Blog 23

Guilty by association

Here I am, sitting next to this person who I used to know very well. I’m infuriated with myself for letting my friends convince me to do what they do. This kind of behavior always gets me in trouble. This room is getting colder and colder as time goes by. I’ve obviously been in a room like this before but things are different when you don’t belong here. This time I can’t leave until someone shows up with some money or these badges have a change of heart. At this point, I don’t think john even cares about where we are and what we are here for. John might as well have his own apartment here. If you haven’t guessed, we are in jail. I don’t want to get into why we are here, but I will so you can understand why I feel the way I do.
I guess it will all start with my friends. The friends that I have are my friends for a reason. There were a few times in particular when I needed someone to talk to or just to be there for me, and they were always there. True friends never need to be asked twice for help. In one specific situation, someone in my family passed away and it left me in shock and I didn’t know what to do or who to turn to. Instead of me asking my friends to spend time with me, they just did it. My friends came by the house every single day with my favorite candy and other things that make me smile. The thing about these friends is that we treat each other like family. I honestly believe that what happened to me gave me a reason to cherish my friends more. College made things weird between us, but I found a way to make it work.
I usually come home on weekends to spend time with my friends because I don’t live around them anymore. The sad part is, I’m the only one from my crew that made it out of the city for school. This makes things weird when I come home because in order to be with my friends, I need to be around some things that could be illegal. Even though I was raised to stay away from these types of situations, part of me still wants to take the risk. I already knew that some of my friends were involved in drugs and alcohol but I only made a big deal out of it when I saw the flashing lights. We got lucky more times than I can remember simply because we were dumb youngsters and they had bigger fish to fry, but I’m sure that they didn’t forget our faces.
One time in particular, I wasn’t as lucky as I was used to being. My boys and I were headed to a party when one of the guys started talking about what he did last night. The kid named john was telling us that he broke in to this old lady’s house and stole some money and jewelry. John said that someone might’ve seen him break in because he heard the infamous sirens as soon as he took his first step out the back door. As expected, he took off running into the woods. In some cases, the woods would be the first place that police look when there is a disturbance. While John was running, he said that he heard keys shaking from different areas of the woods. At this point he realized that the cops had him cornered. At this point he fell to the floor and covered himself up with leaves and dirt. It was so dark outside that police couldn’t see him with their flashlights. John had on all black clothing and ended up sliding to the nearest bushes. Eventually the cops left the woods and returned to the house to try and gather some clues. John decided to run as fast he could to our friend’s house that lived a few blocks away. The new fugitive realized about an hour before we left for the party that he was missing his wallet. A flashback of his run through the woods came to john immediately. Unfortunately John was careless and didn’t treat as seriously as the rest of us. We were now about ten minutes away from the party when we saw the flashes of red and blue on the houses around us. We all suddenly took off like a rocket in all directions. I don’t know why I ran but my instincts decided for me. This decision was very stupid because as soon as I ran, I became a criminal. The cops don’t care why I’m running and they are planning to throw me into the same jail as the real criminals. I guess I have extremely bad luck because as I ran I realized that John was right behind me and so were the cops. We ran into a dead end and realized where I was headed. I was too scared to think and the sound of keys made things worse.
The cell was small and cold. I had plenty of time to observe my surroundings in case someone asks me what it was like. I also had enough time to think about what got me into this dark lifeless corner of the world. I was associating myself with the wrong people. I felt like I had to be around them because they were my friends. I can honestly say that I have made progress despite my current situation because I have identified the problem. I realize that a part of my heart felt as if I owed them for being with me through my rough times. In actuality, true friends don’t do things like that for a reward. I guess the title of this chapter of my life would be called guilty by association. I wasn’t a guilty person. I was as guilty as my friends were because I was with them for the wrong reasons. I guess this was yet another lesson learned. I just hope I get out soon so I can learn from my mistakes.

Blog 22

Big Ugly Review
This is an organization based on giving writers a chance and place to be noticed.The big Ugly Review is a non-paying market which ensures us that they only have room for writers who love and seeing writing as art.This is a theme based venue that gives the writers freedom to write about anything as long as it has something to do with the current theme.

Past themes- Fight or flight, The Body issue, The Contest issue, Hidden agendas, Maps, Broken things, and The First time.

Submission- All submissions must relate to the theme. Responses are from 4 to 8 weeks in length.You can enter via email or via US Mail.

Fiction submissions: fiction@biguglyreview.com
Non-fiction submissions: nonfiction@biguglyreview.com
Poetry submissions: poetry@biguglyreview.com
Photo-essay submissions: photo@biguglyreview.com
Music submissions: music@biguglyreview.com
Film submissions: film@biguglyreview.com

Categories-
Short Story: Up to 5,000 words

Flash Fiction: Up to 2,000 words

Creative Nonfiction: Up to 5,000 words

Poetry: Poems of any length and form.

Photo essay: series of ten photographs with captions

Music: send as an mp3 attachment or on CD

Film: films of 5 minutes or less


Big Ugly Review is posted online twice a year which gives plenty of time to perfect your work.

blog 21

In the homework I noticed that there was alot of writing about how important the readers are and how you need to tap into what they want.I specifically liked one of the suggestions about picking an idea from our journals and writing different beginings to the strories. It is also important to write from different points of view. This strategy will be helpful because it will give you so many different options to choose from.I do see why it is important to find some inspiration to write because it will give you feelings and emotion which turns into words. i used some of the strategies with my fourth draft revisions, I found it to be very helpful.

blog 20

I'm deciding to rewrite my last draft because I feel like there is more I can do with it. My focus will on making our own decisions and not letting a bond or friendship pull you in to dangerous situations. In draft 4 I tried to involve a good amount of action and descriptive language, but I still feel like I can go so much deeper. To begin, I need to describe what goes on around my friends that put them in their current situation. I feel that the readers need to know why my friends involve themselves in this type of danger. The action in the story was good, but I need to ivolve how the police knew where to find John. I like the draft version but the final revision will be so much better.

blog 19

Guilty by association

Here I am, sitting next to this person who I used to know very well. I’m infuriated with myself for letting my friends convince me to do what they do. This kind of behavior always gets me in trouble. This room is getting colder and colder as time goes by. I’ve obviously been in a room like this before but things are different when you don’t belong here. This time I can’t leave until someone shows up with some money or these badges have a change of heart. At this point, I don’t think john even cares about where we are and what we are here for. John might as well have his own apartment here. If you haven’t guessed, we are in jail. I don’t want to get into why we are here, but I will so you can understand why I feel the way I do.
I usually come home on weekends to spend time with my friends because I don’t live around them anymore. The sad part is, I’m the only one from my crew that made it out of the city for school. This makes things weird when I come home because in order to be with my friends, I need to be around some things that could be illegal. Even though I was raised to stay away from these types of situations, part of me still wants to take the risk. I already knew that some of my friends were involved in drugs and alcohol but I only made a big deal out of it when I saw the flashing lights. We got lucky more times than I can remember simply because we were dumb youngsters and they had bigger fish to fry, but I’m sure that they didn’t forget our faces.
One time in particular, I wasn’t as lucky as I was used to being. My boys and I were headed to a party when one of the guys started talking about what he did last night. The kid named john was telling us that he broke in to this old lady’s house and stole some money and jewelry. John said that someone might’ve seen him break in because he heard the infamous sirens as soon as he took his first step out the back door. As expected, he took off running into the woods. In some cases, the woods would be the first place that police look when there is a disturbance. While John was running, he said that he heard keys shaking from different areas of the woods. At this point he realized that the cops had him cornered. At this point he fell to the floor and covered himself up with leaves and dirt. It was so dark outside that police couldn’t see him with their flashlights. John had on all black clothing and ended up sliding to the nearest bushes. Eventually the cops left the woods and returned to the house to try and gather some clues. John decided to run as fast he could to our friend’s house that lived a few blocks away. The new fugitive realized about an hour before we left for the party that he was missing his wallet. A flashback of his run through the woods came to john immediately. Unfortunately John was careless and didn’t treat as seriously as the rest of us. We were now about ten minutes away from the party when we saw the flashes of red and blue on the houses around us. We all suddenly took off like a rocket in all directions. I don’t know why I ran but my instincts decided for me. This decision was very stupid because as soon as I ran, I became a criminal. The cops don’t care why I’m running and they are planning to throw me into the same jail as the real criminals. I guess I have extremely bad luck because as I ran I realized that John was right behind me and so were the cops. We ran into a dead end and realized where I was headed. I was too scared to think and the sound of keys made things worse.
The cell was small and cold. I had plenty of time to observe my surroundings in case someone asks me what it was like. I also had enough time to think about what got me into this dark lifeless corner of the world. I was associating myself with the wrong people. I felt like I had to be around them because they were my friends. I guess the title of this chapter of my life would be called guilty by association. I wasn’t a guilty person, I was as guilty as my friends were because I was with them. I guess this was yet another lesson learned.

Blog 18

The day I arrived was very surreal because I've never seen it rain when the sun was out. It was as if there were no cares. Every person around had this shine on them as if they weren't from this world. The water was so clear that I could see that I still needed to cut my nails. The people who actually lived there had this tan about them which makes them seem different, but they shared the same excitement. It is amazing that you could have this much fun without a passport. I was young and out of control and most likely missed out on alot of the things that were happening around me, but what I did see was unforgetable. This is a place where the dress code is very unique, these people want as many colors as possible. This is as close that you will get to a fairy tale place.

Blog 17 "My Turn"

Harrison Cade
“My Turn”

There I was, staring down at the blood on my shirt and hands. I guess I shouldn’t have tried to fight back. Everybody knows that Tom is bigger and stronger than I am. Something inside of me snapped and for some reason I felt like I could take him. Honestly, I don’t understand what it is about me that made him want to exercise his ego and reputation of being the biggest asshole in the Milky Way. It doesn’t matter what it is, but all I know is that this will not go on forever. Eventually, I will have my shot, and I will be so successful that the sight of people like him will be funny to me.
This whole thing started when I consistently received A’s on every test and quiz in ninth grade. Tom was older than everyone in my class for one of two reasons. Tom told everyone that he spent some time in a juvenile detention center for beating people up who pissed him off. In actuality, Tom had the worst grades known to man. He wasn’t eligible for graduation until he passed eighth grade, which took him three years. Anyway, As soon as Tom noticed that I was one of the smartest kids in class, he decided to make deals. Instead of using a normal approach, Tom punched me in the face and told me to give him the answers to the quizzes and test. Tom wasn’t as dumb as I thought because he hit me when the crowd in the hallway was the largest. The teachers never saw what Tom used to do. At first, I still wasn’t going to do what I was told because it was wrong. I was horrified of this “school veteran”, but he would have to find a way to make me. This is exactly what he did.
Here I am, hiding in the janitor’s closet until the bell rings. My heart was beating like the sound of a drumline. I knew that he couldn’t hurt me if the halls were clear after the bell. I began to show up late to classes everyday, and my excuses made me look like I had the most dramatic life in the world. Either didn’t catch on to things or they didn’t care. All I know is, Tom kept failing and I kept shining. I began to look at myself like a time bomb. I never dealt with things right when it happened, I thought that it would all go away if I try not to think about it. This strategy was a horrible one.
Tom saw me getting my jacket out of my locker and sparked the climax of my life story. Tom grabbed my shoulder and I turned around along with a right hook. Tom fell on his back and for about twenty seconds I felt like I was twelve feet tall. Of course I then received the worst beating of my life. All I could offer was that one punch, but that one punch was all I needed to change my life. I don’t think Tom was ever hit before because he didn’t bother me anymore, he only when to the next weak kid that he could find.
There is no reason to feel bad about what happened to me because you can learn a valuable lesson even when you’re getting your ass kicked. The older I got, I looked at Tom as being any challenge that I may come across in my life. There will be times when things seem too difficult to deal with and it makes you want to quit. I didn’t plan on using my old approach on lettings things get so bad and then exploding, but I did have an approach. I decided to deal with things immediately and make sure that I didn’t bury myself with things that I couldn’t control. This idea helped lower the amount of stress in my life. I can see now that one of the worst points in my life molded me into being a man.
Now I am successful and can actually say that I am happy. It feels good to fight back against negativity. I wish Tom was hear to see where I ended up, but I’m sure he is too busy fighting off the general population in whatever jail he was thrown in. This is the point in my life where I said I’d be laughing. Fortunately, the only direction I can go is up. I haven’t gone as far as I can go yet. This is the point in my life that I would call “my turn”.