Graduation Night



My high school graduation ceremony

at Boggus Stadium, Harlingen,Tx.



It was one o'clock in the morning, May 26, 2012, the night of my high school graduation. The night was still young, my friends; Armold, Larissa, Vida, Alfred, Sarah, David and I we were on our way to our condo at the beach in South Padre Island after leaving our graduation lock-in party. Everyone was headed that way, it was our mini paradise where we could escape to and just relax and have fun with our friends, it was out second home. It was a forty-five minute drive from Harlingen to the island, so we practically arrived at the condo/beach house around 1:45-ish or a bit later because of all the traffic headed that way. Everything surrounding our condo was pitch black, the fact that it was just outside of the city, it was the border line to exit the city and then go off to the beach accesses. It was so peaceful and relaxing to be out there, the summer night, fresh graduates. We hopped out of the car and did not even bother going into the house. We all walked straight to the backyard, where we could hear the waves clashing against each other and the ground in front of us. We would usually just build a bonfire but that night was different. There was a different vibe in the air, a bittersweet vibe and the moon wasn't helping at all. It felt like we were in a movie because of how beautiful the moon illuminated the sky and water in front of us. The glare of the moon reflected on the water, it was crying beautiful.



Beach at South Padre Island, Tx during the day.



I walked inside the house to grab a blanket to lay on the ground. I laid it down on the ground, sat there for a second or two just taking in that salt water air and laid down. I did not notice that there were so many stars out that night. Each one had their own type of brightness, others not as bright all the rest but still quite beautiful. They were just so mesmerizing to take my eyes off, but just gazing up into the sky triggered so many thoughts and questions in my head. Questions about the universe, Earth, other countries and people, and also my future.

The thought of Earth just being one out of the billions of other planets, galaxies, and universes just blew my mind. I felt like a ant in a HUGE and never ending hole, a world, universe, galaxy full of darkness and mystery. I wondered if people from other countries where doing the same as I was or at one point have just laid under the stars and wondered off. I even wondered if human beings from the prehistoric era did this, maybe think about other things but at least laid under the stars and get lost into thought. I never understood constellations, so all I ever found in the night sky were triangles or three stars always next to each other, but then again maybe I just kept looking at the same stars over and over again. Hmm, but I still don't see how others can point out figures like animals and objects. Even when I try to connect the dots/stars weird figures come out or nothing at all come out. Questions about my future and about the future came about. Where would I be in a couple of years? School? Have my career? How would society have changed? What new technology, studies, discoveries? The sky and stars just mesmerize me each time I look up. I get lost in its beauty.

Compared to the sky here in Baytown to Harlingen and South Padre Island is extremely different. I can see the stars here in Baytown but not as many as one can see in Harlingen and South Padre island. Because of the fact that over there is in the country and there are not big cities surrounding, well not as close to each other, the light pollution isn't as bad and makes the sky and stars more visible. Since Houston and all these other cities surrounding Baytown the light pollution is pretty bad. My graduation night is when I noticed how beautiful and gorgeous the stars were over there. There were so many and so bright, never experienced something as beautiful as that night.




The night sky in South Padre Island, Tx. (better in person)





Depression vs.Humor

So many poems, so many different authors, stories, feelings, meanings but yet they are all similar to one another in various ways. Each poem/author tells their own stories; some having similar themes, morals, using same type of rhetorical devices and emotions. Yet there are others that can be compared by what is occurring, different tone, point of view, and or anything stating the opposite of the other poem. Out of the many poems in this book, two poems that caught my attention and thought about a lot were, “Ever After” by Joyce Sutphen and “What I Want” by George Bilgere.

These two very interesting poems may have very distinctive titles but they both express their feelings over heartache, a recent break up and how they express it. My first impressions to both poems, from just reading their title were totally different to what I thought. Reading the title “Ever After,” I thought of happiness, fairy tales, love and romance, basically someone being extremely happy to be with the one they love for the rest of their lives but it is exactly the opposite of what I thought. Joyce Sutphen’s poem was not a fairy tale princess romance, it was nothing at all like it.  Now my first impression for “What I Want,” well honestly I did not have a first impression about it. I did not have a clue of what it was about, I was clueless.

In the poem, “Ever After,” the narrator is a female going through a divorce with her husband. She uses rhetorical questions questioning, asking him, “What am I to you now that you are no / longer what you used to be to me,” (Sutphen 1-2) showing that an event had to happen, giving the reader a sense that there is a break up involved. She continues to ask questions as of who they are to each other now (3), making it official that they separated. She uses the words, “Now,” “divided,” “me and you,” “two separate,” “ex-,” “once,” “yours and mine,” giving huge clues showing that there is a divorce occurring. She uses these words to express to her audience that they were once one, and now they are two different and separate individuals. Also using imagery to express a flashback of the day of their wedding, “..with our hands (yours,mine) clasped on the knife / that was sinking into the tall white cake” (12-13), giving a clear image to her audience/readers of them cutting their cake. Her tone from that quote gave me a impression of her going back to when they were happy and now she is devastated and heartbroken. She does not hate him, but she is broken.

George Bilgere poem, “What I Want,” was a bit more out there. The narrator, a man makes it obvious he just went through a break up/divorce, compared to “Ever After.” He is not devastated about it at all, he is more happy and makes his poem quite humorous. “I would like for my ex-wife to get leprosy,” (Bilgere 14), “I want to wake up in London on a spring morning / And read in the paper that my ex-wife / Has received a lethal injection, courtesy of the state / Of Ohio.. “ (59-62), his way to portray his humor in this poem is quite mean and hurtful but yet it is extremely funny to his audience because he just throws it out there. He repeats himself throughout the poem stating,” I want...” showing he wants many things. He wants bad things to happen to his ex-wife, he wants to travel, “Rocky Mountains” (6), “Denver” (10),  “London” (59), “Madrid” (71), naming various places he wants to go and explore, but not alone. Each place the narrator wants to travel to naming various women he wants to go with, stating different ones every place he names, showing how he does not plan going by himself. He talks about “sex,” (39) and how he wants other women, maybe naming those from his past, expects to meet many more in his present and his future. His tone throughout his poem is humorous, secretly heartbroken, angry and depressing. He is heartbroken and depressed but tries to hide it through his thoughts and humor, angry at his wife about their separation but still loved her, but still wishing those things to happen to her.

“What I Want,” was much more extreme and wicked compared to “Ever After.” “Ever After,” was much more sentimental because of the fact that the narrator, being a woman, does not hide what she feels. She writes away her feelings through paper and gives the reader that kind of emotion she is feeling. From that being said, that is why these two poems were perfect to compare to one another.