I know.  I took way too long to get these up here, but I hope it’s better late than never.  Some of your memoirs were fantastic.  I wanted to point you to some of my favorites so you can enjoy them, too.  Please visit these memoirs and tell the writer what you thought.   I’m just sorry it took me so long to put them up for you to enjoy.

If you are a sports fan, you will want to check out these stories.  Harrison writes about a homeroom that almost didn’t happen in “Baseball Revelation.”  Ashley makes a surprising catch at a baseball game.  Kate discovers that even swimmers can make “The ‘Homerun.‘”  Adam tells another baseball story in “The Ball that Hit the Fence.”  Keenan hit a homerun in “The Best Homerun Ever.”  Baseball and softball aren’t the only sports.  Courtney sets a new cross country record in “Every Second Counts.”  Archery is the new sport in school, and you guys have had tremendous success with it.  Read about the experiences of Meegan and Mistina at different tournaments.

For those of you who enjoy the great outdoors, I have a new blog to introduce you to written by a friend of mine from high school.  He is an avid hunter and fisherman and teaches hunter’s ed courses.  His new blog is Bill Howard’s Outdoors.  (I put a link to it on my blog under Fun Stuff.)  He’s looking for stories to share, so if you wrote one of these great hunting/fishing memoirs, you can email it to him at billhowardoutdoors@gmail.com.  In the meantime, enjoy reading these stories.  Chase recreates the time he shot his first turkey in “Adrenaline Rush.”  I want to see the pictures of that turkey!  Ethan shot his first turkey in Ohio.  Anthony set his sights on a deer rather than a turkey.  If fishing is more your thing, check out what Blake pulled out of the water.  Maddy found “A Keeper” on her first fishing trip.  Keegan caught “The Big One” when he went fishing.  Carleesa won’t ever forget her first catfish. 

Sometimes experiences don’t go exactly as planned.  Sometimes the results are humorous as Alan describes in “Camping is Scary.”  Monica discovered the thrill of “The Loopty Loop” while riding four-wheelers.  If you haven’t figured it out yet, four-wheelers and dirt bikes can be dangerous.  Just ask Elliott as his dad learned “What to Expect from Me.”  Lexi had an altogether different “driving” experience.  Gee brings to life a very close call in “The Feeling of Being Scared.”  KK describes a different scary experience in “Shards of Glass.”  Sara discovered the hidden dangers of bobby pins in “What an Appetite.”  Riley had to leave home in the middle of the night for “The Evacuation.”  Trinaty had to leave home as well as she shares in her memoir.

People and pets go together, whether it’s the first or last time together.  Scarlett describes “Where It All Began” with her horse Prince.  Brooklyn describes her last moments with her cat Little Bit in “One More Minute.”  Sometimes the moments with our pets are not smooth sailing.  Imagine what it would feel like if a horse fell on top of you, for example.  You don’t have to imagine, just read Hunter’s “Excitement as a Teacher.”

Some of my favorite memoirs capture the daily moments of life.  That’s what these last stories do.  Adam Do. visits the Civil War, right here at the county park.  Katelyn discovered the best hiding place in “The Best Place.”  Ashton describes a scary moment with “The Stray Dog.”  Brittany recreates her first flight and discovers comfort in an unexpected place  in “We’ve Made It.”  Cole recreates the excitement of Christmas morning in “A Wrapped Up Christmas.” 

Memoirs can also be a tribute to someone you’ve loved and lost.  Ariel and Allie reflect on how much they miss their grandmothers.  Adi reflects on the death of a friend. 

Which ones are your favorite memoirs?

Here is the new and improved version of my memoir.  What makes this one an effective piece of writing? 

    “Where did I put that stack of papers?” I muttered to myself as I looked for the copies of the handouts I needed to give my first class of the day.  “There they are!” I seemed to always be scrounging at the last minute to find what I needed for class.  When would I ever get organized?

     “Mrs. McGriff, did you hear what happened?  A plane ran into the World Trade Center!”  Josh told me as he came into homeroom that morning. 

     I looked at Josh in disbelief.  “Josh, you can’t believe everything you hear.  That’s how rumors get started.”  I was always amazed at how quickly news traveled around the middle school.  Somehow without radios or televisions, my students seemed to know what had happened as soon as it happened.  Of course, by the time the news made the rounds of the school, it had often changed quite a bit.  I knew from past experience that Josh–like many middle school students–was quick to pass on news, but did not often check the accuracy of what he heard first. 

     Soon homeroom was over, and students in my second period class came into the room.  Small groups of students stood around the desks, talking and laughing befroe beginning the work of the day.  I hastily checked one more time for the handouts on using commas that we would go over in a few minutes. 

     “Hey, Mrs. McGriff, did you hear that a plane ran into the World Trade Center?”  Cory asked just as the bell rang.  Several other students looked at me.

     Oh no, I thought.  Would this story not ever go away today?  But still, Cory was generally a pretty responsible student.  There was only one way to put an end to this and get on with class.

     “All right, class,”  I said.  “Let’s turn on the television.  If something like this really happened, it will be on all the channels.”  I couldn’t imagine an airplane running into the World Trade Center in New York.  It’s not like the pilot couldn’t see them from a long ways off.  And besides, I knew from my experience as a private pilot that small planes couldn’t just ride over New York and buzz the tops of apartment buildings.  With as many airplanes as flew into and out of New York, small planes weren’t even allowed without meeting specific guidelines.  I never imagined someone would deliberately fly an airplane into a building. 

     I turned on the classroom television, hoping to put an end to this latest rumor floating around school.  Little did I know that my whole world was about to change because Josh and Cory had been right.  I stepped back from the television, expecting to see one of the morning talk shows.  Instead, the somber faces of Peter Jennings and other reporters filled the screen.  The classroom grew silent as the reporters related that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

     Over and over again we watched the video play of the second airplane crashing into the other tower.  Plumes of white smoke poured into the bright blue sky.  I struggled to grasp the enormity of what had happened.  Before our eyes first one tower collapsed and then the other.  There was no hope for the people left inside.  The twin towers had their own zip code.  How many thousands of people were killed when the towers crashed?  What was it like for the people on the plane, knowing that they were going to crash into a building?  Did they know what was coming?  Not even the news reporters seemed sure of what was going on.  I could not get my mind around the fact that terrorists had hijacked two, three, four airplanes and deliberately crashed them into buildings.  Every time I thought of what it must have been like for the passengers on those planes, my mind ran into a brick wall.  It couldn’t be possible.

    Fear began to fill the room as other news reports filtered in.  A plane had struck the Pentagon in Washington.  Another plane was headed for the White House.  A plane crashed in Pennsylvania.  All airplanes had been ordered to land at the nearest airport.  Where was my brother?  He was a flight attendant for Delta.  Had he been working on one of the planes that crashed?

     Several students began to cry.  I looked around the classroom.  My students’ faces reflected the questions in my own mind.  I was the teacher.  I was supposed to have the answers to their questions, to know how to lead them through this crisis.  But I didn’t have the answers.  I didn’t know what to do.  All I had was more questions.  Could I cry in front of my students?  How could I listen to their questions when my mind was racing with unanswered questions of my own?  I struggled to think of what to tell them could help them cope with what was happening.

     All through the rest of the day, I watched news reports with my classes.  I still didn’t have any answers to their or my questions.  I still don’t have answers today.  I don’t know why anyone would hate our country so much that they would be willing to die and to kill so many innocent people.  As I seek to find a sense of peace and safety in a world that has been changed forever, I echo the prayer my daughter repeated before dinner each night for months after this day:  God please be with the people on the airplane and in the building.

Here it is:  the memoir I spent two minutes writing.  Man, those bad examples are easy.  What makes this an ineffective piece of writing?

 September 11

        It all started during homeroom that morning.  A student told me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.  I didn’t believe him.

        During 2^nd period another student told me the same thing.  After that I turned on the television to see if it was really true.  It was.  Two airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Center.  Another crashed into the Pentagon.  Another one crashed in Pennsylvania.  Then the World Trade Center collapsed.  Thousands of people died in the worst terrorist attack in the United States.  It was the worst day ever.