Narrative Paper: Introduction

I could hear the sirens all around me. All I could see was the red and blue lights. They were everywhere. Tears were falling down my face. I was eleven and my brother was going to get arrested. I could see him in handcuffs at gun point. “Jen, Jen come on we got to go” it was my brother that woke me from my daze. “How the hell could you do this? You ruined our lives! Your so stupid.” “I couldn’t help it. You know how I am with stuff like that.” “I know but really? Could you have just talked to the cop instead of hitting him?” “I’m sorry Jen. Oh come on don’t be like that. I was walking through my house now. My mom was in the kitchen packing every thing. We had to get out as soon as possible. My brother had a warrant and we were leaving Arizona. The worst part of this: we were going to Utah.

Jen

Narrative Paper: Introduction

“Oh my gosh my arm is broken huh, it’s broken?!” As we take the hour-long drive to Toole that seemed like ten days excitement and laughter warmed the truck. We passed this huge mountain talking about people who have gotten life flighted from there and almost killed. We all kind of just thought to ourselves. “I have never even broke a bone or got one stitch I’m all good.” I say to everyone around me. I never thought I would have to deal with that.

Kesha

Narrative Paper: Introduction

Did you know that being homeless was the worst thing ever.
I was homeless for two years, and still survived, even with three siblings
To take care of.

Before I became homeless I had a pretty normal life, parents that cared,
A house that had electricity and utilitys. I was Loving life. But slowly after that I noticed it. I had noticed that my parents were on Meth. It slowly got worse and worse, I hated it because I had to take care of my two brothers and one sister, because when my parents left, they for days even weeks.

And then finally one day they didn’t come back and I was so scared.
So I dropped out of school and started selling narcotics to support my sibling.
We lived in a mobile van in the back of my aunts house, which was a junk yard, in Magna…


Kirk

Narrative Paper: Introduction

Have you ever been in a group home? I have. Group homes aren’t as scary as the T.V. portrays them to be. It is just like living with a bunch of people, and having other people watch your every move. In my case it was nothing but girls. But rarely there was men staff that worked, and you would visit the boys home. But that was rare well anyways. You think you have a lot of drama in your life. Well try living with 15 other girls. That just screams drama. I stayed out of it most of the time. I had a hard time adapting at first. But then I got use to all the crap. I realized I put myself in this crap so I couldn’t complain. I loved the food though. That was a good part of living there. But either than that I hated every minute of living there. But I still keep in contact with my friends I made there.

Nena

Narrative Paper: Introduction

I didn’t want the big bad people to get me. So I got off the bus and slowly made my way towards my house. My sister and I hid behind each house and ran between the openings. So that the bad people my mommy had been talking about couldn’t see us. I am four years old. Behind one of the houses I saw a pretty butterfly. Then a calico cat came and caught it in his big claws. When I got home I hesitantly went into the house. Mommy was stumbling through the house with her big red eyes and messy hair. She was on drugs. Once upon a time she was that pretty butterfly. Now that cat named heroine cocaine catches her. She started yelling and as her hand made contact with my left temple mumbling something about how bad I was. I wished for my pretty butterfly back and closed my eyes to endure the pain.

Shawnie

Narrative Paper: Introduction

Have you ever done something that would lead to your career when you are older? I always knew that I had some type of craving to fly, since I was related to the Wright Brothers. The Wright Brothers are the ones that invented the airplane. This day my dream came true. I finally got to be a co-pilot; it was the most exciting day ever.

Sommer

Narrative Paper: Introduction

My 18th Birthday.

I was just sitting there when I realized turning eighteen isn’t all that cool. I had my eighteenth birthday about two weeks ago. It was a good birthday for sure. Right at midnight some of my friends sang happy birthday to me.

Later that day when I woke up for the day my parents had made me a cake and gave me a couple presents. One of my best friends Jasmine threw me a little party that night.

It wasn’t till later that night when some friends and I were driving around that I realized its really not that cool to be an adult. Pretty much the only thing you can do that you couldn’t do before is stay out as late as you want. I guess I could go to a couple clubs if I wanted to but I really don’t dig that scene. Being an adult has me very cautious and careful of what I do because I definitely do not want to experience jail.

Alexa

Narrative Paper: Introduction

“Of course I will, I’m so excited to see your house.” My adoptive parents and me were talking about the house they lived in, and they were asking if I wanted to be there son. I didn’t have a family, so of course I said yes. I was so excited. Have you ever felt “needed” or “wanted” by any body? Well I did the day my adoptive parents first told me they were going to adopt me.

Tom

Rap

I am so tired of this place I got people in my face every minute of the day.
Telling me how I am wrong and how I should feel- I am thinking to myself, get real.
You can’t tell me what I am thinking
nope I don’t think so cause I am done with your show
I am tired of being Pinocchio.
I am cutting the strings to let me down, I got both feet on the ground
want to tell me what to do now? You keep telling me it’ll all work out.
Now tell me how! Because I have been the one sitting here for four years
I’ve been the one to shed all those tears. I was the one to face all my fears.
I was the one who was held back from my family. I had to sit my ass in all five facilities. Now tell me what’s going to work out- PLEASE!
‘Cause I know you can’t give me back four years of my life
and you definitely won’t be the one who fixes all my fights: so get it right.
You are the one who I can blame all my pain on from this game you’ve been playing along. But you’re so wrong. I am flipping a trip
I am sick of all your dip, your lies, and your game s
always causing me pain.
You say you are not the one who needs the precision
but in my vision you lie behind every decision.
I’ll have god as my witness cause I have been in this to win this and I just got so dissed because I’m the one who has to live everyday with the pain and the feelings you can’t even say. ‘Cause there aren’t any words that can tell how it hurts. So replay all my words and I will replay all the pain. I am saying it again I am done with your game! Don’t pass go and don’t collect your prize take away the pawns and look into my eyes- life’s not a game so stop playing every day’s the same man I am just saying!

Shawnie

9-11

Well since today is 911 I decided I’ll write about where I was and what I was doing on the devastating attack of terror that occurred in 2001.
I open my eyes very tired from the late night of watching cartoons.
My mom has a very worried look on her face as she is watching fox thirteen news.
I ask what is wrong and she explained the best she could without worrying me (I was in second grade) that we were under attack.

I probably should have been in school, but I guess my mom figured school would be canceled or something. I remember I was just happy that I didn’t have to go to school.
Then after seeing the giant towers fall on television I came to the best conclusion I could in my seven-year-old mind that this was very much real.
After the news repeated the same clip about three times I changed the channel to nickelodeon and watched cartoons the rest of the day.

Eli

If I Could be Anywhere

If I could go anywhere I would go to Japan. Because I like the cars they make. My first ride on an airplane was scary because I’m scared of heights. Plus I thought we was going to tip over when we went down the runway. But yeah we didn’t, and when we were in the air I thought we was going to die like fall out of the sky. But we made it to Salt Lake city alive. I don’t really know if I see people for who they really are considering that I don’t pay attention to them. But I can tell when people are fake. Does that count?

Nena

Anywhere I’d go

I would go somewhere tropical with lots of tree and an ocean that’s as blue as the sky and clear as glass. I don’t really know where this place is, but when I find it trust me I’m going to be there. Maybe this place is somewhere in the ocean waiting for me to find it. You feel me homie.
2.
I’ve never been in a plane. But if I had the chance I’d probably jet out in a jet or chopper.
And not just any jet or chopper but the army type if you know what I mean G.

Luis

Traveling

I would like to go to a lot of places, but the place I would like to go the most is probably Egypt. I would like to go to Egypt because I would love to see the Egyptian Tombs and their Pyramids. I have always wanted to be something that has to do with searching for the history of Egypt. It would be neat looking at all the prized items and see how they lived.

Another place I would like to visit is probably Africa. I would like to see their culture and all the cool animals there. I have a couple of friends that have moved from Africa. They have pictures and they look amazing. With their culture I would just like to see how their houses are built, try some of their food, and see if there is stuff they have to do everyday.

My first plane ride was when I was about six years old and it was to California. I think that was my favorite flight ever because it was so cool to see how small everyone was and how everything looked from up above. Ever since then I have wanted to also become a Commercial line Pilot. I think it would be so much fun flying around the world exploring different places.

Sommer

If I Could Take One Thing Back

The question is if I could take back one thing in my life what would it be. However. I would not take back one thing in my life; I would like to take back something from someone else’s life. I would take away my mother and father’s want to do drugs while my sister and I where with them. Because if they never did drugs, then I might have had a normal life… I might have not been in 16 foster homes and 6 group homes, throughout my life. I believe that drugs are the worst things that you could ever do to yourself; and to your family.

When I was growing up I always thought it was my fault and wished that I could take back my bad actions that got me taken away from my mommy and daddy. Although now that I am grown up and know better, I know that it was not my fault. I know what they did was wrong and after all the consequences that came from their decision to do drugs I am okay with it. Maybe I won’t take it away; because, I am a great person and I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have all the trials I have had. I like who I am and that is the end, no apologies no regrets!

Shawnie

If I Could Take One Thing Back

I’ve given a lot of thought to the one thing that I would want to take back in my life and I can’t really think of just one. There’s so many that pop into my head and it’s so hard to just choose one. But if I had to choose one, I would take back the fact that I looked at, smelled, and surrounded myself with--DRUGS.

That was my hugest mistake. If I wouldn’t have started drugs, I wouldn’t have gone through half the groundings I’ve been through. I wouldn’t have met most the people that I hung out with. I wouldn’t have gotten into as much trouble either. I’m pretty sure that I probably wouldn’t have ran and if I wouldn’t have ran I wouldn’t have gotten locked up.

If I had kept a clean life then I wouldn’t have had to move to Provo to a Proctor Home. I’d still be in Richfield, going to school everyday, maybe choosing better friends that make smarter choices or at least not bring any of the illegal substances around me. Drugs made me learn a lot of hard lessons in life. Now’s the time to move on.

Maryssa

If I Could Take One Thing Back

If I had the option to take 1 thing back in my life I would actually have a hard time deciding what to do. I mean like a normal human I do have things in my life I regret but over all I think everything happens for a reason.

One thing I always want to take back is dropping out of school when I did but then I would never of been at Summit. I love Summit so much! Summit has changed my life and given me opportunities. I have made more friends and family here than I would of anywhere else.

I think about how I wish I could take back everything that happened with my mom and getting taken away from her. Wow dumb because my mom is not capable to be a mom at all so I would never want to go back. I love my mom but she cant even take care of herself she could never take care of me.

So yes I hate rules but I live with family that loves me and I’m actually made goals and perusing them. I would probably take back some lies I have said or dumb things like that, but over all I don’t think I would take back much. You live and learn right?

If I Could Take One Thing Back

If I could take one thing back in my life it would be how I treated my parents. I treated them like crap. I feel very bad for some of the things I told them. I was doing drugs most of the time. If I wasn’t on drugs, I was on a hang over, or coming down off of something. My mom told me that when I moved out I sent her some emails. She kept those emails and told me that she would never delete them. I read those when I was clean and I felt sick to my stomach. I do not even remember sending them. I see tears in her eyes when she reads over those again.

I have made my dad so mad at me. My dad just cares about me a little too much. He is always trying to look after me. I barley get to see him too. He lives in Bountiful and we live in Spanish Fork. Whenever he came down to spend time with the family, I would tell him to screw off. Then I would go hang out with all my friends. I told all my friends that he was not my real dad.

Now I tell my mom and dad I love them every chance I get. I love them to death and I never want to hurt them again. I am going to live in their basement until I am thirty. I am going to do this to make up for the lost years. I respect them now. I live a totally different life now. I have a better life.

Jen

Have you ever covered for a friend? What qualities make a good friend?

Well, I think if you have been friends with someone for long enough, you have probably covered for them at one point. I think I have mostly covered for my friends by telling their parents they were with me when they weren’t, or I would let them leave my house and come sleep when they were done hanging out. For the friends I have had for multiple years, I have no idea how many times I have covered for them or done them extra favors.

Qualities that make a good friend are honestly, trust, and the biggest is loyalty, for me. I don’t believe you can have any sort of relationship without honesty and trust. You have to have trust in someone to get close to them. Loyalty is huge to me because I am a very loyal person to those I care about, so I think I deserve the same in return.

I have been through a lot of friends and it seems like I have kept the same ones that I have been with for years. They have the qualities you could ever want in a good friend. I know if I was ever in trouble my friends would be there in a heartbeat to help me out, no matter what the situation is.

Alexa

1.what is one thing you have learned from an older person?

One thing I’ve learned from an older person would have to be something my dad told me a couple of years ago when he figured out I was stealing and got caught shoplifting. “what you do know that affects others (good/bad) will find its way back around and bite you in the butt.”

2. do you know anyone that has died of a drug over-dose? Describe them. How has it affected you?

I’ve known many people that have died due to a drug over-dose.
The person that has affected me most would have to be my uncle Russell.
He wasn’t just some druggie that didn’t care about anything else but his habit, he was selfless and compassionate. When my mom was pregnant with my little brother and sister she didn’t have any where to stay. I was about five and I remember him taking us in and taking really good care of us even-though he was living at his Moms house. She wasn’t happy about it but she still let us stay. If it wasn’t for him we would have ended up staying in a shelter with a bunch of bums or something so I am really grateful for him.

Eli

Music

Music has been in life since day one, it’s the only thing to pull me up when I was down. Even when I was young my dad, use to play music really loud to wake us up. So I’ve always liked music. It don’t matter what I listen to just as long as it has a meaning behind it. Me myself I like to rap and write poetry. It helps keep me calm and chill with myself. If it wasn’t for music I would probably still be stuck on weed or something else. One of my favorite rappers is 2pac because of his poetic energy that he brings to the stage.

I think that every body should love music any kind it’s good for the mind and you can get loc to it.

Luis

Embarrassing

When I was about twelve years old, I had a friend named Billy Boren. He was not only my friend but my all time crush. I had, had a crush on him since the 5th grade. Well, one night we were trying to think of something fun to do and could not come up with anything. He suggested bowling- lame, movies- boring. Then he got the bright idea of cops and robbers. Cops and robbers is this game were you have about twenty to thirty people, and some of the people are “cops” and the rest are “robbers.” The cops are in cars and the robbers are on foot. The object of the game is for the robbers to get from one side of town to the other without getting caught by the “cops.”

Well when we eventually got the whole thing organized and everybody there I got kind of nervous and had a bad feeling in my stomach. I was planning on staying by Billy’s side but I have never played this game before but they didn’t know that on account of I wanted to be cool and said, “ I’ve taken every route in this game, I am pro.” The game started as Billy took off to the left. It was pretty easy at first then I saw where we were headed: a row of backyards! I thought this scene only happened in movies. Where the bad guys jumped over a series of fences. However in two, three, one… first fence over with, second, third, fourth, ditch!!! Yes! I said Ditch after the fourth fence I jumped straight into a ditch full of water! Of course Billy and Chris, this other guy who decided to run with us, knew that it was there and jumped over it. I smoothly got up and out of the water and started to run. They were laughing really hard but I couldn’t figure out why. I felt unusually light in the fact that I had just gotten out of a ditch full of water.

In the next two seconds I realized something that was too late to fix. Because I was caught in the fact that the cops got me and my pants were about 150 yards behind me probably floating in the ditch downstream. Great!!!! I am without pants under headlights in front of the crush of my life. Best night of my life.

Shawnie

The very first concert I ever went to was Godsmack. It was so much fun! I got these um . . . clothes, yeah clothes and it was 20 dollars! Wow! You see the problem with that was that it was just a little piece of cloth. It is very cute though I still have it. Anyways I got punched in the jaw when we were in the mosh pit. The problem was that I was not even in the mosh pit. They just attacked me it was kind of sad actually. I was to little to see the stage very good so I sat on my boyfriends’ shoulders. This was just like 3 years ago. I thought it was so much fun but there was a lot of hot sweaty people and it was sick because some of them had their shirts off and were all hairy with sweat. They are all moshing on you and it is gross! I have only been to a couple of concerts but I really like them. By the time it has gone on for a few I get really tiered though. I mean standing and jumping and throwing yourself everywhere gets very tiring.

Kesha

What is one thing that I have learned from an older person? I have learned a lot from older people, like my brother for instance, I learned how to smoke, drink, ride BMX bikes, and pick up girls. I also learned how to do math, English, and science from teachers, I learned how to play the guitar and play the baritone from teachers too.

How do I deal with gossip? When I here gossip about one of my friends I try to stop it from spreading, but if I here gossip about someone I don’t even know then I just try to stay put of it.

Do I know anybody who has died of an overdose? No I don’t know of anybody who has died of a drug overdose, but I do know someone who died in my life. My friend threatened to kill himself and I didn’t believe him but I went to his house just in case, I got to his house and went to his room and he was bleeding really bad ‘cause he had cut his wrists (our motto was “when you cut you don’t go across the road you go down it”) we called an ambulance but they didn’t get there fast enough. Yeah, it’s kind of a touchy subject to me. I was really depressed and wouldn’t talk to any one for like a month.

Tom

I get along with my dad. But my mom is dead. I never really got along with her because we were so much a like, but my dad and I’ve always close. I loved both of my parents. I don’t really know if they trusted me Because they just let me do whatever I wanted.
I think that drugs and alcohol does cause violent. People that are on them are not in their right minds. When you are high you try things that can hurt you. That is because you can’t feel anything. You do it cause it feels weird when you do those things. So on drugs and alcohol you are likely to get hurt.

Nena

What have I learned from an older person? I have learned a lot from older people. My grandma has taught me the most. She taught me to have respect for myself before I can respect anyone else. The most important thing she has taught me is that I have to trust. I could not trust anyone before. She sat me down and talked to me for a very long time about that. Now I trust a lot of people. Maybe not as many as I should, but I trust a lot more.

Do I know anyone who has died of a drug overdose? Yes I have known a lot of people that I have died of that. My friend Nichole she is alive now. Her heart stopped when she took one to many pills one night. I was there when that happened. It totally sucked. It has affected me so much. I watched one of my closest friends go from a beautiful girl to skinny as heck and taking all sorts of pills for her heart. It is crazy how fast it can happen. It changed my life forever.

Jen

How do you deal with gossip?

I generally try to avoid gossip because I don’t like to listen to it. I hate it when people talk about me or spread rumors about me regardless if they are true or not. I think it can really hurt people and make them feel worthless or bad. It happens all the time, and nobody is excluded.
Do you know anyone who has died of a drug-overdose? Describe them. How has it affected you?

Yes, I have lost the most important person in my world to a drug-overdose. My mom died because of it. It destroyed me and is one of the very worst things that ever happened to me in my life. I loved her very much and she was one of the greatest people I ever knew. She cared so much for us kids, and did everything in her ability to take care of us. She was so thoughtful and generous even though the drugs made it hard for her to be her true self. She still tried to help everybody around her. She was not a bad person, but she just had a problem which eventually took away her life. No matter what mistakes she ever made, I will always love her. It has affected me in so many ways.

People always think that drugs only affect themselves but that’s not true. It affects everybody around you. Especially when something like that happens.

Nichole

Teenagers vs. Parents

I think teenagers argue with their parents because kids want to do everything they want to, but the parents have been there done that. They don’t want their kids to make the same mistakes as them they already have been through it so there trying to stop it. On the other hand, though kids want to live their life and learn their own way, kids should be smart and learn from their parent’s mistakes.

My parents tell me crap all the time that I shouldn’t do because they have had bad consequences, but I don’t really want to listen to them all the time. All I want is to live my life the way it is and not listen at all to them. This is why we argue all the time is because I hate listening to them because they are always right.

Luckily my parents trust me pretty good. Sometimes they do get suspicious but that is ok. I’m use to it. My parents trust me because when they do get suspicious I’m really not doing anything bad. I don’t think I have ever done anything to break my trust. Hopefully the arguing can stop soon and my family will be happier.

Sommer

Embarrassing

Have I ever done something to impress someone I liked? Honestly I don’t really think so but I have embarrassed myself in front of someone I liked. If I didn’t embarrass myself, then my dad or step-mom or my stepbrother or my little nine-year-old sister would do it for me; never fails. She’s probably the best at it! She got this brilliant idea to bring out the family home videos of when I was like six or seven. Well I had quite a bit of people at my house that night, including the person I was dating at the time.

They helped hold me down and started tickling me and then started to give me a “pink belly” while some of the others pulled out their phones and started recording it. My face was so red and wet from all the laughter tears! Well once someone sent me what they recorded of me, I saw myself dancing in these ugly pink shorts with a different colored pink shirt. I was shaking my seven-year-old butt to Ricky Martin. Can you say EMBARRASSING? The next day at school, everyone knew who I was and what I did when I was little.

Maryssa

If I could change my name, I wouldn’t even want to. I would keep the name I already have. I don’t mind my name at all. My mom named me Alexa for a reason. It would probably make her really sad if I changed my name. Plus I think Alexa fits me. I can’t imagine myself with any other name.

I don’t have a favorite television show. I really like the murder mystery shows though. Snapped is one of my favorite. I think it is very interesting.

My very biggest dream is to travel the world and try everything once. One of the places I want to go first is Egypt.

Alexa