Coming of Age Video-KIDS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPsqrr_mv2g

Coming Of Age Project-poem

LOST RIGHT WHEN FOUND

Childhood.

         Days would drag by

                              not a care in our hearts

            or a fear in our minds.

                        We would play under the sun

                                    and dream under the moonlight

of the fun that awaited us.

            We had scrapes on our knees

                        and tears in our eyes

                                    but we were un-destructible.

            Eventually though,

we saw the end of a setting sun

                        and the rise of a new one.

So many things

                        I wanted

                                    to be.

So many places

                        I wanted

                                    to see.

I tried

      to do everything

  but

                                     the time grew too short

               and eventually

                        the alarm clock rang

and it was time to leave one

stage

                        and enter another.

As I grew

             older

I wished to grow

                        down

to be all the things

                        that were lost

                                                            right when found.

  but

            of course life

                        kept on ticking away.

And as the days flew by,

            I spent too much time

                        wishing that

all things could stay just the same.

But nothing would go back

                        to the carefree days

                                                where

            there were things

                                                I wanted to be

            and places

                                                I wanted to see.

Reading Response 2

         Throughout “The Girl Who Fell From The Sky,” by Heidi Durrow, the main character Rachel experiences a lot of changes, and a lot of emotions about her self, life and family that she cannot explain. The book takes place over several years for her, and during those years she deals with hatred, loss, and self-questioning. I believe this is a coming of age novel because the things she deals with are key aspects of growing up, and coming of age.

            Rachel deals with a lot of loss as a kid. Most of her family (minus her father) died when she was very young. As she gets older, she struggles with many memories, memories that she wishes she could return to. Though she only knew them for several years, they had a great impact on her life. Right when Rachel was getting used to life with her Aunt Lorretta and grandmother, her aunt dies tragically, leaving her once again in shock.

            She also deals with a lot of hatred. At multiple points in the book, it is clear Rachel is somewhat angry at her father for not coming back for her. She needed him for support, and he did not even make an effort to contact her.

 “”Why hasn’t daddy come back for me?’ I asked. ‘I just don’t know, darling. I just don’t know.’”

Rachel deals with hatred about her race from others as well. When she first moved in with her grandma and aunt, none of the other kids could figure her out, and some of them disliked her for her differences.

            The most important thing Rachel deals with in this story is self-questioning. She questions constantly throughout the book whether or not she should be proud of her ethnical background. She deals with many issues as a child because she is mixed; she feels like people will not accept her because of who she is. Not just other people, actually, she has problems with self-acceptance as well.

             The main shift Rachel goes through in this book is innocence to experience. She is at first innocent to racism, and fears it. Once she has an experience with racism, she learns to ignore it and be proud of who she is, and that though there are many non-accepting people in the world, there are even more that are accepting of others (this is also an example of false view of world to correct view.)

            Growing up may be the hardest point in a person’s life, with all the shifts and experiences with real life problems, but is still very important. The years between childhood and adulthood are the ones where all the things you learn and experiences you have with the world lead you to be who you are in later life. In some cases, like Rachel’s, you find your true self, and learn to stick with it.