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The Writers' Room
As you work through a course, email me your best paragraphs, poems, and pieces, and I will regularly add student work to this page. I am excited to read and share your amazing creations!
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My email address: hello@kristenmasker.com
Two Special Ladies
I live with two adults and 1 brother.
The adults are my grandmother and my mom.
They are very special to me.
They do nice things for me every day.
My mom makes me breakfast and my grandma makes my lunch for school.
When there is no school, my grandma still makes me lunch.
Lunches are “Grandma” style because they are made with her unique mixtures.
She makes them delicious and with lots of love.
For example, one beautiful creation my grandma makes is a “fruit pie.”
She makes it because it is very healthy but also,
very yummy.
It consists of layered fruit such as oranges, berries, and bananas.
Then sprinkled on top are walnut pieces and diced up spinach that has been mixed with oil and vinegar.
Both my mom and my grandma give me hugs and kisses every day. I am 12 and have told them I will never get tired of their hugs and kisses, like my brother who grew out of that stage.
I love my grandma and my mom.
Very very much.
Miss Kristen, I have some imagery sentences for you.
Prickles of shimmering light bounced off the pool water as a group of stylish older ladies with beaded hats and bright colored rafts floated together. (I was at the pool in my neighborhood and saw these ladies.)
On the African safari, a towering giraffe sashayed gracefully through the green and yellow field. Also, a group of zebras pranced around joyfully, enjoying being together in the herd. (I have never been on a safari)
What do I love to do?
Dance!
I show up at the studio every Wednesday at 7pm
I glide across the floor and,
Listen to the beats and,
Sway to the music and,
Move my arms with precision and,
Step, side step, bounce, turn.
Dancing is my life. Without it,
I don’t know,
I just don’t know if I could make it.
The deep bass fills my soul with
Excitement and,
Peace.
The movement of my arms, legs, neck, and shoulders
Releases the anger and anxiety.
It just floats away into the air.
Dance!
I love it.
IN THE A.M.
I got up on a Saturday morning and ate my Cheerios
I do that first thing, even before I brush my teeth
Why?
Because as soon as I wake up
That’s all I think about
Cheerios
They are crunchy and tasty
And a little bit melty in the milk
That’s what I did on a Saturday
The biggest reason I adore and admire my Gigi is because of her deep love for her grandchildren. I remember, when I was just a preschooler, playing in her sunroom or climbing upon her big futon couch, she would say to me, “I love you so much that it breaks my heart.” And she would say it with this big, joyful smile on her face. In my young mind, I couldn’t understand how that worked. Love means happiness, right? And a breaking heart means sadness, right? Further along in my years, when I was at the big age of about 11 and just starting middle school, I had a conversation with her about this. She explained it but it still didn’t make sense to me. She would still say this to me and it would baffle me every time. Then something happened that was magnanimous. I turned 14 and it was like a world of understanding opened up in my brain. I seemed to understand life, people, and situations better. Well, a day came when I was standing across the room, watching my dear Gigi stirring brown sugar into her tea, when suddenly, I felt my heart break. It felt like a dull bump inside my chest. And do you know what? A smile formed on my face, and it got bigger and bigger. In that moment, my heart was breaking, not from sadness, but from the overwhelming joy I felt at having my Gigi in my life. I understood in that moment how deep and wide her love for me was, and that it was not a normal human kind of love, but only the love that can come from God. I realized that God gifted her with that love, just as he had in that moment gifted me and that Gigi had planted that seed in my mind so many years ago, as God brought it to fruition. What a wonderful woman my Gigi is.
One reason I admire my teacher is because she relates things to my life and doesn’t judge her students. During the first week of school we were assigned a novel. Throughout the novel she would have class discussions where she would want to know our true opinions and feelings about the actions the characters were taking in the book. If we disagreed with her, she was never bothered by it but seemed genuinely interested in why we disagreed. She would listen to our arguments without judging us sometimes saying things like, “I see your point of view and I never considered that before.” Because of this, I love her class. She helps us to apply what we read to our personal lives and she never judges us.
Thankful
This morning at 8:30 I went for a bike ride.
I drifted through the neighborhood, listening to the sounds of awakening.
I heard,
“chitter-chatter”
“bbbbbb,bbbbbb”
“zzzz, zzzz”
“chuh-CHUH”
from the birds.
I witnessed a hazy blue sky with faint clouds scattered throughout.
I smiled at a woman walking her dog, and a mom pushing a stroller.
I peddled on the street, on the sidewalk, over grassy areas, and along a path near a gazebo.
The cool air hit my face, soothingly, as I moved along, at a lazy, consistent pace.
When I got home, I had a cup of coffee with vanilla creamer.
My mother says I’m too young to drink coffee, but she lets me enjoy a cup once in a while.
Today she allowed me this treat.
I found the coffee to be the clincher for a perfect morning.
And I feel just so… thankful.
Second of all, Mars is a fantastic place to live because of the power or electricity. On this planet, it runs everything. For example, do you want to zoom from one volcano to another? Or get to your friendly alien’s house in seconds? Let the electricity powered blaster do that. Anywhere you want to go, you put this thing on your back, punch in directions and hit the button and you are blasted almost instantly to where you want to go. Do you know what else electricity does on this planet? It heals people and aliens. If you fall and cut your leg, an alien doctor will close its eyes, hum and all of a sudden zaps from high in the sky come down and sparks jump around your cut. Then suddenly the wound is closed up and healed. The alien doctors have been trained in how to harness electricity in this way. As you can see the power of electricity makes Mars a very good place to live.
My best friend’s name is J.T. and he has long black hair.
He sniffs my face in the mornings when I’m lying in bed.
He begins to whine when I don’t get up quick enough to let him out to go to the bathroom.
Every morning is the same.
I take him out,
bring him back in,
and I give him his breakfast.
He takes 2 bites and then follows me around as I get ready for school
He sits next to me while I brush my teeth.
He lies next to me while I eat my Cheerios.
He walks me to the door and says goodbye before I head to school.
He’s my best friend because he is always there for me, when I leave for school
And when I get home.
He jumps for joy when I’ve had a bad day
He snuggles next to me on the couch as I do my homework
He just loves me a bunch for some crazy reason.
I’m just an ordinary person, after all, but that’s what makes him
my best friend.
Musical Beauty
I went to theater summer camp for a week.
By the end of the week, we put on a short musical for our families
The stage contained bright purples, soft yellows, and dazzling oranges
With the fantastic costumes we wore.
Out of our mouths came high and low notes sung together.
And beautiful velvety tones and sharp staccato voices that bounced around the auditorium