Alien Story

Demi

As I was helping my mom make her famous Crème Brulee, that could be smelled a mile away, the doorbell rang. I heard the President had a speech that was for everyone under the age of 21, which was directed towards me, that might be saved from an attack. I had dreaded that moment all day.

            I didn’t run with excitement or walk with fear, but I steadily made my way to the door hoping it wasn’t time. It was noon and the sun blinded me through the peep hole because the sun was shining through. This made me even more nervous because I didn’t live in the safest neighborhood.

            “Who is it?” I said.

            With my heart beating at a mile a second, I stood trembling as a heard someone clear their throat. 

            “Delivery!” the man with a deep voice said while leaning closer to the door to be heard well.

            My heart was at ease. It was only the mailman. I opened the door slowly, still unsure of whom it really was, and as I did; it creaked every inch the wider it opened.

            “Is Sally home?” said the man, who I could now fully see.

I quickly noticed he did not have a uniform of a mail man on, but he did of a guy that would come right out of “Men In Black”. He wore a suite that was black, all the way down to his socks, and something tucked under his right arm. He had brown hair that was curly, but very short. He looked to be six foot. With his blue eyes, he stared at me waiting for my response.

            “Yes, I’m Sally. What is that?” I said.

            “You’ve been selected to leave the earth on a ship to escape the aliens attack. You may bring one more person and a suitcase. Here it is. I know you know of all of this information already from the lottery on the television broadcast earlier today. So, who is the lucky fellow that you would like to save?” said the man looking down at me.

            I starred at the man in disbelief. Who would I bring? I forgot to think about it after I saw the lottery.  I figured I had no chance of winning, so why would I worry about packing or picking someone to go with me?

            I said, “Thank you.” and ran back inside as he waited in the car that was taking me to Area 51.

            Mom set a plate on the table with some Crème Brulee and a spoon. Dad was already at the table savoring ever sweet bite of his last meal.

            “Why should I eat healthy if this is my last meal?” my dad said, as he grinned at my mom and I, because we all know, as a diabetic, he should not be eating sweets.

            “Good point dad! Thank you for making this Mom.” I said, while trying to smile and shove the delicious last meal, which I will never have made by my mom again, down my mouth.

            I have to tell them that I forgot to consider bringing my one person to be saved by the alien attack. They haven’t even mentioned that since we saw the lottery. It’s like they’re completely avoiding it, all together.

            “Mom,” I said while looking at her. “Dad,” I said while looking to him. “I haven’t decided who to bring with me. I don’t want to leave either of you here alone and I would give you both my lottery ticket if I could, but neither of you are under 21!”

            My mom and dad looked at each other and said, “We have decided that neither of us is going with you.”

Am I actually hearing this? This is the last day I’m going to see either of them. Who would I bring now? Maybe they thought of someone else that I hadn't considered yet. 

Mom and Dad continued, “We want you to take Jonah with you.”

Jonah has been my friend since we were in our mom’s bellies. We were practically siblings. He was not selected to go, but still the idea without either of my parents leaving with me, brought tears to my eyes. My mom wiped the tears off my face with her gentle touch of her soft hands that would never be able to hug me again. Then my dad leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek, realizing he would never see me again.

They turned toward my room and my dad said, “Let’s go pack.”

“I’ve already called Jonah’s parents and told him that he is your one person and he is now on his way over” Mom, told me.

My parents made it up the stairs before I did. I was taking in every last step I had in my house. With the kitchen to the right of the stairs and then next to that the dining room. The living room to the left of the stairs with all of our favorite movies put in a cabinet next to the television. My parent’s room to the left of the living room with their huge king sized bed that I loved jumping on. I could never forget my dogs and my cat, which would join in on bouncing on my parent’s bed. Jazzy was my favorite and I’d had her since I was five. I was now 17 and about to leave all of this behind me and try to forget. No, I would never forget all of this. This is who I am after all.

I hear Jonah pulling in to our driveway. We both live in the same neighborhood and went to the same school. Since we are both 17 we have a lot in common and get along really well. My mom always use to say that we would get married someday and my dad would just let her go on and on about how great that would be because our families are good friends and he would just sit there and laugh in agreement. Because of them, I will be taking Jonah along, making it possible to have a future together.

“Mom. Dad. Jonah is here!” I said.

They left the door unlocked for Jonah and his parents so they could just walk in. Jonah has his suitcase packed and he is insisting to help me pack too.

“Here let me help you. I have mine all packed so I have an idea of what we may need or want,” Jonah said.

This angered and soothed me. Of course Jonah had already packed. He was always one step ahead of me, but because he was, I always knew he would be able to be there for me. I didn’t ask for help though and that’s the last thing I need when I’m under stress. Jonah knew how to handle me when I’m under stress though. We were like an old married couple that knows each other’s every move.

“Well my parents are already upstairs packing for me. So let’s just head up there and see what they put in my suitcase,” Jonah said.

We both ran up the stairs in a race with each other. We always had friendly competitions against each other and I always won. I don’t think he lets me win either. Ever since we were babies, in our mom’s law firm, every game we played was to see who was number one. Mom and dad put a family picture, a bible, toothbrush, toothpaste, a brush, 3 outfits, and a pair of shoes, a small pillow, and my favorite blanket that my aunt made for me, all inside my suitcase. It was perfect and ready to go. We all started walking down the stairs to the man waiting to take Jonah and I. Both Jonah’s and my parents were having a hard time of letting us go. They came in one at a time to give us the tightest, warmest hug, which felt like it lasted for 30 minutes. My mom hugged me first. She didn’t say much because everything has been said.

Mom whispered in my ear, “I love you so much. Never forget that. You’re father and I will always be in your heart.”

Next was my dad to hug me.

Dad leaned in for a hug and while hugging me he said, “You are the best, most beautiful daughter a father could ask for. It breaks my heart that your mom and I have to say bye to you like this. I love you so much. Never forget that.”

It was time to go. The man waiting in the car honked his horn. “Let’s go” the man said.

Jonah and I walked to the car and our parents stayed standing by the door because they knew if they got close to the car that they wouldn’t be able to let go. So we both opened our doors slowly waiting for the final words or advice of our parents. We sat down at the same time and we grabbed the handles to close the doors. Our parents came running to the door and gave us the tightest hug ever. It was the best hug by far. They all said I love you and walked back to the sidewalk next to the car. Jonah and I closed our doors, rolled down our windows, and as the rude man drove away we stuck our hands out the windows and waved and blew kisses to our parents, yelled goodbye, and we love you.

The drive was very short since we lived in New Mexico already. Jonah and I were scared for our lives. I know I was sweating and shaking in fear because I had no idea what was ahead for our future. We arrived at Area 51 and as I opened my door I saw something I never thought I would ever see. I took one step out of my door, looked up, and saw the [Error: No Signal Found]

Fear and Mass Hysteria Reaction Paper

Fear and Mass Hysteria Reaction Paper

            Fear, it is an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger. It is also known as alarm, anxiety or dread. This emotion causes the humans normal response to something change and to react in an irrational and sometimes self-destructive way.  HIV, AIDS, bad grades, a virus epidemic, germs, zombies, ghosts and 9/11 are many things that cause or caused fear in a person’s daily life.  

            Some fear is based on truth, such as HIV and AIDS. Other fears are rumor based, like zombies and ghosts. Sometimes fear is just watching the mind-blowing crash of two planes into the twin towers in New York over a television and watching family, friends, and acquaintances dying in an instance and some running for their lives. 9/11 is the most recent and biggest fear that the United States has been faced with recently and fear shows itself in many ways to us every day.

            The events of 9/11 caused fear in millions of people in the snap of a finger. Al Qaeda put many fears into the homes on families. They were a group of extremist terrorist that wanted the United States to suffer. Many family members and friends where lost in minutes all because of an extremist terrorist attack.  This fear of losing our family members and friends is the same fear the Salem Witch Trials brought to many people. The fear of others dying in and instance without warning or time to defend themselves. During 9/11 people could only stand by and watch as the towers fell to pieces with many people inside. At the same time, during the Salem Witch Trials people would also just stand by and watch as people they knew would be killed because of false accusations. Many people were persecuted in both instances because of something as simple as a religion or game being taken to an extreme.

Reaction to Washington Post

Reaction to Washington Post

            I agree and disagree with many on the statements said in this article. Yes, Avatar is a very political movie based on Native American culture and the white man being the ultimate hero, but I believe that many people are looking too hard into the movie and trying to find something to react about. My reactions to this paper are looked at in many ways and with an open mind to understand why the people quoted who were quoted in this article where so closed minded. In many Native American myths the white man invades the Native Americans land and in the end takes it over, but a lot of the time the Native Americans didn’t even fight for their land.

Within article a the following was said, “Annalee Newitz, writing last week on her science blog io9, criticized "Avatar" for depicting yet another white man as a hero in the liberation struggles of oppressed people of color” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122203276.html). I agree that the white man was a hero in this movie but I disagree that colored people specifically have to be black. Most people want to automatically assume that the oppressed people in a movie resemble black people, when in actuality there are many other races that are oppressed than just the blacks.

Newitz stated, "Speaking as a white person . . . I'd like to watch some movies about people of color . . . from the perspective of that group, without injecting a random white . . . character to explain everything to me"(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122203276.html), this quote is a very biased opinion and Newitz is not looking at both sides of the white man and colored people. I disagree with Newitz statement because I believe that it is important to see a movie with both a white man and colored man’s point of view, which Avatar did. Jake Sully played a very important role in Avatar and is not a, “random white…character” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122203276.html), which explains everything according to Newitz. Jake is a white man who was secretly trying to make his way to the top of the chain in Pandora and on his way to do so he realized that he liked being a colored man and knew that the army was wrong with wanting to destroy their land for unuptanium that’s worth a kilo on earth.

Avatar was very political in many ways. It brought up many topics such as the white man versus the colored man and it is used to compare how other countries forced the Native Americans out of their homes just to gain more land and resources. Although many people in this article only looked at the bad point of view of the white man there are many other sides to be looked at.

Sedna

Sedna

            Sedna is a secretion myth becase later in the story she loses her fingers and they become creatures of the sea. Sedna was a daughter of an Inuit man, who was very beautiful, and her father wanted her to be married. Sedna said not to every man her father offered her tough. Bird-man did not like the birds where he lived so he decided he wanted a human wife and set course to Sedna’s homeland. Sedna couldn’t resist Bird-man and the song and promises he gave her. They soon married and Senda found out that all the promises weren’t real and it was a way to win her over. Sedna’s father wanted to visit the newlyweds and see how they were doing. When he arrived he saw that none of the promise were fulfilled as Bird-man had sang in his song, and as soon has Bird-man came home, Sedna’s father killed him for being untruthful and not satisfying his daughter’s needs. The seabirds soon noticed that their friend was killed and they set out to find Sedna and return the favor. Since the birds only wanted Sedna, her father threw her out of the kayak hoping that they wouldn’t kill him too. When Sedna grabbed on to the boat, with dear life, her father cut off her fingers from the first joint and to the middle joint. Her fingernails became whalebones and her flesh became whales as they hit the water. On her next hand grabbing onto the kayak her father cut off her first joint to the middle finger. Once again her bones and flesh changed as it hit the water, but this time they became ringed seals. Her father continued to cut off the rest of her fingers and as they hit the water her fingers became ground-seals and her thumb became walruses. The birds knew Senda wouldn’t live through that and so they left. Sedna got revenge on her father in the night by letting her huskies eat upon the hands and feet of her father. The earth rumbled so bad that they all fell to the bottom of the sea where Sedna is in charge of the living and dead.

Chelan Creation Story

Chelan Creation Story

           

 

            The Chelan Creation Story is a deus faber myth. There is only one God/creator in this story. First the Creator created the animals and the birds and gave them all names. After he had to leave but would return to create humans to be in charge of the animals and the birds. When the Creator returned some animals and birds did not like their names and demanded they’d be changed, but the Creator said, “No” and did not make the humans because they disobeyed him. In the place of human beings the creator made water and snow to wash away the soil the animals and the birds brought to him. The great chief made a beaver so that it will someday be made into a human by the creatures as long as they are good. The great chief put coyote in charge of the creatures since someday they all will become bad and eat each other. The Creator still had all the power but he gave only a little to Coyote. Coyote was not good and didn’t follow the rules so he was not the first to make a human being. Out of the four wolf brothers, the Creator put the youngest wolf brother in charge and the power to take beaver from the water. The oldest wolf brother and the youngest wolf brother went out one night to kill the beaver that the Creator had made and to turn it into human. Youngest brother had killed the big beaver and could only cut it into eleven pieces, when it was to be split into twelve pieces. Each eleven pieces became a new tribe. The last tribe was made from the blood of the beaver.

The Emergence

The Emergence

“The Emergence” used grouping of four a lot, which represent north, south, east, and west.  There were four worlds in the myth, the first, second, third, and fourth world. The bugs first started without wings but when they need to get into the second world they tied wings to their backs and fly threw a crack into the second world (499). Each world got better, with more food, sunshine, people, and land (499-501). Four colors, black, yellow, blue, and white, were also repeated throughout the story but stood for something different each time. For example, the first world was the black world, the second world was the blue world, the third world was the yellow world, and lastly the fourth world was white (499-500). Each world improved because the growth of the insects increased as they stayed in each world for a period of time. Black, blue, yellow, and white also stood for birds and bodies (499).

Yokut

Yokut

            The myth Yokut is an earth-diver myth. Yokut is an earth-diver myth because Eagle and Crow were unable to dive to the sea and get mud but the Duck was able to. In exchange for getting mud for Eagle and Crow to make more land, they gave Duck fish to eat. The more fish they paid Duck in the more mud he brought up from the sea. Their new land was growing very fast and they built two-halves of the new world with just the three of them. Since Eagle’s half was very much taller than Crows half, many say that Eagle’s land became Sierra Nevada Mountains. Crows half was known as the Coast Mountain Range.