Essay 2

Stolen Day Austin Witthun

Although some people think that fishing is a pointless boring activity, fishing for many is a very pleasurable activity. Some may fish on hot days, raining days or, even ice fishing in a complete enveloping blizzard. People might even lie to get out of things to do something they enjoy. Maybe even to go fishing. From the story Stolen Day by Sherwood Anderson, you might learn that when you lie, there are always consequences.
Fishing is a sport enjoyed by a lot of people. Once I was canoeing in Rice Lake with my grandpa and we brought our fishing things. I casted when we were at the mouth of a river then waited about three minutes. Then as we started paddling into the shallow I started to reel in my line and there was something huge at the end of my line. After fifteen minutes of the reeling in my line and thinking that there was just weeds at the end. Then all of a sudden this giant fish jumped into then out of the boat and let go of my line. It’s times and even just the stories that make people want to fish even more. Even pictures of big giant fish do to. There is a great example in this story.
Of course with every fun thing to do there is someone who wants to do it. Sometimes it is just ever so tempting to tell a lie to do whatever it may be. You could lie to get out of work, school, or if they had something scheduled to do that they did not want to do. They could lie about being sick or having to go somewhere else. Like in the story the boy lies and says that he has inflammatory rheumatism to get out of school so he can go fishing like the other boy who actually has inflammatory rheumatism. Pretending that you have a disease to do things is illegal unless of course your only a child then you wouldn’t know better. But if you were an adult that’s just not mature to do and that would also be setting a bad example and it’s not good to start a habit of lying.
Fishing is a great sport that is great to do with family. My favorite part is to eat the fish I catch. There will always be consequences for every lie you tell. It might not come up right away, but it will come back eventually.

Essay 1

The Circuit 10/11/10 Austin Witthun

When a child’s parents don’t think education is important, they don’t enforce homework or punish for bad grades. The parents might let them skip school which will lead to bigger problems. Plus the cycle will continue with their kids and their kids’ kids and so on. In the story “The Circuit” by Francisco Jimenez is a perfect example of how getting a high-quality education is so unbelievably important.
“The Circuit” tells about the life of a boy named Panchito. Panchito is 12 or 11 and his family is migrant workers (which mean they move to wherever the work is or moves to). In the story they move to Fresno California to pick grapes. They didn’t make a whole lot of money. I’m not all too sure when this took place. Also on their first day of work Panchito and his brother had to hide from the school bus driver so that they wouldn’t get in trouble for not going to school like they should be. That’s pretty bad that they know instinctively to hide from the school bus. But eventually after the grape picking season is over, Panchito luckily gets to go to school. It’s good that he is going to school at all even if it’s for a short time. When he goes he doesn’t know anyone or hardly any English, and he even has to enroll himself. That is something students do not regularly do. He then meets his teacher Mr. Lema who helps him with his English words and, becomes his one and best friend at school. That’s a start but it’s still kind of weird. Mr. Lema even promises to teach him how to play the trumpet. But as soon as he gets home he sees all of his possessions packed up meaning he is going to be moving again. Panchito sees the boxes as a sign of defeat; he just made a friend that he is going to lose.
The only way this could be avoided is if his parents’ parents or whoever it was would have valued education more. If Panchito had gotten an education he would not have to work for a living at 11.

Does Patriotism still Matter?

Patriotism is a love and devotion for your country. For those heroic people in the armed forces and the courageous veterans who have served in previous conflicts, it is a way of daily life. It is a way of life they choose to live, as people we look up to as heroes. Patriotism has, does and, always will matter.
We should be thankful that we have the rights we have in our country. In other countries the people there have not many rights all. Rights like freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and that women have as many rights as men. They can’t own items they want or need, do things they want to do,or even go places like other countries. Some countries still have more rights than others but I don’t think that is right to do. Sure in America we have some laws but they make sense. You shouldn't be able to steal something if it’s not yours or hurt other people and not be punished. It should be known that American laws don’t take away your human rights.

If patriotism didn’t exist our great country would be more like the Middle East. We wouldn’t be able to do things such as drive down the street without worrying about bombs, people who might hijack your car or riots. There would be a bunch of renegade groups trying to take power. There might even be a powerful dictator. There wouldn’t even be a country to fight over. Then there would be no rights at all. We would literally have to fight to survive,just like a soldier. Try to imagine what that would be like if that was everyday life,or if you were born thinking that was normal. For some of the Middle East countries that’s how life is and has been. If patriotism was as strong over there as it is here, we might not be stuck fighting this hopeless looking conflict.
Patriotism is extremely important,and it should be to everyone in every country. Even though a country may not treat its people correctly it is still important. It is almost vital to a countries survival. Our country should set an example to the rest of the world. Patriotism will be exceedingly important forever.

short story 1

A man and woman were waiting at a worn down train station. They both were waiting for the `12:00 train to Utah. In the black smog filled sky, all that could be seen were the lights of the occasional aircraft. It was obvious that the station had not been renovated since it was built. The weeds stretching through the cement slabs were almost three feet tall. The whole place smelled of the smoldering ashes of tobacco. It was completely bare except for the few light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Outside it was just a medium sized brick shack with a small box looking device for refueling. The side of the wall opposite of the fuel tank was completely scorched and burned. Only two windows were placed in to the walls. The glass was encrusted in dust letting no natural light in the building. One of the windows had a small fracture while the other was hardly there at all. The whole station was beginning a rat infestation, as they had tunneled right through the cinder blocks it stood on. Needless to say it was a wreck.