Sonnet

Hawaii is a paradise they say,
The island surrounded by miles of golden sand.
Beach goers skin turns brown from the sun's rays,
This is as close as you will get to Neverland.

Hawaii is a mixing pot they say,
You can smell the scent of laulau in the breeze,
Along with the scent of ramen on a tray,
Oh how I'd like to sway in this wind like the trees.

Hawaii, also known for it's beauty,
The sea reflecting the rays of the sun.
That scent of the deep forests is very fruity,
If you love the beauty of nature it's fun.

Hawaii is a paradise they say,
If you visit you'd surely like to stay.

Analysis

For our sonnet, Kai and I decided to write on a topic that we both found interesting and enjoy. After wracking our brains, we landed on the topic of where we live and what was interesting or unique about it. For me, even before I lived here, Hawaii is and was a special place to me because when I was a small child, my family and I always used to make annual trips to Hawaii from the mainland. In addition to that, most my entire family lives here in the islands. So every time we came over for a visit, we got to go around and make visits to the entire family. I had many enjoyable experiences here, and so Kai and I wanted to accentuate that in our sonnet with lines like "Hawaii is a paradise they say, if you visit you'd surely like to stay." That showed how even people who are not even from here would want to stay just for the atmosphere and the experience. Apart form that I think that Kai and I collaborated very well as a group to come up with something that we could both agree on and make into a sonnet.

Beyond that, we had to put in a sort of secret meaning behind the text of what just appears to be a boring old poem about Hawaii. But if you look closely at the second line of the first stanza, you can see that we could be referring to the golden sands of Hawaii as a type of wealth that we have because of our privileges as residents of Hawaii and how it seems like the paradise of everyone's dreams. Also when you get to the second stanza, it says, "Hawaii is a mixing pot." We are not only referring to the immense amount of culinary diversity as is inferred from the text, but also the cultural diversity since there are so many different races and cultural groups around in Hawaii. The fourth line of the second stanza writes, " Oh how I'd like to sway in this wind like the trees." Which is also our way of saying that we are part of this mixing pot of cultures that we call the population of the Hawaiian Islands. In the third verse and the couplet of our sonnet, the message goes back to the top where we wanted to re-enforce the message that if anyone ever visited, that they'd want to definitely stay with lines like " If you love nature's beauty the deal's done." This tells that you'd be so overwhelmed by the beauty of the islands that you'd have a deal for a house closed before you left. Both Kai and myself felt strongly that the sights and scenes of our islands are so captivating that we just had to touch on all the topics that we thought made Hawaii special. We both enjoyed writing about our homes and learning about what it means for each of us to live in Hawaii. I'd be willing to do another writing assignment like this because I liked writing about it and I'm sure that Kai did as well.

First Draft of Paper 2

Hoku Wong
2.26.08
English



Paper 2: Story of Holden



Nothing seems to make sense in this life.
No matter where I go I'm surrounded by phonies and fakes.
My old school,
The places I visit,
I'm hidden from the eyes of scrutiny deception.

I feel so out of place.
People always judge me for things,
Things that they should look at themselves for.
Who are they to judge me?
What's given them that right?
Nothing, that's right, nothing.

Pointless little lies
Designed just for my down-bringing.
Everyone's against me for everything.
Even my family.
I can't even trust them.

I need some inspiration,
But then again,
What's the point?
I'm just going to be around stupid fakes my whole life.
Even around my own family I feel like an outcast.
I don’t know what to do.

Then again,
Still, nothing makes sense in life.
No matter where I go I'm surrounded by phonies and fakes.
My old school,
The places I visit.
I'm never hidden from the eyes of scrutiny and deception.

music

Time is Running Out uploaded by timmyp53

Paper # 1

Hoku Wong
1.25.08
English

Short Story

"This kills me man! I can't believe that after all these years I have to move away!"

"I know man." Said Nate, "that totally sucks.

It was the last day that I would spend in Washington before my big move to Hawaii. We'd been planning it for a while now, but the time had finally come. It snuck up like a snake in the bushes on its un-expecting prey. When my parents had first mentioned it to me, it was exciting. I mean, Hawaii! But now that it was actually time, it was saddening to the point of depression. Neither of us knew what to do with our lives without each other.

So here's the story. Nate and I met at day care way back before kindergarten. He was kind of the odd ball out of everyone in the facility. Nate was very imaginative and was handy with a lot of things, such as lego building and arts & crafts. One day, I saw him building this gargantuan spaceship out of legos, and I decided to meet him.

"Hey there," I said, "what'r you up to?"

"Oh, nothing really," he replied, "I'm just building this gigantic space rocket to fly to mars with."

"Could I help you build it?" I asked.

"Sure!" he said, and we basically became inseparable after that. We did everything together. Games, movies, swings, basically anything you could imagine normal kids doing. And by the time school rolled around, we had become best of friends and we started off kindergarten at Seaview Elementary School, in Edmonds, Washington. Nothing could get in the way, we were basically the most awesome duo you’d ever seen.

Then we started the 1st grade, and our teacher had looped the class. So in other words, Nate and I were together again for the ride. And so on we moved into second grade in the same class, and we weren't split until 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, when we were re-united un 6th grade. Our 12 years together had been a long and bumpy ride with ups and downs, but with the best memories to help us remember.

Before we knew it, the summer leading up to 7th grade and middle school was upon us, and we wanted to make it the best summer that we'd ever have. With the prospect of the actual move coming ever closer, we literally spent every day at each other's house. One day, we'd be at the mall and playing video games then going out to eat, and then sleeping over at my house. And the next day would be running around with a soccer ball and then going back to his house to sleep over. It seemed like an endless summer, we didn’t want it to end.
This went on until we had but a week left.

"I cannot believe it man…" I said, "I have to leave in less than a week!"

"I know dude," Nate said, "but that just means that we have to make the best of the time that we have left. So basically what I'm saying is, what do you want to do?"

I seriously didn’t know what I wanted to do with my last week. All I knew was that I wanted to spend it with my best friend. What did we do, do you ask? Well, we continued wistfully through the next six days before the night before I left, my last day in my old house. We had invited Nate and his family over, for a "last supper," one last get together of our two families. We sat there in the dining room, and enjoyed our last meal together. The two families, the two of us, Nate and I, felt the sensation of happiness, as our final hours together was carved into our memories for years to come. And forever more.