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Nonfiction Assignment #2

Option 1

Dear Abe Lincoln,

How’s it going old pal? It’s been awhile since we last talked. You were busy emancipating the slaves while I was slaving over my studies. It’s been generations since we last talked, but let me tell you what I’m up to. I’m 18 now, far removed from my younger days when we used to be buds. I’m studying at Penn State University, in the state of Pennsylvania, which was just a small commonwealth in your day. I’m studying Economics and French, I write for a campus news website, I do research for a professor, and I have a ton of work. Things have changed since the old days, haven’t they? What have you been up to? How’s Mary Todd? I hope she’s well.

Your friend,

Ben

Dear Abe,

Hope you’re well. I’m in college, studying Economics and French. I write for a campus news source, and I help a professor conduct research. Unlike past times, I have a lot of work.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Ben

Option 2

Objective written in upright text, subjective follows in italics.

My best friend Nikhil lives in a big house at the top of his street, which sits upon a hill.

Nikhil’s house is a large, imposing brick structure. It’s removed from the houses on either side, pushed into an inlet of woods. The front porch lights are almost always off — as are many of the lights in the front of the house — which produces an unwelcoming affect to the uninitiated visitor. I, however, have become accustomed to the dark exterior.

On weekends, Nikhil and I would hang out, filling our time with mindless activities such as driving around town for hours on end.

Despite the fact that we never really had anything to do, we were almost never bored. On slow weekends, after school, or even during the school day, we would take my old Nissan Sentra for spins around State College. We’d get food, visit a random assortment of friends and acquaintances, listen to music, or, more than anything, just talk. It was those seemingly pointless car rides that solidified our friendship.

I’ve known Nikhil since the first grade.

Nikhil and I were in the same first grade classroom, and we’ve been in the same schools ever since (except for now). However, our friendship is far from linear. We were friendly in elementary school, but, like any fourth grader, our relationship didn’t expand much past playing kickball at recess and eating lunch at the same table. In middle school, we had different groups of friends, and often quarreled. I hung out with the athletes, the kids who were on the school basketball team with me. He spent time with the “academics”, the science olympiads, the debaters. It wasn’t until the tenth grade, when we were once again in the same upper level classes, and realized that we shared many of the same interests despite our appearances and backgrounds, that we truly became buds.

Nikhil now studies at UPenn. I go to Penn State.

Our friendship has changed a lot in the past year, as he moved away for college and I stayed in State College — along with many of our high school friends — to attend Penn State. Nikhil always breezed through high school, while I spent a lot of time studying to keep up. Now, for the first time in our collective lives, he’s working exponentially harder than me, studying Bioengineering and Economics in a competitive joint degree program. In some extents it’s a sweet irony. Despite the distance, we’re still close. We text more days than not, spend time together on breaks, and occasionally meet up in New York City for a weekend.

Option 3

-Mom, can I stay out past midnight?

-No

-Why not?

-Why do you want to?

-Why can’t I?

-Because you don’t have a reason to.

-If I had a reason to stay out, would I be allowed to?

-Do you have a reason?

-Yes. I want to, and it’s unfair because you don’t have a reason not to let me. Your only reason is that I don’t have a reason, which isn’t a reason at all. It’s hypocrisy!

-Is that your reason?

-Yes. So can I stay out?

-No.

Comments

  1. Lori Bedell says:

    The Able letter? Eh….

    I like the way you shape your depiction of yours and Nikhil’s friendship. In a short amount of time, you do a good job of characterizing the ebb and flow and development of a long-term friendship.

    The dialogue feels like a Mamet (without the cursing) or Beckett play. And the subject is completely relatable.

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