Inquiry for Profile Essay

For my word web, I chose Jodette, who is a family friend. When creating the word web, I realized how interconnected everything is. One person is so complex and that person's life is intertwined with many other persons. Jodette is someone who tells a lot of jokes and I decided to base my lead paragraph on one of his jokes:

"I always knew that I was a mistake. My father was 60 when I was 7, and my 6 or so brothers and sisters all avoided me. They say they're at college and have families, but I know the truth. Anyway, when I was young, I was a curious lad, I always asked my father so many questions. He would answer most of them of course, but I remember sometimes he would put a finger to his mouth and a hand to his ear and say "I think mom's calling." Putting my trust into my dear old dad, I ran over to mom who said "I did not call, but I hear your father calling." Back and forth I ran and it seemed that I ended up with more questions than answers at the end of the day!". Everyone at the dining table burst out laughing. Even the little kids, who went quiet when he started talking. It was like this amazing charisma and kindness combined into one person. One could not help but listen to his quiet but strong voice.

Museum Missionary uses inquiry questions that can be applied to other people. For example, the author used David Mills and other lobstermen to explain the workings and myths behind their career. The subject matter is also both unique and typical. David Mills is unique in some ways, but he has the common attitude of lobstermen and fishermen.

The evidence used would include how God told David Mills to go to Main and start a museum. Building that museum and supporting it is a religious outlet for Mills. In the beginning of the essay, David also mentions his religion when he talks about lobster being fruitful.

 I will have some presence, mainly it will include how I know the person and how the person influenced me. In passengers, the author has little presence and he focuses mainly on his subject, while in museum missionary the author has more precense and looks into his relationship with the subject. They both are very good profile essays, they are just told in different ways.

A Delicious Mess

            Home cooked lasagna is supposed to be better than school lasagna. Heck, anything is supposed to be better than school lasagna. The slushy tomato sauce that smells like dish soap. The lasagna that resembles a big pile of slush. The pitiful cheese that tastes like sour water. There is no question that school lasagna scarred me for life.

When someone offered me their spiced, exquisite Romanian cheese and aroma-filled lasagna, I tried not to be rude. I said politely that “I’m good, I am famished from your delicious banana nut bread.” Well to this I say no more. No more hiding from the word lasagna. No more running away when I smell that ever-familiar blend of cheese, noodles and sauces. I will make my own lasagna and I will eat it knowing that I have overcome my past fear. Today is lasagna day.

            Being the vegetarian that I am, I searched for vegetarian lasagna recipes on the infamous google search bar. To my dismay, my screen was suddenly crowded with thousands upon thousands of “vegetarian lasagna recipes.” This might be more difficult than I imagined…

After several hours of looking I reached a verdict. Goodhousekeeping.com supplied me with a vegan tofu spinach lasagna recipe. Before choosing this, I realized that I had tofu in my refrigerator and I wanted to incorporate it into my scrumptious-to-be lasagna. Looking back on this verdict, I wished I had not gone with the tofu…

The ingredients were all laid out before me and I thought “this better be good.” I began mixing and stirring and blending. This, by far, must be my favorite part of cooking. I loved putting my hands in the mixing bowl and massaging the mixture of spinach, tofu, milk and spices. I probably had too much fun, as I apparently spent 30 minutes just playing with the lasagna filling that had the texture of kinetic sand. Then I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F and started cooking the lasagna. I wondered if lasagna shells were a type of noodle. I revoked this claim by saying that lasagna did not look like noodles.

After everything was made, I put it all together. The lasagna kept slipping out of my hand like a slippery snake. I eventually got control by pinching it with my nails to get a better hold. I put the lasagna filling on top of the lasagna and the sauce on top of the lasagna filling. This pattern was repeated awhile before I realized that I was out of filling! Though frightened at first that this recipe was turning into a disaster, I managed to substitute the filling with extra sauce.

Into the oven went my questionable vegan tofu spinach lasagna. While it was cooking, I went to play with some actual kinetic sand and reflect. I thought of all those years when I would stuff clumps of my vegetarian school lasagna into my friend’s milk cartons. They would retaliate by putting clumps of the meat from their beef lasagna onto their forks and chasing me around the cafeteria with those vicious meat kabobs. “Those were the good old days,” I thought  “Things are going to change now.”

“BEEEEPPPPPPP,” yelled the kitchen alarm.

I ran over to the oven and carefully took out the steaming lasagna. Though the recipe said to wait a few minutes before eating, I dived right in. I hesitated a bit before my first bite, blowing on the lasagna to cool it down. When I finally ate it, I almost cried. The tofu reminded me of the sour water cheese. The tomato sauce was like watered dish soap. The lasagna was falling apart and it resembled a huge pile of mush.

“Well, I guess some things never change,” I said glumly as I washed down my mouth with soap.

Imagine That

                                       

   

                                                  

                                                    What's the story behind this photo?
 This photo was from a trip I took with my family, they love traveling as much as I do. We went to Utah and visited all 5 of the national parks that were there. This photo was taken in the middle of an exhausting 10-mile roundtrip hike in Zion National Park.