I have Wings

A boy stands on the outside space looking through the spokes of the crown of the Statue of Liberty. He is afraid of heights, curiously enough. His brother knows this and teases him. He is then suddenly flying in an airplane. It is small and he is again very afraid of heights, so afraid he does not want to even look down. His hands are sweaty and he can barely talk. Then he makes himself look. The view is impressive and on landing the "reflections on the water of the plane and all the trees [have him] in awe." He immediately felt relieved to be back on the ground but he also wanted to go up in a plane again. This past spring he got up the courage to do just that. To his surprise the pilot let him fly the plane himself. Now he knows that if he can conquer his fear of heights, he can probably conquer anything that comes his way. He knows when he is once again out of his comfort zone, he will find a way to confront his fears.

What you can learn from children

A girl is suddenly tasked with working with a special needs 3 year old. He is uncommunicative and ornery. She is instantly struggling to know how to work with this child. Suddenly she sees other teachers interacting with him using sign language. She sees how willing the boy is to communicate this way, so she decides to try to learn some signs. She does learn from watching the teachers at circle time. She also learns from the boy which makes their interactions much, much better. She ends the piece with, " It is amazing how much you can learn from a non-verbal 3 year old."

Sound

This piece is about both the sound of making music and the sound of riding a motorcycle. It begins with the actual steps of starting up the motorcycle and the sound it makes while it is being ridden. Then a drum set is given to the writer's brother. The writer can not help but want to play them. He does. He writes" My music, was every bit as euphonious to my own ear as it was just an extension of myself." Then the piece cuts to riding his motorcycle again, the gleaming road, the vibrations, the sound that is "satisfying to my ears."

Free The Sound

A boy really wants to play the bass guitar. Despite his efforts in orchestra and his mom's giving him two basses and two chances to learn to play, something keeps him from creating the sound he has in his head. He gives up all three times until one day it just happens. Here is his last paragraph:

Then the sound came. Smooth and groovy, guided by some deep inner feelings, the notes seemed to come naturally. I felt myself pouring out of the bass itself as though it was just an extension of myself. What was stuck inside me when I was in orchestra class, all that time ago, was finally coming out. I laughed joyously; I really could play.

I think this says it all.

They Call Me Breezy

The author, a girl, writes about playing the game of golf. The reader is right there on the green when she is in the process of finishing a competition. This game has not gone well. The writer remembers a time when she went golfing with her grandparents. She would run alongside the golf cart and smile when they called her Breezy. She is not happy with her performance on the golf course. She is secretly upset by it. Still she finishes and tries to hold her head up high. She hears the birds, remembers her grandparents and dreams of feeling like Breezy again.

Center Stage

This essay is about a girl who has discovered she loves to perform. It begins on the dark stage, with her waiting in the wings. It progresses to the actual performance. She writes, "I don't believe I have ever felt more alive, happy and free other than when I am dancing in front of an audience." The piece then goes to when she was six and learning to play the piano. She learned to play but she also learned to dislike performing. She describes playing the piano at a recital in detail. The piece ends abruptly with a statement about how dance is her passion.

Out of the comfort zone

An exchange student writes about her desire to change her location and get away from her family. The piece begins at a family meal. She describes this meal of lasagna and other traditional Italian fare in detail. This is not because she has a bad family. Instead she is trying to grow up and change patterns of behavior, her behavior of acting like a middle school student when she is at home. She applies for the exchange program and gets in. Now she is in America at a different family dinner table. She knows she is changing now but she can't see it. What she can see is the difference and that she is having a real life experience, the result of which is as of yet unknown.

Standing up for once.

This piece is about a girl who decides to stand up to her grandfather. He is a minister who makes a comment about being against gay marriage, a view which the author does not agree with. The author quotes the Bible and speaks with her grandfather about his views. She ends by saying she would stand up to him again, but we don't see her struggling with her own views in relationship to her love and devotion to her grandfather. (I am not sure this piece will make the cut, just so you know.)

Let Your Fingers Do the Talking

A girl sits be dies her grandfather watching him type. She is amazed by "his fragile old hands typing away on the black keys." She says she wants to be able to do what he is doing. He tells her she can but she will have to work. She takes this to heart when she is dealing with anxiety. She knows she will have to work very hard to be able to deal with her feelings. She also had reams. One of them was to be a Varsity Cheerleader. She practices the backwards flip and the handspring. it is not easy a year later she is able to do all of this. She thinks of her grandfather and how he made her understand the benefit of work. She ends with, " I am also an excellent typist!"

Selling Soda

A boy whose major concern is food, is very aware of a difference between his mother's house and his father's. His mother lives on state assistance. Even so her cupboards are often bare. His father lives a different life. He has a good job which allows a certain amount of convenience. There is always plenty of food. At first, the author compares the set two experiences by looking at the amount of food that is available to him. Then he realizes that really the difference is money. He decides to make some of his own. He comes up with a scheme. He and a friend bring soda to school and sell cans for a dollar. At first they each bring a cooler to school, but that creates unwanted competition. Soon the writer has a few workers under him having a devised a scheme that works to everyone's advantage. Once he gets a "real" job, he realizes that working is a far ore efficient way to make money. He learns that he likes to work and he takes pride in the job he does. He ends the piece with "I don't want my children (when I have them) to worry about finding a snack between meals."

The Race

A boy with a 997 Chevy Camaro is in a competition called a drag race. He puts us right there with him while he is revving his engine, waiting to take off, racing and even when he passes the end of race flagger. He almost wins the race. He loses by a second or two, but in the end he does not care about that. Instead he understands that it's about the experience.

Music Lends a Leading Hand

The person who is writing this piece about being incredibly shy and uncomfortable with people and how she came out of her shell. This was all about singing. She performs and competes. She realized that she has to reach our to people she does not know and that especially at these competitions, everyone is there for music. She ends her piece with this, "Going to college this next year will complete my transformation from a little budding leaf to a full grown flower."

The Intersection

The piece begins with the author stalled in an intersection and a car coming fast towards here. The author is learning to drive a standard and obviously having a difficult time of it. She just can't seem to get it. It was frustrating. She even ended up crying in the front seat because she kept stalling out the car. She does finally learn to drive a standard and now not only has a license, she has a car of her own. She learns that perseverance pays off, that when she is stuck in the next intersection, she'll know how do get our. She ends with, "I still occasionally stall, but I know that can get through every intersection that I come too."

The Turn Around

Author wakes up to being told that her best friend is dead. It is a drunk driving accident. Her friend is only a sophomore She is devastated. Then she comes to understand that she is going to live her life for her friend and make something of it. Losing her friend curiously made her care about school and about life. She has decided she wants to be a neurosurgeon. She feels she has her friend to thank for her determination.

Camping

"My parents did not teach me which fork to use for my salad or how to properly fold bed sheets." This is the first line of a piece which is about the things the author's parents taught her. These things have to do with being outside and learning to survive and appreciate what nature has to offer. The author concludes that her "wonderful" childhood would not have been as wonderful had her parents not been themselves. She writes, "They didn't do it with teaching or with repetition, they did it simply by being who they are: loving and supportive parents." There is a lot about activities outside and in nature.

OnlyNeedingOne

A Vietnamese boy who was born with one short arm (only goes to the elbow) is adopted by a family in Norway Maine. He feels fortunate even though he has a disability to have been adopted because no one wanted him in his birth country. The piece is really about how he persevered and learned how to do things that we take for granted: tying his shoes, throwing and catching a baseball and using a computer to design buildings. He wants to be an architect and he concludes that this training and natural inclination to solve problems others would have trouble solving will serve him well.

Not Just Another Fish in the Stream

Girl loves to fish. She first learns about this by going with her dad. She recounts the early mornings of fishing and of then having to clean a sink full of smelts all by herself. The her parents separate and she no longer has her favorite fishing partner. Time goes by and one day she decides to go fishing all by herself. She realizes how much she has missed fishing. The piece ends with, "It's just me and the open water where I am free to catch and release the world."

Lessons

This piece begins with the author being in a choke hold. It's her mother who is doing this to her. They've argued. She calls her father but he says she cannot come there, so she goes to her best friend's house. She writes, "I walked out of the house thinking I will never be like my mother." Scene change to being on the track team and how she does things with the boys mostly. She is a leader and she is strong. She does not give up. She takes care of her teammates knowing that some do not have parents who take care of them. That strangle hold teaches her many things.

Hard Work Pays Off

Boy breaks his ankle during freshman year baseball season. He is devastated because he thinks baseball is his life and the doctor told him he would be out for an entire year. He almost gives up but a month later, when physical therapy begins, he sees a ray of hope. His life had been pretty easy as everything had come naturally to him. This was different. He does make it back to being able to play baseball but he learned about hard work and perseverance along the way.

The Land

This is the piece from which our title may come. It is a very quiet piece about a path the author walks often. It is really about home, the roots she has developed to place, her place and this path which includes some a big old tree. She says, "This land, the trees, the sky are full of inspiration." She also says, "This tree and I have roots, deep roots intertwining all matter of things that connect me to this land." The piece is also about the seasons, not the real seasons but instead, the seasons of life. She knows that the sweetness of this season, her first will always remain with her.

My Kitchen Table

Author writes about growing up around a kitchen table, crafted by her father and in view of the White Mountains. The table is where she learns about the world, politics and other things as well, like arguing a point. She says her family is different from most in her neighborhood. They are vegetarians and politically left. The table is where she is able to take her natural tendency to be passionate about ideas to another level. She vows to create her own kitchen table, by which she means she will impart the experience of talking and thinking about the world to her future children.

Scouting: Knowledge of a Life Time

Boy uses his knowledge of a T-rescue technique when a few kids flip a canoe over in a game. It is October and the water is cold so he has to work fast. The piece is then about how much scouting has meant to him.

The Wall

Author connects her experience of visiting the Western Wall, the most sacred place for Jews in Jerusalem, to her playing the piano. The experience enables her to get over her nervousness. The act of playing becomes like the act of being in the presence of the wall and the people who are praying at it. These people write wishes and prayers on small pieces of paper which are then stuffed into the cracks and indentations in the very ancient Jerusalem stone that makes up the wall. (You might want to look at a picture of this place for inspiration.)

When I Played Taps

Boy plays "Taps" for Veteran's Day. He is alone in his playing but for the person on the far side of the field who echoes his playing with a second round of the piece. The boy's playing touched everyone. at the end a Veteran comes up to him and compliments him. There is a tear in the man's eye. They agree to meet next year. (This is a very quiet piece despite the fact that it is about a trumpet sounding out to a crowd.)

More than a Game

Football star and captain gets injured three weeks before his final game. His teammates come through for him by donning his #7 as a black band. The author learns that it's not all about playing the game.