Key West Essay -- Papers

Key West Key West is many people's paradise. It has dazzling waters, beautiful beaches, and a wonderful climate. This tiny island is located off the southernmost part of Florida is the only true tropical island in the United States. Thousands of people from all over the world come to Key West every year for the relaxing lifestyle and rich culture. As well as being rich in culture it is rich in history too. Key West has also been the home to many great authors and artists and is known for having a very diverse population. Initially, Key West was a home for Spanish explorers and pirates until the first settlement was established in 1822. In 1822 the U.S. Navy sent Commodore David Porter to the island. He was sent to take over the island and to eventually stop piracy. He did succeed and in 1825, Congress put forth a law that required that all ship wrecks where salvaged goods were taken must be brought to a U.S. port for arbitration. That U.S. port turned out to be Key West. It then became the wealthiest city in the U.S. (Murphy 3). Industry arrived in Key West by 1831. Industries such as, cigar-making, ship-fitting, salt manufacturing, and turtling employed many people. Soon after that the local residents discovered that their sea sponges were highly valued in the North and that spun another booming industry for the people of Key West (3). By 1850, this tiny island was populated and had schools, hospitals, and churches and was thriving on its success (4). Key West soon played a part in the Civil War and became known as the cigar capitol of the world. During the Civil War the Confederacy set up two forts that would serve as headquarters for naval blockade, Jefferson and Taylor. Key West ... ...his way back from Paris he and his family stopped on the island and fell in love with it. Soon after that Hemingway bought land and built a house there (5). Key West is a beautiful and diverse city unlike any other city in the world and even though it has had its good times and bad times it has managed to become successful. It thrives on its main industry witch is tourism, but that is what the city specializes in. Many wonderful attractions are in this city, such as rich culture and beautiful coral reefs, but this is why Key West will always be in America's hearts. Works Cited Gifford, John. "The Florida Keys". National Geographic Society, 1997. Murphy, George. "The History of Key West". www.Key West Florida. com. Wilson, M. " The Hemingway Recource Center". www.lostgeneration.com. The Hemingway Resource Center, 1999.

A Life in the Day of Me

â€Å"Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep!† From under the warm, snug land of nod, my hand flops out and brutally swats at the little silver alarm clock, which I despise because it has the pleasure of making me wake up every morning. I sit up, and try to think about what to do next, my head still full of pillows. I check the time- 6:35 and idly flop back down. I am about to return to slumber-land when Molly the pregnant multicoloured cat plods in. I lie on my side and stare at her. A warm, owlish glazed gaze stares back and I jump energetically to action! Well, more of an idle flop out of bed, really. I then stumble like a drunken sailor across my room to check on a few other minor details in my daily life- my pets. I first peer at Gordon the stick- insect and give him a quick spray of water to moisten him up. I then tap on Bob the wild voles' little cage check his supply of food and water. Next is Ruby and Pip the rats who are also rattling their bowls like ungrateful toddlers. I throw in a few choice morcels of ‘Rody rat Food'. I notice Molly and Bagpuss, my other cat, sponging for their breakfast in the doorway. I stagger downstairs after them, to the kitchen, where they are given ‘whiskas' cat food, which I might add, is probably both the most revolting smelling, and looking pet food I have ever had the ‘pleasure' of serving! Last but not least are the outside pets: Poppy and Annabelle the guinea- pigs, Socks the rabbit and his sister, Saffy who has five baby bunnies, who are given ‘Russel' rabbit food. That's not all yet! The very last but just as important member of the family is Ren the ‘lonely' goldfish, who is given ‘Tetra-Finn' goldfish flakes. You might be thinking what a zoo I have, but we love them all very much! I now, finally have time to sort my own self out. By this time I am partially conscious, so I leap wilfully into the shower, before anyone else and battle with the hot and cold taps until I feel I am sufficiently cleansed. I then do everything, which anyone else normally does during their time in the bathroom. I always dry my hair naturally or I look like something which has stepped out of a Stephen King book, and scrape it back or do something with it until it looks something vaguely like a ‘style'(not one of my strong points!). I am normally late by now so I yank on clothes like†¦ well, how anyone else does- underwear, then trousers, shirt, tie, socks. Ah! The socks- I always make sure they are nothing short of†¦,well, comical. They are either ‘Chicken Run', ‘The Simpsons', ‘Wallace and Gromit', a silly pattern or just odd! My next task is then to check my bag and do any un-done home work for the day, whilst trying to bolt down a slice of dry bread, or anything which resembles breakfast material. Most days I combine these few tasks with: yanking on my normally muddy Doc Martens, trying not to fall over, poking my head out the window to check on the (usually grim) weather situation, rifling through all my pockets for a door key and asthma pump, being groaned at by Mum who is scowling at her wrist watch, tripping out of the front door and finally shoving my untidy self and scrappy school belongings into one of three cars. I most enjoy travelling to school in my sister's (katy) metallic- blue Mini because it feels as through you are in a mini rollercoaster (especially going over bumps), and I LOVE roller- coasters! Our highly intellectual conversation whilst on our ten minute journey to school and Mum to the school where she teaches normally consists of: â€Å"You really need to get up earlier in the mornings, Holly, especially as it's Monday. I've got to get to school and do things.† â€Å"Yes, Mum.† OR.. â€Å"I really don't know how you can concentrate at school without eating breakfast!† â€Å"OK, I'll try, Mum.† OR.. â€Å"Oh, no! I forgot my music money/ that slip you were supposed to sign/ my door key/ my HOMEWORK!!!† Every one at school is generally in a chatty mood when I arrive. On certain days one person gets out of bed the wrong way and makes us miserable too. Charlene is always there with her sixth form boyfriend Anthony, and everyone joins on for a good natter. When Vicky arrives, Anthony or herself have a good scoff at each other if there has either been a Manchester United or Arsenal match- or no match at all! When the pips go, from Charlene it's normally â€Å"G'iss a kiss!† to Anthony, who either pretends not to have heard or actually kisses her. In form time I make sure I am listening for my name, then I can start thinking- usually about lessons to come. My favourite lessons generally are Textiles, English and History- mainly because most of the time you get to give your own opinion about issues, but most of all because I can then use my own ideas such as creative writing in English and designing and making children's clothes in Textiles. My friends and I natter like educated mice about who shot Phil, who fancies Emma, what happened at Penenden Heath last night Jenny, and can I borrow your homework, PLEASE!! By lunch time I am generally bored and longing for sleep. I either eat sandwiches filled with tuna (brain food- I wonder why!) or pasta with bolognese, or sometimes just a salad. I tend to only drink water most of the time because fizzy drinks are not very appealing when you are so thirsty! Most lunch times Vicky and Emma like to go and flirt with boys in our year. I find this quite pathetic. Charlene and I share this thought, so we sit and talk about people or well, just about anything. When the days are getting close to half-term or a holiday, we like to plan a trip to Chessington with Anthony and Jennifer. Quite often a food fight starts up or Gary comes over to show us his ‘Where did it go?' coin trick, which keeps us amused for most of the forty-five minutes. Occasionally, I will have the odd arm wrestle or slap fight. After lunch I feel more at ease with the day, knowing that there are only two lessons to go. My favourite afternoon of the week is a Friday (of course!), when everyone is winding down and preparing events for the weekend, such as going into town for no apparent reason (which I really hate!), and the teachers are just as tired as us, so they understand our lack of intelligence. After school I eat a snack of rice- cakes or a sandwich. Quite often I like to go for a bike ride with my friend Rachel through the Barming Woods to see the haunted tree, although we have to be careful that we show respect, because a signalman was hung there years ago and no one is allowed (or able) to cut it down, so there are loads of tree stumps around it! Spooky, eh? When I get home, I like to relax and watch you know what! (T.V.). On some nights I do trampolining which I love because it is actually very relaxing and good for you! At the moment I am working on the wide gap between silver and gold award (up to back-wards somersault). During sometime every day I like to sit on my bean bag and think about things like what happened during the day, how I feel, what to do tomorrow, what sort of career I would like to have in twenty years, people, things like that, or I write them down in a diary, just to make me feel better. After dinner with my family, I do any homework needed to be done and get ready for bed quickly because I love wearing my pyjamas- they are so comfy!! If my sister is home I go and talk to her about her day. Most evenings, her boyfriend and soul-mate Del (Derek) comes round and they go out to the Muggleton, the Thirsty Pig, Hogshead, or the Union bar. Katy is almost nineteen and about a centimetre taller than me. I think she is very beautiful (and so does everyone else). She has extremely long brown naturally curly hair and large blue eyes. I find her interesting in terms of dress sense and personality. She tries very hard to think differently to others and always makes sure things are fair- I find this in my Mum and Dad as well because I have always regarded our family as very different to others I have seen. For example- none of us like football but we all love old music by people like Louis Armstrong. My Mum is brave – she is a teacher for special needs, and my Dad is a post-man in the Sutton Valence area. When I am older I would definitely like to work with animals. I would like to get a job and save up to run a cattery for ill treated cats. I but I do not just want a career, I want to travel around the world, see everything, have great experiences, break records. Sometimes I feel so angry that people take what they have for granted. Why do people want others to be so unhappy? It also makes me angry that people do not care what they do or how they do it. Why do people want to be the same as each other? What would really make me happy would be to have the power to iron out the world- there would be no poor, no rich, no evil, no such thing as prejudice- everyone would have the same amount of money and food etc. People can dream, I suppose. I talk to things like this to my parents and sister, especially Mum, who enjoy working with children and people with disabilities etc. In the evenings I also love to talk to Dad, who enjoys art and pottery and things like that. I, my self love animals, roller-coasters, art, colours, trampolining, bike riding, writing stories and lots of different ‘grunger' music. There are lots of things I like, but also lots of things I dislike; big gold jewellery, cruelty to animals, romantic films, pop music, pink, being bored, sitting still for too long, football, and people who are horrible to others for no reason. On Friday evenings I get eight pounds allowance, which is spent very differently every week. I feel really bad that I have not got a job at the moment, although I have had several paper rounds, one of which I kept for almost a year. I think I could say that not many people understand me very well, but the truth is, I really do not care! Vicky is always on at me for being unsociable. I do not care about that either! I tend to keep my thoughts to myself than talk about them. Around 10:30 PM my thoughts start to get a bit more muddled because my mind knows that it has done its job for the day, and is time to rest. I am normally snoozing by 11:00PM but inside, my brain is going â€Å"tick, whirr, clunk!† as it is thinking â€Å"nooo! It's Monday tomorrow,† or â€Å"yes! It's Saturday tomorrow!† But right at the back, where the cobwebs are I am thinking â€Å"I am so lucky,† because of my life so far.

The Tunnel Of Love Song By Bruce Springsteen - 1341 Words

Tunnel of Love is unlike any other album that Bruce Springsteen has written. This was an album full of love songs, songs about the ups, downs, trust and loyalty that come with being in a relationship. The Tunnel of love album is drastically different from the previous Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A.; those two albums both talked about the struggles and hardships of the working class, a motif that does not appear in Tunnel of Love. The beat of this album differs greatly from that of Born in the U.S.A. this album isn’t as up beat and fun, instead the album is more down beat and sounds somewhat sad. This album as a whole shows us that when someone doesn’t understand himself/herself it can hurt his or her relationship, and lead to unfaithfulness. Springsteen refers to marriage in the songs â€Å"Walk like a Man†, Cautious Man, and Spare Parts. â€Å"Cautious Man† is a song about a man who enjoyed his life of solitude and wandering, and always chose the life he was used to over love until one day when a woman caught his attention. He fell in love, and married her soon after meeting her. Bruce Springsteen married American model Julianne Phillips in 1985, after the release of Tunnel of Love. On the album, many of the songs described his unhappiness in the relationship with Phillips, and in 1989 (two years after the release of Tunnel of Love) they got a divorce. Although Bruce Springsteen denies this, many people, including myself, believe that â€Å"Cautious Man† is an autobiographical