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Lena had always thought of herself as independent. She liked to believe she could handle anything on her own no help needed. She prided herself on solving her own problems, making her own decisions, and never relying on others. So when her best friend, Alina, invited her to spend the night at her house on Maple Street, Lena didn’t hesitate for a second. She gave a confident “Sure!” over the phone and started imagining what movies they’d watch, what snacks they’d eat, and how late they’d stay up whispering in the dark.

But as the day arrived, a thought began to nag at her in a way she couldn’t ignore. The walk from her house to Maple Street was longer than she’d realized. When she looked it up on her phone, it showed a thirty-minute walk maybe more. It wasn’t just the length of the walk, though. She had never made the trip alone. Her parents usually drove her when she visited Alina.

She tried to brush the thought aside. It was just a walk, after all. She could handle it.
Couldn’t she?

That afternoon, Lena laced up her sneakers tightly, double-knotting them for good measure. She adjusted her backpack on her shoulders the straps digging slightly into her arms and stepped outside. The sun shone bright, casting a warm golden light across the quiet neighborhood. A soft breeze rustled the trees, and the familiar scent of freshly cut grass mixed with something faintly floral drifted by.

At first, Lena felt good. Confident. She hummed a tune under her breath as she passed the corner store and the park where she used to play. Everything was familiar. Safe.

But as she turned onto a street she didn’t usually walk down, something shifted.

The houses here looked older less polished, more lived-in. There were no kids riding bikes, no neighbors watering plants. The comforting hum of cars was gone, replaced by long stretches of silence broken only by the occasional birdcall or the crunch of gravel beneath her shoes.

The further she walked, the more the scenery changed. Sidewalks narrowed, and tall trees stretched their shadows across her path. It was still daylight, but the shade made everything feel colder.

Her humming stopped. Her pace slowed. The silence felt dense, pressing in on her ears. She glanced over her shoulder just to be sure. Nothing. Still, her heartbeat picked up. She tried to focus on the map in her mind, but the landmarks weren’t familiar anymore.

She passed a street she didn’t recognize and hesitated at the corner.
Had she taken a wrong turn?

What if someone was following her?
What if she got lost and couldn’t find her way back?
What if her phone died and she couldn’t call anyone?

These thoughts crept in fast, weaving through her mind like shadows. They surprised her. She had always told herself she wasn’t the kind of person who got scared easily. And yet here she was—nervous, second-guessing every step.

She took a deep breath and kept walking, but her shoulders were tight now, her hands balled into small fists. The independence she’d always been proud of the thing she believed made her strong suddenly felt less like strength and more like loneliness.

Being alone on this road, far from anyone she knew, wasn’t empowering. It felt vulnerable. Exposed.

Just then, she heard footsteps from the opposite direction. Her breath caught, but when she looked up, she saw an elderly man with a small, fluffy dog padding happily beside him. He wore a big sunhat and carried a canvas tote slung over one shoulder. He looked kind like someone who might bake cookies for his grandkids.

He smiled gently as they approached. “Lost your way?” he asked.

Lena straightened. “No,” she said, though her voice wavered. “I’m just… finding my way.”

The man nodded knowingly, as if he’d heard those words before. “Sometimes a journey feels longer than it is. The important part is to keep going.”

Something about his tone warm, calm, completely unbothered eased the knot in Lena’s stomach. It was just a sentence, maybe even a cliché, but it felt real. And in that moment, she needed it.

She nodded, gave him a small smile, and kept walking.

With each step, her breathing steadied. The panic didn’t disappear, but it no longer controlled her. She looked around more intentionally: a bright red mailbox, a crooked tree that leaned like it was listening, a chalk drawing fading on the sidewalk.

She was close.

One more turn, and there it was Alina’s house. The blue shutters, the garden gnome by the porch, the welcome mat that read Home is where the snacks are.

Lena nearly laughed with relief.

She knocked, and Alina answered right away, already mid-sentence about which movie they should watch. But Lena paused before walking in. She turned to glance down the street she had just walked and felt something shift inside her.

The walk wasn’t just a trip across town. It was a quiet test she hadn’t known she was taking a challenge she hadn’t realized she needed. She’d been afraid, and she hadn’t liked that feeling, but she had kept going anyway.

That counted for something.
That counted for a lot.

Later that night, lying in an unfamiliar bed beneath glow-in-the-dark stars, Lena thought again about the man and his little dog. The important part is to keep going, he’d said.

Maybe being independent wasn’t about pretending to be fearless. Maybe it wasn’t about pushing fear away or denying it.
Maybe it was about acknowledging fear feeling it fully and choosing to move forward anyway.

As she drifted off to sleep, Lena smiled quietly to herself. She hadn’t just made it to her friend’s house.
She had proved something to herself along the way.

And maybe that was the most important destination of all.

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Key Revisions Made:

Smoothed out awkward phrasing or repetition.

Tightened sentence rhythm for dramatic or emotional pacing.

Clarified internal thoughts to sound more natural and introspective.

Maintained tone, structure, and narrative arc.

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LILA:
I had to. He hurt someone, Dad. He almost killed her.

RON:
He’s your cousin. Blood. And you turned him in like he was some stranger off the street?

LILA:
Blood doesn’t mean silence. Or forgiveness. Not for what he did.

RON:
He made a mistake. A terrible one, sure but he’s still family. You don’t betray family. You deal with things inside the home.

LILA:
You mean cover it up. Sweep it under the rug like everything else.

RON:
No I mean protect the people we’re tied to. That’s how families survive in this world. We stand together. We don’t tear each other down.

LILA:
Standing together doesn’t mean ignoring harm. It doesn’t mean making someone else carry our shame.

RON:
Don’t talk to me like I haven’t paid a price for this family. You have no idea what I’ve given up. I buried people I loved. I kept food on this table when no one else lifted a finger. I watched your mother wither away and kept this house from falling apart around her.

LILA:
I’m not questioning what you’ve done. I’m questioning what you’ve allowed. Because this isn’t the first time, is it?

RON:
What are you talking about?

LILA:
Uncle Joe, after he crashed the truck drunk you lied to the police. Marcus stealing from Grandma you covered the rent like it was nothing. And now this. A girl with broken ribs and a fractured jaw and you want me to pretend we’re just one big loyal family?

RON:
You think you know everything now, huh? College gave you big words like “justice” and “accountability,” and now you’re above us?

LILA:
This isn’t about college. It’s about being human. About not looking away when someone’s screaming for help.

RON:
You don’t get it. We don’t have the luxury of turning against our own. Not now. Your brother’s gone, your aunt won’t speak to us, and now you want to drag our name through the mud?

LILA:
If our name is built on silence and fear, maybe it deserves to be dragged. Maybe that’s the only way something better can grow.

RON:
Something better? Is that your plan? Burn it all down so you can rebuild it in your image?

LILA:
I just want to stop pretending. You say family sticks together but what does that mean when the one doing the damage is inside the circle?

RON:
You think you’re the first to try doing what’s “right”? I did once. I stood up to your grandfather when he hit your uncle for the last time. Know what it got me? Exiled. Shut out. Until he needed something. That’s when I learned: truth doesn’t keep families whole. Compromise does.

LILA:
That’s not compromise. That’s surrender.

RON:
It’s survival. You think your mother and I liked looking the other way? We made choices to hold this place together. For you. For your brother.

LILA:
And where did that get us? I barely speak to him. Mom’s gone. And now this this moment where I finally stood up for someone who couldn’t fight back and instead of being proud, you act like I betrayed you.

RON:
You didn’t just stand up. You handed your cousin to the cops without even talking to us first.

LILA:
Because I knew what you’d say. “Let’s not involve outsiders. Let’s keep it in the family.” But where does that line end, Dad? How many girls have to get hurt before we stop calling it loyalty and start calling it what it is? Complicity.

RON:
You think you’re righteous. But all I see is someone who walked away. You skipped your cousin’s wedding. You never called when your aunt got sick. You judged us from a distance, and now you come back with moral fire like you’re some kind of hero.

LILA:
I didn’t come back to be a hero. I came back because I couldn’t stay silent. I still see the look on that girl’s face. How small and terrified she was. I couldn’t live with myself if I let it go.

RON:
And I can’t live with myself if I let this family fall apart.

LILA:
Then maybe we’re just trying to protect different things. You want to protect our name. I want to protect the truth.

RON:
You want to be right. Even if it means tearing down your own home.

LILA:
I want to live in a home where the truth isn’t treated like a bomb. Where doing the right thing doesn’t make me the villain.

RON:
And I want a daughter who doesn’t throw her own blood under the bus the first chance she gets.

LILA:
Then I guess we both want things we can’t have.

RON:
You know… your mother used to say you had her fire. I see it now.
I just wish it wasn’t aimed at us.

LILA:
Maybe I got it from her. But I’m not aiming it at you. I’m aiming it at the lies.
You just keep standing in the way.

(They stare at each other father and daughter, wounded and worn, two moral codes forged in two different worlds. The distance between them is wide. Neither one moves to close it.)

[END SCENE]

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Notes on the Revisions:

Improved rhythm and pacing in back-and-forth exchanges to enhance dramatic tension.

Strengthened Lila’s moral clarity and Ron’s emotional weariness.

Clarified some emotional stakes (like when Ron talks about survival and legacy).

Ending stage direction changed for a clean, dramatic close that suggests emotional stalemate without over-explaining.

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Title: I’m a Mad Dog Biting Myself for Sympathy by Louise Erdrich

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Title: I’m a Mad Dog Biting Myself for Sympathy by Louise Erdrich

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Quoted Line

“I wasn’t crying. I was just blubbering because my insides were torn up.”

Explanation of Influence:

Louise Erdrich’s piece influenced my writing through its raw emotional tone and use of internal conflict. The narrator of Mad Dog is impulsive and guarded, but through his erratic actions, we see his emotional turmoil. This idea of someone revealing fear, confusion, or longing not through what they say, but through what they do helped shape the character of Lena in my first piece.

Like Erdrich’s narrator, Lena doesn't break down or talk openly about her emotions. Instead, her anxiety and growth are revealed through small, detailed moments: the tightening of her backpack straps, the silence of unfamiliar streets, the tension in her body. I wanted to explore that same subtle vulnerability, where a character’s inner transformation shows through ordinary actions rather than big declarations.

In terms of style, Erdrich’s stream-of-consciousness narration also inspired me to keep my own narrative close to the character’s internal rhythm. I tried to make Lena’s thoughts and doubts feel immediate and personal, echoing the restless, reflective quality of Erdrich’s narrator.

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Title: The Flowers by Alice Walker
Quoted Line

“And the summer was over.”

Explanation of Influence:

Alice Walker’s The Flowers deeply influenced the tone and emotional shift in my drama scene between Lila and Ron. In Walker’s story, a young girl named Myop stumbles upon a horrifying remnant of racial violence a noose and a decaying body and her innocence is shattered in a single moment. That final line, “And the summer was over,” captures the loss of innocence with haunting simplicity.

In my own writing, I wanted to reflect a similar transition not from childhood to adulthood, but from family loyalty to moral clarity. Lila has grown up in a household where silence and protection of family are valued above all else, but like Myop, she encounters a moment that forces her to see things differently and act. The realization that her cousin seriously harmed someone and that the family might try to hide it is the moment when her summer ends.

Walker’s compressed emotional arc and understated power inspired how I structured the scene. While the argument is full of tension and raised voices, the real rupture happens quietly in the final lines when both Lila and Ron realize they are no longer speaking the same language. The emotional distance between them, like the discovery in The Flowers, represents a point of no return.

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This image represents Lena’s walk to her friend’s house   a moment that marks her quiet journey toward independence. I chose this photo because of the stillness and slight unease it conveys, matching Lena’s internal fear as she leaves home alone for the first time. The empty street mirrors the loneliness but also the bravery of taking that first step into unfamiliar space.

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A photo of a long, quiet neighborhood street 

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This image reflects the central conflict in my drama piece  the emotional divide between Lila and her father, Ron. I chose it because it visually captures the theme of broken family ties and the painful choice between loyalty and justice. The emotional darkness between the figures echoes the tension in the scene, where love and morality are not  aligned.

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two people on opposite sides of the room

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🎵 “Family Line” by Conan Gray — fits the theme of painful family honesty.

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🎵 “Family Line” by Conan Gray — fits the theme of painful family honesty.

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his song reflects the emotional weight of my drama scene between Lila and her father Ron. The lyrics and tone echo Lila’s internal struggle torn between family loyalty and doing what’s right. Just like in the scene, the music captures the sadness of realizing that love doesn’t always mean silence or protection.

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This spoken word piece (or guided meditation) complements Lena’s story by exploring the inner experience of confronting fear and choosing to move forward anyway. It highlights the emotional bravery that doesn’t always look dramatic but is deeply powerful, just like Lena’s quiet walk.

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FACE YOUR FEARS - Powerful Motivational Speech (by Jocko Willink)

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Finding Courage in Truth: The Theme of My Portfolio

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Finding Courage in Truth: The Theme of My Portfolio

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The pieces I’ve chosen for this portfolio are all connected by a shared theme: the complex relationship between courage, truth, and personal integrity especially when these collide with family and self-identity. In my creative nonfiction story about lena's walk to her friend’s house, and in my drama scene between Lila and her father Ron, I explore how courage can take very different forms but always involves confronting fear and making difficult choices.

Lena’s story is about a quieter, more internal kind of bravery. She faces her fear of being alone and unknown streets not with defiance but with vulnerability. This subtle courage to feel afraid and keep moving was inspired by Louise Erdrich’s “I’m a Mad Dog Biting Myself for Sympathy,” where the narrator’s emotional struggles are shown through small, everyday actions rather than dramatic words. The empty neighborhood street image I chose mirrors Lena’s solitude and the uncertainty she feels. The stillness of the street reflects her internal state: lonely, but full of determination.

In contrast, the drama scene with Lila and Ron shows courage in confrontation standing up to family secrets and harmful silence. Here, courage means risking relationships to speak painful truths. Alice Walker’s “The Flowers”inspired this piece by showing how a single moment of harsh realization can end innocence and force change. The torn family portrait image I selected symbolizes the fractured bonds between Lila and Ron, visually capturing their conflict between loyalty and justice. The video clip/song I included for this scene echoes that tension, amplifying the emotional complexity of family ties strained by truth.

Both works emphasize the difficult but necessary act of choosing truth over comfort, even when it isolates or hurts.This emotional thread became clearer to me as I revised, pushing the characters’ voices to express both their fear and their resolve more honestly. Recording my reading of Lena’s story helped me feel the subtle shifts in her courage, while selecting music for the drama deepened my understanding of the characters’ pain and longing.

Together, these pieces and their accompanying images and media create a unified exploration of what it means to be brave not just in heroic moments but in everyday struggles with fear, family, and identity. Through Lena and Lila’s journeys, I hope to show that courage is complicated and personal but always worth pursuing.