Grandpa
Pat McGill, Jr. of Wisner, Nebraska always entered a room smiling.
Pat fathered eleven children, including my mother, and had over fifty grandchildren, including me. Even though my grandpa and I were not all that close, I admired and respected his kind and gentle nature. He passed away in the summer of 1996, and I didn't get to say goodbye to Grandpa Pat McGill before he headed up to heaven with all the other saints.
All but one of the McGill grandchildren were at my grandpa's memorial service. I held my mom's hand as all of the children and grandchildren lined the aisle and acted as an "honor guard" for the casket. We both sobbed.
At the end of the service, the priest announced that there would be an all-night vigil in the church for my grandpa, and they needed volunteers to sign up to stay with him in the church. I didn't think much of it, assuming that townspeople and family members would flock to the signup sheet.
Apparently EVERYONE made this assumption. A contingent of my cousins went out to the bars to hold "an Irish wake" and lubricate themselves with alcohol. The residents of Wisner mostly went home to their beds. It turned out that no one had volunteered to stay with my grandpa from the hours of 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM, and hysteria broke out.
My grandma was heartbroken. My mom was scrambling to solve the problem. Then I spoke up: "I'm used to staying up all night. I can do it."
Everyone looked at me and blinked. "Really?" they said. "All night?"
I took my notebook to the church and sat in the front pew. I worked on a short story called Mushroom until I was alone in the church with my grandpa's open casket. It was impossible to distract myself from this situation anymore. I approached my grandpa and looked closely at him. I started talking to him about the things I had been doing in Massachusetts. I sang songs to him. I asked him if I would ever find a way to stop loving the girl who broke my heart a year earlier. I cried for a little while. I touched his hands. I realized how much I admired the power of his smile and his capacity for joy.
Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971 in New York City to Afeni Shakur, a Black Panther member since 1968. She gave birth to him 2 months after she was released from Women’s House of Detentions in Grenwich Village. She was charged with conspiracy to bomb several New York public locations and just had her bail revoked. In court she represented herself and won against the state of New York in a surprising turn out. In Incan dialect, his name Tupac Amaru means “shining serpent” and Shakur is Arabic for “thankful to God.” For most of his childhood his crack addicted mother shuffled Tupac between the ghettos of Harlem and the Bronx. Young Tupac began his performance career with the 127th Street Ensemble and then enrolled Baltimore School for the Arts where he was educated in ballet and acting. Tupac was forced to drop out of the school because he had to move to California with his mother, where his criminal career began. He left his house at the age of 17 because of the continuous fights with his mother he then began selling/doing drugs, and was homeless for about 2 years. His life was spiraling down wards at a rapid rate. Till one day he got his big break. Tupac always dreamt about being famous someday, now his dream was becoming a reality. He struck a recording deal with Interscope records. He was on his way to super stardom, but as we all know with fame comes problems. He was involved in the shooting of two off duty police officers, although the chargers were later dropped. He was also convicted of rape, and sentenced to 5 years in Clinton Correctional Facilities.
The novel, “Dreaming in Cuban” by Christina Garcia, is about a Cuban family. This novel is structured around the Cuban Revolution, everything from politics, family life, and spirituality. The women in the family all have strained relationships. They all have very different personalities and different reactions to the revolution. Lourdes, the daughter of Celia wants nothing to do with the revolution and wants nothing to do with Cuba. She also doesn’t keep much contact with her mother. Everything she has gone through is why she is the way she is, and why her daughter also has a strained relationship with her.
I rushed out of the bedroom confused. I began to realize what was going on. I ran to where I last saw her and she was not there. Never before I felt my heart sank. My eyes filled with tears. I dropped to my knees and felt the cold white tile she last swept and mopped for my family. I look up and around seeing picture frames of of her kids, grandchildren, and great grandchildren smiling. I turn my head to the right and see the that little statue of the Virgin Mary, the last gift we gave her. I began to cry and walked to my mother hugging her. My father walked dreadfully inside the house. He had rushed my great grandmother to the hospital but time has not on his side. She had a bad heart and was not taking her medication. Later that morning, many people I have never seen before came by to pray. I wandered why this had to happen to her. So much grief and sadness came upon
I’m glad we have Maurice, my mother’s younger brother here today. Ella, her older sister, unfortunately couldn’t make it, but I know the news of my mothers death hit her hard. And I know that she prayed with all her will, for my mother.
When Tupac Shakur was a kid his mother struggled with a drug addiction.Tupac's actual name is Lesane Parish Crooks.He moved homes he also went to homeless shelters.When he was a kid his mother was in a gang called the panthers.
My maternal grandfather impacted my development of my ethnic and cultural identity. He instilled a pride and an understanding of my Irish roots. Specifically, he brought me over to Belfast to learn and experience the culture. At the time, the hostility between the Protestants and Catholics was clear. People were living under the threats of terrorism, bombing, propaganda graffiti, and in a police state. In addition, I saw families torn apart because a mother was one religion and the father another. I learned firsthand about religious intolerance.
He kicked off his powerful career with his first album 2pacalypse with one of the thirteen tracks Brenda's Got A Baby one of his most uncut controversial songs. He fought for this song to be included on the album because of its deep pushed aside manner. Inspired by a true story Tupac read about a story in the newspaper of a young girl getting pregnant by her second cousin when he was on set of the movie Juice. In an interview talking about the song he said,”It was over a week but the story kept getting smaller smaller and smaller and I was like this is very important more important than um Juice to me and right now nobody talks about that.” . This song attracted lots of controversy entailing a story of a twelve year girl that was raped and got pregnant that was not supported by her family. Tupac was aware of the blow back that could come but he felt it was his job to get the truth out and create recognition for stories that would normally just be “pushed to the side”. Another song to come out of the album was Trapped. In this Tupac took head on issues of police brutality and mass incarceration. In the song he says,”All we know is violence, do the job in silence Walk the city streets like a rat pack of tyrants Too many brothers daily heading for the big pen Niggas commin' out worse off then when they went in”(Tupac
I have never felt more welcome and loved in my entire life, the energy in that room from all these people was incredible.This was the day I began my transition into adulthood, I made a commitment to this community, to God. I turned my life around, I started working harder in school, I matured, and had a positive outlook on my situation. Because of young life I learned
Tupac Shakur was an actor and a rapper. He was born in Harlem, New York on June 16, 1971, as Lesane Parish Crooks. Both his mother and father were members of the Black Panthers, which later in his career influenced his political views in his songs .At the age of 13, he began his acting career in the production, “Raisin in the Sun” at the Apollo Theater. Tupac’s mother was single mother of two and struggled with money, forcing them to move around a lot and often stay in shelters.Tupac went to Baltimore School of Arts before dropping out and moving to Marin County in California at the age of 17.
In the third paragraph of the story, Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard as she goes into her room and sits on an armchair. Chopin describes how Mallard ?sank pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted the body and seemed to reach into her soul?. In this point of the story Chopin uses symbolism connecting Mrs. Mallard and the chair, the chair representing the death of her husband and her feelings about it. How it was ?a comfortable roomy chair?, she is showing us how Mrs. Mallard was ?comfortable? with her husband?s death and now felt she had room to exist freely. This is supported by the lines ?she would live for herself now. There would be no powerful will bending her in the blind?? This demonstrating to the reader that she felt controlled by her husband, and that she would no longer bet tied down to the ways of the time, which were men control women. This also supported by Jennifer Hicks in her overview of the story which states " Later, when we see Mrs. Mallard "warm and relaxed", we realize that problem with her heart is that her marriage has not allowed her to "live for herself"."
It was a tremendous shock to all of us when my grandfather passed away in 1982.
Tupac’s mother, Alice, a single mother of two, was struggling finically and moved her family to Baltimore years later. This was where Tupac enrolled in Baltimore’s School For the Arts and grew found of acting. Alice realized the neighborhood in Baltimore she was raising her children in was crime ridden and moved her family to California. Tupac, a high school dropout, would then sell drugs on the same street his mother once bought her supply from. Before his fame began in the music industry, Tupac starred in a famous film called Juice. The movie would bring over 5 million dollars in revenue. With an obsession for poetry, Tupac then dove into his music career. His music would speak of real-life struggles, but would provoke lots of violence in his songs. Tupac would later sign with Los Angeles Deathrow Records, a record label that claimed to embody the West Coast. The signing of this record company would start fueling the fire with his rival, also known as Notorious B.I.G. Tupac was shot by two unknown gunmen in November of 1994. Tupac believed Biggie planned the shooting towards him and aimed the violence toward him directly. Some say this escalated the rival between the two rappers. Tupac later died in 1996 and was shot by another unknown shooter in Las Vegas. While his murder is forever a mystery, conspiracy theories say Biggie Smalls along with his record label, Bad Boy Records, collaborated his
At first look, Tupac may not appear to be versatile to a man who had just heard Shakur's fight rap but Tupac was one of the most versatile rappers in the industry. In the event that you track back his career back to when his name was originally MC New York, you will see the various rap styles he really had. Melodies like Young Black Male are altogether different from his more well known tunes like Dear Mama and California Love. He covered such a wide point of view and there were various sides to him, yet the best part about him generally was that he was a
Chopin describes her as a fragile woman. Because she was “afflicted with a heart trouble,” when she receives notification of her husband’s passing, “great care was taken” to break the news “as gently as possible” (1). Josephine, her sister, and Richards, her husband’s friend, expect her to be devastated over this news, and they fear that the depression could kill her because of her weak heart. Richards was “in the newspaper office when the intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of killed” (1). He therefore is one of the first people to know about his death. Knowing about Mrs. Mallard’s heart, he realizes that they need to take caution in letting Mrs. Mallard know about it. Josephine told her because Richards feared “any less careful, less tender” person relaying the message to Louise Mallard (1). Because of her heart trouble, they think that if the message of her husband’s death is delivered to her the wrong way, her heart would not be able to withstand it. They also think that if someone practices caution in giving her the message, that, ...
My grandmother has always been my biggest supporter throughout my life. My Grandmother is my back bone; she is the reason why I am the person that I am today. Most people hear the word grandmother and expect to see older lady with possible white hair, standing in the kitchen cooking and baking, evening sewing. My grandmother is the exact opposite of those things, she is still employed full time, enjoys making jewelry and furniture. Although she is only five two she is very witted and outspoken she never bites her tongue and will always give her opinion even if you don’t ask for it. There is a softer side to her, she will give you her last and be a listening ear day or night. Like the saying goes “to know me is to love me” and believe me