Common Application Essay Attempt #1

I recline back in my lazy boy, and kick off the roman-style sandles that have been digging in my heel all day. God damn I'm sick of this heavenly bureaucratic bullshit. Yet another "Why can't I get into heaven just because I insert heinous crime?" Oops I said my name in vain. I pick up my new Space-Time Remote and flip on the T.V. A single bacteria struggles for the survival in the Primordial Soup. fast forward Strange aquatic creatures step out of water for the first time to test their luck on dry land. fast forward Large reptiles sprint through the jungle undergrowth, pursued by even bigger reptiles. fast forward A squat hairy man depicts the struggle of his daily life on a cavern wall. fast forward God reality television is tedious. Seafaring explorers wash ashore on a distant land. Savagery and disease threaten them at every turn. fast forward A civilization develops in the New World. They begin to press west. fast forward Poor Eastern European immigrants flee to America. They settle in Los Angeles during the early 20th century. Meanwhile an old Southern family picks up and moves to the San Francisco Bay area. fast forward Two children grow and learn on opposite ends of the state. Their names are Howard and Betsy Kahn. fast forward Howard and Betsy meet at a social event for their co-op dorm at UC Berkeley. Three years later they begin dating. fast forward Howard and Betsy socialize at a party. Their twin boys play in the background. Relatives and friends try to engage the lean brown haired Marcus, but he clams up and hides behind his blonde counterpart. fast forward Mrs. Taylor needs someone to talk during a 2nd grade assembly on Martin Luther King Jr. She presses Marcus, but it takes a bag of Lifesavers candy to bribe him onto the stage. fast forward The Kahn family packs up the last of their boxes, and head on the cross country flight from Connecticut to California. They are all anxious and excited but none more than Marcus. In his mind he sees golden beaches, and swaying palm trees, but he also sees the opportunity to start fresh. fast forward Marcus stands up on stage during the 7th and 8th grade productions of Grease and Guys & Dolls respectively. He goes on to win 1st place in a drama competition called DTASC. fast forward It is Marcus' sophomore year in high school. He gets on stage with his acting company and plays Demetrius and Peter Quince in separate casts of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The crowd laughs as he capers around the stage, and they congratulate him afterwards. He mingles effortlessly. fast forward A confident young man stands up in front of 250 people. He delivers an articulate and impassioned speech in favor of a bill he doesn't agree on for California's Youth and Government. It passes through committee, Senate, and Assembly. fast forward Marcus sits in his room lost in thought. A dusty picture of himself at 7 years old lies flat on a solid oak desk. "Am I still that shy little kid?" he asks himself. He recalls the flutter of fear in his stomach as he stepped up to the microphone during Youth and Government's Spring Conference. His mind touches on the adrenaline that leaves his hands shaking after he sat down again. "Yes" he admits silently to himself. " I am." My finger drifts to the remote for the 16th time. "Nah" decide. "I don't want to spoil the ending for myself." So I turn off the T.V. and go to the kitchen for a cold beer. Watching quality television is thirsty work.