You

Click here to get your own player.

song analysis

You were the bright light,

Always warm, always shining.

You kept me up all night,

Sitting up in bed, laughing and smiling.

But now you're gone, and all I see,

Is you not here, standing beside me

 

You, you left us all too soon.

And now we're here, hoping it's not true.

 

Great times around the park,

Running fast, scoring goals.

We loved to play all day.

Soccer balls bouncing, dirt and grass flying.

The dirty days were all too fun,

But now there's no one playing here with me.

 

You, you left us all too soon.

And now we're here hoping it's not true.

 

Then the cough came again,

Persistent as hell, never abating.

Then you were diagnosed.

But all you did, was stand there and laugh.

You're hopes were high, but not the odds,

It finally took you, and tears were flowing.

 

You, you left us all too soon.

And now we're here, hoping it's not true.

 

Hoping it's not true.

Hoping it's not……true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Allie was the best cousin you could have. He would do anything for anyone. He was the classic Kaua'i high school senior that everyone on the island knew as the one always willing to help. Whenever he came to 'Oahu, he didn't spend any time going out late at night clubbing or surfing, he was hanging out with family and playing with all of the little cousins, including me. Family was really important, and Allie cared about everyone. If Aunty needed help on the North Shore planting grass, he would drive or take the bus to go and help. If Grandpa needed help repainting his house, Allie would bring paintbrushes and tarp, ready to start the job.

            Allie's attitude towards life was so great, it seemed like he was this shining light. He was always warm towards everyone, and radiated positive energy wherever he went. Sometimes during the middle of the night, I would dream of something that reminded me of a memory with Allie, and I would wake up and start laughing. It could've been even the smallest memory, eating shave ice while running in the park, going to the movies and buying a ticket just to go in and play Dance Dance Revolution. Even the memories than seem insignificant to others meant so much to me and Allie. He was just the kind of guy that was always positive, no matter what situation he was in.

            Soccer was one thing that Allie and I shared that no other cousins did. We loved to play all the time, whether it was raining or blazing hot. I wasn't any good, and he was on his varsity high school team as a starter, but he was always patient and willing to help me get better. One of my favorite memories with Allie was during the 40 days and 40 nights of rain. We decided it would be really fun to play soccer in the rain, so we headed outside with a soccer ball, shoes, and no umbrella in sight. It was pouring so hard, we couldn't see a foot in front of us, but we kept on kicking and sliding around in the grass and mud. By the end of the day, our white shirts were brown, our cleats were dripping in muck, and we didn't have an inch of clean skin. We were so dirty, my mom made us stand in the rain and try to get clean before coming into the house, lay down piece after piece of newspaper as we walked in, and stay in our two showers for at least an hour trying to scrub mud and grass out of our ears and noses.

            One day Allie started having mad coughing fits. A week, a month went by, and the cough wouldn't go away. He never wanted to see the doctor, he thought it was time wasted that could be used for something besides himself. My family and I were all concerned for him, so we forced him to go and see the doctor. We all thought it was just a bad cold that wouldn't go away, but we weren't expecting what the doctor gave us. Allie was diagnosed with cancer in his chest. We were all crushed to hear what we thought was a cough turned into something really serious. We were all shocked out of our minds, but when we looked over to Allie, he just smiled. We all knew the odds of Allie beating the cancer were really low, but even in the grim situation, Allie was being the same person he always was, the optimistic positive glowing light that made everyone around him feel good.

            Allie started chemotherapy on 'Oahu, and all of the doctors were hoping the treatments would help. But treatment after treatment, nothing was working. Even though we all knew what was about to happen, we didn't want to believe it was true. The greatest cousin ever couldn't go down like this, not after all that he has done for us. But the thought of Allie, even after the grim diagnosis, made the situation a little brighter. Then, Allie started going downhill really quickly. The last time I saw him, he knew we wouldn't see each other again. He was flying back to Kaua'i to be with all of his friends on the island he loved most. I was crying, but as stupid as I looked, I could still see Allie's bright face. I knew that even though I would never see him again, I would always remember Allie, the Kaua'i High senior that was surrounded by a bright shining light, always willing to help, even when he was faced with a battle he couldn't win. 

Sample Podcast

The Beast Sonnet

Click here to get your own player.

Sonnet Analysis

The Beast

The global warming issue is a beast

The glaciers melt into the deep blue sea

Our hunger for our oil has increased

The beast will grow and never hear our plea

Endangered species soon will disappear

And rainforests will die for human use

Society is dying year by year

But all we do is make up an excuse

The ozone layer's thinning as we speak

The atmosphere is lacking oxygen

But no one cares because we are too weak

Armageddon is the only option

We need to change our ways or face our death

The beast will come and smother our last breath

In our sonnet, we wanted the readers to think about how much damage we are actually doing to the environment and the Earth. "The global warming issue is a beast." We used this metaphor because like a beast, the issue is nasty and is growing daily, and thought it was a good representation of how bad our issue of global warming has become.

            Our first stanza gives just a taste of what is to happen throughout the sonnet. Examples of the peril going on in our world are reminders of how we need to change our actions or suffer. "The glaciers melt into the deep blue sea. Our hunger for our oil has increased." We used these examples in contrast because it was a shrinking of our polar ice caps and our increase of demand for oil. "The beast will grow and never heed our plea." This is a metaphor for our growing problem. If we let the issue grow and get out of hand, we won't be able to stop it.

            The second stanza brings up an important point, and is also ironic in a sense. "And rainforests will die for human use." We are killing off endangered species and cutting down acres and acres of their habitats. "Society is dying year by year." Though we are destroying parts of our natural world, we as a society are the ones dying slowly. Without resources like the rainforest and the diversity of nature, we are depriving ourselves and future generations of the natural beauty we are destroying for modern conveniences. "But all we do is make up an excuse." This line pertains to the excuses we have made so that big companies can keep cutting down trees to build things like large corporate buildings and hotels. They tell us that in the long run, killing forests will be worth it because we will have modern luxuries that many others don't, but we are actually losing natural beauty that has been on Earth much longer than concrete and swimming pools.

            In the third stanza, without realizing it, we connected two of the growing problems with global warming. "The atmosphere is lacking oxygen." This is a huge problem because we are adding more carbon dioxide to the air we breathe than plants can take in and turn into breathable oxygen. This connects with the next line of the stanza. "But no one cares because we are too weak." We don't stand up for ourselves when large companies want to change the natural environment we live in, and just let them destroy parts of nature. This connects to the previous line in the stanza because we are getting weaker from lack of oxygen, and the large companies can just keep building and building until eventually there will be not enough space and too many buildings to keep expanding their corporate empires. "Armageddon is the only option." This line doesn't fit perfectly into iambic pentameter, but we tried to write a strong last line to our third stanza. If we keep heading towards companies and buildings instead of forests and native species, we will eventually see our own extinction in the near future. Armageddon, being the end of the world, will soon be seen as a definite possibility, and we will regret what we didn't do to prevent utter destruction from happening.

            The last two lines were the ones I thought had the most impact, and bring the entire sonnet together. "We need to change our ways or face our death." Scientists have predicted that if we don't change our ways of living now, there will be nothing to live for in the near future. Ice caps will melt, entire cities will flood, earthquakes will quickly change modern homes to rubble. "The beast will come and smother our last breath." This line brings the sonnet full circle by referring back to the metaphor of global warming as a growing beast we used in the first stanza. If the problem keeps getting bigger and bigger and we do nothing to stop it, we will eventually succumb to the beast as it ravages our society and ways of living. 

Paper #2

Then, he smacked me. I didn't every try to get out of the way or duck or anything. All I felt was this terrific punch in my stomach. Boy, did that kill me. Now I was really mad at that sonuvabitch Maurice. Him and his obsession with my goddam five dollars. I fell on the ground and pretended I had a bullet in my gut. This sure did scare the hell outta him. Maurice started shuffling toward me, he started mumbling something I couldn't hear, and I knew he was really worried he almost killed me. All I could see was his big fat hairy stomach, but before he knew it, I socked him hard right in the center of that hairy belly. I hit him with my bad hand, and it started to throb real bad. Boy, this got him reeling. All of a sudden, Maurice was cussing up a storm, calling me a real classy sonuvabitch and all, and all I saw was a big hairy fist smack dab in the center of my face, and the entire room went completely black.
At first, I thought I was still really drunk, everything around me was fuzzy and I couldn't see straight. Then, I start to see this redheaded figure standing over top of me. "Are you all right Holden? What happened to you?" At first, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My eyes started to focus, and there he was, Allie, standing over top of me on his goddam bike, like I just fell off mine. "I dunno, what's going on Allie?" He never answered. I got up, and thought I was dreaming. We were smack dab in the middle of Central Park. I had my camel-hair coat and fur lined gloves on. Allie stared at me like I was a mad drunk, and boy, I probably looked worse. The snow was softly creeping down, and Allie was wearing my hunting cap. "Allie, is that really you? What happened to me? Am I going mad?" Allie just stared and me, and said, "Holden, you're fine. Wanna ride around the park?" At this point, I was just happy to see Allie in his redheaded, freckled glory. We started walking through the park, and I remembered something about the park. "Hey Allie, do you know where the ducks go during the Winter? My goddam phony cabbie told me they just freeze under the water, but I think he's just full of it." Allie started to open his mouth to answer me, but again I was surrounded with darkness and felt like I was falling down a deep dark well.
I started to sit up, and my head was pounding like mad. My hand was swelling up, and I could feel it getting bigger by the second. Then I realized what really happened. My wallet, of course, was five goddam dollars short thanks to Sunny and Maurice. I knew I was crazy to see Allie, but I got all my hopes up for nothing. I don't know what happened, but I just started to go crazy in my hotel room. I was smashing lamps, punching walls, and throwing around towels and toilet paper rolls. Now my bad hand was really getting banged up, but I just didn't give a damn anymore. The hotel was full of crazies and crooks, and I swear to god, I was the only normal one there. I threw all the towels and trash by the door, and started to head downstairs. I decided to start going home, I wanted to talk to Phoebe real bad. I just had to find a way to avoid my parents 'till they got the letter about my expulsion. The snow was sticking to my hunting cap and my hands were freezing, but I started to make my way back home. I was sick and tired of all those phony cab drivers, but forty-two blocks is quite a stretch to walk.



I wrote about this missing segment because I thought it would be a good way to bring Allie back into the book. I started with part of the book so I knew where my missing segment started in the story.
I used the scene with Sunny and Maurice when they tried to cheat five dollars out of Holden. This seemed like a good scene to use because tensions were running high in Holden's hotel room, so unpredictable things could have happened. I could use Maurice's temper to my advantage. Since he got mad at Holden for calling him a cheap phony, I figured I could use his temper to make him hit Holden, and Holden could fight back and aggravate him. I also used Holden's bad hand to connect my version of the story to the real one. Since he banged his hand up breaking windows the night before Allie died, it also helped connect Allie again. Since Holden saw Allie in his dream, but woke up before he could answer his question, it made him even more angry about Allie's death and his unanswered question. This led Holden to release his pent up feelings and smash everything in his hotel room.
The ducks seemed like a recurring theme in the book, so I also tied them in to my missing segment. Holden remembered what the taxi driver said to him, but knew it probably wasn't true. Since Allie was very intelligent, Holden probably would have asked him about the ducks and where they went when the pond froze over.
Even though the bikes were only a small part of the story, I connected them into my story. Since Allie and Holden used to ride bikes together, I tried to create a scene that really could have happened. I set the scene where it seemed like Holden fell off his bike and hit his head, but in reality he got beat up by Sunny and went unconscious.
I also used the Edmont Hotel for inspiration to make my story seem like it fit into the book. I tied in the fact that Holden is self-centered, and has his own strong opinions. Holden thought he was the only normal person in the Edmont Hotel, so I decided to use the same theme again and he restated what he felt.
The last theme I used in my story was Holden's camel-hair coat and fur lined gloves. Since he lost them at Pencey, I thought it might be a good idea to have him wake up wearing all of his stolen clothes. Though this may have been a clue to Holden that he was dreaming, I think he was too surprised that Allie was standing in front of him to notice.

Ode to Simon