A Few Writing Samples
writing sample 1 of 4
A Forever Changing Melody
As I sit on the bus, awaiting the year’s most exciting football game, I stare out of the windows and lose myself in thoughts of the rain coming down, the nighttime sky conquering the horizon, and the passing cars with their swaying windshield wipers. The road looks smooth as it becomes glazed with rain water, and I become hypnotized as we quickly glide above it. I can see the autumn leaves have already began to change in color, and I can feel the coldness of the outside air as it seeps through cracks in the bus windows. Inside, my friends are huddled together in our warm school apparel, ready for the night’s activities. As I sit bundled up in my sweatshirt next to my good friend, Juliet, I realize how happy I am in this moment and how glad I am to know such good friends. I’m at peace with the world and I’m in a state of complete and total contentment. I turn on my mp3 player, and as I disappear into my music and my surroundings, I feel as if I am one with the world.
The songs play through my headphones, varying in genres and conjuring up various memories with every song introducing its own story from the past. As the songs transition from one to the next, I relive a lifetime of images reproducing my past like a flip-book of moments through time. These are images of different places, people and periods of time that I have experienced throughout my life.
The peaceful songs of the nineties, such as "Save Tonight" and "Crush," bring back memories of the fourth grade, so that I can see myself sitting in the car on the way to Hershey Park, singing with my fellow girl scouts. Then, as the band Everclear starts to play "Father of Mine," I can vividly see my old backyard in Chatsworth, New Jersey and all the memories that I made there. Memories of riding bikes around the neighborhood with my dad, playing basketball on my elementary school’s outside court and getting hotdogs at a downtown vendor all flash into my mind...
(just the first section of this paper...the rest of the article is available upon request)
writing sample 2
(a Public Speaking speech I wrote in memory of my grandmother. Fall 2007)
Always Remembered, Never Forgotten
How many of you can close your eyes and see, smell and feel the presence of someone you deeply care about? What if that person has passed away? Can you close your eyes, think intensely about him or her and find yourself being able to remember everything about them; so much that it almost feels as if you just saw them? I can.
The person whom I deeply care about but can only see when I close my eyes or look at photographs, is my grandmom, Loris Rosalie Haines. She was a magnificent woman. She was known as being an amazing sister, mother, grandmother, aunt, wife and friend. But she was also much more than that.
When I close my eyes, I can still hear her voice and her laugh, see her smile and her cute grey curly locks, see the pins and pearls she always wore and also, feel her embrace, smell her perfume, smell the scent of her South Carolina home and feel the softness of her skin. She was always dressed up and looking her best. She had a great sense of humor and could make most people laugh, just by telling the truth. She had energy, even in her 70's. I remember her as always being full of life, laughing, cooking, cleaning, telling stories, going for walks and being a big part of our family. She was known to some as being "silly grandmom," and I will always remember her love for birds, how she loved to watch Bonanza and how her knees were always really smooth!
My grandmom was most well known for her love for Christmas though. It definitely had to be her favorite holiday and she would become so happy during the holiday season. She decorated her house with dancing Santa and Mrs. Claus that sung Christmas songs and danced; they were always a crowd favorite and were always dancing in sync above the television whenever I would visit during the holidays. She and my grandfather had to have loved them more than any other Christmas decoration.
My grandmom worked at the post office and used the money she made there to put her four daughters through college. She hadn’t been able to go to college herself though. Her family could not afford it. In the winter, the snow would come in through the ceiling onto her bed. She had a hole in her ear from an ear infection that she never had money to get treatment for. Her mom passed away when she was only 18 due to a heart attack. My grandmom carried on strong and tried to copy all her mother’s rituals that she could remember. My grandmom was a very independent, hard working, and caring individual. It was up to her to make all the decisions in the household, especially when she took in her grumpy old father when her other seven siblings would not. She was also very giving and fair. If she owed someone a penny she would walk a mile to pay it back. She always paid people back, down to the very last cent.
The last few years of her life however, she had been taking care of her husband and then later coping with his death. He had been suffering with Parkinson’s Disease and also colon cancer. To make matters worse, she sold her beloved house in South Carolina to move up north to Pennsylvania to live closer to two daughters. She was very unhappy in her new, empty, small apartment and then later even more unhappy living in an assistant living apartment. This was due to the fact that her memory was fading quickly and family members were becoming more and more concerned about her leaving the oven on or taking too many doses of her medicine.
The last time I saw my grandmom, was a little over a year ago, at Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving that you all celebrated with family and friends, I spent without my grandmom for the first time. A year ago this week, she kissed me on my forehead and appeared to be sad. I never saw her again. It was as if she knew it was goodbye. It was as if she knew she could no longer stand the pain of having stomach ulcers, a fading memory, and osteoporosis. Even with internal bleeding and a broken hip, she had fought hard to spend a little bit more time with us, but her time had run out. Our worlds shattered the day she left us, although she will never leave our hearts.
She was so full of life. She was so full of joy. She was so full of love. Her presence was as uplifting as a ray of sunshine gleaming through the dreary shadows of a vacant room. She will never be forgotten as being the amazing woman she was, who could always brighten up your day. I will never forget the day the phone rang and she answered the remote. My mom will never forget her saying that "it is okay to talk to yourself as long as you don’t answer yourself." Her spirit lives on in the presence of the birds behind our house, in the spirit of Christmas and always surrounding those she loved, her family, me. She never failed to make us smile. She never failed to make us feel loved. She will never, ever be forgotten. She will always be my beloved grandmom, Loris Rosalie Haines.
writing sample 3
(News Reporting 1 - Fall 2008)
It was a dreary Friday afternoon and as raindrops fell quickly upon the roofs of Beau Rivage, Lauren Joy Slocum, 19, a Sophomore Art Education major, hurried to her car to escape getting wet. She called her car "Crickets" and it was obvious as to why for when she drove to Savitz it made chirping noises along the way. Slocum turned her car off and the song, "I’m Yours" by Jason Mraz could no longer be heard. She reached into her backseat which was filled with an assortment of unusual odds and ends, including a doll’s head sewn onto a stuffed animal dog’s body, a stuffed animal bear’s head that had obviously been cut off, and a box which had a blue moose stuffed animal, duct tape and kids’ wild animal bandaids inside. Slocum later explained to me the reason for the bear’s head inside her car.
"It was part of an art project that had three heads except that head fell off," Slocum explained while laughing at some of the things she found on her backseat.
Cds were also to be found throughout her car, not to mention, falling from her car’s visor as she drove. Finally, Slocum found her umbrella from the backseat and started her walk to Savitz, holding the umbrella on an unusual angle due to a sixty degrees bend in it’s core rod. She laughed about how silly she felt walking with such a "messed up" umbrella.
Slocum was wearing a long silver necklace with a big silver owl on it, which happens to be the Rowan University mascot. She jokingly stated that she has a lot of school pride and laughed at her shiny little owl. Along with the necklace, Slocum was wearing black boots, grey high socks, shorts and a tank top. She had her own personal style and she told me she started dressing in such a way during High School.
"It was at the point in High School when I decided I don’t care about how people think of me."
Her clothing was not her only form of self expression however. Slocum also had a tattoo on her back that read, "Joy" which also happened to be her middle name. She showed me beautiful sketches she drew of other tattoo ideas that she would like to add to her previous tattoo. Slocum’s sketches were obviously drawn by a talented art major, which is exactly what she was.
"I always have a sketch book with me," she said. " Art is one of my true passions."
Sketching and drawing were her two favorite art genres. These two skills were handy when planning a tattoo. She only wanted one tattoo so she made sure it was exactly what she wanted and in a place that can be hidden, especially since she hoped to be a teacher one day.
"My mom is a crazy Asian woman, tattooing your body is like selling your soul to the devil," said Slocum laughing. "Which is another reason it should be hidden."
She began to tell me how she had an Asian, American and Philippino background while she searched for mint chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer. Suddenly a ton of frozen food began to fall out of the fridge.
"It’s an overwhelming avalanche of frozen foods!" screamed Slocum in between catching food and laughing.
Just then, Slocum’s roommates joined her in eating ice cream and making pizza. Dayna Kathryn Doria, 19, a Sophomore Art major and Corrie Novak, 19, also a Sophomore Art major, told me how they loved living in Beau as roommates, as they all laughed about the amount of food they were eating. Doria lived with Slocum Freshman year and they were glad to be living together again. This year was Novak’s first time living with the two of them, along with her good friend Samantha King. Doria described her roommate to me while attempting to make a mint chocolate chip milkshake.
"Hmm... Lauren is weird and Asian. She likes leopard print and fuzzy boots. Definitely fuzzy boots. Oh and hats. She makes weird noises," explained Doria while Slocum laughed in the background over the description her roommate gave of her.
Novak was also laughing about Slocum’s description as she worked on an art project. She paused from her work for a second, adjusted her nose ring and began to think of her own description of Slocum.
"Lauren is ridiculous! She’s crazy. She is fun to be around, chill, really laid back... and she’s messy," added Novak with a smile before going back to work.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Slocum’s friend, Eric Clark, 19, a Sophomore Art major also, entered into the room and into the conversation. Clark and Slocum began talking about how they wanted to buy hedgehogs. Then they began talking about how they wanted chinchillas.
"Can we buy a mouse!?" asked Slocum all excited.
As Slocum, Doria, Novak and Clark sat around watching television, eating pizza, ice cream and ice cream milkshakes and made fun of each other, it was hard not to laugh. The conversations were ridiculous yet hilarious and each of their personalities were unique and intriguing to say the least. There was only one question remaining. What did Clark have to say about Slocum?
"She’s hott. Make sure you spell it ‘ h-a-w-t’ though, because she is ‘hawt!’ She is basically just a pretty face to me..." joked Clark before continuing his hedgehog verses chinchilla conversation with Slocum.
Slocum was indeed all that her roommates and friends claimed her to be and so much more. She was crazy, fun, unique and funny. Her style was her own and her laughs were contagious. By the end of the interview, she was still laughing about the stuffed animal bear head that was in her car. Before she had left her car and ventured inside to find a comfortable spot on the couch with her roommates, she had shoved the bear’s head over her car’s stick shift and laughed saying it was "child proof!"
writing sample 4
(March 31, 2009 - Enterprise Journalism)
The Atlantic City International Airport May Soar to New Heights
By Jennifer Ammon
It is still being decided if Atlantic City will soon experience a larger percentage of passengers due to flights being re-routed from Philadelphia.
In an approach to reduce congestion and delays at the Philadelphia Airport, U.S. Representatives, Joe Sestak of
A Philadelphia Airport administration employee says, “The airport does not make [re-routing] decisions, the airline does. Nothing has been decided on any of the plans yet so none of this has been put into place. I think they are still weighing them out.”
Jim Peters, a FAA spokesman, said the decision of where commercial air carriers will offer flights are at the sole discretion of the airline carriers and are driven by market-demand factors, according to Alex Rose of a Journal Register News Service, The Reporter.
At the request of Sestak and Andrews, Chris Lacke, a Rowan University math professor, compiled a study that recommends the possible use of
Besides looking into using smaller regional airports, the Federal Aviation Administration has plans for a $840 million runway expansion at Philadelphia to help reduce delays. The FAA’s plans for Philadelphia, which Andrews said would cost a minimum of $350 million for upgrades, are expected to reduce flight delays by about only three and a half minutes.
According to Farrell, the Rowan study found that sending 50,000 of Philadelphia’s 500,000 annual flights to Atlantic City International Airport would reduce delays from nine to twenty-three minutes. The cost would be about $1 million, mostly to increase security, making this plan less expensive and more efficient than the FAA’s plan to upgrade the Philly airport. Joelle Farrell of the Phildelphia Inquirer added that Lacke said the Atlantic City runway is currently 2,200 feet longer than the proposed extended runway in Philadelphia, further proving that Atlantic City’s airport is capable of accommodating more passengers.
Atlantic City Airport has also recently finished building a new 1,400-space parking garage to accommodate more passengers. According to Thomas Barlas of the PressofAtlanticCity.com, the airport also has an updated terminal and a new baggage-handling facility.
Morgan Durrant of US Airways in Philadelphia says, “Usually proposals get voted to tackle the problem with the routine we deal with in the industry of delays and subsequent cancellations because of delays. Now, we don’t like canceling flights any more than our customers like being on cancelled flights. We think there are better ways to alleviate some of the congestion and reduce delays other than putting flights to surrounding airports.”
Peters said the FAA concluded that there is not enough demand for passenger service to the regional airports to put a dent in the crowds at Philadelphia’s airport, according to Chalmers. Meanwhile, Andrews, on the other hand, feels that for many, the trip to Atlantic City is equal to that of Philadelphia so it won’t matter.
Cathy, a Liberty Travel agent in Deptford,
Joe Biserta, a passenger of Spirit Airlines, Atlantic City’s dominant carrier, says if flights are re-routed to Atlantic City, “It will be closer for me to get to my house in Atlantic City instead of Philadelphia.”
Gloria Kaiser, another Spirit Airlines passengers, says however, “I’m closer to Philly but it’s more convenient with the lines to not have to wait as long in Atlantic City.”
Mike McCann, also a Spirit passenger, says, “I think it’d be a disadvantage because it would make the Atlantic City airport more crowded.”
Spirit customer, Phyllis Dorn says that more flights out of Atlantic City would benefit her as long as the airport does not get too crowded. “That’s one of the things we love about Spirit.”
Rebecca Smyth, a Spirit rider, says, “It might be more crowded but it’s crowded everywhere now because so many flights are being cancelled and so many flights are completely full that you’re going to have to deal with [it].”
Sharon Gordon, director of communications and marketing for the SJTA, told Farrell that the Atlantic City International Airport handles about 120,000 flights each year and the airport could easily handle more, even double the amount. Gordon says the airport has tons of capacity and can manage greater traffic to and from the airport.
Bob Conover, a Spirit passenger, says, “I think the Atlantic City airport is a lot easier to get out of than Philadelphia.”
According to Mike Chalmers of the DelawareOnline News Journal, seventy percent of the nation’s air traffic flies to, from or through the airspace over
Joanie McIntyre, a flight attendant for Spirit Airlines, says, “I hear that Philly is so condensed that they are trying to get some of the traffic to come over to Atlantic City and that they are expanding Atlantic City with four new gates.” Unsure when the changes would be made, McIntyre continued by saying, “Spirit is going North to Boston, I heard Chicago, and maybe out West again, Vegas or
Durrant says, “There is an airspace redesign project going on which is being smarter about how the highways in the sky are laid out. The airplanes that are dispatched through the national air traffic control system have to follow actual flight paths. The airspace in Philadelphia is actually the most crowded piece of airspace in the world. They are arranging the lanes in the sky so you can fit more planes into the same airspace but of course, do it safely.”
Writing Sample 5
A Poem I wrote when I was nine:
"The Future Through A Child's Eyes."
What are we in for?
By: Jennifer Ammon, 1997
Will there be war? Or will there be peace?
Will there be too much population increase?
Will there be flowers in every store window?
Or will the Poles melt down to zero?
Will the air be full of pollution?
And will music be the best solution?
Will the sun blow up and leave us to die?
Or will aliens meet mankind?
Would we survive on another planet?
Or will the Earth revolve around the Senate?
Will we live in an age of harmony?
And what will happen to our economy?
Will this president be sensible and kind?
Or will we all just go out of our minds?
