What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers

In my previous post, I spoke about meeting up with my English teacher after not seeing him for a long time and remembering how great he was as a teacher to me. I said I'd post something I wrote in his class. I found two essays I wrote. One is a narrative essay and the other a how-to essay. My how-to paper had to be somewhat humourous. I hope I achieved that. After I wrote them, Mr. Fernandez wanted copies of them so I gave them to him. He has been using them for his own classes as examples. Enjoy.

Narrative Essay:
I am who I am, not anyone else. I am my own person, with a mind of my own. I am my own individual, my own personality. Seriously, look at Paris Hilton and Nicole Whatever-her-name-is. Many people strive to be like them. In doing so, they change and aren’t able to list qualities about their true selves right on the spot. I, however, with a few minutes of my time, can think up of various things to describe myself, one of which does not involve owning a Chihuahua, thank goodness.
In this cookie-cutter world, my uniqueness is a very central quality of mine. In fact, it’s how I live my life, how I live each and every day. I am tremendously proud to say that I am Mormon, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). No, I am not at all associated with Warren Jeffs so you can now erase that questioning look on your face. My church did, at one time, practice plural marriages (a marriage of more than one wife at the same time) but on September 6, 1890, the vote to stop plural marriage was unanimous. I don’t drink tea or coffee. I save about $450 a year compared to people who do buy tea/coffee. I don’t smoke, drink, or do drugs. I could if I wanted to; it’s called “Free Agency”-the ability to choose. I have been tempted but never wavered because of the support of my friends, family, and my belief. I believe in Jesus and in God the Father. I believe very strongly in his church and have witnessed many miracles. Religion has helped me to be who I am today.
Aside from being Mormon, there is something else. This is huge, bigger than scientists discovering the fact that eating breakfast every morning makes college students smarter. I was born with this and will always have it throughout my life. I was born severely deaf, wearing hearing aids until the age of 12, when I received a cochlear implant, a much more advanced way of hearing aids. Despite the fact I am deaf, I can do a lot of things. I was a lifeguard at Madison Public Pool; I played soccer in middle school and through high school, as well as badminton, softball, and dance. I was on the chair of the March of Dimes club at my school. I play the piano and am studying my third year of Spanish right now. I love antique furniture and decorating. I’m a freak about tables developing rings because someone didn’t put a coaster under their cup. I drive and I’m a mighty good driver at that! I love to travel with a passion. I’ve been to Hawaii, Bulgaria, and many states in the wondrous United States. I plan on going to South America next year. Who knows where I will go the summer after that? For this deaf Mormon woman, anything is in the cards. I want to serve a mission for my church. I want to spread the gospel, enrich others’ lives, gain new experiences, and grow emotionally as well as spiritually. I can still do that without serving a mission but hey, where’s the adventure in that?
Speaking of a mission for my church, it’s not just a “tourist mission” where you party all the night long and sleep all day. It’s a very well-respected, hard, inspiring, and a very tough mission. You’re gone from a year and a half to two years and the church sends you to someplace where the Lord wants you to go. Some people go to weird places like Bulgaria, Oklahoma, Estonia, but others go to great places like Fiji, China, Russia, New York, even California. You may learn a new language, wherever you go. You gain independence and you learn to step out of your comfort zone. You learn more about yourself because you are away from your family and friends with only very minimal contact and you’re serving a mission with people you don’t know and teaching others you don’t know. It really teaches you something because they may not want to hear the gospel. They may slam the door in your face, call you names, refuse your good service, or tell others to not listen to you. It is hard BUT you learn to have the willpower to go on. You learn to not give up because somewhere out there, there is someone waiting to hear about the church. Once you reach and teach that someone and that someone gets baptized, all the door-slamming and bad names doesn’t matter anymore because you helped one person.
My sister served a mission in Bulgaria. Before she left, she was very loud, sometimes selfish, a so-much-makeup wearing person who had to look perfect. When she came back, she realized that she leads a good life, and has learned to not take advantage of the things she has. Yes, she is still loud and sometimes selfish but she’s better than before and is more independent. My sister and I have a great relationship and I look up to her very much. She tries hard to never fail and because of her, I try hard not to ever fail, too.
As I look back on my accomplishments, some of which I have not listed here, I am grateful. I’m grateful to know that I have the church in my life. I’m grateful in most ways that I am deaf; being deaf has truly helped me see the world like new and because of that, my faith in my church is stronger as I know God will be there with me through my good and tough times. There are advantages and disadvantages to being deaf but I don’t worry about the disadvantages so much. Although I can sit in front of concerts and in restaurants, read peoples’ lips when they talk about meeting their “business person” at 7 o’clock for a business “dinner” while their spouse is at home. I’m grateful of whom I am today and grateful to know I will be a better person tomorrow. I am who I am. I am a human being. I am UNIQUE.

Note: Alot of things have changed since I have written that essay last year. I've done more things and have learned an incredible amount about myself. I've had tough times this year and I've learned I have more strength than I ever thought I did. I've strived to become better in my relationships with family, friends, and that special someone. I am not sure right now about serving a mission. Don't get me wrong; it's still an amazing thing. Sometimes I want to, other times I don't. Who knows? Maybe I'll be married by 21. That'll come in 18 months.

How-to Process Essay:
There are many times in a man’s life when he can talk about his past experiences about hunting, but rarely can a woman talk about carrying a 12-gauge shotgun with 14 other men and scavenging for quail, one form of a hunt deemed to be tough. I, quite honestly, can say that I am now one of those women. A couple of weeks ago, I was at Big 5, a sporting goods store, with my dad, buying a bike for my mom’s birthday (She hasn’t tested it out....it’s still sitting in the garage). My father and I were talking about him going quail hunting with my brother and he suddenly got an inspiration that I, his daughter, should go with him so once I got a hunting permit (which is required first by the way), everything just soared from there. He explained everything to me about quail hunting and I pretended to know and understand it all but once I actually got to doing the hunt, all my questions were suddenly floating amidst the sky, waiting to be answered.
My dad, my brother, and I arrived to Florence, Arizona, two hours away from my Home on a Thursday night, expecting to see only my uncle there waiting for us. Who I saw surprised me, well, not really if you think about it now, since hunting is a “man’s sport.” I saw 11 other men, all sitting around the campfire, telling stories about their wives nagging, their bad cooking and all scratching their crotches. Note: Be prepared if you see many men around the campfire talking about these subjects; it’s a good idea to bring earplugs. The next morning, we all woke up at 5:45am preparing to go hunting. First of all, it is needed to know what quail look like and how they sound in the wilderness. Go on a hike on a mountain close to you, listen to the quail call, and be familiar with it. Let the quail call be one with you. Quail are very unique birds. They have a blume on the top of their head, commonly black. There are different shapes of the blume but it is usually in a bent, up-side down teardrop. They are hard to see since they blend in with the desert environment. Once you see them, they are beautiful- a slender, black plume atop their head, their throat and the side of their head chestnut-colored, white eye stripe, head, upper back and breast bluish gray, rest of back, tail and wings brown, sides chestnut with white and black bars and a whitish belly.
As for wear, you want to wear long pants because the birds hide in thick bushes and some of those bushes have pricks on them. Wear a brightly colored shirt so that other hunters won’t mistake you for birds. Wear solid footwear: tennis shoes or hiking boots. Hiking boots would be best. They live on desert land, where water comes every once in a while and grass/dirt is readily available to all. The quail hide in open lands and bushes with easy access in the morning for feeding time BUT in the afternoon, they hide in very thick bushes and take a much-needed nap. Later on in the afternoon, they will soon go back to feeding. It is best to study their time schedules and this is easily learned on the web. They eat fruit off of bushes, usually berries, so if you see a berry bush, chances are quail is nearby. Quail are smart, as I learned this this past weekend in Florence, and are very sneaking so vision and hearing are deeply emphasized. Remember to be familiar with their call, as it is easy to hear it. Even I can hear it and I am hearing-impaired. Just try not to get mixed up with another bird’s call and shoot that other type of bird. That’s just plain murder.
Okay, you have your clothes, your knowledge of what they look like, and where they live. Now how are you going to hunt for them, shoot them? Good question. You need a shotgun. Plain and simple as that. Of course you need a permit for that shotgun. The shotgun should be a 12-gauge, or if you prefer, a 20-gauge but it is slightly smaller. As for the bullets/pellets, you have two good choices. There is the 8-shot which is smaller and has more pellets so if you shoot a quail in the air, those pellets spread out and is more possible to actually getting the quail in the air. The 6-shot is bigger but has fewer pellets although it does go farther than the 8-shot does. Be careful with the shotgun. Many people have been shot or killed by careless people. Be aware of your surroundings. Either point your shotgun to the ground, not your feet, or hoist it over your shoulder. If you are with someone, walk side-by-side, not back to front. If and when you shoot, make sure that whoever you are with are not in the area of the bullet’s path. If these precautions are used, danger will be reduced.
Once you see quail, get your shotgun ready and sneak up to them. They have excellent hearing, better than mine, so really be light on your feet. Don’t shout out to your companion, “THERE’S A QUAIL!!” I’m serious, I shouted that out to my brother and about 15 of them flew away. Oy! Make up some kind of signal with your companion so that you do not have to shout. When you see a big group of quail, it is called a “covey,” sort of like a pack of dogs. If one quail is seen, chances are there are more nearby so keep your eyes open.
Now, hunting season for quail is in the fall, around September, October. Sometimes you can have a bad season, other times a great one. The maximum quail to catch is 15 and I have heard of people catching 15 in one day. In other seasons, people have caught none. It all depends on the weather earlier in the year, more like January, February, and March. It usually rains a lot in the desert around those times but if it doesn’t rain that much, then most likely the quail population is going to be low. Food doesn’t grow so some quail die and also, the mama birds don’t reproduce without a lot of food and they don’t grow as fat, which is to the like of the hunter. When I went hunting, I didn’t catch any but only my dad and someone else caught one. We believe because it didn’t rain as much the previous year, there was only quail from last year, quail that got left behind. So be prepared. Study the weather year-round. Talk to rangers, other hunters, people in general about the desert beforehand. Study the population of quail in the area of where you will go to hunt. Your research will far be worth it in the end.
This part is gross and please do not blame me if you start to throw up or gag or even lose your appetite. I lost my appetite during this time so really, I know how you feel, kind of. My father taught me how to clean the quail he got. Yes, you can eat quail. Otherwise, what is the purpose of hunting them? There are many techniques that different people use but this is the one technique I know of. First of all, you pluck the feathers off in the breast area, as that is where the most meat is found. After all the feathers are plucked, you pull the meat in the breast area out from the bottom, pull it up, then cut it at the top with a knife. If there is a bullet in the breast area, pull it out. Do not eat it. Clean the meat, cook it, and then eat it! Three to four quail meat will be excellent for a hearty meal, if the season is good, that is.
If you have any problems with hunting, with your shotgun, or anything, you can call the nearest ranger who will be there to help with any hunters during quail season or you can always ask your fellow man. Just be sure to keep water nearby, as you will be out in the sun a lot, a cell phone, a first aid kit, and some food to tide you over. Overall, I had a great hunting experience. I did not become like one of the guys and at the end, they respected me and apologized for all their crotch-itching in front of me. I learned how to hunt quail and just for that, I now have the experience. I probably will never do it again as quail hunting is for the men. Oh, and on a final note….my mom finally rode her bike.

Note: I had planned on going quail hunting again last weekend with my dad and brother but decided to go to Thatcher instead. There'll be plenty of time in the future for me to hunt again.