Vocabulary Assignment

  To Anyone Who Can Help,

I have been going to the same vapid Catholic School for two years now, and I am on the verge of insanity.  My body has been discolored by the long-term bruises, bulbous blisters, and deep cuts from the countless scourges I receive daily.  I have forgotten the feeling of running my hand over a smooth back with no scathing cuts and bruises.  For the past two years I have waken up every morning with tear filled eyes; school is no longer a soporific obligation, but an institution of terror.  They tell me that I break precept after precept, and that is why I am punished all the time, but nobody ever tells me what precept I’m breaking!  This school makes me look horrible and feel horrible.  I do not feel like a bad person, but why am I labeled as such? They’re out to get me, everyone is!  Help me!!

            I despise everything about my school, from the smell of the unscented candles being burned in the chapel, to the flouting tone of my fascist-like teachers, and to the blistering feel of the whip on my back.  I am labeled as a heretic for not wearing a cross on my neck, and am whipped daily for that right on the back until my warm blood makes a cross on my scarred back.  Daily before I go to bed, I dab a soaked cloth on the back of my neck, irritating the raw flesh in the process in order to prevent any infections.  I will not let myself get sick and weak, it will only make them stronger.  The way I am brutally hit, you would think I was a filch, but I’m just a young man trying to live my miserable life normally.  In the past, I was praised when I spoke of tolerance of other religions, but at my school, I am condemned for being tolerant of other religions.  My school preaches amnesty, but does not practice it.  They are hypocrites, just like my parents, who claim to love me, but in reality hate me.  When I first came to this petrifying school, I had wondered why my parents sent me here, and came to the conclusion that they hate me.  They’re out to get me, everyone is!  Help me!!

Samar Al Ansari

Grade 11.5

November 23,2004

Samar's Art Work (24)

Samar Al Ansari

Grade 6A

Twenty Interview Questions for Marilyn Monroe

1. How does it feel to be such a famous and accomplished actress?

2. Was your childhood affected because your mother spent the majority of her life institutionalized?

3. Will your life ever be the same as it was before you got raped at the age of eight?

4. Is being an actress a hard job or is it an easy job, and why?

5. What does it take to be a good and famous actress?

6.    Which one of your movies did you enjoy acting in the most, and why?

7.    Do you ever regret being so popular, and why?

8.    Why were you always depressed?

9.    What did taking drugs and drinking alcohol do to help your life?

10. Which marriage was your best marriage, and why?

11. What inspired you to become an actress?

12. Why did you choose Marilyn Monroe as your stage name?

13. Which actor or actress did you enjoy acting with the most?

14. Why did you have affairs with John F. Kennedy and his brother Roger?

15. Why did you attempt suicide, don’t you think life is worth living?

16. What are your talents other than acting?

17. What was your childhood like?

18. People say that the story of your life is like the story of Cinderella, do you agree, and why?

19. What were your jobs before becoming an actress?

20. Why was your relationship with the Fox executives turning sour, and what did you do to try and fix it?

Samar Al Ansari
Grade 7
2000

A Quote on grief

Grief can't be shared. Everyone caries it alone, his own burden, his own way.

 Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Setting

1770-1760 BC

I walked into Hammurabi's palace and I could'nt believe what I saw. It was a two -story house that held over three hundred rooms. I walked into richly decorated throne room.  The floors and walls were covered with reed mats, skin rugs, and woolen hangings. There were beautiful low tables and high back chairs everywhere, which were decorated with gold. His house was different than my simple one- story, mud brick house. There were also beautiful bronze statues of Hammurabi’s ancestors.

A servant came up to me, holding a plate of apples, pears, grapes,  figs, plums, pistachios and pomegranates. I wasn't very hungry but I took my favorite grapes just to be respectful.  The grapes tasted so fresh and sweet, like they were just plucked of the tree. The sweetness went through my tongue like a blade. I was offered some wine, but I declined because I don't trust anything that doesn't already exist on earth. I took some water, it tasted wonderful, it was cold and fresh, it truly quenched my thirst. I recognized that water; it was from the Euphrates River.

I began to touch my surroundings because everything was so strange to me. I touched the bronze statues and placed my hand all over them trying to get the sculptor’s feel. They were smooth and cold. I touched the skin rugs, and they felt so soft and warm against my tired hands.

I heard the beautiful music of the servants/ music of Hammurabi. I heard the drums, tambourines, and pipes of reed and metal. I also heard the voice of a beautiful lady praising Hammurabi in her song. It sounded beautiful and it intoxicated me to the extent that I didn’t know where I was or what I was doing.

I smelled the beautiful smell of incense. It felt like a flower that has just blossomed in my nose. I was in paradise. I could also smell the smell of the lamb being cooked, my mouth began to water, and my appetite just opened up. Aah!

Samar Al Ansari

Grade 9.2

March 8, 2003

في مكة التقينا

حلمت بأننا كنا بيت الله قاصدين

لنعتمر في مكة ونؤدي شعائر الدين

هذا هو حلمي الذي أردت به تظهرين

أتيت به لتؤكدي و تُذكرين

.بأنك معي حبيبتي في كل حين

كنتِ نائمة على السرير فقمت تنادين

" أمي...أنا هنا معك، ألا تصدقين؟"

هرعتُ إليك وإذا بذراعيك تطوقيني    

 وإلى صدرك الحبيب تضميني

شعرت بدفء قبلاتك على جبيني

ورويتِ بعض الظمأ الذي في شراييني

الهي! رأيتك ولمستك يا نور عيني

.لحظات اسعدتيني، تخيلتك حقيقة تكلميني

!ما أجمل لقاءنا عند بيت رب العالمين

لقاء قصير لم يشبع الوله والحنين

ليته  طال كي تبقي ولا تفارقين

.وتمكثي معي وقتا أكثر قبل أن تتركين

رنده ربحي حماده

(أم سمر)

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