I believe in home.

I decided to get a tattoo shortly after my grandma died. My dad told me when I was younger: “If you get a tattoo you’re not allowed back in this house.” I went ahead and did it anyway. This tattoo has a lot of meaning to me personally, though others may look at my tattoo of a rose and think: how cliche.

At my grandma’s funeral all of us grandchildren were given a rose to lay on her casket before she was buried. I still have this specific rose in my bedroom back home. Though it may be dry and dead, I still look at it and remember the beauty it held that day, just like the beauty my grandma once radiated in her everyday life. 

A rose is not all that my tattoo entails. The stem of the rose is made up of one very special word: home. 

That singular word holds a lot of meaning in my life. Before my grandma’s death, when we were all gathered in her hospital room, she looked at my grandpa and spoke quietly but surprisingly clearly: “I want to go home.” My grandpa responded to her: “Home, like your eternal home? Heaven?” My grandma simply nodded her head as her eyes closed. 

For a woman who had not been able to talk for days to come up with the strength to clearly say those words amazed us all. Though my heart was broken at the time, I was given a sort of reassurance that though she may be taken from my life, she is being taken to a much better place. To a place where she will no longer be fighting herself to stay alive. 

On the way back from the hospital that day I was humbled once again when I heard a certain song on the radio. The song was ironically titled Home. To this day, I still fight back tears everytime I hear the song by Chris Tomlin. 

I have yet to get another tattoo, but that is definitely not because I don’t want to, but rather because there is nothing else with the same kind of meaning that this one has to me. I don’t want such a meaningful tattoo to get drowned out by meaningless pictures and words. I often wonder if my grandma knows about my tattoo up in heaven. I wonder if she likes it. 

The word home does not have the same meaning to me as it does to most other people. I don’t have this word tattooed on my body because I love where I grew up or because my physical home means a lot to me. Rather, this word reminds me of where my grandma now lives, where she is waiting for me to join her someday. Home means Heaven.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/09/the-bachelorette-finale-gabby-rachel-recap

The story that I chose is about the popular tv show ‘The Bachelorette’. The story is about how the three-hour finale of the show ended with zero winners. The lead of this story was: “In the sage words of Olivia Rodrigo: God, it’s brutal out here”. I think this was a captivating lead because it makes the reader curious of why the season finale was brutal, and what happened. I did not watch this season of the Bachelorette, however I have watched previous seasons, so I know how the show works. This lead works because it tells the reader that something big happened in the show, but it doesn’t give details, forcing you to continue reading. I think that the lead used in this story was the ‘Quote/Dialogue’ type, because they used a quote from Olivia Rodrigo’s song: “Brutal”.

3 different leads:

Question: “Did They Want Love or Fame?”

Foreshadow: “A Finale Break-up Disaster”

Anecdotal: “Cheating, Leaked-Texts, and Fake Proposals”

Immediately after class I sat down in the library next to two of my friends. Before I even got a “hey Chloe how was class?” one of my friends asked me: “Are those fruit snacks?” I said “Yeah, you want one?” They didn’t seem very surprised that I was just carrying a box of fruit snack and both of my friends took one.

After they started to eat the fruit snacks they finally asked me why I had them and where I got them. I told them about the “reverse scavenger hunt”. I told them I had to give the rest to other people. I then looked around the library at everyone else working on their homework. I walked around offering the fruit snacks to different students, some took them without question, some asked what they were for, and others just simply said “no thanks”. But they all seemed thankful for the free snacks they were given.

I had a couple packs of fruit snacks left when I got back to my house and threw them at my roommates sitting on the couch. This must be a somewhat normal thing in our house because they just kind of ignored that I threw them at them. They might still be sitting in our living room to this day.

I chose the Feature Story https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/06/climate/climate-change-beavers.html This story is about a man named Horace Smith who frequently blew up beaver dams, not for animal violence but because he blamed them for flooding parts of his property.

1. Why Do Beavers Make Dams?
2. Beavers Impact on Flooding
3. Effects of Dynamite on Animals
4. Importance of Water Storing
5. Landscape and Hydrology

I would probably want to focus on the Effects of Dynamite on Animals story. It may sound kind of dark, but it also sounds the most interesting of the 5 that I came up with.

Feature Story: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-01-27/death-with-dignity-how-i-helped-my-dad-die

Looking at different feature stories has made me realize that not everyone is interested in the same topics. There were many feature stories that I found interesting, and many that I thought: “This is so boring, why would anyone care about this.” This is evident in all stories and writings. Everyone has different interests. Different people like to read and write about different things and feature stories single out one topic. The feature story that I have linked is a story about a daughter who helped her father die. He had ALS and could no longer handle his life on earth. I found this story interesting because it was a personal situation, that can be related to.

I even struggled to pick out a story to write about here because I have struggled to find certain topics I really enjoy, and want to read a lot of. But I think we need stories because it helps us gain knowledge on certain topics. Though I didn’t exactly want to read this story I’m glad I did because now I know more about the topic than I did before. Stories are essential because they help us gain knowledge on certain topics, and by writing stories that other people read I am able to increase their knowledge as well. I also think people enjoy reading topics that have something to do with their lives, and something that they can benefit from.

I have always struggled to pinpoint my writing passion. I love to write, but I have never found one topic that I would say is my favorite. I hope that with time this class will help me develop a passion for certain topics and I am able to come up with topics without the help of others.

I have a lot of interests outside of writing. I love shopping, fashion, and spending money. I also enjoy spending time with friends, drinking and playing a variety of different games. I also like to stay active whether that be going for a run, lifting weights, or playing golf. I also enjoy watching horror movies and crime shows, and pridefully say I know every possible way to get away with murder after binge-watching “How to Get Away With Murder” and “Criminal Minds” MULTIPLE times. But no, I’m not a psychopath.

As I begin my Senior year I want to develop into a better writer and find my passion. I am excited to grow throughout this year, and find a real career by graduation.