Narrative Essay

This is a very rough draft of my Narrative Essay.  Any advice or comments are welcome :) 

"And now, the West Albany Hi-Steppers!!!!"

It was time.  All of our hard work had amounted to this moment right here.  As my dance team slowly, gracefully walked out onto the former basketball court, I knew every member of my dance team was as anxious as I was.  It was the state competition and we had furiously practiced for this moment for months.  Every step was ingrained in my deepest memory.  Everyone was counting on each other to know all the details of the dance we were about to perform.  The dedicatory words of the dance started and we took position.  I could barely make out the faces of my family, but I knew they were seated in the largest stadium in the state. Both sets of grandparents had shown up ready to watch what I had been working so hard on for months.  Lying on the ice-cold court, ready for coach to cue music, my heart was pounding in my chest.  I was sure everyone in the stadium could see the girl on the floor, shaking like a leaf. 

When the music started, and we preformed what we had been working on for so long, it was amazing.  I was scared for all of us, but when I heard that beginning note a new, peaceful feeling settled over me.  I knew that my body was trained for this, and hardly had to think at all.  I had practiced for this moment and was ready.  This sudden calm side of me took over and I could feel the emotion pouring from my body.  Because we had practiced so hard, everyone knew exactly what to do.  This is what we had trained for.  As I looked towards the judges, trying to convey to them exactly how I felt, I could see my family cheering out of the corner of my eye.  Coach was crying in the third row, and as the song ended most of us were crying as well. 

We ran off the court and everyone embraced.  The tears of joy of competing mixed with the tears of sadness.  We were happy to have accomplished what we had been working for, but were sad that it all had now come to an end.  

Festival of Colors

Today some friends and i went to the festival of colors.  We had a ton of fun!  I had never been before so i was able to experience a new religions holiday and also throw chalk at a bunch of people.  We decided to go swimming afterwards

Hunger Games with my daddy

I went and saw the hunger games yesterday!!!  It was so awesome.  I was able to go with my dad last night and had a great time.  It was interesting to go with him because i learned how we have similar viewpoints when it comes to movies.  Both of us are analytical of movies and seem to think along the same lines.  After the movies we were talking and there was a part where she was moved away from the outside edge of the forest.  Both of us ended up thinking about how big the area was and how they managed to do certain things.  We are also the kind of people that need a logical explanation for things.  I thought it was really interesting how i could see these similarities between my daddy and i yesterday.

Increasing the involvement of families will decrease the risk of drugs and alcohol

Jessica Harding

Teacher: Lori Steadman

Writing 150

Rough Draft Due March 14, 2012

Alcohol and Cannabis use has become an increasingly common problem in our society today.  Many adolescents are highly exposed to these risk factors, and their families will not even know about it.  The majority of American families will not hear of the all too frequent offers that these teenagers have to try to use drugs or alcohol.  Increasing the relationship between parental figures and children will help children to stay out of potentially harmful situations and tell their parents when they are offered alcohol or drugs.  Increasing the family involvement with adolescents will decrease the risk of using Cannabis, alcohol, and other illegal drugs among the youth of America.  

There are many reasons that youth feel the need to use drugs.  Some of the reasons that people are influenced to do these things are because they don’t have a relationship with their parents that involves “family supervision, family communication, feelings of affection from the mother and a nonconflicting [sic] parent-child relationship, sibling nonuse of drugs, family loyalty, and family caring (word 4).”  All of these factors will affect how the adolescent feels about their parents and will increase their willingness to tell them what is happening in their lives.  Because they are more involved with their parents, the teenagers would be less likely to use alcohol or drugs.

Many times adolescents will be encouraged by family members not to do things that are detrimental to their health.  “Family attachment or strong connections between a young person and his/her family have significant protective influences against adolescent deviant behaviors: delinquency, alcohol, cigarette, marijuana, and illicit drug use (word 4).”  When adolescents are attached to their family, they more readily realize the effect that it will have on their relationship and also show them how using drugs or alcohol early on in life is bad for their health. 

Many times when the family is not stable, the child will resort to drug use as a way of escaping reality.  “A study on early adolescent children of substance abusers found that frequent family disruptions or family instability - especially the lack of a consistent parent figure - contributed to the risk of delinquent behavior, including drug use (word 4).”  Parents are the main example of what children should do.  When children do not have a consistent parental figure, they do not have that example to look up to.    This makes it difficult for the child to make good decisions because they do not have a consistent role model.

Many times when people use drugs or alcohol, it begins when they are adolescents.  Most teenagers want to rebel and try new things so, “Adolescence is a vulnerable period for experimenting with alcohol and drugs (word 3).”  When teenagers have a good relationship with other members of their family, it decreases the risk of wanting to rebel from their parents. This, in turn, will help these children not reach out to alcohol and drugs because they do not need to experiment with these things.

The availability of drugs and alcohol for underage children has increased since 1990.    “In 1990, about 25% of Grade 10 students [in the survey] reported to have used cannabis at least once in their lifetime By [sic] 2002, this figure rose to 45% (word 3).”  Because it is so much more readily available, these adolescents need to know why they should not use this drug and the harmful effects it will have on their bodies.  It is important to have parental figures telling the children in a kind way to not utilize these addictive substances.

Cannabis and alcohol are often referred to as gateway drugs.  Many times people that use these substances often are exposed to other, more harmful drugs.  “The risk for OID [other illegal drugs] initiation appeared 21 times higher among cannabis experimenters and 124 times higher among daily cannabis users than among non-users (word 2).”  This shows that when adolescents are in an environment that involves the use of drugs, they are much more likely to get involved with other illegal drugs such as LSD, hallucinogens, opioids, and heroin.