The title of my life story is "I Started Out As A Small Boy". Most readers will wonder "What is up with this dude choosing a stupid title such as this?" Well, I have to admit that it is hardly a unique beginning. I suspect that of the approximate 7 billion people people inhabiting planet earth at this moment, about 3.5 billion of them may have started out the same way. But then again, every story must start somewhere and I am convinced that mine started on April 29, 1937 in the Larned Kansas "Hospital". I put Hospital in qu ...continued...

Today was brutal. The cold was so intense you had to think long and hard before you took off your gloves to decide if what needed doing was worth a period of intense pain. By far our coldest day yet. During the day I realized how many arctic visitors, like Scott's expedition, had met their fates. Don't get me wrong, Mike and I are in very capable hands and doing quite well, but today's intense cold, with the addition of a stiff breeze, made me understand how many of these explorers, who all embraced life, could simply give up and succumb to the cold. With no food or limited shel ...continued...

Well you guys already know who i am but anyways, i'm gonna talk about me for awhile. This last summer before school, I had surgery on my chest because I was born with a dent in my chest. The doctors kept on telling me that there was nothing wrong with me but my mom and I kept going to the doctors. We finally told them that we would like to see a specialist. So we did see one and he said that my dent is severe. Severe would mean My chest was pushing my heart and lungs to eachother and thats why my chest was always hurting. He also said I should do the surgery, at first i d ...continued...

I was born into a world that was unfit and hopeless. My first memory is of me in my grandmother picking berries in the field. I was the first child born to my mother and was the least important thing in her life. She met a guy and start having kids by him but I didn't like him. he use to call me dumb and stupid and beat the shit out of my mom. I tried to help her but i would get thrown like a feather. One night he decided to teach me a lesson. my mom had went to bed and on his way to the bath room he would slip in to my bedroom to play a game called " don't tell mommy& ...continued...

Driving down the road on a beautiful pre-Autumn day, the large red sign catches my eye. "Estate Sale 50% Off"…. I am torn, yet curiosity draws my car to the curb. As an avid garage sale seeker, I often enjoy the victory of the bargains I find while rummaging through items no longer wanted by the owner. But the items of my garage sale victories are most often found outside on the hard cement driveway or garage…unattached to story, emotion or the life that shared its journey. This Autumn day I find myself entering the E ...continued...

THE POST OFFICE FLOOR© KIRKUK, IRAQ MARCH 2004 SOMETIMES ...continued...

The catfish in my photo weighed over (100) pounds and was at least 40 years old. (I didn¹t catch it but I know who did and they let me borrow the big fish for this picture.) When you¹re having a bad day think of this big Blue Cat¹s degree of dullness. Day after day searching for food hoping not to find a hook attached, only able to see an inch or so in front of your face and about all to look forward too would be periodic mating. I¹m not even sure how much fun that would be considering you couldn¹t see the stranger you¹re hooking up with and ...continued...

Our 42 hour confinement to our tents was ended today as the storm eased up enough for us to continue north. Our drift over the storm took us further west than we wanted to the 129th Longitude. We ran into many open leads and had to wait until the ice moved back together allowing us to cross. It was incredible to witness and very scary to cross. We gained about 5 miles north today but our progress was halted by thin ice. We made camp and will wait till morning to try and cross. Needless to say that in the north polar icecap there is very little to smell. No plants and so few animals a person ...continued...

Chicken or Dare I have a history with chickens. Not a good history either. As a matter of fact, the appearance of a leg of chicken on my plate brings me flashbacks of a long ago visit to my great grandmother’s farm during one of our frequent trips to Smithville to visit. We called our great grandmother Ganny. Her real name was Zelma Lizzie Christine Franz Kunkel. My older cousin inspired the name Ganny since he was the oldest of our generation. There wasn’t anything magical abo ...continued...

By Chris Christodoulou &nb ...continued...

One day in 41, Pop & Mom bought a house at 683 W 11th which would be my home for the next 15 years. How they moved, I have no idea but I think I was in school at the time and was told to come to the new house when I got through with school. This house had more memories for me than Mt Pleasant and it had 4 bedrooms, but with Pop & Mom in one, girls in another and Bill alone in the small baby one, that left 5 of us sleeping somewhere, and I can't recall, but who cared. Later on, I had my own sleeping area - Mom had a big chest that she kept extra blankets etc. ...continued...

It was very big and heavy, cardboard, cheap painted white with clasps and lock, a holiday case which I used as a school bag, awkward to hold all the books I stored, caught on my bicycle carrier. Cycling home I felt a thud and heard a guffaw: the big school bully had knocked the suitcase onto the road. A challenge, a fight in the field, fear entering my bones. A school memory which sparked the bullying incident in Peeling Oranges. http://www.amazon.com/Peeling-Oranges-James-Lawless/dp/1496007646 ...continued...

For my cultural event I went to an event called Feed My Starving Children in Libertyville, Illionois. I attended this event on Tuesday April 11th. Feed My Starving Children was a cultural event that felt like a great fit. I volunteered and had a chance to learn about different cultures and what their struggle was like in terms of children lacking food sources. We first walked into the building where we were greeted and told to sign in, grab a hair net and gloves, and to take a seat. Once everyone was seated there was a speaker who greeted us. There was a large amount of volunteeers th ...continued...

As dad reversed mom came flying down wit a bag of snacks for the road. She gave it to me; we said our goodbyes and the journey began. A journey started with fear uncertainty and indecision How rude of me I didn’t introduce myself I’m Yasmin recently turned eighteen and right now on my way to my probable school of higher lea ...continued...

THIS IS MY LIFE STORY <p ...continued...