Memories of a Michigander

A Personal Anthology by:

Ethan C. Courser

Table of Contents

Foreword Pg. #1

About The Author Pg. #2

Frustrating Fall Pg. #3

Flashback Fumes Pg. #4

Cooking With Chemistry Pg. #5












Foreword
The first piece in my personal anthology Frustrating Fall is a short story I wrote
about an encounter I experienced whilst walking over to my grandmas house
after school. The theme in this piece reveals the prejudice people have based on
what they see on TV or read on the internet. All of us are victim to the prejudice
that is engraved into our brains by society. For example a African American in a
hoodie walking down an ally toward you, most of us automatically think that he is
a criminal or that he is going to harm us. This is just one example of the many
prejudice myths out there.
The second piece in my personal anthology Flashback Fumes is another short
story I wrote to describe a certain scene in my childhood. I chose to write it in
short story format because then I can describe the scene in a way that I hope
allows the reader to experience the event just as I did. This piece shows how
certain scenes from our childhood stay with us even if we think that we have
forgotten them. The point I try to make is essentially that our child hood stays
with us and affect us forever; even when we think we have forgotten much of our
childhood.
My third and final piece for my personal anthology Cooking with Chemistry is a
letter I wrote to a teacher who taught me how to take two completely different
subjects and use the subject I excelled at to help me excel with the subject I was
poor at. I chose to write in a letter format so I could act like I was writing this
letter to him; which in turn allowed me to make this letter personal so my readers
could learn from it and apply it to their lives.




Who am I?
I am Ethan Courser. I am seventeen years old and loving every minute of it. I am
from Charlotte Michigan within the United States on the North American
continent. I am an avid reader; I read books of all kinds; fiction, non-fiction,
biographies, essays, and new papers. I am a nerd, I love dinosaurs, science, and
video games. Im also a hunter; I shoot turkeys for thanks giving, deer for the
delicious jerky, and squirrels for kebabs. I catch fish just for fun then throw them
back being as I dont like fish. I am a welder, I weld all types of metal with all the
types of processes.
I have a twin brother named Gabe; were about as close as brothers can get since
we have shared a room since the womb. I have a younger sister names Maddy
who is in middle school in Grand Ledge. I am a church goer, every Sunday I go to
mass and receive communion, Im part of the youth group in my church as well. I
cant sing but I sing anyways, I cant dance so I dont. My cat is one of my best
friends, I took her in when she was outside and begging for food. When I got her
you could count her ribs, now instead you can count her abundant fat roles. I am
not much of a writer but I try my best and sometimes it works the way I want it
to, other times it doesnt.


Frustrating Fall: Sidewalks of America
As I walked home from school with my brother, I could feel the harsh cold
in the air. It bit against my ears and fingers making them tingle and ache. Even
with the cold air fall is still my favorite season because of all the colors, the
apple cider, and doughnuts. I gazed down the street watching as leaves flew
through the air and landed wherever they pleased, resulting in a fantastic
display of color. Though the sight was fantastic we both lowered our heads,
put our hoods up, shoved our hands into our pockets, and started to walk.
While we walked we talked of school and what had happened to us that day.
Both Gabe and I were so engrossed in our conversation that neither of us
noticed we had strayed off the sidewalk into a strangers lawn. We only
realized where we were when some stranger came hobbling out of the house
shouting at us to get off his lawn. Immediately we sprinted off his lawn back
onto the sidewalk. The old man walked up to us yelling and shouting turning
red in the face. He accused us of being stupid, delinquent, teenagers, who
were going to steal on of his precious lawn ordainments. Both my brother and
I were angry due to his unfounded and outrageous assumptions. So we yelled
at him in kind then started walking home again, the old man still shouting
behind us.
The gentle wind had a calming effect on the both of us and we started
talking; trying to figure out why he assumed we were going to steal from him.
As the wind died down and we neared home we realized that it was probably
because we had our hand in our pockets, and hoods up. Plus since were
teenagers we are always depicted as rebellious delinquents. It sort of made
sense why he assumed the worst when he saw us. It made us feel good to
know that he was wrong though.

Flashback Fumes: Scenes from Childhood
Mom sent me to Walmart when I got home from school to go pick up a new
candle for the kitchen. It was a cold day in fall so I was not very excited to go out
to the store. My eyes hurt from the flickering of the fluorescent lights when I
reached the candles. Mom said I could have my pick so I started to pick them up
and smell each of the various aromas. I picked another candle to try at random
and when I sniffed it the world I stopped thinking of whatever I was thinking of. I
had smelled this before but where? And then it hit me; thinking back to my 12
th

birthday from almost 5 years ago. It was a warm spring day in March; the house
smelled of pine sol and coffee. Both my mom and dad rushed about making
coffee, cake, and mopping the floors in preparation for the guests. My brother
and I also rushed around the living room putting remotes away when we stopped
to take a break and open the windows. Outside the air was warm and everything
was covered in new growth.
The air smelled of freshly mown grass, and fish from the rain earlier that day. The
wind was gusting outside so when I opened the window the breeze rushed into
the living room through the house mixing with the smell of coffee, cake, and pine
sol I recognized the exact smell that was emanating from the candle. Snapping
back into the present I turned the candle over curious what the name of such an
aroma could be. In big bold green letters on a tan label read Spring Birthdays. I
thought to myself, hmm, interesting

Cooking With Chemistry: The Many Ways to Learn

Dear Mr. Anderson,

Thank you very much for helping me get through this cooking class! I doubt any other
teacher could have taught me in a way near as effective as yours. Who would have thought to
take my skills with chemistry and use them to help me cook? This technique really proved
useful for me when we had to make no bake cookies from scratch. I had no idea how I was
going to get it to the right consistency but I remembered in chemistry that by adding other
elements to a mixture I can change the form of the mixture. So I added flour to the dough and it
came out perfect. It was a genius idea and it is what helped me pass the class! I got my test
back today and I got a 96.3% on it!!!! I am ecstatic to say the least. By having be treat each
ingredient like a different chemical as I would in chemistry class I was able to see which
chemicals when put together would yield my desired reaction. By doing this I am sure that I will
remember this style of learning for many years to come and eventually teach my kids with this
technique. Anyways thanks again; I couldnt have done it without you!


Sincerely, Ethan