Hometown Glory

A student pick by British vocalist, Adele, who sings here about the place that home holds in her heart.

The House on Oak Street

A little house in Texarkana, 806 Oak Street to be exact, has to be the most important place on earth to me. Although it's torn down now due to abandonment, it's vivid. It will never escape my memory. My grandmother raised my older sister and me in that house for seven years until I was moved to Georgia around my seventh birthday since my mother nor father were around.

I remember separating peas from pods with my grandmother. I remember my kiddie keyboard that I used to play songs and me expecting to receive a standing ovation from her. I remember the traditional ghost stories she used to tell my sister and me about our home. I remember that couch my grandmother would sit on to watch the news while pigs' feet cooked in the crock pot.

I remember the blue chair grandma sat on during her cancer years. I remember my mother coming into my life when I was six, which was the best time considering my grandmother's condition was getting worse. I remember the little stand in the den that had a telephone and a phone book on it that I used to act like a receptor. Really, I only had one person to call, and that was my grandma in the hospital. I remember my mom leaving one day in a red car and getting a phone call from us letting her know that our grandmother had gone unconscious and that we needed her.

I love and remember my grandmother and our house on Oak Street.

(Anonymous)

I Remember St. Thomas

What kind of place do you know that has beautiful nature? Do you know a place that has beaches that are beautiful, and a place with ocean water that looks clear as fresh water? I call this place St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

What I love about this place is that its very tropical. You can grow any kind of fruit and vegetable you love. My favorite is mango. It is so juicy and runs off the tree. One thing I love is going running in the sea. The water is so clear that you can see about twenty to thirty feet below or even more.

I remember the food I used to eat there. I had fried fish, Johnny cake, sweet potato stuffing and more seafood. Sometimes I wish I could get the same kinds of foods up here that I did down there.

St. Thomas is one of the most beautiful places in the Caribbean. Jamaica isn't the only one.

(Jermaine Martin, 11th Grade)