Earliest Memory...

Another writing workshop from the same course!

For this one, we began by listing our five earliest memories.  Below are my five memories:

1. Running out of the classroom on the first day of kindergarten after announcing that I'm going to find my mother.
2. Current hatred of uncooked carrots stemming from my throwing up after eating them...ahain on the first day of kindergarten.
3. Wearing my favorite "farmer's" overalls and digging for strawberries and potatoes (to make french fries afterwards) in my school's botanical garden--fourth grade.
4. Being in Glee Club, even though I couldn't sing worth shit because my best friend was in it.
5. Guest starring on the show Zoom.

 Next, we had to identify a specific item or smell or color from the memory. My specific items for each of the above were the following:

1. Block puzzles
2. Carrots
3. Pale yellow overalls
4. Stage
5. Recorded VHS

Finally, we had to choose one of the memory/item pairs and begin writing with the item as the beginning point into the narrative. Below is my entry:

Six wooden pieces with their matching wooden frame. They were meant to form a single image. Unable to see much clearly through the tears in my eyes, I sullenly attempted to force the pieces into place. One by one, I made them fit. One by one my tears dried as the image slowly appeared. A final smile of triumph as the final piece found its rightful space and the image showed itself to me. 

It was the halfway through the first day of kindergarten and I played with puzzles alone as the class did something else. It had been an emotionally stressful day for the smaller-than-average five-year-old that was me. Being ripped away from the arms of a loving mother. Abandoned with a promise of returning soon. Attempted escape when soon didn’t seem to be soon enough. Thwarted, as the teacher zipped down the hall after me. Finally, hope that maybe this strange place called “school” wasn’t so bad, as I played endlessly with toys for the rest of the day.

So... pretty sad, huh? Yeah, that first day of Kindergarten didn't begin to well for poor little Tuma.
Please comment. Constructive criticism always appreciated.

Until next time. Adios,
Tuma

Walk into the Beginning...

 Another writing exercise from my "Teaching English to Adolescents" course. For this one, we were asked to go outside and stroll around campus for 15 minutes. It was dark and cold, too! 

So, during this wandering around, we had to "collect" five items or images and commit them to memory. I cheated and created a memo on my phone! :)

Once, we came back to the classroom, we had to free write using all of the five items if possible. Below is what I came up with. Can you guess my five items?

It wasn’t something that I would normally notice, but something made me look up that day to notice the sign. It was diamond shaped, yellow with black lettering—like any other pedestrian crossing sign really. Except, this one was turned the wrong way, almost as if we were meant to walk down the road. As I stared at it, my mind flittered with thoughts of reasons for the sign being turned: maybe they had changed the direction of the road; is it possible to simply move a road in any way, but then why not change the sign too? May-be some idiot kid moved the sign, I finally thought dismissing the stupid sign. 

Just as I turned away to continue on my way to class, I heard a loud, piercing shriek. ‘What the hell?’ I thought as I whipped my head around to look up at the large skeletal tree behind me. As my eyes followed up the paths of its leaf-less branches, I saw it perched at the very top. “A crow,” I breathed softly. “Or a raven. A bad omen”. I looked up again at the turned sign. I shuddered once and shook my head. "I should probably lay off the Edgar Allen Poe for a while,” I chuckled and finally went on my way to class.

Could you figure out my five items? No...well, they were:

• A dark path I couldn't see the end of.
• Glaring car headlights
• rows of bright street lamps
• skeleton like trees
• pedestrian sign turned wrong way
• scary ass black bird

Thanks for reading. Comments = Love from me!

Laters,
Tuma

Where I'm From...

This was written as an exercise in my "Teaching English to Adolescent's Course". We read three poems, all called "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon, Jacob Miller and Hallie Herz. You can read the three poems here.

After reading the poems, we created our own. Here's mine:

Where I’m From

I’m from the Boogie Down,

The BX – born and raised.

From a seat of power –

Leader of four younger siblings.

From a journey made by a young couple.

From a world lost in words, but

Never at a loss for words.

From Judy Blume and R.L Stine.

From Double Dutch and melting

Ice pops on the corner after school.

From relatives too many to count.

So... what do you? Not my best, *shrugs*, but I wanted to share it anyway. As always, comments are appreciated.

Bird on Rock - Central Park - Mid July

One more that I want to share. Close up of a bird I saw at Central Park. I like the clash of color around the bird, the gray of the rock and the greenish-yellow of the pond (or weird stuff in pond. Is it algae or something? Have no clue.). The quality of the pic isn't too good. I must have shook the camera as I took the shot. Didn't have a chance to re-take cause we know birds are not tied down to the land. lol

Well, without further adieu... Bird on Rock.

Until Next Time,
Tuma

Gal in Tree (yes, I suck at titles, bite me!) - Central Parl - Mid July

Last one for today, folks!

The gal is the picture is my little sis. She's 8. We'd gone to the park together after a trip at the museum. Lemme tell ya, just as she got into that tree and I took the shot, a park ranger came up and we got into trouble! lol Totally worth it though. You might find it interesting to know that there was an odd, old guy in the background, but I Photoshopped him out. I rarely edit my pics, but I decided he wasn't interesting enough to keep! lol

Until next time,
Tuma

P.S. I think this signature is even harder to find, but not too hard. Can you do it? :)

Rainbow of Flowers - Central Park - Mid July

Hey again!

Here's photo number 2 for today.

The following photo was also taken in Central Park, on the same day (actually all three of the pictures I'm posting today were taken on same beautiful summer day). What I like best about this is the smorgasbord of color and texture! You have the dark plum leaves in the lower left corner, splash of red whatevers in the upper left, light pink in center, light blue off center right, and plain green in the upper right.

Later,
Tuma

*P.S. Can you find my signature in this one? xD*

Flower Close up - Central Park - Mid July

Hello World!

It's been a while, but as you can see I'm still alive and kicking...barely. School is totally KICKING (and yes, it had to be both capitalized and italicized!) my ass! Who knew being an Education major would be so tough. I mean our own high school teachers never seemed too impressive, right?Who would have thunk that they'd gone through four years of hell?

Anyway, on to business. Semi-new photos. New as in you've never seen them before (DUH), but they've been sitting on my hard drive forever. Finally got around to small edits and copyrighting them bad boys.

Below is a closeup of a pink flower I shot at Central Park (I love that place!). I'm no botanist, so I have no clue what type of flower, I just know that it's pretty and pink (my fave color). And the shot is what I believe to be a good one. The color of the flower is sharp and bright and nicely focused and the unfocused background helps to enhance it. The shadows are also a nice touch, I think.

Also, I don't know if you'll notice or not, but I've started blending my signature (i.e copyright) into the photos, so that you have look hard for them. I figured this way, they don't distract from the image. Can you find it in this one? Not too hard, just think green. ^__^

As always, comments and critics are welcome!

Laters,
Tuma

*Two more photos to share after this one, at least that's the plan*