'The Unexpected Craziness of a Grandmas Life' - School Work - May 2003

It’s 5:00 a.m. Rose Ann Anglin is up already sitting on a cardboard box fixing
breakfast for her brother George and sister Mary. “Dad’s off working somewhere or other
while moms off working at the drug store so that left me to do all the cooking and the
raising of my siblings on account of I was the oldest.” After breakfast there’s always the
usual getting ready for school, which never took long because everyone on the block
looked forward to the traditional before school baseball game.

My grandma, Rose Ann Anglin, was born May 5th 1936 in the town of Big Spring
Texas. “Growing up,” said grandma, “ was never hard for us. Mom worked at the drug
store downtown for 50 cent’s an hour while dad worked here and there. I was left to take
care of everybody.” I thought, “Jeez, that must have been hard on y’all”. “Not really
Chad cause back then you didn’t know no different,” said mawmaw. (That’s just what I
call her) “Of course back then things was much more different than today, everybody
looked out for everybody else, no one was breaking into houses, doing drugs, or having
sex everybody was happy with their life and enjoyed it.”

Did anybody back then have fun at all? “Oh, you rat fink (what that means I’ll
never know) of course we had fun. I remember sitting in the living room with my brother
and sister listening to the Lone Ranger show, country music stars like Hank Williams,
and (of course) Elvis Presley. Every now and then we would walk on down to
Montgomery Wards to look at the televisions and gawk over them. But we were active
too. We would play baseball before school, and sometimes even on the way to school,
we’d stop and go for a swim. Of course we went through the woods to get to schoolalthough we were supposed to stay on the road. Mom never did find that out until two
years ago. Boy, was she upset!” (See even our grandparents had rebellion in them)

But what about the teenage years? Was that boring? Of course not! My Grandma
and her friend were regular tease’s to all the local GIs “We didn’t go to the GIs they
came to us cause they knew where we were at. Aside from the regular routine of taking
care of George and Mary, I worked and had a ball. Me and my cousin Carol worked at adrive-in movie theater selling food at the concession stand. We weren’t old enough to sellliquor so we had to work at the drive-in.(lol) Down the street about a block from wheremom worked, there was a movie theater that showed three different shows for 9 cent’sapiece. Then there was the world famous Big Spring record store, it really was world
famous, people all over the world would come to shop there for their favorite music.We went to see Elvis in concert when I was a teen. He was dreamy. But of course there
was only one guy for me, your grandpa Debo. I met him talking like I did every day to
the GIs. He was in the air force, with dreamy blue eyes, and brownish blondish hair.We got married a year later and had four kids, Charles, Linda, Greg, and the youngest
Russell (your dad).

I never thought my grandma could be so cool. Usually for school projects I wouldinterview my grandpa because he was in the air force so I thought he had someinteresting stories to tell. But taking into consideration mothers day and my grandmasbirthday on the 5th I thought I would interview her. And it was well worth my time. I will
always remember it.

'Thine' - Poem - June 2003

You get Goosebumps when I talk to you

Because you know my words to be true and pure

Your heart flutters when I hold you

Your world slows down just because I’m near

I will forever love you with all that I have

And I thank God that I found you

He knows I love you for all that you are

I will never leave you or hurt you

To do so would be going far too far

You hurt me for only a moment

When you said

You didn't know if you loved me

And it felt like I should drop dead

But now you've found the truth

Hidden deep within your heart

Trust me and love me and never let us be apart

And until we see each other again

I hope you get Goosebumps when I talk to you

Because you now know my words to be true and pure

I hope your heart forever flutters when I hold you

And our world slows down just because we’re near

Let me hold you when you’re sick

And nurse you back to health

Oh and just so you know

You’re the source of all my wealth

Let’s just sit here forever

Just slip your hand in mine

Look into my eyes while we kiss each other true and pure

Convince me in our kiss that I’ll forever be

Thine.

'My Dearest Tabby' - Poem - March 2003

I shall love you forever more

Can you say you feel the same way?

My life with you could never be a bore,

While I think of you night and day.

For when darkness falls

When, for me, is around nine

Your love is all that wanders the halls

Of this empty head of mine

Till now my dreams were blank and true

Things to come and things that have been

But now all I can dream about is you

In the battle for my heart, guess what? You win

For when I awake to a new morn

And pray to my father high above

I no longer curse the day I was born

But praise him for my dove.

'Not Excluded' - Poem - February 2003

I'm no longer excluded

from a world not quite so grim

I thought I was not needed

as I lived in the really dark and dim

but now I've got you

so beautiful and bright

and I don't know what to do

now I know I wasn't right

to give up in defeat

when I thought no one could love

someone plain and dry like wheat

then you came along, as innocently as a dove

are you sure you're not an angel

descended from high above?

I will forever hold this picture of you in my head

with your arms around my neck and your hands in mine

in a pink shirt and pajamas, your hair such a beautiful red

your looks are exquisite and your personality is fine

I'm glad my life could no longer be shabby

as long as I have my beautiful Tabby

'The Star-Crossed Deaths' - School Work - May 2002

In William Shakespeare's dramatic play ROMEO & JULIET… Well let’s tell you about it from this so you can get an idea of how Shakespeare works.

“Two households both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, whose misadventured piteous overthrows doth with their death-marked love, and the continuance of their parents rage, which, but their children’s end, naught could remove, is now the two hours traffic of our stage, the which if you with patient ears attend, what here shall miss our toil shall strive to mend.”  (Page 992)

Many things could have caused the death-marked love, but this shall determine only three.

One of the reasons that his tragedy occurred is one of the key factors depicted throughout the play. The feud between the Caplet’s and the Montegue's. If the Capulet's and Montegue's hadn’t hated each other so Romeo and Juliet wouldn’t have had to hide their marriage. “…But love the better than thou canst devise till thou shalt know the reason of my love, and so, good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as mine own, be satisfied.” See, if they didn’t feud Romeo wouldn’t have had to word himself so carefully. Also if they didn’t feud Romeo wouldn’t have needed to jump between Tybalt and Mercutio’s duel. If this hatred didn’t happen Tybalt and Mercutio wouldn’t be six feet under right now. Mercutio and Tybalt fought because of the tension between them and they both ended up dead. Romeo killed Tybalt out of vengeance for Mercutio's death. A third example is that Romeo was banished from Verona. Since Romeo was banished Juliet was “forced” to drink the potion and “kill” herself. Also since he was banished his mother supposedly died from grief. There are more but these are the best.

Another aspect of what caused the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was the relationships between parents and children. If Romeo wasn’t banished lady Montegue wouldn’t have died. That’s a strong relationship. “…Alas, my liege, my wife is dead tonight! Grief of my sons exile hath stopped her breath.” See the more the tragedy grows the more people die. The relationships are so strong but not all are strong, some are breaking. Another example is that if the Capulet's hadn’t hated the Montegue's so much they would have let Juliet marry Romeo. I mean if they didn’t like Montegue's they didn’t like Romeo. Capulet had a fit when she said she wouldn’t marry Paris imagine if she said she was already married to Romeo. A third example is if Capulet hadn’t forced Juliet to marry Paris she wouldn’t have had to take such desperate measures. Henceforth she wouldn’t have had to go through all the what ifs & she wouldn’t have had to confuse Romeo. These now that you look at them aren’t good examples but you get the point.

The last and final cause is the timing. I mean timing is everything yet it doesn’t seem like it. For instance Romeo running into Tybalt then killing him minutes after marrying Juliet. “…But love the better than thou canst devise till thou shalt know the reason of my love, and so, good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as mine own, be satisfied.” See there’s the quote again but it works two ways. Another example is if the friar had arrived sooner then both of them dying wouldn’t have happened. He comes barging in there seconds after Romeo kills himself. The last example is that Romeo just so happens to come and kill himself right before Juliet wakes up he even notices that she doesn’t look dead. This gives a whole new meaning to the term star-crossed wouldn’t you say?

There are many more causes to the tragedy but the above are probably the main ones. Shakespeare was trying to make a point that sometimes things are destined to happen and sometimes others just screw them up. He must have been pretty successful since his play became famous worldwide. Well let’s close with this, “For never was there a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

[Close curtains] & [Exeunt]

'Unlucky Leprechaun' - Poem - March 2002

Leprechauns are so lucky

To live in such a place

Where gold and rainbows flow

It’s such a happy place

When you don’t worry about the morrow

Or what it might bring

But there is one leprechaun

That will never sing

And feels he is just a disgrace

Other leprechauns see he is really unhappy

But he has a golden mace

He swings over his head

Then drops it to the ground

And falls like he is dead

But none have ever found

That he is not dead

But silently sobbing to himself

Because he is full of dread

That he will not have any wealth

Of any sort

No girlfriend, friends, or life

That’s not all the reason he’s crying

But when he looks about

He sees, well, beautiful girls

And realizes he has no chance

So he leaves Ireland

And goes into a kid

But it seems his luck has run out

Because he is in a kid who has the same problems

But this kid goes to the dances

And he just sits there and sulks

His name is Chad

The Unlucky Leprechaun

'Rachel...' - Poem - March 2002

From the way I act around her

You’d think I don’t know her

From the way I talk about her

You’d think I’d want to hurt her

But from the way I think about her

You’d know I want to be a friend to her

A history has happened between us

But I hope there is now end

I remember once upon a time

When she acted really kind

As we were just kids

I was alone in a box full of sand

Then she came and sat down beside me

And didn’t look up with a sign of doubt

We started talking

And pretty soon we were laughing

We talked and laughed some more

And a strange thing happened

It never became a bore

But what happened long ago,

It seems like a faraway dream

Did I let her go?

Or did she plan a scheme

Somehow we stopped talking

But so there is no doubt

I miss those days

When I was all alone in a box full of sand