Extraordinary Event- Roswell

Five days ago the US government covered up one of the largest events to happen on Earth, the arrival of extraterrestrial beings in Roswell, New Mexico. This video of an unnamed agent was leaked and it describes their experience with the beings.

The video appears to have been made on an iPhone camera, with a forest as the backdrop.

          “Today is July thirteenth. I am based near Roswell, New Mexico and this morning around 3:00 am I received a call to immediately investigate a foreign aircraft that landed twenty minutes away from my base at an abandoned warehouse that is currently used by the US government. I groggily climbed out of my bed and put on my uniform for undercover investigations:  black running shoes, grey workout suit, and a black skiing jacket which contained my weapons and badge in case anything went wrong.”

          The agent quickly looks over his shoulder at the sound of birds chirping and begins to whisper.

          “I jumped into my Jeep Cherokee and drove north of the base along a beaten up dirt road. It was eerie outside. Darker than usual due to the unnaturally thick cloud that covered the night sky.  I reached the warehouse and noted immediately that there was something wrong.  Usually the warehouse was in pristine condition even though it hadn’t been used in a few years. Now the CIA was using it to hold a vial of a deadly disease that was created a few years ago in a laboratory without government consent. It is now heavily guarded in this discrete area. Or so we thought…”

          The video cuts out as the man leaps onto his feet and looks around, clearly startled by something.  

“I immediately noticed that all of the windows were broken and the walls were collapsing. None of the security guides were standing nearby and all I could think was ‘where did they go?’ I walked towards the brown warehouse carefully; checking over my shoulder every few seconds to make sure no one was behind me. I tripped, startled by a birdlike chirping noise coming from the forest surrounding the warehouse. It was eerie… I should have thought it through… anyway. I reached the door to the building which was torn off its hinges and was lying inside, the metal frame ripped in half chaotically. I quietly walked inside to see a large unidentified flying object half buried into the ground, clearly destroyed from its landing. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but that’s how they arrived.”

The man gets up at the sound of more bird-like noises and begins to walk towards the warehouse.

“I walked into one of the rooms with high security which was currently left unguarded due to the absence of the guards. I had no idea where they were. I turned on my flashlight. That’s when I saw a long shadow cascading across the floor. And then I turned around and saw It. A man I had never seen before. He looked just like you and me but about two feet taller and skin greener than the grass in late spring-time.”

The man starts walking faster, the video begins to shake slightly with his unstable hand.

“I froze when I saw him, I didn’t even register that he was real. Being in the CIA has taught me to expect everything and anything to happen, but an alien? My eyes drifted down to its hand and I saw that it had the vial clasped in a fist made of its three spindly fingers. I could do nothing but watch as it moved its mouth to talk, but only unintelligible noises came out, ones that I heard while outside of the warehouse. What would it want with the virus? I remember thinking. I pulled out my gun and asked it to hand the vial over. Upon seeing my weapon it fled in the opposite direction. I ran after it as fast as I could. I reached the front door of the warehouse where I saw five of them running into the forest and out of sight. I chased them, shooting at them as I ran. If a bullet hit them I would have no idea. They were gone. Or so I thought, they’re around me right now trying to find me.”

          There is a large snap of a branch and the man begins to run, the video flailing from random scenery. This continues for five minutes until the man is inside the warehouse. He pants out the last of his message.

“I do not know how the aliens got the vial or what they intend to do with it. They’re going to find me and I don’t know what will happen then. I’m making this video to warn everyone. They’re still out there somewhere.”

There is a sound of metal being ripped apart, possibly a door. The man looks at the iPhone, frightened. Suddenly there is a scream as he is taken out of the frame by an alien. Something picks up the iPhone and turns it off. The last image of the video is of a green face smiling down menacingly.

          This iPhone was found inside the warehouse by a security guard three hours later. It is unknown how the contents were leaked onto the Internet. 

News-Inspired Story- Google Glass

          “Three…. Two…. One… Okay! Open your eyes!” Sarah slowly opened her eyes, looking through the lenses of her new Google glasses for the first time. The store didn’t look much different through the virtual lenses than through her own naked eyes, and she felt a slight whisper of disappointment.

          “So there you go! Enjoy them and take care…” The salesman sent her off without another word or any advice or guidance. Sarah walked out of the store, aware that all of the strange glances she was receiving. She was slightly self- conscious of the looks being sent her way, but decided that she would need to ignore them if she was going to enjoy her new “glasses”.

          “Start hangout with Molly” Sarah commanded her glasses. Instantly she saw her best friend Molly’s image displayed on the top right corner of the lenses, which placed her on top of a large building in downtown Portland.

          “Wow! How do you like them?” Molly asked.

          “They’re actually really great! Right now you’re on top of the Hilton hotel!” They both laughed.

          “Well, why don’t you come to my house and show them to me?” Molly pleaded. Sarah giggled in compliance and began to walk towards Molly’s house immediately. It was a beautiful day so instead of taking a bus directly to Molly’s house Sarah decided to take the ten minute walk.

          “Open Facebook” she commanded to her glasses. While walking down the busy sidewalk Sarah composed a Facebook status about her new glasses, while people on the sidewalk dodged out of her way. Sarah was oblivious to her surroundings. Instead focusing on the people walking past her to make sure she wouldn’t run into them, she was composing chats, tweeting, taking pictures and watching YouTube videos. Her glasses made her blind. Sarah was becoming a robot, incapable of awareness. She was completely absorbed in the cyber world of social media.

          Sarah received a message from Molly on Facebook, “Hey, where are you? Shouldn’t you be here by now?” Sarah replied that she must’ve gotten turned around and distracted by the glasses.

          “Glasses, directions to Molly’s house” she commanded the glasses. A map popped up but instead it contained directions to the local park in the opposite direction of Molly’s house. Sarah tried to turn around but found that she had to follow the glasses’ instruction.

          When she arrived at the park Sarah was confused. What is going on? She thought to herself. She looked around and saw that there were about thirty people entering the park as well, all wearing Google Glasses. All of the people wore confused expressions; no doubt they were lead to this location unwillingly as well. Sarah opened her mouth to call out to the other people, but she could not form words. Why are all of these people here?

          Sarah tried to move her body but she was frozen in place. The glasses told her to move towards the fountain in the center of the park, so she did. “Molly, help!” she wrote in a Facebook chat to her best friend. “I’m trapped in my glasses….” Sarah tried to run fear coursing through her body. Again, she remained stationed at the fountain, with more and more people gathering around her. They were all robots, slaves to their technology. 

Travel Piece- A Moment in History

          At 5:00 am my alarm went off, causing my travel roommate and myself to groan groggily in dissatisfaction. We were especially upset since we had only gone to bed recently, due to a late dinner with our travel professor. However, there was no desire from either of us to hit the snooze button on my alarm clock and sleep through the day’s events. Today we would witness history in the making.

          We gave ourselves an hour to get dressed and to fully wake up, and then we left the hotel promptly at 6:00 to walk to the metro station on the outskirts of Rome. The walk was uneventful; at least we all remember it that way since we were experiencing the end-of-academic-travel exhaustion mixed with our lack of sleep. We jumped onto the packed metro and rode it for six stops which took us to the border of the Vatican City. Excitement began to settle in when we followed the thick crowd of people from the metro station only to be blocked by the Vatican City’s gates. But that was when the magic activated.

          When we arrived at the gates they magically opened, allowing the thousands of waiting people to access Saint Peter’s square, the most desired place in Italy –maybe the world- to be that day. As the gates rose, everyone in my group tightly grasped hands so as to not get separated, and we began to sprint through the streets of the Vatican City. We began hollering with excitement for what we were about to witness, my friend Bea waving her Brazilian flag through the air to represent her pride for her homeland. Thousands of people began to yell viva il papa. I was looking up at the sky, trying to remember every detail of the brick walls and the beautiful sky, it was the first day on travel that we had seen the sun. We ran until we approached the security line, but we hardly slowed down. I took off my purse and tossed it carelessly into the x-ray machine, ran through the metal detector and grabbed my purse as quickly as possible so I wouldn’t get left behind. I found Bea’s hand and grasped it once more as we pushed our way through the crowd to get to the front of Saint Peter’s square. We pushed our way to the very front.

          We waited for hours in the most cramped conditions I had ever been in. I had so little room to stand that I was leaning sideways, holding onto the arm of my close friend Matthew just so I wouldn’t fall on top of another person. 9:30 am on the dot we saw what we were all hoping for: a glimpse of the Pope. Pope Francis I drove through the crowd awaiting him before his inauguration, something not commonly done, and something we were not expecting. He drove directly in front of us, waving as he went two meters in front of us. The Pope would continuously stop his car to bless young babies, but there was one moment in particular that brought the millions of people watching to tears. The Pope saw a sick man at the front of the crowd and climbed down from his car to kiss and bless him. The atmosphere changed instantly from joyous to such pure happiness that not one person could hold back a tear. I didn’t even realize that I was crying until Bea turned around and hugged me, her eyes full of tears.

          “This is the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed” she whispered into my ear while we were hugging. And she was right; I had never seen anything as powerful as that moment, and I’m not sure that I will ever again. 

Six Billion Secrets Poem

Post:

They say girls always hold grudges to the end.

But when I’m mad at someone for something

I make lists.

I list all the things they do/did to me that make me mad

But it always ends up with me making a list of what makes them such a great person.

We may not be friends but that doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re amazing. 

Poem:

1) You cheated on me

“Please don’t” was my plea

2) You never call

Never showed up when I was dressed up like a doll

3) I try to talk to you

To ask you why you’re so blue

All you say is “I’m fine”

And I can see that the fault is all mine

4) But your kind heart

Sweet as a blueberry tart

5) And then there’s your laugh

I could listen to it

For the length of a game

Or just the first half

Ever since our first kiss

It always comes back to this

No matter what you do

I’m still in love with you…

Final Piece- Home

Soon I will travel

from one home to another.

From Lugano:

Warm days and cool evenings,

with rain stronger than I have experienced.

The thunder storms that excite.

The presence of the Swiss Alps

overwhelming and beautiful.

My parents miss me,

my dog misses me

and sleeps on my bed in Bend.

My closest friends,

a residence that has become my family.

My home in Switzerland.

To Bend:

The splendid blue sky

hardly ever trapped by gray clouds.

The place I had never left

until Lugano.

Arriving in the airport

my mother will hug me first.

My dad will smile

and hug me second.

Together we will drive home to my dog,

Daisy.

Daisy will hear my voice and tremble with excitement.

She will run to me and lick my face,

her small stature will be easy to hold in my arms.

I will be welcomed into my home,

and then I will miss Lugano.

Skype dates regularly scheduled

with my friends around the world.

We are never truly separated.

In between:

Crying as I say good-bye to my friends.

Crying when I say hello to my family.

Both homes call to me.

I am sad to leave.

But I am happy to arrive. 

The Night I Got Ditched

    So there I found myself, in the bottom of a ditch. My best friend and I were driving home from a party, one that I did not even want to attend. Evan, my best friend, thinks that I went to the party to be his designated driver. In reality I went to look after him at the party, I didn’t want to find out that he hooked up with some strange girl when I was in love with him. So how did we end up in the bottom of a ditch, while I was driving sober? 

          I’m the girl that never gets invited to those high school cliché parties, probably because I avoid that group as much as possible. Evan, on the other hand, is one of the most desirable seniors at our school, and since he is my best friend that is how I end up going to them.

          The party that was tonight was at Melody Wilson’s house, a girl who lived fifteen minutes south of town, off of a long dirt road. Her house was like the Barbie dream house every girl wanted as a child, but only the rich kids could afford. It was a large deep brown house bordering on a mansion, with a circular driveway packed with cars for the party.

 Of course I said yes when Evan asked I me to drive him to the party even though I completely despised these events. My Honda civic was safer than his VW bug anyway. What was the point in getting extremely drunk and not remembering the night anyway? At least I could watch people and secretly laugh at them, and make sure Evan didn’t do anything too bad…

          I stood in front of my closet for about thirty minutes, trying to find an outfit that would catch Evan’s attention, but not make him think that I was trying too hard. When I finally settled on a simple low- cut black dress that reached to my knees, I drove over to Evan’s house to pick him up.

          The drive to the party was uneventful; we hardly even saw a car on the road. The party was nothing exciting either, lots of underage high schoolers binge drinking, making out, and grinding to obnoxiously loud music. Typical. Evan and I hung out a few times during the party, but I decided that I would rather let him have fun and not force him to try to include me. I found some people I knew from my third period history class and talked to them in the corner of the room, far enough away from the dance mob to not get stepped on, but close enough to see the ridiculous movement my generation called dancing. I danced to a few songs, trying to include myself and have a good time, but in reality I was happier watching everyone.

          Around midnight Evan decided that the party was slowing down, and that we should go to Denny’s and get late night pancakes like we usually do to end the evening. We climbed in my car, a red Honda civic, and turned off of Melody’s dirt road. We were about five miles from town on a straight stretch of road, when I noticed bright headlights coming towards us, swerving on the road, and then they settled on staying in our lane. I didn’t know what to do since the lights were getting closer, making a route of escape less likely with each passing second. The only thing I could do was hope they would get in their original lane. I honked my horn and flashed my lights at them, hoping to make them realize that they were heading straight for us, but to no avail.

At the last second I swerved out of the way off of the road, trying to avoid the truck that was heading straight for us. There were trees lining the side of the road, and all I could do was hope that we didn’t hit one. We flew off the road, and somehow landed into a ditch on the side of the road. We were lucky. My throat was hoarse from all of the screaming I didn’t realize I was doing.  I looked around at the quiet scenery that seemed to not care that a car had disturbed it. I unbuckled my seatbelt and climbed out of the car and into the ditch.

          I assessed the damage, which seemed to be fatal to my car but otherwise nothing seemed to be wrong with Evan or myself. The ditch was tall, maybe six feet in height. I looked out on the road and saw the car that was coming towards us, a black Ford F150. They hit a tree head on off of the other side of the road. They must have swerved at the last minute too. They didn’t seem to be as lucky as Evan and I.

          “Tally” Evan called from inside the car.

          “Yes, Evan?” I asked.

          “I’m so glad that we’re okay, that I was with you. You’re like my sister and I wouldn’t want to be in this situation with anyone else.”

          My heart fell.

So that’s how I found myself, in the bottom of a ditch, the guy I was in love with seeing me as his sister.

Mimi Schwartz “Memoir? Fiction? Where’s the line?” Reading Response

I particularly enjoyed this reading because it helped me with the issue of memoir stories, where do we draw the line? I missed class the day we talked about this, so I found it interesting to discover the line on my own. Schwartz discusses how our memories can sometimes (or often) fail us, so we need to be careful when writing memoir as to what is really true or what is made up. She also points out that we must be especially careful since we cannot know when we don’t truly remember something the way it was, and asking someone else who shared the experience doesn’t really matter since they will have the same memory dilemma. Schwartz cleverly solves this dilemma by saying that perhaps you remember the situation or person in a specific way, and that you should describe it/them the way you remember so that other people can picture them the same way.

          I loved the quote from Pam Houston, “I write fiction to tell the truth” because I believe that there is always some hint of truth behind works of fiction.  However this also blurs the line between memoir and fiction and the writer must decide where to draw the line if they are trying to write memoir.

          I also enjoyed when Schwartz discussed how to use fiction to protect certain people who do not particularly want to be included in the story. Another quote that was helpful was “the story is 90 percent factual; the rest is made up to protect those who didn’t as to be in this book”. I think it is necessary to do this because sometimes you need the characters to be in the story to fully capture it, but the person may not want to be in the story. This way you can create a fictional character that does similar things but protects the person’s identity.

          Overall this reading was very helpful, especially since I missed the class where this topic was discussed.