Our North American Town: Student Poetry, A (Boring) Rabenold Story ~Closure Day #6

Students are really doing well on their poetry. Many good observances and word play...KEEP GOING!

Here are two to get started - By Cassidy L. and Tori N.:

My ears, my ears,
They rang in the distance.
My deaf ears listened loudly to that quiet sound,
My blind eyes could see it too.
My mute mouth screamed and ran around.
I don't have any pets,
But I watched my child run rampantly,

What a crazed hound!
I don't have any children either,
But my son and my pet like to play,
In the morning after a long day.
I think its bedtime.
Good morning,

I'll see you tonight.
~Cassidy L.

Nick is sick.

When Nick sneezed he sneezed on me!

I asked him to please sneeze by a tree,

but instead he sneezed on me.

There is a fire,

Caused by a liar.

For when I hear a scream,

I look away from a meme.

I see the liar

Who caused the fire

Drinking beer,

There is nothing more to fear!

"The world is quiet here.''

~Victoria N.

There was a home in the middle of the night.
To some it was a fright.

Then someone turned on a light,

and everything was alright.

~Victoria N.

There is a bee
The bee is in a tree
No one cared about that bee
Not even the tree

There are no leaves on the trees
There is no grass that is green
There are no flowers that are out
Where is it all
Will it ever be about

~Kira H.

The Mistake I Made

Hi I am Bella
Happy as can be
But one day something happened
Something terrible to me

It had started out with fears
And it had drowned me in tears
And I did not know what to do

I fell to my knees
I tried to be happy
But I could not be happy
After not being happy
I was sad indeed

My family came
And then I was happy
As I heard them calling my name
And after falling into the trunk of a tree
I knew I was brave enough to be me

~Bella M.

Rabenold Story Time (Day #6 of our school closure) -

My dad had a good friend in the Marine Corps. His name was Jack Yamaguchi. See a picture of him here. I never got to meet Jack, but I find my life inspired by him. Here's why:

When he was a young boy, living in California, his entire family was taken into custody because their ancestors came here from Japan.

Tadashi "Jack" Yamaguchi gets his shoes shined near Masan Korea where he was serving with my father. Though he and his family were forced into the Poston Center during WWII, Jack held no malice toward his country or the Marines.

World War II broke out and America was fearful of our enemy Japan. And so the invisible seeds of distrust germinated and our government sent them to "internment camps." Basically prison camps to keep Japanese-Americans isolated from society. We are all feeling isolated right now. We are united in a common cause and we are doing so for the greater good of the health of everyone.

But poor Jack's family and friends felt betrayed. For most of them, America was the only country they ever knew. Through it all, Jack stayed POSITIVE. American recruiters would come to the camp to enlist young men and some women into the armed services (they needed men to fight as well as people to do clerical work and serve as interpreters.)

By enlisting, they no longer had to spend a boring life in the camps. Plus they could earn money to send back to the camps. Jack was old enough near the end of the war to join but he refused. Not for love of country, but for the love of his family. He did not want to leave them in the camp, he wanted to share and support them in that trying time.

But as soon as the war was over, and once everyone was released, what was one of the first things Jack did? He enlisted in the Marine Corps. He could have been bitter toward the country that didn't trust him during the war. He turned his pain into something to gain.

And do you know what one of his favorite expressions was? "Keep the Faith." Now anyone can say that for a number of reasons. But when I think about how Jack always said, "Keep the Faith," for a man who experienced life in the way that he did, and he inspired others to stay positive with such a positive message leads me back to where this story began. My life has been blessed by a man I never met, but somehow, feel like he's there for me, to keep me going.

In these trying weeks ahead, let's keep our faith in many things. Let's especially keep the faith in each other. We are stronger together.

If you follow this link it will take you to a longer story of my dad and how he fought in the Korean War. If you read it for more info on Jack, you will find a tricky little trick he played when he and another friend Jesse Sunderland were stationed in Japan after the Korean War. - Jack Yamaguchi, My Dad Randy Rabenold - And the Bulldogs who went to War

My favorite picture of Jack, in front of an American Flag - One man I never met but who has inspired me. Here I am giving a speech at Memorial Day Services at the LAMS in 2013. His message of faith and hope inspired my lesson that year. I delivered that at a speech at the Ss Peter and Paul Cemetery in Lehighton May 2013 as well.

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For a look at the history of Pandemics in our area, click here. Posted today on Mr. R's history blog.

Here are historical articles about the Influenza outbreak of 1918:

2 November 1918 - Allentown

5 Oct 1918 - York, PA

15 Nov 1918

28 Sept 1918 - On the very day Philadelphia held a parade with an
estimated 200,000 people in attendance, stories filled the Philadelphia
area of stories of people sick and dying from this virulent illness that
was sweeping the world. Consquently, Philadelphia say a large spike
in the number of cases and deaths from it in the next 2-14 days
after the parade as evidence from articles.

28 September 1918 - This story announcing
the parade was on the same page
as above discussing the flu fatalities.

19 Oct 1918 - Bethlehem

22 Oct 1918 - Bethlehem

11 Oct 1918 - Raymond Walbert dies while serving in the
army during WWI. This is how the virus came to America
from Europe and elsewhere, when our soldiers started
returning home from war. The flu ripped through camps
and tight quarters where the men were stationed, here and
overseas.