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I Hope. I Dream. By Isabelle Watts

I raise my arms high to the sky and spread them wide. I glance around the South Carolina forest to see if I’m alone, I am. The time was right. No one would see my greeting of the morning sun. The motion of my arms made the feathers on my bracelet – the one that my daddy gave me -- dance and my hair fly free, like I would one day. “Marry Teresa Collins,” my momma said in a quiet raspy whisper. “You better stop that! You don’t want the dogs, big dogs to get you!” “Sorry Momma,” I said in the same quiet raspy whisper. I know that I must hide in the daylight and run for freedom in the dark. One crack of a stick, one crunch of a leaf can give my momma and me away. The dogs, big dogs will come and get you! It all started on a night when the sky was clear and the stars up in the path to freedom were glowing. It was the night before my momma was gonna get taken’ to Georgia. My momma sure did hate that master, so she decided to be brave, real brave and pee on the masters special gowns. The master found out it was my momma, gave 35 lashes on the back and now is sendin’ her to the worst place a slave can go, Georgia. It was the place where slaves, like me, go so they will pay for what they did to their master. Hot, horrible, hard work was my momma’s future. I didn’t want that, I didn’t want that at all! I start think real hard ‘bout what my future is gonna be without my momma. Who would hold me when I have the bad dream of the whip a hurtin’ me? Who would tell me the stories of the freedom place? Who would sing me the songs of hope? But the most scariest question of them all was, who would be my momma? The night started to grow darker and darker, while I start to grow more and more tired. I look my beautiful momma in her big brown eyes and ask her to sing me “Wade in The Water”. I only remember that song because we sang it in church days back.

//Wade in the water// //Wade// //in the water children// //Wade in the water// //God’s gonna trouble the water//

//Well, who are these children all dressed in red.// //God’s a-gonna trouble the water// //Must me the children that Moses led// //God’s a-gonna trouble the water//

As I listen to my song of hope fly out of my momma’s mouth, I start to think ‘bout the freedom place. I could see me and my momma walkin’ on the grass like the white people do. I could see me and my momma singin’ songs like we did in Africa when I was small and didn’t have to worry about the big whip a-hurtin’ me. I saw my momma not worrin’. I saw me and my momma—Free! “Baby, baby girl! Wake up! Wake up please!” my momma said quietly, bravely. “Momma, what?” “Baby,” my momma paused. “We scapin’. We goin’ to the freedom place, like we dreamed! Momma stands me up to my achin’ feet, and we run out the door. My momma has a thing in her hand, a long stick with a cloth at the end. It lookes like one of those -- wasps’ nests, hangin’ on a stick. It lookes like it had some food for me and my momma inside for us to eat when we be runnin’ to the freedom place. I heard my momma mutterin’ to herself “We gonna go find that Moses. That Moses that will lead me and my baby to our freedom place. I know he’s out there. I know.” “Momma what are you talkin’ bout’? “Baby girl, we gonna go find that Moses that will lead us to our freedom place.” “But momma, how do you know that Moses is a-waitin’ for us? “Because baby, god made all of the people in the big house sick with the flu, like he made all of the Egyptians sick so that Moses can come free the Jews and lead them to their freedom place. See baby, we are like the Jews and the white devils are like the Egyptians and I know, I know that there is a Moses that will lead us to our freedom place. I know baby girl, I know.” My momma is always right but this time when my momma is tellin’ me bout’ Moses, I feel she might be wrong. I know I should not be thinkin’ that but I feel that we have to be our own Moses that will lead us to our freedom place.

Runnin’, we runnin’ through the forest, sneaky. Me followin’ my momma, not knowin’ where we goin’, not knowin’ what I am doin’ all I really know is that I be runnin’ for a while. My heart is a-beatin’ real fast. As fast as the dogs, big dog run when they chasin’ after a runaway. Questions are bein’ answered. Who would hold me when I had the bad dream, my momma would hold me. Who would tell me the stories, my momma would tell me the stories. And the most scariest question was answered, who would be my momma, my momma would still get to me my momma. I remember my momma sayin’ that we have to get to the river so the dogs will loose out sent and there was the water, a-waitin’ for us. I run down to the river and on the brown rocky sand is a man, a white man. I stand frozen, starin’ right at the white man. No! Is he gonna come and take me away, back to the place of the white devils? Is he gonna kill us? “Hello, there!” he yells. The man is holin’ a bright glowing cup and wears tight lookin things on his legs and a dress thing to warm him. “Baby he safe, he gonna take us across the water” “Momma, but he white, he might be a-waitin’ to hurt me momma, with his whip in his pocket!” “No baby girl, he had the glowing cup, he safe! We be a-lookin’ for the people with the glowing cups. They gonna help us get to our freedom place.” I didn’t want to go with the white man. I don’t trust those white men. Not even if my momma says that they safe, they still hurted me.

“Baby girl, it’s the dogs. They comin’ to get us. Baby girl we gotta hide. Please hide in the trunk of the tree” My momma pushed me in the trunk of the tree and pushed some green stingin’ stuff to cover me. My heart was ‘bout to beat right out of me. Where’s my momma? Where’s my momma? The dogs were getting closer. Their yells gettin’ louder, the pounding of the feet, the crackin’ of the sticks all comin’ to get me. “Oh please god! Make them dogs go away.” I thought in my head as the yells of the beasts get louder. I wait. I wait in the hole in the tree, without my momma. I wait. I hope. I dream. I wait. I’ve waited long enough the dogs are gone. They yells of the beasts stop. Dead silence fills the air like the silence before the whip hits. “Are they gone? Is it our time, my time to finally be free. My time to find my freedom place.” I thought in my head as the yells stop and the pounding of the white devils stop to. BANG! The silence was broken by a loud popping sound. It was the sound of the gun. The gun kills. The gun kills my African kind. And BANG BANG BANG, it killed my momma. I herd the scream of my momma, the scream worse then when the whip hits. The gun has killed another one of my African kind. I run out of my hidin’ place, not carin’ ‘bout if I get hit by the gun. Not carin’ ‘bout gettin’ captured. Not carin’ ‘bout nothin’, only gettin’ to my momma. “Momma! No!” I turn and look those white devils right in their African killin’ eyes. “You killed her!” I scream. My momma was layin’ on the forest floor with the blood gushin’ out of her, runnin’ off of her side onto the floor. BANG! I go blank. The whip. The whip had hurt me again. I fall to the ground. I cannot see anythin’. It burns. The burnin’ feelin’ started at my legs and now had grown thought out my body. I cannot think. I cannot move. I cannot be free. The big white devil swipes me up and throws me into the back of a wagon. I fall hard on the bare cold floor. I cannot move. I cannot get up. I look up and there sittin’ on a pillow, was a another one of those killers. “Where’s my momma?!” I cried to the white devil. He turned around and hit me hard right across the face. “Stupid girl. You know you can not talk unless I tell you it’s okay.” I glare at him straight in the eyes. Lookin’ at him makes me want to just spit in his killin’ face. Make him pay for killin’ my momma. Imma make him pay. Imma do it. Imma do it. Imma do it. I turn my hurtin’ head and there was my revenge. A wood brick. Imma be brave. Brave like my momma. I turned and grabbed the wood brick. 1, 2, 3 go, I hit the white devil right on the arm. He screams. He hurts. He’s mad. The white devil rips the wood brick right out of my hand. I fall to the ground. As I look up to the sky the stars in the path of freedom were still glowin’. BANG. He beat in the stomach. BANG. He beats me in the chest and a nail goes right in to me. Now blood squeezes out. “Stop! The master will not pay us if the Negra is dead. Don’t kill her! Stop don’t kill the Negra!” I heard the white devil scream that was outside. The pain was killing me. I look to the stars again and dream of freedom. It’s my time to be free. BANG! He beats me in the face. My nose not is havin’ blood. This is it. “Kill me!” I yelled to him. “ You kill this little African slave. Just do it.” I stare him right in the eyes. Those eyes that are beatin a 12-year-old African slave. BANG. The brick slams my head. BANG BANG BANG! I hurt. He stops. I cannot move. I cannot fight back. Now it’s my time to be free. I dream. I hope. I die. I’m -- free!

Where I am from

I am from the monster cookies And the fresh smell of basil that fills my house I am from the dirt out back Cool, Black, Sparkly, I am from the evergreens Who stand so tall And the twenty orchid pots Whose flowers, independent and picky Are only present for summer months When the warming sun shines so bright

I am from the very loud To the very precise I am from the sweet yet angry voice of my mom Stop fighting! And Please Come Help!?

I am from the Ron’s Apothecary Whose help is all over the town I am from the Columbia River Whose water is home to lots of fish I am from the big family dinners Whose homemade rolls, Lots of salad, and Yummy meat, Fills our bellies. I am from the old family pictures Whose memories are to remember

I am from the time when my sister, brother, Dad and I had to sleep on the Copper River delta in our plane until the weather cleared And the time when my family and I went to Pacific City and stayed on the beach I am from those moments and memories Who sit on the bookshelf waiting to be seen again.

Misunderstood

//Lights come on. Mom walks in with shopping cart. Michelle waits for mom to get into center stage. Michelle walks in, trip over feet.//

Michelle: //Getting up from floor.// Oh my god! I can’t believe that I just did that //again!!// //Embarrassed.//

Mom: //worried// //mom like.// Oh, wow! Are you okay Michelle?

Michelle: Yes, yes mom in okay. //Smooth out cloths, fix hair.// Oh no! Look I broke that vase. //Confused, hands in head.// What do I do?

Mom: Ohh its okay, you will just go show the store manager. It will be no problem.

//Lights off. Mom walks off stage. Lights on. Michelle looks for store manager wit vase in coat.// //Bump into him. Look surprised.//

Store manager: //mad and kind of snotty.// Wow watch where you are going!? //Point at vase.// Are you //stealing// that vase?!

Michelle: No! No! No! Of course not!

Store manager: //hand on hips. Well// it sure, looks like it.

Michelle: well ahhhh. Ahh. Well, yeahh see I am really clumsy and I tripped over my feet and the vase got all broken. I’m sorr─

Store manager: yeah yeah yeah, that’s what they all say!

Michelle: No! I am not joking!! I swa-

Store Manager //interrupting//: okay well I am just going to let the cops take of this.

Michelle: Please no! I was not tr-

Store Manager: don’t tell it to me, tell it to the cops! //Pull out phone and start pushing numbers. Store manager stomps away angry, with phone in hand. Mom walks in ad finds Michelle. Off stage faint talking of manager talking to cops.//

Mom //annoyed:// Michelle, what is taking so long?!

//Michelle looks startled and looks at mom//

Michelle //stutters a little:// Oh, well that store manager thinks that I am stealing the vase that broke.

Mom //Surprised:// What! Why? Did you tell him that it broke when you fell?

Michelle //sort of mad:// No! He did not let me explain what happened!

Mom //talk with hands//: well I am going to go talk to him and tell him what happened. Where did he go?

Michelle: He walked off somewhere to call the cops.

//Cops enter. March to Michelle and mom. Store manager walk right behind them//

//Michelle whisper in mom’s ear// Michelle //quietly:// Oh god— her comes mister grump!

Store Manager //Point at Michelle:// there is that thief.

Michelle: I’m not a thief!!!

Cop 1: What’s going on here?

//Cop 2 look not that interested.//

Store Manager: this girl tried to steal my vase!

Cop 1: And how do you know?

Store Manager //stutters:// Well, ahhh, you know kids these days, they just break things a little so that they can just take them without paying.

//Mom cuts in.// Mom: No! Michelle is not a thief. She is just really clumsy and she tripped over her feet and then that vase broke. Then she was going to go tell mister store manager but then he jumped to conclusions.

Michelle: Yeah he did not let me tell him what happened!!

Cop 1: Is that what happened Sir?

Store Manager: No! Well, kinda. I just didn’t want to deal with another one of those teenagers!

Cop 1: Well Sir, you just have to let the person tell you what happened because most teenagers are not thieves, but if you don’t let them explain it will just lead to a bigger problem, just like this one.

Store Manager: ummmk Sir, I will try.

//Michelle cuts into conversation.//

Michelle: Well //now// can I go, because I didn't try to steal the vase?!

Cop 1: Yes, you are free to go!

Mom and Michelle: Yes, finally it's done!!

Cop 1 //joking:// Now try not to get in anymore trouble. //Giggle a little.//

//Michelle laughs.//

Michelle: Okay, I will not! //Giggles again.

Cop 1 and 2 exit. Store Manager Exit looking not that satisfied. Mom and Michelle start to walk out of store.//

Mom: Michelle? Do you want to go out for ice cream to celebrate that this is all over. Finally?

Michelle: Yes, of course!

//Mom and Michelle exit. Lights go off. Come on in ice cream shop. Mom walks in first, Michelle follows behind.//

Michelle: Yummmmmy, I love ice cream!

Mom: Me to!

//Michelle walks over to look at ice cream, trip on feet and fall on the shelf. Everything falls over the place.//

Worker 1: Oh my gosh! what have you done!

Michelle //hands in head//: Not again!

Mom: Oh geeeezze! I hoped that she was going to trip

Worker 1: Your going to clean this up! Right now!

//Mom and michelle look at each other and walk over to worker 1.

Start cleaning up. Michelle gets on hands and knees to start cleaning. Mom and worker stands and watches. Lights go off. All characters come to stage and bow!


 * THE END! **//

By Isabelle Watts. Did you know that slave successfully escaped for slavery? Well you might know that there was once slavery in our country for hundreds of years. The historical Fiction story that you are about to read will give you a glimpse of how slaves escaped on the Underground Railroad
 * Preface **

Here is some vocabulary and phrases that you will need to know to understand this story. ** __Underground Railroad__ ** was a line of safe houses that were owned by white people that did not believe in slavery and wanted to help slaves escape. ** __Slavery__ ** was a way for white people not to work on their plantations and to get money by selling their own human kind. ** __Plantations__ ** were large pieces of farmland owned by a rich white man.

My story is set in Charleston, South Carolina 1840 when slaves dreamed of being free. They dreamed of freedom because they were mistreated meaning hit, whipped, and forced to work in the masters house or in the field.
 * What is the historical setting for this story? **

It is true that there once was a period of time when we had slavery only because the African Slaves were a different skin color than white. It is true that slaves escaped although not all of the slaves got to the north. The northern states at this time were free because they did not have plantations like the southern stated did. So slaves really did get that dream of being free! Mary and her Mom were fictional characters and all of the other slaves mentioned in this story. However there were slaves in South Carolina that did work on plantations. All of the people that were in the safe houses and that helped slaves escape one the Underground Railroad were fictional characters too, but there really were people in this time that helped slaves escape.
 * What is true in this story? **
 * What is fictional in this story? **

In this story, you will read about a brave 12 year old girl and her mom who tried to escape form slavery. The story is not all about what is was like to escape from slavery but I hope you think about how lucky we are not to have slavery in our country anymore and I hope that it will make you think what people really were like when we did judge people by their skin color.

"How was a Runaway Slave Punished" Accessed on 17 March 2010 __http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_was_a_runaway_slave_punished__
 * If you want to read MORE about these topics, I used these sources for my story:

"Moses" Accessed on 17 March 2010 __http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/religion/jews/moses.htm__

__"Routes on the Underground railroad" Accessed on 17 March 2010__ http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/

__"__Secrets and Lies" Accessed on 5 Feb. 2010 __http://www.whispersofangels.com/secrets.html__

__"What did the rich white men wear"__ Accessed 17 March 2010 __http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100113080359AASrW1b__**

**1. List the book title and author of what you want to review:**
__Sold__ by Patricia McCormick

**BRAINSTORMING:**
===2. BRAINSTORM everything you LIKED about this book. What worked? Why was it good writing (quote from the book)? What was interesting about the main character, the problem, the plot? What kept you interested?=== What I liked about this book is that Patricia really shows what life would be like if you were in the sex trade and how it effects girls. I also liked how she wrote the book in short stories instead of just one long story because I probably would have not grasped the story as well.

==3. Brainstorm everything you DIDN'T like about this book. What didn't work? What would you have done differently if you'd been the author? In what parts did you feel a little bored? What i didn't like in this story and what i would have done different is in the beginning when the lady was going to buy Lakshmi i would have but like maybe her mothers emotions in and some more of Lakshmi's emotions too.== i

4. NOW write a lead (a beginning) for your book review. You can hook us in a few different ways: start with "Imagine. . .", tell a story, start with a quote from the book, or ask a question. Imagine what it would be like to get sold into the sex trade by your step father? Imagine having to be confined to one room with men coming and going, how would you fell.
 * WRITING:**

5. Next add a thesis statement (your argument) to the end of your lead. Examples: //"A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle will keep you on the edge of your seat, even though Meg is sometimes a whiny character.// OR //"My Brother Sam is Dead", by Collier and Collier, is a thoughtful exploration of the complex effects of war in the American Revolution.//

"Sold" by Patricia McCormick will make you inspired to go stop the sex trade.

6. NOW follow this outline for the rest of your review:


 * Book Review Outline:**

Paragraph 1 -- LEAD, with thesis statement at the end Paragraph 2 -- BRIEF summary of the book's plot (but don't give anything away!) Paragraph 3 -- YOUR opinion of the book (from your brainstorming) Paragraph 4 -- WHO you think would enjoy this book; who you think it was written for Paragraph 5 -- Conclusion -- give us advice (should we read it or not, and why?)

7. Give a draft of your book review to Ms. B.!

Imagine what it would be like to get sold into the sex trade by your step father? Imagine having to be confined to one room with men coming and going, how would you feel? “Sold” by Patricia McCormick is heart-breaking, but the sprit of Lakshmi is breath-taking.

Lakshmi is a 13-year-old girl who knows nothing about the world beyond her village in the Himalayas of Nepal. When a monsoon hits her village, her family loses the little they have, and she grabs a chance to work as a maid in the big city so she can send money back home. What she doesn’t know it that her step father sold into prostitution. She is brought through many cities to get to the “Happiness House” where Lakshmi is locked up, beaten, starved, and raped until she submits.

I love this book from the beginning the end. “Sold” has taught me that there still is a sex trade in our world and had made me think how lucky we are not to have it here in our country. Something that I really like about how Patricia writes is that she writes in short stories and in first-person. It gives a different twist on the book. What I also like about “Sold” is that Patricia took the time to go to Nepal and interview women that were forced to go into the sex trade.

I would recommend this book to young teens to adults. This book should be read by everyone and defiantly should not be forgotten!!

You should read “Sold” by Patricia McCormick because she had written about a subject that should be stopped and made illegal. Prostitution is a heart- breaking thing that is wrong and cruel. Go out and read “Sold”!!

http://www.subliminal-messaging.com/how-to-cure-a-compulsive-shopping-addiction/ History of Shopping. Imagine your in the mall, the walls are lined with stores and you have $150. The history of shopping is not what you expect. Some questions that I will be answering are: What made us so obsessed over shopping? Is there are cure to shopping addiction? Who built the first mall and when did they come popular? And why do people get so addicted? People usually get obsessed over shopping to make them feel important or their mind tells them that they need new stuff when really, there are cloths, shoes exc. in their closets that still have their price tags on. Most people are not obsessed with just shopping, they are usually just obsessed over one thing like getting new shoes, new cloths, new jewelry, new purses or new make up. There really are people that are addicted to shopping (compulsive shopping addiction) and can lead to a serious obsession. The obsession can lead to drugs or alcohol addictions. The first shopping mall was the Country Club Plaza, built by the J.C. Nichols Company and opened near Kansas City, in 1922. The first enclosed mall called Southdale opened in Edina, Minnesota in 1956. In the 1980s, giant mega malls were developed. The West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada opened in 1981 - with more than 800 stores and a hotel, amusement park, miniature-golf course, church, "water park" for sunbathing and surfing, a zoo and a 438-foot-long lake. WOW!