There is no school in the summer time.

“Don’t grow up too fast, you’ll never get your childhood back.” Those are words I have heard throughout my whole life. Different traumatic events in my life have caused me to grow up faster than average children my age. These events have caused me to jump for the childish spring time of my life to the grown up summer time of my life. Events such as my grandfather’s death, my dad’s first divorce and growing up without a mother have risen my maturely level passed people's expectations .

On February 28th, 2001 my grandfather passed away. Till then I could proudly say he was my best friend. At the time I was only seven years old, I had never waited in a house full of mourning people late at night, I had never be to a funeral and I had never had the feeling that he was never coming back. That incident gave me my first taste of death and made me realize at one point everyone was eventually going to die.

Another unfortunate circumstance that caused me to make a giant leap toward the summer time of my life was growing up without a mother. Unlike the situation with my grandfather, I never knew my mother. She passed away when I was just a baby. I wasn’t as attached to her as I was to my grandfather, but I was still missing something: a mother figure. As a child I never had a mother’s touch, a mother’s teachings or a mother’s love. Don’t get me wrong I had a step-mom at one point that I loved dearly, but she wasn’t the real thing. This forced me to teach myself how to be a strong, confident, but independent woman.

Later on, after my mother passed away, my dad remarried a few years later to a pretty decent woman. They were together till I was about eight years old, then my dad started developing issues. He never would come home at night, which caused my stepmother to be a nervous wreck. This meant I was taking care of myself at a very young age. When the issues became worst it forced my parents to get a divorce. Imagine, an eight year old girl packing her things up in the house she thought she would live forever and moving to an area she never saw before, with someone she is unfamiliar with. Yes, I Samantha Silberstein an eight-year girl at the time packed my things up and moved to Philadelphia to live with my grandmother.

As traumatic as my childhood may seem, I am glad I lived thought it. My childhood caused me to jump into summer part of my life, way earlier then others my age and I am completely happy with it. Some people never to get to experience what having a conscience or a sense of maturity feels like. Frankly, I feel sorry for them.

Poetry Isn't my thing, but then again...

I seem to have many weaknesses
But I've noticed I can come back with just as many strengths

I made people jaws drop when they hear what this pale girl has to say.
But don't get me wrong I don't respond in that ignorant way.

People can say they seen me confused in math
They'll probably say that girl can't multiple anything passed eleven

But then again if you catch me social studies I can name every thing thats happened since 1787

I'm the kind of girl who can't eat dinner until I finish my homework
To some this habit makes me look like a real dork

But then again I doubt those people have straight A's

A review of 0.5 written by Ishmael Reed

Do you ever recall yourself saying, “If I only had a dime every time I heard that,” or, “If I got a dime everytime I did that, I’ll be rich.” Would you still be rich if you had a nickel? 0.5 is a short poem written by Ishmael Reed, who focuses on the balance of positive and negatives things in his life by how much money he would have. One of the major reasons I admire this author, is because of the way he used images. He connects objects in his poem to everyday things. Secondly. I liked the way I felt once the poem ended. The poem still had me thinking and wondering. Finally, once I stopped thinking, I realized the overall moral of the poem. It wasn’t just funny, wasn’t just entertaining, but also gave me something to profit from.

Poet Ishmael Reed connected everyday little things to help people get the concept of his poem. He took something as simple as a nickel and based it on the effect of his life if women loved him or rejected him. The part that actually made me stop, think and image about what he was saying was, “If I had a nickel for all the women who’ve rejected me in my life I would be the head of the world bank with a flunkie to hold my derby, as I prepared to fly charted jet to sign a check, giving India new lease on life.” He is just trying to explain he would be dirty filthy rich.

One of the feelings I received when I finish this poem was, “Wow! Did he mean it like that?” I believe Ishmael Reed intended people to walk away from this poem each interpreting it a different way. His last line is “ All I would be thinking about would be going home.” This could be a cute, sad, happy or depressing ending, depends on the reader.

As cute and simple as this poem may seem, the overall moral takes the reader in deeper. People are always saying how money isn’t everything, “It can’t make you happy.” My interpretation of this poem is that Ishmael doesn’t believe money is everything. This concept goes back to the ending where Ishmael says, “All I would be thinking about would be going home.” He might be dirt poor, but he would be going home to someone who loves him for who he is.

Ishmael Reed took images, the reader’s interpretation and a deep moral and made a short poem. The poem focuses on his horrible way with women and made himself rich and poor. Next time you say. “If I only had a dime everytime…,” think about does it really matter?