Catchers, Cases and Other Compositions An Anthology of Essays, Poems, and Stories Composition, Section 146 (Grade 10) Paul D. Schreiber High School September 2011 ‐‐ January 2012 Port Washington, NY Students: Jessica Altuch, Kahaf Bhuiyan, Sabrina Brennan, Christian Castillo, Bomin Choi, Roxana Diaz, Lauren Donahue, Amanda Ehren, Maggie Golder, Norma Gonzalez, Ezra Hyman, Ahmed Ismail, Henry Lee, Emily Perlman, Adam Rubenstein, Carrie Rybecky, Samara Walsh, Alessandra Verdi, Emily Weinstein, George Weiss Teacher: Dr. Sara Brock Table of Contents Jessica Altuch When Bitten Kahaf Bhuiyan Augmented Sabrina Brennan Holden’s Journey Christian Castillo Phony Modern Teen Bomin Choi Different Faces but Similar Lives Roxana Diaz Dreaming about Loneliness Lauren Donahue All Paul’s Glory Over Amanda Ehren What Oranges Are and Aren’t Maggie Golder Paul’s Darkened Overture James Castle: A Monologue Norma Gonzalez Remembering the Trouble‐Maker Ahmed Ismail Holden: The Universal Teenager Henry Lee Darken Dusk Emily Perlman Hiding Behind the Hat Adam Rubenstein Holden’s Journey Carolyn Rybecky The Path to Success Samara Walsh An Anonymous Trouble‐Maker Ali Verdi Like Mother, Unlike Daughter Three Outsiders Emily Weinstein The Perks of Summer Reading My “Older” Brother: A Monologue by Phoebe Caulfield Weiss, George Two Faces Cover illustration by Sabrina Brenna. When Bitten by Jessica Altuch With great power, there must also come great responsibility. ‐‐ Stan Lee, Amazing Fantasy #15 Spiderman is a famous, fictional, American character, who can be perceived as an outsider in comic books and the movies. How would you respond if your life were to dramatically change overnight? In Peter Parker’s case, a high school teenager was bitten by a genetically modified spider, which changed his life, and gave him spider‐like abilities, which he then uses for the good of the city. He is put to the challenge and has to fight evil because he is now a superhero. Spiderman is an “outsider,” as he is set apart from the world because of his supernatural powers. Peter used to be an average teenager, but his life changed overnight. He is then out every night protecting the city from any evil that may come. Peter, before he was transformed, was considered your typical teenage boy. He had trouble with his love life, school, family, self‐esteem, and lack of friends. Recently, however, Peter’s character has gotten Hollywood updates. He went from being a shy teenage high school student to a more confident college student to a married high school teacher. Peter’s past has played a large role in shaping his personality and future. Peter as a child was an orphan who was also bullied by many classmates of his. Peter also has to go through witnessing the death of his Uncle, with whom he is very close. Peter after gaining his powers from the genetically modified spider, wants to get revenge against the people who murdered his uncle. Peter Parker’s life was “normal” until something happened one day; he would be changed for the rest of his life. Peter Parker used to be your average teenager, then his life was totally changed one day when he was on a school field trip, and he was bitten by a genetically‐ altered spider. Peter then realizes that he has gained supernatural powers that next day. These powers allow him to have spider‐like capabilities which makes him an “outsider.” After being bitten, Peter is no longer considered a “normal” human being. Spiderman wants revenge on the people who killed his uncle. Spiderman isn’t a normal human being anymore; he is a superhero with supernatural powers, which separates him from the city. Peter Parker went from being a normal school boy to fighting for the city against evil. Peter now is Spiderman to the city, and is living a double life, which is tough to balance. Spiderman is now depended on by the city to be protected from crimes being committed within the city. Spiderman is an outsider who is greatly appreciated in the city, to help save the city from evil. Spiderman is somebody whose life was radically changed overnight, when he learned he has superpowers. On a daily basis he is out saving people and punishing those who have broken the law. He is looked up to highly because he is keeping the city safe and everybody counts on him to save the day. He is separated from society because of his supernatural abilities. Spider man used to be a normal human being, until he was bitten by a spider which changed him from that day on. This 1 spider that bit him gave him powers that were incredible which he then used for good. He helped the city stay safe and to protect the people from any means of harm. 2 Augmented by Kahaf Bhuiyan I never asked for this. ‐– Adam Jensen in Deus Ex: Human Revolution Have you ever thought about how your life would be if you had no limbs? Or what if your limbs were replaced with artificial implants with weapons that seem to appear out of thin air, making you a one‐man army? This is what happens to Adam Jensen, the protagonist in the video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. After he gets attacked by members of the Illuminati, a group of people that say they are trying to make the human race better for everyone. In reality, they are persecuting humans by experimenting on them to find the perfect human to make the perfect cyborg. Adam Jensen happens to be this perfect human, but ends up stopping the experiments instead of helping the Illuminati. The only reason he fights the Illuminati is because they get in the way of him trying to find his girlfriend, Megan Reed. She had gone missing after the Illuminati had attacked Sarif Industries, the place where Jensen works. The most interesting part of the video game is that the entire game can be played without killing anyone, making it possible for Jensen to be a complete pacifist. Adam Jensen is a character from Deus Ex: Human Revolution, who can be seen as an outsider because he is different from many people physically and mentally. Jensen lives in an apartment in Detroit, in the year 2027. He used to be a former SWAT team member, who quit because he could not find the courage to kill a person who had gone insane and had started harming innocent civilians. After he quit, he took his girlfriend’s advice and joined up with the company she worked for, Sarif Industries, as head of security. Sarif Industries develops cybernetic implants for humans, which are also known as augmentations. These augmentations can be mechanical limbs or a computer chip in the brain, and are intended to make human life easier. Unfortunately for Jensen, on his first day of work, the Illuminati comes and holds everyone hostage, while kidnapping many of the scientists so they can develop their own augmentations to control masses of people. While everyone is being held hostage, Adam Jensen is fatally wounded, and would have died if Sarif Industries had not decided to give him augmentations, replacing his arms and some of his brain, while giving life support to his heart. This essentially makes him into a cyborg, and the irony in this is that most of the people with augmentations willingly get them, unlike Jensen, who “never asked for this” (Deus Ex: Human Revolution). Many people despise these cyborgs because they do not believe that humans should have their bodies drastically changed like this. This makes Jensen an outsider to “normal” humans, but it could even be said that he is an outsider even to the augmented people, because Jensen was given weapons as some of the augmentations, attempting, and succeeding into making him into a one man army. He is also unlike most other augmented humans because he didn’t have the choice of whether or not to get them. Jensen has peculiar reasons for doing the things he does, most of them being all just to find out what really happened to his girlfriend, as he does not believe what people say, which is that she was killed on the day of the break‐in. Most people would not be so obsessed about finding one 3 person to the extent that he takes on whole gangs and eventually the master plan of the Illuminati just because he wants to find out the truth. In this way he is an outsider because he has very strong willpower and does not give up, which is the opposite of many people of our generation, and in the game. He tries to do what is best for everyone while on his journey, and helps anyone who looks like they really could need it. At first many people think that someone such as Jensen, who is augmented, would be a jerk and not want to help anyone, but once they get to know him they realize that he is actually a good person, especially considering that he did not want to become augmented. His perspective on things is realistic and bases his assumptions on evidence, such as the fact that there is evidence that Megan Reed is still alive, which causes him to go on his whole journey, asking people “Where is Megan Reed?” (Deus Ex: Human Revolution). By the end of the game it becomes apparent that even though Jensen can be considered an outsider, he is just like any other person. He has his morals and can even have the choice to not harm anyone in the game at all. The reason he left the SWAT team was because he didn’t think it was right to kill a 15 year old kid was having a breakdown because of augmentations.