Speak Out 4/4: My Benicia Essay Contest
Posted by Mr. Reed on April 3, 2008
In conjunction with reading “My California” the Benicia library is asking 8th graders to write a short essay (200 – 250 words) on an experience they have had in Benicia. Winning essays will be recorded in the library’s California of the Past oral history program. Write a descriptive, detailed, “zoom” account of a memory in Benicia.
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
My Benicia
“Hey, look at those bamboo branches!”
My two boys leaped away before I could warn them of the slippery rocks down by the water.
It was a late Saturday morning in Benicia, sun just breaking through the morning fog. My wife, kids, and I had decided to have a picnic lunch by the water. Instead of our regular 9th street park excursion, we decided to explore a tiny park off of W. 12th. No one was around. The sun glistened off the water, as a distant train whistle beckoned from the other shore. Near the picnic table, a small group of ducks, soaking in the sun, scrambled to safety when my boys darted over like banshee warriors.
We decided to walk along the water’s edge in search of forgotten treasures.
On the bank to the right was a virtual armory of bamboo branches.
“Okay boys pick your weapons!”
I found the perfect branch. Snapping it off, a faint smell of licorice perfumed the air. We pretended to be Jedi warriors, and whoever got touched with the tip was destroyed.
Something caught their eye. They were off.
”Cool, it’s a castle!” my oldest yelled. It must have been the old concrete foundation for the dock used to fairy trains across the strait from another century; now, the sound of high-pitched yells filled the forgotten ruins. I grabbed my wife’s hand and helped her across a boulder wishing that we did not have to return to the real world above.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:50 pm
It’s freezing out side and all my classmates and I are waiting out side for Mr. Reed to hurry up and come to class as usual. It’s like his late everyday to class and he’s the teacher! When he finally arrives we are all waiting for him to open the door and everyone pounces in the classroom like some tigers looking at there prey. We all sit down and Mr. Reed is already talking about this essay he didn’t even give us time to take off our backpacks! He’s saying this essay will be published in the Benicia public library big whoop! It seems so interesting. He says it has to be a memory in Benicia. Then I start to wonder and doze into space looking at all these boring papers on the wall that’s been there for century like a old man who never cuts his toenails! Mr. Reed says this essay is very important and he wants us all to try and enter in it and him his self will to. What’s so special about a memory in Benicia? Well this is my memory when Mr. Reed tells us about this essay. The only fun thing in this essay is me talking about when I remember when Mr. Reed drank his coffee and all the saliva and coffee burst out his mouth like bubble bees coming out the honey hive! It’s kind of gross because it lands on this one boy’s desk. Well that is my memory in Benicia.
April 4th, 2008 at 12:42 am
My Shining Moment
I have lived in Benicia for nine years now so I have had many different experiences here, but the one I will always remember is my first performance with a band. I was a fifth grader in the flute section of Mr. Valentine’s elementary band. I was sixth chair and I was scared. I didn’t know what to expect; would I mess up? Would anyone even enjoy the show? These thoughts kept running through my head as we played our songs. I don’t remember the songs we played, but I remember the feeling that went through me after we finished every song. Relief that we made it through without crashing and burning, nervousness for the next song, and joy from the applause we got from the audience stayed with me throughout the entire night. When we finished our last song, I remember finally letting go of my nerves and realizing that we did not screw up and that there was nothing to fear because everyone loved us. The last thing I recollect doing before putting my flute away was looking out at the audience and seeing everyone standing up and applauding our show- my first concert and we had a standing ovation. I no longer play the flute, but I play the oboe in the Middle School Symphonic Band so I perform many times every year, but I will never forget that one day and all the emotions that stayed with me through the performance.
April 5th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
divya erram
“a fake smile”- my benicia
“Wow! That’s one huge fish!”
My little sister Jyotika jumps out of our SUV and sprints to the end of the pier to where a fisherman is unhooking his fish and placing it in a blue and white ice box.
We had relatives from out of town visiting that day and had decided to bring them on a tour of our favorite spots in Benicia. My cousin Prachi and I are sitting in the car trying to keep warm while Jyotika and my younger cousin Tanvi race around the pier about a hundred times playing “it”.
It was 4 in the afternoon and I was extremely tired from the previous day’s events.
My mom’s yelling at me to get out of the car and to be in “some” family pictures. I know that if I step out of this van I will most likely be out there for like half an hour taking about 300 pictures and I’m not exaggerating.
Finally I give up I step out into the harsh biting wind and the setting sun putting on my “this-is-so-unfair-and-I-really-want-to-go-to-bed” smile which is a pretty bad looking smile.
I volunteer to be picture taker so I don’t have to have the fakest smile in the world plastered on my face for a really long time. “No! I’m the picture-taker!” I here behind me all my hopes of at least turning the day around has left my mind. Everyone always agrees with my little sister to take the pictures. And the day gets worse from there.
April 5th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
My Benicia
My most memorable moment while in Benicia really wasn’t a good memory. My memory was from when I was 8 years old. It was my birthday and we were at the Community Park for my birthday and father’s day. I remember everyone running around playing on that warm summer day. I was with my friend when he said “race you up to the top.” We both took off running up the stairs to the top of the big slide everything was just a big fun game.
When we got to the top there was a long line of children of all ages. We were all on summer vacation so there were a lot of people at the park. You could smell the barbecue and you could hear people shouting and laughing and having a good time. We all thought that the whole day would go exactly as plan with no injuries whatsoever.
When it was finally my turn to go down the slide I sat at the top of the slide and I guess my friend pushed me and there was still a kid at the bottom. My sister was going up the stairs as I went down she saw I would kick the kid right in the back and grabbed my arm as I went down. I heard a loud crack then I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my arm. When I got to the bottom I looked at my arm it looked ok but I couldn’t move and it felt like someone was stabbing me with a knife. I ran to my mom and the whole day was ruined and spent in the emergency room and me with a twisted broken cracked arm.
April 5th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
My Benicia
“Two outs plays at first!” the shortstop screams at the top of the seventh, one person on second and we were leading by one. The pitcher winds up and we all get ready for what is coming next.
Suddenly the ball goes soaring past the third basemen’s ear as the other team starts cheering. It is a straight line drive to me and I stand frozen for a second, astonished that the ninth batter actually got a hit, and the ball soars over my head. I suddenly realize my team yelling at me to get the ball and I started sprinting for the fence. When I got the ball the runner on second was rounding third and heading for home. I throw the ball as hard as I could to the cutoff hoping they would not score, and the cutoff throws to the catcher. I listen for the call as the runner runs into the catcher. “Out!” the umpire bellows and we won the ball game. We all ran in and congratulated each other while I stood there wondering what would of happened if we did not get that out, and I told myself that we got a big break. I jogged in as my teammates congratulate me on the magnificent throw but I was speechless. At the end of the game the coach takes us to round table on the suburb victory.
Even though I made this game up, I think this is one of the things that Benicia is really about: Baseball.
April 6th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
My Benicia
For me Benicia was the first place where I became interested in sports. For as long as I have lived here I have become more and more involved in hockey. It wasn’t a very expensive sport that required only a pair of skates and a stick, they supplied the rest. Benicia’s community was very generous and took care of its own. It was just what my mom and I had been looking for. Through hockey I made my first friends in my new home town. It was also through hockey that I learned of other sports in town.
I was a defensive end and a starting lineman on coach Wandless’s junior midget squad. This sport took a lot more time to improve techniques and further success but no matter what I refused to give up even when I was being discouraged by my fellow teammates. The few friends that I did make through football however encouraged me to play a sport that brings back many uneasy feelings, baseball.
Tryouts were in January and I was practicing frantically, after all first impressions mean everything. One week after tryouts though all of my uneasy feelings were about to disappear, because I had just learned that I had been drafted to the Benicia A’s. Once again I could say that Benicia changed my life.
April 6th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Boat Races
I have lived in Benicia all my life. When I was young, I used to go to the annual Waterfront Festival in Benicia. This is really how I got my love of power boat racing. I was only about 4 or 5 years old when I got more of an understanding of the boats and how they race. We would always root for the Magic Potion race boat. I don’t think it races anymore, but if you head down to Full Coverage Motorsports in Benicia, you can see the truck that towed it and talk to the owners. There are 5 classes in boat racing which are P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, with P5 being the smallest and slowest boats and P1 being the biggest and fastest. The Magic Potion always came in first or second place in the P1 class. Most of the time, I would go down to the festival, but sometimes I would go to my babysitters house because she has a porch that overlooked the whole race in the straits from the Carquinez Bridge to the Benicia Bridge. I would sit on the porch and we would pass around binoculars to see the race better. Usually after that I would go home and play with my toy boats.
Now, they cancelled the boat races because of an accident with jet skis where a man was killed. That didn’t stop us. We still go down to Pittsburg for the same races but now it is called the Seafood Festival. We met a friend who has been racing boats for a long time when we went on our annual trip to Tahoe. He had also been doing the Benicia races for a long time. One year he asked us to launch our own boat and come down to the races and be a patrol boat. Patrol boats make sure no one gets in the way of the boats racing and enforce the racing laws. Since my dad is a cop, we said OK and we have been doing that ever since.
So that is how my experience in Benicia has led me and my family to being a patrol boat at the Seafood Festival in Pittsburg.
April 6th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Benicia Zoom!
No mask could’ve concealed how excited I was. My uncle had just flown in from Texas, and he insisted that we went fishing… in Benicia! I’d never really thought here as being a good fishing spot, but there we were at the bait & tackle shop on West J early in the morning. We already had rods, but we did need to get some hooks and bait for the ‘victims’.
“Are we really gonna use…. this?” I disdainfully held a frozen worm in my fingers, far away from my nose.
“You betcha!” My uncle answered.
After getting our supplies, we drove to the end of First Street, at the very edge of the bay, and unloaded our rods to try to catch ourselves some dinner.
Soon after my uncle gave me all the tutorials of how to fish right, I really saw some of the fun of it. Sure, standing around holding a hopeless rod was boring, but it was more than that; it was the bonding we shared, uncle to nephew; it was the cool breeze kissing our faces, with the bay turning and thrashing in the background; it was the occasional false alarm that kept us on our toes. Of course we didn’t catch even a minnow after almost six hours, and of course I was disappointed, but in the end it really didn’t matter, because I had a great time anyway.
“Same time tomorrow?” I looked at my uncle hopefully, but then we both just laughed.
April 6th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Mills Memories
Going to school in my Halloween costume, beating the other kids in my 4th grade class at kickball, making new friends, and even having recess; these are only a few of many memories I have had at the now closed down Mills Elementary School. I was part of the 2005 graduating class of Mills which was the last class ever to graduate from Mills. To walk through those doors for the last time knowing that no one would be going back was like having something very important taken away from me. It was very difficult to accept that a place which holds so many of my memories won’t live on with its legacy and won’t be looked at the same anymore.
Mills was a relatively small school with a student body of only 350 students which I liked because almost all of the kids there were friends with each other and got along well. There were hardly any people who caused much trouble. It really made me feel safe and secure in such a public environment. To me, Mills was a place to have fun and to not worry about my school work. There was very little stress most of the time and a lot of time to spend with my friends and to have fun.
Mills holds 6 years of very important memories to me. Some good and some bad, but I will never forget them. Mills Elementary School was more than just a place to learn; it was a friendly environment to grow up in and simply just a place to have fun.
April 6th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
My Benicia
Floating in the shallow water as the sun shines full in the sky. A thought comes to mind. Go out into the deeper water my mind kept telling me. finally I gave way and headed on my boogieboard out into the carqinez strait.
I kicked faster and faster until I felt like a needle went into my knee. I grabbed my knee out of the water to provent the salt from adding to pain of the cuts. My knee looked I had been in an accident.
I felt around the seafloor and lifted up the sharp object. It was a rock covered in barnacles. Its sharpness hurt my hand. When I felt I couldn’t lift it any more I threw it to my side.
The pain of the salt getting into cuts impaired me from walking or swimming to the shore. I slowly jumped out of the water onto my boogieboard. Unable to kick the water I let the tide carry me to the shore. Once or twice I let myself go into the water to cool me down, only to quickly jump back onto the boogieboard. After fifteen minutes of slowly drifting I reached the shore.
When I reached the shore my dad and sister were packed up and ready to leave. Grasping the warmth of my sun baked towel we hiked up the hill to are car. We got onto the freeway and headed for home. I said good-bye to Benicia not knowing in a little while I would call it home.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:15 am
My Benicia Memory
The cold green mist, seemingly like a ship out at sea filled the air. Water that has seemingly no ends, and fog that covers the end. The green water reflecting the sun into your eyes, making it even more invisible to normal eyes. This is Lake Herman, and something only Benicia can have. We were going there to learn about the water treatment plant. When we got off the school bus, everyone started talking about these myths. They were saying things like the Lochness monster used to live there, or that there’s deadly fish in the lake. Then something caught my attention. They were saying that the Zodiac Killer lived in the old shack across the lake. The fog started clearing up and I could see it.
The shack was cinnamon brown, . It was small, but big enough for a hideout for someone like a serial killer. It looked so lifeless, with no grass around. It was as if the grass was trying to stay away from it. It was a haunting image, as if something evil really lived there.
We entered the water treatment plant soon after . I remember still having the image of the lifeless shack in my head . I don’t remember anything else after this, until we left. I remember as we got back into the bus. We went home, with the terrifying image of a murderer in my head. To this very day, I have still never gone near that old shack.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Andrew Myers
April 6, 2008
Period 3
A Day in Benicia
The Fourth of July parade is something that I have watched my whole life. Having the chance to be in it was one of the most memorable times for me in Benicia.
Every year, during the week before the Fourth of July, I would go down to the baseball fields with my dad, and help build the All Star float. After all this hard work, I only got to watch it from the crowd. I remember looking up at all of the All Star player’s smiling faces and wishing that I could be one of them. The next year was my ten year old year in the majors division of Benicia Little league, and I made the All Star team. I helped build the float once again, but this time I imagined what it would be like having the whole town watching me in it.
After what seemed like forever, it was the day of the parade. I woke up early and put on my red, white, and blue All Star uniform. My dad and I went down to the float early to meet with all of the other All Stars. We were near the back of the parade and the hot air sent sweat down my face as we waited to get moving. As we finally turned the corner onto First Street, I saw hundreds of smiling, clapping people. The adrenaline flowed through me as I waved to the crowd knowing that they were cheering for us. When the parade was over, we all cleaned off the float so that it could be taken apart.
I have been on the float for three years in a row now, but each time is just as special as the first. I will never forget this day in Benicia.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:34 am
My Benicia
Saturday, 7:45 AM:
I stepped out of the house with my cousin, Lee close behind. I breathed in the frosty, heavy, morning air and started down my crazily steep drive way. The sky was foggy, gray and immediately chilled us both. It was unusually quiet as we walked down the street, side by side. All of Benicia seemed to still be sleeping in warm, cozy beds, except us.
After walking down about two blocks boredom set in, so I picked a random pretty flower (lavender) and stuck it in the mailbox of a house one block down from where I found it. I then got Lee to help me re-arrange a pile of logs in front of someone’s house. When finished we both admired our masterpiece: two logs out of place and one in front of the pile. We made fun of ourselves until we got to our destination, 9th Street Park.
My cousin immediately ran to the playground and sat on one of the damp logs surrounding it. I walked over and sat on the one beside her. “What do you want to do?” I asked her.
“Uh. I don’t know.” Was her genius reply. I sighed and rolled my eyes.
“Okay…how about we go to the beach?”
“Where’s that?”
“Like right there.”
I grinned and pointed to the huge concrete path about three yards from us. “Oh.” She said. I cracked up and then we both got up from our sandy seats. I lead her down the road to find that at the moment the “beach” only had about one foot of sand. “Dang.” I grumbled.
“Now what?” she asked. We both stood there for a second and thought.
“I know, let’s pick up trash!” I laughed.
“Why not.” Lee said through a smile. She grabbed a sand-filled Flaming Hot Cheetos bag, emptied it out, and we started our mission.
April 26th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
My Benicia
I am a Boy Scout so I was asked to carry the American flag in the 3rd of July parade last year. I was so happy because I would be at the front of the pack with the flag that represented America. I knew they picked me because I was the tallest person able to do it.
On the day of the parade, I was so nervous, but I didn’t really care if I messed up because I messed up a lot of times before. My mom and I drove down to the end of first street and met up with my troop. I got the flag and put it together. I arrived early so I had time to rest because it was very early in the morning and I was cold. When it was time to get in position, I grabbed my flag and walked over to my position. Then my leader gave us the signal to go. I started slowly, but I was lagging behind a bit so I sped up. I tried keeping beat in my head, but that didn’t work too well. I kept my concentration on not messing up and to not veer left or right. It felt like it was only minutes I was marching because all of a sudden, I was at the end. After we were done, we carried the equipment back to our cars. On the way, people were commenting on our performance. I was so proud of myself!
May 5th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
MY BENICIA
Benicia is a great town. When you are here you can always feel safe and at ease. It is a wonderful environment. Benicia is especially nice during Christmas time. All the decorations, tree lighting, open house, and most of all the Benicia Christmas Parade. I still remember my first Christmas parade. It was amazing.
It started with the old-fashioned cars. I was expecting them to be really boring, but they were actually quite interesting. Then came the tractors which were pretty fun as well, one was even painted to look like the Grinch who stole Christmas. After the tractors, there was Pizza Pirate and a bunch of other businesses handing out free goodies, such as tee shirts, balls, clappers, candy, and leis. After that were the sports associations. There was Little League Baseball, Girls’ Fast pitch, Benicia Youth Soccer League, Panther Football, Panther Cheerleading, Arsenal, and Outlaws. Soon after were the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
Next was my favorite part, the marching band. First to come was the Colorguard. They were tossing and spinning their flags, rifles, and IDs like professionals. Then was the drum major and then the band. The drum major was amazing. He was absolutely astonishing. After them was the Drumline. They were pretty cool too. Their song was also fun to listen to. The middle school band, Drumline, and Colorguard was really good too.
Watching the parade was one of the best times of my life! It represented all of Benicia. The different cultures and activities really show you what Benicia is about.