Descriptive Feature - Japanese Internment Memorial

A waiting line crowded at the entrance of two buses from Tanforan and Pecia to an unknown destination.

Heads are low and shielded with hats or triangular handkerchiefs.

Faces stuck out the small windows and a sign held by one passenger read, “Goodbye, Goodluck, Beat USC.”

Nearby a soldier, with his lip curling upward at the edges, wears a belt with pockets and “MP” initialed on his tricep.

With a partial smile, he hammers dreadful news reading, “Instructions all persons of Japanese ancestry.”

Two old and balding Japanese men look ornery in their business suits as the post is placed.

The same man with the “MP” badge stands still.

He now has one elbow stretching behind his back while the other hand replaced the hammer with a rifle.

His belt pockets are fuller, and his lips now snarl and disgruntle what use to be a peaceful face.

The bus is long gone, but the Southern Pacific railroad, with its large windows, still summons reluctant crowds.

Concerned individuals shed tears with their goodbyes and their faces are no longer hidden as they glimpse at the last time they will see friends and family.

These goodbyes remain permanent on the cold bronze and rectangular memorial, and ironically sits next to a bus and train line of San Jose.

Words: 220

Word of the Week #9

Quixotic 
adjective
exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic and impractical

Sentence word was found in: "A federal appeals court slapped down a quixotic legal campaign against Monsanto's biotech patents this week." (NPR Monsanto article: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/06/12/190977225/court-to-monsanto-you-said-you-wont-sue-so-you-cant)

My sentence: The football players had a quixotic play at attempting to boost their score.

Descriptive Feature

The brisk air chilled the dominating statue on an uneven lawn in the quadrant of university buildings.

The aroma of freshly cut grass lingered in the breeze and the morning sun had yet to dry the mushy earth.

Tire tracks from the lawn mower coursed around the statue and stamped mud on a small peach-colored pavement on the statue's perimeter. 

Sapphire blue hexagonal tiles attracted passersby, while flickers of the sun's reflections retained their attention.

"Olympic Project for Human Rights," read the circular button on the frozen athlete's blue jacket, who was standing on the third place platform.

The dark faces with blank stares was permanently imprinted on the two athletes waiting for a reaction from an unknown crowd.

An empty second place platform emphasized the 1968 first and third place Olympic winners Tommie Smith and John Carlos.

Their black-gloved fists held up in the air during the anthem was a human rights salute, and their black ribbed shoeless feet represented black poverty.

The two teammates were once students at SJSU and were suggested to join the game boycott, among other black athletes, to highlight the injustices done to black Americans.

Their actions that once sparked controversy now remains at SJSU's campus on the perennial sculpture.

Word of the Week #8

Sacrosanct
adjective
(esp. of a principle, place, or routine) regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with

Sentence found in Local Politics textbook: "The idea of home rule, sacrosanct among local governments and a cherish tradition of American local government, remains in perpetual tension with the notion of local governments as creatures of the states and, as we will see, the need to provide regional solutions to regional problems."

Schools and government offices close its doors to honor sacrosanct, religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter.

Mystery Character - Rewrite

"Heaven Sent" read one black banner that wrapped around an outlined Christian cross on his upper left arm.

His deltoid, tricep and bicep tattoos masked his medium-brown skin and was partially covered with extra broad shoulders and a silky, red jersey.

His attempt to grow a small, black bristly beard still didn't hide the fact he still has a baby face with dark, soft eyes and a pointy noise that curves slightly to the left.

He jumped up and down on the sidelines to keep warm and put a bulky, shimmery helmet on before jogging onto torn apart grass to settle behind a long row of bent-over men.

After getting bulldozed by a man twice his size, he got up and squinted his eyes with determination.

The pressure of 70, 207 eyes on him as he makes physically and mentally judgment calls mean he wasn't going to make it happen again.

He looked down at his lower left arm where a white band gave indication on figuring out his step.

After yelling three seconds and men collided with one another, he embraced a brown, elliptical object in his right elbow and his gold legs alternated back and forth as he ran down the field, halting at red turf.

After dropping the brown ball, he looked at a cameraman and curled up a bicep with a fist near his face, almost as if he were going to kiss it.

Mystery Character

"Heaven Sent" read the banner that stretched around an outlined black cross.

His deltoid and bicep tattoos masked his medium brown skin and was partially covered with extra broad shoulders and a silky red jersey.

His attempt to grow a small, bristly beard still didn't hide the fact he still has a baby face and dark, soft eyes, but regardless, he still has the pressure of 70, 207 eyes on him as he makes physically and mentally judgment calls every week.

He jumped up and down on the sidelines to keep warm and put a bulky shiny helmet on and soon was jogging on green grass to settle behind a line of bent over men.

After getting bulldozed by a man twice the size of him, he got up and squinted his eyes with determination.

You could read his mind. It wasn't going to happen again.

After yelling two seconds, he cuddled the brown leather elliptical object in his right elbow and his gold legs alternated back and forth as he ran down the field, halting at red turf.

After dropping the brown ball, he looked at a cameraman and curled up his bicep with a fist, almost as if he were going to kiss it.

Word of the Week #7

vestigial
adjective
forming a very small remnant of something that was once much larger or more noticeable

Sentence found in Local Politics textbook: "The survival of many largely vestigial townships in Illinois suggests that the numbers have something to do with history."

My sentence: A vestigial wave radiated through the valley after the prior night's 6.6 magnitude earthquake.