|
|
The Great Radio Conspiracy
By: Christina Rhodes and students of Trinity
High School
Copyrighted
Material, 2005
Christina Rhodes
Trinity High School
Whitesville, KY 42378
For the past several years, I have had an idea for a book that I want to write. Since I’ve thought about it so much (and haven’t had a chance to write it) it’s on my mind a lot, and I’ve come up with a plan to use it in the classes I teach. Many of my students contributed to the project, and here it is, published online. I hope that this will inspire me to actually get to work on my hard copy. Anyway, the plan revolves around the notion that the songs we hear, usually on the radio, tend to take us back to a time when the songs were first popular. They remind us of our pasts, and they make us feel, all over again, the way we felt when the songs were first released. Sometimes they can be favorite songs or memories; at other times, they are not so great. Students were given the opportunity to decide about which songs they wanted to write. Click here to go to a listing of student works.
Click
here for the sample I gave them.
Click here for
student contributions.
For the past
several years, I have had an idea for a book that I want to write. Since I’ve thought about it so much (and
haven’t had a chance to write it) it’s on my mind a lot, and I’ve come up with
a plan to use it in class. All of you
will contribute to the project, and it will be published online. Maybe you’ll inspire me to actually get to
work on my hard copy. Anyway, the plan
revolves around the notion that the songs we hear, usually on the radio, tend
to take us back to a time when the songs were first popular. They remind us of our pasts, and they make
us feel, all over again, the way we felt when the songs were first released. Sometimes they can be favorite songs or
memories; at other times, they are not so great. It’s up to you to decide about which songs you want to
write.
Here’s what I want
you to do: Bring in a copy of one of
your favorite songs; you may bring in the song on tape or cd, or you can just
bring lyrics if you want. We’re going
to talk about those songs and those memories.
Afterward, you’ll bring in a paper in which you write about why you
chose that song. What memories does it
evoke? What does it remind you of when
you hear it? The length of the paper
won’t be judged; I’m starting to realize that you tend to write better (and
usually more) when you have some control over the topic. You’ll have a chance to peer edit these
pieces, and you’ll have another day to turn in the papers…ON DISC or BY
EMAIL. I need the digital copy in order
to publish online. I hope that you’ll
have fun with this assignment. I think
it will make a great online book!
Here’s a schedule
for you so that you can stay on task, or get ahead if that would be better for
you.
Day One: Bring in a song or song lyrics. During class, we will talk about the
songs. As we speak, you may want to
have a notebook out so that you can write ideas as others inspire you. (Don’t do other homework during that time,
please; that would be rude.)
Day Two: Bring in your rough draft, an explanation
for why that song is a favorite, why it’s important to you, or just what it
reminds you of. We will probably still
be listening to a few other explanations, but you’ll be ready with your papers
when it’s time to peer edit. I hope to
have peer editing done at the end of the class. You’ll be put in groups of two, and you’ll go over each other’s
papers. THESE PAPERS MUST BE HARD
COPIES AND I RECOMMEND THAT YOU DOUBLE SPACE YOUR WORK. THAT WAY THERE IS ROOM TO WRITE NOTES,
COMMENTS, AND CORRECTIONS THAT YOU’LL BE ABLE TO READ. I also recommend that you’ve typed the work
already and saved it digitally. That
way, after corrections have been made, it’s easier to make the corrections on
the computer and to send copies to me on the computer.
Day Three: If we have not done peer editing yet, we
will do so on this day. If we have done
peer editing, you’ll be required to get your papers to me by this date, at the
beginning of class. You may submit your
work on disc or by email. I will post
the papers online. We’ll only need a
day four job if we’re still editing on day three.
I recommend that
you do your best work and help your partners do their best work; this is going
online for anyone in the world to read; I want you to make a good
impression. (Don’t forget to use
paragraphs!)
(Please use comic
sans font, size 12, with one-inch margins.)
For years I have been plagued by what I
call The Great Radio Conspiracy.
I will be walking through a department store or driving to work when a
song comes on the loud speaker or radio, and it takes me back to my first high
school dance, or to a childhood trip to the swimming pool, or to the night I
called an ex-boyfriend and cried because he’d moved 2000 miles away from
me. For a while it seemed that the
songs would play on the anniversary of these events, but even if the time of
year varied, the songs took me back and made me feel, all over again, the joy
or sadness of years earlier.
Case in point: my husband and I were sitting in Grandy’s on
Thursday night. We had stopped for
dinner on the way to the movie theatre, and we were halfway through our country
fried steak dinner when Rollie said, “This song was on the top 100 in
1979.” I had not even been paying
attention to the song; not much interferes with my concentration when I’m
eating mashed potatoes and gravy.
“What?”
I asked. “How do you remember
that?”
Rollie
then related a long but entertaining tale about how he and his brothers used to
tape the top 100 songs from the radio on New Year’s Eve. Back then radios weren’t attached to tape
players, so they had two different pieces of equipment, and they had to be
really quiet while the songs were playing so as not to be heard on the
tape. During commercials they played
cards and talked to one another. “It
was a big deal,” he said. “I don’t
remember what number this was, but while we were taping it Ron’s friend,
Richard Mountain, walked into the room and started singing along with the
song. He was out of tune and really
funny.” Rollie sang, “It’s so funny that we don’t talk
anymore…do, do, do, do.” He added,
“Every time we listened to that tape we’d hear Richard’s voice.”
“How
do you remember that it was the 1979 tape and not the 1978 tape?”
“I
don’t know. I just remember. We were all together that year, having a
good time. I remember that Pink Floyd’s
“Another Brick in the Wall” was number nine.
I think Blondie’s “Call Me” was number eight.”
We
finished our meal and left for the movie, but I kept thinking about this
idea. On Saturday, Rollie and I went
shopping together. Again, we decided to
splurge and eat out. While we were
sitting in Arby’s, halfway through our beef and cheddar melts, I heard Billy
Ray Cyrus’s voice. ‘I hear you just got
married, took a month long honeymoon…’
“Oh my gosh! I haven’t heard
this in years,” I told my husband. The
lyrics, about a man learning that his former girlfriend has married someone
else, continued to play. The chorus
kicked in and Billy Ray bellowed, ‘It could have been me, standin’ there with
you. It could have been me and my
dreams comin’ true. But those dreams
move on when you wait too long…’
“What
is it?” he asked.
“It’s
Billy Ray Cyrus,” I answered. I sang
along with the radio for a bit. “Isn’t
it funny that you can remember the words after not hearing something for
years? This came out in 1992.”
“How
do you remember that?” he asked.
I told him that I remembered what I was
doing at the time, but I didn’t go into detail. The song was released soon after my then-boyfriend had moved to
California. I took it hard when he
left, and I remember calling him when that song came out and telling him that
one day he would think that way about me, that if he didn’t make some decisions
about our relationship soon, he might regret it. I remember crying; it was a horrible time for me. It’s over now, though the song brings the
memory flooding back.
Fortunately,
my ex and I are still friends, and he did come to my wedding, having no regrets
about letting me slip through his fingers.
I, too, have no regrets. In
fact, I love that this song, and so many others remind me of what brought me to
this point in my life.
By
the way, I went home and looked up the song online; the Billy Ray Cyrus song
was released in 1992.
Ashley Aud Jennifer Rhodes Maggie Johnson Zach Johnson
Allie Morris Ben Bickett Bethany Sanders Blake Harley
Chelsey Roby Whitney Payne Jordan Edge Dylan Hardesty
Alyssa Roberts Lily Crisp Eathan Johnson Lauren Collins
Ethan Brown Rachel Mattingly Jordan Merritt Cassie Burch
Halie Isbill TJ Payne Katie Church Rafe Cecil
Laura Ballard Matt Johnson Michael Rhodes Courtney Howard
Kasey Roby Alex Knott Michael
Roberts Tom Wathen
I
can still bring back the memories of about three or four years ago. Every
Saturday morning I would go to my grandma’s house. My aunt, who lived with my
grandma, always asked me to clean the house with her. Cathy, my aunt, had
always been one of those special aunts. Any chance I was given, I would want to
spend with her.
These
particular Saturday mornings were just one of the many times I would love to
spend with her. I felt carefree when I was with her; everything that was bad
suddenly turned good. She always seemed
to put a smile on my face, either when telling a joke, or with the dance moves
she used to break down into during the song “Kryptonite.”
It
was natural Saturday morning; I got up at about eight and headed to my
grandma’s, which is right up the hill from my house. As I stepped in the door, my grandma told me Cathy was upstairs
and had everything ready for us to get started. I made my way up to her
bedroom, which was where she was. As I entered her room, she had that bubbly
smile on her face. She reminded me of a kid herself. I think that’s why I felt
not a worry in the world when I was with her or around her. She just smiled and
said, “You ready to clean, Ash?”
I
returned the smiled and said, “Yeah, I sure am. Do I have to vacuum today, or
are we just dusting?” She replied, “Just dusting!”
We
dusted away, starting in my cousin James’s room, and then moving around the
house. Cathy reached to turn the radio on; the song “Kryptonite” came on, and
we started dancing and singing to the steady beat.
“If
I go crazy then will you still call me superman? If I’m alive and well, will
you be there holdin’ my hand.” During that part she grabbed my hand. I laughed and went on singing and dancing
with her.
For all of you that don’t know, I am not the
dancing, singing kind of person. It was just the way Cathy made me feel when I
was around her. Cathy was one of those people who didn’t care what anybody
thought about her. I guess when I was
with her, she also made me feel that way; so, of course, I went on singing and
dancing my heart out.
As it turned out, we ended up singing the
whole song and dancing to practically every part. It was one of those days I’ll
never forget, no matter how far she has traveled away. She is currently in
Scottsbluff, Nebraska. I do miss her greatly, but I am glad I have such a great
memory with her. Every time I hear “Kryptonite,” I go back to that day,
dusting, singing, and dancing with her. It’s a wonderful memory that I’ll never
forget.
“Somewhere
Over the Rainbow”
“Somewhere
Over the Rainbow” is a memorable song for me. Every time I hear the song, it
brings back hilarious times. It was the summer of 2004, and Ashley and I had the job of babysitting
my two little cousins, Brandon and Weston Howe. We would sit around the house,
trying to think of something to do. The boys never wanted to go outside and
play; the usual thing for them was sitting on the couch, watching TV, or
playing the Play Station.
Ashley
and I were always full of energy; we needed something to do! So we sang songs,
practically any song, but one in particular was our favorite: “Somewhere Over
the Rainbow”. I can remember sitting on the couch with Weston’s microphone. I
would start to sing into it as loudly as I possibly could, and Ashley would
join right in. The funny part is, the only words to the song that Ashley and I
knew were Somewhere over the rainbow;
we made up the rest as we went along. The boys hated this song; as we sang they
would cover their ears, and beg us to stop singing! This just made us sing even
louder. The boys would get so frustrated at us for singing that they would
leave the room.
After
being up since 7:00 in the morning, Ashley and I really could build up some
energy; what better way to use it than to sing? The boys may have hated it, but
come on; we had to have a little fun while babysitting.
Chelsey Roby
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
In
2005, on the day of March 24th of my eighth grade year at St. Mary's grade
school, Ashley, Allie, Lily, Halie, and I performed a dance to the song
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" in the talent show that our school
held.
We
worked on our dance for 2 or 3 weeks. We would get together as often as
possible at the Old Public School gym, while Halie's mom worked on the rummage
sale. We would always get up on the stage at the gym and practice.
We usually had to practice the same part over and over again,
because we just couldn't decide on which move was the best. Sometimes, we
just goofed off and did silly things, but we worked really hard on the dance.
Finally, we finished our dance, and it was great. After that we had
to decide what to wear.
We
ended up deciding on pink and purple tie-die shirts, jeans rolled up to our
knees, and royal blue and yellow knee-high socks; our hair was in crazy messy
bun pig-tails; we had pink and purple eye shadow on, very dark, and we had
bandannas tied around our legs. We looked crazy!
On the day of the talent show, we rushed to put on our clothes, and do our hair
and make up in the bathroom of the Parish Hall. We finally finished
getting ready and sat on the floor, watched everyone else perform, and waited
for our turn.
When
we went up on the stage to perform our dance, we were a little nervous.
Halfway through our dance, we looked in the back of the parish hall and
saw most of the guys in our class dancing along with us. Once we saw
them, we loosened up and had a lot of fun performing. We received much
applause when we were finished.
By Alyssa Roberts
My favorite song is “Simple and Clean” by Utada Hikaru,
which is the theme song to my favorite video game, Kingdom Hearts. It is a game
where one plays as a male character that becomes stranded in different Disney
worlds trying to find his lost friends and home. One also gets to fight on a
team with Donald and Goofy, who are loyal servants to King Mickey (who would
have thought, a Disney game in which Mickey Mouse is the king), against classic
Disney villains.
The video game creators, I think,
were extremely clever in the planning of the game. At the back of the instruction
booklet is a page that displays the lyrics to the theme song. When you start
the game, you will notice it only plays half of the song. Once you finish the
game, the entire song plays.
This song reminds me of
when I was in fifth grade, and I had a very good guy friend. We used to hang
out and talk about this game. That was before I started to like him. He was my
first boyfriend in sixth grade. After we broke up and he went to a different
school the following year, we drifted apart.
I used to go over my cousin’s house
a lot. We would take turns playing the game, fighting bosses and making it
through the different areas and levels. We, also, sadly drifted apart after she
transferred to a different school.
Mostly it reminds me of all the
times I play this game while talking on the phone with my current boyfriend. We
help each other on the difficult parts. We had a challenge to see who could
beat it first. Turns out I was the victor of that little contest, although he
still got to see the ending before I did.
I suppose you could say my choice of
song portrays me. I am funny, strong, protective of my loved ones, easy-going,
and loving.
By: Ethan Brown
Near the beginning of my
eighth grade year I was sitting at a table near the bookshelf on the wall in
Mr. Clark’s classroom waiting for Spanish class to start. Michael Roberts, Jordan Merritt, Dylan
Hardesty, and I were sitting at the table.
That morning on the bus ride to school I had heard “Live Like You Were
Dying” on the radio. At the time I
didn’t really like the song because I never really took the time to listen to
it and try to understand it. Plus my
mom liked it, and that is usually a dead giveaway that I won’t. That morning though, it was stuck in my
head, and I just started singing.
Everybody else at the table started singing too. I was a little
surprised that they knew the words, I don’t know why, but after awhile I knew
most of them, too.
It was a pretty popular song then
and I kept hearing it on the radio, and as I listened to it I realized how
great a song it was. From then on it
was my favorite song in the world, and I let everyone know it, too. It became a trademark for me.
At our retreat somebody had a CD
with “Live Like You Were Dying” on it, and when it came on everybody said
“Ethan, it’s your song!” and we all gathered in a circle and sang it together.
“Live Like You Were Dying” became
our class song. Every party, retreat,
basketball game, or any other type of get together we sang the song. We wanted to sing it at our graduation, but
Mr. Clark said we needed an instrumental version of it and nobody could find
one. That was the only thing I wish
that could have been different about graduation.
Even though “Live Like You Were
Dying” reminds me of my entire eighth grade year and how awesome it was, what
really stands out in my mind is our basketball season. On the bus rides to away games we all sang
it as loudly and as many times as we could (except for T.J.). Sometimes it became so loud that I bet if
someone were driving behind us and had his windows down he could have heard us
and understood every word.
To this day every time I hear that wonderful
song it reminds me of last year, and, if I could, I would go back to last year
and do it over again, just to write down and remember every detail and good
time I don’t remember today.
By:
Lily Crisp
The reason I picked the Jesse McCartney song, “Take Your
Sweet, Sweet Time,” is because this song reminds of a certain guy whom I have
liked for years. I’m sure that everyone knows who he is, but he is a very
special guy. Also, every time I hear it, it makes me think he is taking his
time to pick me.
Another reason I chose this song is because my best
friend, Jennifer Rhodes, and I went to one of Jesse McCartney’s concerts, and it
was awesome! The concert started at 7:30 p.m., but Jesse really didn’t come out
until 8:00 or 8:30 p.m.; this song is one of the songs that I remembered the
most.
Before he sang the song, Jesse started to pick out a
person from the audience. At first he pointed at this one girl, and she started
to go, but he said, “No.” He was actually pointing at the girl in a black
shirt.
She started to run up on the stage, and, of course, she
started freaking out when he started to sing to her. Every single time he
touched her she freaked out she started fanning her face, and yelling “Oh my
gosh!” Jennifer, Michelle, and I were like, “Oh my gosh!” and the girl made us
really mad because we were jealous that we didn’t get picked. We just thought
that we would probably be doing the same thing too.
At the end of the song Jesse hugged the girl on the stage
and she wouldn’t let go; and then she kissed him on the cheek. Ever since that night, at the concert, when
I hear that song, that is what I remember.
The Great Radio Conspiracy
By: Whitney Payne
It
was the night of my 8th grade graduation. As I walked down the aisle of Saint
William's Church, the song "Time of Your Life" played. This song
reminds me of all my years at Mary Carrico, and our 7th /8th grade trip to
Washington D.C. This was the most fun-filled experience of my life. It took a
lot of time and patience to raise the money. We all helped and worked and we
raised 10,000 dollars. We sold chickens and had fish fries during the Lenten
season, and all our fundraisers were successful.
There
I was, on the plane to Washington D.C. I was so excited, I couldn't stop
smiling. All of my friends were around me, and everyone was happy. My mom kept taking
pictures of all of us. The whole way there I kept looking outside. We were far
off the ground. The flight attendant told us that we were 30,000 feet in the
air. My ears popped and they hurt very badly, so I chewed gum most of the time.
When
we arrived, we went to all kinds of historical sights. It was amazing. I never
thought that I would be there. The weather was pleasant, and everything felt
right. We were there for only 4 days, but in those days, I enjoyed myself, and
I will never forget it: I had the time of my life.
In
my years at Mary Carrico, I learned a lot. All of the girl fights and the
boyfriends just made me a little more prepared for the life I was going to
live. I practically grew up in that school. Everyone in my 7th /8th grade class
was like a brother or sister to me. We were all so close. I couldn't bear the
thought of going to high school and leaving everyone.
Then one day I woke up, and here I am, in high school. Every time I hear that
song, "Time of Your Life," I think back to all go those memories and
how much I cherish them.
“Grandpa”
I remember a few years ago when my
Grandpa and I were driving to Wal-Mart. On the way, I asked him if I could turn
the radio on because it was getting a little boring with just the two of us.
The first song that came on was “Grandpa” by the Judds. I glared up at him and
he stared back with a big smile on his face. Nothing was said until we walked
up to the store and stepped on the pad that opens the automatic doors. He said
that times sure have changed since he was a  kid, which was about 55
years ago. He went to get his item he was searching for, paid for it, and we
went back to the car to go home.
As
we pulled out of the parking lot, the weirdest thing happened. The same song
came on again, only it was about half way through. That’s when Grandpa started
telling me a story about when he was nineteen years old.
The story went like this: One morning, when the sun was shining,
the leaves had just changed to their autumn color, and the temperature was just
right, my Grandpa had just finished eating his breakfast and was getting ready
to feed the animals. As he walked to the red barn, he noticed that there was a
1955 Chevy pick-up truck sitting in the driveway. He ran back inside the house,
thinking that there was someone at his house that he didn’t know about. He ran
up the steps, pulled open the door, and there were his parents with the biggest
smiles he had ever seen on their faces. They threw the keys to him, and from
that moment he knew the truck was for him. This was his first car, and he had
just turned nineteen. Most people now get their car as soon as, if not before,
they get licenses. He also said that gas was around 30 cents per gallon. For
him, that was kind of expensive because his only job at the time was working on
the farm. We would be living in paradise if it cost that much today.
As
it says in the song, "Grandpa, everything is changin’ fast. We call it
progress, but I just don't know." It does feel like everything is changing
fast. Some would call it progress, while others just don't know for sure if
that’s the word they would use. Also, some people think that their grandparents
are really boring, but really if you think about it, and take time to sit down
and talk to them, they might be more interesting than you think.
The song that brings back a part of my past is “There’s
Holes in the Floor of Heaven” because it reminds me of when my grandma
died. I was 12 years old when she
passed away. Her name is Lois
Willoughby; she died of lung cancer in September of the year 2003. The way I found out about my grandma’s
death, I will never forget. It all started in the car one afternoon as I was
coming home from school. When my sister
and my mom talked about her funeral, I became mad and said, “She isn’t even
dead yet! Why are you planning her funeral?”
That’s when I heard the news about my grandma’s death.
My family has changed in many different ways since
grandma died. My dad gets depressed
around her birthday, which is September 10th, and around the day she
died, September 5th. He is
also sad during holidays. We rarely go
to her house anymore since my great-grandparents had to move to a rest home
because my grandma isn’t here to take care of them. When we do go to her house it feels so empty without her.
Sometimes I cry myself to sleep just hoping she’ll some
how come back, and I wonder why it had to be her. Why does anyone have to die?
Why did I have to lose someone so loving and caring? It makes me feel better to think that I
really didn’t lose her. She is watching over me and the rest of my family,
wishing she could be here to watch us grow, meet her great-grandchildren, and
be a part of all the important parts of our lives.
I know it has been over two years since she’s been gone,
but it seems like it’s been forever since I saw her. Sometimes I feel so
lonely; I’ll walk outside and just think about her, wondering what I would be
thinking of if she were here. I think
people take their families for granted and never realize it unit the people
they love are gone.
Some things my grandma loved was her family and friends,
gardening, Dr. Pepper, Tootsie Rolls, shoe shopping, and going to church. Grandma Willoughby never missed Sunday mass
unless she was sick, especially when she started going through the sickness
from her lung cancer.
It made me feel really weird to see her go through all
the struggles that she had like getting the medicine through I.V.’s for the
cancer, drinking the nasty health shakes that were required for her to drink,
and taking all the pills that were prescribed.
It has been very hard for me, like it is for anyone who
loses a loved one. This song reminds me
of all the important times in my life that she couldn’t experience with me,
like my thirteenth birthday, softball and basketball games, confirmation, 8th
grade graduation, the holidays, and all the other events. I know though, she is
guiding my family trying to get us all to heaven so we can someday reunite.
I like the song “The Circle of Life” because when I
listen to it I remember back to my childhood.
When I was five years old I got the best gift ever for Christmas; it was
The Lion King, which was my favorite movie at that time. As soon as I got this movie, I watched it
over and over again; I never got tried of it.
It was the best movie ever!
My favorite part in The Lion King movie is when
Simba meets Timon and Pumba; I like this part because I think they are so funny
and because I love the song they sing which is “Hakuna Matata,” which means no
worries. Another part of this movie I like is the part where Nala and Simba
reunite again and the song “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” starts to play. My last favorite part in the movie is at
the end of the movie when Simba defeats Scar his uncle, and then he walks up to
Pride Rock and roars really loud for every lion to hear, and then the others
roar back.
I also like the song “The Circle of Life” because, on my
sixth birthday from my best guy friend, George, I received a stuffed animal of
Simba. I thought it was the best gift
ever.
My last reason the song “The Circle of Life” is my
favorite song is because I remember when my dad used to play zoo with us. The
way you play zoo is you pick out what animal you want to be. Then you stay in the pretend jungle until my
dad, the zookeeper, comes and finds you and then catches you. After he catches you, he will take you back
to the pretend zoo, and he teaches you whatever you want to learn. Well, one time when we were playing zoo I
was a lion, and I wanted my dad, the zookeeper, to teach me how to roar. That’s how I learned to roar. I like when everyone asks me to roar
because, it makes me happy, and because they really think it’s cool.
You know how I told you The Lion King was my
favorite movie? Well, I like it so much
I have all five, yes, all five: The Lion King, the Lion King special
edition, The Lion King 1½, The Lion King 2, and The Lion
King 2 special edition.
The Lion King is still my favorite movie, and I
still watch it every once in a while. I
love The Lion King movie! So
Hakuna Matata, everyone!
The Reason I chose “Back When” by Tim McGraw was because it reminds me of back when I was in 8th grade.Last year in 8th grade Ethan would sing this song and “Live Like You Were Dying.” Since I don’t like country music, I couldn’t stand listening to them sing. When we were in class, and had nothing to do, we would talk or the whole class (except for me) would sing country songs. When we were on bus rides, we always wrestled and joked around, until Ethan started singing. After he sang for the first time on the bus, I brought a personal CD player to listen to my music, rap.
In Spanish, I sat right beside Ethan, if Ms. Katerina wasn’t teaching, we always talked to each other. All of a sudden Ethan just would break out and start singing. We always made Ms. Katerina so mad; she would send us to Mr. Clark, or out of the room. Even though I don’t like country songs, “Back When” will always remind me of our awesome 8th grade year. One day we had our retreat, and it was at Knottsville. We had it with Mary Carrico students. When we got there we played with a big huge bouncy ball. That was pretty fun until we broke a light, but then we started to dance. The song “Live Like You Were Dying” came on and everyone said, “Ethan, there’s your song!”
I
like the Andy Milonakis theme song because I think it is hilarious. It is my favorite television show of all
time. Even though the season is over,
it still comes on during the weekends.
I am almost positive that I have seen every episode at least once. A few
of the episodes I have even recorded.
One
of the reasons I like the show is because Milonakis says a lot of things that
don't make any sense at all, and sometimes I am like that; I guess he just
reminds me a lot of myself.
Another
reason is that it's really fun to quote Andy Milonakis to people that I don't
really know because of some of the expressions I get back from them. It's also really fun quoting him at school,
to my friends, teachers, and even to some of the students that I don't really
know very well. Most of them are surprised at what I say because it doesn't
really make any sense, and maybe because I am a just freshman. It takes some of
them a minute or two to think about it.
Like sometimes its something like, "Your hair reminds me of
chocolate cake, YUM YUM YUM YUM!". Some of them are just random comments
like, "Thanks for the pea soup, it was great!". Another one is,
"Mr. Connors, can I still mow your lawn for a nickel like always?"
My
friends and I have a lot of fun acting out different scenes from the show. Lily and I always do the "Buy Me An
Apple" scene; this is when I ask Lily to buy me an apple. Lily looks at me and says, "An
Apple?" I respond with, "Don't say apple, don’t say apple." Lily asks me how many I want and I say,
"I just need one to get better, I am going to shake your hand, and there
will be a crisp dollar inside."
Lily says, "They're three for a dollar." Then I say, "Okay, three's good.” Lily then searches through the apple bin
looking for three good apples. I
respond to this by saying, "Don't pick them! Don't pick them!" Lily takes three and goes and pays for them.
When she gets back, I tell her to put them on the ground, but she won't do
it. I grab them from her and throw them
on the ground while saying, "And I said Sally, why would you do that to
me, Sally? Why would you do that kind of thing to me?" Lily shrugs her shoulders and walks
away. When I do that scene to anybody
but Lily or my friends they look at me and ask me why I want an apple. Most of
my friends have seen that particular episode, and they tell us that we do it
better than Andy himself. My friends
and I used to sit outside the gym during volleyball games and quote him to the
other teams.
Sometimes
people tell me that I'm weird for quoting the show, so during fall break I
decided to stop quoting him and people kept telling me not to quit and telling
me how much they like it, so every now and then I still say stupid things from
Andy.
I
think that by watching this show and quoting him to my friends and to people
that I don't really know I have opened up a lot to other people. I talk a lot more now, even though I have
always been quite a blabbermouth.
I
am hoping that a season two of Andy Milonakis will soon hit MTV. I don't really know, though, because he has
just finished up a new movie he was in called Waiting. I will always love the Andy Milonakis
Show, and Andy, because he is my hero.
The Great Radio Conspiracy
It
was December 7, 2004, that the song "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam came on
the radio on the way to school. “This is a really good song," I thought.
For the rest of the day, it was as if it had been embedded in my brain like a
bullet. I would catch myself humming along to the lyrics that were bouncing
around inside my head. When I arrived home from school that day, I found out
that my big sister Lindsay had it on a CD, and she agreed to let me listen to
it. In a way, I became obsessed with it. Something about that song was just
catchy.
The
next day, I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock. It had been set to the
wrong time! We were going to be late for school! Lindsay, Taylor,
and I rushed to get ready. To make matters worse, Lindsay didn’t have
enough gas to make it to Whitesville, and the nearest gas station wasn’t open
yet. Â She called our good friend Haley Russelburg and asked her if she
would take us. Luckily, Haley said she would.
At
about 7:05, Haley came pulling in our driveway. Taylor, Lindsay, and I kissed our
mom, told her good-bye, and piled into the car. Â I wasn’t too thrilled
with the fact that I had to sit in the back, squished by backpacks, books, my
little sister Taylor, and Nathan Mitchell, whom Haley takes to school.
When my mom told us to buckle up, I rolled my eyes and said okay. I
hated wearing a seatbelt. To me, it was one of the must uncomfortable
things in the world. Besides, we were just going to school. Why do
parents have to worry do much? What
could to us in 15 minutes?
Well,
I will tell you what could happen within 15 minutes. About a mile or so down he road, Haley started talking about how
cold it was. She reached up to show Lindsay that her sunroof was frozen
shut. Then it happened. There was a sudden jerk, and I began to see trees
everywhere. I felt like I had been put inside a blender and was being
slung in every direction. "Oh my gosh! This can’t be
happening!" I thought. I reached over to try to hold onto
Taylor, but I couldn’t seem to get a hold on her. Since I had no seatbelt
on, I was being tossed about in the back seat. Then we stopped.
Haley turned to us, blood oozing from a gash right between her eyes.
"Is everybody okay?" she asked. Nathan Mitchell was crying and
had his hang on his right eye. I noticed Lindsay. She was lying against
the door, not moving. A surge of panic shot through my body like
lightening and I felt a lump form in my throat. Struggling to force it
down and remain calm, I managed to ask, "Lindsay? Lindsay, are you
okay?" Gasping for breath, she told us that she couldn’t breathe
very well.
We
had to get out of that car. Haley couldn’t get her door open, so together
we began kicking with all of our strength. Somehow, we got the door open
just enough for Taylor, Nathan, and me to get out. Haley stayed behind
with Lindsay and called our parents and then an ambulance. Meanwhile, I
ran up the bank as fast as I could. Soon a van of Mexicans came whizzing
around the corner, saw us on the edge of the road, and stopped. They were
able to understand us and we could understand them, so I explained what
happened and they all ran down the bank to help. They carried Lindsay
back up, careful not to twist her in any way. It seemed like forever, and
then we heard sirens in the distance. Not long after we heard the sirens,
the ambulances and our parents showed up. Lindsay and Haley were strapped
onto gurneys and loaded into the ambulances. Off they went to the
hospital.
As
far as injuries, Haley had to get stitches in her head. Nathan had a black
eye. Taylor and I walked away from it all with only a few bruises.
As for Lindsay, well, she wasn’t so lucky. She was in the hospital
for 3 1/2 days with fractured ribs and a broken back. She had to wear a
back brace for 3 months.
Every
time I hear "Last Kiss" now, I think about that cold winter morning
in December. The man who pulled Haley’s car up the bank told her that we
were lucky to have hit two trees on our way down. The first tree slowed
us down just enough so that the impact of the car slamming into the second tree
wasn’t as hard as it could have been. If we had been going faster, one of
the two girls in the front seat wouldn’t be here today. I am so grateful
that I still have my sister and Haley. I don’t know what I would do
without either of them. Nothing could ever replace them, so to this day,
when I hear that song, it takes me back, and I remember how blessed we are.
One dark and cloudy
night, my mom, my grandmother, my dad and I were at my house. I was in my room
listing to "The Impossible" by Joe Nichols. I remember thinking
earlier that day of all the stuff my mom, my grandmother,and I used to do
together. We would go out to eat at Rally's and play rummy. All of a sudden,
breaking up my thoughts, my mom came through the door and said" Mama is
having a stroke; we called an ambulance." I hurried up stairs to put on
some blue jeans.
We headed out the door. We followed the ambulance to the hospital. On the
way there, all I could think of was my grandmother. We pulled into the parking
lot of the hospital. My mom got out with my grandmother. My dad and I went park
the car.
When we went into the hospital, the nurse already had her in a room. She
was lying there with her eyes closed. The doctor came in, and we left the room.
I said, "Someone should call everyone else." After a little while,
everyone was at the hospital. My Uncle Lowell came up to me and said, ”She
isn't going to live through the night."
I went into the room, and while I held her hand. I leaned over to kiss
her. I said, “I love you." My mom came into the room. She hugged me and
took me out of the room. All my aunts and Uncle Lowell were in the room with
her. Soon they came out and said that my grandmother had passed away.
All that was going through my mind was "What am I going to do with
out her?" I went into the room with my mom. Everyone else stood outside.
When it was time to go, my mom grabbed my hand. We went outside where the
others were. We walked over to the car. We left the hospital. On the way home,
I was sleepy, but my mom turned on the radio. I heard the song "The
Impossible," by Joe Nichols, and I knew that even though my grandmother
was gone, everything was going to be ok.
By: Jordan Edge
On June 4,
2003 my family and I went to Tampa Bay for a vacation. About a month before, we
were looking for baseball tickets so we could catch a game one night. We found
some tickets on the Internet for the New York Yankees versus the Tampa Bay
Devil Rays. The New York Yankees are my favorite team.
When we
arrived in Tampa, we took it easy for the first three days. On the fourth day
we went to the game. When we drove into the parking lot and entered the stadium
we had a hard time finding our seats. When we finally found them and couldn’t
believe how close we were! We sat right by the Devil Ray’s bull pin, "a
bull pin is where the pitchers warm up." Tampa Bay was throwing the ball
so hard you could almost feel the wind coming off the ball, but the game was
tied most of the way through and went into extra innings. Wow, what a way to
see my first baseball game. The only thing that could make it better would be
if the bases were loaded and New York could drive in a winning run. New York
did one better, in the 10th inning the bases were loaded and Ruben
Sierra came up to bat. The pitch count was 2-0 and Tampa Bay’s pitcher Jose
Sosa had to give him a fastball to avoid walking the winning run, but Ruben
Sierra swung hard and he connected with the ball perfectly and a hush fell on
the crowd as the ball sailed through the air and over the center field fence
and disappeared into a mob of fans. He had won the game with a walk off grand
slam and the Yankees won 9 to 5. What a way to see a first baseball game!
I guess the
reason I chose "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" was because they played
it so many times during the game that I was actually singing it after the game,
so every time I hear that song it reminds me of that night.
“Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” by Alan Jackson is one of my
favorite songs. It is also a song that takes me back on that horrid September
day when those planes crashed into the Trade Center and in a field in
Pennsylvania. Many innocent people were killed, and many were hurt. The
vividness of it all is amazing and hurtful.
I remember September 11, 2001, like it was yesterday. I was at Mary Carrico
Memorial School when those planes crashed. I was in Mr. Montgomery’s class. Mr.
Johnson, the principal, announced over the loud speaker that a plane has crashed
into the World Trade Centers in New York and asked for us to come out into the
hallway.
I remember many thoughts of sadness and worry going through my mind as I walked
out of that gray-blue classroom and into the brightly colored hall. Our whole
class sat on the left side of the wall and waited. Mr. Johnson came out of his
office and told us that the World Trade Centers had fallen. We were all deathly
quiet.
One of the teachers asked if Kentucky would be their next target. Mr. Johnson
said he had no idea. He told us to go back into our classrooms and hope and
pray that no other harm would come to any more innocent people.
That was how most of the day went. We just sat there in silent prayer.
All kinds of thoughts and emotions were going through my head. Why did this
happen? How could someone feel so strongly about killing people that they would
take their own lives to do it? Who put those thoughts into those evil
terrorists? It was all confusing, and I couldn’t keep my thoughts off the
subject.
When I got home, I talked to my mom and dad. We were all scared and worried. We
couldn’t keep from crying. There were many families who had been separated;
many kids were without dads, moms, or both. We all held each other close and
hugged, happy none of us had died. I went to bed that night hoping and praying
that there wouldn’t be any other people killed and that I would still be alive
to experience the next day.
Still to this day when I hear “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning,”
I remember that September day and all of those memories flood into my mind.
By: Jordan
Merritt
The
song “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, reminds me of when I was five years old and
I had a really bad dream. I was sitting
in my room, which was really cool. I
can remember it so well. It was red and
had a blue line in the middle of the wall, all my toys were on the shelves
stacked to perfection. As I was sitting
on the bed I heard an awful sound like a big groan, and it scared me to
death.
I
jumped up from the bed and went to the hallway, which was on my left. Our hallway is a really bright white. I started down our long, white hallway and
when I looked through the hall and into the kitchen I saw a big, ugly, and
scary monster looking at me. This monster had big yellow teeth and green hair
all over his body.
His
feet were the length of a keyboard and as fat as a football. His nails were really thick, long, and
ugly. He was looking at me with a look
like I have never seen before. It was
like he was both happy and sad. He
then looked mad. I turned around and
ran straight to my room. My legs were
moving really fast, but my body was standing still. The monster was running at
me and he was getting closer and closer, but I was still not moving. Finally, I started to get cracking. At first I went really slowly, but then I
started to get faster and faster until I was in my room.
My
dad was in his room, which is right across the hall from mine. He was coming out of his room, hollering,
and he jumped on the monster’s back, which was really awesome. The monster grabbed my dad and ate him
whole. I started crying when I heard
the sound of the rest of my family coming out of their rooms. They tackled the monster and he went down,
but he ate them whole, too. I started
to cry really hard, like I had been hit with something, but this was ten times
worse. As I was crying the monster beat
on my door and the door finally came down.
At that moment I woke up.
My
family still talks and laughs about my dream.
This may not seem like a good memory, but to me it is. My family would not have something to laugh
about so much if I’d not imagined the hairy, green monster.
By: Katie Church
Riding in the passenger’s seat on my way to the
orthodontist my mom told me she had bought a new CD. Excitedly I searched the van looking for any kind of plastic
bag. Finally, I spotted it, a Target
bag lying in between the two middle seats of the van. I grabbed the bag and
tore into it like it was a birthday present. Inside was the new “Oh Brother
Where Art Thou” soundtrack. “Yes!” I blurted out loudly; just a week before we
had bought the movie, and on it was the song “You Are My Sunshine.”
I inserted the CD into
the CD player. I looked on the back of the case and saw that the song I loved
so much and the one which brought back so many memories was number three. The
soft bluegrass music started to play. While listening, I drifted away into the
past. I remembered my papaw coming over while Holly was still at school. He
would always grab a chair, sit down, and tell me to come and sit in his lap. He
would hug me and start singing, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You
make me happy when skies are gray. You never know dear how much I love you.
Please don’t take my sunshine away.” Of course this made me grin from ear to
ear.
Eventually, after coming over so many times and
singing this song I was able to memorize the words and sing along with him. I
recall riding in his old Dodge truck with him. He would start in with the verse
“The other night dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms. But
when I woke dear, I was mistaken and hung my head and I cried.” He would look
at me and together, we would sway side to side and sing the chorus. Even
sitting at his kitchen table I can picture us there singing this song.
You know its weird how
things can change over such a short period of time. I used to know “You Are My
Sunshine” by heart and now I can only remember the chorus. I remember how I
used to spend whole days with my Papaw and now I only spend a couple of hours a
week. Listening to this song once again made me want to cry, knowing that such
a song could bring back so many memories.
When I got home from the orthodontist that day, I
listened to it over and over again. Later on that week, while at the table with
my Papaw, I popped my CD into the CD player and let him listen to it. I will
never forget the huge smile that came across his face when he heard it. We sat
and listened to it until the third time the chorus played. We sang it together
once again, just like the old days.
Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm
The last day of school is always the best day of the year
for any kid, next to Christmas. I think it was fifth grade, on my way home from
my last day that I heard that very unusual song. I was in a maroon Silverado,
going to my house, which was about two miles away. The song had already started
when I got in the truck.
“Did you have a good last day?” My mom asked.
“I don’t know.” I answered.
“Well, … what did you learn?”
“Nothing.” I replied.
That was the end of the conversation of that joyride. I
was going to change the station on the radio but something caught my ear in the
nick of time. It was the lyrics of the song, His hair had turned from black into bright white, he said it was from
when the car had crashed so hard. That one lyric sounded interesting so I didn’t change the dial. As
I listened on, it started to get depressing. Once there was this girl who wouldn’t go and change with the girls in
the change room, but when they finally made her, they saw birthmarks all over
her body. She couldn’t quite explain it, they had just always been there. Then
the chorus began with the singer making a humming sound that was hard to
explain.
Before I knew it I was pulling into my long driveway. It
was late spring so that meant every tree looked its best. I focused my
attention back to the song. The lyrics explained how a boy had to go to a
church that was different than most. He
couldn’t quite explain it, they had always just gone there. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm,
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm. After the humming chorus it was over.
Before I got out of the truck I waited and listened for
the artist and song title.
“ Oh, Zach just go! I’ll be late getting’ back to work!”
My mom yelled. Finally the radio personality said it was the “Crash Test
Dummies” song called “ Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.”
That was a
funny name for such a sad song like that. I don’t listen to the Crash Test
Dummies a lot, but I still think they are geniuses when it comes to writing
poetry.
By: Blake Harley
When I first heard the song “I Go Back,” by Kenny Chesney, it reminded
me of my early childhood years. The
song would be on the radio all the time, almost as if it were the only
one. I would sing out loud or whisper
it in my head as the song was playing.
When I was stuck on a problem for homework, I would sing the song to
refresh my memory.
During third, fourth, and fifth grade there
was a basketball league in which I played.
The gym was old and built around the early 1900’s. I can remember singing the song softly in my
head before some of the big games. At
the end of the season, there was a tournament.
The first game was a tough one, but we managed to pull off a
victory. The second and third we won by
at least ten points. When the
championship game arrived, the team we were going to play was awesome. They won both times they played us in the
regular season. At halftime we were
losing by eight points, but in the last quarter we came back to clench the
title. When my family and I were
driving home from the gym, the song came on the radio. I was thinking about how much I would like
to go back for another year, but I knew it was impossible.
The song grew old after I listened to it
all the time. After a couple years of
not hearing the song, I went to buy the CD, thinking of all the good times when
I was younger. I can remember most of
my birthdays when my friends and I would play games. On my fifteenth birthday I heard the song “I Go Back,” by Kenny
Chesney, and I remembered how much it meant to me.
Live Like You Were Dying
By Dylan Hardesty
One
day in my eighth grade year Ethan started singing "Live Like You Were
Dying" by Tim McGraw. It was the first time I had ever heard the song.
That same afternoon, while riding home on the bus, I heard the song again, and
I said, "Since this is my last year in grade school, I'm going to make it
the best year I've ever had." I went home and called Ethan and told him
that I heard that song on the radio and he said, "I'm about to download
it." I asked him if I gave him a blank cd he would be able to burn it for
me, and he said he could.
The
next day came around, and I heard Ethan singing that song. Michael, Jordan, and
I started singing after him, and we sang the whole song. Every class we went to
when we had to do work we asked the teacher if we could sing that song, and
sometimes the teacher let us. Mrs. Kay Howard let us turn on the radio
sometimes and said if we were quiet we could listen to it and sing along if we
liked.
While
riding to a tournament in Cloverport, Ashley, Allie, Katie, and Chelsey came with
us to cheer us on. We listened to the radio all the way there and back and that
song came on going to the game. All the guys started singing it, and we never
quit. The girls started getting mad at us because we wouldn't stop
singing that song, it got on their nerves. When we got home from the games the
girls were glad because they didn't have to listen to us sing that song.
One
day after doing a science project with Jordan Merritt, Ethan, and Michael, I
asked Ethan and Jordan if they wanted to come over; they asked their moms and
they said they could. As soon as we got to my house we put on some country
music and played cards for fun. Well, of course, our song came on, and we sang
till we dropped. We played that song over and over for a long time. We finished
playing cards and pulled out the PlayStation 2 and played NCAA March Madness
2005. We had a tournament and the person who wasn't playing was in control of
the music, most of the time it was "Live Like You Were Dying," but
other times we played other songs. The tourney was close the whole time, but I
think we just quit because we would get into the songs too much and stop
playing and just sing and dance to the song that was on.
The reason
I like the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is because when I was about
five or six, my brother Aaron, had his
friend
Jimmy Hunt taped the 1996 "MTV's Greatest Rock Artist and Music Videos of
All Time" for him. Some of the music
videos
included, Live's "Lightning Crashes", Green Day's "When I come
Around", The Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the
Bridge",
and the Off Spring's "Self Esteem." They all bring back
memories, but "Smells Like Teen Spirit" brings back the
most.
In the summer when my Mom and Dad
worked, my brothers, Aaron and Daniel, and my sister Theresa, would
baby-sit
me. They
were always nice and would let me go in their room while they talked on the
phone or listened to their C.D.'s.
I can
remember sitting in the living room watching those music videos with
Aaron and Daniel. I can remember when Theresa,
Daniel and
Aaron would get their friends over (Jimmy Hunt, Jessica Early, Lesley Hall, and
Jason Sanders.) they would
watch them,
to.
The song reminds me of summer, also,
because Aaron would take his radio outside and listen to it while he
played
basketball.
Sometimes I would ride my bike around the yard while that song was
on. Another reason that song reminds me
of
summer is
because about two years ago, I listened to "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
and every other Nirvana song non stop! I
remember
listing to it on my computer (which i still do) and just playing it over
every time it went off.
I would always listen to it when I got into our pool, and
when I would lay out. Whenever I hear this song on the
radio I’m
like "Oh my gosh!" "Its Nirvana, everyone be quite!" even
though I have already heard it a million times, I can
listen to
it when ever I want. It just brings back so many good memories, and it's
such a great song!
Lauren Collins
The
song that takes me back is "Drive" by Alan Jackson because it reminds
me of when my dad taught me how to drive when I was 11 years old. Here's
what happened:
We were in the Trinity
gym parking lot. My dad and I were in a red van. I got into the van and put my seatbelt on,
and dad told me to turn the key to start the van. I turned the key very
shakily. I was scared, I turned the key and
put the van in drive. I slowly reached for the pedals and pressed on the
gas. Five, ten, fifteen miles per hour
is as fast as I went.
As
I was preparing to turn, dad said, "Do not turn the steering wheel too far
to the right; just take it easy." When I finished driving, I
was more excited than scared. Dad told me I did a good job and that
he was proud of me. I
was proud of myself for not wrecking.
The reason this song takes me back to when we played is because, everything was
great then; everyone was happy. The song says, “Yesterday laugh, tomorrow cry.”
Well, that’s how it was back then. We were laughing one day and the next
thing you know……it was over.
It is the first game of the season against Cloverport. It feels like it
took a long time to get here, but it’s here now. The referee throws up
the ball T.J. jumps and tips it to Jordan we set up a play. Before we
know it the game has ends, and we won big! Everyone was jumping up and
down; we are so excited.
We get to our next game against
Hancock County. We have never beat Hancock, and we have played them many
times. The game starts off slowly; we are down 6-12 in the first quarter,
and we think no we know we can win this game if we try. We have not been trying
very hard at all, so at halftime we are only winning by 4 it’s 24-28. We
are pumped; we are going to win this game. We are going to beat Hancock
for the first time ever. The game is almost over; we are up 2 points and
they have the ball; there are 15 seconds left. There is a guy on their
team who has not missed a three all night. They throw the ball in and
pass it around to the top of the key; the guy shoots the ball and misses.
We all jump up and yell we are excited.
We are playing in the
tournament we have all been longing for. This is what the whole season
has been for. We play St. Ann and beat them so easily. We are one
of the best teams in the tournament. I hear some people say, “Man I don’t
want to play St. Mary’s.” I thought yeah that’s me! Then we go to
the hotel and have a good time playing poker and eating pizza, but we know that
we have games to play tomorrow. We play St. Joseph, and coach says we
played them last year. We had 7th graders in an 8th
grade game and they beat on us and never slowed down. We tear them up. We
beat them by at least 30. we are in the championship game against
Catholic. They already beat us once this year. We start badly; we
are down by 14 early. At the end we lose by 13. we are
disappointed, but after the game we go to McDonalds and we kind of feel
better. We all knew the season is over, but we also know that we are all
going to play next year. Yeah!!!
At my brother Justin's 8th grade graduation, the song "I’m Moving On" was played. I remember watching my brother and his classmates walking up and getting their rewards as the song was playing. It was a very exciting night for my brother and his classmates because, they were moving on to high school.
A year after Justin’s 8th grade
graduation one of Justin's classmates was diagnosed with leukemia. Her name was Heather. She didn't live long after they found out
that she had cancer. The song
"I'm Moving On" was played at Heathers funeral. As the song played some of Heathers closest
friends brought up some of Heathers belongings. Some of the things that were taken up were, her 8th grade shirt,
and a volleyball uniform, a picture of her, and a volleyball. Heather loved to play volleyball. She was an awesome volleyball player.
I remember seeing Heather everyday
at school. I don't think I ever seen
her cry. She was always happy and She
never held grudges against anyone or never hurt anyone purposely. Heather was
always smiling and full of laughter.
But now when I think back to the day of her funeral, I think Heather is
in a better place. She doesn't have to go through the worry and hurt of her
cancer. If she were to be in remission she wouldn't have to be afraid of her
cancer coming back.
TUESDAY’S GONE BY LYNRD
SKYNRD
By: Matt Johnson
I first heard
“TUESDAY’S GONE when I was in sixth grade because my mom was an old rock’n’roll
person and still is. That summer, my friend Shelby, from Hancock County,
invited me to go see LYNRD SKYNRD in concert and I said “HELL yea.”
It
was Friday, and I was so excited because that night was the concert. As soon as
we pulled up into the parking lot,
Shelby’s dad said, “Boys
get ready to see one of the greatest rock’n’roll bands ever!” Shelby, Shelby’s
dad and I were in line about to get in. I was nervous because it was my first
concert and I didn’t know what was going to happen.
We
sat down in our seats and I was so ready for it. All of a sudden the curtain rolled up and the band started
playing. When the first song was over,
they played “Tuesday’s Gone, and I was so happy because that was my favorite
song.
Later,
during my freshman year at Hancock County High School, before I came to
Trinity, I went to my first party. I
was enjoying myself when
someone put LYNRD SKYNRD in and turned it to “Tuesday’s gone.” I started to sing and dance to it and
everyone was staring at me, but I didn’t care because I was letting the good
times roll. Every party I went to I told people to turn that song on.
“Tuesday’s Gone” is my favorite song
because it reminds me of all the good times I have had with my friends.
It makes me happy, and I
feel good when I hear it. I always tell my friends at parties and at campouts
to let the good times roll because you only live once.
This is a story about what the song
“Crazy Train” By Ozzy Osborne takes me back to every time I hear it. In the
year of 2005, on a dry sunny day my cousin Adam and I were out cruisin’ the
back roads of western Ohio county in his beat up ’96 Oldsmobile Achieva.
We were on Herbert Road, right past
Roby Lease Road. We were tuned into ‘97X; Adam was over in the driver’s seat
trying to sing with the music, and I was over in the passenger seat playing my
air guitar and singing. The song “Crazy Train” came on the radio. Adam started
driving as fast, and as recklessly as he could. By the time the gravel end of
Herbert Road came into sight we were just hitting 90mph. When we hit the gravel
it was just like hitting a patch of ice in the winner time, like the snow would
have flown everywhere the dust flew. The car skidded left Adam turned the car
just in time to keep it out of the woods, then we almost took out a power pole.
Right as the song went off, the car turned us sideways, and almost flipped, but
Adam kept her on the ground. Adam turned the car around and drove home. I think
that song will always take me back to that dry dusty day on the back roads of
Ohio County.
By: Courtney Howard
My
mom and I were driving to town one day to go shopping. She was flipping through
the radio stations when we both settled for 94.7. As soon as we turned it
there, one of my all-time favorite songs, “A Boy Named Sue,” came on. We both
started singing.
As
the song went on, I started to think of all the times when I was a little girl,
playing with toys on the floor at my Great-Grandma and GranDaddy's house.
Whitney and I would always run to the back room, pull a box of toys from under
the bed, and just play all day.
I
remember that on Sundays when we would go over to Grandma and GranDaddy's
house, he would be walking around with a tin can to spit tobacco juice in. When
he was up, he came up behind you really quietly and yelled, "BOO"
right in your ear. He always made me laugh. He sometimes would sit in his chair
in front of the TV watching baseball.
The
reason I chose this song is because my GranDaddy is not with me anymore. The
song doesn't really tell anything about him, but every time I hear it I can see
him as a little boy named Sue. I did not know him very well; all I really know
is that he was a really funny person and my mom always told me there was no
greater man than GranDaddy Haynes.
I
wish that I could have gotten to know him better than I did. I only knew him
when I was younger and I don't remember very much about him. If I could I would
just go back and tape everything, just so I could remember him.
Written by: Father Tony Stevens
“If
Only In My Dreams” is about a little boy named Tony. Tony, his dad, his cousin, and his uncle went fishing one day..
On the way back to the car, Tony’s cousin asked his dad if he could ride on his
back. Tony couldn’t ask his dad to do
the same because his father was crippled.
This song reminds me of my grandma, Lois Willoughby. Grandma and I were very close. She was my second mom. I lived at her house in Knottsville,
Kentucky, on Free Silver Road for a couple of months. Grandma’s house was my second home.
It
still feels like home, but now it is up for sale; my Aunt Toni cannot take care
of my great grandparents by herself, and now Toni lives with her father, and my
great grandparents live in a rest home.
My
grandmother died on September 5, 2005, five days before her birthday. She died of lung cancer. As much as I hated to see her go, I didn’t
want to see her suffer anymore. I
prayed for her every night, and I still do.
Sometimes I see people with their grandmas talking, laughing,
and having fun. I know that I will
never get the chance to do those things again.
Her death was the hardest time that my family has been through. I will always love my grandmother very much.
I
also have a granny, but she lives in Owensboro, and I never get to see her as
much as I say Grandma Willoughby, even though I live my granny just as much.
The song I chose was written and sung
by Blake Shelton, "Ole Red". The song is about a dog that tracks
down escaped prisoners. It has nothing do with coon hunting, but it
reminds me of coon hunting.
Three years ago my brother Drew
and I was sitting on my bed when we heard something that sounded liked dogs
barking. We didn't know what kind, but we knew we really liked the
sound. My dad told us that it was coon dogs.
We went
outside to the sound of dogs and dad told us the dogs had treed a coon. They had a coon trapped in a tree. The
blue tick, which is a black and white dog, looked at me, and then here comes a
black, brown and white dog, called a walker. He jumped up on me.
Dad said, "Boys, there is your coon, go get your 22-rifle."
After I returned
with my gun there was another man there. His name was Wayne Greer.
He said, "Well, shoot the dang coon!" I shot my gun,then we
heard a crash come from the tree. The coon fell to the ground and took
off. The dogs took off after the coon. The walker dog bit the coon
first and the fight was on. About 5 minutes later, the fight was over
and the coon was dead.
That same
night when I was going to bed I heard the song "Ole Red" on the
radio. I knew that was the song that would go with me when I coon
hunted. Well, three years later I still love the song, and it still goes
with me when I go hunting.
On July 15th
Amanda Carrico, Logan Roberts, Kyle Hardesty, my brother Aaron, and I all went
to the movies to see “Dark Water,” a scary movie. Before we all left everyone
met at my house first because my dad was going to pick us up at 6:00 p.m. We
had to wait 10 minutes for my dad, and we were all bored. Kyle and Logan
decided to go to my room and write their names on my widow because I have
aluminum foil on them. Amanda and I were racing up the stairs to see what they
were up to when I tripped over Amanda’s foot and fell down the stairs. We both
started laughing.
Five minutes later we were leaving
my house and on the way to the movie theater when Logan was thirsty. My stopped
at the Pantry on hwy 144 so the boys could get the something to drink. Kyle had
bought him a Full Throttle energy drink. He asked me if I wanted a taste and I
did. It kinda tasted like Mountain Dew with a lemon taste. It was pretty good
but Amanda didn’t like it.
We were finally there and my dad
dropped us because his friend Leah and him were going walking on the Green Belt
till the movie was over. While we were waiting in line my brother said “Oh dang
I forgot my money! Andi can I borrow seven dollars and fifty cents?” I had to be nice and let him borrow it, so I
did.
Like usual the guys were being
stupid and loud while we were waiting in line to get our food. Amanda and I
moved to the other line to get away from the guys but they just followed us. I
didn’t have any money to get a coke and popcorn but the nice guy that Logan is,
he bought me my food. Amanda did not buy any popcorn so I offered her some of
mine. The movie started in five minutes so we had to hurry and find a spot to
sit. We set down and Amanda wanted some popcorn but she was two seats away from
mine. I gave it to Kyle to pass to Amanda but he dropped it and popcorn went
everywhere. We were laughing when the movie came on and people were telling us
to be quiet.
The
movie was terrifying! Its about this family getting a divorce and they moved to
Mew York Cit y in a real dump. The little girl finds a Hello Kitty book bag on
the roof of the hotel and she keeps going up there and climbing the latter to a
water tower. She looks inside of it and finds a dead girl in it that
disappeared a couple years ago.
After the movie we called my dad on
Kyle’s cell phone and told him to pick us up. On the way home, Amanda and I
decided we wanted to stop at the Pantry to get a French Vanilla Cappuccino.
Finally, we were on the way home when the song “Bless The Broken Road,” by Rascal
Flatts, came on, and we all started singing. Amanda, Kyle, Aaron, Logan and I
were in the back seat while my dad was driving. Logan was trying to dance but
he ended up hitting my hand and spilling my hot cappuccino all over Aaron and
me. It was really hot and funny at the same time.
My dad dropped off the boys, and
Amanda and I went back to my dad’s house singing the same song over and over
again. We were so hyper my dad could not shut us up. We arrived at my dad’s
house and Amanda ran up the steps into the house and started dancing in the
living room. I joined her while my dad tried to go to sleep.
The Explanation
By: Tom Wathen One rainy day there was a threat to Whitesville. Alarms were blasting out of the television. My family and I were gathered at my papaw's house because it was the only house with a cellar to protect us from the tornado warning. My family had nothing to drink, and papaw asked my brother John and me if we would run to Vessel's Mini Market to get some soda pop. My brother and I got in his ‘87 silver Chevy Silverado, which had a awesome sound system, and went on our way. Going down the road we looked at the flooded fields and ditches. All of a sudden we hit a dip of water that had gathered on our side of the road from the rain; water splashed up from both sides of the truck and looked as if there were arms coming up from left and right sides of the truck. John is in the army now and I see him about once a year, and every time I hear the song “With Arms Wide Open,” by Creed, I think of the day when the storm came.
The
song “The One” by Gary Allan really means a lot to me.
My boyfriend has sung this song to me many times. It’s
his song and mine. Every time I hear this song my heart just, I don’t know
exactly how to explain it but it’s the best feeling in the world.
Most people think that you can’t find love at this young
of an age, but I beg to differ. My grandparents got married at age 15 and are
still together this very day.
I love this song mainly because it’s my boyfriend’s song
and mine. The way he treats me, it’s just something that I never want to lose.
My boyfriend has been there for me through everything.
He’s been there when I was crying, stayed up with me at night because I
couldn’t sleep, been there when I said nothing was wrong but really everything
was wrong, and is going to go to court with me.
I was so scared about going to court, but Blake was there
for me. He held me when I started to cry. Mainly he was just there when I
needed someone to talk to. When I felt like the world had turned its back on
me, he was there. I didn’t want to go to court because its hard to face the man
that raped you, but I felt better knowing that Blake would have been there for
me.
I love my boyfriend because I used to be in a very bad
situation, and I used to do bad things, but he has changed me for the best.
Without him I wouldn’t be here today.
Not only is Blake Williams my boyfriend, but also my best
friend. I go to him for everything. The best thing about it is that he’s always
there no matter what. He is “The One.”