STORIES COME TO LIFE! - Anita Woodley · student has a story and every sixth grade student who...

The Durham Arts Council’s CAPS Program

Presents…

STORIES COME TO LIFE! Volume #6:

A Personal Story Literary Arts Writing Residency

Led with Mrs. Anita Woodley

CoEditors: John Andy Hamner & Anita Woodley

Written by: 6th Grade Pioneer Students Teacher Ms. Rachel Dabiero

Core Classes 1, 2, 3, 4

JW Neal Middle School Jan. 28 to March 9, 2016 Durham, North Carolina

Sponsored By:

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Ms. Dabiero’s 6th Grade Core Students January 28March 9, 2016 Stories Come to Life! Literary Residency with Mrs. Anita Woodley

Durham Arts Council Creative Arts in Public & Private Schools (CAPS) program

Durham Arts Council Mission: The Durham Arts Council, Inc. mission promotes excellence in and access to the creation, experience, and active support of the arts for all people in our community. Learn more online at, www.durhamarts.org.

“Now in its third year, the Stories Come To Live residency program led by CAPS teaching artist, Anita Woodley has continued to inspire students to write with confidence. Every student has a story and every sixth grade student who participated in Stories Come To Life this year shared their story. We appreciate the extraordinary environment that Mrs. Woodley creates to nurture and encourage students to write. Additionally, this program would not be possible if not for the support of the staff and teachers at Neal Middle School, Durham Public Schools, Fairway Printing, Inc., and GlaxoSmithKline for seeing the value in this residency and sponsoring this transformative experience.”

– Shana Adams, Director of Creative Arts In Public & Private Schools (Durham Arts Council)

About Creative Arts in Public & Private Schools (CAPS) Primarily a partnership between Durham Arts

Council and Durham Public Schools, CAPS places professional artists in public and private classrooms throughout Durham, Granville, and Orange counties to provide creative and interactive residencies that teach core subjects (math, science, writing, social studies), character education and a variety of life skills through the arts. CAPS impacts the lives of over 20,000 students each year.

CAPS artists also work within the community providing programs in early childhood centers, preschools and afterschools. We serve seniors and adults groups, and provide professional development ‘ARTS’ workshops for teachers and business teams. www.durhamartscouncilcaps.com

JW Neal Middle School, Durham, NC. Pioneers Core Classes 1, 2, 3, 4 20152016 School Year

Sponsored by Grants from GlaxoSmithKline, Fairway Printing Inc., and Durham Arts Council’s CAPS Program

http://www.durhamarts.org/

http://www.durhamartscouncilcaps.com/

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1... Letter from the Durham Arts Council & CAPS

Shana Adams, Program Director of Creative Arts In Public & Private Schools (Durham Arts Council)

Page 2... Core One, Authors and Titles ... Core Two, Authors and Titles Page 34... Core Three, Authors and Titles Page 4... Core Four, Authors and Titles Page 56... Letter from CAPS Literary Theatre Teaching Artist Anita Woodley, Awardwinning Journalist & Performer Page 7... Biography for Anita Woodley Page 8… Letter from CoEditor John Andy Hamner

Core ONE

Page 9... Core 1 Student’s Story Snapshot Artwork Collage Page 10[email protected]“Hella Heart Eyes For Da Kiid” Page 11... Code note: Poop “The Anger Within” Page 12... Jahnee’ O. “Things I’m Looking up to” Page 1213... Christopher P. “When my Dad Passed Away” Page 13... Curtis C. “Shooting a gun” Page 1314 ... Julisa P. “Weird is the new Cool Page 14... Rainbow “Focus on the Future, not the Past” Page 1415... Bubly “Life is Great, the Past is not” Page 1516... Maya W. “The shy Singer Page 16... Michael J. “First Time Playing Basketball” Page 1617... Yovana PR. “My School Life in 2016” Page 1718... Tamara K. “ R.I.P Daddy!! Page 18... Zariya J. “Hellaaa Heaart Eyess Foor Daaa Kiid” Page 1819... Shykeem H. “My Last Fight” Page 1920... Blessed For Life$ “When My Dad Went To Jail” Page 20... #youdowhatyouwantwhenyoupoppin “When my Friend Almost Killed Herself Page 2021... Bubly “Human, but a Monkey”

Core TWO Page 22... Core 2 Student’s Story Snapshot Artwork Collage Page 2324... Shorty A. “Why Hispanics Hate Donald Trump?” Page 2526... Irene T. “....Left Home Alone…” Page 2627... Princess Adora.x “New York City: The Big Apple.”



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Core TWO Continued... Page 2728... B.O.F.A Left Nut “The Amazing Takis” Page 28... Tiyana E. “My Family Reunion” Page 29... Amonti M. “My Husband” Page 2930... Amonti M. “ My Best Friend” Page 3031… Felicia “ The Raunchy School” Page 32... Pandacake Weirdo “Pandacake WEIRDO!” Page 33... Lovely C. “My Dream job” Page 3334... J.C.V. “EL CHAPO” AND DONALD TRUMP” Page 3436... Derpy “The Computer: A Fiction Story” Page 3637… MJ Love (MAKAIOGREENE, IMANIHAYES,

BROOKEROYSTER,TYRINETATE) “The Circulatory System in Four Languages”

Page 3839... Jessica RG. “My Cousin and My Aunt” Page 39... Karla PS. “The Struggle With Braces” Page 3940... Janiyah C. “Hair Girls” 041... Janiyah C. “All About Beyonce” Page 4142... Jailet CS. “Pretending to be Asleep” Page 4244... Jazzlynn J. “Omare Upchurch” Page 4445... Thomas L. “FirstFight”

Core THREE

Page 46... Core 3 Student’s Story Snapshot Artwork Collage Page 47… NC Girl “Schools” Page 4748… The Master Mine Set “Trip to the Aquarium” Page 48… LesPriestyn B. “The Fake Friends” Page 49… LesPriestyn B. “The Pervert Dad” Page 49… LesPriestyn B. “The dog Stealer” Page 4950… Pain “The Time I Almost Broke my Brother’s Neck” Page 50… !The Woods! “A Breakthrough Trigger” Page 51… Nasaiah B. “Dancing” Page 5152… Tyrone L. “In the Woods” Page 52… Twiggy “Basketball, Football and Games” Page 53… XV.I.XV “Dead Dog” Page 53… Jade D. “Barbara.Jefferson” Page 54… Ahmari M. “My Dream” Page 5455… Xzavier R. “Time I Broke my arm” Page 55… D'Aruion T. “Professional Singer”



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Core THREE Continued… 556... Bubbles “My Heaven Dog” Page 56… King Food “The Time I had fun at Southpoint”

Core FOUR

Page 57... Core 4 Student’s Story Snapshot Artwork Collage Page 58… Gerald L. “Things I Like” Page 5859… Mutah F. “Durham War Eagles” Page 59… Tymel R.J. “ The Crash” Page 5960… Marvin MG. “My Fish's Death” Page 60… Cassshyprinnnces.littt “My Mom’s Pregnant Life” Page 6061… Cristina S.C. “Music” Page 61… Erik R. “My First Soccer Game” Page 6162 Jamion Marcus H. “The Minecraft Story (Taking to the COMPUTERS!!!)” Page 6263… Keyara H. “The First Time I Got Into a Fight” Page 63… Ashanti L. “Two Worst Days of my Life” Page 6364…AbdulMalik A. “My Superhero Backstory” Page 6465… KayJ “NFL Talk” Page 65… Eminem “The day I got Taken in by Division of Children, Youth and Families” Page 6566… Ricardo M. “Texas Highway” Page 66… #1 “Minecraft” Page 6667… Durrall J. “Game Time” Page 67… Lazzy_Boss “When I had my First Seizure” Page 6768… Luigi 2401 “My First Time Playing Terraria”

Page 6985... Urbanese Dictionary by All 6th Grade Students

Students learning and playing Chinese Jump Rope to celebrate completing their stories on Day 3.



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A Letter from Anita Woodley, CAPS Literary & Theatre Teaching Artist, Improv Performer & Awardwinning Journalist

Hey There, Students! As promised, here is your book

featuring the personal stories you and your classmates shared with me during the threeday Stories Come To Life Literary Arts Residency! Congratulations, YOU are now all published authors! I want to give a special thanks to you for being a part of this program and entrusting me with your personal stories. I also thank you for your contributions to the “Urbanese Dictionary”, which features spelling the way you uniquely hear the sounds and experience 555 standard English words.

I had a fabulous time teaching you in this workshop! You’ll remember our “guest instructors”, like my real, 100yearold GreatGrandma, Transformers, Curious George, my brother, my 8th grade son, and my mom. It was an honor to share my own stories about my struggles in middle school, and growing up poor in the Housing Authority projects of Oakland, California.

I am very proud of you for sharing your heartfelt stories with the world. Your perspectives are very important and help us to better understand the world as you experience it. Yes, sometimes your life can be fabulous. Sometimes it may get rough, seem out of your control, and even, perhaps, scary. However, through it all, always aim to find a positive solution that empowers and uplifts you. You are worth it, and valuable, so remember that! Your courage inspires me. Please keep writing about what happens in your life. Volunteer in the community, sleep at least seven hours a night, and eat less unhealthy foods.

A special thanks goes to The Durham Arts Council, and our sponsors GlaxoSmithKline and Fairway Printing Inc. for the generous grant supporting this program, which allowed us to reach the entire sixth grade for a second year!



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Thank you to my ninth grade high school Drama teacher from 1989, Mr. John Andy Hamner, pictured on the left, for coediting the final versions of the stories. Since our facebook reunion on July 7, 2009, we’ve continued our friendship which has fostered numerous outstanding projects, including Stories Come to Life. Mr. Hamner, appreciate you encouraging and partnering with me to improve the human condition through theatre arts.

Thank you to my 8th grade son Xavier, and husband of 20 years, Wes, for your support and patience while I worked hundreds of hours shepherding nearly 300 student stories to completion.

And lastly, again, thank you, students, for your stories, because without your energy and contribution this project would not have been possible!

I Will Always Believe That You Will Succeed,

Anita Woodley & GreatGrandma

FOLLOW ME!

KIK, Instagram, Facebook

@JUSAnitaWoodley

Text/Voicemail: 9199140104

Website: AnitaWoodley.com

Email: [email protected]



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Biography ANITA WOODLEY is an awardwinning journalist,

producer, actress, poet, mixedmedia folk artist, baker, and playwright. She is also a statecertified HIV counselor, a Durham Arts Council Emerging Artist in Drama and Literary, Improvisational Theater Teaching Artist for North Carolina’s Durham School District. Along with her own production company, Anita Woodley Productions, Mrs. Woodley is the Founder and President of the nonprofit Spark InnerAction, which promotes health in high risk communities. In her spare time, she is a Columnist for the News & Observer newspaper, the lead vocalist for an Improvisational Jazz band, and an Associate Member of the Sisters Network Triangle for Breast Cancer in Durham.

Anita Woodley is a native of Oakland, California where she grew up in the Oakland Housing Authority for twenty years. She is an Inaugural Hall of Honor inductee at her alma mater, Oakland Technical High School with notable alumni Marshawn Lynch, The Pointer Sisters, Rickey Henderson, and Clint Eastwood. To date, Anita Woodley has written and performed eleven solo theatrical plays and DVD recordings, including the criticallyacclaimed – Mama Juggs Breast Cancer & Women’s Health Show, Bucking The Medical and Mental Bull Healthcare System show, and The Men in Me Urban Male Issues Show. She has performed in New York OffBroadway, Los Angeles, Chicago, The National Black Theatre Festival and throughout the U.S. in hospitals, universities, and internationally in Cameroon, West Africa.

As a Television and Radio journalist for more than 20 years, Mrs. Woodley worked for CNN, NPR, NBC, CBS, PBS affiliates, earning accolades from the Harry Chapin Foundation for Hunger and Poverty in New York, the National Association of Black Journalists, and an Emmy award for Exceptional Coverage on the tragic events of September 11th, 2001 when the World Trade Center in New York was attacked. Mrs. Woodley lives with her husband and son in North Carolina.



http://www.anitawoodley.com/shows/mama-juggs/

http://www.anitawoodley.com/shows/the-men-in-me/

http://www.anitawoodley.com/shows/the-men-in-me/

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Letter from CoEditor John Andy Hamner When I started teaching, I only wanted to teach

drama classes. But I had to teach English classes, too, It wasn’t long, though, before I that they were the same thing. Talking, writing. If you’re performing, or writing a story, or an essay on polar bears, there is a beginning, a middle and an end. So it is with life.

Communication is how we make our way in the wider world. It’s often difficult because language doesn’t always have a way to make even our simplest feelings clear to someone else. Our ability with writing depends on developing an ear and practice putting thoughts together on a page. We form and reform language in speeches, books, plays and essays, poems and songs, trying to say what we mean. As I read these stories, I am certainly struck with crude words and simplystated text; the tragedy and struggle they reveal.

But, everybody turned in something…

Three sentences. Six sentences of five words or less. Runons and incomplete sentences. Yet, everyone wrote something for publication. Mrs. Woodley used every trick in the book, and some she conjured up herself, to teach, cajole, persuade, entertain, inform, and investigate what would make a child do something s/he may not have wanted to do. In some of these texts, you can feel the writer thinking of what to say at all, then what to say next… and others who seem to be writing more than they thought they were going to.

Mrs. Woodley was my drama student for her high school freshman year. She’s only gotten more curious, caring and capable in the years since. It was a fine day when Anita took me on this journey with her writing, her plays and teaching.

I hope kids in this class will take a part of it with them: a language rule, the way somebody said something that made them think, Mrs. Woodley nailing a point through Grandma or her brother! And, as each one takes a part, or several parts over time, remember: in life, there are no small parts; only small actors. Be big! Be brave!



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Core 1 Student’s Artwork Collage Each square was hand drawn with a sharpie pen by students to visually represent their stories. Pretend as if you are looking through a peephole at each card. Now, can you guess what each story is about?



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“Hellaaa heaart eyess foor daaa kiid” By: @poppinn.adriii

I’m thinking about this sexy boy, but I really don’t talk to him. I don’t talk to him because I get nervous, but he is fine asf. I can’t look him straight in the eyes. What makes him sexy is his curly hair and that he is light skin. The only time I see him is when he is outside or upstairs.

One day me and my best friend, Dynasty, were recording him and taking pictures of him on our phones. He didn’t see us recording him. When we record him we screamed because we got happy. So Dynasty and this girl, Tia, were in I.S.S* and the boy was walking down the hallway. Tia said, “Come here.” He said, “I know you ain’t talking to me!” and walked away. Then when Dynasty got out of I.S.S she told me all about it. I was like show him to me and she said, “Okay.”When it was time to go home, me and Dynasty ran out of our 2nd Elective to get outside and we were pushing everybody. When I saw him I said, “Dammm, he finee!” He heard me. He turned around and licked his lip while looking at me and Dynasty, so we ran to our bus. Me and Dynasty chatted on Kik* and I messaged her, “What’s his name?” Dynasty typed, ‘’idk, but he sexy.’’ That’s when I responded, ‘’He all kinds of finee.”

The next day we’re saying, “That’s our baby! If these girls get close to him we gonna kill them.” Although both me and Dynasty liked him. We never fought because of that. We just agreed that he ours. That’s when I said, “I wanna lick his body.’’ She was like, “Exactly.” That’s when I said, ‘’He sexyy.’’ Dynasty said, “He so fuckin’ sexyy.” I said, “He fexyy.’’

Everyday in class we were talking about him and everybody wanted to know who he was. We said, “Na, he ours.” So that same day we went running, looking for him. Like always, when we found him, we were looking dead at him and standing beside him. That’s when I said, “Zammmm, I just wanna play in those curls.” Then she was like ‘’Exactly.” He turned around and stared at me. I was like,‘’Bae, why you staring?’’ But then I ran because he kept



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staring. Once, when I went beside him, he said, “Zamm,” but I just keep looking at Dynasty and not him.

That same day I was lurking through Instagram and I found his account and his Kik. I was screaming because I was so happy. And I screenshot all his pictures, and then slid in his DM* and typed, “Hayy!” Then he wrote,” “Wassuhh?” I was like,”I like your curlsss.” He was responded, “Thank you, but you called me bae last time.’’ And I didn’t text back. The next day he said, “Hayy,” to me at school. l said, ‘“Hayy,” then I ran down the stairs with Dynasty happy asf. The End.

“The Anger Within” By: Code Note Poop

Have you ever been so angry that you punched? I have a lot of anger. Most of the time I hold it in. Actually, I always hold it in. Even now I do, but if I’m mad enough it will just come out. I feel like I’m burning. My heart starts racing.

One time I hurt myself when I was angry. Now I don’t do that. Instead, I break things. I have four holes in the wall in my room. Most of my anger comes from my life at home and my not being able to let it out my frustrations.

I have three brothers and two of them I don’t like. The two I don’t like are 23 years old and one is 15 years old. Me and one of my brothers always fight. He’s 15 years old and his name is Eric. I choked him once, but my other brothers pulled me off of him. I can’t lie he does kick my ass. But I beat him sometimes. I like the 22yearold one because he is like a protector to me. His name is Anthony, but I call him “Ant.”The 23yearold is named Derrick, but I call him “DJ.” He can fight. I don’t really like my family, but I love them. Wait. I really, really, really don’t like my family. I love them because they take care of me and they love me, but they can be hard to live with. I stay at my house because I have to and they let me live there.

The more I suppress my anger, the more likely I am to blow up. I try to stop, but I have no help. I've got problems. ###



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“Things I’m Looking Up To” By: Jahnee’ O.

I like to cook and I am hoping to become a chef one day. My mom and stepdad always let me make the food for the family. Most of the time I bake cakes, cookies, and other desserts. I also like to cook Italian food. I always watch the cooking channel, especially the shows Cake Wars and Chopped.

I like to sing a lot, but the main problem is that I’m shy. I also like to dance. Once I performed in a talent show as a background dancer. When I’m dancing I go in my room and lock the door so nobody would bust in my room. My stepbro would do that a lot. I get all these talents from my dad. My mom can cook, but my dad sings, dances, cooks, and draws.

“When my Dad Pass Away”

By: Christopher P. It was a lovely day at home during one summer

break. When I was with my mom that night, she told me,” Your Dad is coming over.” I was excited. I waited for six hours and he never came. So I knew something was up because he usually comes when he says he is coming. I told my mom to call his phone and he didn’t pick up. She said, “Go to sleep, so he will come in the morning.” All of a sudden I heard my mom crying and I woke up like I was having a panic attack. And then she said, ‘‘I’m sorry baby, but your Daddy has died.’’ I was crying like I ate one of those candies called “Cry Baby” because that’s how sour the news of my Dad dying was to get. He died in an area called Bragtown in Durham where we are from, and I was born. My Dad was 29 years old when he died June 14, 2009. He was shot by a big fat man.The reason I know he was fat is because I saw his mugshot photograph in the newspaper after they arrested him a year after killing my Dad. Someone called Crime Stoppers and gave a tip that he shot my Dad. The way this makes me feel is like I can’t be around other people when I’m mad because I feel weak. So all my readers: I don’t want you to be



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like me, if your dad died. THE END. R.I.P. LOVE YOU DADDY!!!!!

“Shooting a gun” By: Curtis C.

The last time me and my brother were shooting a gun, it was Jan 11, 2016. My day started when I woke up. I used the bathroom. Then I cut my PS4 on and pulled out my NBA 2kl6 game. My sisters got up and said, “Wassup big head?” I said, “Nun, cry baby. I am about to go to sleep.” They said, “Ok, ugly.” I got back into my bed and I forget what I dreamt about. When I woke up, they were shooting outside. I told my dad, and he said, “I am going outside right now.” I put my shoes on and then my dad and me went and sat in his Ford 250 truck.

He said, “Take this.” I said, “You want me to shoot it?” He said, “Yeah.” I got out the truck, walked away for 15 steps, and then the gun said, “pow! pow!” It was very fun.

“Weird is the new Cool”

By: Julisa P. Yeah, I know I’m weird … but I’m proud of who I

am. It doesn’t really bother me if you think I’m stupid or weird. I actually take that as a compliment because I already know that. I mean, if you call me names, you're actually making me a better person since I know what I really am and what I want to be. I mean, I love being a weird person/monkey. Yeah, I’m a monkey because humans are lame and we’re just too much fun. If you’re not proud of who I am then don’t even fucking talk to me. Haha I'm so weird I don't think anyone is weirder than me. Afterall, who rolls on concrete? Oh yeah, me. Only me and my friends. That concrete was hard, it hurt, and smelled kinda funky when we rolled on it. Weird people are better than normal people. We be having too much fun because we are proud to be weird. Haha We have weird conversation and plan out the future like this, for instance: Meh (Me):’’HEY Weirdo.’’ Brianna: “Hey



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Bae.’’ Meh: “U mine right?’’ Brianna: “Hell yeah!’’ Lesly: “No, she not. She mine... we can share her.” Meh: “OK… sike! She mine only. Mine.”

“Focus on the Future, not the Past”

By: Rainbow

Umm, so, I know some people don’t get why I did it... But I did it because I’m stupid...

Really stupid. Yeah, I know, I cut myself many times and that it

wasn't the right thing to do. I was really mad and frustrated. There were so many things running through my head, like when my cousin died or when my brother died or when I had to leave my old friends and school. Also, I missed my favorite side of the family. I didn’t like it, living here in Durham at first because I felt like I didn’t fit in and I missed New York soooo much. So every time I got a bad feeling that I couldn’t handle, I would go to the bathroom, lock the doors, grabbed my razor, and started cutting on my legs.

I know some people cut on their arms, but I didn’t want anyone to see the marks. It hurt really bad when I used a lighter to heat the razor up before I used it. After some time, years actually, I started cutting less often. When I met my womie/wifi wifey (weird homie), and one of my best friends, Meh, that’s when I began to stop cutting. Now I don’t cut. However, I break things like pencils, crayons, forks, spoons, and more things.

To all the people who cut: I'm sorry for whatever the reasons are that you cut yourself, but you know what? When you have friends like mine, there's no need to cut because they help me through all my problems. My friends are three of the best things that ever happened to me.

“Life is Great, the Past is Not”

By: Bubly I love my life, my family, and my friends. My life is

great. I knew my friends were going to be mad, if I was going to cut myself. I was just feeling a little depressed because my



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parents kept fighting. There was not one day that my parents would just talk to each other. And I missed my old friends. I just felt like my world was in pieces. No one really knows what goes on in and around my world that I live in. When I was walking to the auditorium, I knew they were just going to ask me, “What was going on?” So I just pretended like nothing was going on. I just was there smiling like my world was right with happiness.

However, in class, I just didn't do anything. I was there sitting down and when my teachers asked me to answer questions, I just said, “No. I will pass.” Well, I did not say that to every teacher, because I didn’t want everyone to know what was going on.

Then it was time for lunch and we ate. Nothing happened. But then in electives, my friend, she found out that I was cutting myself and she started checking my arms. She started telling me, “Do not do it.” And I lied to her I said, “Ok. I won’t cut myself.”

Then it was time to go home. I got on the bus. Once off the bus, I started walking home. When I got home, I got some scissors and started cutting myself. It didn't really hurt. What was truly hurting were my feelings. Then when I finished and turn on my phone, all my friends had sent me text. At that moment I knew I had done something wrong. That’s when I told them that I did it. I cut myself. They started crying.

After that day all of them were really sad and mad at me. I asked them, “Forgive me?” And they did. I told them, “I won't do it again.” But you never know what things are going to happen next. I know that my past was not that great, but I should not hurt myself.

“The shy Singer” By: Maya W.

I love to sing all the time, but when I first started, I was too shy to sing. I was shy because of what people would say, and because they all were staring at me when I sang.



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People would say, “You can’t sing. You should stop. You suck!”

You may be wondering what it is like to be a shy singer? It means that people won’t know your real talent because we hide it from the world.

To this very day, I am still learning how to sing in front of others. If you are too shy to do something, you should get over your fear and give it your best shot. When I grow up, I want to, at least, start my singing career. But until then I want to be doctor.

“First Time Playing Basketball”

By: Michael J. I’m going to be talking about when I first started

playing basketball at 7 years old. My first time trying to shoot a ball inside the hoop, the ball went up in the air and came right back down. When the ball rolled down the street, I was thinking inside my head, “I suck at basketball!”

Up until I was 8 years old, my brother and his friend named Jonathan started teaching me how to play basketball. One day, if I could beat my brother, it would be today’s date because I’m good at basketball now. I like basketball because it keeps me entertained and helps me stay healthy to play basketball. My advice to other people who want to play basketball, is to never give up and never stop trying to get better.

“My School Life in 2016” By: Yovana PR.

Over the summer, I thought that I was going to Neal Middle School, so I was happy. Then one day, during the summer I was told, “You are going to Kestrel Heights School.” I acted as if I was happy, but I wasn't on the inside. I had no choice but to go to the Kestrel Heights school because my mom didn't want me to go to Neal. She said, “I think if you are going to the Neal school, run your mouth, and get in a fight.”



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But anyways, I got into the Kestrel Heights school, and I didn't like it at first until I started meeting good people. Then some weeks later, I was told that I was going to Neal Middle School. I was mad, like so mad, but I acted like I was happy.

I didn't like Neal when I first got here, but after awhile, I liked it. I met almost half the 6th graders, and while I was doing that, I met a girl that was very nice who started here one day after I did. We became best friends. After that I was happy.

I have good grades and everything at Neal. I will remember this day I had to write this page about my personal story. What a relief.

“RIP DADDY!!” By: Tamara K.

It was a birthday party for my baby cousin. Everybody was all lit and having fun.Then the doctor called my mama’s phone just before we were about to sing, “HAPPY BDAY!” They said, “Umm... Henry Lee Kemp (which is my daddy) is very, very sick. We are trying to do our best to fix him.” My ma did not tell me because she didn't want to get me sad.

The next morning, me and my ma went to Walmart to get some food, when the doctor called again and said, “I’m sorry to say this, but Henry Lee Kemp died last night.”

Me and my ma went into the room and started talking. At first, I was happy because I thought I was going to see him. But then she told me and my sister Tamara, “Your dad has died.” I started crying, got mad, and then I started saying, “I miss him… I want you back daddy…”

The next week, my stepsister on my dad’s side of the family called me and told me and Tamara, “I am here for you. I know your daddy died and you miss him, too. We all can work together.” She continued and said, “Come down here and come to his funeral. All the family will be here.”

When the funeral day on 91314 came I was crying. I looked at the picture of my daddy and said, “I will always



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love you because I could not get down there to see you for the last time, but I love you daddy 91614.”

“Hellaaa Heaaart Eyess forr thaaa kiid”

By: Zariya J. One day, when I was at Southpoint Mall in Durham, I

was at the food court looking for my friend. This boy walked passed and I was like, “Daayummmm .” He walked passed me and said, “Wassupp li’l guurl?” I said, “Heey .” Then he said,”You wanna walk around wiff me?” I was like, “Yeaa.”

We went inside of Victoria's Secret Lingerie store and he said, “You want some perfume ?.” “Of course,” I said, “Yeaa .” He bought it. Then I smelled it. He told me to put some of it on. That’s when we went to the food court and met back up with my friends and his friends. My friends all asked me, “Who bought the perfume for you?” I was like, ”I wonder who?...”

My Ma Dukes, that’s what I call my Ma, came and picked me up. She saw him and said, “Who is that?” I said, “Somebody .” When we left, I told her, ‘That was this boy that I like .” She said,“Giiiiirr, what am goon do witth you?” I said, “Whaat am I goon do with you.” Then my Mas replied, “Lemme find out my daughter mackin’!” I said, “Maa, chill ouut! t aiint nun like daat.”

On the way home, we stopped to get my brother from my dad’s house. My Ma told my dad about what happened at the mall, and he knew the boy that I liked. He told the boy how old I was on facetime . The boy was like, “Ooh! Shee fineeee ass fuuuck .” I said, “Thaank youu.” Then I went to sleep.

“My Last Fight” By: Shykeem H.

The last time I got into a fight was on the school bus. When I got on the bus, I sat down and I was listening to music. A boy got on the bus and I was playing with him by



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pulling his hood off of his head. He turned around and pulled my hair. I said, “Oh, I gotta beat you!”

I took my coat and backpack off and then I stood up. He said, “What the fuck you standing up for?” That’s when I punched him in the face. He balled his body up into a fetal position and I kept hitting him. I stopped and said, “Stand the fuck up, bitch.” He stayed balled up until the bus got us to the school.

As the students started getting off the bus he stood up and said, “Oh, we at school now?” He turned around and I punched him in his face three times when I stood up. He backed up, so I stood on the seat cushion, because I'm short. He came up again towards me and I punched him two more times. He stumbled back. I said, “Oh, yeah I’ma beat...” And then I jumped out the seat, punched him, and he fell. When he fell, I fell, too. I grabbed him and he had me in the seat. I flipped him over and that's when the bus driver broke it up. But not before I punched him again. We got suspended from riding the bus for five days.

“When my Dad Went to Jail” By: Blessed For Life$$$$$$

The day my Dad went to jail happened in 2006. He went to jail for about four years. It was in the springtime and I was only two years old. I did not find out that he went to jail until I turned six years old.

My Dad got out of jail in April 2010. Now he lives with my grandma and I go to see him during the weekends. I was really upset when he went to jail. He went because he was selling drugs. I visited my Dad in jail a lot of times. It was fun when I visited him because we would always get something to eat together from the cafeteria. But their food was so disgusting in the jail. Afterwards, we would go by Wendy’s or something, so we didn’t all throw up from eating the bad



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tasting food at the jail. When my Dad had got out I was so happy. Two years from now he will be getting off of parole.

“When my Friend Almost Killed Herself” By: #youdowhatyouwantwhenyoupoppin

One day, December 13, it was on a Friday, and I was texting Meghan. For some reason, she wasn’t texting back.

So I texted Bhonca and asked her, “Are you also texting Meghan?” She said, “Yes, but she ain’t texting back.” I said, “She doing the same thing with me. Is she mad or something?” Bhonca said, “Get on snapchat and look.” I saw a picture of Meghan laying down with a rope beside her and the caption on her photo read, “Goodbye life.” I screenshot it and sent it to Bhonca.

We were so very worried, because Bhonca and I didn't know if she was playing or serious. Then Meghan changed her kik pic into some person who was hanging himself. This made us even more worried about Meghan. Bhonca thought about calling 911, and her dad, to tell them about what was happening with Meghan. I told Bhonca, “Wait until in the morning. If she don’t text us, then you can call. Gnn (Goodnight).” Bhonca said, “Gnn (Goodnight), right back.”

At 8:56 the next morning Meghan texted back. We asked her, “Why did you try to kill yourself?” She said, “Nevermind. I’m ok.” And we were still worried.

“Human, but a Monkey”

By: Bulby I know I am not a monkey but… we just call

ourselves that. It's a way that we use to express ourselves (my friends and I). We like to goof off, have fun, and be weirdos. We usually do like singing childish songs and, like, nobody can drag me down, or it's going down for real. We just play around. Everyday it's the same. Well, sometimes, because sometimes there are some problems. We fight for food, like the chip snacks called Takis.



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When no one is around, we really be acting crazy. We’ve had people ask us, “Why ya’ll act like that, because you look stupid and dumb, when ya’ll are smart girls?” We just respond, “ ‘Cause we like being weird, and stupid, and acting like monkeys, and humans are lame. We are doing it because monkeys care about each other, they care for one another, and they have each other’s backs.” Sometimes we don't answer their questions.

Sometimes people get mad or annoyed with us because we act like we are stupid. Or they think we are playing, but we’re not stupid. We’re just having fun. Also sometimes people call us weird and stupid. When teachers ask us, “What do you think you are? WEIRDOS or MONKEYS?!! No, your not. You’re unique!” Then we say, “No, we're not unique. We are Weirdos and some monkeys.” It's fun goofing around with my friends, hanging out, and having fun.

Here’s how one of our conversations went:

Julisa: “Hey weirdo!” Meh: “Hi, Monkey!” Brianna: “What are my Monkeys doing?” Julisa and Meh: “NUN, doing work.” Julisa: “BTW, Lesly Brianna is mine.” Meh: “No she mine sorry...” Julisa: “NO, she mine!” Meh: “Ok, Malene mine then.”



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Core 2 Student’s Artwork Collage

Each square was hand drawn with a sharpie pen by students to visually represent their stories. Pretend as if you are looking through a peephole at each card. Now, can you guess what each story is about?



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“Why Hispanics HATE Donald Trump?” By: Shorty A.

We all know Donald Trump! You know that us Hispanics hate him.

Yes, I’m Hispanic. My community feels hatred towards Trump.

We don’t know what we did to him for him to despise us. However, we do have a reason for why we hate him, but what

the fuck is his?! By now you should know that I don’t like him. In

fact, I don’t like him so much that it is more like it's a deep, deep hatred. He says the baddest things about us, but he doesn't know our actual reasons why we Hispanics come to America. These are also my thoughts about Donald Trump:

Yo odio a ese pinche maldito. No puede decir que nosotros somos personas huevonas que roba los trabajos de otros. Nosotros tenemos nuestros dereches aqui tambien. Pero como es que nos llama huevones y le “quitamos” los trabajos de otros...eso es impossible si “no hacemos nada”. No nos robamos los trabajos, nosotros trabajamos nuestro mejor para hagarar trabajo! YO soy HISPANA pero nacie AQUI, entonces yo tengo mis dereches. Mi Familia y todos los hipanos tienen derecho tambien. Estamos en un mundo libro y nadie nos debe decir lo que no tenemos o podemos hacer!!

That paragraph was written in Spanish, so let me translate it for you guys who don’t know the Spanish language, it says:

“I hate that Bitch (No offense Trump, but it's true). He can’t say that we are lazy people who take people's jobs. We have rights, too. But how can he call us lazy when we “Take” other people’s jobs…? That’s impossible if we “don’t do anything”. We don’t take other people's jobs, we try our best to earn it. I am



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hispanic, but I was born here so I have my rights to live here. My family and other hispanics have rights, too! We are in a free world, and no one should tell us what we can or can’t do!!”

I see a lot of people protesting against Mr. Trump because they, too, feel it’s not fair to kick us out of the country. Sometimes, or mostly all the time, I hear mean things about Trump. But sometimes I also hear people say, “He is doing that right thing by wanting to kick Hispanics out of this country.” That's not my opinion, but if it’s yours, then, please, think about it as if YOU were US. How would YOU feel?

Donald Trump treats us like we’re a piece of trash just laying there! That is NOT right. I don’t see why he hates us so fucking much!!

Trump wants to make the immigrants go back to where they came from. But there’s no difference between us and him, because he’s from Germany. He says, ‘The kids who were born here in the United States Of America can stay, but the other kids not born here need to go back with their families in the country they are from.’ Trump wants to take our rights here. It’s a law that says people who were born here in the U.S.A are citizens.

My advice to those who don’t like Trump is this, “Don’t vote for him!” It makes me happy to know that you guys don’t like him, too, because of what he’s doing to Hispanic people like me.

If you do like him, then that’s your decision, but first ask yourself, “Why do I hate Hispanics?,” and, “Why does Donald Trump despise Hispanics?” If you don’t know the answer, then I ask you this question, “Why do you like Donald Trump? Does he have the right to treat us like trash? Isn’t this a free country?”

Think. At least, give us some fucking RESPECT!! We deserve the same respect as everyone else in the world. We are people, too!! I’m sorry, Trump, that there is so much hatred towards you, but I’m being honest here.



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“...Left Home Alone…”

By: Irene T. Omg, I cannot stand being in a hot house.

It gets on my last nerves. One Friday morning, when I was in fifth grade, I

woke up to get ready for school with my cousins. When we were done getting ready, that’s when my aunt told us, “Irene, you have to stay home with your cousins to watch the baby, because I can’t leave the baby in the house alone by himself.” So, anywho, I’m thinking to myself, “Wat the HEdoubleL dis lady think she talking to?” I mean, I know I wouldn't say it out loud, because I ain’t trying to get in trouble or get a beating... but you know I’m about that life.

I know you’re wondering if my aunt always ask me to do things I don’t want to do? Besides, everyone asks me to do things I don’t want to do, so it’s no difference to me.

Anyways, so I was sitting and thinking to myself, “Wat trouble can I make today, since they left us, well me, bored in the house?” I mean, like, I was bored. I don’t know about them, but I was bored. I was so bored that I would have rather cut myself than to be home, but I’m not that stupid to cut myself. However, the bad thing about me having to stay home that day was that my school was going on a field trip. At that point, I was still thinking, “Should I let the sink water run until it floods the bathroom? Or try to drive my uncle’s car? Or even go to my boy best friend's house, since he’s home schooled?” That is when I said, “Hey! I should play a video game (NBA 2K15), instead, with my cousin.

I know you're wondering, “How did this girl get dis game?” I mean, I would tell you, but obviously I don’t trust you, tbh.

While playing my game, I heard a baby crying. I thought to myself, “Do dis lady really expect me to go see why this baby is crying?” Just to let you know, I didn’t go to check. I just screamed for her daughter to go see why he was crying. So she did go.



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I began to get hungry. I looked for food, but there was no food to eat. I started to whine (cry). I cry when there is no food to eat in the house. Words I said were like, “I’m going to burn the refrigerator, if I don’t eat.” So I had an idea to order a pizza, although I didn’t have any money. I used my aunt’s credit card.

Let me guess, you’re also wondering, “How did you know her pin number for her credit card?” See, when she put her pin number in once, she said it aloud. So I wrote it down.

When the pizza got there, I took it to my room, climbed out on my window to the roof, and ate some slices. I felt bad, so I told my cousin she could have some while I watched the baby.

About 20 minutes later, my aunt pulled up to the house. We rushed to clean the place. I had to run to my neighbor’s back yard to throw the pizza box away, also known as, “ran track.”will people know what this means?

My aunt came in and I’m surprised she didn’t notice anything. I hope she doesn’t leave me again with the kids.

“New York City: The Big Apple”

By: Princess Adora.x New York is a big city with a lot of people. It’s a

famous place. I’m from Manhattan, New York, New York. I’m also from an area called Tribeca. There are other areas in Manhattan and Harlem.

New York is called, “The city that never sleeps.” It’s true because it’s very busy usually all day, even early in the morning. I lived near where” 9/11” happened in 2001. That’s when the world trade center’s twin towers were crashed into by airplanes that terrorists hijacked. My mom said, “ I saw it out my window.”

When you walk past the food places in New York, the food smells lovely and fresh. I could walk by and smell pizza, ice cream, and fresh food. Summer and Spring are hot and humid in New York. In the Winter, it snows. In the Fall, it’s cold.



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In Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, you could see kids outside playing in the park. Or in Brooklyn, you would see them sitting on their porch or stoop at night in the city, relaxing. A stoop is like a porch/stairs, and you just sit on the part where the stairs are. You can even see kids playing in the snow, or walking to the bus stop and subway. A subway is a train and it has letters or numbers on it that help you decide which one to take to get to where you want to go.

The sunset is very beautiful in New York. In the Spring and Summer, you can see kids playing in the water sprinklers in the park. At night, the city starts to relax. The sunset is very beautiful. There is also an area in the city named Staten Island. You can also see the Statue of Liberty.

New Yorkers say, “Yo, man!” to greet one another; “Grimmey,” which means trifling; or “It’s brick outside,” which translates into “it’s cold outside”, etc. And they usually have an accent when they speak. Although I’m from New York, I do not have an accent.

Now I live in Durham, North Carolina. It was very different when I moved down here. different food, southern food. Now you know about New York City, would you like to go to New York?

“The Amazing Takis” By: B.O.F.A Left Nut Takis are an amazing snack that is still booming. They are hot chilli pepper tortilla chips that taste like hot sauce rolled up and stiff. They are amazing because of how sweet and tangy they taste. And yes, they are always good to me and a lot of people acknowledge this snack as being amazing, too. The ingredients are listed as follows on

the bag: “CORN MASA FLOUR, PALM OIL, SEASONING (IODIZED SALT, SUGAR, NATURAL FLAVOR,CITRIC ACID, HYDROLYZED VEGETABLE PROTEIN,YEAST EXTRACT, MONOSODIUM



http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22CORN+MASA+FLOUR%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22PALM+OIL%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3ASEASONING

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22IODIZED+SALT%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3ASUGAR

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22NATURAL+FLAVOR%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22CITRIC+ACID%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22CITRIC+ACID%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22HYDROLIZED+VEGETAL+PROTEIN%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22YEAST+EXTRACT%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22YEAST+EXTRACT%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22MONOSODIUM+GLUTAMATE%22

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GLUTAMATE,MALTODEXTRIN, SODIUM DIACETATE,VEGETABLE OIL, ARTIFICIAL COLORS (FD&C RED # 40 LAKE, FD&C YELLOW # 6 LAKE),ONION POWDER, EXTRACTIVES OF CHILLI,SILICON DIOXIDE (NOT MORE THAN 2% AS ANTICAKING AGENT), SODIUM BICARBONATE,DISODIUM GUANYLATE AND DISODIUM INOSINATE.” (Source http://itzgot.com/ Food Database.)

Another snack that is similar in amazing flavor to Takis, are Doritos, because of their taste, the use of tortilla chips, the tang of the mustard, plus the texture when you feel them. For example, Takis are like salty popcorn that has become stale, but they look like a rolled up Dorito with red powder on them.

All I love is food with a kick, but please, no jalapenos, because I don’t like any foods with that spicy of a taste.

Back to Takis, many people around this Neal Middle School campus, savor and rejoice when they have Takis. The Pioneers, sixth grade students, enjoy them so much that now we have a rule against having them at school.

The Takis rule for Pioneers is that “There are no Takis allowed because of the careless dropping of crumbs and Taki bags lying around on the floor.”

As more incidents happen of leaving Takis crumbs around the school, more roaches and ants begin to feed on them. Takis are helpful for the people who need something hot, spicy, and toto stick on their stomachs. In conclusion, Takis are a great snack that many people enjoy, so go get some, and you will enjoy them, too.

“My Family Reunion” By Tiyana E.

My family has family reunions. In case you don’t know what a family reunion is, it’s when your family gets together and goes on a vacation. With my family this year, we are going to the beach. I can’t wait.



http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22MONOSODIUM+GLUTAMATE%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3AMALTODEXTRIN

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22SODIUM+DIACETATE%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22SODIUM+DIACETATE%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22VEGETABLE+OIL%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22ARTIFICIAL+COLORS%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22C+RED+%23+40+LAKE%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22C+YELLOW+%23+6+LAKE%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22C+YELLOW+%23+6+LAKE%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22ONION+POWDER%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22EXTRACTIVE+OF+CHILLI%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22EXTRACTIVE+OF+CHILLI%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22SILICON+DIOXIDE%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22SODIUM+BICARBONATE%22

http://itzgot.com/search?q=ingredient%3A%22SODIUM+BICARBONATE%22

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http://itzgot.com/

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“My Husband” By: Amonti M.

Chris Brown is my husband. We got married in 2009, so ya’ll need to BTFO!! He’s mine because I’m his biggest fan. His full name is Christopher Maurice Brown. He has a daughter named Royalty Brown

. He is currently 26 years old. Chris Brown was born and raised in Virginia. He is 6 foot 1 inches tall . He sings raps and dance.. My favorite song by Chris Brown is

called “Wrist” He Fine ASF.

I will beat a bitch up for him because, you see, he’s mine. It’s Team Breezy.

All day. Everyday.

Already Snow it. (That means, Know*) <3

.

“My Best Friend” By: Amonti M.

My best friend’s Name is Jazzlynn. I tell her everything. I remember the first time when we met and she was so quiet. I kept asking, “What are we supposed to be doing in class? Can you give me the answers to the assignments?” Then I asked her for her Kik name, and we started talking more until we became best friends.

There are so many memories we share together. I remember when she came over my house. We walked to the



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store and got robbed for $5.00 because it fell out of her pocket. A man took the money off the ground and ran. That pervert kept looking at us, and the cars kept honking at me. Deonta was taking too long, and Cornelia said, “I ain’t about to get raped!”

On the chat, when B.B.’s scary eyes look at you, and their whole squad be popping up on on the DM with Torry saying, “Hey lil’ one...” or, “Hey lil’ light skin...” And there is Antoine’s head inside the hoop, instead of outside of it, on the group chat of the boy who thinks he can play basketball.

Once, Dynasty had to take a poop on the bus when that escape key was in her ass. Ms. Fletcher said, “People pick on her.” So, 10%, Jason’s Queen Latifah tail, and Nyekwon big butt, after school we are lit. We are jumping off the tables. I said, “Hey, Torry!” Then he gave me a hug, and he bumped his chest into Jazzlynn face. Torry is Shykeem’s brother.

While Dynasty was recording Torry and B.B. yesterday, me and Jazzlynn had a lot of new memories made together. However, these were the latest ones that happened.

“The Raunchy School”

By: Felicia The school I go to is John W. Neal Middle School,

and it’s one of the most raunchiest schools ever. The thing about the school that makes it so raunchy is that the school, in general, is bad. It’s not as bad as the Holocaust, but it’s as bad as three starving tigers with razor sharp teeth and claws with one chicken in a cage.

First of all, the kids act bad, get in fights and do stupid stuff. One time, my brother and I have a friend, and just about two weeks ago, he got slung in the cafeteria just because someone wanted a seat. Seriously, they slung him onto the ground, from out of nowhere, for a seat!

There are many fights and arguments at Neal. People get jumped, and also sent to the hospital because they get hurt so badly. “Getting jumped by people” means a group of people attack one person, all at a time, by ganging up on them. There are just some bad mischiefs in this school.



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Everybody gets angry over anything you do to them, including looking at them, touching them, or talking to them. Most kids are badly behaved and uncontrollable. Too many “accidents” happen in this school. Also, the students skip class, and most of them get away with it. They usually hide somewhere or roam around the hallways. Yesterday, a girl came down the hallway and everybody was going to class. The teachers were out in the hallways and none of them said anything to her. She just kept walking down the hallway without any attention on her skipping class.

Another thing that makes this school raunchy is the lunches. Most of the lunches have pieces of hair, burnt spots, or just look nasty. Most of the kids hate them. They usually dump them in the trash can or give their lunch to somebody else.

In addition to the lunches, the kitchens are in even worse condition. I heard a rumor that one time they found a rat inside the kitchen. Surprisingly, it was dead. In the kitchen, they even have bugs or insects. It’s also very dusty. It’s not very clean or organized.

The school is so bad because it’s old and ramshackled. I know this because my aunts and my mother went here when they were in middle school, as children. It doesn’t even have new tools or supplies for us to use. Other people have to donate stuff we need to help our school out. If we get “new stuff”, we would probably get things that were previously used by others.

We can barely afford nice things just because this school is so poor. The school is cutting the budget for water fountains because they don’t have money for the things that we need. Plus, near us was the best water fountain in the hallways. The water fountains also have rust on them, and also bandaids in them, candy wrappers, and other trash.

Lastly, Neal has some BOOTY internet service. It’s worse than McDonald’s internet. The students try to connect to the wifi, but it’s so slow and garbage, that you can’t do anything, even once you are connected to it. And those are the reasons why this school is raunchy.



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“Pandacake WEIRDO!” By: Pandacake Weirdo

I love pandas because they are cute and they can scratch your eyes out. The pandas look like cuddly stuffed animals. I also love pancakes! My favorite type of pancake is the original one with butter and original syrup. The pancakes taste like fluffy pillows that just came from the clouds. The syrup smells like sweet candy, fresh from a candy shop. The butter melts on the pancakes and makes it softer. When I touch the pancakes, they feel very soft and fragile. I like the fluffy kind that break apart.

I made the word “Pan(da)cake Weirdo” for myself. I am also a weirdo.

My usernames on social media are either minipancakes331 or weirdpanda331.

Me and my other friends are weirdos, too. Weird is the new cool for me and my weird friends.

My friend Shorty and I are HUGE weirdos. My friends say, ‘You can be mean sometimes.” And I think that's true, because if a panda can scratch your eyes out, then I

can be mean. I also can be a weirdo while playing games. I use my imagination to do weird things.

Like yesterday, I was imagining with my two friends that we were in a rocket ship, going to different places, and we saw aliens. We found something strange and kept it as a prisoner. It was lots of fun, because the prisoner kept eating things like a brick and a jump rope.

People think Weird is not cool, but if you're weird you have a lot of imagination. Also, for those people out there who think nerds or geeks aren’t cool, think again! Those are the other types of cool weirdos, too.



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“My Dream job” By: Lovely C.

When I was younger, I always wanted to be a hairstylist. I was impressed by the people who do my hair, called “beauticians and cosmetologists,” whenever I went to the hair salon. I will always practice doing hairstyles on my dolls. Sometimes, I look at hair

tutorials on youtube, whenever I want to learn how to do different styles, so I can get better at it.

I hope that one day that I will own my own hair salon. The hairstyles I know how to do so far are cornrows, twist, some other stuff, and adding hair extension to black people’s hair, because I am used to styling their curlier textured hair. But before all that can happen, I have to take some cosmetology classes to able to learn more about how to start a business, and how to do more hairstyles.

“EL CHAPO” AND DONALD TRUMP” By: J.C.V.

El Chapo is the best “Sicario” Drug Dealer ever! I hope he kills Donald Trump. El Chapo has been escaping prison for years, and wanted by the police forever. He has been caught recently, but there is no doubt that he is gonna escape again. This is the fourth time he was caught.

It is my birthday on Feb. 5th, and I hope he escapes on my bday. I would love for El Chapo to give me a birthday present. It would be the best gift ever.

El Chapo would love to be married to Kate del Castillo. According to rumors, he was chatting with her during his escape. There is a photo of him, her, and this other guy asking his questions in an interview.



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I would love for him to abduct Donald Trump, especially after Donald Trump said, “All Mexicans should go back to Mexico… we were rapists, dirty, we’re in gangs... and we stole people’s jobs.” No ! Not all of us are how he thinks we are. We are all not the same. We all have different ways we live, and we don’t steal people’s jobs. However, it is true that we do the jobs we get better than other people, anyway.

Well, don’t blame me for wanting Donald Trump harmed, if he hurt us. Donald Trump said all those untrue things about us and we pretty much didn’t like those things. Those comments by Trump were also offensive to El Chapo. Donald Trump is running for president, so please do not vote for him.

El Chapo, I would love that birthday gift, a lot. EL CHAPO!

“The Computer: A Fiction Story” By: Derpy

One amazing day, wait a minute… I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Amays, my gender is a guy (male). I love derpy faces. They are faces that are silly or foolish looking. The new computer is coming out in a few

days. I’m sooo excited! It’s the new brand! It’s called T4 Upgrade! Better than Apple! It comes out November 17, 2023. Great year, so far, considering that all new brands of computers are coming out. New buildings are being built and

upgraded as well. Last year Donald Trump just finished his term as

President in the White House office! Whooo! Everyone wanted Trump out of the office. Anyway, to the story. Signed, Friend.

“Well, life is great. I guess I can call my friend,” phone rings. “Hey, Tom. How are you? Yeah, I’m excited too. Can’t wait ‘til next week.” By the way, we have different phones than you people in 2016… lol. They look like this...



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“Dude, can you believe that Siri is a real animated person now?! Yeah, it’s great. Even if she was real, she would not date you. Sorry. Have you heard that they are selling the computers for free, if you are waiting at the store by tomorrow? Dude, I don’t think that the computers will attack. Well, yeah, it is 2023, but….I know I’m jinxing it. But it won’t happen. Fine, hang up…..Fine, I’ll see you the day after tomorrow, when the jinx is over. lol. Okay, bye.” Phone beeeeps.

Wow, he said he will get jinxed for whatever he says, if he keeps talking to me. lol. “The day has come, November 17, 2023, and right now I’m outside getting my T4 Upgrade computer!”

The person who works at the store says, “Hello, everyone. To get your computers, you have to wait out here and we will bring them to you.” No long after the announcement they started to pass the computers out. As soon as I got my computer, and my sleeping bag and tent, I left to go home. I forgot the instructions for the computer and forgot that I forgot them.

I opened my front door and ran inside without closing it behind me. I ran to my desk and turned the computer on. It said, “T4 Upgrade.” Next thing I know there was a scary face

on the computer screen. “AHHHH!” I fell out of my chair and hid under my bed. The computer grew legs and started to walk. I started to speak, “The…” and then the computer heard me and turned around. I quickly rolled from under the bed and jumped on top of it. I ran quietly and quickly out my front door with my phone. The computer saw me and started coming after me, following me! I hid behind a trash can. The computer kept running past me.

My phone rings, “Hey dude, the jinx is right. I’m sooo sorry for calling you wrong… Yeah, yeah, no need to brag. Come meet me at… Fine, let’s meet at your place. Okay, I’ll be on my way. Okay, bye.” Aww man, now I have to run all the way to his apartment.



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On the way there, I ran by cop cars and regular cars that were flipped over. Soon, I could see his apartment was straight ahead. I quickly ran to the apartment building. As soon as I got inside, people were being attacked, and I quickly went up the stairway past them. I got to my friend’s apartment.

“Hey, Amays!” “Hey, Tom.” “We have to figure out what is going on. By

the way, we should get out of this building…” “AHHH!” “People are being attacked, I guess?” “Yep.”

Me and my friend Tom escaped out of the building through the window. We kept running until we reached the town hall. Once we reached it, we went inside, and the computer was running into the room that controlled the town. We quickly ran into the room and started to pull the wires that controlled the computer. The last wire that we pulled was the wire that controlled the computer. The computer then shut off. “WHOOOOO! Tom, we did it!” “Yeah! Amays ,we did it!”

Me and Tom went home to my house. Now Tom lives there with me because his home got destroyed by the computers. So, now, no one in this town has a T4 Upgrade computer anymore, and that concludes my story. But, wait a minute... there was a new computer due to come out on...

The End.

“The Circulatory System in Different Languages” By: MJ Love (MAKAIOGREENE, IMANIHAYES,

BROOKEROYSTER, TYRINETATE) This story about the Circulatory System is written by

combining the languages of Aiyti (Haiti), English, Chinese (Traditional), and French. The Circulatory System is the most important system in the human body. The circulatory system is connected to your heart. It helps you to breathe when you exercise and your heart pumps faster. It carries oxygen, food



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and waste through the body. The heart, blood vessels, and blood make up this system. The heart is the center of the circulatory system. The heart pumps blood through blood vessels called the arteries. And there are veins.

The main part of the circulatory system is the heart. The heart [Hahrt] is a hollow, pumplike organ for blood circulation, composed mainly of rhythmically contractile smooth muscle, located in the chest between the lungs, slightly to the left. It consists of four chambers: a right atrium that receives blood returning from the body via the superior and inferior vena cavae; a right ventricle that pumps the blood through the pulmonary artery to the lungs for oxygenation; a left atrium that receives the oxygenated blood via the pulmonary veins and passes it through the mitral valve; and a left ventricle that pumps the oxygenated blood, via the aorta, throughout the body.

Now, here is the same information presented in different languages: Sistèm sikilasyon an se sistèm ki pi enpòtan nan sistèm nan body. Circulatory imen se ki konekte nan heart.it ou ede w souf lè ou exrises kè ou ponp pi vit. li pote manje oksijèn ak fatra a body.The bato yo san kè ak san l 'a renmèt sa a kè system.The se sant lan nan sistèm sikilasyon an. kè a ponp san nan veso sangen rele atè yo.

Pati prensipal la nan sistèm sikilasyon an se kè [hahrt] kè a nan se yon kre, pumplike ògàn nan sikilasyon san, ki konpoze sitou nan rhythmic kontraktil lis nan misk, ki chita nan pwatrin ki genyen ant poumon yo ak yon ti kras sou bò goch la ak ki fòme ak kat chanm : yon atrium dwat ki resevwa san retounen nan kò a atravè cavae nan siperyè ak enferyè VENA, se yon seksyon kè dwa ki ponp san an nan atè a poumon nan poumon yo pou oksijenoterapi, se yon atrium gòch ki resevwa san an oksijene atravè venn yo poumon ak pass li nan valv la mitral, ak yon seksyon kè gòch ki ponp san an oksijene, atravè aorta a, nan tout kò a. 你他媽的黑鬼 (inner peace)



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“My Cousin and My Aunt” By: Jessica RG.

It was December 24, 2015 at 12:13 a.m. We woke up suddenly and were startled by my dad’s phone ringing. It was my uncle’s phone number that popped up. We were really excited, because my aunt was pregnant with my new baby cousin. We thought that my new baby cousin was finally born. But it all turned upside down when I answered the phone

I could hear my uncle crying. I said, “Are you okay, and my aunt, too?” I could hear her crying in the background as well.

Although I don’t really remember much about that night, I do remember my uncle yelling, “He was born dead!” I dropped the phone and sat on the sofa, not moving until 12 a.m. that day. I didn’t feel like celebrating Christmas Eve. Nobody did. I felt devastated and shook. This was the first family member to die from our family that I knew. From that moment everything got worse.

Next my aunt got very ill in that hospital. My uncle told us, “ If we had money to switch her to another hospital in Mexico, we would. When your cousin was born, they officially pronounced him dead and the doctor didn’t even try to revive him. With your aunt, they just sewed were they cut to remove the baby, and put her in her room. They didn’t give her any medicine. As a result, she got a very bad infection and went into a coma. By the time we moved her to a better hospital they found out that she had brain dead. Then she was only breathing with the artificial air. The life support breathing system was the only thing that kept her heart beating. The doctor said, “She had only a five percent chance to live.”

On January 2, 2016 our uncle called saying, “She passed away at 1:51 pm.”

It really was a lot of pain to go through in just two weeks. I took it as a sign that I really had to appreciate everything that I had in my life. I really have to keep going with my life because I have school. But it’s been rough. A week later after my aunt died, we got a call that they buried



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her and my still born cousin, Jose Javier, together in the same grave.

If you have ever gone through this, or are going through this now, know that you are not alone. You can keep going on with living your life.

“The Struggle With Braces”

By: Karla PS. I have braces and I don’t like them.

Having braces is a huge struggle. When I got braces for the first time, it hurt so much. When the orthodontist was putting on the braces, it took about an hour and it didn’t hurt at all. But people still ask me, “Does it hurt to have braces?” And I say, “No,” of course, but it does hurt after you get the braces.

So, really, after I first got my braces it did not hurt. However, it started hurting when I got home. When it started hurting, I went to sleep because I couldn’t do anything else since I was in so much pain. I also couldn’t eat anything solid. The only things I could eat were foods that were liquid or soft like mashed potatoes, ice cream, juice, etc. I didn’t eat solid foods for a week. I was in so much pain that I had to take a lot of pills and medicine, so the pain would go away. The Orthodontist also told me, “Do not eat gum, candy, or anything sticky.” But I kind of eat them anyway sometimes, but not always.

I think I will have these braces for one or two years more. I got them in July of 2015. My orthodontist is by Southpoint Mall in Durham. So, that is a snapshot of my life while living with braces.

“Hair Girls” By: Janiyah C.

One day, there were three Girls, all twelve years old, and in the sixth grade attending Neal Middle School. The three Girls names were Ja’ Nydia, Jalisa, and my name, Imani. We all have liked doing hair since we were little girls. Our moms



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and dads were best friends and we all lived in the same neighborhood in Durham, called Lynn Haven.

We all loved doing hairstyles on each others hair while sitting in a line whenever we have a sleepover. We have been hanging together our entire lives of twelve years, and have the same necklaces that are pink with initials on them. Mine has the letter B, Ja’ Nydia’s has a B, and and Jalisa has the letter F. We all plan on owning our own hair salons when we finish school together and do separate things on our own as well.

Now, let me talk about our personalities. Jalisa is the quiet one and has her own mind sometimes. Ja’ Nydia is loud and doesn’t care how people feel about her. And me, I'm like the person that's calm and speaks my mind. But if you disrespect me I will disrespect you. And if you respect me, I will respect you. Also, me and Ja’ Nydia like to dance in addition to doing hair. We plan to do both together.

The hairstyles I like to do are box braids, coloring hair, or shaping it in a fun, cute, yet simple style. Being BFFs with them is so important to me because it means that you have known the person for a long time, you can tell them anything, and you can trust them if you tell them something personal. My future, 5 years later, will still include them and we will remain BFFs. The End!!!

“All About Beyonce” By: Janiyah C.

Hey, my name is Janiyah, and I love the singer, Beyonce. I am going to give you information about her, what I like about her, and what I dislike about her. Beyonce Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, 1981 in Houston, Texas. She is an AfricanAmerican R&B singer, actress, and songwriter in the group Destiny's Child. Her father, Matthew Knowles, worked as Destiny's Child manager, while her mother, Tina Knowles, designed the group members’ glittery costumes. I was a big fan of Beyonce’s when I heard her sing, and I wanted to be like her. I could hear her song on the radio and I



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would sing with her, “ALL THE SINGLE LADIES.” Every time my mom would say, “Yo’ ass happy back there.”

When I was younger, while taking a shower, my mom would play Beyonce’s music loud and I would sing in the shower. I would be thinking that I could sing like her, but I couldn't. I would always tell my mom, “I want to be like Beyonce, but I also want to dance.” Sometimes I would watch the TV show, The Voice, when I was 10 years old, with plans of getting on that show to show everyone my real voice. I still do.

Beyonce is the artist I liked the most. I remember one time my mom and dad took me to one of her concerts and I was so happy that I wanted to scream. It was for my 11th birthday. I was in the first row and got to meet Beyonce backstage after the show. I was crying and everything to the point that I felt like screaming!!!

I started not to like one part of Beyonce’s life, and that was when she started messing with Jayz, and she started praising the devil. Her baby is beautiful, but why have a baby with Jayz? He already cheated her. And why would you name a baby, “Blue Ivy?” That’s all I have about Beyonce that I don't like. The End.

“Pretending to be Asleep” By: Jailet CS.

One day, when I was 4 years old, about seven years ago, my little sister was born and my mom got out of the hospital. Then, four days later, my dad had to work late, so it was me, my brother, my newborn little sister, and my uncle at home. It was nighttime and we were getting ready to go to sleep.

We slept in my mom’s bed and my uncle rested in the living room on the couch. In the middle of the night some robbers entered our house.

I awoke and saw that they first approached my uncle. When I saw my uncle, he was bleeding from his head. The robbers took my mom and my uncle to the bathroom, and kept



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them in there until they left. They were yelling and talking to my mom and uncle, but I don’t remember what they said. I was scared. I pretended like I was sleeping because I thought they were going to shoot me. The robbers took almost everything we had in our house. We couldn’t see the robbers’ faces because they had masks on.

When the robbers finally decided to leave our house, they let my mom and my uncle free from the bathroom. My mom and my uncle called the police when they let them go. The police came a little bit too late and they didn’t catch the robbers in time. However, the police still had to do an investigation about the robbery.

My mom called my dad and said, “Come home. We just got robbed.” So my dad came home and found a mess in the house. I still acted like I was sleeping because I was so scared of what happen when the robbers were there earlier. I pretended that I had just awoke and that is when I saw my grandmother, my mom, and my dad looking through some stuff.

I ran to my uncle to see how he was doing. He was looking through the door and he wasn’t bleeding anymore. However I saw a red stain on his white shirt and it was his blood. I asked him, “Why do you have a red stain?” He said, “Because I was bleeding from my head and your grandmother cleaned the blood off of me.” I said, “Are you ok?” He said, “Yes.”

I still was acting as if I didn’t know anything at all. I said to my uncle, “Did they catch the robbers?” He said, “No, they didn’t catch them. They ran away before the police got here.”

“Omare Upchurch” By: Jazzlynn J.

So, Omare Is My Boi, best friend, No NOT BOYFRIEND. NOO, just Boy best friend. He rides my bus , but we don’t talk that much on the bus.



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Ever since we started talking, we were the best of friends. At first when I met Omare TBH, I liked him, but now I don’t really, just lowkey. When I touched Omare, he was sooo soft because he put on oil. He has muscles and abs. He smelled like candy at the time. Now, everyday he smells like Olive oil, but it smells good. He is so shiny.

Once I heard him talking a lot with me and other people who were talking about what happened in their gym class. On time, I accidently licked him because I didn’t see him and it was funny. But he tasted like cocoa butter.

At the beginning of the year, my bus had two loads of students. Me and Omare were in the second group. We would wait, like, 30 minutes outside for the bus with some other people. During that time, we would talk and play fight and so forth. Then, when we got home, he barely would text me for anything. And when we saw each other we would just shake hands.

Then about a month later, they started putting our bus and the other bus all in one load to make one trip. The most annoying thing about that was that the bus would be crowded. Also, when I got off the bus, people would hit my ass. But I ignored it when Omare did it. In the hallways and everything, we would just give each other handshakes.

Then in November, somehow, we just started to hug a lot more. And in December,his birthday was coming up, but I didn’t give him his present. When it was February, I decided to ask him, “What is it like being a boy?” And he would ask me, “What is it like being a girl?” Soon we got personal, but we don’t date.

When January came and it was my birthday, he gave me a bag of hot fries and I was happy that he gave me something. The bad thing was that I didn’t give nothing, yet, for his birthday. But I’m going to, as soon as I find the right thing. Now it’s February, and we still talk a lot and hug. Sadly, I still ain’t got nothing for that boi. So the other morning, I asked him, “What are you scared of ?” And he said, “God and gay people.” I asked, “What are your favorite colors?” He said, “Green and red.” Then he just walked by



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LML. Sadly, today he got I.S.S. for the first time this year for saying the 6th grade principal’s name, which is dumb ASF. Now my feelings for him are deep ASF.

People ask, “Why are you feelings deep asf for him?” I say, “Because he is my only boi best friend.” I told him everything about me. He is cute ASF. I can give like forty reasons, but nah, I don’t feel like typing all of that.

Also if any one wanna fuk with him you FUK with me. I will protect him and he protects me. IDGAF who tries to talk shit to him, I will still slay them when they start or talk shit about him. You can ask Monti! I get so mad when she talks about Omare, bruh. No bitch that ION like is gonna date him. And if she wanna break up with him just because he is my best friend, you think I care? Like no, nigga. TBH, I like Omare low key because he is cute, loyal, and can dress. But he is only my best friend, so ION wanna FUK that up, so nah. We’re best friends, so warning, “Don’t FUK with usss.” Omare makes me happy everyday when I’m sad. I always Oovoo Omare on the weekends and we talk. When he makes funny faces, I screenshot them, and I look at him.

“FirstFight” By: Thomas L.

When I was in the third grade, I got into a fight. Here is how it went down, with some of the backstory and details.

That day I was sitting, during lunch, with a juice box. A kid came and took it from me. I told the kid, “Get your own juice box!” But nope, he took it and drank it all in front of me. So, I called him, “Poop face!”

Now we get to the good stuff... so later that day, I was walking to the bus when I saw the kid in the window of the bus. I knew that there would be some sort of trouble when I walked into the bus, so I walked on slowly.

I saw that there were no seats left other than the one next to the kid that stole my juice box. I sat there. Then, he gave me a crooked grin, and, being the third grader that he was, he hit me. I looked at him and said, “Why did you hit me?” He said, “Because you called me a poopface.”



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So, being the third grader I was, I hit him back, because I had good reasons to and stuff. I won the fight by sitting on him. I don’t know why I sat on him.

Next, I saw the bus driver coming over to break up the fight. I was not in trouble, though. All they made me do was sit up in the front seat of the bus because I did not start the fight.

My advice to others is, don't call people names, and tell the teacher first when someone steals from you. Yeah, and it still puzzles me to this day why I sat on him. I still don't know the answer to that.



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“Schools” By: NC Girl

When we moved to North Carolina, my mom first put me in Neal Middle School. I thought it looked really big. After about a week or two, my mom took me out to homeschool me. I did not really like that. I was on the waiting list, but while I was waiting to get off of the waiting list at Neal, my mom had me do work on other websites, like Khan Academy, that teaches you. It was way too hard, so my mom took me out of that website.

When I was off of the waiting list at Neal, I got my computer to start Kiz Online School. In the mornings, I had to wake up really early because I had to do work on Class Connect on the computer. Class Connect is a virtual classroom program used when students that are in sixth grade get together and the teacher talks to us online. I was always so sleepy that I did not really get good grades. Also, I was mad because my sister did not have to do school work online since she was still on the waiting list for school.

On Tuesdays, we went to the library to get some books. I always got diaries because I love books about other people’s lives. Also I did my homework on the weekends, so that I could get a break from school on Fridays. I loved that part of my school.

After five weeks, my mom wanted to get a job to raise money for our family. She needed more money to get my brother’s dad a transplant for his back, so she put me and my sister back into Neal Middle School. Now I am happy to be back because I can see my friends.

“Trip to the Aquarium” By: The Master Mine Set

The story of how I started to hate the aquarium... “Hey Andy, over here,” Mrs. Dunking said from the end of the hall. I heard the bus starting up from the end of the hallway. I ran and ran.



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In first grade, I still did not know how to tie my shoes on my own. You may be wondering, “Why?” Honestly, “I DON’T KNOW!” As I ran and ran, I fell ALL THE WAY TO THE END OF THE HALL. I yelled, “I am okkayyy! Good thing I got there in time to get on the bus.

“The Fake Friends” By: LesPriestyn B.

I had a friend named Syn. We go to the same school and our parents knew each other from a long time ago. We hung out all summer together, and when I first came to her school, she showed me around and everything. She is one grade behind me, and she didn’t flunk. It’s because she was just ten years old and I was eleven.

Syn and I rode the same bus back and forth in the morning and afternoon because she lives in my neighborhood. So, one day, Syn called this girl, Ella, “Dirty! You are so weak and you wear a lot of clothes over and over again!” And I said, “I know who that. Is she Eva Marie’s sister? I know a girl that has the same problem. Her name is Dora.”

I was home for a few days because I got sick. When I came back to school, my friends wanted to fight me because Syn lied to my five friends on my bus. This girl named YoYo, my old friend, was gonna fight me and I said, “Go ‘head and hit me.” Then she stopped wanting to fight me and just wanted to talk to me about what happened. The next day I told Syn, “Why did you tell those lies? If you want to fight me, let’s fight you, conniving witch!” But she left school early and never came back. I asked her parents, “Where is she?” And they said, “She was forced to move with her dad because of how her house looked.” And that was a very happy day for me.

Then one day, Syn texted me and said, “The next time I visit up there, let’s fight. I’m gonna beat your ass!.” I said, “Okay. Squad up then.” I’ve been preparing and waiting for her ever since.



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“The Pervert Dad” By: LesPriestyn B.

Me and my real friends, Annie and Perky, were walking down the street in the neighborhood, when we came upon our fake friend’s house. Her dad was outside of his house, grilling, without a shirt on. My friend Perky was on a hill with a half shirt on, but she had a black tank top on under that. When we were on the sidewalk, and she was on the hill, he told her, “Come over and stay the night with me.” We all made a run for it.

“The Dog Stealer” By: LesPriestyn B.

One super duper day, I went over my sister’s dad’s house. Her cousin, literally, stays in a house right next to us. We went outside to play, and later on that day I got a dog from my friend Davi. I went back to my house with it.

My dog walks himself, so he goes to the lake and back alone. But one day, he did not come back. My friend Eliza decided to come with me to find him, and we found out that my exfriend took him. She tried to say it was hers and I said, “I have the papers and I will call the police on you.” She gave him back to me.

The next day she was telling people the dog was hers and I said, ‘If you keep saying that I’m calling the police”, and she stopped talking about it again. Some years later, my mom gave the dog away.

“The Time I Almost Broke my Brother’s Neck” By: Pain

I was riding my bike. My fourteen year old big brother was, too. My twin, who has a different name than me, was sitting in the road. My big brother told him to move. Then, “crash!”, into the stop sign my big brother went, and he hit the ground. I felt my bike wheels run over his neck, and I heard him yell, “Ahhhh!” I ran over over his neck on accident. I saw his bloody neck, and it was bleeding. My twin got in



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trouble, and I felt bad. My big brother put a bandage on his neck. And my dad said, “What the f.ck happened to him?!” when he was on punishment. After a few months, my big brother’s neck healed. My dad took his DS away, and gave it back three months later. It never happened again. He learned his lesson.

“A Breakthrough Trigger”

By: !The Woods! I was the girl in class who writes the creepy stories to

show my feelings, and the one who says weird things. I can be mean and nice. I also feel like I'm crazy because I do a lot of crazy things. The most craziest thing I do is when I'm mad, and I talk to myself. Crazy, right? Like one time, I was in the computer room talking to myself. Sometimes I answer myself. I also go to church, so I am very committed to what I do in the church. It might not seem like it, but I am a very spiritual person. I go to church every Wednesday and Sunday.

For the people who know me, one of the worst times in my life was when my mom go really sick and had cancer. That’s very scary because, I mean, you can die from cancer. That was really a rough time. The year that my mom became cancer free, that was a very good year for all of us. I was so happy, and that inspired me not to live life mean and hateful. It inspired me to live a good, happy life, and to do what you want to do and not what makes other people happy. Do what makes you happy, because you don’t know when you’re going to die. My mom, right now, is doing fine. She is a very caring person and always tries to do the right thing all the time. I could not ask for a better mom. Don’t take people for granted because you don’t know when you're not going to have them anymore. For the kids or people out there who have cancer or has a family member who has it, fight for your life! Do what’s right, good bye. God bless YOU all!!!!!!!!!!!!!



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“Dancing”

By: Nasaiah B.

I started dancing when I was six years old. I like dancing. My favorite songs to dance to are: Bet You Can't Do It Like Me, Hit That Bit For The Gram, Beat House, MMM (Hmm), Watch me (Whip/Nae Nae), Lean and Dab. My first dance battle was with my friends and cousin. We were doing theBet You Can't Do It Like Me dance, and I won. I was happy, but my cousin was mad, but, oh well.

One of my favorite songs to dance to is, Bet You Can't Do It Like Me. The dance moves and steps are in this order: Whip, Milly Rock, Sexy Walk, Hit the Quan, Drop, Hit the Folks, Nae Nae, Dlow Shuffle, and that all. Me and my friends made up this game when you have a dance battle, and I usually win. But sometimes my friends, sister, and cousin win. All of my family loves dancing. However, I think I'm the best dancer. My sister dances, as well, I taught myself to dance by looking at other people dance.

“In the Woods” By: Tyrone L.

On that day, me and, oh, wait I didn’t tell you my name. My name is Tyrone. So this is a story about me and my two friends going into the woods. I woke up, got breakfast at 10:00 a.m. and played the game for a few hours, until I realized it was 2:30 p.m. I knew about these woods, so I wanted to get my friends, Jalen & BJ, outside to go with me. I went to their houses to get them. I told them where we were going. See, they don’t know about the woods. I looked behind two homes and it was a sorta a surprise. “Hey, Ty, where we



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going?” they both said. “You’ll see.” We rode our bikes down to the location and arrived. “Whoa,” they both said. “I know,

right?” We all slowly walked ahead in the woods. The woods looked like a lot of trees, had a small river, and there was a log that blew over, crossing the river. That

allowed us to walk over the high water that could go up to your waist. We were quiet for a while. Then BJ said, “THIS IS AWESOME!” “Same here,” me and Jalen said. But that day scared me because something happened that I will tell you about, but it did keep me from going back for a year.

So here’s what happened. Me and my friends were walking when, “BOOM!” a gunshot went off. It struck the ground near us. It was a CRAZY. There was a guy with a rifle, hunting a deer that was running. “Guys, come on. Hide!” I said, shaking with fear. Luckily, there was a little cove behind a small waterfall. We saw the guy searching for who knows what, us or the deer. He went away and we quickly went out of the cove. That’s basically it. We just didn't tell our parents and we talked about how that was a crazy drama day.

“Basketball, Football and Games”

By: Twiggy We were playing basketball, and we loved that

basketball. Number eleven, that's Twiggy, dribbling down the court. He made the three pointer shot like Curry, and dunked on people like Lebron James. Twiggy plays football, too, as number fifty, dude, if you didn't already know. He is the best. Twiggy was dabbing around the field like Dr. Field. Twiggy is from Durham, but he was raised in Memphis. He loves games like Xbox One’s and PS4’s. He also plays NBA 2K16, and Grand Theft Auto 5, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.



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“Dead Dog” By: XV.I.XV

One day, I woke up and went to look for my dog to feed him, but he wasn't in his dog house. He was gone. His name is Chiquilin. Me and my younger sister started to look for him everywhere. My sister eventually found him found him between two bushes. The dog looked all sick because his eyes were all filled with tears. He was not even happy, and he would always be happy once he saw me. We took him to my mother so she could check him and give him medicine. He looked all muddy, and still. We took him to his dog house kennel, and I tried making him lie down, but he did not want to. So we left there and went inside the house. I got some water to give him. I went outside to give it to him, but he was dead. He did not move or blink. I ran inside to tell my mom, and I started crying. I was so sad, and did not want to eat for one day. My mom put the dog in a bag, dug a hole in the backyard and put him in there. My dog died May 2, 2015 in Othello, Washington, and we moved on June 3, 2015 to Durham, North Carolina. We left his grave there at the old house. The End.

“Barbara.Jefferson”

By: Jade D. Once upon a lifetime, there was this lady who was

my Grandma, named Barbara Jefferson. Since I was born, she was sick with cancer and Alzheimer's. Every single day her sickness kept getting worse and worse and worse. Me, my mom and brother took care of my Grandma until her death came. It was awful watching her in her deathbed. My mom told her, “Take your last breath in the hospital in Augusta, Georgia.” I saw her die, but before she died, I touched her hand and her face. Afterward she died. I was crying every time I heard a sad song, but now I’ve gotten over it. That doesn’t mean that I really got over it completely because I still miss her. If you get a chance to see someone before they die, do it, because later on in life you're going to want to see him or her again, but they will be gone. The End.



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“My Dream” By: Ahmari M.

My dream is to be an actor, but I didn’t wanna be an actor my whole life. It started when I came to North Carolina three to four years ago. So, I was 6 years old when I officially wanted to be a actor. My parents signed me up for John Casablancas Center for Acting/Modeling, and they called me for an audition. I did a photoshoot, read some commercial lines, and walked the runway. But I wasn’t the only one there. It was, like, ten people at the audition. But they weren’t with me for the photoshoot and commercial lines.

A week later, the Center called me to come sign my contract. We had to pay them one hundred dollars up front. I was really excited and ready to start. The lady who works for the John Casablancas Acting Center said, “You’ll be in practice for 10 weeks, every Saturday, and we will get your uniform and clothes.” Then we left, and I told everyone in my family about it. My cousin said, “The John Casablanca center is a scam and they just take your money.” But my parents said, “We’ll see it for ourselves.” My acting practice starts February 20, 2016. I’m really excited, and I don’t believe that it’s a scam. I just need to work on not being so shy, and not reading so fast. But I felt really good about the experience, and my parents are proud of me, so that’ll make anyone happy.

“The Time I Broke my arm”

By: Xzavier R. One day, I went to my friend’s house, and we went to

the backyard to play a fun game. The game was called a wagon challenge that involved us trying to make it as far as we could. I never say no to a challenge. After I got in the wagon, the wagon tipped over, smashed right onto my arm and snapped it. When my arm bone broke, I thought, “F*** it hurts!” But I did not say it aloud. The weird thing is, I did not hear it break. My friend Tavis went back inside the house to play video games because he did not know my hand was hurting super bad. When I went back inside, and was playing



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Call of Duty. I told him, “I can’t play because my arm hurt.” My advice to you people who break your arm is, don’t play video games afterwards because it hurts. When my mom came to pick me up from his house, she took me to the doctor. My mom said, “What did you do?” I said, “Nothing.” She said. “Yeah, right.” I told the doctor, “I broke my hand,” and he gave me a cast. Then we went home.

“Professional Singer”

By: D'Aruion T. My dream is to become a professional singer. I really

think that I have a good voice, because when I sing I feel the music, so it makes my voice sound more unique and stand out.

When I first started singing, I was seven years old. My uncle was the person who really introduced me to real music. We both love music and we also write our own songs. We say music is life because music is how we express ourselves. Music also brings out the best in me. I think that God give me this gift, so I just should cherish my gift and share it with the world. The reason I want to sing is because when I get older, I want to look back and see people saying, “That lady made a difference in life. And she changed the world.”

My advice to others who want to sing is just to be yourself. Also, follow your dreams, don’t let anyone bring you down, and don’t forget that you're doing all this singing for God and yourself.

“My Heaven Dog”

By: Bubbles The saddest thing that happened to me was when I

first got my puppy. He was all white and little. I had him for two years, and then one day my dad and my mom were cleaning their room and the bed fell on him. The dog had a big bump after that, so I took her to the vet. They said, “We can’t take the bump off. We could give her a shot on that bump.” It smelled nasty. But the bad thing is that the shot cost $1,000.00 and we couldn't pay. So they put my dog to sleep forever.



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We felt very sad and I thought I wanted to die with him. But then my mom and my dad raised $100.00. My mom found a puppy and it was a girl. We went to buy her. When we got there, I saw that she was little, so I got happy. But she had the smell of smoke. My dad said, “We will take her home to get her first bath.” When we finished, the tub was full of dirt. We gave her food to eat and within five minutes she finished the food and wanted more. My dad said, “They didn't take care of her.” I got sad and, with my savings, I bought her toys, a bed, two packages of food, treats, shampoo and perfume. It cost a lot, but it was worth it?. Her name used to be Diamond. My old puppy's name was Cachito, so we decided to name her Cacho for short, in honor of my first puppy's name. My advice to the other people who have lost their dog due to it being put to sleep, is to buy another dog and be happy. The End.

“The Time I had fun in Southpoint”

By: King Food

When my dad came from New Jersey, he didn’t have clothes and we didn’t have clothes, so we had to move. We went to Southpoint Mall. I heard lots of people talking about Christmas because it was Christmastime. First we went to eat, and I ate ChickfilA. I tasted the chicken and it tasted good. Next, it was time for buying new clothes. We went to Aéropostale, but they only had girls and adult men’s clothes. We went to a lot of stores. I got two or three pairs of pants and one shirt. I also got a Wiiu, a Gap jacket, soccer ball, a lunch box full of food materials, and a panda with a book. It was so much fun.

When we went home, I said, “Yay! Thank you mom.” I felt my shirt and it was soft and good. It smelled good because of the food. I saw Fifa 16 on the Xbox 360. I was so happy.



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“Things I Like” By: Gerald L.

G: Gerald.

I got my name from my uncle because he died and I never got to know him.

E: Education.

I like math and math is easy for me. R:

Rude. I don’t like rude people because they get me in trouble. If I say something right back to them, that’s rude. I hear talking about me, saying that, “I’m stupid,” or “I do not listen”.

A: Apple.

Because it is healthy, I like to smell the apple and I like the taste of it.

L: Lyons.

I got that from my mom’s last because my dad’s last is different. His last name is Rand.

D: Dog.

A German Shepard is my favorite and I like to touch the dog.

“ Durham War Eagles ” By: Mutah F.

I play football for the Durham War Eagles, and the positions I play are DN (Defensive End) and outside linebacker. I won a championship ring for being part of the #1 Peewee team in the whole state of North Carolina. Also, we were the best team out of eight states. Yes, we were the best of them all.

When I got the ring, the coaches announced our names one by one, and I felt good. The ring I got looks like it has an eye on it made out of diamonds, with stars on the sides



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of the ring, and it says, “champion” around the diamonds. I was feeling good when I got that championship ring, and I’m thinking of playing football for the rest of my life.

“The Crash” By: Tymel R.J.

Me and my family were on the way, driving back to Durham, North Carolina, from New York. We were three hours outside of Durham when a dark green Honda tried to cut in front of a dump truck. The dump truck hit the car. It

slammed into the the wall, which sent the woman’s car back toward our way. Then our vehicle got hit on the right side. My tiny sixyearold body took most of force from the impact of her car hitting us, on my right arm. Our car went slamming into the wall, almost falling over onto the next highway. Once we crashed, the others in our car got out. They went over to the lady that was driving the other car. When they opened her door, they could see the front of a jerry can in her back seat. A jerry can is a large, flatsided metal container for storing or transporting liquids, typically gasoline or water. A guy at the accident scene told my mom and stepdad, “You all were very lucky the can of gasoline didn’t also explode.”

My Fish's Death By: Marvin MG.

One day, me and my family went to buy a fish. My sister and I got a fish each a girl and a boy. We bought food for them and, next, we bought them a home. When we got home, we put them into the fishbowl. Once, when we cleaned the fish bowl in the sink, it clogged, and my fish died. My dad killed my fish by putting bleach in the water of the sink. The water was toxic and dirty when the sink got clogged. My dad



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got the water out of the sink to fill the fish tank and he put my fish in that water. Then three minutes later my fish died.

“My Mom’s Pregnant Life” By: Cassshyprinnnces.littt

Everybody in my family says, “You are a special child, a miracle baby.” When I was ten? years old, I heard my mom call my name. So I went downstairs. Me and my mom sat down and had a talk. She said, “Cassshyprinnnces.littt, when you were born, you were born dead.” I could tell that my mom saw the fear in my eyes. I was shocked at first, but, as the information sunk in, I felt like I was special.

My mom held my hand, because she didn’t think I could handle the pressure of knowing that I was born dead. When I was born, my mom was losing a lot of blood, but THANK GOD!! she did not die while having me.

My mouth was dry. I couldn’t taste anything in my mouth as she spoke.When my mom told me this information, she also told me that before I was born, she had another daughter. My big sister was only created one year before me, but she died while in my mom’s stomach. She was never born alive. I don’t know anything about my older sister because my mom really does not like to talk about it that much. The reason my sister died inside my mom’s stomach was because my mom’s stomach was not as big as a normal person’s stomach while they are pregnant. I was very excited that I lived through that sad, sad tragedy, and I put that on my life.

“Music”

By: Cristina S.C. Everybody has a favorite thing, and mine is music.

And the kind of music I listen to is really anything, except for Rock, because I just don’t like it. Most artists that I like are girls like Demi Lovato, and I sometimes sing to her music and others by females. Someday I may take up singing as a hobbie. Music has a sound that can make people, or even me, do crazy things while listening to the music. It can also calm you down.



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Now I’m playing the flute in band I chose it for the sound and the music it plays. Another thing that music does is that it moves you to express yourself. The next time you are listening to music, ask yourself, “What does music make me do?”

“My First Soccer Game”

By: Erik R. One day, I was just minding my own business, but, out of the nowhere, my friend knocks on my door. I was scared to death. He said, “Want to join my soccer team?” Then I said, “Sure, why not!” He said, “Okay, come on then! Do you have a soccer uniform like this,

with the name Mexico on it?” I said, “Yeah, I just bought one like last week.” I was going to go outside wearing my favorite team Mexico’s uniform. But first I had a question for my mom. I asked her, “Can I go to my friend’s soccer game?” She said, “Ok, but just don’t get hurt.” I said, “ How can you get hurt in a real soccer game?” She said, “By foul balls and the balls might hurt your legs.” I said, “Okay.” And my mom said, “Be careful.” I said, “Okay, bye.” I went to my friend’s car, and he took me to his soccer game. When we arrived, I said, “I feel like a famous soccer player.” I saw the big soccer field, and touched the soccer ball that was famous. I heard birds chirping and smelled the pizza they were serving for lunch. When I tasted the pizza, it tasted really good, and I could tell this might just be the best soccer game ever.

“The Minecraft Story

(Talking to the COMPUTERS!!!)” By: Jamion Marcus H.

My first time playing Minecraft on the computer was in the first LEGO League. Before getting started with practice, me and the other



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LEO League people got on the computers. (By the way, the LEGO League took place in Ms. Jones’s robotic classroom, after school.)

We started playing on the computers, and, at first, I didn’t know how to get on Minecraft. Then a person named Jaelyn said, “You can download a file on the computer, and if you get on Minecraft, sweet and awesome!” Another person named Richard said, “Go to Minecraft Viper Squad & download the file on the computer.” I did, and got Minecraft.

So now, every LEGO League practice, which happens on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get to use my great imagination, and make anything. My designs can range from houses to huge TNT’s, in creative mode. I try to survive in a dangerous nightfall, while in survival mode, too!!! And that’s the end!!!

“The First Time I got Into a Fight”

By: Keyara H. One day, I was hanging out with my cousin. Then we

had to go to school, and a girl named Density, who always hated me, was there. I think she was jealous of me ever since I took her boyfriend. Once, she tried to cut me with scissors, and when I saw her trying to, I said to my teacher, “ Ms. Kim, Destiny is tryin’ to cut me!”

The next day, she cut my hair. I screamed so loudly that the whole school heard me, even though she only cut a little inch of my hair. But I hate getting my hair cut.



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Back to the story: me and my cousin went to school and did math, reading, science, ELA, and then it was recess. While my cousin was talking about her current boyfriend, Jonathan, and the boyfriends she broke up with before, Nelson and Daqun, Destiny ran up and start hitting on me. I hit her back, put her on the ground and beat her badly. At the end of the fight, I don’t know why, I started to cry and laugh.

“Two Worst Days of my Life”

By: Ashanti L. So, it was close to Christmas when me and my sister

got our hair done. My hair was styled in two braids, and my sister got her hair done in a complicated hairdo. When the lighter was out on my sister’s hair, so that the end would not unravel, the fake part of her hair, the extension part, caught on fire. She was screaming. I wanted to help her, but I would have caught on fire, too. I was very scared. I smelled fire and I passed out. My sister was okay, eventually.

Then, the next time, it was Winter break. I didn't know my brother couldn't eat the snack food, Takis. When my mom left, and put me in charge, we were eating Takis. Out of nowhere, my brother started coughing and said, “I can’t breathe.” I felt his heart, and it was breathing very fast. So I got my neighbor, and he helped my brother. They called 911. I saw my brother crying. Then my sister started cursing and crying. When my mom got back from the store, the ambulance was still there, helping my brother. When my brother drank lots of water, he was okay, and he didn’t have to go to the hospital.

“My Superhero Backstory”

By: AbdulMalik A. When I was born, I was special. For example, I

learned the whole human body at the age of five years old. I was also very healthy. I’m a geek, so I’m into pop culture. I was homeschooled from fourth grade and part of fifth grade. When I finally went to a regular school, called Bethesda Elementary, people were making fun of me. Everyone was making fun of me. Truth be told, I became the president of



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that school. And, at graduation, I got two awards, one signed by President Barack Obama.

Like I said, I’m a geek, so I like anime, teenage mutant ninja turtles, Marvel and DC comics superheroes. I’m hoping to open up my own comic book shop and create my own anime Japanese handdrawn or computer animation to get more cookies from the cookie jar. The comic bookshop will also be a pizzaria.

Now in sixth grade, people still bully and make fun of me. I’ve gotten a lot more smarter. I plan to go back and forth to college until I get all of my degrees. My favorite youtuber is markiplier. I have my own youtube and it is called african nerd. When I grow up I want to be a Robotics Technician with another side job making video games.

“NFL Talk” By: KJay

My three favorite NFL teams are the Seahawks, Eagles and the Jags. They are my favorites because I like their uniforms and players. I like to play football and I play for the Oak Grove Pirates. I played the Lineman position, but my dad wanted me to be a Tight End. Even my other teammates said, “You should be a tight end.”

Also, my team the Seattle Seahawks made it to the Super Bowl 48 and 49. We won over the Broncos and the score was 458. The Seahawks lost Super Bowl 49 to the Patriots by a score of 2824. I was heartbroken when the Seahawks lost that game, but now it is Super Bowl 50 and it’s the Panthers vs. Broncos. I might go for the Broncos because the Panthers are taking stuff way too far with all these victories and I do not like the Panthers.

In Philadelphia, I had a lot of Eagles fans. My dad likes the Eagles, and my whole family likes the Eagles. Even I love the Eagles, Seahawks and Jags. In Durham, everyone was there when we were going for the Eagles, while they were rooting for the Cowboys and Panthers. I walked right in the room, and my mom said, “Why are you not watching the game



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in there?” And I said, “They are all Carolina and Dallas fans.” Those are two teams that do not like each other.

“The day I got Taken in by Division of Children, Youth

and Families” By: Eminem

DCYF, Division of Children, Youth and Families, is something like the television show, Cops, but they take kids from their parents. When I was 4 years old, I could not talk yet. I got mad a lot, because I could not talk. One day, I got mad, and I think it was due to my iron levels being high. The home that I was living at, had lead in its paint and that almost caused me to have a brain tumor. When I got mad, I would wail my head on a corner of a wall, and that would cut my head wide open.

The next day I went to school, and the school called DCYF because of my injury. They came to my home, and took me with them to be questioned about what happened. DCYF asked me, “Did your mom do this to you?” And I said, “No.” And they asked that question and again and again and again. And at one point I turned around and started to wail my head on the side rail because I got really mad at their line of questioning. And they said, “Bring the mom into DCYF.” When she arrived, my mom said, “What did you do to him?” The people at DCYC never came to investigate for that reason again. Me and my mom were reunited. That was until she was questioned when I started to ride my bike without training wheels. Yes, I am back with my family now.

“Texas Highway” By: Ricardo M.

It was July 9, 2013. On that day, it was time to go to Texas to see all of my family. Me, my dad, and my mom went all the way to Union, South Carolina. It take us four to six hours to get to South Carolina. My family doesn’t stop for anything, except for the restroom. It takes a really, really long time to drive to the Mississippi River. It’s, like, a twelve hour



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in the car. So my family arrived at the hotel, and when I saw the hotel, it looked like heaven. When I smelled the food, I flew like a bird to eat.

“Minecraft”

By: #1 I'm a big fan of Minecraft. I heard about it from my

friends. I play it in different ways: on a PC, Personal Computer and Pocket Edition (Phone).

I keep waiting for more updates of the game. I join other players around the world on servers. I'm pretty good at playing survival games. I think I'm planning to play for people. When I get home from school, the first thing I do is play Minecraft. It's a 3D block world that allows you to build whatever you want. Minecraft is better than Terraria. When I play it with my friends, it is awesome. We always kill each other to survive. Minecraft is awesome! When these monsters come at night, I hear them around. But when I see them I get surprised and hide or run away.

“Game Time” By: Durrall J.

I like to play video games and I play them all the time. I like to play them when I get home, but I don’t play games all night because I go to sleep early. However, I do wake up early in the morning and play it. My mom asked, “Why you always playing that game early in the morning?”

I have a Playstation 3. My favorite game is Call of Duty because it has shooting, you can play online, and you can play in career mode. My mom said, “Why you like shooting games? That isn’t good for you.”

I like playing Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5) because you can do real life things, you do what you want, and you can also play online. I also like playing games because I’m always bored. I can see Call of Duty and GTA 5, and feel the remote vibrating when I shoot someone or when someone shoots me. I can smell the game system overheating when I play for long



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hours. I can hear the gun and when someone dies, I can taste the good air. The end.

“When I had My First Seizure”

By: Lazzy_Boss When I was little, and I was just born, the nurse took

me, cleaned me up and everything. Then she gave me to my mom. A few hours later, my mom was saying, “She is breathing hard.” My grandma got the nurse, and she was crying because she was nervous. The doctor took me from my mom and did some tests on me, and they said, “She has pneumonia.” My mom was crying, and I was plugged up to all of these machine things. The doctor said, “She might have to spend three weeks in the hospital.” Three weeks later, I was released from the hospital so I could go home. Two months later, when I was one year, old, while my mom was feeding me, she felt me moving a lot. She looked down, and I was having a seizure. My mom was freaking out because she did not know what to do. So my grandaddy called the ambulance. P.S. It was crazzzzzzzy.

“My First Time Playing Terraria”

By: Luigi 2401 When I first started playing the game Terraria, I felt

like I was playing Minecraft, but better. I first found out about Terraria from my best friend, Andres, when he showed it to me while I visited his house. He said, “It’s better than Minecraft.” I took that as an offensive comment because I liked Minecraft a lot. I gave it a try and I fell in love with the game. I understood why he said it was better than Minecraft in that moment. And he is right, it is better than Minecraft.

The controls, the graphics and the overall game in totality were great. I got good at Terraria really fast, and I got a bunch of weapons, armor and cool items. The bosses are fantastic because they really make the game special and unique. Sorry, Minecraft fans, but now I have joined the Terraria side. My experience with Terraria is far more than with Minecraft. In fact, I’d rather play Terraria over Minecraft.



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Later, when I saw Andres, we played all day and I had a ton of fun! I heard lots of interesting sounds and creatures during the game. Some sounded as sweet as little bunnies and others made scary sounds like devils howling.



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URBANESE DICTIONARY By: 6th Grade Students of Neal Middle School

Welcome to the Urbanese Dictionary created by Neal Middle School 6th Graders! Every sixth grade English Language Arts (ELA) student was encouraged to not let spelling or context of

a given word hang them up in their writing.

The goal was to have students write their stories freely, without judgment. Instead, they were asked to simply spell the words as they normally speak or say the words. Because I fluently speak and write what I refer to as “Urbanese”, I assured them that I could translate their biggest words into standard English. But I would also highlight the words on their papers, so they could use this dictionary to sharpen their awareness of and benefit of using standard English spelling. Here you will find word spellings that students used in their handwritten story drafts, and listed on 11x17 paper for inclusion here. As you will see, these words are uniquely spelled from spoken, heard, experienced, texted, written sources and



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processed by students of various socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. Please enjoy having your language and spelling skills diversified by expanding your cultural awareness, and note the inventiveness in their attempts to communicate.

Thank you in advance for having an open mind & heart, Anita Woodley

CAPS Literary Theatre Teaching Artist

* = Spelling used by multiple students. 1. Address = adrees 1. About = ‘bout 2. Abandoned = abanned 3. About = bout, for 4. Academy = Acadamy 5. Accent = Atcent 6. Accident = Acident 7. Accidently = acidently, accedently 8. Acknowledge = egnowledge 9. Acrylics = acyrics 10. Actually = Actly, actsully 11. After = afther 12. Again = agin, agian 13. Ahead = Head 14. Always = aways 15. And = *N, In, *An, at 16. All the way = Allway 17. Almost = All most 18. Already = All ready 19. Although = All though 20. Always = Alway, *allways 21. Ambulance = ambles 22. Angry = angrey, angery 23. Answer = Awncer 24. Anxiety = anxioty 25. Anyone = no one 26. Any = No 27. Anywho = Anyhow, Anyway



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28. Apparently = aperently 29. Aquarium = Acquarium 30. Are = *Was, *Is 31. asf = As F**k 32. Ask = *Asked 33. Asked = *Ask 34. Asks = Askes 35. Attached = attatched 36. Attack = attac 37. Attitude = attitude 38. Baby = Baee, bae 39. Badly = Bad 40. Basically = Basicly 41. Beat = Bit 42. Beating = Beaten, Breathing 43. Beautiful = Beatiful 44. Because = *‘cause, bc, cause, cuz, becuase, Becase,

becaus, *b/c, beacuse, becace, becuz, couse, becuse, 45. Becoming = becomeing 46. Before = Befor, befour 47. Beginning = begenning 48. Being = beggining 49. Believing = beleaving, beliving 50. Bet = beated 51. Between = from 52. BFFs = Best Friends Forever 53. Beginner = Begginer 54. Bleach = Bliich 55. Bleeding = Bleading 56. Bored = bord 57. Boy = Boi 58. Bowl = Ball 59. Break = Breack, brake 60. Breakfast = brefest 61. Breathe = breath 62. Breathing = Brething 63. Broken = brocken 64. Brother = Bruh, Bra, Brah, bother



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65. Brushed = brush 66. Bruised = Brusied 67. Brushed = Brushtied 68. BTFO = Back the f**k off 69. BTW = By The Way 70. Building = buildn 71. Bushes = Bushess 72. Business = Buniess 73. Butt = butte 74. By = Be 75. California = califona 76. Calms = colmos 77. Calling = callin 78. Came = Camed, cam 79. Camera = camara 80. Caring = Careing 81. Career = carrer 82. Cast = Caste 83. Cereal = ceral 84. Celebration = celerbchan, cellabran 85. Celebrity = celeberty 86. Characters = charcters 87. Cheering = cherrin 88. Chicken = *chiken 89. Chocolate = Choclate 90. Choice = Choose 91. Chose = choiced 92. Church = chruch 93. Clapped = claped 94. Class = klass 95. Cleaned = clane 96. Climbed = Climed 97. Clogged = cloaks 98. Closer = clowser 99. Clothes = chlothes, *cloths 100.College = colledge, collage, colage 101.Comes = Come 102.Coming = comin



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103.Competition = *compatition 104.Conniving = Kiniving 105.Continue = *Continu, contuiens 106.Continually = contuinly 107.Cost = Costed 108.Couldn’t = can’t, coulden’t 109.Counter = conter 110.Cousin = *cusin, *cuzin, cuizin 111.Cousins = *cussins, *cusins, *cuzins, 112.Court = Cout 113.Cracked = craked 114.Create = cerate, 115.Creator = cerater 116.Creepy = Crepy 117.Cried = cryed 118.Crowd = crod 119.Crowded = crouded 120.Cursing = Cussin 121.Cushion = cushin 122.Damn = Dammm 123.Dammit = Damit 124.Dance = dace 125.Dangerous = Dangeroos 126.Dark = Door 127.Day = Dayy 128.Deal = Delt 129.Dealer = delar 130.Dear = der 131.Decided = disited, decited 132.Decision = desicion 133.Definitely = defenetly, deffinetly 134.Dentistry = dintistry 135.Depressed = Deperrssd 136.Desserts = Deserts 137.Details = Deatails 138.Devastated = devictad 139.Diagnosed = dienosgs 140.Diamonds = Dimens Died = Die



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141.Didn’t = dide’t, did’it 142.Difference = diffrence 143.Dirty = Derty 144.Discovered Decoverd 145.Disgusting = Discusting 146.DM = Direct Message 147.Doctors = Dacters 148.Does = Dose 149.Doesn’t = Don’t 150.Dollars = dollers 151.Down = Drown 152.Dream = Dreamt 153.Dress = Derss 154.Dressed = dreesed 155.Dribbling = Dribbleing 156.Dropped = Drop 157.Drug = drug 158.Dumb = Dum 159.Durham = Darhum 160.Duty = Dudy 161.Dying = dieing 162.Each other = eacher 163.Eating = eatinh 164.Education = Educution 165.Electives = Eletives 166.Ended = eadin 167.Entire = inter 168.Episode = Episod 169.Every since = Ever since 170.Ecstatic = extatic 171.Everywhere = ever where 172.Excited = * exited 173.Excuse = escuss 174.Exercise = Exrises 175.Extreme = Extrem 176.Family = familey 177.Facts = Faccts



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178.Favorite = * favorit, *fovorite, * favrite, *fractrite, *favite, *favoraite, *favart, *favorte

179.Fayetteville = Fayitville 180.Felt = *Feelt, *Feel, *fealt, *feelt 181.Fell = fail, falt 182.Field = Feild 183.Filled = felled 184.Finally = *Finnaly, *finley, *finaly 185.Fine = finnee 186.Finish = finsh 187.Finished = Fin, had got done 188.Flipped = Fliped 189.Forgot = Forget 190.Forth = fourth 191.Found = fiond, faind 192.Fountains = foutains 193.Freedom = fredoion 194.Friends = * freinds, *freinds 195.Friend = Freind 196.First = frist 197.From = Form, for 198.F**k = Fuk 199.F**king Sexy = Fexy, fexxy, fexyy 200.Funniest = funnyest 201.Get = got get 202.Getting = Geting 203.Girl = Guur, gurl, gurr 204.Goes = go, gose 205.Got = Has, was 206.Good = Goog 207.Grade = Gread, gread 208.Grandad = Gradaddy 209.Grandparents = gandparents 210.Graduation = grgerchan 211.Great = grate 212.Grease = greese 213.Ground = Grown, groun 214.Guitar = Gutar



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215. Had (These words go beyond spelling, the use of them together is a misunderstanding of verb form, specifically grammar/syntax) = * had took, *had visited, * had said, * had got, * had did, * had called, * had been, * had found, * had met, * had broke, * had woke, * had heard, * had went, * had left, * had ate, * had came, * had told

216.Happened = Had happened, Happend 217.Hairdo = Hair do 218.Halloween = Haloween 219.Hateful = Hatefull 220.Have = Had 221.Having = Haveing 222.Headshot = Head shotted 223.Healthy = Healty, heath 224.Heard = * Hear, * heared 225.Heartbroken = heartboken 226.Heaven = haven 227.Held = holded 228.Here = Hear 229.Hilarious = Halarious 230.Honda = Handa 231.Holes = wholes 232.Hope = Hoped 233.Hospital = Hostipital, Hospitle, hospiltal, hotptle,

hosipital 234.Hospitalized = hotpelltaizes 235.However = Although 236.How = House 237.Hugged = huged 238.Hung = hanged 239.Hurt = Hurted 240.I = *i (not capitalized) 241.Idgaf = I don’t give a f**k 242.Influences = influents 243.Ignored = igored 244.Impressed = inpresied 245.Incidents = incodents



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246.Injuries = ingeries, injurys 247.Instead = Insted 248.Interesting = intresting 249.Internet = internent 250.Into = * In 251.I don’t = ION 252.I.S.S = InSchool Suspension 253.In = * On 254.I’m going to = Ima 255.Is = are 256.Interviewed = Interveude 257.Instagram = instagrame 258.Intrigued = Entreiged 259.Jammed = jamed 260.Jaw = Jawl 261.Jealous = Jelous, jeleous 262.Jersey = Jersy 263.Judge = gouge 264.Just = Justed, Just Was, Jus 265.Just Felt like = Just feel like 266.Keeps = Kepts 267.Kennel = Chicilen 268.Kept = Keep 269.Kik = A chat only smartphone app 270.Knew = New 271.Knocking = knoking 272.Know kow 273.Lately = latlety 274.Latest = lastest 275.Lasagna = Lazzaina 276.League = Leauge 277.Least = Less 278.Leave = leve 279.Lie = Lay 280.Lighter = Lieter 281.Like = Likes, likee, liek 282.Listen = lisean 283.Literally = Liturally



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284.Little = lilttle 285.LML = Laughing Mad Loud 286.Looks = Looked 287.Lost = Lose 288.Loudly = LODULE 289.Luckily = * Luckely, * Luckly 290.Lunches = luches 291.Luxurious = luxshurious 292.Make = Made 293.Married = mairred 294.Me = meh 295.Medicine = Medicene 296.Meh = Me, I don’t care, Indifferen 297.Members = menbers 298.Mess = miss 299.Met = Meet, meant, meat 300.Metal = medal 301.Middle = Middel 302.Mine = miness 303.Minute = Mint it, minunt, minuet 304.Minutes = minuts 305.Miracle = Miricile 306.Mischiefs = mischevients 307.Months = Munts 308.Morning(s) = Morining, Moring, Morings 309.Muscles = muscels 310.Musician = musiction 311.My = Me 312.Names = named 313.Named = Name 314.Naming = nameing 315.Neal = Neil 316.Necklace = neckalece, neckalence 317.Neighbor = neighboir 318.Neglected = nuggleted, nugleted 319.Nervous = nervouse 320.Niece = neice 321.No = Na



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322.No Day = Not one day 323.Nothing = Nun, nonthing, nunthing 324.Noticed = Noitced 325.Now = Know 326.Nowhere = No were 327.Nun = Nothing 328.Nurse = Nersis 329.Obsessive = obsesive 330.Obviously = oviously 331.October = Ocotober 332.Of = Off 333.Off = *Of 334.Offensive = Offencing 335.Old = Olds 336.On = from, at 337.Oovoo = An online video chat commonly used

amongst teenagers. 338.Opened = oppend 339.Our = Ours, Are 340.Ourselves = Are Self’s 341.Parent = perent 342.Parole = Parol 343.Passed = pass 344.Patriots = Padrus 345.Pellets = pelits 346.People = peopl 347.Perfect = perfuct 348.Personalities = personalityes 349.Personally = Personaly 350.Persuasion = persuation 351.Pervert = pervet 352.Philly = Philie 353.Playing = plain of 354.Popped = poped 355.Praying = parying 356.Pregnant = *pregnate, *pregnat, *prenet 357.Principal = principle 358.Probably = proberly, probibly



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359.Pull = Pulled 360.Punched = pounched 361.Punishment = Punnishment, punichment 362.Questions = questen 363.Quickly = quicly 364.Quietly = queitly 365.Own = qwen 366.Racist = racies 367.Raunchiest = raunchest 368.Razor = Racer 369.Ready = Raedy 370.Realize = *relize 371.Recess = Recese, Recese, recses, resecess 372.Recommend = recommend 373.Relief = Relive 374.Remember = Rememeber, remeber, rember 375.Remembered = Remmbered 376.Rest = Reast 377.Restaurant = restraunt 378.Ribbs = ribs 379.Right = Rite 380.Rubix’s = Rubic 381.Running = runing 382.Russell = Russle 383.Said = *Had said, *sayed, *sad, *say 384.Saw = Seen 385.Says = Say 386.Scared = scarded 387.Scariest = scaryest 388.School = skool 389.Schools = school 390.Scissors = Sisors 391.Scratching = scraching 392.Screaming = screaning 393.Security = securyty 394.Saw = See 395.Seek = seeck 396.Semester = smester



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397.Send = Sent 398.Sentenced = sentencd 399.School = skool 400.Screenshot = Screen shotted 401.Screamed = Skreamed, sceramed 402.Sculpture = Sclpture 403.Seen = *Saw 404.Send = Sent 405.Shipped = shiped 406.Shot = sote, shoot 407.Shoot = shot 408.Shook = shookee, shaked 409.Should = sould 410.Sign = Singh 411.Since = Sense, sence 412.Sings = singes 413.Sitting = Siting 414.Skipped Skiped 415.Social = socail 416.Someone = soone 417.Something = Somthing, soming, somthing 418.Sometimes = sometims 419.Special = Speacial, speacil 420.Spilled = spilld 421.Sprinkles = Sprikles 422.Stairs = stares 423.Started = *Starde, *stated, *sated, *strated, *starte 424.States = Stats 425.Stepped = Setp 426.Step Brother = Stepbro 427.Stole = Stoll 428.Stomach = Stumach 429.Stood = Stud 430.Stopped = *stoped, *stop 431.Stoop = stopp 432.Stoops = stopps 433.Store = Story 434.Stories = Storys



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435.Story = stroy 436.Straight = strght 437.Struck = Striked 438.Stupid = stuipd, 439.Stung = Stug 440.Suddenly suddendly 441.Supposed = supose 442.Surgeon = Sergion 443.Super = Supa 444.Suppress = Suppres 445.Surprise = Surprize 446.Surprised = *Surpise, *suprised 447.Switched = Swicth, swiched 448.Taking = Takeing 449.Talk = take 450.Talking = Taking 451.Tang = Tange 452.Tasted = taset 453.Teaching = teachin 454.Technician = technichian 455.Tell = till 456.Tests = test’s 457.Texted = texted 458.Texting = *Texing 459.That = dat 460.The = *da 461.Their = there 462.Themselves = There self 463.Theft = thefe 464.They/I said = Then I/They was like 465.Things = Thing’s 466.Think = Thing, thought 467.Third = thired 468.This = Thiss, dis 469.Though = * tho 470.Thought = Tho, thougt 471.Through = Though, Thoug, threw 472.Them = Theme, dem



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473.Than = Then 474.Then = Than, Den 475.Time = tim 476.To be honest = tbh 477.Together = Togethier, togeather 478.To = and, too 479.Too = *To 480.Took = Toke 481.Told = Tolded, toetd 482.Touching = tuching 483.Toxic = Tonic 484.Tragedy = tragity 485.Traveling = traveling 486.Tried = *Tryed, *Try 487.Tries = Trys 488.Trifling = Trifeling 489.Trouble = Troble 490.Trying = Tryna, Tryin, Try’in, Try, tryen 491.Tumor = Tumear 492.Turkey = turkay, turay 493.Turn = trun 494.Uncle = Uncole, 495.Uncle’s = Ouncls 496.Unclogged = uncloug 497.Uncontrollably = uncontrallaby 498.Us = USe 499.Used = Use 500.Usually = Usally 501.Umm = Um 502.Until = Unto, Teal, intil, intell 503.Usually = Usely, usally 504.Vacation = vacation 505.Vehicle = viecole 506.Very = vary 507.Violence = violents 508.Voice = Vioce 509.Waist = Waste 510.Waiver = waver



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511.Walked = write 512.Walmart = Walamart, Wallmart 513.Wanted = Whatt, was wanting 514.Warning = warin 515.Was = * Were, *Is, *would, *wis 516.Was like = *Said 517.Wasn’t = wesnot 518.Watching = Whatching, wathing 519.We are = We be/We is 520.Wednesday = Wensidy, Wensday 521.Were = * Was, *Where 522.We’re = *where 523.Weird = Wired 524.Weird Homie = Womie/wifi wifey 525.What = Wat 526.Whatever = waterer 527.When = Wen, wane 528.Which = wich 529.Whine = Wine 530.Whistle = whilste, whiste 531.Win = Won 532.With = Wiff, Wit 533.Worse = worst 534.Wear = where 535.We’re = we was 536.Were = *where 537.Well = Will 538.Went = want 539.Whole = a hole 540.With = To, withe 541.Wondering = Wonderind, wondenng 542.Won’t = *Want 543.Would = will 544.Wouldn’t = won’t 545.Write = * right, *wright 546.Writes = Wrights 547.Yeah = Yea 548.Young = yonger, yong



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549.You’re = * Your 550.$5.00 = * 5$ 551.$30.00 = * 30$ 552.$40.00 = * 40$ 553.$100.00 = * 100$ 554.$1000.00 = * 1000$ 555.$25,000 = * 25,000$$



STORIES COME TO LIFE! - Anita Woodley · student has a story and every sixth grade student who...

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Transcript of STORIES COME TO LIFE! - Anita Woodley · student has a story and every sixth grade student who...