I am From

My name is Heneric Ciumak; I am 28 and live in a part of Eastern Europe called Romania. I live by myself in a rural area in a small wood 8 by 8 handmade shack for a house. My house is on mountainous land for no one else wants to live here. It overlooks beautiful mountains with small streams of water weaving its way down through shrubs and boulders. I have no bathroom or running water. I use have a hole a short distance away as a bathroom. Inside this house there is a bed and a living area where I cook on a small fire. My diet consists of small game and crops from my yard.
This beautiful scenery unfortunately has unfertile land which isn’t suitable for crops, but I work with what I have. I must sift through the ground to pick out all the rocks, before I can plant anything. Otherwise the roots will be weak and the plant will wither away. Each morning I check on my crops breaking the dry hard ground up, and collect murky water from a stream in the valley below my house. We haven’t received much rain this season so I use the water for my crops. I have insufficient tools for gardening using a splintered rusty hoe for most of my work. I cannot afford new equipment or a plot of rich land for better farming. So I work harder on my land knowing this may be all I ever have. I grow small patches of maize, wheat, and vegetables. I own a slender light skinned pig named Rudolf; he was to be killed being a runt of a litter. I traded a couples stalks of wheat and maize for him, and nursed him back to health. He is still very puny, but makes a good companion. It gets lonely here and I often wish for a family. I know that that my never happen for I can barely provide for myself. In addition I have one chicken that is growing very old. I grow very hungry for either of their delicious meat by the day, since I rarely eat such delicacy. Most of my crops I use just to survive. What’s left I sell at the farmers market earning what little money I can. I also try and preserve a portion of each harvest for the winter for that is the harshest season to survive. I must walk twenty miles on small goat trails, over rough terrain to get to the market.
After attending to my garden I hunt for small game in the area hoping to see a rabbit or fox. I use a .22 rifle passed on from my father to me before he died. I use the bullets carefully though they are costly on my earnings. Most days I cannot find any small game and head back with thoughts of hunger. I can usually manage to kill at least one animal per week. When home I start up a pot of water over the fire to boil vegetables in for supper. This is my customary meal of the day which I grow sick of, but is better than starving.
As I eat my plate of unsavory firm vegetables outside on a large granite rock. I hear the beautiful calls of birds gracefully flying overhead. I listen to the wind whistling through the valley beneath me. This relaxes me knowing I am miles from anyone who could disturb my peace of mind. Slowly the sun falls under the high mountain horizon. Now all that’s left is a blushing red and vibrant orange sunset of fall, which I gaze upon often. As the darkness sets in the night unveils the beautiful stars and a full moon that gives the mountains a silver outline. I call it a night heading in I start a fire to keep me warm as the cold sets in. As I lie down on my wooden bed I feel content with my life. Knowing all that matters is I’ve made it through another day.

Little Red Riding Hood Rewrite

Bethany Brodhagen, Lia Ashley, Brett Boterman, Elliot Eichinger
English 110.435
Jasmine Krotzman
September 9, 2009

Little Red and the Wolf
Once upon a time there was a young girl who lived in the outskirts of the forest. Her grandmother stitched a beautiful red, silk cloak for her when she was very young, and she has been wearing it every day since. Because of this, everyone across town calls the girl Little Red Riding Hood. Recently, her grandmother whom she loved very much became frail and sick. One afternoon, the girl’s mother asked her to deliver a basket of goodies to help heal her ill grandmother. This called for the girl to travel across the long dark woods to her grandmother’s home.
While traveling through the woods, Little Red Riding Hood met a ferocious, giant wolf whose large sharp teeth and beady eyes frightened her. Immediately, the wolf approached her and questioned her in his harsh and scratchy voice, “Where are you going my dear?”
“I’m on my way to my grandmother’s house, she has fallen ill,” the girl timidly replied.

The wolf, now snarling said, “I know just what could cheer her up. There are many beautiful flowers to the left and right of this small creek. I’m sure your grandmother would like to have some in her home. I can help you pick them if you would like, and meet you at your grandmother’s house afterward. ”
Little Red hesitantly replied, “Why, that sounds like a grand idea. Where is this creek you’re talking about?”
“It’s straight down the path my dear. Just follow me,” said the wolf.
The two then went off of the trail in either direction picking flowers. The wolf gathered the daffodils on the right, as Little Red Riding Hood gathered the daisies to the left. Once the wolf gathered his bouquet for the grandmother, he headed down the trail to her home, and Little Red followed once she had collected hers.
Upon getting to the house, the wolf heard some strange noises coming from inside, and opened the door to see what was going on. He immediately rushed inside and witnessed a struggle occurring between the grandmother and the town hunter. He knew he had to act fast. In the distance, Little Red heard the howl of the wolf and became very worried.
When Little Red finally arrived at her grandmother’s house, she noticed that the door had been left wide open. She ran into her grandmother’s room and was shocked at what she saw. The floor was filled with blood and wolf fur, and her grandmother was nowhere to be found. Screaming, Little Red ran out of the house back through the woods to her home. When she arrived, she explained to her mother everything that she had seen.
Little Red and her mother decided it would be best to tell the town hunter, a burly man always with an axe in hand, of their misfortune. The two of them raced to the hunter’s house so that they could ask him to hunt down the wolf. While they were approaching the door, Little Red and her mother saw the hunter in the window skinning the wolf. The two were so excited and greatful, and just as they were about to go inside and thank the hunter, they noticed something else strange. On the table next to the hunter, Little Red saw her grandmother’s body lying there. “Mom, do you see grandmother’s body there?” whispered Little Red. Little Red’s mother didn’t even respond; she just grabbed Little Red and began running back to town.

Frantically, Little Red and her mother entered the town councilman’s office to inform him of the hunter’s crime. After telling their story, the councilman doubted the validity of their account. He found it very hard to believe that the wolf was innocent. Due to his doubts, Little Red and her mother took him and the rest of the town board to the hunter’s house to show them what had truly happened. When the group arrived at the house, they saw exactly what Little Red had described to them: the dead bodies of the wolf and the grandmother, and a guilty hunter right beside. The men rushed in to capture the hunter to be publicly hanged the following day for his crime. The town would then be safe with the hunter gone, but Little Red only wished she could thank the wolf for his attempt to help, and apologize for doubting his character.

A Hmong Family Memoir

In the memoir, The Latehomecomer, we are told of the struggle the Hmong people and a family have gone through to find a home. The author Kao Kalia Yang tells her families story of the journey and struggle after the Vietnam War. They must relocate to Thailand refugee camps, and soon after to the United States. During these events Kao Yang searches for a home that she has never really known.

In the Prologue she tells of her childhood a search for what Hmong truly meant to her. Since they never had a home, because of war and persecution Hmong meant contained for her. Being kicked out of one country to the next being able to call somewhere home is what she wanted. Eventually learning they have no country, and must find a new place to call home.

Kao Kalia Yang still lives in St. Paul, MN where she was relocated as a child. Now calling this place home she understands her culture and is proud of where she came from. Today the story of the Hmong people is very unknown, and not taught in most schools. Through writing this Memoir she hopes to tell the world of the struggle of the Hmong people and their fight to find a home. So that it may not slip through the pages of our history books, as if it never happened.