Anika's Non-Fiction Blog

I stood at the top of the bright yellow tube slide at the Sholem Aquatic Center biting my nails. I stared down into the dark entrance of the slide, watching the water rushing into the slide. My dad stood next to me and I looked up at him with a worried face. “I don’t know,” I said. “I’m scared.” My six year old self was struggling with an internal battle. On the one hand going down the tube slide would be so cool and I would be happy when I had accomplished my goal. On the other hand the slide was dark and closed-off and anything could happen in there when I was alone. I stayed at the top of the tube slide for at least 30 minutes just standing there and shivering trying to make a decision. Finally, I let go of the metal bar at the top of the slide and tumbled down, water rushing around me. All summer I had wanted to go down the slide but I could not decide if I wanted to our not. I ended up going down the slide on the last day the pool was open and waited until the final hour bef...

This essay is too short so let me know if there are any places where I can elaborate. Also, I’m thinking of cutting the first and/or second paragraph. What do you guys think? When I first read this question I started thinking about survival strategies I would use to survive in the wild if I was lost without supplies. The things that came to my mind were building fires, scavenging for food, finding water, climbing trees, making shelter, etc. I quickly realized that I didn’t actually have any of these skills or at least not that I know of because I’ve never been put in a situation where I have to use skills like these. The only thing that I really have to survive is school--which, to be honest, is not an easy task. My go to survival tool at school is definitely my planner. Everyday when fourth period roles around I pull out my planner and record every assignment, activity, or meeting that I have coming up. When Ms. Morford told us that all of the subbies were going t...

In response to: Do you ever eavesdrop? I'm about 15 words over, let me know if there's anything I can cut. My parents love to tell the story of a time we were all in the car on a road trip and I was eavesdropping on their conversation. They were both sitting in the front seat having a quiet conversation. I was sitting in the back and I was probably pretty bored because no one was talking to me. So I had nothing better to do than listen to their conversation. I don’t think I was being very discreet when I was listening and I think I may have even asked them what they were talking about or made some comment about something they were saying. My dad, slightly annoyed that I wasn’t doing something to amuse myself in the back seat, asked me, “Are you eavesdropping?”. My three year old self replied, “Yes my ears are dropping.” I didn't even know what the word eavesdropping meant so I just assumed that my dad had asked if my ears were dropping. Even at a young age when I d...

I’m about 40 words under the word limit so if you have any ideas of places I could elaborate let me know. “Did you practice this week?” my violin teacher asked. I quickly racked my brain for an answer. The truth was I hadn’t picked up my violin once that week. With mountains of homework, Cross Country practice until 6:15, and other extracurricular activities, violin practice had gone to the backburner. But how was I supposed to tell my violin teacher that violin practice was at the bottom of my priority list? So instead I replied, “Yeah I had a pretty busy week but I still had some time to practice.” After that the lesson pretty much went downhill as I stumbled through scales and the piece I was working on. I forgot to take into account notes my teacher had written down from the last lesson and I kept messing up. It was pretty obvious that I hadn’t practiced. Yet somehow telling a lie to my teacher even though he would still be able to tell I hadn’t practiced was better than j...

I'm about 15 words over the limit so let me know if you have any suggestions on parts I could take out.       The reason I started running was because of my family. Both my mom and my dad run. When I was little I watched them run half marathons and other races. I always loved going to their races because the atmosphere was so exciting. I loved the nervous tension and the excited chatter as the racers got ready to run. I especially loved cheering my parents on when they ran because they would always wave to me. So, when my dad asked me if I wanted to run the 1k at Illinois Marathon, I was pumped that I was finally going to be able to race just like my parents and follow in their footsteps.             I didn’t really train much for my first race—I think I ran a lap around Hessel Park once or twice, but I still had a blast on race day. I ran a very slow 1k and I didn’t really understand the concept of push...

In response to: Have you ever felt embarrassed about the things you used to like? I used to spend hours on my bedroom floor with my best friend Ella playing with American girl dolls. I was obsessed. Ella and I would spend part of the morning setting up our dolls’ houses–half of my bedroom floor for Ella’s dolls and half for mine. We would set up beds, clothes, and other parts of our houses. Then we would sit on the floor the rest of the day with our American Girl dolls playing all sorts of elaborate made-up games with them. We would pretend that they could talk and make them go on adventures such as a trip to the local bakery. If we were not playing games with our American Girl dolls, we often spent our time looking through the American Girl doll catalogs and planning what outfit or accessory we would get next when we had saved up enough money or what we were going to ask our parents to get us. Every time a new catalog came in the mail, it made my day. I was always so excited ...