This can’t be happening!

Sascha Petrova is a 17 year old girl that has practiced gymnastics since she was just a little girl. She is blonde, but her hair is more like honey. She is tall and her body is curvy but slim. Her skin is very white and her eyes are green. She is really competitive and she always wants to end up in first place. She is very constant, and she attends to her training 7 hours every day and 3 on Sundays. She loves what she does, but sometimes she thinks how her life would be without having become a professional gymnast. Her favorite color is yellow and she loves lilies. She used to have a dog that was very close to her, but with time she started getting distant. She wants to be the best gymnast in the world, and she dreams of getting the gold medal in the Olympic Games. She is very close to her parents, Alexander and Iskra, and brother, Viktor, because they live all together. She loves them very much, but the person that she admires the most and that is her example in life is Nadia Comaneci.

Since two years ago she was considered the best gymnast of her country, this time she was invited to the Olympic Games to represent her country. After achieving first places in most of the classification rounds, she finally made it to the final.  These Olympic Games supposedly take place in Buenos Aires in 2028. All the competitions in which Sascha participates are in the Central Gym.

This monologue takes place after Sascha finishes her routine in the balance beam. She is in the dressing rooms and she is wearing a red leotard. She seems stressed and angry.  There is a combination of feelings inside her body. She feels angry, disappointed, anxious, sad, melancholic, nervous, and worried. She starts talking and her ideas are all mixed up.

 

SASCHA

(With a quick respiration rate but speaking slowly. She is in a complete shock. While she talks, she looks to the horizon)

Oh My God! I just ruined everything! I cannot believe it! This can’t be happening to me! All my life I have given it to gymnastics, and all for nothing.

(She starts crying in a calm way)

Almost 12 years training, a lot of things that I have sacrificed, free hours spent at the gym, complete summers without even going to watch a movie with my friends, and all that for nothing.

(She looks up as if she was talking to God)

Why God, why? Why did I have to fall from the balance beam?

(She puts her hands in her eyes, and cleans the tears)

I already mastered my routine. Everything was going so well. The eliminatory rounds were perfect. Why did I have to ruin everything? Why now? Why not before? I wouldn’t have raised my hopes so much.

(She stops talking while her crying increases)

(After she calms down, she continues.)

Of course there is no one to blame except me. This is all my fault. I had my chance, and I blew it. My dream flushed away. I was so close. SO CLOSE! (Almost shouting)

(She moves nervously across the room)

If only I had made little more effort, or if I had just heard Elena, my trainer. I can picture her in my head saying (She makes a low pitched voice as if she was imitating Elena.) “You need to balance yourself, and you should never let even your little toe to be outside the beam.”

(She is getting calmer. She starts taking out her white pants, her jacket, and her tennis)

It is as if she knew it. She knew this would happen. I felt how my right little toe stopped feeling the beam under it. I just went on and on, but every movement I made, I was getting more unstable. Until just when I was about to do my exit, I fell.

(She takes her pants and starts putting them on.)

I vaguely remember how my foot got stuck and all my body started falling into the right side of the beam. The scene comes to my mind every minute. I am sure it will haunt me down forever.

(She seats down and leans her head against the wall closing her eyes.)

I did all I could not to fall down, but all my efforts were hopeless. The complete audience was in awe. Those were the longest two seconds of my life.

(She pictures the scene in her head as if it were a nightmare.)

The two insignificant seconds that destroyed my career.

(She opens her eyes and starts putting on her tennis.)

I have got nothing now. I sacrificed my friends and my school to be here. How am I going to return with Elena? What am I going to tell her? Not only have I let down my parents and my trainer, but also my country. I will make thousands of people be disappointed.

(She finally stands up and puts on her jacket that matches the pants.)

Russia used to impose superiority in this sport, but for the past years it all went down. People lowered their expectations, and I wanted to prove them wrong.

(She looks herself in the mirror. She watches the reflection, and cleans her face in a very thoughtful way .After a couple of seconds, she starts talking again.)

I will not give up for my own pride, for my family, for Elena, for my friends, and for my country. I will work hard for the next four years, and when I come back I will be able to do it. I will demonstrate the world that we, Russians, have always been the best in Gymnastics, and that we still got it.

(She leaves the room)

 

 

Testing Reality by Tom Harrison : ESSAY

The poem, Testing Reality, by Tony Harrison talks about the difficulty a child has to accept his mother’s death and the importance of a mother in a child’s life.  The mayor themes the poet talks about are death and the feeling of abandonment. Through the poem we can see how the poet was deeply affected by the unfortunate event and how he considers it as abandonment. The resentment he feels towards his mother’s death had a great impact upon his life and expressing it seems to be the main purpose of this poem. These two themes, death and abandonment, are shown with techniques such as the tone, the alliterations, allegories, the symbols and the rhythm in it. With the use of these methods the poet expresses the sadness and hard times in his life after his mother left him. Through the poem, the poet suggests that a mother is essential in a child’s life.

The characters in the poem are the narrator, his dead mother and the birds. Each one of these few characters has an important role in it. The narrator is the child that lost his mother when she was seventy years old. Even though the narrator was not a child anymore when his mom past away he reacts as one. He feels grateful for all the teaching his mother gave him while being alive but feels abandoned in a ways. His hard time accepting death makes him look childish and immature. The death mother in the poem represents the role they have upon a child’s life. The entire poem is about her death and the meaning of it. When she dies the narrator realizes he is now alone and it is his turn to become the parent. The death of his mother made him understand that he is no longer “the child”. The birds have an important role in the poem as well. They represent the theme of abandonment. When the narrator sees them fly away from the church’s roof he feels it was his mother leaving him. These three characters build the mayor themes in the poem.

The literal action in the poem is the narrator watching birds fly away from a church’s rooftop. The church is located in a town called Beeston, a town in Nottinghamshire, England. All this action is an allegory of his mother’s death and his feelings of abandonment. An allegory is a good technique to express his feelings in a more poetic rather than direct way. It is a subtle manner to make us understand what his mother’s death meant to him. This hidden message the poet expects us to find makes the poem more interesting and beautiful. The birds represent life and how it is in its nature to end. The death of a seventy-year-old woman is expected because she is an old woman. It is in nature to die around that age and this is represented with the birds.

The author uses a childish style along the poem to give emphasis on the theme of abandonment. He uses the childish style to recognize that his feelings can be considered childish. This style is shown when he writes “20” or “10,000” in numbers instead of using the words. This is the way a child would have written it.  Also, due to the fact that the poem is mainly about death the style is also serious and sorrowful.  After reading it you can clearly sense it is not a joyful poem, in fact it is a sad poem.  The style is very important because it represents the child we all have inside. Even though we are grownups we still have childish feelings and dependency on other people, in this case mothers.

Also an important matter the poem talks about and questions is reality. The ways human beings accept it and deal with it. “Testing the reality” can be considered as challenging it. Instead of being afraid of death we have to learn to live with it. The poem suggests the author believes in after life. This is shown by the sunrise he talks about. We can come to the conclusion that he is starting to realize that death is just a new beginning because a sunrise represents one. It not only shows his acceptance of reality, but also the way his handling the cruel reality he faced when his mom “flew away”.

The last stanza in the poem can be considered one of the most important ones. It is the stanza that marks the change from the childish style to a more mature one. The rhyme scheme in the last stanza is perfect, 10 syllables each verse representing the stability the narrator has gained. This stability in when he learns to accept his mother’s death. He becomes again a man and leaves the childish feelings behind. The poet uses this method to make us realize that accepting death may be hard but not impossible and sooner or later we have to do it.

 After reading the poem we can come to the conclusion thatfacing reality can be extremely difficult. Death is one of the few things as human beings we cant escape from and we are destined to face. The poem suggests that when someone dies it’s the ones that are still alive the ones that suffer, and the ones that die have the opportunity to start a new life. Through the poem we can see how the author attitude changes. At first his like a child and at the end we can see he reaches stability.  We can see how he matures and learns to appreciate the times when his mother was alive. He recognizes everything he knows thanks to her. Testing the Reality is a beautiful poem that shows us the importance of a mother in life at the same time it talks about the reality we face as humans in a lifetime.

USA vs Mexico

This holiday vacations we had because of “the bicentenary of the Mexican Independece”, I went to the United States, more specific to Los Angeles , California. I have to admit that I am a very bad mexican citizen , because in the biggest party of all the times I went to a other place. I recognize that I wasnt a good mexican, but I think I made a better choice. USA is a very structurate country with high technology and education. Contrasting the United States with Mexico, i can notice a lot of very important differences. Streets in Mexico are high polluted and you feel insecure, in USA is totally the opposite. When I was walking in the streets I really feel comfortable and not scary because I could cross all the xings and streets with no worries at all, because americans respect the pedestrians. The highways and streets are all very organized so thats why there is no that much traffic and therefore there is no “circulation day” to certain cars. All of them circulate daily. Other thing I noticed a lot is how the workers of stores and restaurants and even cops  are very kind with everybody, they put all their effort to the job and are always trying to help for a better society.

Eventhough Mexico has a lot of security and economic “cons” I have to admit that it is my favority country in the whole world, Its kind of sarcastic and a little “sinico”, but when I was underage I love going to nightclubs and parties, Mexico is one country where you can make whatever you want. Cops are very corrupt so everything works with a “bill”. Other things I like about Mexico is the culture and the food, Mexican food is the best in the whole world, and the mexican ruins , beaches , and tourism are the best.

USA could be very organizated and the first power in the world, but NO ONE would teach a mexican how to party hard and have fun!!!

Teenage Drug in USA

A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. After this definition about what a drug is , I just want to talk quickly about the teeanger drug abuse. In the last decade, the drug consumers had increase more than ever. The teenagers when they first try drugs is in 8th grade, and by 12th grade , most of the highschoolers consume drugs. They consume from weed, to alcohol, to cigarrettes. In my opinion, the american kids take drugs because of the difficult society in which they live, the problems in home they have and the lack of attention and love they have. When they take drugs , they think everything will be OK, they chill and relax for a moment feeling that they escaped, but when the effect finishes they need to face reality again and continue to develop an addiction. An addiction could brought health diseases or even die.

The drug that causes the most deaths is alcohol, not because of the drinking, what makes people die or get seriously injured is driving with the influence of alcohol. An investigation made by scientifics in the university of San Diego, explained that with just 2 cups of drink you louse the 25% of your concentration while you are driving, now imagine who it would be if you drink half  bottle in a night club? I can confirm that you will crash and get injured or even die. So that’s why, if you drink don´t drive, just take a cab or pick a ride.

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