PENGUINS!

NOTE: This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from my imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental.

The next day, I woke up and I felt different. It wasn’t just hungover different, it was different. I know it’s extremely dangerous to sniff coke and take shots of tequila at the same time, but the party was bumpin’ and I simply could not resist! And yes, I know it was a school night, but come on.You would have done the same thing. And when that stunning guy with the dark curls and the six pack let me take shots off his stomach, how could I say no? I am a party girl after all.
I tried to get out of bed, but It was hard. Did I gain weight? Was I retaining water? I better not be! I rolled out of bed and tried to walk. However I seemed to be waddling, the way the yuppie city women with their huge hips and high heels do on Jobs Lane in the summer. I waddled down the hall and into the living room, where we have a mirror that takes up most of a wall. To my astonishment, I had become a penguin!
I used my new beak to press the speed dial on my cellular phone. Thank god I had gotten that stud’s number last night! “Geoff!,” I exclaimed. He didn’t even give me time to speak after that.
“I’ve become a damn penguin!!!,” He shouted. We discussed for quite some time. We tried to figure out why we were penguins. “Come over!” He said. So of course I did. After all, the boy was gorgeous. He did alot of pot, but that didn’t really matter to me. He was funny and good looking. He drove a blue jeep and listened to hardcore music like the band Norma Jean. His badass image appealed to my good girl stereotype. It was he who got me into drugs and alcohol after all. Before I met Geoff, I could be found at the Nursing Home painting elderly women’s nails. Now I could be found in a black lit basement snorting lines with Geoff.
I waddled to the corner to catch the Suffolk County Bus to Hampton Bays. As a penguin, I could not drive. The bus dropped me off at Slo Jack’s where I met Geoff. We waddled to his house. We decided that as penguins, maybe we should lay low for a little while. School was definitely out of the question. I sat on the carpeted floor of Geoff’s room. He put Comedy Central on the television. We watched Dane Cook live, even though I hate Dane Cook.
My cell phone started to ring. The caller ID said “Restricted.” Oh no! Miss Lee, the attendance teacher, probably called her and asked why I wasn’t in school. I knew I was busted big time. I decided not to pick it up. She left a message. “MARIA CHRISTINA ROSE DAVILA! YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE! YOUR GROUNDED FOR LIFE! IM TAKING YOUR PHONE AND YOUR CAR AND YOUR COMPUTER! WHERE ARE YOU!? YOU BETTER CALL ME RIGHT NOW YOUNG LADY!”.
That's when things got really crazy. Geoff’s mom came home from running errands and saw us sitting on his bedroom floor. She immediately (and wrongly) accused us of doing impure things while we should be at school. Then she realized that we were penguins. She called 911 and we were rushed to the hospital.
My mother arrived in the Emergency Room, very flustered. I was in so much trouble. Was the juice worth the squeeze? Was it worth all this trouble to be high for a couple of hours? I was in the hospital, as a penguin, with my mother very angry at me. I felt like Greggor Samsa in Metamorphosis. I was a burden to my family, and after all the trouble I had caused today, she is probably going to kill me, or put me in a zoo. I guess I can only pray for the best!

Shakespearian Sonnet

They were beautiful creatures, swimming in their 5-gallon tank
Like careless angels blowing star like bubbles of joy
Happily alive, and algae free, for food Maria they thank
Resting upon aquatic plant leaves, there was never a motive to destroy
But happy bubbles do not always stay afloat
A foul smell arose, and the water became murky
“Clean that dirty fish tank!” Maria’s mother left a note
Having no idea of their fate, the fish were still perky
Maria had things to do, and cleaned the tank in a hurry
She didn’t know that her haste would lead in the water being too hot
Her fish are now fit for a curry
The fact that the death was her fault left her stomach in a knot
Her mother assured her that everyone makes mistakes
And that the creatures would not be served at any neighborhood clam bakes

A Major Change

When I first signed up for an independent study, I wasn’t planning to spend as much time on it as I had. I figured, two hours a week tops, and I would be fine. I ended up spending many hours in the library doing research, and tons of time doing actual fieldwork. From research to activism, I became very involved in the study of our environment. I hold what I learned in doing this study very close to my heart, to the point that I switched majors from Media and Communications to Political Science with a minor in Environmental Studies.
I began this study with the goal of discovering how the media effects how people treat our planet. I wanted to see how big of an impact the media had on getting people to recycle, conserve nonrenewable resources, and live a more green life. As a media major, I made a public service announcement as a class project on water conservation. I also wrote many news pieces on why citizens of the planet earth must do everything we could to improve the health of our home. However, I started to feel like this was not enough.
The media can only have as big an impact as their audience. If people are not interested in a news story, they will flip the page, change the station, or turn the radio knob. Therefore, I was only going change the views of people, rather than having a direct effect on environmental conservation; and changing people’s views would only work if they chose to listen and take what I said to heart. I came to realize that if I really wanted to make an impact, I would have to take a hands on grassroots approach. I decided to switch to a major in Political Science. Saving the world seems so much more important to me than having my own radio show or working behind the scenes in a television studio.
It seems that the only way to make Americans make small changes in their lives to better the environment is if it is by law. From doing research and grassroots projects, I have found that most people only care about saving five cents and five seconds. The average person doesn’t care about the fate of their planet. They say that it won’t affect them, and that it doesn’t matter. I’ve heard ignorance (“I love global warming, I hate the cold weather!”) and people who think that passing laws to protect the planet will cost them tax dollars.
As a political science major, I have the opportunity to make change by being a lobbyist, activist, attorney, or even by holding a political office. Rather than talking about a revolution, I can “be the change I want to see in the world” (Gandhi). When people ask me what I want to do when I get out of school, I tell them that I want to save the world. The knowledge I acquired through doing this study is just the tip of the iceberg that will allow me to do that.
I'm currently working on a report of my findings over the past semester. There’s so much more that I want to know, and so much more that I am curious about. However, there is only so much you can do in four months! The report is essentially what I have done, and I’m very proud of it. It has seriously opened my eyes and my heart to what needs to be done and what I am capable of doing. Hopefully, the average person will realize what I have, and see that it’s time to save the one thing that they depend on for life.