My Mother.

My mom was born in Vietnam on 1953, November 14. She lived at Vietnam for 25 years and worked as a vender and she sold material that was used to make cloths. My mother lived with her mom, her dad, and her grandma. My mom helped my grandma work in her mother’s store. Her dad was the boss of her mother’s store. They were a low class family and had a hard time getting money, but the family was able to barrow $2000 to open a business to help support the family unit. She said that her childhood was great even though she had to work so hard to support her relatives. My mom has six sisters; she was the fourth one to be born. She had a good education, but every day she only had four hours of sleep, and had to get up at 3:30 in the morning just to work more.

When the Vietnam War started, my mother was only 15 years old. She heard that the war had just started when all of a sudden there was a bomb that hit the city that she resided in. In a state of panic everyone around her started to run. My mom was still young at the time and just thought she would be safe at home and began to run home. This would occur for the next three days and three nights. It was very frightening because it would occur every few hours. It was then the best interest in the family to just hide in a shelter. This would be the families’ safe haven during those hard times. When it was over on that third day, my mother got out of the shelter to help but necessary food because they felt that it wasn’t safe outside the shelter nor did them had adequate amounts of food. This was unfortunately only the beginning. (think the size of this boat fixing 300 people)

By the end of the war, the family had to sell everything they had possessed and quickly find a way out of their situation. This was a time when my family was franticly trying to run away from something they were scared of, their government. In this mist of these times, everyone kept their composure and attempted to leave the county via the use of boats. Due to the high volume of refugee’s, everyone was dispersed around Malaysia. There the family had to live there for one year and were finding a place to live. They petition for immigration to various countries and found their way to the United States where they found a home.

When my mom was 28 years old she got married on October 2^nd, 1982. They meet in her friend’s house and they had dinner together. Then after that day they started dating for a year. After a year went by my father asked my mother to marry him, and the answer was “Yes”. My mother first job in the United States was working with electrics. She went to training for electrics and studied English to fix in the society. Her job gave her $3 and 50 cents per hour and she worked 8 hours a day 40 hours per week. She has been working in the United States 28 years until now.

Later my mom moved to San Francisco, they had their first child named Simon, my oldest brother and my only brother, he was born on 1984. Later in 1995 I was born and my brother gave me the name “Aaron”. My parents were satisfied with me and brother, and they became more successful with the jobs they had. After interviewing my mom I learned some much about her life and what she had to do to live at Vietnam. I’m glad that I didn’t have to live like that in my childhood.

Slave Diary

March 8, 1855

Today I woke up and hardly ate anything. Then I went to the field, to start working. The heat from the sun was killing me, it made me tired but I still continued to work. My back was sore, from bending down, and picking the cotton. My hands were also sore from picking up the cotton pond, the cotton ponds had thorns that went into my fingers. When my master see's that I'm picking less cotton he would beat on me.

April 15, 1855

I can finally write in my diary again. The cabin is horrible, we're crowded, because of the pack of slaves in one cabin. The beds are uncomfortable, at least it's good enough to last the day. They give us food to last the next day, and the cabin's are made from logs. Theirs even holes on the floor of the cabins.

May 12, 1855

Today I witness a man getting whipped. He tired to run away, but they captured him. They beat him up so badly, that his screams haunts me. It was even painful watching the guy getting whipped. I heard more tortures from other slaves, but today was my first time witnessing someone getting whipped.

May 29, 1855

Today was a horrible day, some slaves were killing white people, but in the end they just got whipped. They settled houses on fire, they damaged their crops, and attacked their master. Many decided not to work too, but then the whites would show them control, by whipping them continuously. They even whipped people that did nothing in the Resistance.



June 12, 1855

Today, I witnessed a slave owner, buying someone away from his family. The lady was crying, she wanted the slave owner to buy her and the baby to, and she doesn't want to be separated from the guy. At least the lady knew that she couldn't be separated from her baby, because she needs to take care of it. Plus the mother can teach the baby whatever it needs to know.

June 28, 1855

Things are changing, it's so much fun on Sundays, that's the day were we can play music, sing, dance, and play games. Or you can go to Church, at church you can make friends, my new friends showed me how to make quilts, it's so fun to do. That's what I do in my leisure time.

“CLOZE” Essay:

Characterization in The Fighter

“The Fighter” is a short story written by Walter Dean Myers. The story is about a man named Billy who is a young father and husband living in New York City. Billy seems desperate to earn money for his family. Even though his wife does not approve, he participates in boxing matches in order to make extra income. Myers presents both Billy and his wife, Johnnie Mae, as strong characters with distinct traits: Billy is a dishonest man while Johnnie Mae is a caring person.

Billy is clearly a dishonest man. First of all, he lied to Johnnie Mae, Billy told his wife, "He was just going to the gym to work out". If he'd told Johnnie Mae the truth, that he was going to fight again, he knew she would have cried. (pg.27) Johnnie Mae would cried if she knew Billy was going to box again. Second of all, Billy told Johnnie Mae, that "He'd finished high school", even though he didn't. (pg.34) The bad thing about Billy lying, is that Billy might not find a well paying job in the future. Third of all, Billy wanted to buy a thirty-two-inch. Then he wants to tell the t.v seller that the "Thirty-two-inch set was too big for their small living room". (pg.36) As readers, however we are able to empathize with Billy because his just trying to help his family.

Johnnie Mae appears to be an incredibly caring wife and person. Firstly, she saw billy in pain, and threw the money on the floor. Then she realized that throwing the money hurt Billy, so she picks the money up and puts in on to the dresser, Pg;36, Secondly, she cares about billy event if he lies to her. A example is when she holds Billy's hand during her sleep, knowing that billy needed it. That made billy feel better, and helped Billy sleep,and get though the night , Pg; 38




This story has the power to teach us a lot about our own lives. These characters, even though they may be flawed and not perfect, provide valuable lessons that readers can learn from. On the one hand, Billy is a dishonest person, but he is also a hard-worker and a father who desperately wants to provide for his family. Also, through Myers’ portrayal of Billy’s life we are able to learn about the importance of the decisions that we make during our teen years because Billy’s poor childhood decisions
significantly affect his adult life. Johnnie Mae also teaches us something important about real life. She teaches us that we ought to be caring and forgiving. She teaches us to react to others with compassion and kindness. Her ability to forgive Billy can serve as an example for all of us.

In conclusion, both Billy and Johnnie Mae represent strong characters who have different traits. On the one hand, Billy is a man who has been repeatedly dishonest with himself and with his wife. Johnnie Mae is a woman who is able to overcome her disappointment and frustration in order to be caring partner. She has every reason to be angry, yet she chooses forgiveness. This story and these characters remind us that it is important to be both honest and caring in life.

Setting for a Story

Bob gets out of school and walks to the park, with some friends. They walked up the park hill, and went to the gigantic basket ball court. They had a fantastic basket ball game, but then Bob threw the basket ball too high and it went over the fence. They all ran down the park and too get the ball, but then they all stopped and saw how peaceful the parked looked from the top of the basket ball court, the field was luminous green, windy, and it was so gorgeous, that they came to the park after school everyday too hang out.

List of Adjectives / Adverbs .

-gigantic
-dull
-charming
-graceful
-organized
-ravishing
-splendid
-luminous

Neighborhood

One thing about my neighborhood, is that there is a park one block away. In the park, it's a gigantic, luminous green field that continue up hill. On the top of the hill at the park, there is a dull basket ball court and a tennis court. On the bottom of the park, there is a court where schools can play soccer and baseball. It's also a park where people bring there dogs to walk them.




People in my ravishing neighborhood, are charming to each other. If you ask for help, or need something, someone would help you. If you were locked out of your house, without keys, and it's chilly outside, someone in your block would ask if you want to come in. On holidays, some people would make a cake for every house in the neighborhood and give it out for free. My splendid neighborhood is so graceful that you can make $5 standing outside!







My neighborhood isn't a organized neighborhood. There would be a chip bag flying around. People would get there trash and stuff it in anywhere that has room. On the streets, there would be weird trash on the floor, some shoes stuck on wires. My neighborhood is so dirty that it looks like a junkyard. ☻