The Girl Who Left Her Sock on the Floor by Deborah Eisenberg

This story went in a completely different direction than I thought it was going to. It was written by an American writer, so culturally, it's present day.

Our class read the beginning part of the story in class and had to respond with what we thought was going to happen in the end. I said that Francie was going to get called to the office and be accused with sleeping with her teacher, but it ended up that her mother died. This girl was very torn up and lost inside and needed some help that no one could give. The only person that made her feel a little better was the woman on the bus.

Reflections of Spring by Duong Thu Huong

Betel Nut- another term for an areca nut, which is the seed of an areca palm often chewed with betel leaves. It is also used as an offering in Hinduism.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betel_nut

Somewhere I Have Never Travelled by E.E. Cummings

omewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

I chose this poem because it jumped out at me.
It's about a man that changes for the good whenever
he is around this girl that he loves.

Evermore by Julian Barnes

This short story is also English, just like "G-String." The story was about a man at war. The first page was kind of interesting, because you got a feel for what people went through in the army, but then it started getting lengthy and boring.

bayonet- a swordlike stabbing blade that may be fixed to the muzzle of a rifle for use in hand-to-hand fighting.

G-String by Nicola Barker

I thought this story was funny because the author was English, and in his writing, he would use words such as "bloody."

fizzy- lively and high spirited
white chiffon- a light, sheer fabric typically made of silk or nylon
cami-knickers- a type of underwear

I loved this story, because the woman's husband yelled at her for wearing a g-string, and in the end, she was the one that got them home. It was very ironic that her g-string helped them.

Original Short Story

This is a short story that I wrote in class. We had to take a line from the short story "Betrayal" and use that as our first line in ours.

I was the only person not close to an outburst of hysetrical murderousness. I sat completely still in my chair and looked around at all of the people surrounding me; wearing the colors of thier home team, of the team that just lost. To me, it just felt like another football game, but to my school, it was much more than that. Our football team made it all the way to the State Championships, something that hasn't happened in decades. And now their dignity and pride were crushed.
The opposing team's fans were rowdy and pompous, as they chanted and rubbed their win in our faces. I looked over at the players who were more upset than angry. Some of the Seniors were even crying. But for some reason the crowd always reacts differently than the team that just lost. The fans were rowdy and starting fist fights in the lower rows of bleachers with kids from the other school. But I managed to sit steady and clam with one tear rolling down my cheek, because I realized it was one more moment, memory, and day closer to graduation.

Between men and women there is no friendship possible...

"Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship."
--Oscar Wilde

I believe this quote holds true in everyone's lives at some points. I think that in order to really love someone and know someone, you must become friends with them first. The best relationships come from the best friendships. I've realized that now out of having many relationships fail, because I get to know the person a little too late. I love Oscar Wilde's quotes because what he says, actually has meaning behind it. He also quotes things that many people can relate to, such as relationships and friendships.

However, I do believe it is possible for men and women to just be friends and nothing more. Sometimes when you are too good of friends with the opposite sex, you don't want to date because you don't want to lose what you have already, but the truth is, sometimes those two people are meant to be and everyone can see it except for them.

Betrayal by Patricia Duncker

I think this story was an odd one. I couldn't quite follow it or the characters very well, and they threw the word "lover" around a lot. Some of the sayings were a bit confusing, considering they were in a differentt language, but I looked some of them up.

Cultural references:
ça va = "that goes"
ça va me changer mes idées = "that will change my ideas"
lavage = "washing"
mousse = "foam"

They also talk about a 500 franc note, which suggests that this is taking place in France.

Source www.freetranslation.com