Every year we have a writing contest for all students in NC. This year it was a non fiction story.
This boy wrote his account of coming to the US for a better life. There are many stories like this and some much worse.
I don't know if you would be interested in using this on the class website.
I think it would of interest. He won an award for his work which was limited to 300 words.
Coyotes Are Not Always Animals
One day when I was seven years old my family and I were traveling north to cross the border into the U.S. My father Paulino said we would have a better life there. There were seventeen of us walking through woods and scrub. After walking for a day we came upon three trucks parked in the desert where we met our guide or "coyote." Our guide had been in a cartel gang and guiding other Mexicans for a few years. He told us to bring guns just in case we were stopped by the "drogas." As we approached the border we passed a drug cartel gang. The gang, with over fifty armed men stopped our truck and told us to get out.. but we refused. One of the gang members fired a gun and a gunfight started. We were mostly farmers and we had experience with firearms. I had a small pistol and shot a man in the leg and then my father used his rifle to smash his head. When it was over, the gang members escaped or were killed. Three of our people were killed. We heard screaming from a barn nearby and inside we found hostages the gang had captured so we freed them and some went back to Mexico and some came with us. We now had 46 people so we kept on going more confident of our selves after fighting the cartel. We had to avoid other gangs as we continued driving.
When we got to the border we jumped on a train going north to Canada. After a few hours when we got into the U..S. and the train stopped we jumped off and went our separate ways.
Gustavo Barajas Ruiz
Morehead City Elementary School
5th Grade
Crystal Coast Reading Council
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The family and friends of James Dale Beck mourn the loss of a beloved brother, uncle, friend, musician, artist, and philosopher, who passed away of natural causes on September 10 in his residence in Media, Pennsylvania at the age of 63. Born James Dale Sincock on December 22, 1949 in New York City, Jim was the second son of Harold R. Sincock and Ruth Dale Hanson of Minneapolis. With both parents working in New York, his father as a Broadway vocal arranger, composer and pianist, and his mother an Interior/Industrial Designer, Jim spent his early years in Forest Hills and Briarcliff, NY. Later, after the remarriage of his mother, Jim and elder brother, Guy, were adopted by George A. Beck of Manlius, New York, Industrial Design Director at General Electric prior to forming George Beck Associates. Settling in Manlius in 1958, Jim attended Fayetteville-Manlius High School, graduating in 1967. At FM, Jim played on the soccer team and competed in gymnastics. He also enjoyed baseball, winter skiing, swimming, music, and motorcycles. Demonstrating a unique talent for watercolor and other forms of art and creativity from an early age, Jim eventually pursued the advanced study of art and design at Parsons School of Design in New York City and the Colorado Institute of Art in Denver. Over the years he worked as a professional artist in varying capacities, including graphic design, industrial design, calligraphy, sign painting, and portraiture. Apart from the visual arts, Jim maintained his livelihood as a faithful employee of Sears for over thirty years, both in Fayetteville, NY and in Media, Pennsylvania where he was a respected employee and coworker. While Jim was diligent and studious as a visual artist, he was also a passionate musician on the Fender electric guitar, which he played elegantly, with his brother Guy on bass and keyboards, in the central New York rock band known as the "Islanders" during the mid-1960s. In Colorado in 1970, the two brothers formed the band "Echo Lake," which briefly rose to great heights in the Rocky Mountain region. Beside his creative talents, Jim was perhaps most loved for his warm-hearted generosity and good nature, always willing to forgo his needs for the help of others. His infectious love of train travel touched and inspired many and was a common theme in numerous paintings. He had a penchant for various forms of spirituality, both western/eastern and new age, held an intense outlook on life, and would often challenge the conventional. Jim is survived by his brother, Guy L. Beck of New Orleans; sister, Naneese Beck Bonnell of Manlius, NY; brother, Benjamin J. Beck of Boston; niece, Kirsten Bonnell Looby of Liverpool, NY; niece, Ellen Dale Beck of Boston, MA; sister, Patricia Ferry Caillouet of Littleton, CO; and brother, Dave Ferry of Steamboat Springs, CO. A Celebration of his Life and an exhibit of his creativity are being planned for later this year in the Syracuse NY area.
