The World We All Share Through My Eyes

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I dedicate to my family and friends so that they can see the world we share through my eyes! For

so long I’ve kept hidden from my friends and family and doing so has made feel very disconnected as of

late. I find this autobiography and the Creative Writing class to be comforting as I can write almost

anything.

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“My imaginative eye”

People have a story to tell, it consists of many chapters, one for each year of their life, each day

would have multiple pages, they’ll talk about their achievements, and failures. Like me. The day I

graduated 8th grade was the latest of my major achievements. But that’s jumping to far a bit, maybe I

should start from ages 1-6 first.

Everyone has a point of beginning like the day they were born. My first day on Earth was on Dec.

20, 1999 in Princeton Hospital, my Mom doesn’t remember certain details about the room, just that she

was rushing to the room with my father and sister. My mom also says that she technically chose the date of

my birth, she could have had me before Christmas or after Christmas because the doctors weren’t working

on the holidays. When I was born my family was living in East Windsor, my mom doesn’t recall. Shortly

after we moved around the time I was two-three.

The REALLY early years of my childhood is the most hazy time for me, but that’s what you have

parents for. My first tooth came when I was at least six months, I wasn’t told much about what happened

around the time. I believe my first word to be bacon, but my mom says it was mama. I feel like she made

that up, but it sounds more believable than bacon. One of my favorite toys was a big red wagon, because it

was useful for many things such as hiding in it, riding in it, sleeping in it, drinking from my sippy cup in it, so

many uses. Another toy I loved was a game system called the Gameboy Advance SP, it was my first

gaming system, it helped my older brother and I bonded because I couldn’t read what the games said at

the time, so he helped me play the games as well.

When I was younger I used to fun things such as playing video games with my big brother, but if I

wasn’t playing different types of games and doing different types of activities, such as tag(if it was fall),

snowball fighting or hide-and-go-seek(if it was winter), playing in the park(if it was spring), and

swimming(if it was summertime).

Favorites memories are needed for remembering good memories, chances are if you remembered

it after all this time, then it’s important to you. I don’t remember anything that happened from ages 1-2,

most of the stuff that happened then, I was told about. At age 3, one of my favorite memories was meeting

my little brother for the first time. When I say I asked “who is dat?,”, and my said my little brother, I was

happy to see him(little did I know that he was going to be a future terror). Age 4’s best memory was

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everyday I went to Pre-K, because it was so much fun and my teacher was someone who was related to

me, and plus the bread was amazing. Going to kindergarten was a good memory for me because I learned

how to read, and write (and I wasn’t illiterate anymore). Reading helped when I wanted to play my games,

since he wasn’t around very often by the time I was in Kindergarten, so after reading I could play my

games on my own. Another memory of this age/year was when I got Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue

Rescue Team. Long story short, the game was really great and well crafted that I remember it even until

now. Age 6 has good memories too! This was the time I had my first babysitter, her name was Joanne, and

she was very nice and she had a stuff baby lion that I always played with.

Almost everybody has a favorite party, well mine is my cousin Warren’s birthday party because

there was many fun games to play and I won some of them.

My first pet was a goldfish named Dory(like the character from Finding Nemo)because it was a

girl. Whenever I saw it I imagined it was the actual Dory and sing “Just Keep Swimming” for 3 minutes

straight. I don’t know what happened to Dory now, but we gave it away to one of the movers, because my

family was moving into an apartment and pets of any kind weren’t allowed. I hope she’s still alive

wherever she is.

I’ve stated my favorite memories during certain ages, but my favorite memory or at least one of

my favorites ever, was when I got the Nintendo DS. This to me at the time was a revolutionary device

because it could hold old games from my GBA and new games for my Nintendo DS. Funny thing, when I

first got it I tried to use it by putting the small DS cartridge in the slot for GBA games, and it didn’t work

until someone told how to do it.

Radical

African American

Shining Star

Honest

Awesome

Appreciative

Diligent

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“A Two-Way Gift From God”

As Desmond Tutu says “you don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to

them.” To most people their families are perfect, and to most of the rest, their families are the worst. I’m in

the middle part, that side is filled with people who think their family can be good and bad(at least at times).

Speaking of families, my family consists of my mother, father, sister(who is the oldest sibling), older

brother and younger brother.

First let's talk about my mother. She is a little chubby, with long curly-ish black hair, slight dark

shade brown skin. She has great qualities, some of her greatest characteristics is that she really cares about

her children, their well-being plus she’s also a REALLY good driver. My favorite thing to do with her is

make jokes, even though they’re about other people, to me they’re still funny. She also likes to dance, her

favorite is whining(it’s a west indian thing). Her height is 5’7.

My father is very different than my mother. I should probably talk about his appearance before

anything else. He is a lighter shade compared to mom’s skin color. He is 5’6 (apparently), he has very

short guy hair to the point of stubble. Speaking of stubble, he has a lot of that on his chin and it’s very itchy.

I think one of his good skills is with math. My father is really good at math, he might not remember some

things, but he’s REALLY good in my opinion, he even teaches me when I’m confused. For hobbies he says

that he likes travelling. I don’t know where he travels to though. My favorite thing that I did with him was

when he took to get a game for the first time. I was around 10 and he had taken me to GameStop, we went

in and he was surprised at the amount of games in that one tiny store. There was one moment when he was

playing a demo to a game, and when I saw him, he was pretending not to play the game.

My mom and my father both said that their greatest achievement was starting this amazing family.

Unlike some people, I have three siblings, two of which are older than me, while the last one is

younger. My sister is the oldest, her name is Taisha. Her hobbies are exercising and fashion, she can

manage her hobbies with a loving husband and two kids. She also works as a phlebotomist.

Next is my older brother Rigo, his favorite hobby is playing games and having as much fun as he

can. I don’t see him very much, because he now lives in Queens, New York with my aunt and he recently

went on a trip to Panama. He works a very important job in Sanitations, other than that I don’t know very

much about him.

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Last, but definitely not least in my family, my younger brother Rajere. He is a joke maker, and

pretty good one at that. He also club dances a lot, and he’s really good at making friends. Rajere has

multiple characteristics that I like about him.

I believe that I’m closest with Rajere the most, but everyone else is a good 2nd. I know him more

than out of anyone in my part of the whole family. We may fight a lot, but we also get along a lot. My

greatest memory with him was when I was 6. It was REALLY cold in the house, so my older sister and

brother had lit the fireplace and I helped Rajere roast marshmallows.

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“The Occasional Trip Down Memory Lane”

As Richard Bach said “The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and

joy in each other's life.” I share many moments with my family, they ranged different types like from

sentimental to sad and most important of them, happy ones. In this essay, I’m going to tell about the good

times my family has shared.

Like almost every family we have family trips. Our most memorable was Hawaii, Barbados,

Panama, and my most recent one, Jamaica. Jamaica was a fun experience, because I heard about it and it

sounded amazing. I saw what it actually looked, I tasted delicious and sweet exotic fruits, stepped out of

my comfort zone, he calypso music, smelled authentic foods. As my mother, younger brother, cousin and I

got off the plane and stepped in the airport that was located in Montego Bay, Jamaica we realized we

have made it. I was like how tv shows and postcards depict it, but yet it was still different, I guess it was

because this was real. My family waited for the rest of my other family members to get off the plane as well

so we could all head to the bus together. Time had passed and the rest of our family had arrived, this

included, my aunty Gweneth’s big family, and my older brother Rigo. After they arrived we headed on the

bus which took us to the Rio Negril hotel.

Holidays are special, and even more special when spent with family or friends. My family

celebrates the traditional holidays, except that my mom doesn’t celebrate Halloween. I love all holidays,

but I guess I love Christmas more, mainly because of the presents and the fact that I see my family. I see the

big Christmas tree in my Aunty Edith’s house, smell and taste all the delicious home cooked meals that

everyone made, hear everyone’s friendly chit chatter. When Christmas comes, anyone in the family can

make it, makes it. This is a pretty normal celebration, but the only difference is that my aunty Gweneth

dresses up as Santa Claus.

All if not most families have special or regular traditions. On Christmas morning, in my household,

we open our gifts in our pajamas, and eat pepperpot(everyone except my younger brother, my nephew,

and I)this is something we do together, I make jokes that this is a speed eating contest. My family goes to

church, but we go to separate churches, I go with my dad and my younger brother. We eat pancakes

Saturday or go to a restaurant, that’s something else we do together as well.

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My birthdays are very important to me. They’re milestones for me, and shown how fast life is. One

minute you’re in diapers and the next minute you’re looking for a job. My favorite of the birthdays is the

one when I was turning 14. I invited my best friend Joey, and my new friends Genesis and Chris. It was

held at a huge bowling alley, sadly there wasn’t a theme, Genesis won the bowling match. I’m looking

forward to this year's birthday party, I’m going invite Ibby, Chris, Satvik, Genesis, Rose and(last but not

least)Jo-Jo(Joey)!

Remember in the third paragraph I mentioned church well, I didn’t do much for my church until a

few months ago. I worked the computer, that holds the scriptures to play in case people forget their bibles

and lyrics to the songs we sing. I like taking part in music groups that church makes the youth do, but sadly

we haven’t done that in SOOOOOO long!

I remember learning how to ride a bike, I was the first in the family to not “don’t let go”, my mom

congratulated me on that!

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“My Bridge Towards Happiness or Despair”

As a wise one once said “friends are the bridge to happiness or despair, if they drag you towards

despair you should leave them, if they keep you towards happiness, keep them!” I believe my friends bring

me towards happiness, friendship is very important to me. Growing up in Piscataway, NJ having friends

was always something good to have, especially for myself because I probably would have been eaten.

My best friend Joey, is a loyal companion, he always has my back and he’s very tough too! He has

the characters that I look for in a friend. The best thing I did with him was go to Treasure Island, we went

swimming in the ocean around the island, looking around the island for fun, and we even jumped off a

boat!

Unlike most friends we only told each other one secret, and we haven’t told anyone it.

One of my favorite things that I do with Joey is going to his house and playing video games as

well as writing and talking about ideas for stories! Joey and I have many things in common which is why

we go together so well.

What I admire about Joey is his ability to be someone everyone likes if he really tries, while when

I try I end up being somebody that everyone hates. Though I only mentioned Joey, I have other friends,

such as: Chris, Awab, Nisa, Cole, Satvik, Genesis, John, Pravi, and Rose!

“As the rest of the world drags me to despair I know I have my friends to pull me towards

happiness!”

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“The Thing The Makes My Weird Little Heart Happy”

As Andy Serkis said “Every age has its storytelling form, and video gaming is a huge part of our

culture. You can ignore or embrace video games and imbue them with the best artistic quality. People are

enthralled with video games in the same way as other people love the cinema or theatre.” Everybody, if

not, most people have a hobby or hobbies. My hobbies are playing video games, drawing and creating

story ideas. These three hobbies are important and show part of who I am.

The first hobby I’m going to talk about is drawing. Drawing is a good hobby of mine, but my least

favorite of the three. I like drawing, because it proves to people that I have artistic potential. It’s my least

favorite because the drawing don’t turn out to be what I wanted. I usually draw when I’m at home on the

weekend, I look at something that I like and use that as character stance/position or body position. When I

show my art to my friends or an artistic person at my school, they tell me the problems that I need to fix

and that it looks nice. Being an artist allows me to be part of another community.

When I was younger I was interested in Fantasy stories, video games, and anime/cartoons.

Because of that, I found a love for making own stories or writing down story ideas. I have yet to finish a

story, but I plan on finishing one before the school year is over! I usually plan stories in my home(in the

dining room to be exact). I like to plan stories in my head and imagine them, but I don’t like writing them

because I like to be descriptive, but my vocabulary is very...limited.

Best for last playing video games. This is my favorite of the three hobbies...maybe my most

favorite hobby. I can only draw and plan stories in the dining room because there space, I’m more

comfortable, and I’m hiding from my mom. My mom thinks of me being an artist/novelist is a “waste of

my time unless it’s for a good grade”, but I can play videogames and she accepts it...reluctantly. With

videogames I can ignore the horrors of my world. When I play videogames I also get inspiration for my

stories and character ideas from playing videogames. Playing videogames is the center of who I am and

what I do with my life, my most favorite hobby is playing videogames, and now you know why!

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“What Prepares You For The Real World?”

“School prepares you for the real world...which also bites.” - Jim Benton. Starting school is a big

thing. School is where student/children get and education so they can have a get a good job and have a

great future without any struggle. When I started school I was either 2 or 3 years old, I went to SSYC

which stood for Second Street Youth Center. After my second year at that school I went to Grandview

Elementary School til the end of 3rd grade. I enjoyed those school years. My mom told me that when she

asked what I ate for lunch she says I always say “school bread”.

My friends are my favorite people that I hang out with. At school what I like to do best is talk and

hang out with them, because we don’t see each other after school so talking with them and hanging out

with is good. We don’t do school activities together unless it has to do with video games, anime, and art.

One of my most memorable field trips was in 7th grade where my entire grade went to Medieval

Times and my best friend Joey told me all about the wonders of Medieval Times during the bus ride. In

Medieval Times, Joey was talking about how it’s amazing because you can food without utensils.

One of my favorite teachers was my third grade teacher Ms.Straube. She fun, energetic,

interesting, responsible, and taught us really well. She taught my class and I all the subjects that I that

grade teacher was supposed to teach. I remember me during auditions for a school play, she told me to try

my best if I wanted to get the lead role. I memorized the lines for the lead character, but I ended up getting

the secondary lead role Farmer in the Dell. She told me to not be sad and be the best “Farmer in the Dell I

could be”.

One of my favorite memories that I have was when my teacher, Ms. Jimenez told me that I would

go places and that my writing was really good. It made me feel that I could be an amazing, no, astonishing

writer.

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“As the world changes, so does the person or people that inhabit it”

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've

been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Those were the words of the current president(as of

1/20/16)Barack Obama. As time goes on, things change. Whether it’s by humans or by natural disasters

our world has changed significantly. It’s not just the things in our world, but people too, a person who was

your friend a day ago, becomes your enemy now. Even the interest of people change as time goes on.

When I was younger my interest included playing with toys, and playing outside. Those were

things I would generally do as a kid, and I did those usually when I was board. If you asked me what my

interest were now it would be very different than what I used to be interest in when I was younger. I find

toys to be very childish, unless you're There are times where I wished I was a baby again because that was

the most when people utterly adored me, I was cute, now I’m…….not as pretty.

When I was born Bill Clinton was the president, and now it’s Barack Obama. Around the time of

my birth many things had happened, my parents said that people were worried about Y2K. When I was

born people who were famous were the Backstreet boys, Cher and Britney Spears. The music that was

famous then is drastically differently then what is played now, such as boy bands(which aren’t really

THAT bad)and any new song that’s catchy or has a famous artist singing it(which aren’t bad, some are

pretty good). Speaking of famous things, I remember watching a movie that isn’t very famous. It was

called Chicken Little, I really liked the movie it had a strong message in it that I personally relate to and

follow to.

As time goes on people change and “adapt” to what’s happening to our world. There are some

people who stay in the past, but that’s probably because they loved their time/generation so much, or they

just can’t let things go.

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“My Mother, My Role Model”

A quote by moi: “Everyone has a person or multiple people that they admire. Whether the person is

good or not is another story that depends on perspective.” - Rashaad Couloote 2016. I couldn’t find a

quote that fits my thought on this so I made one up. I like this not just because it’s mine, but because it helps

me start off this chapter. Role models can look different and act different, but the only thing that’s the same

it that the person sets an example you want to follow and possibly surpass the example or expectations.

My role model or person I admire is my mother, named Paula Couloote. Imagine me, but as an

African American woman, who is 5ft 6in and a little husky with slightly dark tan skin and long black hair.

She has a pretty face with few pimples. She likes to wear black outfits even though she normally a happy

person. She is the mother of four children(obviously including me), the oldest my sister Taisha, my older

brother Rigo jr., and my little brother Rajere. She was also the wife of Rigoberto Couloote Sr.

In my mother just has this MarySue quality to her. She is good at everything(or almost

everything)she does or tries. She is exceedingly intelligent, she had told me that when she was an all A

student. Also being intelligent she is an excellent driver. That’s just what I think because some of my family

members have gotten into small car accidents or fender benders whether it was their fault or the other

driver(most of the time it was the other driver), while my mother reacts quick enough and always avoided

an accident whether or not it would’ve been her fault or not. My mother being smart and a good driver,

she can drive herself to her job in Jersey City. My mother works as a court reporter and she talks to and

befriends judges and lawyer and she learns A LOT of the law daily. I learn a lot about the law myself.

Like any other human being, my mother has hobbies of her own. My mother enjoys dancing, at

least music. My mother dances to calypso music and reggae(reh-gay)music. This one is based solely on

what I see and the fact that she enjoys it. One hobby that my mother told me herself is swimming.

Whenever it’s really hot one of the first things she says is “let’s go to the pool”. SHe immediately jumps in

the pool(if it’s not too cold)when her swimsuit is fully on. My mother taught me how to swim herself.

I’ve never really smelled my mom(hopefully that doesn’t sound weird). Today she smelled our air

freshener, Cherry blossoms and perfume all mixed in one really good smell. Talking about the senses

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reminds me of a story she told when I felt her left hand and it was really rough. She told me that because

she burned her hand when she was young, that day I learned something new about my mother.

Sometimes in life we meet extraordinary people. That type of person just happens to be my

mother...and I get to see her everyday. The overwhelming aura of my mother is a feeling of immense

comfort.

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“Dreams, Goals, and Aspirations”

I believe that everyone aspires to be something and they want to reach the best way they know

how. I have dreams of my own that I hope I can accomplish so I need to try hard so that I can accomplish

it! After highschool I plan on going to Harvard and then Harvard Law school. I can reach Harvard if I

make sure that my grades are REALLY good and obtain scholarships. If I want to achieve my future goals

I need to give myself almost any advantage that I can get.

My future goal is to be a lawyer for worker’s compensation, and to be a novelist and write

fantasy/fiction stories. I also want to turn those into video games. I want to be a lawyer so that I can make

a lot of money to help my other dreams come true. I’ve always want to make video games for people to

remember and love my life’s work. I was inspired at writing by my best Joey, and seeing that people liked

Cheyenne’s story the Kobuchan Curse. I could achieve this by going to Harvard Law School, becoming

making money, but write my stories out and master my craft.

I would date a nice person before I achieve my dream, but I plan on marrying after becoming a

lawyer for worker’s comp. because weddings are expensive! After being married I plan on having

children, I would REALLY like twins, but I’m okay with two kids, if I have enough money, I would get

more,...maybe four. I hope to stay in New Jersey, but if I can’t I’ll go anywhere I can get my kids in a

positive environment and hopefully they can get a good education.

I have another that I’m not sure I can accomplish. Since I was in second grade, I wanted to be the

president. Before Obama came into the picture I planned to be the first African American president, now

that Obama exist I just plan on being a president that most(if not, some)people can/will admire.

Lastly as a message to other people: there will be somebody or many people that tell you won’t

achieve your dreams or that your dreams aren’t practical. I say that you shouldn’t listen to them,

people(no matter who you are or who they are)will always try to put you down, whether or not it’s

unintentional.

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“Something Everyone In The World Learns From”

When I’m a grown man with a happy family I plan on telling my children about my experiences. It

will give them a chance to learn and help affect their choices in life so they don’t end up making the stupid

mistakes I made. Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though

sometimes it is hard to realize this. Henry Ford once “for the world was built to develop character, and we

must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward”. As humans we

make decisions and choices that will affect our lives.

Speaking of experiences, I’d like to recall one my first major experiences. That would be my first

day of Kindergarten. This is also a memorable experience for me because I met a large amount of new

people. The school I went to previous to this one was a preschool in Plainfield which had uniforms and

people whom I made….”decent” connections with. I knew no one in my class , so I felt as if I was the

odd one out, but I wasn’t because some other children were in the same boat as me(being kids who didn’t

know who the other were). A funny moment(at least to me)during Kindergarten was when my teacher was

teaching us new words. For some odd reason my teacher Ms. Hyson wanted to teach what the word “gay”

meant. She used the definition which meant happy. But I only knew the other definition that everyone else

was familiar with. I tried to explain to her I knew about the other definition, but she didn’t want to hear it.

So I dropped it.

Another of my major experiences was when I went to CJCP. I went to this school at late

September one week after I had gotten into a fight at my old school with another student in 8th grade.

When I found out the school uses uniforms, I was okay with the idea because I had worn uniforms before,

but that was preschool. Until then, I’ve never noticed the diversity of people just by looking at their faces.

Also I’ve met such….”unique” characters at this school, such as Justin, Jordan, Raja, Gloria, and Chantal.

I wish I knew someone at this school before going there because I had a REALLY hard time making

friends, and only made 3 new friends, 2 of them whom I’m not sure I can really my friends.

Speaking of friends, sometimes I wish I hadn’t left my middle school T.Schor at the time I did,

because I would realize that I missed my best friend Joey. Joey was the really the only person I could call

a friend because he would take time in his busy schedule and meet me in the hallway or even start a

conversation. Sometimes I wish that I’ve gotten more advice or learned more life lessons when I was

younger because I learn my lessons a little too late, such as the lessons of not misusing your friends

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because you might need them, like how I needed Joey in 8th/9th and even 10th grade. When I’m a grown

man with a happy family I plan on telling my children that “you should take all the advice that you can

learn early on because you’ll never know when you’ll need it or when you’ll have to use to help with the

decisions you have to make in life. I just hope that the mistakes that I have made will allow my children to

be a lot happier in school and in life.

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