Synecdoche

Nick Reynolds

Class: C

October 29, 2014

Synecdoche

            The neck is extremely long, covered in tan fur. The smell of vegetation emits off of it when extending upwards. If you listen closely, you can hear teeth chomping on leaves peacefully. People point at it and admire the brown spots of fur that look like melted chocolate spread out over desert sand. Do not try to eat it however, for it will have a bitter taste. 

Letter (FINAL)

Nick Reynolds

Class: C

October 23, 2014

            Dear EA Sports Headquarters,

As you already know, you are a very famous and successful business with a lot of money and power. Most of this money however, is being received through the purchase of a certain video game (FIFA 14). This video game is very amusing and entertaining. I am personally a huge fan of the FIFA series and I encourage you to continue in making more FIFA games in the future. Let me start by addressing the issue. As I woke up one Saturday morning, feeling lazy, I decided to sit on my couch and play some FIFA 14. This is what most of my “lazy days” consist of. I was about to hop on a thrilling game of Ultimate Team, when all of a sudden, I lost connection to the EA servers. This has become an issue almost every week and it is very annoying and stressful. All I want to do is enjoy my Saturday mornings playing FIFA, but it is seemingly impossible considering how many times I (randomly) disconnect from the EA servers. I am not the only person who is experiencing this as well. Most of my friends, if not all, have experienced this same issue at least once during their FIFA experience. As you probably know, many people are very addicted to FIFA and the series is a smash-hit in the world of gaming. I am one of these people who take the game very seriously, and you can probably imagine how stressful it is being disconnected from the servers every other day. I just want to be able to physically play the game without a message popping up on my TV screen saying: “you have been disconnected from the EA servers. Please try to log in at a later time. We are sorry for the inconvenience.” I don’t think you are actually “sorry for the inconvenience”, and if you were then you would do something about it. I have been an amazing customer to you for years and I have spent a countless amount of money on Player Packs and the game itself. All I ask is for you to put some time into solving this issue so that the many FIFA lovers of the world including myself, can play whenever they want to play, without being disconnected from the servers. Thank you.

-FIFA addict

PS

Nicholas Reynolds

Class: C

October 20, 2014

PS

Understanding Fanny Howe’s view on her students writing pieces, I disagree with what she suggests her students story’s are about. She is trying to argue that her students work consists of violence and a bad ending to it. She said that the resolution to most of the stories are not happy endings, but I will have to argue against this. In my case, my story did have a seeming happy ending to it. I found this peculiar because most of my writing pieces consist of violence and not a happy resolution. Some of them don’t even have a resolution at all.

Timed Prompt: Christmas Breakfast

Nicholas Reynolds

Class: C

October 20, 2014

Timed Prompt

It was Christmas Eve. Fog stuck to the tarmac at Lindbergh Field. I woke up at the crack of dawn (like I do every morning) to get my touches in for soccer. As I approached Lindbergh Field A gust of snow blew in front of my car, blinding me and nearly making me crash. The temperature was well below freezing and I was forced to bundle up in a warm coat and soccer pants with gloves and a soft hat. I began to juggle, trying to beat my previous record of 644 juggles in a row. While I was in the middle of juggling, I heard a strange noise behind me. I don’t know what was so strange about it, but something wasn't right. No one else comes here around this time, so I quickly stopped juggling and looked up to see who was there. As I looked up and made eye contact with the beast, I froze. I had realized that I was face to face with a huge brown bear. Without hesitation I screamed and ran for my car. I quickly put my keys into the ignition and floored it leaving behind my soccer ball. This morning was going horrible already. Not realizing what the time was, I discovered that I was late for breakfast at my mothers house! I bolted to my house and quickly took a shower and got dressed. I then jumped in my car and headed straight for her house. I was terrified that everyone would be waiting on me to get there before they started eating. I felt ashamed, but as I opened her front door, everyone was excited to see me. I guess they were too hungry to be mad at me for making them wait. We then said our prayers and chowed down on belgian waffles. As it turned out, this wasn't the worst Christmas Eve as I thought it would be.

Two Narrative

Nicholas Reynolds

Class: C

October 14, 2014

Two Person

Slave:

Life was excruciating for me on the ranch. Every morning i wake up wishing I could have a normal life, although some people would say this is a normal life for a black man. I wonder to myself what I did to deserve this. This is no life for any human being, and I need to escape soon. I’ve always had the dream of getting away from here and going to the Northside where I could finally be free. Every morning I wake up at the crack of dawn and do endless labor work ‘till nightfall comes. The worst part is being away from my family, Who knows where they are or if they are even alive. I try not to think about the possibility that my two sons and wife could be dead, but it is so hard not to think about it. They are the only thing that matters to me. They give me the strength to wake up every morning and do this unbearable labor work. One day it will be worth it though. I will escape from this rusty joint and be free with my family and we will live a happy life reunited.

Owner:

Every morning i have to deal with what's his face. He’s always complaining about how I don’t give him enough food, and how I work him too hard. Well you know what; I could be starving him and making him do twice the labor work that I already make him do. This is how white people get things done now a days. It’s part of life. The social class has spoken and right now, colored people are at the dead bottom of it. They don’t even deserve to be called people. The only thing they are good at is getting crap done for us. They were made to do labor work and serve as slaves for us white folk. Every day he acts up and requests brakes, but i don’t have time to be letting them slaves have breaks. When they don’t follow orders I have no choice but to use force teach them a lesson.

One Act Play

Nick Reynolds

October 2, 2014

Class: C

1 Act Play

The Ocean Storm

Mike and Mary are a young couple of lovers having a conversation at a fancy restaurant. Mike is dressed in khakis and a polo with Sperry's, while Mary is dressed in casual clothing.  

Mike: I love to sail. Isn't sailing just great?

(Mary quickly lifts her head up)

Mary: What? Sorry I fell asleep.

Mike: Is something wrong?

Mary: No! Nothing’s wrong. Just, well sometimes it gets boring listening to you talk about sailing all the time.

Mike: Oh…well I’m sorry. I’ll stop.

Mary: Its fine let’s just look at the menu and see what we want to eat.

(The waiter approaches them)
Waitor: What'll it be?

Mike: I’ll have a bacon cheeseburger with a side of fries.
Waitor: And for the lady?

Mary: I’m just going to have a salad please.

(The waiter leaves)

Mike: Listen Mary, I really like you and I think it’s time that you move in with me.

Mary: (Spits out her drink and says) WHAT? I mean what? Don’t you think it’s a little too soon for that?

Mike: I thought about that a first, but then I realized that it shouldn’t matter how soon it is. I know what I want and that is for you to move in with me.

Mary: Mike, you are such a sweet guy, but there was a reason why I wanted to go out to dinner with you.

Mike: (With a confused look in his face says) Well what is it?

Mary: I wanted to tell you that…well…I’m seeing another guy.

Mike: (Furiously says) WHAT?

Mary: Please Mike, don’t be mad. I think you are a great guy and I hope we can still be friends.

Mike: Well it’s too late for that! I thought things were going just dandy and now you are just telling me that you have found another guy?

(Mary tries to answer with a quick rebuttal but gets interrupted by Mike)

Mike: Well…who is he?

Mary: I met him at my cousins’ party and…well…we both just felt a connection.

Mike: So what are you trying to say?

Mary: I'm trying to tell you that...I think we should see other people.

(Mike freezes then has a furious look on his face)

Mike: (shouting says) FINE. LET'S BREAK UP.

(The waiter comes back with their food)

Mike: (picking up his burger and throwing it at Mary says) I never want to see you again!

(Mary, sobbing, runs out of the restaurant embarrassed while everyone stares at Mike)

Mike: (to everyone staring, loudly shouts) Well? What are you all looking at?

(He quickly runs out of the restaurant)

3 Takeaways

Nicholas Reynolds

October 1, 2014

Class:C

Alex Rose: FIFA Addiction

1. Use more contractions
2. More descriptive vocabulary words
3. Divide into paragraphs (not just one big one)

Sean Eykel: The Most Harmless Thing

1. Strong vocabulary
2. Very good job of painting a picture in the readers mind
3. Humorous in some aspects

Brittany Holmes: The Impossible Task

1. Good use of imagery
2. Need a stronger opening sentence that grabs the readers attention
3. Could use more, stronger vocabulary