80°F And Freezing Cold weather is the main cause of hypothermia. When hitting the road or doing any traveling or activity in the winter, no one ever really thinks to be ready for the worst-case possible scenarios. One should always bear in mind the consequences of being caught out in the middle of a blizzard or faced with a snowy cold front with none of the right equipment or proper attire. Peter Stark’s essay “As Freezing Persons Recollect the Snow” positions the reader into the driver’s seat of a cold, unthinkable, and traumatizing long night.
The Omaha Storm Chasers are a Minor League Baseball team founded just outside of Omaha, Nebraska in the city of Papillion. Due to the Storm Chasers being located in a high population, such as Omaha, the team can interest a larger community of fans that most Minor League teams can’t do. This outstanding Minor League team is affiliated as the Triple-A organization for none other than the defending World Series champions the Kansas City Royals, and has been affiliated with the Royals since 1969, giving the fans of the Royals a team to cheer for in Nebraska. The Storm Chasers play their games at the beautiful Werner Park, a place that provides wholesome entertainment and quality baseball games for the thousands of fans watching. This ballpark can hold up to 9,000 thrilled fans, also this unique park has a grass berm seating section in the outfield area, making the experience a little different than a regular ball game.
A boy named Ralph is elected leader of the group of boys and Jack is elected to be a hunter and craves the power that Ralph currently has. Ralph tells Jack to go hunt for some food for the boys to eat dinner. While Jack is searching for food, he runs into a pig. He wants to kill the pig so the boys have something to eat for dinner, however, he is unable to do this because he feels that he will be judged by the others for killing the pig right away. He also doesn’t kill the pig because he wants to keep the good reputation he has with the other boys so he could possibly have a chance at gaining Ralphs’ power.
The boys need fend for themselves and they all had to figure out how to survive. Eventually all of the boys soon turned into savages and went against one another by hurting the others. There are two main characters who took charge right away due to no supervision: Jack and Ralph. Jack was mainly in charge of hunting, and Ralph was in charge of shelters. Each of the boys are in competition for chief, which leads to lack of authority.
When you think of a blizzard, you usually don’t think of tragic 40 below zero temperatures. You don’t always imagine extremely high winds blowing the snow every which way, making it very difficult to see what’s in front of you. You certainly don’t think of a blizzard to kill 235 people, including 213 children just trying to make it home from school. The Children’s Blizzard of 1888 included many details common to blizzards, had incredible devastation due to the welcoming conditions beforehand, and involved some very surprising circumstances.
“ At last the immediacy of the kill subsided. The boys drew back, and Jack stood up… giggled and flicked them while the boys laughed at his reeking palms (120).” The boys do not mourn and think about what they have just done to the sow, they “laugh and giggle” and Jacks flicks the meat on his hands at the other boys. Games in this novel slowly builds the theme of savagery because every kill the boys make it makes them become more of a savage. The boys start off playing at the lagoon, to hunting pigs, then using one of their own to act like a pig, and finally they end up hunting one of their own like a pig.
The author writes,“...each expecting the other to do something. To pounce on a pheasant, or to yell Bang!” This line shows the different impulses the boys felt when coming across the pheasants. This builds suspense because the readers don’t know whether the boys will act on these impulses or not. However, The boys eventually figure out what they are going to do as seen in the line, “Then one of the boys said Shh.
David Laskin’s The Children’s Blizzard explains the devastating force of an intense blizzard, which caught several people unprepared, and it tells the tragic stories of these people. On January 12, 1888 a massive blizzard struck the center of North America, killing between 250 to 500 people and affecting thousands. There were many factors that made this blizzard exceptionally deadly. Many farmers and children who were outside were unprepared to deal with any cold conditions, “a day when children had raced to school with no coats or gloves and farmers were far from home doing chores they had put off during the long siege of cold” (Laskin 2).
The blizzard on January 12, 1888 will forever be known as one of the most disastrous storms in history. The storm earned the name “the children’s blizzard” because so many children lives were taken in this malicious storm. Could something have been done to prevent such a large death toll? Yes. If the proper steps had been taken to warn the people of the approaching bad weather, then many could have taken the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of their family and livestock.
For those Buffalonians who are old enough to remember it, the Blizzard of 1977 is a memory that has been seared into their consciousness. January 28th 1977, began as a normal day for the city of Buffalo, but by twelve noon the wind picked up, snow began to fall, and visibility became dangerously limited. As the wind began to intensify out of the west and sweep across the frozen wasteland of Lake Erie, it carried with it the lightly packed snow that had blanketed the frozen lake. An event of historical proportions was beginning to unfold in rapid time right in front of people’s eyes. Accumulating more and more snow as the wind moved eastward, the wind was carrying so much snow that it created white out conditions in the city and surrounding area.
The boys craved a sense of normalcy of having someone to look up to in the aftermath of the plane crash and lack of adults. “As young people grasp the moral “logic” of human social cooperation, they are upset when this logic is violated (Berk 506).” So the boys are emotionally unstable from the upheaval from civilization to the freedom of the
Alcohol Sadness The essay “Let It Snow” by David Sedaris is an explanation of how alcohol can have a lasting effect on a family. In this essay, Sedaris writes about his growing up with an alcoholic mother and her mistreatment of her children with this addiction. Sedaris’ writing proves this statement by sharing about one particular day when school was canceled due to a snowstorm. Sedaris is a well-known writer, playwright and radio commentator whose work often has an autobiographical focus (Faigley 89).
Reading Response Three The short story, “The Storm” by Kate Chopin was written in 1898 in Louisiana. In the story the protagonist, Calixta, is at home all alone when a sudden storm blows in, bringing with it a former beau named Alcee. Although both characters are married they have a short affair while waiting out the storm.
The book I choice to read was, “Brian’s Winter”, by Gary Paulsen. This book is about Brian after the private plane he was flying in crashes in to the rugged forests of Canada. Brian went through many struggles while trying the best he could to survive in the harsh environment. Some of the biggest events in this story include when he is attacked by a bear, during the major storms and some of his questionable encounters with the wolves. If I were telling a friend about the entire story in two minutes I would say, Brian’s parents were divorced leading him to visit his father for the first time in a long time.
The Storm Lightning crashes overhead as I race back into the house, dripping wet. I was just returning back from an adventure in the woods. The storm was unexpected, even the forecasters had never expected it. Luckily, I managed to make it back inside safely.