Final Reflection Post

1. This semester in Creative Writing, I wrote more meaningful pieces than I ever have. Like things such as our "You May Say I'm a Dreamer" post, and  "Caged Bird" post all the way to our children's book (which I lost).  We've even done more hands on creative things, which is what I really liked. Things like painting, and even the mugs we did just yesterday.

2. I've read a few different post when I was instructed to do so. None of which stuck with my throughout the semester. I don't tend to read outside of school, so I don't have any I remember from then either.

3. I remember first setting up my blog this semester. I wasn't super hype about it, but it wasn't like I disliked the idea. I was indifferent about it because I thought we were just gonna be writing stories on paper all the time. I came up with my blog's name easily, it's my own nickname so I thought that it'd be the best choice. "Rah Rah" is what everyone knows me by, it's what I like to be addressed as, so it was a perfect fit. I don't think I'll continue using my blog after this class ends. I wasn't very good with using it during the class.

4. I write about different things in my journal. Most recently I wrote a letter to my father, who tragically isn't here anymore, and I've wrote fictional stories and real life stories about my past and where I see myself in the future. I'd actually be comfortable with just about anybody reading my journal. I feel like it'd be a glimpse into the mind of Robert Bernard Calloway III. I love to journal, so I will continue to journal. It's a way for me to vent, without having to really vent to another person. I want to buy a true journal like with the leather covers and all that fancy stuff. It'll most likely hold all the raps I write and partially be kind of a log.

5. Window Poem -
Ahead of me I see all the tops of homes surrounding my own.
I see the street lights when they're on and off.
To my left, my television sits. Waiting for me to play a movie or video game.
As I look out today, a house is burning to the ground.
Sometimes I yearn to see more, always end up seeing the same thing.
The sun is setting, leaving a orange glow across the other homes.
I can barely see the field in the distance,
I can almost make out the form of a calf.
Alone. Waiting for it's mother.

5 (cont). I wrote this because this is what I really see almost everyday while I'm in my family room. Well I see all that except for the house burning down. That happened while I lived out in Sparta, and it wasn't a house, it was all the land they owned.

6. Family -
The screams wouldn't stop. I hoped it was Kayla, she'd gone missing out of nowhere. I slowly approached the small house and pushed the door opened. Right when the door opened it smelled worse than any thing I have ever smelled in my life. It was too dark to see, so I turned my phone's flashlight on. I instantly regretted it. There were bodies, and body parts spread around the home. I felt so light headed, confused by what I was seeing. I couldn't wrap around my head around the fact that this is what had been happening, less than a mile from my house. I guess that's one of the perks of living in the country, your next door neighbors aren't really you next door neighbors. They're close enough to kind of see, but far enough that they can't bother you.

I head the screams again, it sounded more and more like Kayla. It had to be coming from the basement, that's where all the cliche murders happen right? I wanted to turn around and search somewhere else, but I couldn't risk it actually being her. So I slowly walked down towards the basement, flashlight on, heart pumping so fast I could barely breath. I kept my head on a swivel watching for anyone, or anything, that wanted to try to get the jump on me. Only place that I failed to keep an eye on was behind me. I was pushed down the old wooden stairs. I tried to look at who pushed me, but I couldn't focus my eye sight. All I could see was a figure standing above me. Everything was coming into focus. It was my older brother Michael.

To be continued. . .

7. I actually plan to continue creatively writing. I like to rap, so in a way I have to be creative with every song. Don't want to put out the same music every time. Low key, I write actual poems too. That began when I was in a rehab program. I found love in writing poetry. What I write on my own time is different than what I write at school because, its not forced it's natural feeling. 100% authentic. I don't have to force myself to write about anything I don't feel like writing about.

8. Look ya'll, my only words of advice are, NEVER GIVE UP. I've been through so much but I'm still pushing so I know if I can make it, so can you. Always stay positive and love yourself, and everything will come naturally.

9. Lastly, I will be at the top of the world in less than 10 years. You all just wait on it. One way or another, I will be legendary!

Food Story

It was an average Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house. Grandma always invited everyone over, but if you did come, you’d be put to work either before or after we eat. Unless you bring some food. Anyways, everyone was here. Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, it’s rare that we all get together like this. Usually when all of us are together like this, somebody ends up fighting. Guess that’s just a thing when black people get together.

Everything was going so well, everyone was eating, laughing, playing, watching football up until my big brother Jordan busted in. He was supposed to had gone and bought some plastic forks for the house since we didn’t have any left (My family is notorious with waiting until the last minute to get stuff). When his body finally decided to stop his constant huffing and puffing, we all realized he was crying.

“What’s wrong with you boy?” My uncle James asked. He was a man who looked really intimidating but on the inside he was just a man who had been more than I could ever understand.

“It’s DJ,” Jordan said with a pant. “He got shot and he’s on the way to the hospital. They say he may not make it. They said that and he hasn’t even made it to the damn hospital yet!” He began harder now.

Everyone on was completely silent. Only thing you could here was the T.V and the quiet hum from the ceiling fan. DJ had been Jordan’s best friend since elementary school. He was basically a family member since his family was always too strung out to be an actual family to him. But DJ was hardheaded, he always wanted to be on the street gang banging, shooting, thieving, robbing. Everyone knew about it. That’s why he wasn’t invited to Thanksgiving. Now I kind of wish he had been invited.

Later on that day, Jordan got the call. DJ was gone. It makes think how crazy life is. Even on the day of thanks. You can still can lose something, or someone, you’re thankful for.

Childrens Book Draft

The Day I Got Grounded -

One day when I was at school I was being very bad. The teacher told me to stop but I didn't, I was having too much fun. Ms. Teacher got tired of trying to tell me to work and left me alone. I was fine with that, I continued having fun. Being loud and not doing my work.

The bell rang. I went outside to get into moms car. Ms. Teacher was there too. She told Mom what I did today and mom was not happy about it at all. She said when I got home, I was in big trouble. I didn't want to be in trouble so I got mad.

When I got home, Dad was there. He didn't look happy. Mom called him and told him what happened at school today. They said I was grounded. I never been grounded before. I didn’t know what was going to happen.

For the whole weekend I could not do anything! I could not go outside and play. I could not watch T.V. I could not even play video games. I had nothing. All I did was clean the whole weekend.

Sunday night Mom and Dad talked to me for a very, very, VERY long time. Mom and Dad said that they were not mad at me. They wanted to show me that being bad was not cool at all. Mom and Dad said when I go back to school I had to tell Ms. Teacher sorry for what I did. So Sunday night I got to watch T.V and play video games.

Monday morning I went to Ms. Teacher and told her how sorry I was and that I’d never do it again. For the rest of the year. I did all my work, and saved having fun for recess.

Window Poem

Ahead of me I see the tops of homes surrounding my own.
I see the street lights when they're on and when they're off.
To My left, my television sits. Waiting for me to play a movie or video game.
As I look out today, a house is burning to the ground.
Sometimes I yearn to see more, always end up seeing the same thing.
The sun is setting, leaving an orange glow across the other homes.
I can barely see the field in the distance.
I can almost make out the form of a calf, waiting all alone for it's mother.

Smile For The Camera

- My brother Michael and I take the most pictures of our family and friends group. He thinks he's the best but I'm better.
- I'm missing in a lot of photo's because I am never around to be in them, and if I am around I'm taking the picture because I hate when other people take pictures.
- At my house all of our pictures are in photo books, except a few that are in frames. But thats only a select few of them
- No photo's are not important, photo's make people hold on to the past. The past is gone, and the future hasn't happened yet. I like to focus on the now. Not saying there is anything wrong with keeping photo's but photos just aren't important to me personally.
- The most interesting photo I've seen of my family was of my father when he was really young! He was very slim like me with a flat top. That was wild for me to see because he was so big. It's crazy to think my dad was such a handsome guy.
- I wish I had a picture with my nephew T.J.

About The Author

Robert Bernard Calloway III was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His life started a little differently than most kids life. He was raised as a Jehovahs Witness up until he was about 13 years old. That's when his father passed away and he had a fallout with religion of all kinds. He had a rough teenage life in and out of trouble but now he's writing best selling children's books. His inspiration to write children's books was the fact that when he was a kid he didn't read very much because he never found the book's as interesting as video games. So now he writes books about video games or at least video game themed. Other than writing books his off time hobbies include basketball, gaming, and drawing.

Childhood Post

1. My most powerful memory I can remember is from when I was really young, I was in Pre-K. The memory wasn't anything crazy or sad. It was just me, looking up at the clear blue sky. That's all. I looked at the sky and thought about the world (the world I knew as a Pre-K age child), and how big it must be.

2. The most important person to me during most of my childhood was my little brother Kobe. Throughout all the troubles we went through as kids we were always there for each other. You didn't see one without the other. Kobe made me strive to be better, so we can always be close. Whenever we planned to do something in our futures, we planned to do them together. Kobe always pushed me to be a better person, and he still does.

3. If I could go back to be a child for a day, I'm going back to 2008. That was my golden year. Everything was perfect. I got my first computer with internet, Lil Wayne was on fire, actually all the music was good, my dad was alive and healthy. Life was perfect. 

4. That friend was me, all my friends in elementary school, and middle school up to the end of 7th grade, were way more popular than me. But the person I kind of left behind was my friend Jordan. When we first met in elementary school, we hated each other. At least we thought we did. We were only in 2nd grade. I moved in 3rd grade but came back in the middle of 5th. When I moved back, we still weren't super fond of one another. But soon enough we became best friends. He was the only person that my dad actually liked. And we both had interest in FPS's (First Person Shooters) and Anime. We always argued over if Call Of Duty was better than Gears of War, or if Bleach was better than Naruto. We were the perfect pair of best friends. I remember one time we tried to get high, but his grandpa caught us. It was wild. Luckily his grandpa didn't tell my mom. 

5. The funnest nights I can remember with my family was when my dad would go to Block Buster and let us check out video games, then we'd stay up all night taking turns playing. And some nights we'd play Madden. That was the family game, everyone went at it in that. Me and Kobe couldn't hang with our big brothers and dad, but it was nice to be included in family nights.

6. The "cartoons" (anime) I remember from my childhood are Dragon Ball Z, and Naruto. Growing up Goku and Naruto, the main character from each show, taught me valuable lessons on respect, virtue, and the importance of protecting your friends and family. I can say without a doubt that if they made a movie on either one of these shows, I would NOT go see it. Dragon Ball Z already had a movie based off it and it was terrible.

7. The action that makes me the most nostalgic for my childhood is playing old video games. Growing up I had all the consoles from the original Playstation and Xbox, all the way up to the Xbox One which I have currently. Growing up gaming was my life, actually it still is. To this day I play video games just about everyday.

8. I always got along with my family. I was a sweetheart as a child, conflict with my family wasn't something I wanted. I wanted to protect my family from those outside of our family. I loved being with my family on Christmas night. All my cousins and siblings joined at my grandmas house to open presents, eat, and sing the 12 days of Christmas. Now looking back, I miss Christmas at Grandmothers house. Things change though.

9. As a child I was never content with what I knew. I always had to ask questions. Looking back, I'm glad I only knew the things I knew. Now I just wish I could forget the harsh realities of life, forget all the mistakes I've made, and forget the mistakes others have made towards me.

10. My 7th birthday party. All my friends from the neighborhood were at my house! That was unusual because my dad didn't usually like the neighborhood kids in our house. But I guess since it was my birthday he had a slight change of heart, or my mom did some sweet talking to him. That birthday party was fun. We watched the Scooby-Doo Movie and had cake and typical birthday stuff.

11. I'd go straight back to being 9 years old. Life was perfect, my dad was alive, my brothers lived with me, we'd just got internet and our Mac. We had an Xbox 360 at the time. I had so many friends. If I could go back then with the mindset I have now, I wouldn't. I'd want to completely have my little kid mind so I could really enjoy it and just be a kid again.

12. Growing up I was a healthy kid for the most part, only problem I really came across was asthma. Wasn't the worst asthma but I had to take an inhaler (as needed). The only time I had a real injury was when I broke my wrist, in two places. I was simply playing kickball when I fell over a kid! I landed right on my wrist. I thought it just hurt, so I went home and two days later my mom asked yet again did it hurt, I told her yeah and she took me to the doctor and it was indeed broken.

13. I didn't have a favorite toy, I was to busy playing games.

14. The only book that I really read at a young age was "No More Dead Dogs." Only reason I remember that book is because of the main characters name. It's Wallace Wallace. I thought that was super cool, I wanted my name to be Calloway Calloway, or Robert Robert. I was actually jealous of this characters name.

15. My favorite game growing up was Jet Set Radio Future, a video game as you might've guessed. I was obsessed with this game. It was about a gang of roller blading teens called the GG's fighting against a corrupt government or business owner or something like that. It was cool because they skated around and did graffiti on everything. It was stunning to see as a kid. I actually started rollerblading because of that game. I don't anymore because I just don't. But it was fun to do as a kid.

16. I didn't have a nemesis. I was above that level.

17. As a kid I loved duck and noodles, literally would eat it whenever I could. The only thing I used to eat as a kid that I refuse to eat now is a Three Musketeers bar. They are gross.

18. I'd rather not answer.

19. I did not accomplish much as a child. I don't feel that I've had a "greatest childhood accomplishment."

20. When I was uncomfortable as a child, or scared even, I always ran to my father. If he was gone to work or something, I'd go to my oldest brother Reggie Jr. Something about them being the man ain the house made me feel comfortable. Like no one could harm me if I was with them.

21. I'm still the same Robert B Calloway III. Goofy, fun loving, helpful, but at times mean as can be. The only difference is that now I can control the mean side of me a bit better now.

22. My opinion of my parents have stayed the same. I'm going to keep them to myself.

23. My most "interesting" relative is my deadbeat uncle. I hate that guy. So many times he's done some out of line stuff. I can't stand him. He fell down the steps once, it was pretty funny.

24. I was raised as a Jehovahs Witness.

25. I don't really know my heritage for the most part, what I've been told is my mom's side of the family originates from Haiti.

26. I moved around a lot for multiple different reasons, most of the time each house was on the same playing field as the last. Except for when I lived with my grandma, her house out did every house I've ever lived in.

27. My first real "away from home experience" was the night I went to juvenile. That was when life really started setting in. I realized I wasn't a little kid anymore. No more slaps on the wrist, life was changing right before my eyes. I was nervous honestly, I didn't know what to do. It made me even more nervous knowing that there wasn't anything I could do. Laying there in some jump suit that probably wasnt washed staring at the ceiling, I couldn't believe it.

28. Honestly there is no certain smell that sticks out in my head.

29. My favorite dinner as a kid was my moms pork chops, mashed potatoes, and whatever else she had with it. As long as it had pork chops and mashed potatoes I was happy.

30. Okay, I opened my brothers birthday present and got grounded for it. It had my name on it. So even though there is some more background info I'm not sharing, it still had my name on it. And My Mom mad me sit in the bathroom all day, like I was a dog or something. Luckily it wasnt for long. I had to sit in there and write "I will not steal" over, and over, and over again.

31. I don't remember what age I was exactly I know I was pretty young, around five or six years old.

32. As a kid, I wanted to be a lawyer. More specifically, a high paid lawyer.

33. I pictured it a lot better than it is. I pictured my family together, I'd have my own car, everything would be perfect.

34. My older brother, Michael Jordan Calloway. He always supported me on everything, he pushed me to be the best at whatever I wanted to be the best at. He still wants to see me go farther than he has.

35. I was in a cabin, looking out the window into a forest type area. There is a woman standing out there. All of a sudden she's right in front of me and she throws me out the window and chases me out while I'm flying through the air. The dream never makes it past that point.

36. One thing I disliked about my childhood was that my dad made me cut my hair all the time, and I hated having short hair.

37. Toy Story was my movie, no movie could touch toy story. I always wanted a woody action figure. I still want one now that I'm thinking about it.

38. I collected video games, all types. Well I guess it was a family thing. Collecting items wasn't my thing. I was too irresponsible.

39. "If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older" I like that because everyone usually has good childhood moments, but we have to let go and focus on the now. The past is gone, and the future hasn't happened yet.