as authentically Islamic, and describe how the play used that element for a dramatic purpose of some significance. For instance, if the element is a stage property (a prop), describe the significance of its use in furthering the drama. Same goes for actions, dialogue, costuming, sets, etc. You will want to consider what the drama was about (and possibly what drama is about more generally) in the course of analyzing your particular detail.

Im making a poor effort to get points for this

Every summer in Seattle there is a beautiful festival called Bumbershoot. This is no lie. There are a gazillion bands that come and play, there is delicious food, and very entertaining contests with interesting people including clowns, idiots, potheads, and usually one or two weirdoes dressed as harlequins. In order to get tickets, you have to call ticket master or deal with another ticket cartel, which is a big bother, and the tickets are expensive, so I always find a way to get free tickets. Usually I have to con my parents into buying them going with me, but last year I did something interesting. My best friend in Seattle, Erik, is quite well off and he has lots of toys (e.g. a ski boat, wakeboards, jetskiis, a pool...). One day we were wakeboarding when he made me a bet. If I could swim across the lake (about 2.5 miles) than he would buy me bumbershoot tickets, but if I climbed onto the Jet Ski that he would be driving, then I had to buy him tickets. I am not one to back down from a challenge, so I went ashore, and listened to some insane heavy metal and gangster rap to pump myself up. I was intense. I don't want to go into detail, but in about and hour and a half I made it across the lake, and I got my free tickets. I was happy.