Exploration of Your Own Design: Michael Trawinski

Part 1. I think that the second essay I wrote for the semester, the narrative essay, is one of which I am proud because I was able to tell a story from my own point of view. This essay focused on the time when my grandfather passed away. What I am most proud of in this essay is the paragraph in which I describe the day when I found out that he had died.

"On January 16th, 2003, I had come home, tired after a long day at school. I was seven years of age. My eighth birthday was only a few short weeks away. Usually when I came home from school at that time I may or may not have much homework to do, but I really can't remember if I had any homework to do or not. Everything was as it usually was in my house on a typical day such as this one. Especially for me, it was just another day. Just then the telephone rang. I was in the kitchen when it rung. Knowing that my mother was in the house I decided not to answer the phone since I was very young and never really talked to strangers if the phone rang or if there was someone at the door, so I did not answer the phone. My mom ended up answering the phone. As I watched silently I did not think about who might be talking to my mom and what that person had to say to her. So I just kept thinking about how my day at school went and what I was going to do for fun for the rest of the evening. Then, my mom was finished talking to the person on the phone and hung up. After she had hung up she started to cry. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that my grandpa had died. When I heard this, something seemed to shatter inside me. I thought to myself, 'Dead. Now I will never again hear his voice or see his face for the rest of my life.' At that point I realized that I had just lost someone very important and special to me as well as all of my other relatives. Each person in my family had lost someone very special in their life. I lost a grandfather, my sister lost a grandfather, my dad lost his father-in-law, and my mom lost her father."

I chose to share this paragraph because I felt that I did my best at describing the scene and how everything seems as it should be on a typical day, but then it gets twisted around and it becomes a day that I will never forget for the rest of my life.

Part Two: I would like to share about one of my favorite songs by The Beatles entitled "Yesterday". To me this song is one of the most heartbreaking and tearful songs I have ever listened to. It was written by Paul McCartney and appears on The Beatles' studio album "Help!" In the song, Paul describes a breakup and of how he longs for a time when he had the love of his life with him. For the music it is just Paul singing with a guitar and a string quartet in the background. I chose this song to share because I believe it shows what the power of writing in music can do. If any of you ever wishes to write a song, I would recommend writing a sad song with a very beautiful melody like "Yesterday". I also think that if you were to write the words, they should be very powerful and express your own feelings about something sad that may have happened in your life. Below is a link so you can listen to the song "Yesterday". It was nice working with all of you this semester! Have a great Christmas break!     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S09F5MejfBE